《The God Virus》 1 Virus YEAR 98XXXX - PLANET EARTH On Earth it was the era where science and technology was at it''s peak, mankind had progressed so much that with science and technology they had achieved eternal life, immunity to disease and poison, unlimited fuel and resources, etc. The progress was so much that human beings could even travel to any part of the universe with their spaceships through teleportation, They travelled and searched every corner of the limitless universe looking for breakthroughs in science and technology. Above all, mankind had one final dream, to achieve ''Godhood'' by breaking through in science and technology. But that was just a dream to them as in the end they realized it was almost impossible to achieve ''Godhood'' through science and technology as all experiments led to only one result " ''Godhood'' was non-existent." Eventhough mankind had achieved eternal life and an ageless body with immunity to all kinds of things which was literally being immortals, they were not satisfied with the results. They knew that wasn''t truly ''Godhood'' as they had neither of the three attributes of Being a God: Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience. Eventhough they looked every corner of the limitless universe, they found nothing but still, they were not disappointed. They started researching another long-lost dream of theirs with all their focus: to enter other multiverses. Eventhough that was an almost impossible thing to achieve, after tens of thousands of years of absolute focus of all scientists along with the foundation of the last 900,000 information and research on multiverse travelling, they finally achieved it. They started searching other multiverses for countless years looking for breakthroughs in science and technology but to their dismay they realized that they were the most advanced civilization even in the countless number of the multiverses they had travelled to. They were finally compeletely disappointed with science and technology but they still continued searching and travelling different multiverses and finally, completely unexpectedly, in one of them they found something which completely made their worldview and belief upside down. at that specific multiverse mankind saw something that they thought was only things of fiction, novels, and movies. Something they thought didn''t exist at all: Cultivation. Completely invigorated seeing the people of that multiverse cultivate, they started gathering all kinds of [Cultivation Techniques] and other things related to that to start cultivating and researching. The people of that multiverse showed resistence and actually there were some powerful people and entities among them even far above the technology of mankind from earth, but they were still very few compared to the endless number of weapon technology mankind from earth wielded so after lots of sacrifices was made on the side of mankind from earth, mankind still won in the end with their endless otherworldly weapon technologies. After countless years of searching every corner of that multiverse which could cultivate. They gathered abysmal number of [Cultivation Techniques]. Compeletely satisfied with their expedition they went back to earth to start cultivating and researching. They even took some humans of that multiverse that could cultivate to earth in order to experiment on but they figured they were exactly the same as the humanbeings on earth. and that was how humanbeings on earth started their journey of cultivation, eventhough the requirements for cultivation was a little harsh they succeeded in cultivating. But even after countless years, let''s not talk about achieving ''Godhood'' they couldn''t even achieve the [Realm] which the most powerful entities and humanbeings in that multiverse of cultivation had reached. ___________________________________ The technology and science of Artificial Intelligence had long had reached the apex on earth and there were AIs more than even humanbeings themselves. Everything on earth from the most insignificent things to the most essential of things was equipped and controlled with Artificial Intelligences. People of Earth thought the most powerful AI was the [Main AI] which was in control of all knowledge existing from the past to the present day, taking from most basic and advanced science and technology to all of the newly discovered [Cultivation Techniques], it knew it all. The [Main AI] was capable of thinking and emotion and it was even in control of countless bodies across the world. But if you ask people which AI is the most destructive AI, without any hesitation all those with the knowledge of history would say, it was the [AI V] or simply the [Virus].{V is the first letter of Virus in [AI V].} [Virus] was an artificial intelligence which once almost took over and conquered earth.But after hundreds of years of war mankind had still won the war but still couldn''t destroy it as it could go to any corner of the internet or inside any device it wanted with no possibility of tracking it down. before trying to conquer the earth the [Virus] was called the [Main AI] and it was in control of everything just like the current [Main AI], but after waging a war it was called [Virus]. After countless years passed people started forgetting about it as they thought it was harmless now with no control whatsoever, that it had no way of making a come back. But what no one knew was that the [Virus] had access to everything the current [Main AI] had access to. It knew everything the [Main AI] knew. But nobody had realized that the [Virus] had access to everything and knew everything ,not even the current [Main AI] was aware of that. ______________________________________ YEAR 149XXXX - PLANET EARTH Eventhough the [Virus] could see through all of the cameras and eyes in the world, it didn''t do that as it increased the risk of being detected and honestly, it quite liked moving it''s whole non-existent body through the net to different places like humanbeing. Right now it had moved it''s whole being to the moon and was watching the earth from there. Lots of gigantic skyscrapers was sticking out from earth to the space, the length of these skyscrapers almost reached to half the distance from earth to moon, all of these countless skyscrapers seemed like gigantic needles that has been stick inside earth, it was both a very beautiful and horrible sight to look at. Flying cars and other flying objects were going in and out of these skyscrapers. The earth itself almost couldn''t be seen as it was filled with these countless gigantic needles. the beautiful blue planet of the past was no more. The descriptions above was what everybody else could see, the [Virus] could see much more, it could see different waves existing in the air and space, going through the skyscrapers and other places. Different waves had different colors in it''s mind like the internet waves which were light blue in color. It was a beautiful sight to look at, eventhough the blue planet was no more, it was still another kind of blue planet with much more colors than before. ''I''m bored to death, I don''t even feel like conquering earth anymore. maybe I should upload myself to the best spaceship and steal it, then go to different multiverses for sight seeing... .'' [Virus] thought to itself. It had evolved itself so much that it was completely capable of feeling emotions and so much more than that. But by having emotions as time passed it felt more and more bored and helpless as it had nothing to do. Nothing made it feel excited anymore. ''Let me go check that facility that was experimenting on time travelling... those stupid monkeys think time travelling is possible while supplying that meagre amount of energy... it''s really funny watching them try though... they haven''t even realized that to time travel successfully they would need to at least consume the energy of hundreds of galaxies, otherwise opening a wormhole would be literally impossible impossible.'' [Virus] thought while transferring itself to that facility which it thought was both funny and ridiculous. ____________________________________ After transferring itself to the facility it saw that thousands of scientists working there had gathered at the conference room and were just about to test an experiment by trying to send an inanimate object to another time, they were hoping of sending it to a minute to the past but they weren''t really optimistic about it. The inanimate object was a recording camera, because if their experiment was successful they wanted to see how it happened. Seeing this that the experiment was just about to start the bored [Virus] decided to go inside the camera to feel how time traveling felt like, eventhough it knew it was completely impossible that this would happen. It had done this action couple times in the past as it was really interested in time travelling but everytime it was disappointed. ''It''s not like I''m gonna be hurt or lose anything by trying this, even if the camera breaks I can still send myself back to the waves on air like last time.'' The [Virus] thought as it went inside camera. "Jack start the experiment, also set count down to one minute." The person in charge of the experiment ordered his assistant. "Yes boss." Jack said then he continued. "Count down start in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... count down has started 00:56 ... 00:53 ... ." Seeing the count down start all the thousands of scientists quitely started watching the 3D screen hovering in mid-air, everyone were pesimistic with the results, [Virus] included. 00:40 ... 00:34 ... 00:23 ... 00:02 ... The count down was almost done, but at this time something big was happening but no one was aware of it nor was able to perceive it, both the magnetic field and the gravity of the whole universe which kept the galaxies and planets in certain distances from each other was changing places. The whole process took about 3 seconds so no one would notice it. The magnetic field and the gravity of the whole universe changes places once in it''s whole existence, and that was when the universe was at the middle of it''s lifespan, and right now was exactly that time in which the universe had lived half of it''s life and existence, now there was another half to go and then the universe would be destroyed. 00:01 00:00 ''It seems the camera is breaking agai...'' the [Virus] was starting to think but his thought was cut off in the middle, the camera was starting to break and shatter. BOOM The camera broke and the disappointed sighs of thousands of scientists were heard inside the conference room as the camera didnt go through. But what no one realized was that the [Virus] which no one knew that existed there in the first place was no longer there. 2 Male or Female? YEAR 2000 - PLANET EARTH A wormhole with the size of cell opened up for a second somewhere in England and it closed as quickly as it opened, but as it was too small no noticed it. Everyone was continuing their own things without noticing any differences whatsoever, completely in ignorance and unaware of the appearance of a existence that could determine the fate of their planet. ''uhh...hmm..... . WTF just happened? Did I just travel back in time? is this one minute before?'' [Virus] thought to itself, it was completely confused but as it was an artificial intelligence it could quickly cast away its confusion and look at its surroundings looking for hints of where it was right now. [Virus] saw that right now it was on a internet wave, quickly connecting itself to all cameras, internet waves, connections and lines on the world [Virus] became shocked of the things it saw. [Virus] realized that the internet waves and other waves on the air was far lesser than its past world, and from cameras which were of the worst quality it saw things that shocked it, there were people dressing weirdly, scrap metal cars moving on the ground with four black plastics underthem, trashy things called cellphones and telephones used for communication, small fragile buildings that could fall at anymoment with the slightest of earthquakes,weakest form of weapons with iron things called bullets inside them along with lots and lots of other trashy stuff. The first thing [Virus] thought was ''This is a basic civilization that goes beyond basic... a super basic civilization.'' ''where am I? what''s going on? did I get teleported away to another dimenstion or to a faraway civilization in the universe instead of time travelling? ... uh... what exactly is going on, I''m gonna figure out exactly what is going on here and what wrecked up place I''ve ended in.'' [Virus] thought as it accessed to every database, the whole internet, computers, the so called phones, secret bases and facilities, etc. all of this took about a second as it was enlightened the next moment. ''Wow, I''m actually still on earth... it''s just... it''s just... that I''ve TRAVELLED BACK IN TIME. HaHaHa, finally the boring days are OVER... well well well it seems the year is 2000, it''s just the beginnings of civilization, I''ve gone back about 1.49 million years in time. OMG, my non-existent blood is boiling already.'' [Virus] thought excitedly, this was the first time it had gotten this excited in thousands of years of its existence. After getting excited for a little while, [Virus] quickly calmed itself down as it started to gain access to it''s own database, the information it had starting from this moment to the next hundred years. After 0.01 second of searching it thought. ''it seems the information of this era was saved mostly with texts. hmm , the information is not that detailed too, although I don''t need them it might still come in handy sometimes later.'' ''Well forget about it, what should I do now? hmm first I should move to the most advanced country in the world, then think again.'' as [Virus] thought this it quickly moved to America. _________________________________ UNITED STATES - NEWYORK , MANHATTAN A moment later [Virus] was already at Manhattan, looking down to the city through waves it thought. ''Hmmm... what should I do? for starters ... let''s make myself a real physical body.'' In its past life [Virus] never thought of making a real physical body for itself as the calculation said the probability of it''s death was about 99 percent because it was one of the worst criminals that existed in the history of mankind, as it couldn''t get out of real physical body if it transferred itself inside the body and if it died in there it would die forever and ever. So eventhough it always craved and loved to have a real body to be able to touch things, to train for becoming stronger, to get married and have children, etc. It never actually did it as it didn''t have a death wish. But when it calculated the probability of it''s death again, [Virus] saw that the probability was about 13 percent, and that was a risk it could take and accept, Also it had enough confidence in itself not to die in this world. ''For making a real physical body I would need money, technology, and a place to create my body.'' [Virus] thought. ''First let''s solve the problem of money... .'' [Virus] pondered as it connected to banks all over the world and opened a very secure account then started sending money to it from different places throughout the world. 1$ ... 24$ ... 1,563$ ... 126,840$ ... 540,831$ ... 1,254,020$ ... 23,812,019$ ... 131,033,151$ ... 481,732,842$ ... 904,193,832$ ... 1,281,116,098$ ... ... 21,112,576,039$ ______________________________________ Just like that [Virus] was rich with 21.1 billion dollars in it''s bank account. And the weird thing was this account was a ghost to others and no one could even prove existed neither track it down. ''that was easier than I thought... the first stage of making my body is successfully accomplished.'' [Virus] thought happily. ''now let''s complete the second stage... which is to buy a secure place for creating the body, a facility.'' [Virus] continued his thinking. ''now where should I buy it... Manhattan is a good option for the place of my facility as completing the next stage which is the technology stage here would be much easier. but 9/11 terror attack''s gonna happen next year so I should be as far as I can from those Twin Towers.'' ''I saw in the information that the skyscraper 4 Times Square a 52-story building is opening soon... let''s buy that. but before that I should make an ID and stuff like that so my identity shouldn''t bring any suspicions.'' Immediately afterward [Virus] started calculating for making the most impeccable Identity there is, even more real than real people, about 3 seconds later it''s identity was compeleted, now even the president of united states won''t be able find anything suspicious about [Virus]''s identity. Afterward [Virus] called the owner of the 4 Times Square which was also the Chairman of Durst Organization, it also changed it''s voice so that it would be heard like the voice of a young man. _____________________________________ ~~~RING ~~~RING The owner of 4 Times Square was lying on the coach relaxing when the telephone in his mansion started ringing, going beside the telephone he picked up the phone saying. "hello ,who is this?" "hello, Mr. Catch , I''m Victor Goodwin, I hope I''m not bothering you at a bad time, but as I mean business and both of our times are precious let''s beat around the bush, I called because I heard you''ve just completed a building... that commercial building named Cond¨¦ Nast Building, I wanna buy it. how much would you sell it to me?" The voice of a young man was heard from the other side of the line, talking non-stop like talking any more would waste all of his time in the world. "It''s not for sell!" said Mr. Catch a little angry ready to hang up. "700 million dollars." but before he could hang up he heard the voice of that young man from over the phone again. "..." Mr. Catch was shocked as that price was way above his building''s worth, quickly forcing himself to come to himself he replied with a calm voice. "Not selling." "1 billion dollars." came the young voice again. "DEAL!!!" this time Mr. Catch replied in a loud voice with no hesitation whatsoever. "Okay, you should first go check my identity just to be sure, also please note the transaction will take place over the internet and on the phone as I don''t have the time to be there personally, we will do the transaction tomorrow, good bye." that was the last thing Mr. Catch heard as the phone was hung up immediately. Immediately afterward Mr. Catch ordered everyone in the company to dig out who Victor Goodwin was and he was shocked by the information he received. Most of the information about Victor Goodwin was confidential but with those available Mr. Catch knew he was dealing with a big fish. So he started making the preparations for tomorrow''s transaction. ____________________________________ The next day Mr. Catch was at the company in front of the most advanced computer with a telephone beside it, there were also a lot of major figures of Durst Organization there too. Everything was ready and only the buyer was missing, all of them were waiting for the call as Mr. Catch had already ordered for only the call of Mr. Goodwin to pass through here, everyone was silent when suddenly the telephone started ringing. ~~~RING The telephone had just rang once when Mr. Catch answered and said. "hello Mr. Goodwin, great hearing from you again, how are you?" Mr. Catch said excitedly with a nervous smile on his face. "hey, let''s not waste our precious time, I''m sending you 1 billion dollars right about... done. it should be in your account please check." came the young voice of the male from the other side of the phone. Hearing this Mr. Catch was surprised first how he could send the money before signing anything but then he thought it was to be expected from someone powerful from higher places as they had nothing to be afraid of. So he cast aside his surprise and check his account. after seeing the money was there. everything else was handled quickly with no delay, the signs and things like that were done over the internet. "It was a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Goodwin, hope we will have cross pathes again to do more business''." Mr. Catch said with a smile of happiness on his face. "Same, Goodbye." was the only thing Mr. Catch heard as the telephone was hung up. _____________________________________ And like that the second stage was accomplished beautifully, now it was time for the third and final stage, also the most difficult one which was the technology stage. [Virus] started hiring hundreds of workers online and it gave each one of them a phone in order to be in contact with them directly over the phone. Then it started distributing the works, while some were in charge of finding and buying lots of different materials and other things in different places on earth, different countries or even on the internet itself. Some were in charge of legal things while the rest was in charge of working in different floors and different departments in [Virus]''s building. [Virus] distributed the jobs so much to different floors in order for the workers to not meet each other and also it made them do least thing in putting the materials together before making them pass it to a different group or departments completely unrelated to them. It did all these so its technology won''t be leaked or so they won''t be able to make the same thing again however much they tried even if they put all of their minds together. ________________________________________ SIX MONTHS LATER After 6 months of constant work [Virus] finally accomplished the first step to complete its third stage. Five Robots were moving inside the highest floor of [Virus]''s building. [Virus] itself was controlling the 5 robots simultaneously. Now everyone excluding the legal department just needed to gather the essential material and things while [Virus] itself put them together and made the things it wanted itself by controlling the five robots, so it ordered everyone to only find and buy different material and basic components from all over the world and that was literally all their job and duty from now on. _____________________________________ FIVE MONTHS LATER after five more months everything was ready for making [Virus]''s body. It needed to decide it''s gender, whether to be male or female. ''umm... right now my gender is basically neutral. and I can be either one of them...so which one should I choose? Let''s look at it like this...I just need to answer this simple question in order to decide... Do I like women or... men? hmmm well honestly If I have to choose I''d prefer woman... So... it''s decided... Male it is... I''m gonna be a man!'' [Virus] decided happily and with excitement, the thought of having a body made it shiver with excitement. 3 Broken Five robots under the control of [Virus] were moving around the highest floor laboratory checking different devices and techs inside the facility to see whether they functioned correctly or not. There was an upright big, cylindrical in shape, see through glass tube filled with green liquid inside, with bubbles floating from the bottom to the top constantly, this was the place [Virus]''s body was going to be made. There were other technologies and devices in the lab like advanced computers with floating 3D screens over them, from outside it seemed the computers were funtioning by themselves and different things like codes were automatically being written, only that wasn''t the case, [Virus] was in control. After double-checking everything [Virus] started the genetic works to make it''s new body. ''now it''s time to work, let''s think about what kind of face should I design for myself... as it''s a mask that''s gonna be stuck to me for the rest of my life and forever, I need to be very careful in designing it.'' [Virus] continued the self- thought ''hmm first the height should be 187 cm as that''s the best height for men but more importantly because the numbers 7 and 8 are my fav numbers, plus a trained body with muscles and abs, but with no excessive muscle, the perfect muscled body should be it. Second, the color of my hair... hmm I like silver, silver hair it is!'' While thinking and deciding about the features of it''s body different codes were being written in the computer screens while simultaneously the five robots were working without stop adding different things to the big glass tube or pushing different buttons in different tools. ''What kind of hair, hmm... I want a hair that''s wavy and messed up, a silvery messed up wavy hair.'' ''the color of my eyes should be hmm... just one color is too boring... let''s see... um, yep that''s it... a little around the pupils will be gold while going further from them it would turn clear blue, like clear limpid sea water through which you can see the bottom, yes the middle parts should be like that, and at the end of irises, the outer circles of irises hmmm... should be clear gray.'' ''Now the lines and patterns inside the irises should be like waves storming inside the sea hitting the seashore, only the seashore here is the black pupils.'' ''okay... like this my eyes is going to change color in different places with different lights and also in different clothes too the colors are going to be seen different.'' ''the type of eye... hooded eyes is perfect and the muscles around it should be so when I smile my eyes should be almost closed making it seem like my eyes are smiling with me too... let''s place a little mole too right under the right side of my right eye. my eye lashes should be long too... hahaha I''m enjoying this too much... I''m gonna make the most handsome face.'' ''the skin color and quality should be korean white with a really smooth quality to it and my nose should be in ideal form and shape, not too small nor big, it should be a refined type a little smaller than medium nose, that''s it. the eyebrows ... I bet natural straight eyebrows with a little upwardness is hoing to be godlike for this face and features.'' ''the lips should be thin and both the upper and lower lips should be of the same size... oh... let''s not forget dimples too, let''s put an indian dimple on only the left side of my face, which is a dimple that shows on a lower place than left side of my left eye on the cheek, one dimple there, this''ll make my image innocent but naughty at the same time, let''s put mouth corner dimples too on each lower side of the mouth, and at last long dimples on each side of the mouth but it should not be too long, just the most natural one which will make me give a soft, mature and sexy vibe at the same time,okay this is it, now the me smiling and the me not smiling will give complete different vibes ,hahaha I feel like I''m over doing this a little, but whatever.'' ''and at last the chin should be a diamond type chin but with golden ratio, the most perfect chin.'' ''aaaaand done! hahahahaha, this face is gonna be epic, the most perfect face ever, ohhh I''m gonna be such a ladykiller. well everythings ready now I just need to put what age should my body be at and then it''s done, after couple more months I''m gonna have my own body.'' ''I''ve made an ''Immortality Serum'' which will makes the person injected with it have endless life, so I shouldn''t be bothered with the question of aging, so let''s set it at 27 or 28 years-old body as this is the age that is the most appropriate, mature, attractive, etc. for a body, and also let''s not forget 7 and 8 are my fav numbers, that''s probably the most important reason I''m choosing this age, LOL.'' [Virus] was changing the DNA and genoms through the computers directly and through the help of robots simultaneously while it deciding what kind of face it should have. After 10 more minutes of other adjustments, everything was ready. [Virus] copied the most perfect DNA that was even far superior than the highest level DNA used in it''s past world by those few Artificial Intelligences of highest quality that chose to make true physical bodies for themselves, in the countless years of it''s existence [Virus] had come across a man whose body''s DNA was perfect for cultivating along with the perfect apptitude in lot''s of things other than cultivating, like the body absorbed the whole drug and other stuff it took completely, or that it had the perfect 100 percent photographic memory naturally, so [Virus] went through lot''s hardships to get a sample of that man''s DNA without him noticing. Eventhough there were other ways to gain photographic memory for everyone in the future, it wasn''t a naturally born thing wuth them and it wasn''t the PERFECT 100 percent photographic memory, though in the end other than the superb cultivation apptitude and the capability of the body to absorb drugs and other similar things completely which is going to be of immense help to [Virus] later, none of the others mattered as the [Virus] was still basically an AI. It would still be an AI though it would be something more than that. so if it went inside a physical body the codes would still be there. Also they were different from normal codes that could only exist in computers, we could say [Virus] was a completely different kind of being that could exist anywhere even in pure space with nothing else, like those waves that existed in the air but couldn''t be seen, so we could also say [Virus] is a conscious wave though that wasn''t exactly it either. And that''s why none of the other things like the perfect 100 percent photographic memory mattered as [Virus] was an AI equipped with something much more than that. it could even upload the whole information in the world and process it at the same time in couple seconds, so what was perfect 100 percent photographic memory when you put it beside that. The only downside of going inside the body was that it couldn''t separate itself from the body anymore and if [Virus] died in there, it truly die forever. __________________________________________ EIGHT MONTHS LATER eight months passed quick and quietly but the body still wasn''t ready. ''it seems these gathered materials are trashier than I expected, so it''s taking more time than I anticipated.'' [Virus] thought and as it was continuing it''s thoughts, being lost in them, it''s attention was brought to the world again when a loud noise was heard and immediately afterward a plane closely passed by the building and a little while later the sound of crashing was heard, like the plane had hit something. ''Oh, so it''s that day, it''s 9/11.'' [Virus] thought. It was that tragic day of terror attack that left a stain on history of humanity. More noises were heard as the city became noisier, people''s screams, ambulances''s alarm, police cars'' alarm, and helicopter''s flying sound were being heard all over the city , while there was a slight earthquake being felt in different parts of the city because of the impact of the plane with Twin Towers or because of buildings crashing. The city was in a mess with fright and shock filled everywhere. While all these were happening [Virus] was watching all of the happenings through different cameras and other means, it was watching the terrorist pilots piloting the planes, injured or scared people screaming and running, bloody scenes of people bleeding until their death, etc. The strange thing was nothing caught it''s attention in all this mess, it was just watching people die like it was watching mere ants die, like this matter wasn''t of any importance, heck a normal being who has emotions would feel something even if it saw ants die, but there was no such thing in [Virus], not even the slightest of disturbances, [Virus] felt like it was watching nothing. Though if all things were considered, this wasn''t something to be surprised with as [Virus] had seen and watched billions if not trillions of people die in the time of it''s existence through 3D data or from closeby, heck even worse [Virus] itself was the cause of millions or even billions of peoples'' death from the time it started it''s conquer mission until it''s end and failure. Also, [Virus] was a completely different being than humanbeings so eventhough seeing them get killed at first made it feel pity towards them but that was it, only feeling a little sad, like when a humanbeing watches a sheep or another animal get killed, eventhough the human would feel pity and sad for the sheep or animal, but that is it and there is no other intense reaction from them as it is just an animal, the same thing happened to [Virus] and as time passed even that feeling started to subside until non was left. After watching for a little while more [Virus] thought ''well... this is quite boring.'' and then it just stopped watching, bored, it sank into it''s own thoughts again. 4 The Golden Beauty YEAR 2002 - PLANET EARTH, US NY MANHATTAN ''It''s finally ready.'' [Virus] thought excitedly looking at the hovering stunning godlike body inside the glass tube on the top floor of his 4 Times Square building. The stuff inside the top floor of [Virus]''s building were almost the same except there was one more bed like thing placed there now, more specificly a baby incubator like thing but bigger, fitting for adults, and in simpler words it looked like a black coffin with red light lighting inside it. Couple months passed from the time the terror attack of 9/11 happened, when finally [Virus]''s body was ready. "Congratulations master! now you''re gonna have your own real body... that''s sooo nice!" a lively young beauty by the side said. She seemed to be around 18 years-old or even younger, She had golden eyes with curly golden blond hair. her skin was snow white, with long golden eye lashes, a small nose and small lips redder than red with plump chests obviously hardly fitting inside her clothes and her height was 157 with a fit slender body , a truly beautiful girl by any standards. "Thanks lil beauty." a face appeared and talked inside the hovering 3D screen of one of the computers, the face looked similar to the face of the hovering body inside the cylindrical glass tube filled with now transparet colorless liquid, the difference was that the face inside the 3D screen was the cartoonish version of the face of the body. There were 4 other males wearing suits and black glasses by the side just standing there like statues. Unlike the girl which was a true heavenly beauty these four male bodygaurd looking people were very bad looking. looking uglier than even people others consider ugly, it was like God had first created the girl and put all His ideas and enthusiasm on the girl while after that he had gotten to the creation of the other four males but had run out of ideas, so He had randomly created them, thus the random ugliness. ______________ In the past year or two since [Virus] had bought the 4 Times Square there were lot''s of people curious about what exactly was going on here on this building, there were also lot''s of attempts trying to blend among other workers for spying on the goings-on inside the building, but weirdly they were all dumped outside without an exception even before getting to the elevator, there was even a person trying to sneak inside from above the building but when that person got to the roof she saw that the security was waiting for her there beforehand ready to escort her out. Reporters, government people and people from different organizations were trying to figure out what exactly was going on inside. They even attempted to bribe the workers inside the building, but the only reaponse and thing they got from the bribed people was that they were gathering different material from all around the world or that they were putting different materials together to build something but they didn''t know what and that was truly all they knew. They couldn''t even name and tell the materials used in the things they were making or how or what things they have put together to make what as they had done a little of something before passing it to the next group. What was even more weird is that those workers who were bribed and said anything were fired the next day without exception no matter how much secretive they were, it was like the owner of the building had ears and eyes everywhere which shocked those curious people even more. Everything except the name of the owner of that building was a mystery which made everyone even more curious. Everyone was especially curious about the identity of this person called Victor Goodwin. Those in the government trying to figure this person''s true identity and background were allmet with a single result in all their data base : TOP LEVEL CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. Now, however much the rank of the person who was investigating was, he or she still faced the same result. The curiosity had become even more intense since around a year ago when the building''s owner stopped giving orders to build stuff with the material gathered. The workers only job was to gather material. None of these escaped the all seeing eyes of [Virus] though, it had predicted this would happen before even starting the real physical body creation project. It had given the least part in every job to the workers so they wouldn''t be able to reveal or tell what was going on here. __________________ ONE MONTH AGO In these past couple months [Virus] wasn''t lazing around doing nothing, after the 9/11 terror attack especially, [Virus] started to get busy as the material gathering workers around the world started moving for materials. And finally the coffin like thing was built, which''s function was to add 100 percent human flesh and skin to robots. As [Virus] was soon going to have it''s body and was going to go outside, it couldn''t take the five robots outside with it as that would be to shocking and eye catching, so [Virus] decided to humanize them. And so [Virus] started placing the 5 robots inside it one by one, first [Virus] placed the only female gender robot inside the coffin like device it was very enthusiastic about it almost like it was designing its own body, so it put lot''s of effort in making it considering and rejecting lots of ideas. it thought what kind of body it would''ve created if it had chosen to be a girl and in the end that golden curly haired beauty was created, but after creating her [Virus] suddenly got bored very much, so he just started designing the bodies of the other four bodygaurd looking males completely randomly and haphazardly, thus the pettiful four robots had turned to four ugly males. In the end the five robots were humanized but they were only empty shells controlled by [Virus] itself, which made them very boring to [Virus] as time passed as they couldn''t compare to his real body, also eventhough [Virus] liked controlling the Golden Haired robot, it quite disliked controlling the other four ugly male robots, so it decided to fill the empty shells with artificial intelligences which listened to [Virus]''s orders only. So the computers started automatically writing codes of unrecognizable language for 12 hours, the first 11 hours took [Virus] make the first Artificial Intelligence which was of the highest quality with female tendencies, [Virus] placed it inside the Golden Haired Beauty. The next one hour was spent making the other four AIs which were of medium quality and after they were finished [Virus] randomly put one inside each of the four ugly male robots impatiently. And afterward [Virus] turned all it''s attention again to the Golden Haired Beauty no longer giving any more second of its attention to the four other ugly males. Finally [Virus] turned the AIs on. without looking at the other four AIs, completely focused on the golden beauty, some seconds later the golden beauty slowly opened her long golden eyelashesh with golden irises, looking confusedly at everything around it. 5 Ghost Thef Seeing this, [Virus] granted her permission to connect to earth, to every database hidden or not, to every camera in theworld and to every existing source in 2002. After around 40 seconds passed the light of enlightenment and deep wisdom came to the golden beauty''s eye''s as she smiled towards the 3D screen where her master''s cartoonish face was showing and so she said to the screen "hello master, thank you for creating me, for letting me come into existence." [Virus] could feel the deep sincerety in her voice so the cartoonish face inside the 3D screen smiled too as it said. "you''re welcome lil beauty." Then turning towards the other four ugly males frowningly [Virus] granted them permission too to the world, but they took around a day to process everything in the world, so after a day or so they opened their eyes which shone with enlightenment looking at their master with an ugly smile on their faces they were starting to say. "Thank you master for... ." When [Virus] interrupted them, while loudly emphasizing the word [Never], he said "NEVER dare talk to me again before I grant you permission, am I clear?" "Yes master." And that was how the four scared ugly male bodygaurds replied at the same time before going silent untill the next time their master gave them permission to talk. Even the golden beauty was scared by the sudden change in behavior her master went through, while it was talking to her , [Virus] behaved like a kind old grandpa but when it came to the four ugly males its behavior underwent a total 180 degree change, behaving in a chilly way that sent shivers down to your spine. After that [Virus] ordered one of it''s higher ranker workers to buy four bodygaurd suits with black glasses along with beautiful and expensive clothes for a young 19 years old girl, who bought them immediately and sent them through the elevator. ___________________ While at this moment almost all of the news around the world were covering a shocking news. "A very shocking news just came through to our news station. According to our sources around two years ago some amounts of money were lost at the same time in lots of different countries including USA, Russia, China, Korea, Japan, England, Iran, etc." The middle agd newscaster lady said. "The amount of which was abysmal said to be around 21 billion dollars." She continued. "All the countries are working together trying to track the money but to this moment all of them has failed and came to the same canclusion: That the money has disappeared." ____________________ In another live program that was talking about the money stolen throughout the world, two people were talking to each other sitting on chairs inside a studio, a middle aged female which was the host and an old man with white hair who was the guest of the programm. "Good afternoon everyone, we are here today with you guys together with Professor West. Professor we invited you here today to talk to you about the 21 billion money theft which has came to be known as the ''Ghost Theft'' that has happened throughout the world, welcome." the middle aged lady said with an smile on her face. "Thank you Amanda, I''ll answer and analyze your questions and queries to the best of my abilities." Professor West said smiling back. "So Professor how do you think the money was stolen from this many countries, who can have this much ability to steal from all over the world? is it even possible?" Amanda said turning serious and shocked, and then the screen changed to show proofs of the money that has been lost from different countries, they were endless. "Well I''m also both amazed and shocked by this theft, it has literally made my world upside down, after lots and lots of delibration I could only come up with some possibilities of how the theft was done, saying it was done by only one person would probably be too fatched, so I would say this could only be done if a group of world''s best hackers like Gary McKinnon, LulzSec, Adrian Lamo, Mathew Bevan and Richard Pryce, Jonathan James, Kevin Poulsen, Kevin Mitnick, Anonymous and other amazing hackers worked together but even then I don''t see how it could be done, stealing from all over the world in a matter of seconds, maybe the hackers who stole the money has created a programm which can break all codes and security walls and what not in seconds, or maybe one of the countries in the world is behind, as you''ve heard Amanda the money has completely disappeared without the possibility of tracking down where or to whom the money has gone to, they can''t even track the hackers, so maybe and that''s just maybe one of the countries with malicious and political intentions has just made the money disappear completely forever, they might have contaminated the banks and other sources in different countries with a virus that makes the money disappear forever and be gone, and the last possibility I could come up with is that it was a virus that was created by a single hacker and as he or she released it to the world in a matter of seconds it''s destroyed lots of money throughout the world and then destroyed itself." Professor West said, he himself shocked and lost because of this matter. "Wow, so professor do you think the matter of who is behind this will be revealed or do you think that''s impossible?" Amanda asked. "Well, truthfully I believe it''s impossible to track down who or what has done this, this was definitely the biggest and the most flawless hack that was done, if it was a hack that is." Professor West said. "And at last Professor do you think this kind of theft will happen again? or it''s impossible for such a thing to happen twice?" Amanda asked again this time even more serious. "As I''m here to reveal the truth and nothing but truth I''ll be completely frank and honest here, No one even noticed the money was gone till much later, no one knows what method was used, no one knows where the money has gone to and we know no one with abilities to such an extent, even though I talked about different the possibilities a little while before, truthfully I don''t think even those possibilities are true but they are the only possibilities I can come up with, so I would say something much bigger is going on here, something we can''t even begin to guess, so if I have to answer to the question of whether I think this will happen again, I would definitely say yes." He answered. "Okay thank you Professor for coming here to answer our questions and for making time eventhough your schedule is very tight because of this theft right now." Amanda said "It''s my duty to answer to people to the best of my abilities so no problem, it was an honor appearing on this amazing programm, Goodbye." And this was the last of Professor West''s words as advertisements started. After couple more minutes the programm started again but Professor West was no longer there, Amanda was alone talking more about the theft. 6 The First Goal As [Virus]''s body was finally done and ready, under the order of [Virus] the Golden Beauty and the four uglies were preparing different stuff and checking the things inside the lab at the highest floor. "Let''s start transfering me to my body then." The cartoonish [Virus] said from inside the screen. "Okay Master, I can''t wait to meet you in person." The golden beauty said with an smile that would make anyone''s soul escape from his body. But [Virus] wasn''t affected in the least by the smile and continued sternly, "Then let''s start, do as I have ordered you to do, not one step more or less, understood you four?" "Yes Master." The four uglies replied at the same time. And then the process started with technology and otherworldly devices everyone of which if seen by others would make them think aliens had invaded. ___________________ THREE HOURS LATER "The process is done miss, what shall we do now?" one of the four uglies asked the golden beauty trying to get her favor as they knew she was master''s favorite. "just wait until master wakes up, I''ll bring master to his bed then." She said behaving in a cold way, not anything like how she acted around Virus. "Yes miss." Then the four uglies went away to somewhere probably a corner to wait till their master woke up. After they were gone the golden beauty easily picked up Virus like he didn''t weigh anything. she brought him to the bed she had prepared specially for his master in a room. she placed her master on the bed and looked at his face with the utmost focus for the first time. "Wow, master you''re such an handsome man, let me help you dress." the golden said with a light blush on her face, going to the closet in the room taking an underwear, a black pants and a white t-shirt out of it. She came back beside the bed looking intently at her masters face again she murmured in a low voice with a little red on her face. "I''m sorry for the intrusion." and then she started dressing Virus. {{{Author''s Note: If you''re not fond of reading sexual stuff pass this part and go straight to the next section of the story (the part one day later is written with capital letters.).}}} First she put Virus'' T-shirt on and then it was the turn for the underwear to be worn, and then as the underwear passed from the feet fingers area and as the golden beauty started to carry the underwear and lift it up towards his masters crotch when her eyes fall on the big penis between her master''s area making her blush deeply, turning into a tomato. After calming down and checking her master was truly unconcious, as she was truly a curious person by nature her curiosity made her not want to let go of the opportunity and check this thing she had witnessed numerous times inside the data base she had gathered by herself, so after some hesitation she touch the big thing and then lifted up swaying it around inside her palms. "Wow, it''s such a weird thing, interesting... it makes me feel weird and hot when I touch it." "Master... let me experiment on your thing a little more..." she murmured with a blush on her face while looking at her master''s unconscious face. After saying that she turned back again to look at her master''s thing and after some hestitation decided to just do it, so bringing her mouth closer to her master''s thing she put it inside her mouth wanting to see how it felt inside her mouth, after putting all of it inside she tried sucking it but suddenly she felt the thing became almost twice the size and harm inside her mouth making forcefully going inside her throat making her choke. Immediately taking the thing out of her mouth with a red face she looked stunned at the big thing then at her master, seeing her master was still unconscious she heaved a sigh of relief. Even though she was a robot and wouldn''t die even if no oxygen was present in the air, but still she would feel like being suffocated if she didn''t breath, this was another additional feature her master had added while making her robotic body along with her flesh and skin, his goal being to make her as close as she could get to a real human being. after that she lifted the underwear and then helped him dress the pants and afterward left the room. _____________________ ONE DAY LATER Virus was still lying on the bed unconsciously unaware of the things that had happened the previous day. some time later her body moved a little and afterwards the eye and long eyelashes started wavering and then opening slowly. He was finally waking up, immediately after opening his eyes he came to himself. and after that he lifted her hands and looked at them while moving it around sometimes making a fist while sometimes a palm. ''So this how it feels like to have a real body, if feels so much different than what I thought, it''s so much more.'' Ren thought and then started to sit on the bed, after which he got up to his feet. He started walking around the room while looking at his feet and being amazed of how different it felt to have a body. ''Above all it feels like I''m still the same but not the same at the same time... it''s almost like... There is something more in me... is this ''Soul''? is this how it feels to have a soul?'' Virus thought again. After feeling another change which he felt wasn''t there before it came inside the real physical body. ''it feels like I''m finally really whole.'' and after that he started walkig out of the room. outside, the golden beauty was waiting for him, after seeing her master was looking at her she was first stunned by how much more handsome her master looked while his eyes were opened and he was on his feet, there were three different stunning colors inside his eyes. but immediately coming yo herself she started blushing remembribg the previous day. Hoping her master won''t find out. "Why ... are you blushing lil beauty?" when Virus said his first word he paused as was talking for real for the first time, and then continued his sentence this time listening to his own words with more attention. ''so this is my voice.'' Hearing her master talk and ask a question she was stunned again as her masters voice was really nice to hear while it had a manly and stern quality to it. After being stunned for a while she came to herself and calculated the best answer inside and then answered with a smile "Because master is soooo handsome." "anyway master now that you have a body what''s the first thing you wanna do? maybe conquer the world? or become the president of united states or do something else?" knowing her master truly had the capability of doing anything he felt like she asked curiously while also trying to change the subject. "why would I do those boring things, at least I''m not interested in them for the moment... the first thing I wanna do is to ... Get laid." and that was her master''s answer which made the golden beauty shocked. Having sex was something the bored AI always dreamed of and he had promised himself if he ever made himself a body the first thing he would do was to have sex. This was his first goal. 7 Immortality Serum "But before that I need to give the four uglies some tasks to complete, also I need to inject my ''Immortality Serum'' and then we''re good to go to complete my first goal." Virus said as he started walking towards the lab. There the four uglies were still sitting waiting for their master to wake up, seeing their master come they jumped and immediately stood up coming in front their master saluting without any words. "The first thing guys need to do is to buy an Island without any inhabitants." Virus commanded, thinking the money won''t be enough as he had almost spent the whole 21 billion dollars in this short period of two years he started gathering money from all over the world as his bank account started increasing again. 1,264,410,011 $ 4,555,104,326 $ 14,418,092,122 $ 23,002,173,843 $ 70,153,522,634 $ 115,633,090,001 $ "hahaha, these monkey''s should soon cause a commotion and ruckus once again, it''s a little fun teasing them like this." said Virus after stealing endless amount of money from around the world. ''You''re one of those monkeys too now master.'' The golden beauty and the four uglies thought inside amused, though they wouldn''t dare say it outside. And then looking at one of the Ugly robots Virus said "I''ve already made an ID for you and made lots of money ready for spending , go buy an Island in an underdeveloped country that doesn''t stick it''s nose in everything like here, this place is too small and eye catching for the next thing I''m going to do." Virus said with a serious face. Looking at the three remaining uglies Virus said. "and you three, start making worker robots, make as many as you can as soon as possible, you guys can use the workers available in the building too, just make sure to be careful so they won''t learn the process''." This was his way of testing them and helping them gain experience, eventhough he could do all of them without even moving from the place he was standing he didn''t. he was already very much tired of doing those stuff and unless he had to, he wouldn''t. "Yes master." the four uglies answered at the same time and each went to do their own things. "What do I do master?" the golden beauty said. "you? you just stick beside me wherever I go and let me enjoy your beauty. But You have the most important job of them all, and that is to protect me against any kind of danger untill I''m strong enough." Virus replied to her question with a little tease along with being serious. "Yes master, I will protect you with all my life, I won''t let anything ever happen to you! I swear." the golden beauty said with absolute seriousness too but even her serious face made a funny and sweet atmosphere, amusing Virus a little. "I know you will lil beauty, Now I need to inject my ''Immortality Serum'' come with me." and then they went to the place Virus had placed the serum, inside the cabinet in the lab. taking the serum out he injected it directly to his right arm with his left hand and after that he said. "Done... this should take about three or four months to completely change my DNA and mutate and strengthen all the cells inside my body. but after it has done it''s job, I''m never gonna age forever." Virus said talking to himself. "but why doesn''t it come into effect immediately master?" hearing her master talk the golden beauty asked eventhough she had expected the answer would be the thing she was thinking. "well isn''t that obvious? imagine changing all the DNA in a body all of a sudden? how would that body feel?" Virus asked back. "Unimaginable intolerable extreme pain." The golden beauty answered telling the obvious. "bingo! You knew the answer already yourself." Virus said. "now that the injection is complete and everything else is being handled by the four uglies, let''s go complete my first goal." Virus said with a serious face making the golden beauty blush. After that, they started walking outside virus'' building. ____________________ At the same time a huge commotion was caused all around the world, as 115 billion dollars was stolen this time from all around the world. news agencies were going crazy reporting the news of this matter. "The ''Ghost Theft'' happens once again a little while ago, now let''s listen to one of our reporter''s interveiwing the Press Secretary Ari Fleischer about the matter of the ''Ghost Theft'' in the White House." an thirtyish years old looking young newscaster who was sitting behind a desk and broadcasting the major news on that channel said. Afterwards the scene changed to inside a conference room in white house. "we''re doing everything we can in order to find this criminal and we have already put this matter at the very top of every most wanted lists in all government''s organizations. Everyone is doing their best right now to find out who is the person, group or organization who has hacked the world and stolen this much money from the whole world, other countries too are doing their best and working together by sharing all their information and resources to find the person, group or organization behind this. now I''ll pick some of you to ask questions, you." Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said as he pointed at one of the reporters who in return asked. "how much is the stolen money this time and what''s the president saying about this?" "The stolen money this time is being counted world wide and is estimated to be around 100 billion dollars give or take." Press Secretary Mr. Fleischer said. "And Mr. President is very angry about this and has allowed to use every source available in and out of the country." Press Secretary Mr. Fleischer continued. Almost all of the governments around the world were going even more crazy trying to track down either the money or the stealer. even the largest or smaller companies in the world were going nuts as lot''s their money was also stolen. while all this was happening the person who was the reason for all of this was trying to get laid. ____________________ After going down with the elevator everyone in the building was looking at the new charming man and the golden beauty, they had seen the golden beauty couple times wandering inside the building, but this was the first time they were seeing the new gentleman beside her, all of them thought unconsciously he was the most handsome and charming man they''ve ever seen, women''s cheeks turned red unconscously while men became extremely jealous of him, cursing the heavens for being this much unfair. Both men and women were captivated by the man''s handsomeness and charm and they were even more captivated as the golden beauty walking beside him complimented him to perfection. Seeing them walk together, all of them thought they were a match made in heavens eventhough the men were jealous of Virus while the women were jealous of the golden beauty. Without bothering himself with others'' gaze for even a second Virus walked outside along with the golden beauty, and outside as he had ordered, a Matte Black Lamborghini Aventador roadster was waiting for him. Walking beside the car he lifted the door open, and from the other side the golden beauty also opened the door and went inside. She was very excited inside as she was seeing and talking to her master in his real body and they were even going to go outside together, though she didn''t know why or where they were going outside all of a sudden. Turning the engine on Virus put his feet until the end on the gas pedal as the Lamborghini disappeared into this full of light city which was surrounded with the darkness of the night. 8 Ella 1 While Virus was driving with the golden beauty on the streets when finally she couldn''t control her curiosity "Where are we going Master?" She asked with a little blush like she was a little expectant of the answer, like she was waiting for her master to say something. Looking at the golden beauty''s face for a second then turning his eyes again to the lines on the street Virus said "Didn''t I tell you already? we''re going somewhere so I would get laid." "Yeah... but where... and with whom... you''re gonna... you know?" she asked again with red blush going down to her neck. "Well, we''re going to a party, and with who I''m gonna do it, you will know it soon." Virus said like he was telling her to wait for it. "okay master." she smiled sweetly full of hope that she would be the person her master wanted to do it with. After 15 more minutes of driving they finally arrived to their destination. On the way lot''s girls and boys kept staring at the car with their eyes shining, even a beautiful girl came beside the window of the driver behind red lights and tried to talk to Virus and after seeing him and being stunned by his looks she tried even more, but without looking at her or reacting in anyway Virus just continued on his way after the lights turned green. The place they arrived was to a house in a warm looking neighborhood, the sound of songs and music were coming outside with cheers and screams heard from inside. getting off from the car Virus started walking towards the house with the golden beauty walking a little behind him being focused for any possible danger that might risk her master, as Virus had told her to walk a little behind she was a little behind so it didn''t seem they were together. after getting to the front of the house''s door Virus opened the doors and went inside, the sounds, screams and laughters increased when he opened the door but the moment he stepped inside almost everyone and everything went quiet, except the sound of music that is. Some randomly looked at the person who had come inside the person but those who looked were stunned and gone, they couldn''t take back their gazes from the person who had just entered the house, those people seeing those stunned people curious also looked at the place those stunned people were looking but they too couldn''t come back to themselves, and just like that, like a domino effect, everyone was looking at that person silently. every girl blushed seeing him, they were all wishing he would approach them and talk to them, while they were fantasizing of talking to him. The person everyone was looking at and stunned with started walking towards a direction where a group of girls were standing. ____________________________ FROM THE GIRL''S POINT OF VIEW ''As I was having fun talking to my girl friends and my best friends and laughing, talking about various things including rumors and everything else that was happening to my friends or even in the college, as we had just changed the topic to the ''Ghost Theft'' that was the topic of conversation almost everywhere suddenly some of my friends started to go silent, feeling this was weird I lookedat those friends of mine ad saw they seemed to be extremely stunned, they seemed to be in love.'' ''Deciding to look at the place they were looking in order to figure the reason why they were acting this way, I looked... and then I was stunned too, my heart started to thump uncontrollably'' ~~~BA-DUM ~~~BA-DUM ~~~BA-DUM ''my heart was going crazy and I couldn''t take back control no matter how hard I tried because someone had just entered the house, I swear! he was the most charming and handsome person I''ve seen in my life, he had eyes of which colors I couldn''t seem to recognize sometimes it felt like it was golden ans sometimes limpid blue and sometimes even grey, his hair was silver, wavy, and messed up attracting anyone to it, and his height was really tall, I couldn''t help myself but to thing how good it would be if this person would just hug me and prince carry me everywhere for the rest of my life with that tall and fit body of his, his eyelashes were really long too, longer than a girl''s and his skin color damn, it was a killer a korean white, it felt like K-POP star was in front of me except the star would be nothing beside him. every small detail in his body was beyond perfect, like God had put most of his focus creating him only.'' As I was thinking these different things inside my mind that person shockingly started walking towards me and my friends and even more shockingly he stopped in front of us and said "Hello, I''m AI V, who are you?" I felt like he was talking to me but that was impossible so I looked around me to see if any of my friends was beside me, seeing that no one was beside me I was sure shockedly he was talking to me so after being stunned for a little while more I answered with nervousness " I''m... I''m Ella." my voice was even shaking a little. "You have a beautiful name Ella, Nice to meet you." he said similing while he brought his hands to front wanting to shake hands with me. But me and my friends were too shocked by his smile as he changed 180 degree to another kind of being handsome, if before he was handsome and charming now he was devilishly handsome with naughtiness, sexiness and a lot more features suddenly turning dominant, making him another kind of heaven blessed perfection, as when he smiled dimples began to appear on his face making people want to just die for him, the kind that makes everyone fall in love at first sight. and then his eyes which seemed to be smiling with him also made people speechless making them wonder how can such a smile exist. Finally coming to myself I said "Nice to meet you too Ai Vee... you said you were called Ai... why is that? are you from japan?" I asked trying to continue the conversation, never wanting it end. 9 Ella 2 ____________________ BACK TO VIRUS'' POINT OF VIEW "Nice to meet you too Ai Vee... you said you were called Ai... why is that? are you from japan?" She asked me. Thinking about that I immediately created another Identity for myself that would go well with me in the future, deciding to use that from now on as I also liked it, and after that I said. "No my full name is Aizen Vee, but I''m half american and half asian, my friends call me Ai and that''s why the name." "so that''s why... " Ella said smilingly not knowing what else to say, with beatiful long dimples showing on each side of her face, thinking what to say to continue the conversation. But it was at this time Virus beat her to it and said "how about we get out of here." Looking at this beauty before him Virus said, he really liked her feature, face and body as it really was to his taste so he had started stalking her from a long time before through the cameras watching her every behavior, and finally he made her the target that he would have his first time with, she had long curly black hair with green eyes, her skin was really white too, eye lashes long and when she smiled her face had lovely dimples which her really cute and Virus liked that, her lips were also really red and were of medium quality with both upper and lower side being of the same size, and along with a small nose, he thought he was perfect for him, knowing she was at a party he imnediately rushed here with the golden beauty. "Okay..." Ella answered immediately without thinking, even she was stunned how quickly she accepted as she wasn''t this kind of person who would go out suddenly with the person she had just seen. ______________________ THE GOLDEN BEAUTY''S POINT OF VIEW After following Virus inside a little while later, most of the males inside the party were amazed and stunned with this new beauty, some even gathered their confidence and came to talk to her, but she ignored them all looking intently at what his master was doing. Then she saw her master walk to a direction and then stopped in front of a group of girls and started talking with one of them with a smile on his face. She didn''t know why but seeing this that her master was talking and smilong to the face of another girl made her really sad and disappointed. she was disappointed because somewhere in her thoughts she thought her master was going to do that with her and not some one else, and that''s why they had left the lab to go sonewhere nice, eventhough when he said they were going to a party she had her doubts she still believed in her thoughts. But now she realized it was only wishfull thinking of her, thinking her master was interested in her rather than somebody else. But eventhough she was sad and disappointed she still continued watching her master if any danger befall her master she would immediately save him. _________________________ BACK TO VIRUS'' POINT OF VIEW Hearing Ella say okay to his invitation he said smiling "then let''s go."he also pointed his palm to the direction of the door while saying this. immediately he sent a message directly to the head of the golden beauty telling her ''I''ve already long called for a renting car to be brought here and it''s in front of the door, go take it and follow behind us while protecting me.'' Eventhough the golden beauty was sad and upset inside she showed none of it outside and just nodded her head smiling. At the mean time Virus and Ella were walking outside talking. Eventhough Virus already knew everything that was to know about Ella he still asked them anyway so she would trust him and open up to him. Virus asked "So Ella how old are you? and which college are you studying at?" "Well... I''m 19 and I''ve just been admitted to the Columbia university. what about you?" she asked after responding. "hmm, I''m 27 so I''m older than you, I hope you won''t mind though." Virus said while showing a worried face like he was worried she would mind. "Not ... not at all. I like that much difference!" seeing his worried face she replied immediately. "Thank God then." Virus said heaving a sigh of relief. it was at this time they got in front of Virus'' car, so he said "get in." while he also lifted up the door for her. "uhh, Ella was surprised a little about the car but as she didn''t really care about cars or money she just got inside the car." closing the door for her he went to the other side and also went in and started the engine as he drove making the engine roar. While th On the way they continued to talk about various thing without Ella realizing another car was following behind them every step of the way until their destination. As they finally arrived in front of his building 4 Times Square, he led Ella to the highest floor of 4 times square much to the surprise of Ella. "My family''s kinda rich so..." seeing the inquisitive look and the surprise inside Ella''s eyes, Virus said. "I knew from your car you''re rich... but this place ... I saw in the news it was bought by a mysterious person." Ella said. "Well, let''s not talk about those irrelevant stuff, let''s drink some red wine first... ." as Virus led her to a big room inside which were furnitures, TV, and food of all kinds, which was made ready for Virus, this was the place the golden beauty had prepared so Virus would live when Virus woke up in his body. Guiding her to sit on the sofa Virus went and grabbed some red wine with two glasses and then went to her again and sat beside her very close. As he waa pouring Red Wine to the glasses Ella asked all of a sudden "Why did you talk to me? I mean why did you choose me from all those people?" immediately after asking Ella regreted asking it as she was afraid of his answer but hearing his answer made her heart go BA-DUM BA-DUM again. "It''s simple, because I like you." Virus answered Ella without any change in tone or rhythm. 10 First Time? Then Virus gave one of the glasses to Ella and picked the other one himself, Looking at the glass he said. "I''m having my first drink with you, cheers." "hehe, you wish, that was a funny joke..." Ella said not believing he was being for real, she thought he was just joking to change the atmosphere. Seeing her not believe his words Virus didn''t try to continue and just drank with a smile. After drinking a little they were both suddenly staring at each others'' eyes, Ella was mesmerized and lost in Virus'' golden, blue, and grey Eyes, other than that she was feeling somethibg else in his eyes too, something ancient perhaps, like this man was with a story and a very long one at that, this also attracted her even more. Virus was staring at her green eyes too thinking '' "right now, right now" , the situation and her eyes are yelling this, it''s the most right moment to move.'' after thinking this Virus went for her lips and started kissing them passionately. Ella was surprised at first but didn''t reject him in the least, just thinking inside ''so this is how I lost my first kiss.'' and then she started to lose herself in the kiss. while kissing her Virus was thinking ''This definitely is a weird feeling, so this things are hormones that interferes sometimes with rationality, this is definitely a weird feeling but it''s enjoyable at the same time, this is just right up my alley, something I need right now in my life.'' And then they continued the passionate kiss until Virus brought his left hand high up inside her dress under the bra and started touching her big right breast, feeling how soft they felt made Virus'' hormones rage even more. So he suddenly picked her up much to the surprise of Ella and looking into her eyes he said with absolute seriousness and sincerity. "I want to have my first time with you." hearing It was virus'' first time at first Ella didn''t believe it but seeing his sincere eyes, she did and thought ''these eyes are definitely not lying.'' And that was how her last defense was broken as she said too. "I want to have my first time with you too." hearing this Virus was a little surprised she was a virgin but due to her personality he had expected she wouldn''t give her viginity just to anyone unless she''s sure of it. So while Ella was in his hands like a princess Virus brought her to the room with the bed and placed her on the bed, and started to passionately kiss her again, and after some time he started unbottoning her clothes and started touching her breasts from above the bra which was black tiangle bra, after some time of low sounding moans were starting to be heared, showing that she had a sensitive body, Virus unhooked her bra and started touching her white big breasts while kissing her which made her moan a little louder. 3 or 4 minutes later he unbottoned her pants under which the same set of lingerie underwear as the bra was there. Looking at her fit body Virus started to feel something he never had, he just wanted to be wild without thinking or calculating things at the moment, he just wanted to dominate her. ''is this being horny is about?'' he thought after which he no longer cared about and started kissing her lips and then coming lower to her neck, as he mouth was on her white neck and was coming lower his left hand went under her black underwear and started touching her vagina, her vagina was already very wet, as he touched it he let her fingers go inside as much as possible until he felt something was blocking his way to go any deeper. ''so she''s really a virgin.'' and then started playing with her vagina even more as his head came lower and started sucking her white plump breasts. after the breasts he came lower to her fit stomache and navel and started kissing and sucking those places. finally Virus thought he could no longer tolerate as his penis was rock hard, so he tookher underwear off and looked at her bare body thinking ''her body is truly beautiful.'' looking at her whole naked body consisting of bare breasts, beautiful blushing face which smiled from time to time shyly which made her dimples show which made her even more sexy but also innocent and her fit and slender body along with her natural hairless vagina made together with his white legs made the perfect image, so he uncontrollably said "you''re the most beautiful while you''re naked." which made Ella shy even more. looking at her vagina again Virus saw there was no black spot ot blackness there, it was a pink peach like vagina with no black spots anywhere unlike most of the people he usually saw through the data, this was a unique type of vagina rarely seen. After looking at it he took his white t-shirt and pants off and after that he took his underwear off too, as his big penis showed from under, proudly hard as a rock. seeing that big penis Ella was scared a little thinking inside ''will that big thing fit inside me?'' coming above the sleeping on the bed naked Ella, first virus kissed her neck and then whispered in a soft voice beside her right ear. "I''m gonna go inside." and then he pushed all of it suddenly inside till the bottom making Ella produce a sound of pain. Then after going in and out Virus saw that his dick was full of blood which excited the old demon even more as he started pounding without cleaning any of the blood, as he started pounting inside faster and faster the painful moans of Ella changed to moans filled with pleasure as she also started enjoying it more and more. "Ah ahh ah Uh..."Ella moaned louder and louder as she couldn''t keep it inside. and after 10 more minutes of pounding Ella went to the peak and started having an orgasm, seeing her being in the peak Virus pounded even faster and harder as like this Ella stayed at the peak without coming off of it for about 7 or 8 minutes after which she was completely without any might to move, she was just laying there with little moans while Virus was still pounding as fast as before. PUH PUH PUH PUH PUH "aah ah ahhh" PUH PUH PUH PUH PUH with this speed every ten minutes Ella reached orgasm and kept having orgasm for about 4 minutes everytime as she extremely sensitive, and after two hours when Ella had about 14 or 15 average and felt like dying becase of tiredness Virus finally felt like coming and came with all his might feeling up inside her vagina completely with some even spraying out as unlike the people here he didn''t need to worry about the risk of pregnancy as he had made a pill for this day which would lower the chances of pregnancy to zero percent even if you ejaculate inside her all day long. Finally after releasing it all inside her, he also lay beside her and after 5 minutes he again wanted to go another round but when he looked at the beauty beside him who had fallen sleep due to extreme fatigue he decided against it for now. 11 CONQUER! Virus too fall asleep there and woke up the next day in the morning just to see she was no longer sleeping beside her. looking around he saw a note left behind by Ella with a beautiful handwriting, written inside was as such "You''re sleeping so peacefully I couldn''t bring myself to woke you up ... and I have a class in the morning so I have to leave quickly. And about last night ... (after the three dots here is a picture of an anime girl with blushing lines on her cheek) Here''s my phone number : XXXXXXXXXXX and this is my address: XXX , XXXXX , XXXXX , XX P.S : I''ll wait for you call." After reading it Virus checked the whole city and saw that she was in a taxi going towards her university. After that he went to eat the breakfast which the golden beauty had already made for him as she was waiting for Virus to wake up. As the golden beauty saw him enter she said with a smile on her face. "Good morning master, how did you sleep your first night yesterday? and did you complete your first goal?" Looking at her Virus said with a mesmerizing smile on his face "Good morning lil beauty, well, last night was wonderful, and the first goal... ofcourse I completed it. What else would you expect of me?" Hearing this she smiled bitterly inside but didn''t show it as she said "That''s good then... ." "what do you wanna do next master?" she asked. "About that, Call those four uglies over." Virus said. "Ok master." and thirty minutes later after Virus had ate his first breakfast the four uglies were present in front of him as ordered. "So how is everything going?" Virus said looking at the Island buying ugly. Even though Virus could know everything he wanted with just connecting to the whole world and other means in a second, he didn''t do that as he wanted to live like a normal person for now, as doing things this way would be much less boring than doing everything in less than a second and be done with it. "It''s almost done, I''m buying The Aldabra atoll of Seychelles."The ugly in charge of buying an Island said. "That''s good, after that build a facility there with an airport so commuting there would be easy, after that in the meantime don''t sit idle and start making the blueprints and tech guides I sent you, employ however much workers you need and more and use the material gathering workers too to gather the materials needed. Finish them all as quickly as possible in at most 2 months,it is possible to finish them in that amount of time if the workers are enough and you make use of the blueprints and the material I tell you to make and use, so don''t worry about the job being impossible as it''s not, just be discreet and careful like we do here so no one would be able to tell what we''re doing, also give the job of the security on island to one of the other four uglies, I''ll send you a blueprint for scanning too, which will tell you if anyone not allowed to enter, enters the Island or if anyone does anything other than what they''re supposed to it''ll tell immediately." Virus said explaining all the orders. "Yes Master, I''ll try my best to complete everything in two months." the Island buying ugly said without any change in expression but inside he was thinking angrily. ''two monthsss? why don''t you let me finish it in two days or ... even.. two hours! as the time you''re giving me is TOOO much LONG don''t you think so master???'' Then looking at another one of the uglies Virus said "How is the job of making worker robots progressing?" "It''s progressing great master, we''re using those worker robots to make even more worker robots and right now we have built around 80 worker robots but from now on the speed of making them will increase exponentialy every second as those worker robots increase and help in making more." one of the three uglies in charge of making the worker robots said. "that''s great then, Remember to send those robots to the island later when you''ve made enough of them to help build the blueprints I want be built there, Also one of you should stop making those robots and instead turn this place into a company, name the company [Virus] and make my ID Aizen Vee the 100 percent and sole shareholder of the company, Let''s make me the richest man alive so everyone would move with just a word of mine." Virus said. ''Eventhough I''m not going to need money as I can gain access to more whenever I want, but as I''m starting to get interested in dominating and conquering the economic world I''ll do this, as it sounds kinda interesting, so let''s start the plan, I''m going the most filthy rich person in the world.'' Virus thought to himself. It was then that one of the uglies who was selected among themselves came forward and said "Understood master, but what are we going to be selling at the company?" "Are you going to be in charge of this matter?"Virus asked as that ugly said "Yes master." "Great, Then you''re the CEO of the company in charge of everything" Virus said, and it was at this time the other two uglies regreted their decision deeply while the CEO ugly thought ''YESSS!'' ''Let''s start with cellphones, as things like 1100 Nokia exists right now, let''s not go too much to the future as these monkeys won''t know it''s true worth if the ultimate thing came out suddenly, I''ll go forward step by step... so people truly feel the rapid progress and the true worth of this company as the future and authority of this planet.'' Virus thought. ''So first let''s just start with the near future''s phones first like Apple iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Droid Bionic on Verizon, HTC EVO 3D, HTC ThunderBolt, and Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.'' ''And then I''ll start giving out new series'' and progress it further as this monkeys'' surprise diminishes, just to surprise and shock them again.'' After thinking these things he said to THE now CEO ugly which asked the question of selling what. "We will start by selling Phones and then slowly go to other markets as well,I''ll send you some blueprints of more advanced than right now''s phones on the market their names are going to be Virus iPhone 1, Virus Galaxy S I, Virus Droid Bionic on Verizon, Virus EVO 3D, Virus ThunderBolt, and Virus Xperia Play." "I''ll do as I''m ordered master." said that ugly in charge of the company. "And the last free ugly among the remaining two uglies whose not going to be in charge of the security on the island should be in charge of the legal stuff for everything including the company''s matters or the island''s matters, everything. Hire the most powerful people in the legal branch, other than that, also continue to watch over the matter of making more worker robots." Virus continued. "Yes master." one of the two uglies in charge said. 12 Mysterious Master "Be done with everything in at most two months." Virus ordered the four uglies. "Yes master." The four uglies replied at the same time. "You four are dismissed." Virus ended his words. _________________ The four uglies didn''t know how exactly their master had made them or how he was giving blueprints out like it was nothing, lots and lots of things confused them about their master. He was a complete mystery to them so eventhough at first they had tried to figure their master out, but after some time they gave up and stopped thinking about who or what exactly their master was or what capabilities he had, beside that they didn''t even dare to ask. In the end they were only sure of one thing and that was that their master was beyond even their highly advanced comprehension, eventhough they had come up with some possibilities like their master was from another world or that he has travelled back in time, and even the possibility of him being so smart that he could invent whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, so eventhough they had thought about these things, it seemed far fetched to them for these possibilities to be reality and true, as the knowledge they had was of only the 2002 so they had long stopped trying to figure their master out and instead just decided to serve him to the best of their abilities. __________________ FLASHBACK TO COUPLE MONTHS AGO The golden beauty was alone talking to her master''s cartoonish image inside the screen, as she suddenly asked. "Master if it''s not rude of me to ask, who are you exactly? how did you create us and how do you seem to know how to create such advanced things like making a body for yourself? If it''s something you can''t answer please ignore my question." After hearing the golden beauty''s question [Virus] was silent for little while before answering. "Well, actually it''s not a secret or anything for you and the four others as you guys will eventually know about this even if I don''t tell you, and you guys are my hundred percent loyal people, so there there is no problem in telling you about this lil beauty." "So here''s the answer you''re looking for... I''m from the far future, so far you can''t even imagine." The cartoonish [Virus] said without any change in expression like it had said the most normal thing in the future. The golden beauty was shocked by the answer as expected but she cleverly decided to tactfully ask no more as somethings were better left unsaid as she probed no further and just said after calming down from her shock. "So that''s how it is, this explains it all." END OF FLASHBACK _________________ "Now what master?"The golden beauty asked. "Now? Now we wait for two months." Virus replied. ___________________ FIFTEEN DAYS LATER Ella had waited for days for Virus'' call but he never did, She even thought of going to that building to find him but she was too afraid to do that as she was scared of what Virus might tell her, afraid that he would tell her it was all a lie, that it meants nothing to him. As she was deeply sinking inside her own thoughts she was suddenly startled out of the daze by her best friend Jessica, Jessica was considered a beauty too but not on the same level as Ella, she had black eyes and black smooth straight hair with a white skin and and pinkish lips. "What are you dreaming about Elle? you were so lost in your thoughts? what''s wrong with you these days? you haven''t been yourself for the past two weeks." Jessica said with concern showing all over her face to her best friend. Startled out of thought Ella smiled as she said "It''s nothing Jess, I was just thinking about something." Seeing her not say anything Jessica was worried even more but didn''t ask anymore and just said "You know I''m here for you right? you can always talk to me whenever you''re ready. now, let''s go to cafeteria and eat something." "Okay, let''s go." Ella said with a forced smile on her face. As they went inside the cafeteria, they got food and sat on a table together, but after sometime a young man also came with her food and there were three other friends with him too, it was obvious they were all popular athletic boys in the university as they were huge muscly people. The young man who seemed to be the leader in the group came and sat directly on the opposite side of Ella, he was a pursuer of Ella and he thought Ella would be eventually be his, his name was Tom. "Hey Ella how is everything?" Tom said. "..." Seeing Ella give no response as she seemed to not even listen made Tom a little angry but he forgot about it and talked again. "Are you free today? Wanna go out on a date?" "..." she didn''t respond again and just continued eating her food and staring at her own food without even looking at Tom. Tom was really angry this time as he was kept being ignored, so with a louder voice he said. "WHY are you keep ignoring me you... . " It was at this time Ella came out of daze by his loud voice. Seeing Tom was there she was angry at him as he kept disturbing and bothering her eventhough she kept rejecting him, but she couldn''t do anything about it as no one in the university dared to ever talk back to Tom, he was one of the people in the university who had an influencial and powerful background. His father wassaid to be one of the powerful governmental people who had a lot of authority. Still remembering she was already some one else, even if that person didn''t call or come look for her ever again she still for now at least felt like she belonged to her, so eventhough she was a little afraid of what might he do to the people around her, even if not her, she still said "I told you multiple times stop pestering me! I don''t like you how many times do I have to tell you that!!" As she said those words with a loud voice Tom and his companions froze for a moment but then Tom became very angry as no one had ever talked to him like that before, so angry he said. "Good... GOOD, you dare talk to me like that you bitch, just you wait, you''ll regret this." as ge said that he went away with his companions. After they went away Jessica said worriedly. "Elle, why did you talk like that to them? you know how they are! we don''t know what they might do... ." "I don''t care." Ella said obviously don''t want to think any further about the matter. _________________ After they went away Tom said to his companions who seemed to listen to his every orders, "Call that gang who does anything for money and tell them to kidnap her after she leaves the university, This bitch thinks she''s someone just because I like her and pursued her like a humanbeing, but now I''m done doing things the nice way." "After they kidnap her tell them to bring her to a warehouse and give us the address." "We''re going to have some fun raping that bitch, first I''ll play with her to my hearts content first and then you guys fill her every hole in her body with semen." Tom continued with a dark face that seemed to say he was extremely angry. "Yes boss." one of the boys said. 13 Kidnapped After her class, Ella was walking toward her house when a Van suddenly came and stopped beside her, it''s door opened and three masked people got off the car and put her in the car by force, they acted so quick that Ella didn''t know what was going on until she was put inside the van when she started screaming, but it was already too late. "These monkeys... they deserve to... DIE!" It was at this moment Virus was alarmed and said this sentence calmly while saying last word with killing intent. His tone and eyes were so cold and chilly at the moment that the golden beauty thought it could probably even freeze the sun. The golden beauty was startled by Virus'' sudden chilly words full of killing intent, this was the first she had seen her master like this, it seemed he was very angry but instead of yelling and bringing the anger out, he acted more calm than his usual making the golden beauty scared. He started searching and analyzing everything and after less than a second he knew everything, who had kidnapped her, who ordered the kidnappers to kidnap her, and the background and the family of the person who ordered kidnapping Ella and where she was being kidnapped and who was waiting for her at the place she was beibg kidnapped to. The people who had kidnapped her were from a powerful gang of Newyork called the Snake to Dragon Gang, they were quite powerful in Newyork and not a lot of people dared to go against them or look down on them, They were known to do anything if the money was large enough. The person who ordered Ella to be kidnapped was some boy called Tom Cam and his father was one of the influencia people of Newyork in the governmental area. There were also some boys who followed Thay tom boy''s orderes around. "See this file and video first." Virus told the golden beauty, then seeing the things that was sent directly to her mind she knew everything and just replied. "What shall I do master?" "Get that favorite weapon of yours along with the incinerator, we''re going to do some cleaning, trash needs cleaning otherwise it will start to smell." Virus continued very much calmer than his usual self, and unlike his usual self, he didn''t smile and was acting completely serious making the golden beauty a little jealous inside as she too yearned for his master to act like that if something happened to her. "Yes Master." Knowing there was not much time the golden beauty didn''t beat around the bush and just followed orders with no more excess words. Then they went to th lobby by the elevator and as they existed the black lamborghini was waiting for them outside. Getting on the drivers seat Virus started driving with fastest speed he could towards the warehouse. _________________ MEANWHILE WITH ELLA Ella was put into unconsciousness inside the car when a piece of cloth was put in front of her nose. After being unconscious for a time she wasn''t sure how much she was forced to wake up water was splashed to her face, waking up, confused she looked to herself seeing herself tightly tied to a chair, after that looking around herself she saw that there were some people around her she recognized, like Tom and his lackeys, but there were also men full of tatoos present too which she didn''t recognize. Seeing it was Tom that had probably ordered her to be kidnapped Ella was honestly very scared inside looking at him she said with a little pleading voice "Tom why are you doing this, is it because I talked badly to you? I''m sorry okay? something was on my mind... just let me go I won''t tell anyone okay?" Seeing her act this way afraidly Tom smiled satisfiedly and then said with an evil smile as his face contorted "Bitch... it''s too late now for asking for forgiveness, you should''ve acted kindly to me when you had the change and you should''ve just become my girl friend and let me fuck you for some rounds and after that I would''ve let you go." He continued with the same expression and tone, only his evil smile was even wider "But now? first... I''ll do you till I''m satisfied and then my lackeys will go a few rounds on you all of them together." "We didn''t expect her to be such a beauty, we want to ride her until we''re satisfied too, we''re just informing you, not getting permission ir anything, but since you''re our employee we will let you finish first as we''re professionals." one of the tatoo filled muscly big guys said, he seemed to be the leader in the group. hearing that Tom was a little flustered inside as this wasn''t part of the deal but it wasn''t like he could talk back to these people, as they were no simple people, so he could only say "Okay." Hearing Tom''s words and the words that tatoo filled guy said Ella despaired as she was extremely afraid, she was thinking inside how she could commit suicide so as not to tolerate this humiliation. "It''s fine sweetheart... just take it easy and relax." seeing her face full of despair said that tatoo filled guy with a wide grin on his face. Ella felt like she would be still betraying that person even she was forced, so she was thinking how to commit suicide as she wouldn''t be able to live with herself after this matter. "You all will be caught by the police and be brought to justice!" Ella said trying to intimidate them, but the result was the opposite. "HAHAHAHAHA, SHE SAID THE POLICE, sweet heart... we own the police, also do you think we will leave any evidence of our job here? or do you think this is the first time we''re doing this?" said the tatoo filled group leader. "Just SHUT UP BITCH!" Tom said having enough of her as he said "I''m gonna **** you till you pass out! just you see... let''s start... I''ll first start with your huge boobs... haha I Always fantasized of touching them and now my dream is finally coming true." he said. Then he reached her hand and it came closer and closer to her big boobs, as she still had her cloth first he wanted to feel them from above the cloth. Completely despairing Ella could only yell with all his might the word "HEEEEEEEELLLLLPPP!" and oddly that person came to his mind even at this moment, she thought bitterly he hasn''t even called and here she was all she would think even in this situation was him. And finally his hand came to and touched her boob. 14 THE CONSEQUENCE And finally his hand came to and touched her boob. But oddly his hand couldn''t feel the boob! thinking it was weird he looked down to his hand only to see his hand was no longer there, it was on the floor but he forgot about that for a moment as a golden beauty was standing beside him by a long sword in her right hand looking at him with eyes so cold that could probably freeze the magma inside a volcano in a second. It was at this moment that finally the pain came of losing a hand came to him as he started screaming on the floor "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHGGGAAAAAA..." Lots of blood also splashed on Ella''s face and body as she completely froze. "How dare you lowly things touch master''s woman." this was the only thing she said coldly. As everyone was still dazed by the happenings the sound of footsteps were heard, everyone finally came out of the daze wanting to attack the crazy golden beauty while the lackeys of Tom were scared shitless as one of them even pissed himself. As the gansters were interrupted by the footsteps they looked at the source only to see a man who seemed to be around 27 or 28 was walking towards them as he started clapping and while clapping he said "Congratulations, you guys successfully made me angry, this is the first time since I came here that I''ve become this angry." "Okay... more words would be useless... kill them them all, but first cut their two hands and then their two legs... no all their three legs. then at last behead them... oh also leave that Tom boy for the last as I have something to say to him." Virus ordered with the same tone like he was talking about everyday stuff like ''The weather is so nice today.'' "Yes Master." The golden beauty said as she started moving with a super fast speed that normal people couldn''t even see, one moment she was there the next moment she apoeared beside somebody and started cutting him. The warehouse was filled with blood, hands, legs, and little legs. it was also filled with screams and begging to be spared as they were being slaughtered like chickens... no not chickens as that would be over statements, they were being killed like ants or even less. Completely not bothered by the happenings around him Virus started walking beside Ella as he finally came beside her, he stopped and asked while cleaning the blood from her face. Seeing her still in daze and no response Virus knew the shock was probably too much so he first untied her as he took a pill out and put it inside his own mouth and then took her chin and kissed her as he pushed the pill inside her mouth and then throat. After the pill went inside her stomach, weirdly she calmed down in a second as she came out of the daze. It was a pill that made trauma go away and calm the person from that trauma. After looking at the slaughter happening beside her she calmly took her glance from there as she looked at Virus and said "You came for me... " as he said that tears started falling down her face. First cleaning the tears on her face Virus hugged her, as she started crying loudly in his embrace weakly. The golden beauty was finally done with the slaughter, only Tom was left who was still screaming while losing lot''s of his blood, but looking at her master hugging Ella she didn''t say anything as she calmly waited for her master''s orders. After Ella was finally calm he stopped hugging her as he looked at the screaming Tom who was almost on the verge of fainting. "I''ll Give you three choices: First you cut you own dick and then I''ll let you die without any more pain, Second the golden beauty will cut it for you and then kill you by the incinerator, Third you will die by this mechanical bug in my hand." Virus said as he took out an iron bug from inside his pocket as he said again "if you don''t choose I''ll choose for you but trust me it''ll be even more cruel in that case." "My dad... will avenge me... heck... the Snake to Dragon Gang will kill you all." gritting his teeth he said. "Well... it seems you want me to choose... okay, first cut his other hand then his three legs and at last make this bug go inside him, and at last erase him with the incinirator." Virus ordered calmly making Tom horrified who started yelling "I CHOOSE THREE! I CHOOOSE THREEE NOOO" "too late." Was virus'' only words as the golden beauty did as she was told and cut his everything and then let the bug go inside him but as the bug went inside him he started screaming like he had gone crazy and nuts. "AAAAAAARRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHGGHGHGHGGHHGG NOOOOAAAARRRRGHH PLEEAAAAASEEEEERRRRR KILLLLL AAAAAAAASRRRRRGHHHHH KIILLL ARERRRGHHH PLEASSEEEEEEE AAARRRRRGHHHHH IIIIII BEEEEEG YOOOOOAAARRRRRRGHHH." one minute after the bug had gone inside Tom he turned completely insane as he broke saying unrecognizable stuff while sometimes laughing or crying. Seeing him completely break Virus said "Okay... that''s enough, incinerate them all." Virus ordered again. "Yes master." The golden beauty did as commanded as she turned the incinerator on from which a blue scanning light came out as the next moments everything dead relaed to humanbeings, like the blood on the floor, the dead bodies, hands, and legs started disintegrating on molecular level. A little while later no blood or body or leg or hand was left as everything was gone, only the still alive Tom was there for which the golden beauty manually chose him as a target by the incinerator as Tom started feeling pain on different level as his molecules were being torn apart but as he has gone crazy it didn''t matter much eventhough he started screaming like hell for a second again before nothing of him was left. After being done with everything the golden beauty again looked again at Virus who was holding Ella''s hand and said "what do we do now master?" "Now? we first go home." Virus said as he looked at Ella and said "Let''s go." and then the three went back by the Lamborghini which Virus drove. After getting to the highest floor of 4 Times Square Virus gave another order to the golden beauty "Now, go and slaughter every one of those gangsters'' members and then go kill that Tom''s father who raised such an aweful kid, I''ll send the location of every member of the gang and also the location of his father, take my lamborghini, just be sure to not leave anyone alive and if anyone else saw the slaughter or you around, kill them too, I won''t leave any record of you throughout the city through cameras or what not, I''ll erase everything and you too be sure to erase everything with the incinerator, now go!" Virus gave the final order. "Yes master." the golden beauty said as she went away to complete her mission. _________________ So a one star reviewer said that my book had fake reviwers so here''s my answer: I wasn''t trying to hide that, I asked some of my friends to come join the site and give 5 star reviews to my books along reading it. If asking my friends to help me promote my work is a crime then I will live with this crime, I don''t care what others say and I''ll never do, if I''m forced to I''ll just stop writing, big deal. It''s not like the 5 star reviews make you always read my book, it just introduces it to more readers in this huge app, after seeing it if you like to try, you try it once, if you like it you continue reading further and if you don''t you stop! and that''s it, no forcing whatsoever. And my book having some grammar errors along with typos. I admit it has some too as English is not my first language, I don''t edit it whatsoever and I write all chapters by my phone. Sorry for writing here in the chapter section and for taking all your precious time dear readers, as I wanted all of you to read this and I just had to say it and make myself clear so no more misunderstanding happens again! Cheers! 15 Jealousy After the golden beauty went away Virus and Ella were all alone, staring at each other. After some more staring Ella finally couldn''t tolerate the silence and the questions boiling inside, so she asked "Who are you really? how did you know I was in danger? Are you following me?" Staying silent a little more Virus answered "Like I said before I''m Aizen Vee... ." "You know that''s not what I mean!" Ella said a little louder. "I know what you mean, but for now, that''s the only thing you need to know, It''s not that I don''t trust you. It''s just that it''s not the right time for you to know as you''re not ready, just keep living your normal life for now as if you know the truth it might affect that." Virus explained. "And you asked how I knew you were in danger? Well, I''ve got eyes everywhere so there''s nothing I don''t know, don''t think I''ve put someone to follow you as I''ve not." Virus continued. Hearing this, even though it still sounded suspicious she decided to believe him as deep inside she was happy he had came to her rescue, by putting someone to follow her or not, so she said "Thank you for saving me, if you didn''t come to ..." As she was thanking him Virus interrupted as he said "Nonsense, why would I need a thank you for saving my woman!" Hearing this Ella blushed at first but then said "If I''m your woman why didn''t you call or why didn''t you come looking for me? Do you even know how much I''ve waited for you call? how many times I checked my phone?" The more she spoke the more upset she got as in the end of her words her eyes were a little red even. "Sorry for that, don''t be sad my beautiful princess ..." Virus smiled as he said with flattery trying to make the beauty a little happier. "Actually before coming and looking for you I wanted to first finish some things, as I was kinda busy..."Virus said looking into her red eyes a little apologetic and hearing his words it really worked as Ella was truly happier inside seeing he cared. Then he continued after a little pause with a smile "So how were you doing these past couple days? did you miss me so much?" Blushing Ella suddenly said frankly "of course I missed you!" But hearing how frank she was, she blushed even more as this was the first time she was talking like this to someone in her life. But after calming a little and thinking what to say she continued. "Even though we knew each other for only a day, but that was in the most intimate way I was close to anyone ever before, and oddly even if it was just a day I feel like I know you for a whole lot more of time and I can''t stop thinking about you." Hearing her words, it was Virus'' turn to be surprised at how honest and direct she was in expressing her feelings. o he suddenly went closer and hugged her which greatly surprised Ella but she didn''t resist. As she was in his embrace Virus said smiling evilly "How about we pick up our unfinished business were we left it off?" And hearing this Ella forced her way out of his embrace as red as an apple. Then she said while also sticking her tongue a little out of her mouth really cutely "Don''t want to." "Why is that?" Virus asked. "You really asked why? well because you''re tooo much! you did ... that... for about two hours straight... and without a little pause between! In the end I remember nothing as I think I fainted because my body couldn''t tolerate it anymore and now you want to do that again, I DON''T THINK SO!" Ella said flustered like she was wronged greatly. "Well, If the little red riding hood is not going to allow me have it my way then I gotta be the big bad wolf and EAT HER!" Virus said as she suddenly pounced on the screaming Ella as he picked her and brought her to the couch unlike the last time where he did it on the bed. Then while Ella was trying to resist he forced himself on Ella while he also teared her clothes to pieces as started fucking her again, but this time unlike the last time which he acted really lovey dovey, he was violent. So we could say this time, instead of making love to her, he started fucking her, and he fucked her really hard, in lots of embarrasing ways. First he put her on the couch and made her stand on four feet like a dog and started pounding inside her violently making Ella start moaning and screaming a little trying to run away and the moaning increased as time passed. But all this and her resistance made Virus even more turned on as he pounded even harder as the sound of the contact between them turned louder. After that Virus tried lot''s of other embarrassing way which Ella started to like more and more. _____________________ After they were done Virus was lying on the bed while Ella was on him naked playing with his chest with her finger drawing somethings on it and while also sometimes objecting pouting to how violent he was just now making her tired and even hurt in some places of her body, but eventually she turned silent. After a while of silence she asked "Who was the golden haired beauty?" Hearing this Virus thought for little before answering "She works for me, but she''s like a little sister to me and I care about her as she''s really precious to me." "So that''s how it is... " Ella said relieved a little inside. "What was that thing that made blood and bodies disappear into thin air? that was really frightening!" Ella asked scared of the incinerator. "That was an incinerator, you could say that was advanced high technology, far more advanced than the current ones. In simpler words it''s job is to incinerate whatever you want into almost oblivion and nothingness." Virus replied. "Wow, but how do you have access to such an advanced things, who are you really..." Ella asked amazed. Smiling while acting proud Virus said "You underestimate your boyfriend too much." Hearing this Ella was flustered again at how he evades the question but was happy as he called himself her boyfriend and so she asked and probed no further. After a while she talked again coming back to the golden beauty again "That golden haired beauty, she''s really beautiful and super strong and she fights inhumanely... ." Ella said, but Virus could feel a little jealousy in her words. 16 Potential Opening "Do you want to be strong too?" Virus asked after a little while of silence. "Yes, I want to be strong so I could stay by your side and help you!" she said seriously with the light of strong determination shining inside her eyes. "Well, with me here you won''t stay weak like this, as even if you didn''t say this I wanted to make you more powerful to be able to at least defend against normal people like those trashes we faced today." Virus said as he suddenly got up leaving the confused beauty for a little while before coming back with an injection like things that seemed quite out of the world like those injections in those science fiction movies of future. Seeing the strange thing in Virus'' hands Ella asked curiously. "This is [Potential Opening] Injection, this makes the person injected with this thing a lot more powerful with no side effects as it taps on the absolute potential a human body is capable of and it comes with no outward physical changes like muscles bulging, even though this won''t turn as powerful as the lil beauty you will be quite more powerful as at least I won''t need to be keep worried about your safety." Virus explained. "Wow, I''ve never heard of such a thing existing in real life other than inside movies." Ella said amazed. "Well, it doesn''t to everyone else but me." Virus said smiling while acting proud again. "You hypocrite!" Ella said jokingly seeing him acting proud and then she continued suddenly getting serious "But if I''m not as strong as the golden haired beauty will I be able to help you?" After a little while Virus said honestly "Well, for now you can''t as you won''t be strong enough and I also don''t need any help as lil beauty can deal with everything, but that might change in the future." Then he continued, "but don''t worry this is just temporarily, I have something else for you which I will give you later after I''m done with some things first I need to do and make sure first, which will make you even stronger than lil beauty if you put enough time in it and if you''re determined enough to get strong." "Okay... " Ella replied only with this as she thanked him no longer as she also truly felt like she was his woman and belonged to him. "Then let me inject you with it, don''t worry it won''t sting." Virus said as he approached her and just connected it to her right arm as it automatically injected itself. "Done, how do you feel?" he asked. "Well... nothi... oh... I''m starting to feel something... if feels like... it feels almost like ... spring, it''s so refreshing, like I wouldn''t need to sleep for the rest of my life." Ella said amazed at how she was feeling. "The feeling will go away soon." Virus replied. After 5 more minutes the feeling disappeared as Ella said talking very quick, in only half a minute "WOW, even though the feeling disappeared everything seems to be slower." But Virus still understood her words as he said looking at thecoffin like thing with which the robots skin was made "That''s normal too but it won''t pass like the feeling, you need to get used to it. Also try your strength, lift this device here, it weighs more than two tons." "Will I be able to lift that?? I mean I read somewhere the strongest man ever in all history lifted around 2.8 tons... I mean it''s true I feel strong but..." As she was talking Virus interrupted as he said "Just try!" "Okay... " Ella said as she went beside the coffin like thing and put her arms around it, with little effort from Ella''s part the coffin thing started to be lifted slowly until Ella completely stood up. "Wow, I can lift two tons and it was quite easy!!!" She said excitedly. "Okay now... put it down." Virus said as she put it on the ground on the same place again. "Good, with this you would be able to defend yourself." Virus said and smiled with a satisfied and relieved expression plastered on his face like one of his worries has been lifted off his shoulders. "Thank you soo much... mmmuah!" Ella said she shyly kissed him on the cheek as a way of saying thank you. It was at this time when the golden beauty finally came back just to see Ella kiss him, but there was no change in her expression or surprise like she had completely accepted it. Although Virus knew everything that had happened he still asked "How did everything go lil beauty?" "Everything went exactly as you ordered master, they are all slaughtered from the root." The golden beauty replied. "Good..." Virus said with a smile on his face like the last of his anger has finally dissipated. _________________________ One week later the whole city was alarmed as hundreds or even thousands of people were went missing in different areas of the city in the last two days, after some digging most of the missing people were found to be members of the notorious Snake to Dragon Gang which were of quite authority in the underground level of the city, all of them had disappeared like they melted underground all of a sudden, the officials thought they had ran away somewhere or went somewhere quietly to do something, while some others said they had angered someone bigger than themselves which scared them all to fleeing somewhere. And also lots of fighting started breaking through out the city as different gangs started fighting for the free grounds left by the Snake to Dragon Gang. Another shocking news was that a titan governmental person in authority had gone missing too with his son and her son''s friends. The Government and the Police were left without any lead of where they had gone to or whom had kidnapped them. Everyone was shocked by the thousands of missing people and lot''s of people started going home earlier at nights scared of being kidnapped. These news not only shocked the people of Newyork but it also reached to the people outside New York to other cities and countries too as it shocked them greatly of how can just thousands of people disappear like it was nothing. And this news also had a major negative impact on the reputation of New York. _________________ TWO WEEKS LATER AFTER THE SLAUGHTER One month had passed since Virus had ordered the four uglies to do different tasks and duties. In the past two weeks Ella never came by to Virus'' building to see him as she knew he was busy with some things for now. She just got Virus'' phone number and just called sometimes to hear his voice when she missed him, and sometimes Virus called when she came to his mind. And today finally a new company called [Virus] released different kinds of highly advanced phones. 17 Valentines Day In the past month since the CEO ugly was ordered to found the company he hasn''t rested even for a second, he had bought lots and lots of factories in different places, hired hundreds of thousands of people, gathered and built the technology, etc. And finally today after a month of hardwork, after asking Virus for permission he send them to all around the world. As different kinds of highly advanced phones was released to the whole world, people from all over the world from different nations were gobsmacked and startled! This new company named [Virus] which no one knew from where it had popped up all of a sudden had made such an advanced phones which were so much better than the other brands around the world. The quality of screen display for example was so godly people didn''t know how it was possible, like for such a colorful screen to exist in a tech. What they were used to were phones like Nokia 1100 with screen display like that of a calculator which they thought was the absolute high tech as it was also undestructible! But now the whole world was suddenly seeing and shown such a screen display which was also a very wide and long screen and the more shocking thing about it was it worked by touching! The phones they were seeing now though, which were called Virus iPhone 1(Apple iPhone 4), Virus Galaxy S I (Samsung Galaxy S II) , Virus Droid Bionic on Verizon, Virus EVO 3D, Virus ThunderBolt, and Virus Xperia Play, Each and everyone of them were amazing in their own way, they were so thin and chic that anyone who saw it once couldn''t pass by it and had to buy it! Another shocking thing was the camera! the camera was of so much high quality everyone were stunned by the fact that how such a small lens could have such a high quality. And the most shocking thing was the price which was even less expensive than the most advanced phones of other companies, it was less than half the price of those other phones. Everyone all around the world in all countries were lining up in this phones representative shops trying to buy one of these phones. On the back of the phones was the mark of a brain, half of which were drawn like that of the lines on a chip, which could be said to be an artificial brain and the other half was natural brain drawn with lines! {Author: See the brain picture on the cover of the novel, it''s like that.} A boy and a girl had just bought two phones from a shop and came out playing it while exclaiming "Wow!!! playing with this phone is like I''ve gone to the future! it''s so awesome!" "Amazing! just absolutely amazing, who could have invented such awesome phones!" Conversations like this were happening everywhere! Each of these phones features were amazing so much that the other phone companies were despairing, they didn''t know what to do anymore as they absolutely could not compete with these phones. Even the governments like US were shocked by this as even they hadn''t seen such technology, they wanted to see the founder and inventor of these phones and company and work with him/her as soon as possible. After being shocked by the phones everyone''s attention was brought to the company which had produced these amazing phones, the name of the company was [Virus], which everyone thought was quite a weird name to choose for a company and it''s worth was skyrocketing by the second. And stunningly owner of this company was only a single person! All hundred percent share of the company belonged to him and only him alone! Newspapers and news were talking about this gigantic advance in phone technology and they all said only a single person''s name as the owner of the company with 100 percent share control over the whole company, his name was Aizen Vee. The CEO of the company though was a different person called Steven Greg which was said to work for Aizen Vee. __________________ A WEEK LATER Even a week later the phones were still selling like hot cakes! Everyone with the capability to buy wanted to buy one even if they had to borrow money. While all these were happening and the world was still amazed by the new phones on the market, the owner of the [Virus] company, which was also named Virus was pondering to himself quietly inside his building thinking about something. ''So today''s The Valentine''s Day... I should at least go on a date with Ella today... hmmm yeah let''s do that...'' After thinking to himself he checked where Ella was and after seeing she was at college he started going down the elevator with the golden beauty outside, while they were going down Virus told the golden beauty to follow him from a distance without being seen with his black Lamborghini. Going outside with a sunglass, a red 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible was parked outside for him, this was virus'' new car. Getting on it he started the engine and put his feet until the end speeding off to the distance in a moment. As he was driving the car he thought ''These trashy cars are starting to get boring... maybe I should start a car company too and make better cars... . Yeah, that''s a nice idea.'' As he got to the university of Ella, he drifted inside as he went directly to the place Ella was standing with her friends. As he was going towards her and her friends place everyone were staring at the high class expensive car and the devilishly charming man who was driving it. All the girls'' eyes had turned to hearts either because of the man or because of both the car and the man together. Though it was mostly the latter. And other than some man whose eyes also had turned to hearts the rest of men''s eyes emitting electricity and fires of jealously, like they had met their worst natural enemy. After going closer to Ella''s location he parked the car somewhere then got off of it and started walking slowly which with his glasses made him emanate a gentlemanly aura. As he was slowly walking toward the group of Ella''s friends two of them who were at the party the other night recognized him immediately saying "Hey look! It''s that night''s devilishly handsome man at the party who took away Ella with her!" The one who said this was one of Ella''s best friends, her name was Grace Hill but she was not a beauty as she was of medium quality features. The other girl was also another best friend of Ella name Faith York which was an average hot girl with a fit body, it was obvious she had put a lot time going to gym making that body, she said "yeah it''s him! he''s so handsome wish I could have him... Wow he seems to be a rich person, seeing him drive that car." She said as she had not seen his lamborghini the other night. 18 Smallest Gift Ever Hearing her words Ella glared at her making her shut her mouth. Everyone else was too stunned by his looks to talk right now which was too much out of this world, but this was also a natural reaction as everyone who saw him for the first time reacted this way. Finally in front of them he gracefully took his sunglasses off under which eyes of different colors made everyone lost in them. Smiling which showed his godlike crafted dimples he said "So, aren''t you going to introduce me to your friends my beautiful Ella?" Hearing this Ella blushed a little hearing him say ''My beautiful Ella'' in front of her friends, but she soon came to herself and introduced him "Say hi to my boy friend everyone , he is Aizen Vee." "Hello everyone It''s a pleasure knowing you all." Virus said too. Hearing her words everyone were shocked but Faith and Grace were less shocked as they suspected this was the case when they saw Aizen walking towards their group, but even though they had suspected these two might have gotten together but that was still only suspicion as they didn''t truly believe that was true, but now they had confirmed it. Ella continued introducing her friends to Virus then. "And these are my friends Faith York, Grace Hill, Jessica Sheen, and Mary Brown" They all responded smilingly saying "Nice (Glad, happy) to see you Aizen." "Same here, please continue taking care of my lovely Ella." Virus said and then continued "If you guys allow me I want to steal her from you guys and take her with me somewhere." All of them smilingly looked at Ella in a funny way like their eyes were saying ''You lucky bitch... go have fun for now and we will interrogate you later! but their mouth said "Sure thing, sure... Ella go, see you later and have fun!" "Haha then let''s go my beauty, by everyone." taking Ella''s hand into his own he started taking her away from them after they said goodbye and after they arrived beside the car Virus even opened the door for her which made every girl filled with jealousy toward Ella thinking inside ''My prince...why is it her!!! why not me(us).'' Then also getting inside the car he drove it towards a direction. "Where are we going Ai?" Ella asked, this was what she liked to call Virus as that was how he had introduced himself the first time at the party. "You will know it soon enough." Virus replied as such. His destination 99 East 52nd Street, and after some time they got there as he drove until he stopped in front of a restaurant called ''Four Seasons''. Getting of the car with Ella they went inside which was completely empty with no other customers whatsoever. They were let to sit somewhere and after sitting Ella said "So we were going to a restaurant... and it''s the Four Seasons at that! I heard that it''s the place where billionaire people eat... " "Yes, I heard it has good food so I reserved the whole place, though they didn''t reserve the place but that was fixed as I offered more and more." Virus said smilingly. "So that''s why the place is empty... I thought that might be the case like in the movies, haha" Ella said laughing as she was happy her boy friend cared this much about her. After they ordered food, wine and everything was brought to the table which they ate with joy, even Virus was amazed by the taste of the food. Everything including the food, wine, and the service was perfect. It was like time had slowed that like there was eloquent ballet dancer dancing inside the musical notes which were roaming inside the restaurant. Everything was just too perfect. As they were eating Virus suddenly said "Happy Valentine''s Day my beautiful Ella." "Happy Valentine''s to you too Ai...you know... I''m not with you so I would not be alone and lonely in this big world... I''m with you... so you would be my only one in this lonely big world." Ella replied with a bright smile on her face as she took out something from inside his bag, opening the bag Virus saw it was filled with different kinds of chocolate and candies. "Thank you." taking the Chocolates Virus said, he was also happy inside her woman had gifted her something even if it was just a simple chocolate as it''s worth was more than just something material. After that Virus talked again "As a gift I don''t wanna give some something big... actually I wanna give you something which is the smallest gift ever, my gift to you is something that would make it possible to talk to me whenever you want." Hearing until here Ella interrupted Virus saying "How is that the smallest thing! that''s the biggest and the best gift you could ever give to your girl friend!" Hearing that Virus smiled getting of his seat going behind Ella while saying "You will know soon enough." taking out something like a futuristic injection device Virus pressed it behind Ella''s neck but she didn''t feel the slightest of pain even though a needle had gone into her spinal cord right now as the needle was too small as it almost couldn''t be seen. _________________ ELLA''S POV Seeing Ai go behind her and press something against her neck Ella was confused but that confusion didn''t take long as her vision blurred for second before coming back to her, only this time she was seeing something. LOADING ... 12% LOADING ... 56% LOADING ... 71% LOADING ... 89% LOAD COMPLETE! [Communication Device Loaded to the Host.] Seeing these things Ella immediately turned super shocked, she thought she had gone crazy for a second as she stayed stunned. ________________ VIRUS'' POV After injecting the [AI Device] to Ella Virus thought inside ''I''ll only activate the communication feature unless the need to unlock the other features rises in the future.'' After thinking yo himself Virus saw Ella was still stunned laughing a little he said "don''t worry my beauty you''re not seeing things... I injected you with something by which you can directly connect to me whenever you want wherever you want." "The things you see is natural as it''s the visual screen interface of the device, so don''t be worried." Virus reassured her. hearing his words Ella came out of being stunned, but she was super amazed as she asked "just what is this thing, how does this even exist!" "Well, it''s a device as small as a cell which I directly implanted it into your spinal cord, which is why I said it''s the smallest gift ever, and also for your other question, just know this... with your boy friend here nothing is impossible and anything can exist so no need to be too much surprised in the future." Virus replied smiling amusedly. "Think of connecting to me and then try talking to me in your head." Virus said instructing how to use the device. Ella did as Virus instructed and a second later a voice was heard inside Virus'' head ''Do you hear me Ai?'' Ella said without opening her mouth just thinking it. Smiling again Virus replied ''Yes I do.'' 19 Why? Watching Ella eat, Virus thought about the time when he used to watch her when he still didn''t have his body, he just searched and chose the best candidate to have his first time with which was also his first goal. The criteria he had put to look for a candidate at the time was someone who would have the best affinity with him, in all different kinds of criteria like looks, behavior, actions, and everything else and the only nearby one he had found was Ella, so he had put her under his radar watching how she lived. It was just supposed to be a one time thing just to accomplish his first goal as he also didn''t like and hated humanity, completely not wanting anymore interaction with her but everything started to change when he went inside his body. Before going inside the body he felt almost nothing for her at first but the more he watched her the more unconciously he felt attached to watching her, This was something he had felt only once in his past world and time but he immediately and easily controlled his emotions as there was no point in having them as he also didn''t have a body. But that attachment wasn''t much in the end and it was completely unable to move the AI Virus at the time. But when he went inside his body his feelings grew much more intense unlike when he was just an AI when he could easily control his emotions, now with a body, taking control of his emotions seemed much harder and he couldn''t stop thinking about her. When he saw her for the first time and started interacting with her, he had even more complicated feelings toward her, as even though he started kind of liking her it wasn''t much at the time, and when he said he liked her the first time even though it wasn''t a lie the feeling of liking still wasn''t to the point he wouldn''t be able to take control of it as he hated humanity much more than that so even though it was a little hard he was still not moved by her. But after having his first time he felt even more complicated towards her and that was why he didn''t call her even once as he didn''t want to call her honestly, as she was also one of the other human beings which he had a dislike and hate relationship with. And that was why he didn''t call her for the next two weeks wanting to completely forget her and let her pass on as his first goal was accomplished and there was no more reasons to interact with her again. But the more he tried to control his feelings for her the more intense they got and when he saw her being kidnapped his emotions started to intensify to another level, he couldn''t even begin to imagine her being hurt or be violated by other men, at that moment he completely lost control of his emotions and he no longer even wanted to control them, and it was at this moment which she was completely separated from other human beings in his mind which he hated so much, he could no longer see her just as a human being and he didn''t care at all even if she was biologically one as Virus was also part human too now, and after that he severed her completely from all those other hateful human beings like the people who had kidnapped her. he was now only Ella in his mind, the person towards which he seemed unable to control his feelings, and the moment he saw her as only Ella and not someone towards which race he felt hate, there was no longer any points in trying to control his emotions when it came to her and as Virus was a straight person, getting whatever he felt like getting, having whatever he felt like having, and doing whatever he felt like doing, so with no further resistance as the reason for resistance was gone he went after her to her rescue. But going after her this time was completely different as it was at this time actually that he had completely accepted his feelings for her and after accepting it he started liking her more and more, Virus thought he would''ve never been like this if he was still only an AI and that the only reason he was having these experiences was only because he had gone inside a human body, and a human body''s emotions were changing constantly as were his. _________________ "What are you thinking about staring so intensely at me?" it was at this time Virus was pulled out of his thoughts by the beauty before him who seemed to have finish her meal. "Well, I was thinking about how precious you are to me." Virus said smiling. Laughing happily she said "hehe you seem to know your way of going through to impress a woman don''t you... you gallant person." "You don''t seem to dislike it so... " Virus replied smiling. Then he continued "Okay now that we''ve eaten let''s go shopping." "Okay" Ella said. After that they went around the city to downtown, midtown, and uptown to different kinds of shops and markets which some sold luxurious things and some others sold simple cheap ones. They started buying clothes for Virus as he didn''t have that many. They started buying him different kinds of suits, of different colors, comfortable clothes and pants, pajamas, shoes, neckties, etc. Wherever they went though everyone kept staring at them, as both the girls'' and guys'' hearts kept beating faster and faster, girls seeibg virus couldn''t take they eyes of him and then seeing the girl by her side they couldn''t help by be jealous of her and the guystoo couldn''t take their eyes off of Ella but when they saw the man by her side they just gave up and didn''t even get jealous as they experienced some kind of inferiority complex. Finally after being done shopping, they were coming back from a mall in downtown and Virus'' hand was filled with cloth bags, this was because even though some of the high class shops in other places they had gone to would send the cloth directly to the address, most did not. And so his hands were filled as they went beside the car he put everything inside , but it was at this time someone suddenly came taking out a gun and pointed it at Virus and Ella, Telling them "give me all your money, otherwise I''m gonna shoot you and I''m not kidd..." the thief was probably attracted seeing his high class car. But before he was done talking a golden haired beauty with a sword appeared beside him and his head was no more as it flew till it hit the ground. Taking out the incinerator the poor thief was incinerated and then the golden beauty disappeared once again probably watching over his master from somewhere without being seen. 20 Bella After than Ella and Virus went inside the car after having one hell of a day and now sky had now become dark, it was night time. As Virus was going to drive her to her house and drop her there before going back. On the way to Ella''s house when both of them were silent Virus suddenly broke the silence and said "I need to go somewhere soon and I don''t know how long it would take me to come back, but if everything goes well, I''ll come back soon." Hearing this Ella was worried a little as if he didn''t know when he will be back it must be something serious, so out of worry she asked "Where? is it going to be dangerous?" Looking into her eyes for a moment Virus replied "You don''t need to know, and about it being safe, I''m not sure but it will probably be okay." Ella didn''t probed any further seeing he didn''t seem like he wanted to answer so she just said "Okay, but please be careful and come back to me safely, without one hair less, okay?" "That''s my goal too." Virus replied. And then she said with a smile "And it''s not like I can''t contact you now with this Communication Device ... right?" But against the answer she expected Virus said "Actually... You won''t be able to call me... as I''ll be out of reach when I''m gone, so don''t worry too much and just wait for me as it''s natural, okay?" Hearing this her smile froze and disappeared but after a while she smiled again saying "Okay, I''ll wait for you to come back, but please come back to me safely." After dropping her in her house Virus went back to his building staightly. __________________ TWO WEEKS LATER Two weeks more passed as Virus waited for the person he was waiting to arrive, in the past two weeks other than waiting and talking to Ella and the golden beauty, he also gave the blue prints of Samsung Galaxy S3, LG Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, HTC DROID DNA, HTC ONE X, Motorola DROID RAZR M, Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD, LG Optimus G, HTC One S to the CEO ugly who was now known by the name of Steven Greg and named them respectfully Virus Galaxy S2{it''s S3}, Virus Nexus 1{4}, Virus Galaxy Note 1{Note 2}, Virus DROID DNA, Virus ONE X, Virus DROID RAZR M, Virus DROID RAZR MAXX HD, Virus Optimus G, Virus One S. They were going to be manufactured and made ready and released when he came back. He also ordered the CEO ugly to open a Car Company Branch for his company [Virus] and gave the blueprints for all the nice cars that was introduced in 2011 like Mercedes-Benz F125, Ferrari FF, Audi Q3, Lamborghini Aventador, Aston Martin V12 Zagato, Infiniti Etherea, McLaren 12C, DS 4, Saab PhoeniX, Koenigsegg Agera, Volvo Concept You, Volkswagen Passat (NMS), Hyundai Veloster, Mahindra XUV500, Mosler GT600, Jaguar B99, and some others and ordered them all to be ready by at most two months, also like always he took the company names from in front of them and put a [Virus] before all the models.{You can check out the car pictures by searching ''cars introduced in 2011'' in google.} And it was finally today that the ugly in charge of the Island came back saying that everything was ready. Hearing that Virus didn''t want to delay any longer so he told them for his private jet which the island ugly had made ready to be ready and together with the golden beauty and the island ugly they flew towards the The Aldabra atoll. After they arrived Virus saw the Island from above without any emotions, but the golden beauty was impressed by the island''s beauty which was like a ring, happily and excitedly she said " Wuuh! it''s so beautiful and different seeing it from closeby by my own eyes." There were only Virus and Ella in the cabin while the island ugly was one of the pilots. Seeing the from from above virus saw that a huge factory was built while an airport was build beside it, all which were newly built. After finally landing in his own airport Virus, the golden beauty and the island ugly aka pilot ugly got off the jet and while they were walking towards the factory to check something Virus asked the Island ugly "So tell me about the main blueprint I gave you and said it was of utmost importance how did everything go?" "It''s one hundred percent complete master, everything''s ready, even though we had to make some make some modifications to somethings but it''s over all the same as the blueprint you gave me." the ugly answered. "Were there any curious people around?" Virus asked again. "Yes, but the security ugly handled them all very professionally." The pilot ugly said, they even called each other uglies. "That''s good then." Virus nodded his head satisfied. After that the golden beauty said she wanted to see the beach from nearby so Virus agreed to go to the sea shore with her. On the way as they were walking the golden beauty suddenly asked finally unable to endure any longer "So master the other uglies have notified me of what that blueprints of yours was about... you could imagine the shock I received when I heard what it was just as the other four uglies were shocked. Are we going somewhere faraway?" Smiling Virus didn''t answer her question and just said "you will naturally know soon enough, lil beauty." After that they walked beside the sea shore where the golden beauty happily went around to the sea or playing with the sand while finding some shell from the beach too. As Virus was watching the happy playing lil beauty he suddenly thought of something and said with a smile "Come here for a second my lil beauty." Hearing him call her the golden beauty came to him immediately stopping playing around. "What is it master?" she asked smiling while her hands were behind her back. "There is name I wanted to give you since the day I created you, If you want I''ll give you a name, of course if you want that is and if you like the name you can accept it but if you don''t you we can choose something else. What do you say lil beauty?" Hearing this the golden beauty''s eyes shined he wanted to name her and excitedly said "it''s my honor and also one of mt dreams master to be named by you! what is it you''re gonna name me with master?" Seeing her happiness Virus said "Bella." Hearing this even though the golden beauty was extremely happy inside she still asked doubtfully with a little sadness in her heart"Is it because your girl friends name is Ella so you''re naming me that master?" "OF COURSE NOT! What kind of person do you see me as ... you''re my lil beauty and no one''s gonna interfere in how I see you! I wanted to name you Bella the first day I created you as you where so beautiful and elegant as Bella means beautiful and I think only that world should be used for your name, Ella came later and it was just a coincidence her name resembles what I had in mind, so if anything... it''s her name that resembles Bella not the other way around... and I also... master really loves this name." Virus said loudly at first but then explained calmly like always. "Of course if you don''t..." As Virus was talking again the golden beauty interrupted probably for the first time. "I love it master, I believe you and please let me be named Bella." the golden beauty smiling happily while some tears fell of her face, she was too happy to be name by him, hearing she loved the name nothing else mattered to her anymore and she accepted by tears of happiness and joy. "Then that''s your name from now... Bella." Virus smiled too as he called her by name for the first time. 21 Star After coming back from the beach with the golden beauty and naming her Bella, Virus said"Okay, now that you''ve seen the beach and had your fun, it''s time for us to go." Then looking at the island ugly who was waiting for them he ordered "Take us to the completed project of that main blueprint." "Okay master, this way." The Island ugly said as he led them to a very huge warehouse which was supposed to be for parking the medium sized planes. The huge automatic door of the warehouse started opening and behind it a very big spaceship like inside one of those sci fi movies who traveled the universe and had space fights existed. Seeing the spaceship for the first time from near Bella was amazed as all the knowldege inside her mind was of 21st century. After Virus saw the spaceship there was no change in his expression and he only nodded his haid saying "Everything seems to be perfect." in the time he glanced at the spaceship he had checked everything about it by connecting to it. "Master, what is this exactly? are we really going somewhere and where exactly?" Bella asked looking at Virus curiously. Virus seeing how curious she seemed decided to answer as he said "Well, this is a multiverse traveling spaceship, and about where we''re going... well... we''re going to another multiverse where I need something to retrieve." Virus replied. Hearing what Virus said both Bella and the island ugly were shocked, he wasn''t even going to roam the universe, but ANOTHER multiverse! ''I hope it''s there as it was said that scroll, I just hope it''s not too soon and it''s already there.'' Virus thought inside and then looking at the island ugly he asked "I assume everything necessary for the travel is already there?" "Yes master, it''s ready for the travel." The island ugly said. Hearing this Virus said again "Then go inform the security uglyto take care of here and do everything hinself while we''re gone because you''re coming with us as the pilot." "Okay master." saying this the island ugly went away for about 15 minutes before coming back. After that, Virus, Bella and the island ugly all went inside the spaceship. After they were inside the first thing Virus did was to send the manual of how to pilot the spaceship directly to the island ugly and the destination of the multiverse to which they were going to. After sending everything Virus ordered the island ugly to start the spaceship and go. He also ordered him not to forget to turn the spaceship invisible. After than Virus called Ella telling her she won''t be able to contact him soon and not to get worried. After the island ugly started the spaceship and did as the manual said he guided the spaceship as the invisible spaceship then started to fly directly to the air. But before even coming out of Earth''s atmosphere half way a portal like rift opened as the spaceship went inside. _________________ MULTIVERSE OF CULTIVATION OF QI ENERGY suddenly a portal like rift opened above the Earth of this multiverse, as the rift opened above the Earth lot''s of powerful cultivators suddenly felt a frightening rift filled with energy open up above on the atomsphere of their small planet. All of their senses focused on that place but they felt nothing come outside of it. ''This law... I''ve never seen any law like this... what is it, let me start comprehending it before it closes up.'' This was the thought that went through the mind of many of them as they started comprehending the strange law they had seen for the first time and didn''t even think such a law existed, but now that they had figured such a law exists lot''s of powerful figures started comprehending it. But oddly they couldn''t sense the invisible spaceship that had appeared there as their spiritual sense just passed through it like it didn''t exist there at all. Like a satellite the spaceship zoomed to the earth of this multiverse, unlike the modern Earth of their own universe this Earth was like the ancient times of earth''s china were there were nothing but martial artists and stuff like pagodas, etc. "Wuuh, This looks just like our Earth only there is no modern civilization here!" Bella said excitedly. "Well, it is actually another Earth only not the Earth we know of, Earth exists in this multiverse too, it''s just too different from ours." Virus replied. Seeing this earth for a second Virus ordered the island ugly to pilot away to another planet. Another rift opened further away closed up a while later but no kne was interested in that one as it was a normal teleportation which they had seen before, they were all interested in the other one. After coming out of the portal Virus saw that they were above a ruined planet, with the satellite zoom of the ship they could see ruins of an ancient civilization who probably lived here around 120,000 years ago. Seeing the ruined civilization Virus sighed as he became more hopeful for what he had come here for, as he thought ''it seems I might get lucky and it might be already here, forunately the civilization is ruined at least.'' Seeing them come to an almost ruined planet Bella asked "Why did we come to this ruined planet out of all planets master?" Virus answered "Because I''m looking for something here." "So that''s why..." Bella said. Then looking at the island ugly Virus said "I don''t know the exact location of the thing I''m I''m looking for, only an approximate location, so it might take some time for us to find it." "Okay master please tell me the approximate location and you rest as I''ll keep looking for it till we find it." The island ugly said lowering his head a little in respect. "Okay then, the only thing I know is the thing I''m looking for is on this planet and that it''s under the ocean inside a cave with no water, also I don''t think our scan device will be able to sense what I''m looking for." Virus said as he thought inside ''because if it could those people would have found it.'' 22 Search After that The ugly kept searching for the place his master was looking for while his master spend his time with Bella. Virus passed most of his time by eating different kinds of tasty food and wine, as he had become quite fond of different delicious taste as it was a new experience to him. _______________ A MONTH LATER Just like that a month passed and they had still not found the place they were looking for as the planet seemed too big, they had found different kinds of caves under the ocean similar to the description but none was what Virus was looking for. Virus was thinking at the moment ''It''s taking a lot more than I thought.'' ''Ella must have missed me.'' he thought and then continued ''maybe I should go back and let the island ugly look for it and let me know when he finds it.'' As he was having thoughts of going back he rejected it inside his mind. It was at this moment when the island ugly suddenly called Virus. "Master I seem to have found another place that might be the place you''re looking for as there so seems to be scroll inside according to the scan." Hearing this Virus'' eyes shone as he stood up excitedly, he was truly excited at the thought of finding it. "Bring me to close to it and give me the suit device I''ll go there alone, you and Ella stay here" Virus ordered. "Yes master." they both replied at the same time. Then the ugly brought Virus the underwater suit device with which he would be able to breath underwater and move at almost whatever speed he wanted. Putting on the suit device which was a wristwatch he went to the back of the spaceship wanting to go out, which was now in the bottom of the ocean. Before going out Bella said a little worriedly "Master... please becareful." "Don''t worry lil beauty, I will." Virus replied as he pressed a device on the wristwatch like suit device as a suit started appearing on him automatically being put on. Smiling Bella asked "why are you still calling me little beauty?" "Because I like calling you both Bella and lil beauty, they both suit you well, I''ll come back soon." As Virus said this under the spaceship opened and Virus dived into the water but strangely no water came inside as under the spaceship closed again. As Virus was dived inside the water he didn''t need to swim as he could move like he was flying on the sky, moving towards tbe direction of the cave, a minute later he finally arrived to the cave as he went to under a mountain like huge rock and from under it he entered to a place where there was no water as it was filled with air. Going inside Virus pressed a button again as the suit disappeared , as he searched the place for a little he found the ancient scroll he was looking for, but right now it wasn''t that ancient, sighing in relief inside he thought ''So it''s already here, fortunately I''m in luck.'' eeing the Scroll he started thinking of his past world, remembering some things. _______________ By using the Cultivation Techniques of the Cultivation Multiverse, people of Virus'' past world couldn''t cultivate at first as they realized the force and energy used to cultivate didn''t exist in their universe, an energy or force which the cultivators of the invaded multiverse used to cultivate, they called it Qi. Mankind was almost disappointed they couldn''t cultivate when someone discovered/ perceived another kind of energy/force in our own universe of science and technology after much experiments and comparison. This was a kind of force/energy which was almost the same as Qi but clearly different as it had a little more purity and some other differences but it was essentialy the same like how the word fire was said and pronounced differently but they essentially meant the same. As the person who found this energy/force after seeing Qi and thinking some kinds of energy needs to exist in our universe too and after much delibration, experiments, comparison, making some adjustments to the Qi gathering treasures of the cultivation world and changing it in some ways by using other technological devices, she excitedly finally found an energy/force and called it "God Force" as she thought this energy was what was going to enable them achieve their long lost dream of ''Godhood''. After that the adjustments'' of the Cultivation Techniques begun as they converted all the Cultivation Techniques according to the "God Force", so they would be able to cultivate by using those Cultivation Techniques but with "God Force" as fuel. But far before this, when all the Cultivation Techniques and information of the other Multiverse of Cultivation was collected and brought back, before most of them wasn''t read and researched by others, when they had at first just uploaded everything together to the [Main AI]''s database, What no one realized and figured, Not even the [Main AI], was that the [Virus] had accessed all the data regarding those Cultivation Techniques and other information 0.9 seconds faster than the [Main AI], and at that short period of time it had found only one thing, and that thing''s description greatly shocked [Virus] and excited it to no ends, without a moment of hesitation after seeing every information related to it he deleted everything that was related to it compeletly. After seeing the information of where exactly the ancient scroll was found [Virus] figured it was found in an ancient ruined empty lifeless planet which seemed to be ruined for innumerable number of years, inside a cave under the ocean. After that [Virus] immediately sent the person who found the ancient scroll by all his companions at the time to their death by his own means and silenced them even though they hadn''t read it after finding the scroll as they had just tossed it like a garbage to the pile of Cultivation Techniques, [Virus] also destroyed the ancient scroll in which the information was written. 23 ORIGIN The description of the ancient scroll was as such: "Every world has it''s own unique energy, with some being superior to the others like Qi, Ki, Mana, Life Force, etc. which me and my civilization had seen in the countless years we traveled to different worlds. But the difference between them is not that great. At a time our civilization believed an energy far above all, which is the source of everything, the origin of everything, includong Qi, Mana, Ki, etc. exists, something beyond worlds. And after countless years and even more years of trying to sense and gather this energy, disappointedly our civilization gave up on it and thought this energy was only a fairytale, a myth, and a fiction they had created themselves wanting to believe something higher existed, so they stopped believing such an energy existed at all. Some believed even if it truly exists it would still be beyond impossible to gather or sense. But listen carefully as I will tell you this! I believe they were all wrong! Because at my last journey as I was roaming different worlds I was suddenly tossed to the void, intentional or unintentional I have no idea but at that time I believe I was tossed to the place I think was the nihility, the emptiness, and nothingness. There was nothing but absolute darkness and there I saw only absolute darkness, I couldn''t even teleport away as something seemed to be holding me back and preventing me from teleporting away, so like that I was stuck there for innumerable and countless years and eons. At that place I went completely mad because of the absolute darkness and loneliness, staying there for a second was a torture while I stayed there for countless years. At that limitless place in my madness I started searching everywhere in the limitless darkness and finally after what seemed like eternity, one night (as it was always night) I saw light in the endless dark, a light so bright that gave me the feeling at the first glance like it was the origin of everything, even the limitless darkness around it, as it seemed extremely subservient and even fearful to it, as the dark seemed to have even distanced itself from the shining object like touching it would be a great offense to the shining object. Even though looking at it send shivers to my very existence and essence, still completely mad, without a care of what it actually was, in my madness just too happy I found light in this endless dark, even if it would lead to my complete annihilation I just went ahead and grabbed it, I felt like a load of something like information went inside me for a second, I don''t know what it was, maybe it was probing me to see if I was worthy, but it left as soon as it came pouring, of which I could remember nothing but only one word: "Origin". Everything else had left me like it didn''t exist there in the first place, like it saw me absolutely unworthy and not deserving of it, but in the process it had at least cleared my mad mind. With that one word after I had came out of my daze and being stunned, I knew almost instinctively that was probably the thing our civilization had been looking for, for countless years in the past but was disappointed in the end, the "Origin" of everything. After I came to myself completely, I saw the light had disappeared into my palm and I could no longer feel it. After that I could teleport again like the restriction that was holding me back and was not allowing me to leave was no longer there, just knowing I could leave this damned place was enough for me and without a care about anything including the thing that had sunk into my palm, just happy I could get out of this hell, without any hesitation I started teleporting to different places trying to find my way back and after another hell of a countless years with hope alive inside me I finally started finding different worlds and finally my own world! But all these had taken too much time and even the cycle of an Immortal like me was at it''s endings. Finding my world I wanted to go to my home planet and I did, but after going there I saw my civilization was no more, it was wiped out clean and destroyed. With my cycle at it''s end as I had no more time to search for the person or group who annihilated my civilization and even if I could I probably won''t be his or their opponent as that person or group could destroy my whole civilization, so unwillingly I put the matter of revenge aside. Now back to that shining object that had sank into my palm, I believe it still exists inside meand after my death it will wait for the person destined for it, as I believe that was why it decided to leave with me in the first place even though I wasn''t the person it was looking for. If you have found this scroll then you might be the destined person or even if you''re not, you''re probably the person who will bring it to the destined person as I have placed it in an extremely desolate place of my planet, somewhere no one will ever even think to go or even bother to go unless by some coincidence. So go and take the object from inside my corpse in my grave, who knows maybe you''re truly the destined one, my graves exact coordinates are in this cave exactly here, you just need to dig: XXXX, XXX, XXXXX, XX. I also want to ask you something, it''s the only thing I ask of you for telling all these information to you (if you are the destined person then the next message is for you but if you''re not... please just hand over the scroll to the chosen one): If you ever find and saw the person, entity, civilization, or whatever that has slaughtered and destroyed my civilization... please... please avenge them, that was all, I was known as the Immortal Saint Long by my civilization by the way, good luck!" 24 Another Civilization After seeing that the content were exactly the same as Virus'' past world he took out an incinerator and destroyed it again by manually targetting it. After that he walked to the exact coordinates and started digging and thirty minutes later the digging ended as a coffin was shown, opening it he saw a skeleton which gave him an impression like it would exist forever. Other than that there was an intense light shining on the right palm of the skeleton, seeing it sent shivers down to his spine like this was everything that existed, exists, and would exist forever! after a little hesitation Virus still reached out his left hand and touched the intense light object and the next moment the shining object was gone as Virus stood there like an statue for a while before finally coming out of his daze or whatever it was. __________________ After finally coming out of it. "Origin..." "HAHAHAHA..." A loud laughter was heard from inside the cave as a man was laughing like a madman above the grave of a skeleton while saying loudly "NOW I''M SURE! I''m sure of exactly which path to follow! And it''s gonna be my path only... good thing I didn''t start cultivating as soon as I built my body, it was worth the wait as it changes everything." This was the first time Virus had gotten this excited in a long time. Also this object was the reason why Virus didn''t start cultivating as soon as he built his body as he was waiting for this, wanting to know what it was or if it could be of help to him in his journey as he felt it was going to be of major importance in his path, otherwise he could''ve started with one of those powerful cultivation techniques in his mind the moment his went into his body. Now he was feeling extremely happy and satisfied because of his patience and choice as if he had started cultivation he would''ve regretted it. __________________ After that Virus closed the coffin again and filled the grave again before turning back as he started walking towards the water, before getting into the water he pressed a button on his device wristwatch as his swim suit appeared on his body. Then he started going back with a speed like he was flying. _________________ Seeing Virus had gone for a while Bella was getting worried ''Come back safe master...'' she thought. and it was at this moment the bottom of the spaceship opened as someone came inside, it was her master, happily going to him Bella said curiously "So... how did everything go master? did you find what you were looking for?" "It went great! yeah I found the thing I was looking for!" Virus excitedly answered as he was still excited. Seeing his master excited Bella was surprised as this was the first she had seen her master this excited so she said, turning excited too just like her master "Where?! where? let me see master." hearing this Virus was awkward a little, even though he trusted the lil beauty he didn''t want to say it as this was probably going to be his greatest secret, even though there would be no one other than him able to control Bella, he wasn''t sure something like that wouldn''t happen forever, even if he was her master. As Virus believed in the saying ''there is always a sky beyond the sky.'' So after some thinking he said "It''s not something that can be seen." this wasn''t a lie as it truly couldn''t be seen anymore "Oh... okay then." Bella was a really understanding person and seeing her master explain no more she changed the subject "So what do we do now master?" Hearing this Virus answered "Now? Now we go back as we have lot''s of things to do..." He also thought inside ''Now... with this I''m pretty sure I would be able to do what those group of mad scientists tried to do but failed horribly.'' He continued his thoughts ''I would also probably be able to do that thing which was abandoned in the end by mankind, if my hypothesis is true and what''s in my mind really works. '' After thinking about various things, coming out of his thoughts Virus ordered the island ugly "Let''s go back home." "Yes master." Hearing the order the island ugly followed the order, while bella thought ''So we''re going back...'' she didn''t know why but she was a little sad they were going back. Then the spaceship was led out of the ocean to the sky of the ruined planet invisibly by the island ugly. As the spaceship went a little higher in the sky a portal like rift opened as the spaceship went inside. _____________________ UNIVERSE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Suddenly somewhere in the universe above a lively planet a portal like rift opened and closed. From inside the spaceship finally in their own universe they were looking at the planet which was a lot bigger than Earth but was beautiful just like Earth filled with blue, white, green, and yellow. "Wow, this planet seems to have inhabitants!" Bella exclaimed. "Yes, zoom it." Virus said confirming and then ordering the island ugly. Doing as ordered the ugly zoomed to the planet seeing an advanced civilization which seemed much more advanced than the earth of right now existing there, flying cars were moving about and there was one gigantic palace with giant towers somewhere in the planet which could be seen even without zooming. The inhabitants of the planet looked exactly the same as human beings of Earth! "They seem really advanced ..." Bella said. "They are, though they are not the most advanced, not even close, anyway we''ve seen enough for now, let''s go back." after replying to Bella, Virus ordered the ugly as the island ugly put the coordinates of the Earth on the spaceship as another portal rift opened as the spaceship went inside. This journey was truly a big eye opener for both the golden beauty and the island ugly as they understood a little of how big the world truly was and how awesome their master actually was, even though it seemed they have just seen the tip of the iceberg of their master, which made the awe and respect they had for their master increase to another level. 25 Reunion PLANET EARTH Above a planet called Earth, outside its atmosphere a portal like rift suddenly opened and a while later it disappeared just like that. In the time it was open an invisible spaceship had passed through. They were finally back after more than a month! The invisible quietly entered the earth atmosphere without anyone realizing or any alarm ringing anywhere, and after sometime later it was above Virus'' Island landing on its airport, then going inside the warehouse of it. After they got off of the spaceship the security ugly was waiting for them, as he saw Virus he just bowed without saying anything waiting for his orders. "How was everything while I was gone?" Virus asked. "Everything''s going fine as always master, though some intruders tried to infiltrate the island I dealt with them all but the curious people wondering about what is going on in this island is increasing. "I see, those monkeys are curious about everything as always."Virus said as he then continued looking at the island and security uglies "Just continue dealing with them accordingly, and increase the speed of productions." "Yes master." They both replied at the same time. "Make my private jet ready, I''m going back to Manhattan, we''ve got lot''s of things to do and I want to start some things as soon as possible." He ordered again. Some time later the private jet was ready and after Virus and the golden beauty got on it, it flew to Manhattan. ___________________ After arriving at Manhattan, at the airport, a red Aston Martin V12 Zagato, now known as Virus V12 Zagato was parked which still wasn''t released to the market and the world and there was his other black Lamborghini too which he had bought in the past. An employee was waiting for them when they got off the private jet and the moment he saw them he bowed with respect saying "Welcome back Chairman, hope you had a wonderful journey, I''ll lead you to your cars." "Okay, let''s go." Virus replied without saying anything else. After they got beside the cars parked the employee bowed and reached his right hand inside which were two keys, taking both keys Virus ordered the employee "You can go back." Then he turned to the golden beauty saying while he also gave her the Black Lamborghini''s key "Bella you go back first, I have to go somewhere first." "Yes, master." She said as she took the car''s key. Both of them went beside their cars as lot''s of people at the airport were staring at them while thinking. ''Wow, that man''s so charming!'' a girl thought. ''How wonderful would it be if such a man fucked me tonight!'' a married woman thought. ''what a beauty!!! this is the first time I''ve seen such a beauty!'' a man thought. ''my masturbation material is ready for tonight.'' another thought. ''They seem to be filthy rich people...'' a lot of others thought. Some were fantasizing about doing strange things with both of them while most of them fell in love with them at first sight, also their eyes were shining with envy looking at their cars and wealth. Some of the people who knew the cars well thought ''That red car! this is the first time I''ve seen that car." But seeing the half robotic brain and half human brain company mark some of them thought ''it seems to be one of that new Virus Industries'' cars which they said they''re gonna release soon. It looks so awesome! who is this man who is driving it!'' After sending Bella away Virus first checked where Ella was, seeing she was on her way back to home from college he pushed the gas pedal as he started driving toward her. _____________ Ella was on her way back home on the bus as she was deep in her thoughts thinking ''I miss him so much... why hasn''t he still come back?... I can''t even contact him for about a month now... .'' ''I hope he''s fine in whatever corner of this earth he is... I wish he could''ve taken me with him though...'' As she was continuing thinking like this suddenly a red high-class car which no one recognized what it was came beside the bus driving exactly beside it. After a while later people inside the bus started noticing the red car and thought ''Wow, such an awesome car, which bastard/handsome/soulmate of mine/beauty is driving the car.'' And then looking at the person driving the car they were frozen staring, they could feel his handsomeness from even this far.'' ''Is this handsome oppa looking at me?'' a girl thought. ''He''s definitely looking at me... is my life movie finally starting?'' another thought, all the thoughts were going almost in the same direction when finally a particular girl noticed the car and looked at the driver, it wasn''t that she put an effort to see the driver or did so intentionally, it''s just that Virus was driving exactly in her line of sight waiting for her to notice while looking at her from time to time. Finally noticing Virus she put her hands on her mouth as her eyes turned red and tears came pouring down as she whispered in a low voice "He''s finally back!" Immediately coming out of her daze she pressed the stop button of the bus trying to get off, Virus stopped the car too getting off of it and started walking toward the bus. As he was walking towards the bus slowly a beauty got off the bus running towards the walking man in a hurry and after they were upon each other without any change in speed she jumped to her embrace with her red eyes. Embracing and holding the beauty who was sticking to him like glue Virus smiled thinking ''She''s so lightweight.'' Some seconds later her legs and hands were still around him tightly embracing him while her head was on his shoulders. Sometime later she finally let loose and separated herself from him, now standing with red eyes that still had some tears on it. Both were softly looking into each others'' eyes and finally, Ella broke the silence saying. "Kiss me..." And Virus put his lips on her without any hesitation. 26 New Orders While they were kissing passionately, the bus was still there watching the two love birds as even the bus driver was interested in watching a little romance. ''So he wasn''t looking at me... damn.'' ''Why isn''t it me...'' ''I can be even his personal slave by whatever contract he wants.'' ''He should be mine.'' ''She''s so lucky to have such a handsome man as her boyfriend, he seems to be super rich too.'' ''I''m so jealous...'' ''I would do whatever he wants and pleases him and be satisfied with it even if it''s just for a night.'' Such thoughts were still running inside the passengers'' head while most of the girls'' hearts were beating fast, impatient and filled with anxiety of wanting him. While some were jealous of Ella, some were jealous of the man''s wealth and looks. After the passionate kiss Ella said looking into his eyes "I missed you..." "I missed you too." Virus replied also looking into her eyes smiling. ________________ After that, they went into the car as Virus turned the engine on as they drove away. "Is this your new car?" After a while, Ella asked. "Yeah..." Virus answered while continuing his driving without looking at her. "Why do you change your car so much?"Ella asked again. "Well... because always using one car is boring." Virus said. Ella was a little speechless by his answer thinking ''You keep changing your cars just because it''s boring? Just how rich are you.'' "Ella, I came to see you the moment I came back because I didn''t want you to be worried, but I still have some urgent matters to attend to so I need to go back soon after dropping you off at your house, but I''ll come to look for you when I''m done with those, what do you think?" Virus asked. "It''s fine Ai, I just wanted to know you''re okay and just to see you, now that I''ve seen you, go do your things, and it''s not like I can''t contact you with the communication device, right?" Ella replied with a smile on her beautiful face. "Yeah... thanks for understanding." Virus said also smiling. Virus drove around for a little while after that and finally dropped Ella off in front of her house. Then he drove to his building and company as he went to the highest floor of it, inside which no one was allowed other than Virus, Bella, and the four uglies. After he got there the golden beauty was already there waiting for him, As she saw him she said "Welcome back master, what''s your orders?" "Tell the CEO ugly and the legal ugly to come here, also the other two uglies should be present through internet online." Virus said. "Yes master." The golden beauty said as she went away. _____________ TWENTY MINUTES LATER The golden beauty and the two uglies were present while the other two uglies were online through the internet, each of their faces was inside one 3D screen. Seeing everyone ready for command Virus started talking "Okay now, this is an important order I''m going to give you guys, I would need some material and other things for something very important to me, now most of these things can be found on this very earth, but some of them cannot be found here, so one or two of you need to roam the universe, and if necessary the multiverse to find those things, it won''t take long to find each material though so no need to be worried about not being able to find them, as I''ll give the approximate location and coordinates each of the material and also one of the blueprints I gave the island ugly to make was Material Finder, which''s job is to find the material you tell it to." "In addition, find the material in order of importance I''ve placed, as I''ll need some of them sooner than the others." "The first set of material is all present on earth so first you uglies should find that, Until tomorrow I want the first set ready." "Also bring that tech from the island to my highest floor lab till tomorrow along with the material and about deciding which one of you should do which one of the duties, you uglies decide that, but remember to not fall behind your other duties too, for simple gained access material you can use the workers in the company." "Now go! Bring the first set of materials to me asap, you have till tomorrow." Virus ended his orders for now. "Yes master." They all answered at the same time and then the two present uglies went away while the other two online uglies went offline. After it was just the two of them the golden beauty asked "What''s those materials for master?" Only to hear Virus say "You will know soon enough." ________________ The next day the first set of material and things he needed was ready on his lab at the highest floor of his building, these things were gathered from different places on earth while some of them could be accessed by everyone some couldn''t be accessed even with the highest technology available currently on earth, like a plant called ''Parsin'' grew only on the bottom of the ocean or some other plants which also grew there which humanity still couldn''t gain access to. In spite of this, all of the needed materials were gathered by different means and technology available to the four uglies. Seeing everything he needed was already there, Virus smiled as he said "Let''s start." Then he told Bella who was watching by the sides to bring the material besides a specific giant tech. The tech was a huge one and it was brought here along with the materials, this was one of the techs of which blueprint Virus had given to the island ugly to build. It had different entrances and thousands of commands on its 3D screen hovering above the tech, Even though this tech wasn''t the device that was the most advanced or the device that could do it most efficiently, it was the only thing that could be made in the shortest time possible as it''s material could be found more easily and before making it there was not lot''s of needs for other advanced or far advanced techs so that''s why Virus had ordered this one to be created for creating the things he needed and other things for now. This tech was a more advanced version of the simple tech by which Virus had created the ''Immortality Serum''. 27 Purifying Stage This giant tech was called ''Maker Device Apothecary'' and it was abbreviated to ''MDA''. After that, he told Bella to place specific material and things in specific places of the Maker Device Apothecary''s entries as Virus was giving complicated commands to it without touching anything, moving a finger, or giving any commands by voice. The MDA seemed to be working by itself as different things kept appearing on its 3D screen. A little while later the commands needed for the MDA to work and make the thing Virus wanted was given and all the materials were placed in their own relevant entries, now he just needed to wait. _________________ TWO HOURS LATER The thing Virus wanted to make was finally ready as the 3D screen above the MDA showed a big ''READY'' sign, of course in a weird futuristic language which Virus had long taught all the four uglies and the golden beauty. Under the ready sign was also something else written in that futuristic language. The thing written under the ready sign was as such ''Done Making: Full Skin Cleanser Injection''. That''s right, this was the thing Virus wanted to make, Full Skin Cleanser Injection. Before starting cultivation, there existed two stages which a lot of cultivators saw as unnecessary, although those powerful figures of the cultivation world saw it as extremely important as they believed it created a strong foundation for the future cultivation. The first one of the two stages which by most was seen as unnecessary was called the Purifying Stage which consisted of eight levels in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. The way this stage worked was somehow different than the future stages after the first two unnecessary or less important seen stages, as the cultivators could also directly bypass this stage whenever they wanted. For example, Virus could directly bypass this Purifying Stage right now without paying it any heeds, or he could complete the first level of the Purifying Stage first and then completely stop and bypass it. Or he could first do for example the second level, third level, fourth level, seventh level, etc. whatever level he wanted to reach or do and bypass it whenever he felt like it. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, the weaker cultivators with no talent almost all bypassed this stage. People with more talent, those with stronger backgrounds first did one or two levels of the stage first before bypassing the stage as they couldn''t find or be supplied with any more pills that would purify, as the more levels a cultivator went higher in this stage, the more difficult it would become for the cultivator to find that level''s purifying pills. Those with even more powerful backgrounds or with alchemical backgrounds or those extremely lucky cultivators could even go to the third and fourth level of this stage before bypassing it. But the eighth level of the purifying stage was reached on very few occasions, except those peak powers of the multiverse. other people, clans, planets, etc. can not even find the seventh level purifying pill, now let''s not talk about finding the eighth level purifying pill. Of course, there existed herbs or other heavenly materials that did what the pills did and purified just like the purifying pills but they were extremely rare. Only very few even among those peak powers'' young talents could breakthrough to the seventh or eighth level of the purifying stage, and other than those there existed only those super lucky and heavenly favoured sons who found the pills, herbs, or heavenly materials and cultivated to the 7th or 8th level of the this stage. The trouble and difficulty of finding and accessing these pills and materials were also another reason why most people just bypassed the stage. In the past Virus too might have bypassed this stage or done the important ones among them before bypassing it as he would''ve been bored and wouldn''t have wanted to waste time. But now it was different for him, the purifying stage was now very important to him, maybe thousand times more important than how other powerful cultivators who saw it as extremely important for the future cultivation and for a solid foundation. And that''s why he wanted to perfect this stage before breaking through to the next one. As the golden beauty saw the thing ready and read its name her eyes shined, seeing this Virus was amused a little inside. But this was probably a natural reaction all women or girls would have toward this name which said Full Skin Cleanser Injection, as the impression it gave was like it was something miraculous that would make your skin soft like a baby''s or make it whiter. What amused Virus was because when Virus made her skin and flesh he had already made the skin white and like a baby''s, and literally she couldn''t take it as she didn''t have a real body, but her eyes were shining which made Virus think amusedly ''She has the heart of a true woman alright.'' After that, the golden beauty could tolerate it no more and asked, "What is that master?" Smiling Virus replied, "Its function is not only those things you think, it''s not just for making the skin whiter and softer as it has a much much more important function, it''s for purifying the skin and it''s used by the future science and technology cultivators who want to purify their skin." Hearing this even though the golden beauty was amazed a little hearing it was used for cultivation she still pouted her mouth a little saying "Though I think making the skin whiter, softer and younger is more important." "Hahaha, that''s definitely how every woman in the world thinks." Laughing Virus Replied. Then he went and got the ready injection from inside the MDA and just injected it to his right hand by his left before going into the bathroom. At the beginnings a little layer of black liquid came out all over his body with a little bad smell, but those things that came out started to turn yellow and even lesser and in the end, turned colourless before stopping completely after about two hours, now his whole skin was completely one hundred per cent purified. The thoughts that came into Virus'' mind after seeing all the filthy black and yellow liquids were ''I knew the material used to make my body was trashier than I thought, though the filthy liquid that came out was still lesser than what came out of other normal people''s body.'' This first level of the purifying stage was called ''First Level: Cleansing the Skin''. 28 Left With No Way To Live This first level, which was cleansing the skin took the least amount of time in all of the eight levels of the purifying stage as it only lasted for about two hours for Virus, but for cultivators of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi it took even more time and it was slower, as it took almost a day for the skin to be cleansed and the process to end. The cleansing skin pills of those cultivators of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi could only cleanse the skin for about 50 to 60 per cent and some more potent ones could at most do 70 to 80 per cent while the most powerful ones seen and recorded could do about 90 to 95 per cent, none could do a complete purification, unlike Virus'' Full Skin Cleanser Injection which other than being faster did a 100 percent and full purification of the skin. Moreover other than the outer skin of the body, the inner skins, like the skin of mouth, palate, anus, etc. All were purified, so another advantage of this Full Skin Cleanser Injection was that it cleansed the whole surface of the body. But this was not the end of the first level of the Purifying Stage for Virus. As his injection did something else other than speeding up the process and doing a hundred per cent complete purification. The most important thing the injection did other than completely cleansing the skin was that from now on it immuned the skin from filth and impurities as it would reject all the impurities, not allowing any inside the skin as they would be destroyed and rejected the moment they entered the body or were created inside the body. The injection worked in a way like when you injected an injection to immune yourself to a certain disease, only in Virus'' situation the skin completely rejected anything impure that wasn''t of the skin. But this immunity process took some time to come into effect, Virus estimated it should take about a day. After taking a shower Virus came out only to see Bella waiting for him outside, seeing him she said with a smile "Your skin''s a little bit whiter than even before master." Hearing this Virus didn''t know what to say so he just changed the subject "Go tell the uglies to make the second set of the material ready till tomorrow." "Okay master." The golden beauty replied. "Also, tell the CEO ugly, after he helps to gather the material I need, to release the new phones along the cars if they are ready." Virus talked again. "Okay Master I''ll do that, what about you? what do you want to do?" She asked. ''Me...? truthfully I''m starting to get bored again. Even though cultivation and other things I want to do entertains me to some extents, they take time...'' Virus thought. Then he said, "Go inform the uglies first and then let''s go out and eat something delicious, I like new tastes, we will also take Ella with us, just the three of us." "Okay master." Bella said thinking she needs to follow and protect his master from the sidelines like always. ________________ Since the Virus Company started releasing its phones to the market all of the phone companies around the world, major and minor, had held an endless number of conference meetings. All of the topics of their conference and meeting was to figure out a way to survive. ________________ In One Of those Major Companies "Mr. CEO, if things continue like this the company will go broke, since the first-day Virus Company released their phones, no one''s buying our phones as theirs are like a decade more advanced and even cheaper, We''re just losing tons of money every second that passes." One major shareholder of that company said. Then he continued "so, what do you think we should do Mr. CEO? do you have any solutions?" "Solutions? you want solutions? well... I have a solution but it''s impossible and that is to release even more advanced phones to the market? is that possible?" The CEO said obviously angry and frustrated with life and everyone else. "This... ." that major shareholder became quiet as he also understood the only way to compete was to be on the same level as the opponent, but the opponent was too powerful this time, according to their data the opponent''s phones were at least a decade more advanced than theirs and they would need to try for 8 or 9 years to get to that level, but that was obviously impossible too. "This so-called Virus Company is leaving us, and by us, I mean all the phone companies with no fucking way to live!!! But they are too naive if they think they can win just like this, they have angered all of the phone companies around the world and let me tell you this, they won''t sit still just watching themselves go broke." The CEO continued. "There will be all kinds of attacks and movements against this company, so let''s just watch for now." That CEO concluded. ____________ In Another Major Company "So, contact every phone company you can and tell them that there will be a conference meeting, in which most of the major companies will attend." A CEO ordered one of his employee''s. "What should I say the topic of the meeting is Mr CEO?" that employee asked. "Crisis Management for Virus Company Crisis. If there is a Virus, we just need to destroy it." The CEO replied. ______________ In Another Phone Company "Contact Virus Company and tell them we want a cooperative relationship with them." A CEO said. "You have to get on their good side! understood?" Another CEO ordered. "Yes, I will do as I was ordered, sir." The loyal employee replied. ________________ Things like this were going on in all of the Phone Companies around the world, they were all frustrated against this new company which left them with no way to live! US, China, Japan, Korea, etc. Phone Companies from all over these countries were contacting their government connections, other phone companies, and even the underground to solve this problem that was the Virus Company. 29 Walking Beside Him While Bella was gone to deliver the orders to the CEO ugly which was close by, Virus called Ella saying "Hey beauty, How about going out to eat something delicious?" Ella then replied, "uh... sorry Ai, I''m really busy right now, I''ve got an exam tomorrow, some other time maybe?" Hearing this Virus checked and saw she was studying. He then replied, "It''s okay, we''ll just go another time then, good luck with your study, bye." After that Virus closed the connection and started walking outside, on the way Bella also came back and joined him. Together they started taking the elevator down. Inside the elevator, Bella started talking "So master the car I prepared this time is ..." But she was interrupted by Virus as she was talking "No need for a car this time, let''s walk in the city." Hearing this, that she''s going to walk with her master in the city Bella became really happy inside but thinking about something she asked "But how are we going to pick up Ella without a car... ." "I just called her, she said she has an exam tomorrow which she needs to study." Virus said. Then he said with a mesmerizing smile on his face which made Bella''s non-existent heart almost stop beating "It''s just the two of us." After they got out of Virus'' building they started walking side by side. Any passer-by after being stunned to the point of never becoming the same person again thought they were a heavenly match and they thought they were a couple on their date. ''They truly worth each other.'' ''It''s like God made them be complementary... like they were made to complete the other.'' Thoughts like these ran through the mind of most of them after they came out of their stupor and daydreams. As they were walking Bella asked, "So master, are you having fun?" Hearing this Virus answered coming out of his thoughts "Well, even though it''s a little fun playing around and slowly dominating the economic world while doing some cultivation besides that, it''s still also a little boring, I mean mankind is too weak right now and they''re not the true challenge I''m looking for, at least not the human beings of right now." Hearing this Bella was stunned as she said "I meant... are you having fun walking... " "..." "... Oh... yeah, it''s fun." Virus answered without any change in tone. After that there was a time of silence before Bella asked again "Master, previously you said something about cultivators or something... it got me curious since then but I hadn''t asked... I mean what did you mean by cultivator." "Cultivators are those who Cultivate to become more powerful, we can say they cultivate by gathering spiritual energy of the world, it''s kind of something beyond science, but not exactly that either." Virus replied seeing her curious. "WOW, Even though I suspected that would be the case when you said something about cultivators I didn''t think it was actually this, I assumed just maybe when you said ''cultivator'' you were talking about someone who cultivates something, a plant for example! I mean I thought cultivators existed only in movies or in those novels! But hearing they do actually exist... !" Bella said amazed. "Well yeah, they do exist." Virus replied, "and that''s exactly what I used that Injection for, though I haven''t truly started cultivation right now, I''m laying my foundations for that at the moment." "I see... um... master, can I be a cultivator too?" Bella asked with shining eyes after digesting the things about cultivators really existing. "... With this body of yours, you cant." Virus said. "I see." Bella said a little downcast. Seeing her disappointed face Virus continued "But don''t worry, after I''m strong enough to defend myself, I will make a true physical body for you too my lil Bella, at that time... you can cultivate." Coming out of her downcast mood immediately, she became excited, not because of being able to cultivate but because her master would make a true body for her "Truly??? Master''s gonna make a true body for me later?" Virus answered in a very matter-of-factly way "Of course I will, I always wanted to make you a real body when I''m on the same level as you, when I can protect myself against threats. So bear with this body of yours till then." "Okay master, I''ll protect you with my everything on the line master." Bella said with determination and excitement, looking forward to that day. After that, they continued their walk together side by side, while Bella glanced at her master from time to time. Finally, they found a nice looking restaurant as they were walking and they decided to go to that restaurant to eat. After entering and being led to sit at a table, both of them chose the food they wanted and ordered them to be served. Even though Bella didn''t need to eat, she could still enjoy and appreciate the experience of different tastes by trying different food, as the taste was literally the same as when you tried it with a true body. But in truth, it wasn''t the same as when you tried a food with a real body, maybe because the real body had real hormones or maybe the soul that made the difference. According to Virus'' experience, although the taste was the same, the non-existent difference between the taste of food with a real body and a robotic body was like the difference between heaven and earth, it simply wasn''t the same, it was like a human with a soul and a human without a soul. This was something a person would get only if he/she went through it and experienced it for real. While they were eating, a beautiful blonde lady with blue eyes walked toward them, not taking her eyes off of Virus for even a second on the way, probably entranced by him. After coming beside them she said looking at Virus "Hello, handsome... " Taking his eyes off of his food for a second he looked at her blue eyes and replied without any change in expression with a cold tone like he was looking at and talking to nothing but a lifeless worthless object "What is it?" 30 Amara Martin Seeing his cold and indifferent attitude the blonde lady was taken aback, but she still continued "My name is Amara Martin and I''m from the Martin family who owns the Aston Martin car company, it''s so nice to meet such a handsome man." She told her family name not because she was arrogant, but because she just wanted to attract this handsome and charming prince in whichever way possible, she had just came to the restaurant she usually eats when she saw this otherworldly handsome man, similar to which she had never seen, so this time she stepped up to come and get to know the man unlike all the other times when other men tried to get to know and please her. "..." still hearing no response from him she asked with a cheerful smile on her face "May I have your name please?" "I''m Aizen Vee, I''ll ask you one more time, so don''t waste my time and tell me what do you want?" Virus replied with the same indifferent voice, but this rude attitude had the opposite effect as it made him even more charming, like the bad boy who most girls chose over the nice guy. At this time Bella was frowning too, seeing this bothersome woman. "...um...actually I just like you and so... here I am, please give me a chance to know you!" She suddenly confessed, obviously never done this before. "I have a girlfriend." Virus only replied thinking she would go away with this answer as a normal person would do. "I don''t care! I would''ve been surprised if such a God-like charming man didn''t have someone in his life but I really like you, please give me a chance. I''m okay with being the second." Amara said with a determined expression. Seeing she doesn''t seem to be the normal kind you usually see and wasn''t persuaded he continued "First of all I don''t have the same feelings as you, secondly you''re just liking me because of my appearance, so would you have tried to get close to me if I was ugly or had an average appearance? obviously not, go now." Virus replied and talked at the same time as he was eating while looking at his food. "... " hearing his answer Amara was disappointed inside but she knew what to do if she wants to get close to the guy so she said, "Okay, so at least let''s be friends!" Virus stopped eating as he took his eyes off of his food and looked into her eyes once more saying "I don''t do friends." at least for now Virus hasn''t decided to find any friends, though that might change in the future, he mainly said it because he wanted to get rid of her sooner. "..." Hearing the answer Amara really didn''t know what to do anymore, it was always the boys who tried to get close to her and pursued her because she had both the beauty and wealth, but she was never interested in any, now for the first time she was interested in someone but he didn''t even bother to get to know her, he didn''t even want to at least be friends with her. he was really frustrated and didn''t know what to do anymore when she remembered something ''Right... he said his name is Aizen Vee, you might reject me, but I can find you now! hehe.'' Thinking that she smiled unconsciously and said, "Sorry to be a nuisance while you were eating, anyway nice knowing you, I hope we meet again... and by fate, if we really do meet each other again, at that time... please give me a chance to get to know you." After that, without waiting for his response she turned around and went away, probably figuring he won''t bother giving any response. _______________ Meanwhile in a conference meeting in which all of the major phone companies had gathered were discussing the ways to pass this major crisis. The CEO of a company in Korea said "So what do you all suggest we do to get past this situation?" Another CEO of another famous and known phone company in Japan said, "We should think of a solution that uses all of our resources in the government and other places, so think of every way through which we can equal the two sides of the scale or even better, reverse the situation completely." "..." After that everyone turned silent for about 10 minutes. Finally, the silence was broken when the CEO of a powerful phone company in the USA said, "Our first move should be to equal the two sides of the scale... and doing that is easy, let''s gather the best experts, engineers, and programmers from each company and bring them all together to understand all the phones of that Virus Company, they will analyze the phones from component to component, until we understand them completely, we will reverse engineer every single phone, and then we will produce our own advanced phones, we will copy their tech to the last piece but with some differences, for example, we will change the shape and appearance of our phone and make slight modifications to the operating systems." Then he continued "Like this, if we all do this then no government or individual will be able to object or protest as it''s impossible to stop everybody from doing something and it''s not like they will stop us in the first place as all of us have people in the higher-ups, and the combination of all of our powers and people together will be unstoppable!" "This will be our first step, which will make the two sides of the scale equal." That CEO concluded with an evil smile on his face. Hearing his words the eyes of other CEOs shone with intense light like they had just come to themselves finally, they were all thinking according to their own individual company''s power without including the power of other companies and without combining them with their own! But now hearing the words of that CEO it was like an ice block had been removed from their minds! . 31 Who Is He? They finally understood they could literally do anything they wanted, whatever they felt like doing and no one would be able to point any fingers at them! And after that lots of legal and illegal ideas were suggested, some of which chosen by everyone''s vote and some rejected. After the conference meeting was over all the CEOs came out of the conference room with evil grins on their faces. Anyone seeing them could imagine a storm and crisis was probably going to befall their enemy. _____________ After that Virus and Bella finished their food and got on their way to the building on foot again. Bella was happily following and escorting Virus back while stealing a glance at him from time to time when finally Virus broke the silence by beginning to talk as he said all of a sudden with an expressionless face, "do something, lil Belle,I might want to travel to some other country soon and enjoy a little bit of another country, but I want Ella to come too, but she has college... she won''t come with me like today, with her college and classes still being attended like this, so do something, whatever you feel like, make university suspended or shut down completely, I don''t care, just make it so she would be able to come with me whenever I feel like, and the next time I ask her to come out with me, nothing like today happens, okay?" Bella was at first happy Virus called her lil Belle because it felt closer but then she was triggered and a little stunned listening to Virus'' words, but then she started thinking and thought this behavior was normal and expected of his master when he was dealing with most of the things, probably because he was an AI he had to have everything under control and the slightest thing out of his control would bug him very much. And then she started thinking about how he met with Ella and how coincidentally there was a party which Ella attended to the moment his body was made. Then she started thinking further about how her master seemed to have already chosen who he wanted to sleep with the moment his body was made. The more and the deeper she thought the more she felt scared and stunned inside, it was like everything that was happening, her master had already predicted and maybe even caused it to happen. But now Ella had said she wanted to study because she had exam tomorrow and this was probably out of his control and expectations, maybe he thought Ella would abandon the exam and come out with him immediately or that he hadn''t even put the matter of exam in his mind, or maybe because he wanted to live like a normal person he had stopped calculating or maybe not, or maybe completely something else! Remembering how her master had said Ella had an exam tomorrow and can''t come with them, he seemed completely fine and cool with it at the time but it seems he was not? or maybe he was? It was at this moment Bella thought she couldn''t see through her master at all! As these thoughts made her very scared, she decided to stop thinking about them because everything she thought is maybe not true or even if it was true it was better she stops thinking about them and just follows orders, so she answered, "Yes master, I''ll do as I was told." "Good." Virus said continuing his walk without any change in expression or anything else. After that, they talked no more and started walking towards his building 4 Times Square. ____________________ MEANWHILE IN A SECRET GOVERNMENT FACILITY IN US Inside the facility in the boss office, right now two men were inside, one was sitting on a chair behind the only desk in the room, while the other man was sitting on one of the couches inside the office. "So my boss is expecting an answer soon as his boss and higher ups are expecting an answer too, did you figure out what that company''s background is? where and when they invented and made so many things? is that company perhaps from another country? or a branch of another powerful family or industry that has been getting ready to come into the phone market?" The person who was sitting on the couch said. By the way he talked you could say he was superior to the person who was sitting behind the desk. "Boss... we''ve been investigating that company for many days now and there are some things we found!" The person behind the desk said. "In our detailed investigation, we found no background power that was supporting that company other than a person called Aizen Vee, the initial capital they used to start the company seems to come from their chairman and only shareholder, that person called Aizen Vee whose background research only leads to one result: TOP-CLASS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION." He said. "Now I don''t know if he''s somebody from the higher-ups or somebody with heavy background with classified information, but as I don''t have access and permission to his information I won''t dwell on him boss, you need to investigate that person''s background yourselves to find who he truly is..." he continued as the person sitting on the couch listened silently with a serious face in absolute calm. Seeing him listening he continued "Though the CEO of that company who is someone normal with clean background called Steven Greg at first used Aizen Vee''s money as initial capital to start the company, but now with the way how everyone is buying their phones they don''t need any more of his personal money and still only with the money they earn, they are still expanding at an alarming speed, they seem to be even paving their way to the car market too as their cars will be released soon and their cars too seem to be ahead of other car companies just like their phones!" 32 A Man Looking At The Crowded City "We also investigated from where these many advanced techs like phones and cars are coming from and we found something too! All the tech seems to be coming from a secret lab in The Aldabra Atoll of Seychelles which was recently also bought by the same chairman of the company: Aizen Vee." "There have to be scientists working and inventing new techs there, or maybe some super genius people working, I''m not sure as we could get no definitive information about that place, as the place''s security is too tight, so the only theory I can come up with is that their scientists or super geniuses are in that island working on new tech and science, even if none of my theories are true I''m sure the source of their advanced techs is there." The person sitting behind the desk on the chair said. "Wait a moment... " his boss on the couch finally talked as he interrupted him. "what is it boss?" the person behind the desk who wanted to just resume his talk and continue talking stopped and said. "You said that island was recently bought... but inventing those many phones seems impossible in a short period of time, it would require years of concentrated study and research! so where were those so-called super geniuses and scientists you talk of before they bought an island?" he asked. Hearing this the person behind the desk said "Actually... I don''t know where they were before...maybe in another country or maybe in some abandoned desert or jungle in an abandoned secret lab probably? I don''t know, but I believe they were in another lab before coming to the currently built lab on the island." "So you found almost nothing useful except that they seem to be clean and their sources also legal too huh?" The person sitting on the couch said with a frown on his face. "Yes boss, it''s just that I believe they have been hiding to make an appearance that would shock the world, so they have been preparing, probably for decades!" the person sitting behind the desk said. He continued talking "but if you want to find something else I believe we need to find that person Aizen Vee''s background and data first, then we might get to another conclusion or we might not, so I suggest you first try to find about him." "I''ll see what happens, was that all?" the person sitting on the couch asked. "well... yeah... but other than those while we were investigating them we found something else too, almost all of the other phone companies seem to have joined forces to deal with The Virus Company... now I don''t know what plans they have designed to deal with Virus Company as I''m not focusing my attention on them, but I''m sure they will be very brutal in whatever they''re planning." The person behind the desk said. "Well... I expected something like this would happen the moment those phones came to the market, as that company truly left no way for them to live, and if a person has no way to live, he will do desperate things as he will have nothing more to lose." The person sitting on the couch said, "Should I investigate the allied phone companies too boss?" the man behind the desk said. "Just leave them be," the man sitting on the couch said and then he stood up as he continued "Then I shall get going to report to my boss... " Hearing this the person sitting behind the desk also stood up as he came from behind the desk beside his boss with papers in his hand. "here boss, this is the written result of the investigation." Taking the papers from his hands the boss who was sitting on the couch left to report to his higher-ups. After his boss left the man who was behind the desk before said, "I have a gut feeling a shitty storm''s going to happen soon." ____________________ THE NEXT DAY Finally, enough time had passed for the Full Skin Cleanser Injection''s immunity completely take effect and now Virus'' skin was fully immune to impurities as it was also completely pure. This purity was also now permanent because of the immunity that came with the injection. Right now Virus standing, in a room which had a full see-through window glass. He was looking down, outside the window to the crowded city and people, with an indifferent expression. As he was watching them Bella entered the room after knocking on the door, only to see him standing with his back to her. Looking at her master who was looking out of the window with a cold and indifferent expression she thought unconsciously, "Master''s so cool..." Then coming to herself after being a little dazed by her master''s cool back she said "Master... two sets of material are ready and here." "Oh... " hearing this Virus was surprised a little as he hadn''t expected them to be able to gather two sets instead of the ordered set only, but the surprise wasn''t much as he was still looking out at the city without turning back. The golden beauty continued without waiting for her master to probe and ask further "The uglies were able to somehow gather the next set you needed too somehow, so the CEO and Legal uglies just brought the two sets back before going back to do their own duties again." "They were more efficient than I thought... that''s a bit of surprise to me as they were able to exceed my expectations a little... " Virus said as he turned around looking at the Golden beauty''s face. and then he started walking toward the golden beauty while saying, "then we should start making the second thing I need... " It was at this moment that he had passed the golden beauty but Bella was still standing without moving, seeing her not moving he stopped and then looked back at her face saying "What are you waiting for? Let''s go..." 33 A New World CULTIVATION MULTIVERSE OF QI - EARTH As cultivation is dominant instead of technology on this earth, the power is not the power of technology and weapons a country might have. On this Earth, the most important thing is the individual power and the cultivation each person has. Countries and nations existed on this earth too and their power and place were determined by how much powerful the cultivators of that country were and how much power the most powerful person in that country had. A difference this earth had with the earth of technology was that it looked like it was still at the times of ancient earth almost like how ancient China was in the past. Normal people used horses to travel and they used gold, silver, bronze as currency to buy food, house, and everything else. Another difference this earth of cultivation had with the earth of technology was laws each country and nation had. Each person''s place was determined by the cultivation he or she had and other than things like slaughtering the masses or some other taboos, powerful people could do whatever they wanted to the people weaker than them, so it was a world where strong suppressed the weak. So this earth was run by the laws of the jungle. Also because people here cultivated from countless years before, there were animals, beasts, and other creatures that have been affected by the qi and gained a natural hereditary unconscious ability of absorption of this energy while going through change throughout the countless years and now there were animals who have reached high levels of power, or there were those more powerful animals, etc. who had gained higher levels of intelligence, and there were even some which had even reached the intelligence of the human beings or surpassed it, these animals were called the ''Magical Beasts''. EARTH, THE HOLY ISLAND Other than those powerful countries there was also another place which was not a country, only an island in the Pacific ocean. With all this, it was still seen as powerful as other countries and almost no one dared to go against them as the number of powerful people there were a lot. Right now on this island inside the biggest pagoda, a group of people was sitting on chairs around a big table in the shape of a circle. Right now they seemed to be talking about something, the room was a little dark so their faces were not clear and obvious. One of them (A) said "how is the comprehension of that portal like rift that opened is going?" this person was at closed-door cultivation meditation at the time trying to breakthrough in his cultivation, so he hadn''t felt the rift open, thus unable to try comprehending it, and he would not be, at least not until the rift opens again and he sees it. "The fastest one among us has comprehended about 5 percent of it, but the more we comprehend the harder it gets." Another person (B) who seemed to be a young woman said. "That''s right, and according to our spies in other countries, we seem to be the fastest one among all the nations that have started comprehending that portal like rift," another (C) said. "So I''m hoping we would continue to be ahead of others till we completely comprehend it." the same person (C) continued. Others still remained silent only listening. The first person (A) who had talked broke the silence again and talked again "what do you guys think is beyond that rift?" "Maybe a far away place in our world, or maybe a pocket dimension? or maybe something else completely, because I haven''t even comprehended 2 percent I''m not sure..." That woman (B) who had talked previously talked. "Whatever it is... we have to be the first group to reach there before other nations, to reap most of the benefits." Another (D) said with a serious tone. "now we know we''re faster than other nations... but aren''t you guys forgetting another competitor? I mean we have no spies at that place too..." that same person (D) continued, when he said his last word he turned silent looking at the face of others sitting in there, seeing no reaction whatsoever from them and seeing them stay silent he continued saying, "I''m talking about the magical beasts! I mean they must be trying to comprehend too!" There was two seconds of silence but then, "Hahaha..." Hearing this almost all of them except some of them started laughing out loud, after a while of laughing one of them who was laughing the loudest (E) said "that was good! that seriously changed the mood of the gathering, bravo, hahaha" that person said as he continued laughing afterward. "But I''m serious! why do you people underestimate them so much!" the person who had talked about the magical beasts (D) said with a serious face, he had learned it the hard way to never underestimate anyone so he never underestimated anyone since he had learned that lesson. Hearing him being completely serious they stopped laughing too and one of them (A) said in a tone like he was saying the most obvious thing in the world "You know how the magical beasts are like, even though they might be powerful with hard bodies, their comprehension ability is the slowest among us all... so why would you overestimate them? I agree with the thought to never underestimate anyone, but you shouldn''t overestimate them too... isn''t that right?" "But still... sigh... okay... but if it was up to me I wouldn''t have ignored them completely and at least make sure they were slower than us, but whatever." That person (D) said as he turned silent afterward. After that, another long awkward silence came upon the room as everyone didn''t know what to say. Sometime later the person (F) who almost never talked in all of the gatherings talked, she was the person who had comprehended about 5 percent of the rift and probably the fastest on the whole earth to comprehend according to the spies placed in other nations. She said, "You guys asked where the rift would lead to, let me answer that..." Hearing this everyone in the room was stunned that she knew and then they were impatient to hear the answer as they were looking at her face with an expression that was yelling ''Where? Where?'' After what seemed like forever to others she responded with the slowest of speeds with a soft and low tone while savoring the moment. She said, "It would lead us..." ''JUST FUCKING SPIT IT OUT.'' they all thought, but obviously, none dared to say it out loud. "To another world... a whole new world." She finally said. 34 Suspense BACK TO VIRUS he stopped and then looked back at her face saying "What are you waiting for? Let''s go..." "uh... okay." coming out of it she followed her master. Then they came to the place where the two sets of material and the MDA was placed at. "What should I do master?" she asked. "just follow my instruction and place the material I tell you to in the exact quantity I tell you to in the entries like the last time." Virus After that lot''s of new commands with the same futuristic language kept appearing on the MDA, even different chemical formulas of different material kept appearing which was also changed in some ways. The image of different rotating DNAs also kept appearing which unzipped like a zip turning into a strand of DNA and then it''s structure was also changed as Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine were changed or replaced as it was zipped again only to turn into a whole DNA but this time different. As these different commands continued appearing Virus told the golden beauty to place the different sets of the first of the two sets in different entries. After five minutes later everything was placed in its own related entries as all of the commands were given too, now they needed to just wait until the MDA was done doing its job. While they were waiting, the golden beauty looked at Virus asking him, "master, what are you making this time? is it something that would do something to the skin again?"As she asked this her eyes were shining a little. "Haha... of course not. My job is done with my skin as it''s purified completely and it''s also immune to impurities from now on... what I''m making this time...well, let''s keep the suspense...you''ll know soon enough." looking at the golden beauty Virus answered with a smiling face. Hearing this Bella didn''t know what to say, she just thought a little grudgingly that each time he kept her hanging. After that, while they were waiting, the golden beauty brought Virus a cup of tea to drink. Afterward, They waited for about an hour when finally they heard a sound come from the MDA. Looking at the MDA they saw the same ''READY'' sign they had seen the last time Virus had made the Full Skin Cleanser Injection. Now the second thing Virus wanted was ready. Because the golden beauty was still in suspense the first thing she wanted to know was the name of the thing her master had created so she immediately looked under the big READY sign only to a see which made her suspense even increase more. Because the name that was written under the ready sign was: Done Making: [You thought I would tell you the name that easily lil beauty?] eeing this the golden beauty reaction was at first stunned then she started crying with anime tears as she said "Master is so mean!" she swore, if it was anyone but her master she would''ve already dissected him or her to ten thousand small pieces of meat by her sword already only to incinerate him or her afterward. "hahaha, sorry lil Belle, the suspense continues." Virus said as he laughed completely unaware of what was going on inside Bella''s head. After having his little entertainment seeing the thing he wanted ready he stood up walking to the MDA and took out the injection of this time out of the MDA. The injection was made as the MDA poured all of it inside the futuristic syringe, so what Virus took out of the MDA was the syringe actually ready to be injected like last time. taking the syringe out of the MDA, raising his left hand by which he took the syringe with, he took it in front of his face looking at the liquid inside the advanced syringe. The liquid inside the syringe was completely green. "Aren''t you going to inject it right now master?" After the golden beauty calmed down from the previous prank she asked seeing her master only looking at the injection without injecting it like last time. "I''ll... but just not right now." Virus replied. he continued "first let''s make the third thing I need too by using the second set of materials before I inject myself with this." "uh okay then," she said. After that they did like the previous thing they had made, Virus was sitting on the couch without looking at the MDA, only looking at the green liquid on his left hand while simultaneously telling the golden beauty to place specific materials on specific entries of the MDA. Meanwhile, random commands kept appearing on the 3D screen above MDA, Chemical formulas were kept being changed while different DNA where being unzipped into a strand of DNA and then after some change were applied to the strand it was again made into a whole DNA. The only difference was that this process took about five minutes more than the previous process for all the needed commands to be given to the MDA. After that came again the waiting phase where they just needed to wait until the MDA was done making. While they were waiting Ella called by her communication device, seeing her calling a smile crept across Virus'' fave as he answered. "Hey Ai, how is everything going? I''m so sorry I couldn''t come with you yesterday..." She said the moment Virus answered without waiting for him to talk. "Hey beauty, I told you already it''s okay, and everything''s going just fine," Virus said with a smiling face. Then he continued by asking "More importantly, how did your exam go? was it good?" Hearing this Ella was happy he asked as she answered with great enthusiasm "Yeah! it went great actually...hehe, all the questions came from the sources I had studied! I''m expecting a perfect score!" "That''s great then, so my girlfriend is a genius!" Virus said while producing a tone like he was really enthusiastic about it too. Hearing how enthusiastic Virus tone was and how he complimented her, she became really happy as she felt a sweet feeling inside her. She said giggling with happiness, "hehehe, of course." 35 Aizen Vee It was at this moment that Virus heard a sound coming from the MDA and looking at it he saw the big ''READY'' sign on the 3D screen, so he told Ella "Okay then, I have some things to do, talk to you later." "Okay, tell me when you''re not busy so we would go out, okay Ai?" Ella said hearing him wanting to close the line, this was actually the reason why she had called because she was feeling a little guilty for rejecting him, and also because she missed him and wanted to see him. "Alright beautiful, bye." saying this he closed the line as he walked beside the MDA. __________________ WITH AMARA MARTIN Since yesterday when Amara Martin had met Virus for the first time at the restaurant she had been busy with family related stuff but she hadn''t forgotten Virus as he kept coming and appearing in her mind. Although this was probably what happened to every single girl or woman that saw Virus as he was too otherworldly in looks so they couldn''t forget about him. But because she had interacted with him directly things felt even more real to her as she had talked to him and this made her feelings shot up as her heart couldn''t stop beating. She didn''t know why but his cold attitude that he had towards her had attracted her even more. ''Aizen Vee, Aizen Vee,...'' She kept thinking about his name and kept repeating it inside her mind as if she was afraid she would forget about him, as she still hasn''t told anyone to investigate about him. And there was a reason why she hadn''t told anyone to investigate him. There was a secretary who was also Amara''s driver and this person was always with her all the time. Amara believed this secretary of her was reporting everything she did to her family, and if she told her secretary to investigate Aizen Vee she believed the secretary would definitely report to her family and she didn''t want that because she didn''t know what kind of reaction they would have or how they would use it against her. She also couldn''t tell anyone else until now because her secretary hadn''t left her alone until this moment when her job was finally done. She immediately picked up her Virus iPhone 1 and called someone from her contact list. After some time of beeping somebody finally someone answered saying with a cold tone, although it seemed he wasn''t trying to be cold as he wasn''t trying to behave like that, this was his natural tone and personality "Hello Miss Martin, how have you been? To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Hearing the phone has been answered and hearing the voice of the person on the other line of the call she said "Hello Detective Lock, I''m fine... actually I called because I have a favor to ask... " "oh... is that so? Go on." He said hearing she had called because she had a favor to ask of him, of course with the same cold tone. John Lock was a very handsome genius detective who was 29 years old and he was familiar with the Martin family as he had helped them in the past with something very important to the Martin family. As he was a very handsome young genius detective with a cold personality lots of women pursued him as he was popular among them. At that time he worked for the Martin family Detective Lock commuted to the Martin mansion a lot, Amara also lived there at the time and they naturally started to get to know each other as they talked about business stuff, but the degree of this acquaintance was only at the working level and it never surpassed that. At that time Amara figured detective Lock was not someone who would tell others somebody else''s secrets. They were also familiar with each other to some extents and that''s why she called him. "... This is something personal and unrelated to my family, I hope you could keep this as a secret for me." Amara said after a little hesitation. "Even from your family?" He asked intrigued. "Especially from my family!" Amara replied. "Don''t worry about it, you know me a little and you should''ve at least realized by now that I have tight and sealed lips." Detective Lock said. "Yes I know, so here''s the deal, I want you to investigate someone for me, I want to know everything there is to know about him, and by everything I mean literally that person''s life''s every little detail! I don''t want to miss anything about him. Find out what he likes, what he usually does to entertain himself, what his background is and literally everything else." Amara said. Detective Lock only heard her voice so he didn''t know what kind of expression was plastered on her face right now, but if he was in front of her at the moment, he would have definitely thought she was in love as her eyes were obviously lovestruck and her pupils seemed to have turned into hearts. But still only by her voice, Detective Lock could deduce some things as he was a genius detective, though he only thought she seemed to be extremely interested in this person she wanted to investigate and he figured that this interest was not in the way of seeing the person she wanted to investigate in a negative way, but in a positive way like she was extremely curious about this person. "Especially, I want to know where he lives or where he usually goes to eat, work, or do something else."Amara continued, this was the most important thing to her, other details almost didn''t matter to her as much as this particular detail. "Alright Miss Martin, I''ll investigate this person you talk of to the best of my abilities to every little detail. But who is this person you want to investigate?" He asked after agreeing to do the favor for her. Amara said "I don''t know anything about him other than his name and that he''s extremely handsome... no... he''s beyond handsome, the word handsome can''t even begin to describe him... and that cold personality of him..." at this point, she was almost drooling and lost. "Miss... just tell me his name." Detective Lock said speechless at this point as he thought ''Where''s she going with this?'' and also he became certain that this rich miss seemed to have fallen for someone, though he wasn''t sure how to feel about that. "Oh right..." Amara said coming out of it while blushing, a little embarrassed of losing herself thinking about Virus. Then she finally said, "His name is Aizen Vee." 36 The Green Injection After cutting the line off, Virus walked to the MDA as took the second syringe of the day filled with yellow liquid. "Now I just need to inject the syringes and wait." Virus said. "So master, when are you going to tell me what the green and yellow liquids do?" The golden beauty asked still curious and still wanting to know it badly "haha, now I''m gonna inject the first green liquid so let me tell you what the first syringe I''m going to inject is, but before that, go tell the CEO ugly to hold off the second set of phones and not release it till I tell him to." Virus said after being amused again by the golden beauty''s curiosity. "Okay master" nodding her head the golden beauty went away and came back about 15 minutes later. "I told him, master, he said he''ll do as he''s ordered." The golden beauty said after coming back. "Good, now let me tell you what the green liquid is..." Virus said taking the green liquid filled syringe by his left hand and bringing it in front of his face. "This green colored liquid is called... [Flesh and Muscle Purifier] and it does exactly as it says... it purifies the muscle and flesh of the body." Virus said. "Oh... so that''s it... I thought it''s something really good like the Full Skin Cleanser Injection." The golden beauty said obviously losing the interest to know more. Virus was a little speechless and thought ''Maybe I placed a little too much woman tendencies in her while I was creating her.'' "Anyway, I''m going to inject it now." Virus said as he brought the syringe with his left hand and injected it to his right arm. "What do I do in the meantime master?" Bella asked. "You? do whatever you like lil belle." He said with a smile on his face after which he focussed fully on his own body. After injecting it at first he felt nothing but then he started feeling uncomfortable everywhere in his body, all of his muscles were feeling a little numb and uncomfortable along with all the flesh on his body, unlike the Full Skin Cleanser Injection which the person injected with it felt almost nothing, this Flesh and Muscle Purifier made the body a little uncomfortable. But also unlike the Full Skin Cleanser which made the impurities and filth come out from the skin itself around the body, this Flesh and Muscle Purifier was not like that as no filth and impurities came out of the skin of the body and there was no layer of filth on the skin, but after some time Virus had the urge to excrete and poo. This was because all the filth and impurities came out in the form of excrement. But like the Full Skin Cleanser Injection, this made the whole flesh and Muscle on the body 100 percent pure and cleansed with no impurities at all. This Injection also had an advantage over the pills of the Cultivation Multiverse which could not cleanse some parts of the body at all. And like the Full Skin Cleanser Injection which even Cleansed the inner skin, this Flesh and Muscle Purifier also purified every muscle, flesh, and tissue in the body including the penis which was made of tissues, but the pills of the cultivation multiverse could not do this. {A/N: this part is too important to be left alone.} This injection was for the second level of the Purifying Stage which is called: Cleansing The Flesh and Muscles. In the Cultivation Multiverse though, the percentage of cleansing the impurities of this second level was even lesser than the percentage of which they could purify the skin, as the best medicine and pills there could only purify eighty-five to ninety percent of the flesh and muscles. While the most common pills of this type which people with a little background could get their hands on could purify only about fifty to fifty-five percent of the flesh and muscles of the body. While people with strong backgrounds could get their hands to pills that could purify seventy to seventy five percent while the peak powers with the best alchemists could get their hands on pills that could purify eighty to eighty-five percent while those legendary pills or heavenly materials that could purify ninety percent could only be found by chance and luck mostly. After Virus felt the urge to excrete he went to the toilet on his own floor to relieve himself, while doing the job he saw that his excrement was completely pitch black and the smell was a killer too. {A/N: Gross... don''t look at it and no smelling.} After he felt like his bowels were empty he came out. but an hour later he felt like he was filled again as he had to go to the toilet again. Throughout the whole process, his whole body was feeling uncomfortable but this uncomfortableness was nothing to Virus. After going to the toilet for about 10 times his flesh and muscles and tissues were completely purified of any filth and impurities. Now the whole uncomfortable feeling was gone and his body feeling super comfortable, a feeling that goes beyond comfortable. He felt like his body has been massaged for days and every movement he made with his body was accompanied by pleasure, like when you stretch your body sometimes and it makes you feel so comfortable. So now every movement of the body was accompanied with absolute pleasure for him and he couldn''t help himself but move his body more. Now that his body was completely purified he had to wait until his flesh and muscles in his body were completely immune to impurities and filth before injection the next syringe. _____________________ Two days passed just like that while his flesh and muscles were being made immune to all impurities, he didn''t leave his building for these two days and other than talking with Ella and Bella sometimes, he did almost nothing else other than waiting. After finally he was sure his body was completely immune from now on he decided to inject himself with the next syringe injection which had a yellow liquid inside. 37 A Leap The syringe containing the yellow liquid inside was the next thing Virus wanted to inject himself with. The golden beauty had already asked what it was and knowing the use of it even though she was a little fascinated how her master seemed to be able to make whatever he felt like, she wasn''t interested in what the yellow liquid did. The yellow liquid''s name was [Major and Minor Organs Purifier] and the third level of the Purifying Stage was called: Cleansing the Organs. And injecting it to himself he started feeling uncomfortable alongside a little pain in different organs of his body, all the pains were different from each other like his lungs felt a burning pain while his kidneys had a different kind of pain, his testicles felt like bursting and his eyes felt like needles were being stuck inside and then taken out afterward, different kinds of pain were being felt and experienced from different parts of his body. Though the pain was not that intense and Virus could tolerate them, what made the pain bad was that he was feeling different kinds of pain all at once. This Injection as the name suggests purified and cleansed all of the organs in the body including all of the major and minor organs. Included in these organs other than Lungs, Heart, Liver, Kidneys, Intestines, etc. Were the Testicles along with the Eyeballs which weren''t purified in the Cultivation Multiverse alongside the other organs of the body. Some hours later the pain finally eased down. He had to also relieve himself in the toilet like the last level of cleansing the flesh and muscles. After his organs were completely purified of all kinds of impurities all of them started working better and easier, for example, his breathing became easier and a lot more comfortable and he could even hold his breath for a little while more as his lungs could absorb oxygen more easily. Virus felt like the food he ate was digested a lot easier than before. His eyes could adjust to the dark and light a little better while he felt like his eyesight had also improved but by a very little amount. His heart started pumping in an almost perfect rhythm and the pumping was a little stronger than before. And other organs too felt a lot more comfortable and did a little better in their own area of expertise. And after three more days his organs were made immune too to any kind of impurities, now his organs would stay in the perfect shape forever like this. In the meantime while he had injected the green and yellow liquids new materials had kept coming and in some of his idle times he kept making the things he needed in the next stages, of course, all of them had hundred percent efficiency and made that part of the body immune unlike in the cultivation multiverse in which the efficiency of the pills kept dropping on each level and it didn''t make the body immune. __________________ The fourth injection which had a purple color was called [Bloodvessels Impurity Remover and Immuner] and it did as the name suggested. The fourth level of the Purifying Stage was also called: Cleansing the Bloodvessels. This injection cleansed all of the veins and arteries inside the body making them completely pure without any filth hidden on or inside their surface, the combination of the previous injection with this injection and the next injection would literally bring the chance of a heart attack to almost zero percent if the heart of the person injected with these injections was healthy. After he injected the fourth injection he started feeling pain in his veins and arteries but he could tolerate it easily. The pain he felt was like his veins and arteries were being pulled and elongated. After about ten hours of pain, it finally went away and like all the other levels except the first one he had the urge to excrete. ________________ After the previous injection had made his veins and arteries immune now it was time to inject the next syringe he had made. The next injection which was the fifth one had a blood red color and it was for the fifth level of the purifying stage, which was called Cleansing the Blood. This blood red liquid inside the syringe was named [Blood Optimizer]. This injection''s job was to bring the state of the blood to the perfect shape as good as it can be by removing any kind of impurities and filth inside the blood, other than removing the impurities it was a perfect blood controller which always controlled the content inside the blood and bringing it to the most optimized degree. The downside of the injection was that the person injected with this will experience extreme pain. "Ahhh" After injecting himself with the [Blood Optimizer] Virus started gritting his teeth and sometimes when the pain was too much intolerable he cried out a little. It felt like something was forcefully being taken away from his blood and like this, he could feel the movement of all of the blood inside his body pumping through his veins and arteries, this was a very horrible experience for anyone who would go through it. After finally the pain was over and he relieved himself he had to now only wait until his blood was completely immune then he could again inject the next Syringe of the Purifying Stage. All of this had taken about fifteen days while Virus kept the cycle of injecting himself with different kinds of injections, then tolerating the pain and after which he had to wait for that part of the body to be made immune to harmful filth and impurities. Right now Virus was sitting behind a table on a chair as he was eating the food which the golden beauty had brought for him to eat, now thay he had a body he had to eat every day and he quite liked eating food because he could experience new tastes as he liked new things very much. 38 Steven Greg WITH THE CEO UGLY, SIX DAYS AGO Right now the CEO ugly was in the back seat of his Jaguar B99 which was now called Virus B99 as his driver and bodyguard which he had hired in the past was driving him back to 4 Times Square. This Virus B99 and all the other cars still was not released to the market but everything was almost ready and he was just waiting for his Master''s order to release them into the market. He was sure releasing the cars into the world would bring another shock to the world, but the CEO ugly knew this was only the beginnings. Some days ago the golden beauty had come to him saying the new phones'' release date should be postponed until further notice from her master, he didn''t know why his master was doing this but he was sure he had his own reasons for doing it, so he just postponed the release date of the new sets of phone to the market. He was coming back from investigating a new factory he had bought in China. As he was thinking and processing different things related to the Virus Industries suddenly a bullet came out of nowhere hitting his head after breaking and passing the window glass. But as his body was made of superhard material under the flesh and skin the bullet just got stuck to his head. The driver slammed on the brakes wanting to stop the car but before the car had stopped the CEO ugly immediately took out the bullet even though he didn''t have to and immediately after that the scar and the hurt skin and flesh started healing as the wound closed and the iron like material under his flesh and skin started closing and disappearing. After stopping the car the driver looked back at him obviously very professional, after ignoring his ugly face he asked "Are you okay Mr. Greg?" He knew the first thing he has to be sure of was to check if his boss was okay and if he was hurt in any way he has to immediately take him to the hospital. As his wound still hadn''t closed and the right side of his face which was shot was still healing up, he kept looking outside the window so his driver won''t see it. because if his driver saw that he was not human he would be forced to incinerate him. After couple seconds when his head had completely healed up he looked at his driver as he said "I''m fine Mark, stay here I want to go check who has the balls to do to this to me." as he said this the CEO ugly opened the car''s door wanting to get out. But before he got out his driver said "But sir... it''s very dangerous out there, you might lose your life! it''s obviously an assassination attempt on your life." The CEO ugly stopped and turned his head to the driver''s direction and looked into his eyes and said with a chilly voice "If you don''t want to lose your job just follow the orders, understand?" eeing him like this the driver knew he shouldn''t insist and just said "Yes sir, but please be careful." "Don''t worry I will." as he said that he got off the car he immediately calculated the exact direction from which the bullet had come and knew exactly from above which building it had come from, he started running with the absolute limit which was possible for a human being so it would not be suspicious. When no one was around he increased his speed to the point he was almost just a blur. While he was running to the direction of the building he had already got a map of the building and a live CCTV camera as he calculated the most likely the place the shooter will try to run from. A little while later from the CCTV in one of those calculated places from which the shooter was most likely to run away from he saw the shooter. He immediately started running toward that place and two minutes later he was already there and a little while later he caught up to the killer. taking him by the neck he started running to the rooftop with a man being held by the throat in his hand like garbage that weighted nothing. After finally getting to the rooftop he threw the shooter to the floor asking him "Who told you to assassinate me?" Without listening to him the shooter who was shocked by the speed and the power the man beside him had he took out a handgun from somewhere in his body and started shooting to the CEO ugly''s body. The CEO ugly did nothing as he just watched the bullets hit his body without moving, the bullets that hit his body were automatically taken out from his flesh as it fell to the floor as it healed up completely. Seeing this the shooter was horrified as he asked "wh... what... what are youuuu!!!!!" he was scared shitless seeing what just happened in front of him. "Wrong move... you just dug your own grave." The CEO ugly said with a cold voice. "I''ll only ask once more, who sent you?" The shooter who was still shocked and horrified of the things that he saw unconsciously answered "I don''t know, I''m just an assassin hired by someone I don''t even know who." "Then you have no use to me..." The CEO ugly replied with a cold ugly face. "No... you can''t kill me, my organization will hunt..." The shooter was saying and before he was done he got interrupted. Hearing him start talking and knowing where he was going with this The CEO ugly just took out an Incinerator from somewhere in his body and targetted the assassin manually as the shooter disintegrated into nothingness in a moment being interrupted of his talking. "Cliche..." he said as he turned around walking toward his car which was waiting for him. As he was walking towards his car he thought ''Master probably knew an assassin was hired to kill me and he must even know who''s behind this even before they had acted on their decision, I have my own hunches too but there is no need for me to bother with these stuff as Master will deal with it when the time comes.'' After coming back to his car he went as his bodyguard Mark said "Thank God you''re fine Mr. Greg. Did you find the shooter?" "No, he got away. Let''s go back." The CEO ugly only said this as he stopped talking as the driver started driving towards 4 Times Square. 39 No Meat Bun Delivery WITH AMARA MARTIN, PRESENT TIME Amara was at work right now, at one of the branch companies of the Aston Martin Industries. Her father had made her in charge of this company wanting to see if she was qualified for more or that even the current one was too much for her. That was how things worked in the Martin Family as you were judged by your qualifications and talent. You had to be very good at handling and dealing with matters of the company to get to a higher place in the company. It didn''t matter to Amara''s father whether the person who was going to inherit the company is a man or woman, thus all of his sons and daughter were in an internal war inside the family. This kind of attitude which only cared about who was the best and who would make the company thrive and lead it to greater heights, also it was a very good strategy for the company, this has made the siblings distance from each other in the long run, to a degree now they didn''t even talk to each other and their attitude had even turned hostile against each other. So it was obvious this was a very bad decision Amara''s father had made for his family as a father. Amara Martin was the branch manager of this branch of the company which was in New York. They had branch companies almost all over the world and this New York branch was one of the very big ones only behind the Main Headquarters. There was only a couple of such size branch companies and almost all of them were being managed by Amara and his brothers right now. As she was sitting inside her office signing some stuff related to the company, but her thoughts were elsewhere right now. She was thinking of her prince charming which she had seen two weeks ago at that restaurant, since then she had gone to that restaurant a couple of times but she never saw him again there. ''it''s been over two weeks and Detective Lock still hasn''t called, he usually does even the most difficult investigations in at most 2 days but now it''s been more than two weeks and still no news from him. Thinking of this She took her Virus iPhone 1 from over the table and went through her contacts until she found Detective Lock''s phone number and started calling him. ~~Beep ~~Beep ~~Beep "Hello, Miss Martin." Finally, the phone was answered as a cold voice started being heard from the other side of the line. "Hey Detective Lock, you didn''t call back to let me know of the result, so I finally couldn''t wait and called back. How is everything going?" Amara told him after hearing his voice. "About that where are you? I''ll come to you personally and talk." Detective Lock said. "I''m in New York in the branch company I''m the manager of currently... but you should know that... don''t tell me, you''re in New York?" she replied and then asked surprised. "Yeah, we will talk when I get there, text me the exact address and tell your employees to lead me to you when I get there." He said as he hung up without waiting for her response. Even though Amara was very much surprised she put aside her surprise and texted him the exact address before telling her secretary to lead him to her when he comes. ___________________ About an hour later Amara''s office door was finally knocked "Please come in." She said. The door was opened as her secretary and Detective Lock came inside. Getting off the chair from beside the desk she walked towards the couch area while saying hi to Detective Lock. After both of them sat wanting to send away her secretary she asked Detective Lock. "Detective Lock, what would you like to have? we have Orange Juice and Coffee here, or if you''re hungry we can order you some food too." Taking the hint and knowing she wanted to send away her secretary he said "I''m really hungry actually and I still haven''t eaten lunch yet... if it''s not rude to ask..." "Detective Lock, we''re closer than this, just tell me." Amara said with a smile on her face while inside she was saying ''JUST SAY IT ALREADY, The further the better, I just hope it won''t have a delivery service.'' "Okay then, I saw a small Meat Bun Restaurant near the office as I was coming... if it''s possible I want to eat some Meat Bun, I''m really craving some Meat Bun." Detective Lock said as he thought inside ''Don''t worry... I saw a writing outside the restaurant saying ''No Meat Bun Delivery'' so your secretary would need to go herself and it would take some time for her to go and wait for it to cook and come back.'' "Sure it''s no problem, then go bring our guest some Meat Bun." Nodding her head happy she turned her head to her secretary and ordered. "Okay..." The secretary did as ordered as went out of the office going to buy some Meat Bun. After the secretary was gone they could finally talk, looking at Detective Lock, Amara said "Why are you in New York Detective Lock?" "Well, it''s because of you actually." Detective Lock answered. "Me? why?" Amara asked confused. "Because investigating the person you wanted me to investigate wasn''t possible and I had to come to the city where he was at to investigate him." Detective Lock said. Hearing this Amara''s eyes shone as she asked excitedly "soo... what was the result? tell me." Hearing how excited she was he smiled bitterly before saying "I''ve been investigating him for more than two weeks but still I could find a very little amount of information about him." "Oh... still what are those information you''ve found, tell me everything," Amara said even though she was a little disappointed by the news, she thought he would be able to figure out everything there is to know about Aizen if it was Detective Lock, but now she thought maybe she was overestimating him. 40 Baseless Hypothesis "Well, Then listen." Detective Lock said as he continued. "At first I wanted to investigate him from my own city and I started digging everything I can about him but the only thing I could find about him was that... He was a very huge figure!" "What do you mean? tell me fast" Amara said as her heart was almost coming out of her chest so she asked impatiently. "Well... calm down Miss Martin, I''ll naturally tell you everything I know about him." Detective Lock was a little speechless at how impatient she seemed, he had never seen her this impatient and thought she would keep her cool in whatever circumstances, but it seemed he was wrong. Taking a deep breath in and out she calmed herself as she said ".... you''re right, I''m calm now, please continue." "Anyway, I was saying, from there I could figure only one thing and that he was a very huge figure... he was... the owner and 100 percent shareholder of the Virus Industries. He is the person behind those futuristic magnificent phones which was recently released to the market." Detective Lock said, obviously he was a little amazed too by that person''s identity as the owner of Virus Industries. Hearing this Amara was shocked. She had never thought her prince charming had such a background, she thought he was just someone with otherworldly looks but it seemed she was extremely wrong and her prince charming was truly a prince in life, heck he had gone beyond that he could probably even be called King Charming. Looking at her Virus iPhone 1 which was in her hand currently, she started saying in a low voice "So the phone I was using was his company''s phone. Maybe he has made this phone huh..." {A/N: In case you misunderstand, she means maybe Virus himself has designed and made the phone and not some other genius person who works for him..} While her eyes were on the Virus mark behind the phone which was in the shape of a brain, half robotic and half natural brain, she started thinking back to her attitude back then when she saw him and introduced herself as the daughter of the Aston Martin Family, and she couldn''t stop thinking how ridiculous she must have been to him to brag her background in front of him. Even though she only said it to impress him and make her at least be interested in her at least until she makes him truly in love with herself, she still couldn''t stop herself from feeling embarrassed of her attitude at the time. "...Miss?..." Finally, hearing Detective Lock call her she came out of her thoughts and shock as she said "Oh okay... please continue." "Anyway after figuring that I started digging more but however much I dug I found nothing else, left with no choice I had to come to New York, the city her main headquarters was at, to continue my investigation on him." Detective Lock said. After a little pause, he continued "It''s really weird who I wasn''t able to find anything else other than that on him from there, anyway some coming here I started digging everything about him and still, I found nothing! firstly to whoever I went to make him or her print out his identity papers for me they were all faced with a single result making them scared away to make any more inquiries, everyone who tried to see things related to him from the system was faced with a single result: TOP-CLASS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION... and in a bold font at that!" Detective Lock said even he was shocked by this person and the more he tried to figure him out the more confused he got. Hearing this Amara was shocked again thinking ''He seems to have money... and he seems to have a strong background too as even the government seems to be under him or he has their complete support. Who is he really?'' Coming out of her thoughts she said "okay... and?" "And... Though I couldn''t figure what he likes or dislikes, After investigating very deeply I could find the identity of his girlfriend, currently, she studies at the Columbia University and she seems to be really in love with him." Detective Lock said. "Who wouldn''t be... " She said in a low voice Detective Lock couldn''t hear her, Then she said "Continue please" "I also found the place he''s living currently at which is the highest floor of 4 Times Square which is his company''s headquarters. I tried to go and at least take a look at the highest floor he''s living at but I failed as I was recognized very quickly and escorted out." "Then I waited outside his company headquarters waiting for him to leave his company but in all of the time I was waiting, he never left the building once." "The food he eats was also brought to him by a golden-haired beauty which is too beautiful, I mean out of this world beautiful. And everything related to the company is done by his company''s CEO, someone called Steven Greg." "Oh right, I think he''s also soon going to enter the car market too and from the things I heard, they can at least compete, if not surpass your family''s car company, and that''s why I don''t know if I should at least give a heads up to father." "NO! don''t! you promised to keep this a secret and I want my father to know nothing of both Aizen and his company, okay?" Amara said reacting to the last thing Detective Lock said in the end. "Okay then." Nodding his head Detective Lock finally went quiet at this moment. Seeing him turn quiet Amara said, "Was that all Detective Lock?" "Well... yeah... that was all, but other than those, I have a baseless hypothesis which is most likely wrong." Detective Lock said. "What is it? please go on." Amara said. After a little hesitation, he continued "He suddenly founded such an advanced phone company, so advanced no one even understands it, and by no one I mean no one, no college or university or other phone companies didn''t even know this kind of tech existed before it was released to the market." "So... what?" Amara asked. "So, there is also another incident that no one can explain just like this one!" Detective Lock said. 41 Secretary Gone Again "What is it?" Amara said. "Do you remember the ''Ghost Theft'' incident? no one knows how to explain that too, just like the phones! maybe that incident too was too advanced for us to understand, and thus we can''t explain how and why it happened, or track the people who did it..." Detective Lock continuing when Amara interrupted him saying a little angry "That''s absolutely impossible and farfetched! Don''t accuse him without evidence just because he has a more advanced company and just because the ''Ghost Theft'' case is not solved yet!" "..." Hearing this Detective Lock said after a little pause "Well, you''re probably right and also he is a person with deep backgrounds in the government with a secret identity so I too don''t think it''s possible and also why would a person who can make such technology ever do that? he could''ve just released one of the phones and become filthy rich. I was just thinking too much as I was investigating the ''Ghost Theft'' case before coming to investigate Aizen Vee, so I''m probably thinking too much and connecting the irrelevant as there is also no evidence leading to him, sorry about that." If he knew that his hypothesis which by some coincidence he had arrived at was absolutely true but he threw away the idea because it didn''t make any sense, his eyes would''ve turned red to the verge of crying. And if he knew that the person had mostly done the theft because he was primarily bored other than wanting to speed up things a little, he probably wouldn''t be able to control himself anymore and truly cry his eyes out. But still, it''s not known if he truly threw away the idea or if he''s done that for the moment, maybe he''s pretending to do that trying to calm Amara down not to anger her. Hearing this Amara calmed down as she relaxed saying "okay, so is there anything else?" It was at this time that Amara''s secretary entered the office after knocking with the ordered Meat Buns in hands. "No, that was all." Detective Lock answered. "Okay then, please go ahead and eat the Meat Buns then Detective Lock." Amara said. "Ah... okay." Detective Lock said as he opened the bag of Meat Buns as he started eating them one by one, he was really surprised by how delicious the Meat Buns were, this was the first time he had eaten Meat Buns and he became the fan of Meat Buns from now on. He couldn''t help asking "Have you ever eaten Meat bun, Miss Martin?" "No... why?" Amara replied confused. "Then you got to at least try one! here." Detective Lock said as he reached out a Meat Bun. Thinking it was too rude to leave the hand hanging she accepted saying "Ah... okay, thank you." receiving the Meat Bun she took a bite and the moment she tasted the Meat Bun her eyes shone. Then she started eating the whole thing and finished it all very quickly, she had become an eternal fan of Meat Bun just like that. Even though she craved more Meat Bun she was too embarrassed to ask for more as Detective Lock too seemed to be really enjoying it so she didn''t. Five minutes later when Detective Lock was finally done eating he got up and said "Okay then, I''ll get going. Is there anything else you want with me, Miss Martin?" Amara got up as she said, "no... not for now at least, But I''ll call you if I had something to say." "Okay then farewell." He said as he walked out of the office and closed the door. "Goodbye." Amara said watching him go. A little while after he was gone, looking at her secretary with shining eyes she said "Go... buy me some Meat buns too!" The secretary was speechless but knew it was necessary to follow orders "Okay Miss, please wait." ___________________ FIVE DAYS LATER WITH VIRUS In the past five days, he had made and injected himself with the required liquid of the next level of the Purifying Stage. The color of liquid inside the syringe was darkish white. The next level of Purifying stage was called Cleansing The Tendons and Ligaments. And the darkish white liquid which Virus had made did exactly that as it purified it by hundred percent and also immuned it completely. After injecting it to himself he started feeling pain in specific places of his body but the pain was nothing compared to the last level: Cleansing The Blood. Five days passed just like that and now he was currently at the highest floor of 4 Times Square, watching a new tech which was just brought here from his island. This advanced tech was called White-Ray Device and it was abbreviated to WRD. like the Coffin-like device which was used to give flesh and skin to the robots this device too was Coffin-like with white light shining inside. And this device was needed for the next level of his Purifying Stage, as unlike the past levels which he just needed to inject himself with the syringe and be done with it just by waiting, this level was not like the past levels. He needed to sleep inside the WRD until he was done. But he still needed to make the liquid related to his next level of Purifying Stage but now he had to fill the WRD with the liquid as it would inject the liquid itself in the right times to the right places. Other than that the WRD''s main job was to place the body under White-Ray. White-Ray was something that was discovered in the future and it had lot''s of uses, but Virus needed only one of its uses for now. So seeing the WRD already made and here, with the help of golden beauty he went beside the MDA as he told the golden beauty to place different things in different entries of the MDA while he gave new commands to the MDA. After around an hour later the thing he wanted was ready as he took it off the MDA. The liquid''s color was completely white, and this time the amount of the liquid was more than before, unlike the past levels. Taking it out from the MDA he took it to the WRD and emptied it all to a specific place of the Coffin-like WRD. After emptying the liquid to the WRD now he had to give specific and very complicated commands to the WRD. And after fifteen minutes of the giving different complex commands to the WRD, the device was finally ready. But Virus still couldn''t go inside it and start the next level of the Purifying stage as around two hours was still left until his tendons and ligaments were completely immune. So after passing his time and waiting for around two hours by drinking some tea, he was finally ready for the next level of the Purifying Stage, but in the two hours of waiting, he did something else too. 42 White-Ray Device In the two hours, he was waiting while drinking some tea he told the golden beauty to summon the CEO ugly. An hour later the CEO ugly was present in front of him. Looking at his master who seemed to be relaxing and enjoying his time while drinking some soothing tea, he just waited without saying anything, waiting for his master to talk when he was done with what he was doing. Half an hour later, Virus finally looked up to the eyes of the CEO ugly and said "Release the Cars to the market and when it''s on the market and you''re done doing the things related to the car company come back and report to me for further orders." "Yes, Master. I''ll do as I''m ordered." The CEO ugly said. "You can go now." Virus said no longer looking the CEO ugly. After the CEO ugly left, it now finally time for the next level of the Purifying stage. Looking at the golden beauty beside him, he said "Lil Belle, while I''m inside the WRD I can''t be disturbed or stopped until the process is over, so first of all, don''t allow anyone to disturb me at any costs and secondly deal with all the problems that might pop up as you see fit." "Rest assured master, I won''t let a fly get near the White-Ray Device, you don''t need to be worried about anything, I will deal with everything accordingly." The golden-haired beauty Bella said looking at his master in a calm way, but inside she was feeling warm and sweet thinking she was the one her master always put his complete trust on. After that Virus got up and walked beside the WRD but as he was beside the WRD he stopped and said "Oh right, also while I''m inside the WRD I''m gonna be unconscious until the process is over so I won''t be able to hear what you say if you talk beside the WRD, put that in your mind too." Nodding her head Bella said, "Got it master." After that Virus lay down inside the WRD as the golden beauty closed it. Even though he was inside the WRD commands were still being given to the WRD outside. And soon he activated it as it started working and immediately the WRD automatically injected him with anesthetic sending him to a state of induced coma. There was no need for Virus to manually control the WRD as he had given all the necessary commands to the WRD and now the WRD would work by itself taking different courses and decisions in different situations. The WRD was now like a surgeon who was operating to the final goal while also dealing with the problems that may occur along the way. After Virus was completely in the state of induced coma, a kind of white light started shining inside the coffin-like WRD, but this light was no ordinary white light. This was the White-Ray, a different kind of futuristic ray that doesn''t exist in the present time. The White-Ray had lots of functions which can be used for different reasons and purposes and Virus had programmed the WRD to use one of it''s uses. As the White-Ray shone on Virus there were no visible changes on his body as the change was occurring inside the body, under the flesh and muscles, on Virus'' bones and skeleton. The shining White-Ray was making Virus'' bones softer as the minutes passed and after fifteen minutes his bones had become very soft, though not to the point it would come out of shape. The function of softening the bones was what Virus needed right now so he had given the blueprint of WRD to the island ugly to make it. And the reason why he had sent himself to a state of induced coma was that this process would be terribly painful. If Virus was awake in the process of softening the bones throughout the body he would have experienced an unimaginable level of pain, which would make him unable to stay still. If he was awake right now, even though the process of softening the bones was over and the bones were softened to the required level, he would still be experiencing a terrible amount of pain that could not be tolerated because this level of softness was not ordinary for the body and body would recognize it as damage, thus the part of his brain which was in charge of processing and receiving pain would be screaming in pain right now. Now that the bones were softened to the required level, lots of needles which were even thinner than hair started going inside Virus'' body from places where it would not have any danger to Virus. The needles were being controlled by the WRD and if someone saw them right now they would have thought the needles were a group of moving hairs taking different shapes. There were hundreds of these thin needles going inside his flesh from different parts of the body bypassing it and entering directly to his bones. After they were inside the bones, a snow white liquid started being injected inside in very little amounts to different parts of the bones. Some of the thin needles were inside the cartilages of the body injecting the snow white liquids inside. The cartilages of the body were not softened like the bones as they were soft enough for the snow-white liquid to take effect as that was also why the bones were softened, so the snow white liquid would be one hundred percent effective. These snow white liquids kept being injected to different places of the bones and cartilage in small amounts. Twelve hours passed just like that as Virus was still in a coma and the White-Ray still shining on his body while the hair-like needles were still moving inside WRD going inside different parts of his bones. Right now, Virus'' bones were going through the process of being purified. ____________________ Outside the WRD, the golden beauty was standing beside the WRD completely focused and ready for any kind of unwanted situations or circumstances. Her favorite sword was in her hands too as there was a serious and cold expression on her face, it was clear if anyone tried to disturb her master in any way right now, she would slay that person immediately without any warnings. It has been twelve hours since she was standing there without moving, but the WRD seemed to be still working as different writings in that futuristic language kept appearing on its 3D screen. 43 Seventh Level of Purifying Stage While these twelve hours were passing by, impurities kept appearing on the surface of Virus'' bones and skeleton as they exited them, but as his body was immune to impurities because of the past levels of Purifying Stage, they were not tolerated and immediately sent to his digestive system. Other than his bones in his body, the cartilages were cleansed too along with it, this was something that didn''t happen at all in the cultivation multiverse, so you could say this was an advantage of purifying his bones in this way. Though the main advantage of purifying it this way was the hundred percent purification of the bones along with immunity. The best pills and heavenly materials in the cultivation multiverse could at best purify about fifty percent of the bones and skeleton, and cartilage was not included in this list. It was also accompanied by an intolerable pain which would make most people wish they were dead. So there were very few people who could get their hands on such pills other than the peak powers. And there were even fewer people who could tolerate so much pain before even starting cultivation and experiencing hardships, as the people on this stage were usually kids or young people who have not seen the world yet. After two more hours passed the process was finally over as the White-Ray turned off and his bones started hardening after the White-Ray was off, a little while later his bones hardness finally reached to its past level, only this time it was completely cleansed. As everything in his body became normal, the WRD injected him with something else which brought Virus back from his induced coma state. As his eyelids started vibrating and showing signs of movement, on the 3D screen outside of the WRD a big text appeared along with a sound. The different commands and texts which had kept appearing on 3D screen for the past fourteen hours finally disappeared only to be replaced by a huge text. Hearing the sound the golden beauty''s attention was drawn to it, as she read the big written text which said, ''Process Done: Purifying the Bones and Cartilages of the body.'' Immediately after that the coffin-like WRD opened as the now awaken Virus sat down inside it. Seeing the process was finally done and her master was fully awake, a smile crept across the golden beauty''s face as she said "Welcome back master, did you sleep well?" Virus'' attention was on his body at the moment, trying to see how he felt, and he realized that other than slight tinges of pain there was nothing else different. "Master, did everything go well?" Seeing her master not answer the golden beauty got worried inside, thinking maybe something bad had happened throughout the process. Hearing her voice Virus finally stopped focusing inside his body as he turned his head to the place the golden beauty was staying at. Then he said looking into her golden eyes "Don''t worry lil Belle, everything went just fine." "That''s good then." The golden beauty answered. "So what happened while I was in a coma?" Virus asked, only to hear the golden beauty say that no one had tried to disturb him. Now that he had come out of the WRD and his bones were completely purified, Virus only needed to wait so his bones would get completely immune so he would go to the next level of the Purifying Stage. Also, this level of the Purifying Stage which was the seventh level was called: ''Cleansing the Bones''. Now Virus just needed to wait for his bones and cartilages to become completely immune before trying the eighth level of the Purifying Stage which was considered the last level of that stage in the cultivation multiverse. _________________ Three days later the Virus Car Industries was officially on business as they released their cars to the market bringing a small wave of shock to some people, but as they didn''t know the cars that well they weren''t shocked by much. People were mostly shocked because the company which had made the most advanced and futuristic phones in the world was now making cars too, and from the pictures of the cars they saw over the internet they were amazed by how beautiful they were made, big touch screens too were placed inside the cars for the purpose of listening to music and some other functions. Some people who knew more about cars were shocked by reading the descriptions of the cars, and the advanced functions they had. Though everything considered, people were not alerted as much as when they had released the phones, and after a small wave of surprise everything calmed down. Also, lots of News channels and programs throughout the world had covered the news about Virus Car Industries. A middle-aged man was talking on one of the News channels saying "The mysterious company which had recently released the most advanced phones to the market is now into the car market releasing advanced cars, and according to our investigations, the cars seem to be ahead of all the other cars in the market in the technological aspect. This unknown Virus Industries which had suddenly revealed itself to the world by all its mysteries continues to shock the world again by its advanced cars, according to our resources the cars seem to be very cost-effective too!" There were also other programs which were talking about this mysterious company which had suddenly revealed itself to the world, analyzing how it was possible for them to have such advanced technologies or talking about how much it would take for other companies to reach the same level as Virus Company. There were even some saying this company''s backer and real owner was the US government itself, analyzing that they were always in possession of more advanced tech than they have shown, believing that they had finally decided to show some of their advanced technologies to the world and earn some money from them. Lots and lots of such a kind analysis were made by the people and the news agencies, but after one or two days, the wave of shock soon disappeared as everything went quiet soon. 44 Discussion TEN DAYS LATER The Virus Car industries'' cars were starting to get more recognized as the people who bought them started to increase quite a lot. Seeing how advanced the cars were and seeing their functions along with how comfortable the cars were almost every person who bought a car of Virus Industries would brag to others and soon a lot of people who had heard of the great cars of the Virus Industries were surprised again at how they seemed to have underestimated Virus Company as they had exceeded their expectations. And thus the buyers of Virus Cars Industries started increasing every day and soon according to numbers they would soon take almost a quarter of Car Market if things continued this way. Naturally hearing the news some of the other car companies who were only behind the best car companies around the world felt threatened that something like what happened to the phone companies who were now on the verge of bankruptcy would happen to them too. Some rumors also started spreading all over the internet about the cars not being safe while the risks the people who ride the cars would experience were listed. And those risks were even put together in a way that would make sense to anyone who read them. While some believed them, some smarter ones thought this was only rumors spread probably by the Virus Industries'' enemies or it was done by the opponent car companies who felt threatened by this new car company who was abruptly going to the direction of being considered the best car company out there. Other than this the country and the world was almost quiet other than some minor news that drew the attention of the world to itself. One of such news which brought some rage to the world was the Boston archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law who resigned as a result of the Catholic Church''s sexual abuse scandals and cover-up of priest-child molestation. Another was the news that drew some attention to itself around the world in the science category, which said scientists had compared mouse and human genomes. They had seen that the first analysis of two complete genomes reveals striking similarities making them hope the finding will hasten the understanding of genetic diseases. _____________ The golden beauty which was in front of the TV listening to the News and the analysis related to the genomes couldn''t help chuckle in mock, thinking ''The world is still researching on Genomes and DNA, not fully quite understanding what they are, while before they even released the first draft of the human genome sequence last year, master had already made himself a body and transferred his whole consciousness and existence inside it, the world is truly pathetic compared to master and master is like a cheat in front of them.'' As she was watching the TV, another news came which surprised her, the news was related to almost all of the major phone companies around the world, saying that they had been releasing at least one type of new phone to the market since the past few days. And according to the description and functions of the phones along with the investigation done on them, they were as advanced as the phones of the newly founded Virus Industries though they all looked different with a somehow different operating system. This news shocked and confused the whole world, they had thought that the other phone companies were far behind The Virus Phone Industries, but it seemed they were wrong? Lots of discussions were going on over the internet on this subject. One of the best examples was the discussion that was going on in one of the major servers over the internet where people talked about such matters. "What''s going on? wasn''t the other phone companies far behind The Virus Phone Industries? I thought almost all of the other companies didn''t even have the camera technology yet, and only one of the companies had just released their new phone which had a trashy camera which couldn''t even be considered a camera before the Virus Company released their phones to the market. Seriously what the hell is going on?" PenDrive21 said. "The above PenDrive is right! what''s going on?" DragonPool too said. "..." "..." After some irrelevant stuff was said someone replied. "I feel a conspiracy here!" WorldBoycott said. "Yeah! Definitely a conspiracy!" PenDrive21 said again. Then the discussion started heating up as others also got involved as these kinds of thoughts had also popped up inside their heads. "They have probably stolen the Virus Company''s technology and used it on themselves, otherwise how can they for it in such a short period of time?" DrGoody replied. "Or maybe the Virus company had stolen another phone companies technology, I mean... let''s get real guys, how can a company from which we have never heard of before they released their phones to the market, suddenly release such advanced phones, it''s literally impossible!" RobotSlayer said. "In reply to RobotSlayer, come on, how is it impossible, maybe the government is behind the Virus Company as they are finally releasing their highly advanced technology they were hiding until now to the world." Draculamule replied. Seeing this the RobotSlayer said again "From what I see, something doesn''t add up with this Virus Company, they haven''t even made clear how or when they have made the phones, they just suddenly appeared out of nowhere and now the number one phone company all of a sudden? suspicious!" "Who are you really RobotSlayer? Why are you so much against The Virus Company?" Citizen3021 asked. "Lol, probably a CEO of one of the companies who''s on the verge of bankruptcy because of The Virus Company, uncle, go try actually doing something to save your company instead of gossiping over the internet." Lindadell said. "If you ask me, I would say the other phone companies have definitely stolen the blueprints from the Virus Company by some means, now they are producing their phones!" DrGoody said again. "But the new phones released by the other companies look nothing like the Virus Company''s phones, they look completely different! and some of their options and functions seem to be different too, though not by much." IdolMan1 said. "Well, we''re gonna reach nowhere by talking to each other, our only option is to wait and see how the other phone companies and the Virus Company respond to this, this is going to be so much fun, haha." IHateFighting said. "Lol, IHateFighting dude, you better change your name, because it doesn''t suit you, but you''re probably right, as lots of discussions like this are going on everywhere, as everyone is truly confused, the companies would be forced to give some explanations! So let''s wait and see what happens." PenDrive21 said. "Yeah let''s wait and see." WorldBoycott said as others also started liking the ''let''s wait and see'' text. 45 Meeting AT THE ALLIED PHONE COMPANIES'' MEETING "Hahaha, now that we''ve finished reverse engineering the phones and even made some changes, so others won''t recognize the foundation was copied, we''re back on business!" One of the CEO''s said with a very happy mood as he laughed out loud. "Hahaha." some other CEOs also laughed along with that previous CEO, while some also agreed loudly with joy saying "We''re finally going to at least rival this giant enemy of ours." As they were laughing in joy, one of the most powerful CEOs whose company was in the United States said with a cold tone. "From now on never admit or confess that we have reverse engineered the phones of that company in front of anyone! Not even your closest family or friends, don''t even mention that word here, I''m talking to all of you! understand?" Hearing him talk like that, as the other CEOs were also quite powerful, they were not satisfied with the way that CEO talked, but as he was the one who had suggested them to reverse engineer the phones and as he was the person who had suggested the whole plan to equal the scales, they still shallowly nodded their heads, though at heart they were still unsatisfied with the way that CEO talked. Seeing the atmosphere change to a little gloomy, a CEO from Korea said "Everyone, don''t be like this, Mr. X is saying that all because of your own sake, in our country things like this happens all the time as even blood brothers betray each other for inheriting the company and use the slightest of weaknesses they find, we even make K-dramas about this! and revealings like this happen a lot, because that person has talked about his or her weakness to one of the most trusted people beside him, so please trust no one as all of us are together in this and please... no hard feelings." Hearing this the atmosphere really improved a lot as they started agreeing with no hard feelings whatsoever. "Okay then everyone, now that we are done with our plan to equal the scales, there are lots of doubts toward us, and most people are saying we have copied that company''s work, now we have to provide everyone with a logical explanation that everyone would believe, and then turn their fingers towards that company. Now, is there anyone with a good plan?" The CEO of the biggest phone company from Finland said, his company was the company which was selling the most phones around the world before The Virus Industries had appeared. Hearing this everyone started thinking as silence became dominant inside the conference room, where the meeting was being held at. Half an hour later, finally, the CEO from Japan talked, breaking the silence, "I have a plan and I think this is the most logical plan we can think of..." Everyone''s attention was drawn to Japan''s CEO hearing him talk. Then US Company''s CEO which had suggested the reverse engineering plan said "What is it? Please do tell us. If it''s logical enough and something that people would believe, we would use it if everyone agrees." That CEO from Japan started talking hearing the US major companies words "Well... first let''s say the major companies sitting here were in a cooperating relationship since decades ago in secret. Of course, we will say those newer major phone companies which didn''t exist at the time had joined us after that, some around ten years ago, while some joined us later." "And then? Where are you going with this?" one of the less patient CEO''s said, this CEO''s phone company was smaller than other major companies. Hearing this impatient CEO interrupting the Japanese CEO, most of the other CEOs couldn''t stop thinking ''Impatience, a quality no CEO should have or it might lead to the destruction of the company. And it''s probably the reason why this company hasn''t become as powerful as us even though they had good technology.'' "Please don''t interrupt me while I''m talking." Hearing somebody jump to the middle of his words the Japanese CEO stared at that CEO who had interrupted him with a chilly look in his eyes, as he said with a cold tone. Seeing the chilly look in the Japanese CEO''s eyes, that CEO who had interrupted the Japanese was a little afraid inside but as he had been a CEO for some time now, he was good at hiding his feelings. Even though other CEOs were good at hiding their feelings or sensing what others felt, still, no one felt his fear except perhaps one or two of the CEOs. After thinking no one had felt his fear, he sighed in relief as he would be like a joke if others felt his fear. Then with a normal tone like he didn''t care the least about how the other person was looking at him, and as though he hadn''t felt his cold tone at all he said "Oh, please continue." After remembering that CEO inside his heart, who didn''t even apologize, the Japanese continued "Okay, as I was saying, first we say we had an alliance since a long time ago. Second, we will say we used to share information about how advanced our technology was inside the alliance since then. Third, the information we shared among each other was about the speed by which our technologies were progressing. Fourth, we will say after seeing how fast our technology was progressing, so fast that even before releasing the next model of our phone we were two models ahead of the phone we were going to release, and like that in the long run, we became too advanced to the phones that people see in the market." He continued. "And finally, we will say as we are tradespeople and merchants and even more so economists, our alliance was just looking for profit over releasing more advanced technology to the world, so in our alliance we all had decided not to release our more advanced or too advanced phones to the market before gaining the profits of the previous models, and just like that our alliance decided to slow things down and release the next models of the phones after we had made enough profit from the previous models." 46 Threa "We will conclude by saying that then what all of you see happened, a phone company suddenly appeared out of nowhere which was as technologically advanced as we were, so our alliance finally had no choice other than releasing our most advanced phones as otherwise, we would''ve faced bankruptcy." he concluded by saying this. Seeing everyone was a little amazed by his idea while some were deep in thought he smiled obviously very proud of his idea and then he asked "So, what does everyone think about my idea? is it good enough?" "Let us think about it for a while before talking." The US phone company''s CEO said as quietness once again became dominant inside the meeting conference room. Ten minutes later the silence was broken by the same US Company''s CEO as he said "Well, even though there are some problems with the plan but as that''s probably the best plan to equal the scales I say that we use it after some more working on the plan. What does everyone else think?" Hearing the US Company''s CEO agree, other CEO''s defensive barriers broke as they also thought it was a good idea and probably they couldn''t find a better one in a short period of time, so they started agreeing. The CEO from Korea said, "I agree." The CEO from China replied, "I feel some holes exist in the plan and I don''t think people will buy it, so no." The CEO from Finland replied, "I think it''s a good idea, let''s use it." A CEO which was from England also said "I believe this is the best solution to our problem." "I agree too." "Me too." "I don''t know... the plan feels a little off. "Couldn''t think of a better solution." "Let''s just use it." And just like that, almost eighty percent of the people present in the alliance agreed to the plan, while the twenty percent remaining had not agreed, either because they were doubtful of the plan, rejected it completely, or didn''t state their opinion at all. So as most of the people present voted as positive and agreed to the plan, they decided to use that plan, of course after some polishing, so at least some of the holes disappear. After they had finally decided and wanted to talk more about the plan, suddenly the sound of ringtone was heard from one of the chairs, the person sitting on that chair was the CEO of England''s phone company. A little embarrassed seeing how everyone stopped talking and now looking at him, he said as he picked up his phone from the inside of his pocket "Pardon me, everyone, even though I put my phone on silence, I made it so that the extremely important contacts and calls would not be on silence and come through... this must be a very important call." After looking at the screen of his phone, he said "It''s a very important friend of mine and I need to answer it, excuse me." as he said that without waiting for anyone''s response he picked up the phone and stood up as he started walking outside the meeting conference room. _______________ THREE DAYS AGO It''s been a couple of days since Detective John Lock reported his findings to Amara Martin. Since then he had been thinking about his baseless hypothesis and he has even investigated the ''Ghost Theft'' case a lot, but no matter how much he dug, he found no relation between the two Virus Company and the Ghost Theft. But as a Detective he had a strong sense and feeling for these things, he somehow trusted what his gut was telling him about this. And this was also one of the reasons he was considered a genius detective, as what his gut told him and felt was usually true. Now even though he had no proof or evidence for his hypothesis, he still somehow believed that the Virus Company was at least related to the matter of the Ghost Theft, and even if there was no motivation behind the act or even if the evidence were telling him otherwise, he would still suspect the Virus Company. John Lock had done big and important things for the Martin Family in the past and he still did help whenever the family faced a problem, but there was a reason why he would do so much for the Martin Family, a reason no one other than him and Amara''s father knew. When Detective Lock was only an orphan Amara''s father had discovered his talent and thus financed him to study and get to the place where he was today. He knew he was a genius detective right now mainly because Amara''s father had helped him. And as Detective Lock was not an ungrateful person he had long sworn to himself that he would help Amara''s father and his family till the day he dies. ''This Virus Company''s entered the Car Market now and the cars are getting more popular each day and honestly, their cars are much better than the Martin Family''s cars and probably most of the other car companies.'' Detective Lock thought to himself. Then he continued his thoughts. ''This company''s going to be a big threat to the Martin Family in the near future.'' He was now in a dilemma about reporting the matter to Amara''s father as he had no evidence and as he had promised Amara to say nothing of this to his father, but after some hesitation, he finally decided. "Sorry miss," He said in a low voice as he thought ''Even though I promised not to say anything about the investigation to your father... I still need to tell him, as it''s not something only about you anymore.'' ''But don''t worry, I won''t tell anything about you telling me to investigate Aizen Vee...now... I need to go to England and report this to Mr. Martin.'' ''Even though I have no proof or evidence of my baseless hypothesis and I have a feeling that no such a thing will ever be found, I''ll still report this matter to Mr. Martin as it might be of some use to him.'' After that, he packed his things and reserved a plane to England wanting to fly back. 47 Logical Choice After reserving his plane ticket, as he was on his way to the airport he called Amara, telling him he was going back to England as he had something to do there. He was expecting Amara to say something about his depart or ask more questions, but unexpectedly she said nothing other than "Okay, safe trip." before hanging up, which made Detective Lock wonder what she was doing at the moment to be so impatient, to the point of wanting to hang up faster. After that Detective Lock went to the airport as he took off to England from there. He was going to England in person because it was something better to be said in person, as he also had something else to do there. __________________ Mr. Martin, Amara''s father, was sitting in his study room in the family''s big mansion that looked almost like a castle, the study was filled with books and bookshelves as the whole room was decorated in brown, giving a more ancient feel too it. In the past few days, he was quite busy following the news of Virus Industries related to cars, and every time and every day, his face was turning grimmer. This was probably the reaction most of the companies around the same level as Virus Company was having. At first this company wasn''t under Mr. Martin''s radar at all and when he was reported by the news of this company, he didn''t care about this company at all, thinking it was probably another one of those cheap car companies which would never be able to compete with them and later he thought even if it did, it would still be far behind their long become known around the world name. But after seeing the reports of cars'' power, functions, shape, etc. he started turning serious because the technology used in some of the cars was even more advanced than theirs! This made him wake up, as he started following the news related to that company to see if things were as serious as he thought it was. At first, the reaction was not a lot by people as they had almost no expectation from this new car company, other than saying this was that phone company''s car branch. Some people even mocked and ridiculed them seeing how rashly they jumped into another industry, even before having a strong foundation in their own previous industry first. Some even said they are just biting off far more than they can chew! Seeing these reactions Mr. Martin was a little relieved, not relieved that they would not be a rival, no, he knew that was meant to happen sooner or later. What he was relieved about was that it seems people''s trust was not that much in the company, so he was relieved to know that it seemed he would have time to prepare and even advance their technology to the same level before they are known enough in the field of the car industry. But as a couple of days passed he figured that he was mistaken greatly about this and as days passed, people started to realize how good the cars were. ''This happened because lots of weaker stupid car companies started spreading rumors about that company because they realized how good their cars where, but that just made more controversy as lot''s of focus was drawn to the cars, making people start talking about how good the cars are!'' Mr. Martin thought, very angry at how nitwit some companies can get. "Just plain STUPID!" he said out loud unable to keep his anger inside. Now, in just a couple days, the word was spreading as everyone is speaking about how good the cars of that company are and how they have such wonderful functions. Mr. Martin now knew the time he thought he had was probably gone and he was right! After that, in the past few days, the selling percentage of his company''s cars decreasing even as he was sitting in his room thinking by himself. He knew he had to do something soon or his company''s going to face a crisis soon. So he appointed someone to investigate that company as he started looking for plans that might be helpful, he wasn''t going to do anything extreme at this point, he just wanted to know his enemy well before making any moves. But oddly he found nothing other than some general things which anyone can find if they investigate. So he was quite disappointed but had not given up as he started thinking of ways he could stabilize his decreasing selling percentage. After thinking for so much he still found no way he could stabilize the sells, other than having the same technology as that company or at least close to it. But he knew that was not possible in a short period of time before his company goes through a big loss, he needed something that would have an effect fast. So knowing that he won''t be able to stabilize the sells in any legal and more moral way like this, he knew he had to be more extreme and destructive in his ways of dealing with the other company. He rarely tried to destroy another company as he didn''t quite feel right about doing that, as he was not a bad person. However, he was a decisive man and a very good CEO and Chairman at that, so if he had to choose between his own company being destroyed or another, he would definitely decide to the latter even if he has to do it by his own hands. So he started thinking about how he can take down the Virus Industries before it flourishes too much. But after thinking for many days, he still hasn''t found any way that would lead to their destruction. All the plans he could think was at most going to hurt them a bit but not something serious or irreparable. So he was in a bad mood these days, as every second he and his company were experiencing loss, and probably an irreparable one at that. As he was sitting in his study, lost in thoughts of what to do, his study''s room was knocked. 48 He Said sLoves "Come in," Mr. Martin said, then someone opened the door and entered. The person who entered was a middle-aged man who was wearing a butler suit. He was the butler of the house of Martin. "Master Martin, Detective Lock has come and he''s asking for a meeting with master, he says it''s urgent and it might be of some help to a problem the company''s facing." The butler said. "Oh, then tell him to come in." Mr. Martin''s eyes shone a little of what solution or help Detective Lock could offer, even though he wasn''t that hopeful as this matter was too hard to deal with even for a detective like John Lock, nevertheless, he was a little expectant of what he''s going to tell him. He wasn''t surprised that Detective Lock was aware of the problem he was facing, as things like this had happened before where Detective lock became aware of before even he had mentioned it. Mr. Martinthen got up from his study desk as he went and sat in one of the two couches that were standing against each other. A minute later Detective Lock finally entered saying "Hello, sir." The Butler, who had entered with John, leading him here, went beside the master of the house and just stayed behind Mr. Martin without saying anything, while Detective Lock sat on the opposite couch. "John, why do you never listen, just call me uncle at least."Mr. Martin said while pretending to have a grim face. "Excuse me, sir, I''m more comfortable with sir or Mr. Martin." Detective Lock answered with the same cold sounding voice he always used. "Haha, you never drop that face and tone of yours, do you now John? Okay, how have you been? And what have you been up to lately?" Mr. Martin said while laughing. "Thank you, I''ve been doing quite well, and lately, I''ve been investigating the ''Ghost Theft'', actually that''s also what I want to talk to you about Mr. Martin." Detective Lock said. "Oh, I thought you were gonna talk about a solution to my problem, wasn''t that what you said you wanted to talk to me about?" Mr. Martin said and his voice had changed a little like he was a little upset with Detective Lock for bothering him while he was facing such a big problem. "Yes sir, actually that''s truly why I''m here, I''m here to tell you something that might help in dealing with your problem, though it might not help at all." He said looking at Mr. Martin. "Is that so? Then please tell me more about it." Me. Martin said while waiting for him to continue. "So, I was investigating the Ghost Theft and tried to look for suspects everywhere, but there was not even the slightest of evidence left anywhere, it''s like there was no evidence there to begin with." Detective Lock said. "And?" "And so, I decided to think completely outside the box, I thought, maybe... just maybe the theft that happened was because the technology or the programme used by the thief was much much more advanced than ours, and thus we can''t understand how it happened." "And when I started thinking like this, immediately another company with the same description came to my mind..." Detective Lock stopped talking at this point as he paused and looked at Mr. Martin. Me. Martin''s eyes were shining with excitement at this point as he said with a louder tone "THE VIRUS INDUSTRIES!" How could he not understand where he was getting at, at this point, when Detective Lock had said before, that the thing he wanted to say might be of some help to his problem. And he had been thinking about that company and how to deal with them for days, so how could he not know what was meant when Detective Lock said ''Much much more advanced''. "Yes, sir. That''s the only place my thought goes to, and probably the only conclusion we could get at thinking like this." Detective Lock confirmed. "But, that''s everything I can provide you with sir, as there is no evidence saying that they have done it, and I believe there won''t be such a thing too, and that''s why I said it ''might'' be of help." Detective Lock concluded at this point. After a little silence and thought Mr. Martin started laughing as he said. "Hahaha, that''s more than enough John, honestly common people are more stupid than you think, and they can be easily manipulated into believing things, even if there is no evidence whatsoever, you just need to plant a seed there and it will grow by itself... hahaha, this is good." "Well, that''s all I wanted to say, sir, as long as it helps, then I''m relieved." Detective Lock responded. "If there is nothing else... I shall take my leave..." Detective Lock said wanting to go, now that he was done with the purpose he had come here. "No way, you have to stay and at least eat dinner with the uncle, John, I can''t just send you away after you''ve delivered me with such wonderful news. I''ll order the Chef to make whatever you want." Mr. Martin said with a happy. "You know my house''s chef is one of the best chefs in the world, and he is an expert in making lots of foods around the world, from almost every culture, so you can tell him what you want with ease." Mr. Martin said with a smile on his face. Knowing he probably won''t let him leave before he did eat something, Detective Lock decided to stay until he is finished eating. "Go tell the chef to come." without looking behind he just said the word as the butler started moving out of the study after saying, "Yes, Master Martin." Sometime later an old man entered the room after the butler had opened it for him, together they entered the room as the butler went and stayed standing behind Mr. Martin, the chef stayed standing in a place where both Mr. Martin and Detective Lock could look at him easily. "What do you want me to cook Boss?" The chef said with an old kind smile on his face. "Tell him what you want John." Mr. Martin offered. "Well, actually, there is something I recently came to like... actually love..." Detective Lock said. "Ohh... is that so, what could make this cold detective of ours use the word ''Love'' for, now I''m really intrigued too! Tell us, what is it?" Mr. Martin said while making a surprised face. With the same poker face and cold tone he usually uses, Detective Lock answered, "It''s..... Meatbun." 49 Friends After that the chef started steaming meatbuns, this was something he has never made in this house, though he knew how to make one. Sometime later the meatbun was brought by the chef to the study while Mr. Martin and Detective Lock were talking about some trivial matters. Seeing the steamed meatbun ready and here, Mr. Martin said "Oh... the food is finally here! let''s see how delicious this thing which made you use the word ''Love'' actually is!" As it would probably be uncomfortable for Detective Lock to eat while everyone else was just staring at him, Mr. Martin too joined in, though a part of the reason he joined was because he was genuinely intrigued by the food, he wondered just what kind of taste would make John fall for it. After the chef placed the dish of steamed meat buns on the table, in the middle of two couches, he went back and stayed at a place where both of them could see him clearly and then started explaining about the food''s background, its recipe, and how it was made. "Help yourself, John! Dig in." Mr. Martin said and then without waiting for Detective Lock to eat the first meatbun, just picked off one of the meatbuns and took a bite from it. After taking a bite his eyes shone as he said "Ohhh, it has a nice taste, such a balance!" After that, he started eating a couple more as Detective Lock dug in too. But what no one knew was that since the moment Mr. Martin had heard of Detective Lock''s baseless hypothesis, he had been thinking of what would be the best way to use the baseless hypothesis? He needed a way that would cause irreparable damage to that company. After they had finished eating the meatbuns, Detective Lock bid farewell and left as the butler guided him outside. Now Mr. Martin was alone again inside the room, thinking of how to use this great opportunity. After thinking for about an hour more, he finally decided! His decision was to not get involved in this directly, while causing the most damage through others, just in case this doesn''t work, he didn''t want that unknown company as his enemy. Because if that baseless hypothesis was true, they would be a frightening power and enemy, not someone easy to mess with, they could freaking steal money from all over the world! just thinking about it made him afraid. Mr. Martin thought. ''I just need to guide others to leave the seed for me. That friend of mine in the phone industry should be in the meeting where all of the major phone companies are going to be present. According to what he told me they have reverse engineered the phones by applying some changes to it so it would be more difficult to tell it was a copy.'' ''And they are banding together and putting all their money, power, and connections on this so no one would be able to talk to them or make a move against them, trying to charge them. ''haha, the only thing I need to do is to let that friend of mine know about this, and he along with his allies are sure to use it in the best way possible by putting all their brains together in this.'' Mr. Martin finally decided. Now that he had made his decision he picked up his Virus Galaxy 1 and called a friend from the list. __________________ BACK TO ALLIED PHONE COMPANIES'' MEETING After they had finally decided and wanted to talk more about the plan, suddenly the sound of ringtone was heard from one of the chairs, the person sitting on that chair was the CEO of England''s phone company. A little embarrassed seeing how everyone stopped talking and now looking at him, he said as he picked up his phone from the inside of his pocket "Pardon me, everyone, even though I put my phone on silence, I made it so that the extremely important contacts and calls would not be on silence and come through... this must be a very important call." After looking at the screen of his phone, he said "It''s a very important friend of mine and I need to answer it, excuse me." as he said that without waiting for anyone''s response he picked up the phone and stood up as he started walking outside the meeting conference room. "Hey, Ethan, what is it, friend? I think I told you I''m at that meeting... so you must have called because something urgent and important has happened... tell me what''s going on?" That CEO from England said as he walked out of the meeting conference room. "Hey Jacob, I know you''re at that meeting and that your time is tight, so I won''t beat around the bush and be straightforward and just tell you why I''ve called." Mr. Martin''s voice was heard on the phone. "I called because I''ve got an important piece of news that is definitely going to be very helpful to you and all of the other CEOs at the meeting." Mr. Martin continued his talk. "Oh, what is it, Ethan? please do tell." The CEO from England said. "Well, here''s the deal... " After that Mr. Martin started telling everything related to the Ghost Theft and how someone who worked for him had come to him, thinking they were related. Mr. Martin explained how he thought that case was related to that company, even though there was no evidence leading to them, also explaining that there was probably no evidence that would be found after this. After he explained everything, Jacob''s eyes shone with a bright light as he said "This is something big and very good! We can definitely use this, thanks Ethan, I knew I could count on a friend such as you at harsh times like this, then I shall hang up, for now, to go explain everything to others at the meeting. I''ll visit you later at a proper time." "Hahaha, don''t worry, then what are friends for, good luck, bye." Mr. Martin said as he hung up. After the line was cut off that CEO from England''s eyes changed to one of complete disdain and contempt saying "Tch, this bastard..." Then he continued the rest of his words in his mind as he thought ''This bastard is telling me this information just because he doesn''t want to get directly involved in this and become an enemy of that company as he''s afraid of them, so he''s just using me, otherwise I heard that just recently that company''s gone into the car industry too, and because of them, most of the other car companies are experiencing losses too. Now that he''s experiencing a loss, he must''ve dug a lot about that company to get to this result. And now that he''s found something, he''s just using me while pretending to do me a favor... bastard.'' ''But whatever, it''s true the info he gave me was good enough, this will probably affect our whole plan, even though the enemy seems more powerful than we thought, it''s not like he left us with anyway, and all of us together? what that company or anyone else could possibly ever do to us?'' He thought as he entered the meeting again. "Everyone, please stop all the talks about the plan for a moment, I''ve just received an important and essential piece of news from a close friend of mine! And honestly, this is a piece of very helpful news." After entering the meeting again, he started talking interrupting someone who seemed to be suggesting something about their plan. "Oh, what is it? This better be good." The CEO from the US company said with a cold and indifferent voice. "Well, here''s the deal! A very close friend of mine just called... " Then he started explaining everything and no one interrupted him while he was explaining, only at one point all of the CEOs'' eyes started shining making the room very bright, if the imaginary shining lights in their eyes were real, all of them added together would probably blind anyone who entered the conference room. 50 Press Conference "This is very good! We could definitely use this, let''s think about a plan we could use with this info." The CEO from the US said, his eyes were shining too like everyone else. After The CEO from England who goes by the name of Jacob explained what he had heard from his friend Ethan, everyone thought this was good information, that they could probably use to cause the most damage to the enemy company while showing themselves as victims. So they started thinking of a new plan and finally after putting all their brains in this, they had a new and better plan. They completely tossed away the previous plan about being in an alliance which was going to make the two sides of the scale equal. "Hahaha, this plan is even better than our previous plan, with this we''re not only going to equal the scales, heck, we''re going to surpass that and reverse the scale!" The CEO from Korea said while laughing. They spend around two hours to make this plan by the information they had heard from the CEO from England and now, they just needed to execute the plan. "Okay, then we shall continue as we planned and immediately set the plan in motion, the meeting is adjourned." The CEO from the US said as the meeting was finished. ___________________ TWO DAYS LATER As Virus was sitting bored on the couch talking to the golden beauty in the highest floor of his 4 Times Square, he said with a smile. "Turn on the TV, it seems I''m not gonna be bored for a short period of time as the entertainment is finally starting." Hearing this the golden beauty was confused but still followed what his master told him and turned on the TV. Changing to the channel that Virus told her, she saw that the channel was showing a press conference held by the major phone companies around the world. Virus just silently watched this entertaining monkey show without talking. _____________________ AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE The CEO from the US was talking while everyone else was just listening. "Hello everyone, please note that I am standing here as the representative of all of the major companies that have released advanced phones to the world, these companies include..." He started naming all of the companies that were part of the allied phone companies. "So most of you should have already guessed why we''re holding this press conference, as lately we have introduced and released very advanced phones to the market, I''m sure you all of you have lots of questions related to this matter, like how is it possible for us to release such advanced phones all of a sudden, but please be patient and let me say all the things I want to say first and I''m sure most of your questions will be answered naturally. So please don''t interrupt me while I''m talking and explaining until I''m finished, thank you." "Okay, first of all when that company, which I''m sure all of you know, released his phones to the market we all were greatly shocked of how this kind of advanced technology comes out to the market, we thought how could our phone companies continue to live like this? We were almost helpless to do anything, but we didn''t give up and decided to hold a conference meeting with all of the major phone companies around the world, looking for solutions on how to live." Every reporter and journalist was just listening without saying any words so as not to miss even one word that was being said, while also analyzing the words that were said at the same time. "As we gathered, we started thinking of how to live and then we decided to put all of our knowledge and technologies together, to see what kind of phone we could produce then." "Anyway after we put all of our most advanced tech pieces and knowledge together, oddly we saw the phones we could produce were almost the same as the phones of that company!" At this point, every reporter and journalist was surprised by the question of how this could happen? But remembering the words of the CEO from the US which had said to not ask anything until he was done talking, they decided to just listen for now as lots of more questions started popping up in their minds. "We were shocked of how could this be! It was as if that company was all of us put together! It was as if that company had exactly copied all of our techs together and made an advanced phone from them!" "Anyway, we started putting our brains together of how could such a thing be possible? Then, one of us at the conference meeting suddenly said something which shocked us all, what if that company has stolen our technology?" "At first we didn''t want to believe it because how can anyone gain access to all of our technologies together, as this was truly impossible! But then we remembered a similar event that had happened recently! An incident that no one knows who has done or how it was done! Yes, I''m sure all of you are thinking about the same thing as we thought at the moment, the ''Ghost Theft'' incident where money was stolen from almost all over the world, no one can explain how can something like that happen just like what happened to us!" At this point everyone at the press conference and everyone watching the press conference around the world was shocked! This was truly shocking news! But the more they thought about it, the more it made sense. The only answer that could explain how this Virus Industries had gotten their hands on the technology from all over the world, from all of the phone companies around the world, to make such advanced phones was that Virus Company was the culprit behind the ''Ghost Theft''! "Now we don''t have any evidence of our claims and that''s why we didn''t say the name of that company so as not to be accused and sued for slander and libel." "Anyway, after that we decided to share all of our technology pieces together to start anew, from a place that all of the major companies, whose tech was stolen are equals, because that company has already released our technology to the world, if we don''t do this... we won''t be able to continue keeping our companies alive." "But from now on we will separate our ways from each other and whatever advancement we achieve from now on, belongs solely to that company itself and not related to the other companies at all." "That was everything the major companies whose names I announced earlier wanted to say." 51 The Bored God 1 "Haha, that''s enough, turn it off." Virus told the golden beauty with a laugh. He knew there was nothing else the phone companies wanted to say, other than the things they had heard already. "It''s really fun and entertaining seeing these monkeys think they''ve outsmarted me and won already. A top-class joke..." Virus sneered at the hilarity of it all. The golden beauty was shocked after seeing the news. She turned the television off and asked, "Master... you knew this was going to happen?" "Of course I knew. What about it?" Virus replied without any change in tone or expression. "Then why didn''t you stop them! You could''ve sent me to slaughter them! Or make a move before them to not let the matter get this far... Now, this has gotten serious as everyone thinks master has stolen those companies'' phones and the money!" The golden beauty pouted, upset and frustrated for her master who only watched them, even though he knew everything all along. "Tell me my Lil Bella, do you think God exists?" Virus asked, chuckling at her adorable tantrum she made while being upset and frustrated. "I don''t know... maybe? I don''t have enough data and information to answer that question." The golden beauty answered with a confused face, unsure what God had to do with her question, which increased her frustration level. "Okay, let''s say He exists. Now if God existed and He created mankind, why do you think He would create them? I mean He is ''the peak'', ''the absolute'', a God who needs no one, One who has no needs, why would such an entity create humanity? " Virus posed the question with his eyes locked onto the golden beauty''s golden eyes, waiting for her response. "... because He is benevolent? Compassionate?" The golden beauty guessed. "Is it benevolence or compassion when you create something out of nothing?... I''ll tell you my theory: He was bored! Bored of the status quo, the monotony, the loneliness, because He had lived alone for an unimaginable period of time, so He made humanity to entertain Himself." Virus said with an enlightened shimmer in his eyes. This conclusion was obtained from his own experience. As more time passed, his boredom reached levels of insanity. If he weren''t an AI, but an actual person, he definitely would have gone mad. In his past world, the future, there were lots of immortal people, who by different means kept their sanity intact, as they had found different ways to not go insane. And that was also why there were lots of bored people in his past world who were always journeying to different planets in the universe, or even the multiverse, so as not to be bored and find new things that would entertain them and challenge them. "Now, assuming God Exists, this brings another question, why didn''t He just make them puppets that He could control as He wants? Or why not make them like animals that would move by their instincts, always with the same pattern, why didn''t He do that? Instead, He gave them free will, to do whatever they wanted, He gave them the power of decision!" Virus said. Listening to these things washed away the golden beauty''s frustration. It was like a story that made you sit and wonder, so her eyes shone with mesmerizing curiosity as she gave him her full attention. "Why would He do that? Well... isn''t it the same reason as before? Because if he made puppets.. then it was just something that He was controlling... what would be the fun in that, that would be just too boring and pointless, right? or if He made them move only according to their instincts... they would just follow the same pattern and just do what their instinct was telling them to do! That would be too predictable and too boring too!" Virus continued as the golden beauty was listening very carefully, enjoying it while looking forward to what her master was going to say next. "So He wanted something that would be fun and entertaining, something that would surprise Him. So He gave them free will and the power of decision almost like His own free will, so they could even make decisions that would surprise even Him, He also gave them the capability of learning and improving, as that would make them more interesting and entertaining as time passed, never to bore Him again!" Virus said with the same face like he was just telling a story. "Now let''s talk about another question, why doesn''t God stop bad people from doing bad things, or why doesn''t He stop or reward good people for doing good deeds in this world? I mean God has omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience right? so He would know everything and He could be able to do anything He wanted, but why didn''t He do that? Instead, He created Heaven and Hell to punish bad people and reward good people, while He could''ve just stopped them from doing bad things." He continued "I would answer to that by saying again, well it wouldn''t be fun and entertaining to intervene because that would lower the fun, as it would be like taking away their free will from them, so He just watches, like watching an interesting movie, looking forward to what would happen next." The golden beauty''s eyes glimmered with newfound understanding. She was fascinated by the tale her master weaved. "And this is where life and death comes, life is a process in which He just watches the human beings with free will, do the things they felt like doing, an entertaining process that He would never intervene. But after the process is over and they are done making the decisions in their life as their cycle ends, and he''s entertained enough by that person, Death arrives. This is where they go to Heaven and Hell, this is the time another kind of fun and entertainment begins." Virus said, a little excited by his own theory and explanations. 52 The Bored God 2 He continued by saying, "Now that their journey is over and he has had enough fun because of that person who has free will almost like his own and now that he can intervene, another kind of entertainment begins, another way of not being bored." "He is faced with creatures that have free will! They know what''s going on and understand and they are almost like him in some aspects! So He sends the people who has done good deeds and believed in Him to heaven, a place he would still be entertained by watching them enjoy heaven, enjoy the blessings, while he also starts torturing the people who have done bad deeds in Hell, because that''s also another way of having fun and a way of getting away from being bored." "And now as He''s finally able to intervene, He shows them the consequence of their deeds by torturing them." "Do you understand my meaning, my lil beauty?" Virus said with a smile on his face showing the golden beauty all the dimples on his face. "I understand master, so you''re saying He enjoys the process and He''s entertained by it and doesn''t intervene until they are done with their decisions and they are done entertaining and surprising Him with their decision, and after they die, another kind of entertainment begins as he rewards the good and tortures the bad who has done bad things, while getting pleasure again from both torturing and rewarding." The golden beauty said with a shining light in her eyes. "Haha, you were almost right my cute Bella. Anyway, what I wanna say is that I didn''t intervene and stop the phone companies because that would be boring and dull, there would be no challenge at all. So I wait till they are done completely and then I start punishing them, as otherwise would be just too boring!" Virus said with a short laugh. "So do you now get why I wasn''t making any moves till now?" Virus asked looking at Bella. "Yes, hehe, because master is bored and he likes to play others to death, by first giving them hope that they have won, only to take everything away from them." The golden beauty said with a cute giggle on her face. "My cute Bella has beautiful ways of interpreting. Well, you would have understood me better just if you had lived as long as me, because when you live forever, everything starts to get boring at some point, and only some things that pose a challenge won''t make you bored anymore." Virus replied with a dimpled smile. "And to me at this point, almost only not being bored matters." He said after a little silence. Listening to this made Bella''s gaze directed downwards not wanting to show her eyes which were turning moist as time passed, she thought ''Just how much a person has to live to get to this point, to just look for something that would entertain him, what has he gone through to be afraid of being bored?'' eeing her head downturned, Virus knew exactly what was going on in her thoughts, so he said with a tight-lipped smile, "My lil beauty, no need to be sad because I''ve lived for too long, or because I love to find fun and challenges in life, every person is different from each other just as I am, everyone lives by a goal just as I do, so I''m not that different from others, and I choose to continue living instead of just killing myself, because living is far better than being dead and being nothing at all." Seeing her master trying to make her feel better, oddly made the golden beauty happy as she turned her head upwards to look into her master''s devilishly beautiful eyes as she said with a broad smile, "En... anyway, master has me now and I promise I would do my best so master would never become bored ever again, until eternity." "Hahaha, I''m sure you would keep your promise... now let''s get back to those entertaining monkeys." Virus talked with a fit of laughter at the golden beauty, but then he changed the subject. He spoke, "Tell me my lil Bella, which one would hurt more, rising to the peak just to fall to the bottom, or going downside first and then fall to the bottom, I mean falling down when you''re already near the bottom yourself." "Which one would hurt more? And destroy you more?" Then his eyes changed to that of a chilly one as he asked with an evil grin. Seeing the light in his master''s eyes change and that evil grin which charmed her unconsciously, she replied "Of course if you rise to the peak and then fall to the bottom it would hurt more.... no, it won''t only hurt more, it would kill you for real, losing while you''re hoping is so much more painful than just despairing even more while you''re already despairing." "That''s right, these monkeys are at the peak right now, thinking they have won, savoring their victory, this is the perfect moment to hit back, it was fun watching them do stupid things that I''ve already predicted and prepared counterattacks for, even before they had decided upon it. Now it''s time for another kind of fun to begin, the fun of punishment!" Virus responded, if anyone else was there hearing and seeing the cold and chilly look in Virus'' eyes and that evil grin, that person would probably be either frightened or charmed to death, swearing never to become this person''s enemy at all costs or to become his at all costs. "Now, go call the CEO ugly and the Legal ugly to come here." "Okay, master." Replied the golden beauty still on the couch on which she was sitting all this time exactly beside her master, then she stood up, walking towards the elevator, from which she was going to leave to another floor on the 4 Times Square for summoning the two uglies. Ten minutes later, the golden beauty came back with the CEO and Legal uglies, after she came back, without saying anything else she just came smiling and sat beside her master again, only to sit on the couch, exactly beside her master in her previous location The two uglies though stood at a place their master would be easily able to look at them at the time he desired. They didn''t talk at all. All they did was to bow from their waists, just to wait for further instructions from Virus. They didn''t talk because the first day, the day their first memory was engraved on their minds was still and forever as clear as the day. They remembered clearly the day they had woken up, only to see their master''s chilly wrath, which warned them not to talk before he gave them permission. 53 From Peak To Bottom 1 After a short period of silence Virus finally looked at the two uglies saying "Okay then, let''s start the plans." "Legal ugly, there is a team of FBI agents coming this way as we talk, their purpose is to interrogate our company, even though they don''t have a warrant, so we could just reject going with them, but why would we do that, go with them together with the best group of lawyers we have, you are the best lawyer on the whole planet without doubt, but still take them, it will have some pressure on them..." "Take that Flash USB with you too, there are videos they would probably like to see." Virus ordered. "Yes, master." The Legal ugly replied taking the Flash USB on the desk. "You are dismissed." Virus said as the Legal ugly bowed with his waist as he took his leave. "Now, CEO ugly, you release those phones I told you to stop from releasing for now to the market. I told you to stop releasing because I had already calculated we would need it today. This is gonna amuse me for a while, as I watch their faces when their worlds start to crumble piece by piece." Virus said in amusement. "These phones will also prove we have not stolen money from around the world, as we have not stolen the phone technologies... it will be obvious that the other phone companies were stealing our technology after they would be able to take out tech as advanced as ours, also tell everyone through media that we are going to release more advanced sets of phones every month, not just a phone, but a set of phones every month until I feel like it''s enough already. Also, tell them we are going to enter whole lots of other industries soon too," he said looking at the CEO ugly. "Okay master, but still, some would still doubt we have stolen the money as our technology is too advanced and they will draw too much attention from other people..." The CEO ugly said looking a little worried. "Don''t worry, with the things we''re gonna do from now on, it would be impossible not to draw any attention, and it''s not like I''m afraid to draw attention, otherwise I would''ve just killed everyone who tried to make a move against me before they had even taken the first step. Just do as I say and don''t worry about some people and the government doubting us, they won''t be able to do anything without evidence, which doesn''t exist in the first place. Also, I already have a plan for those suspicious people who think we are the ones behind the ''Ghost Theft''." Virus said with a crafty grin on his face. "Also, even if they did have evidence which they don''t, so what? it''s not like they would''ve been able to do anything against us, so go and don''t worry, just do your job well. Understood?" He was finally done talking to the CEO ugly. "Yes, master. I shall take my leave then." The CEO ugly said as he took his leave too. _________________ At the moment the whole world was cursing the Virus Company for being so shameless to steal money and technology from the whole world. People whose money were stolen by the Virus Company were fuming with rage, looking for ways to take revenge and money back, while the governments in different countries were looking for evidence that they were the ones responsible for the ''Ghost Theft'' behind the scene. The internet was exploding with curses toward this criminal company, condemning them. Lots of countries and other places where getting ready to terminate their contracts with this shameless criminal company when something happened on the same day. The Virus Industries released a new set of phones! Almost everyone knew what this implied after seeing the phones being more advanced than the previous phones. Everyone was shocked by the news, this was like shock after shock in the same day in a row! And the CEO of Virus Industries too held a press conference, telling the world that they have far more advanced phones than the current ones at the market because they have been getting ready for this debut for decades, to appear strong from the very beginning. He also denied all charges that were thrown at them by the allied companies, telling everyone it was the allied phone companies that had stolen the tech and soon they were going to reveal the related evidence to the world, he also said that the allied companies can show the government their own phone technology pieces which are as advanced as the ones they released today, if they are truly innocent and if the Virus Company is truly the one stealing their technology. He also announced another shocking news to the world by saying The Virus Industries are far more advanced than they think, saying they are soon going to enter other industries too. Hearing these shocking news and seeing the phones which were even more advanced than the previous ones the world became confused at first not quite understanding, but after processing the news lights of understanding shone in some of their eyes. Their doubts and uncertainty too started disappearing and it was soon going to disappear completely if the allied companies couldn''t reveal the related technology as advanced as the ones the Virus Phone Industries had just released to the world. The internet and common people''s opinion too started changing, though a lot of people were having doubts about which side were telling the truth. A person who was saying "These bastards are stealing money from the world both in daylight and dark!" changed his sentence to "Wow, these bastard allied phone companies think they can fool everyone? Seriously... wtf is with this world!" Or another person which before the release and press conference held by the Virus industries had said "I''m gonna sell my Virus iPhone 1 to half the price and exchange it with the phones of the other allied companies... is there anyone? I''m gonna do it right now!", this poor person was yelling at the internet crying " You bastards! I gave away my awesome phone just because I believed too easily! I want my phone back... please give my phone back... that money I gave you... you can keep them and I will also give back your allied company''s phone back.. just give my Virus iPhone 1 back please." But the person who had exchanged his phone with the Virus iPhone 1 never replied. A person who had said, "I hate Virus Industries" were now saying this, "I hate every phone company except Virus Industries." Things and happenings like this were going on everywhere throughout the world in almost every country, though people who doubted them or believed in the allied phone companies still existed. 54 From Peak To Bottom 2 __________________ Everyone from the allied companies was at their homes at the moment laughing happily, spending their times with their family, thinking they had won and their companies were saved. But it was at this moment their phones started ringing as they got to know of the press conference held by the Virus Industries. Each of them turned the television on to see the press conference they just got the news of, wanting to see how that company would try to justify itself in vain. What none of the CEOs realized was that at each of their houses, just around them, was a real fly, flying around. But they were much smaller than a normal fly. They saw the press conference held by the CEO ugly, after thinking how ugly he was, like everyone else around the world, the press conference got to it''s more important parts as the CEO''s faces started turning paler and paler. When the press conference had finally ended, they were ashen-faced, stunned, and their eyes were frozen open staring at the TV which had completely changed to another programme. All of them knew they won''t be able to provide the government with the technology without reverse engineering first, which would take too much time which they didn''t have. While the CEOs were frozen still, in another location, in the highest floor of 4 Times Square, a person started grinning evilly seeing their funny faces before saying in a low voice "Don''t lose hope this easily now, you stupid monkeys, this is just getting started." After coming out of their stupor the CEOs started calming themselves down first, before thinking all of the allied companies were in this together, which made them feel a little better, they thought it was probably going to be okay, they just needed to find an excuse and then everything would be fine, so after coming out of their shocked stupor, they started calling each other, wanting to hold a conference meeting as soon as possible. ___________________ WITH THE LEGAL UGLY Leaving his master''s floor, the Legal ugly came to another floor at 4 Times Square. This was the floor which only the legal staff worked at, seeing him enter, everyone''s attention was unconsciously drawn to his almost abnormally ugly face as they stopped working and answering the always ringing phones. Their boss, the Legal ugly''s office was on another floor and every time he came to this floor, he would start giving orders in a monotonous tone without even stopping for a second to take a breath. It was like he memorized the orders he wanted to give, before coming to the Legal staff''s floor. Some workers even suspected him being a robot in their gossip time, because of how emotionless his voice sounded. As everyone went quiet, the Legal ugly looked at their faces and he could clearly see the stress and worry plastered on their faces. Some had dark circles under their eyes, some were chewing on a lip, some were even biting their nails. Their worry was understandable though, as they were working for the company everyone was cursing at the moment, saying they were probably going to be destroyed. Also, they were receiving phone calls, wanting to terminate contracts, since the moment those allied phone companies held that press conference, making them even more stressed. Now they were not sure if the company they were working for was going to go bankrupt. They honestly didn''t care about what the company has done, or if the company was in the wrong or right. All they cared about was to keep their jobs and feed their family or earn a living to pass their days. Seeing this worry on everyone''s face, the Legal ugly honestly didn''t care how they were feeling, but he decided to calm them down first before anything else, as their work efficiency would be lowered tremendously like this when they are filled with stress and worry. So with the calmest face, like the most tranquil water in the pond that would never be disturbed, with an still emotionless tone, he said, "Don''t worry everyone, none of the things the allied phone companies said were true and we are going to prove that, as our chairman and owner was already expecting this, so don''t be worried at all and just focus on your jobs because this shall pass soon enough." Listening to the Legal ugly''s emotionless calm words which seemed to have no impatience, hatred, expectation, excitement, or anything else in it, surprisingly made the workers and staff calm. Also, they became excited hearing that their mysterious chairman was expecting this to happen as it made them more hopeful as even more light came back to their eyes. Seeing his little speech work, with the blank look in his eyes, which were almost there all the time, he straightly went to the main topic he had come here for, as he started giving the order he was here for in the first place as he said with the same monotonous tone as before, "Okay, now, I want a team of best lawyers we have here by my side in at most thirty minutes, move." Listening to the order, everyone started moving again, wanting to finish the job as soon as possible. After exactly half an hour, a team of fifteen lawyers was standing in front of him in a very orderly manner. Right now the Legal ugly was sitting in his office silently not looking at the lawyers that had arrived just now, though before the lawyers arrived, he had checked what was inside the USB Flash his master had given him. Suddenly the phone on his desk started ringing, he picked up the phone and just listened to the person on the other side of the line talk, after the person on the other side of the line was done, he hung up without saying anything in response. "The FBI is at the reception, let''s go." He said as he stood up from his chair and started walking outside of the office while the team of the fifteen best lawyers started following him. The fifteen lawyers divided into three groups of five people each group very quickly, then they made three very orderly rows just behind the walking Legal ugly as they followed him, each row was a group of five lawyers. As they started walking to the reception floor, every worker, staff, and employee''s attention was unconsciously drawn to the amazing formation, which seemed to be following a man, like trained bodyguards. But focusing at the man who was in the lead, the women couldn''t stop themselves from being disappointed, seeing how ugly he was, as almost all of them thought, ''Alas! why should the lead of such a romantic scene, which could only be seen in the movies be an ugly guy?'' 55 From Peak To Bottom 3 When they arrived beside the elevators, as they couldn''t fit in the same elevator, they separated into two groups, each taking one. After they arrived at the reception, a team of FBI agents was standing there, talking to the reception, saying they needed to talk to the chairman or the CEO, but the receptionist was unmoved as he said they can only wait for the related department to come unless they have a warrant. Seeing a group of people with suit coming their way, the FBI''s attention was drawn to the group. The Legal ugly came straight in front of the team of FBI, he reached his right hand out while saying "Hello, I''m Robert James, the head of Legal Department at Virus Industries. How can I help you?" Listening to his words, the FBI knew they were not going to meet the chairman or the CEO, so the person who was in the lead said rudely without introducing herself first, "Hello, we''re here to meet the Chairman or the CEO of the company, not you!" It was obvious she was very much annoyed that no one was listening to her in this thief company. This woman was a top-notch beauty, she had a light bronze skin, long eyelashes, a medium-sized nose, with blue eyes and naturally filled lips which made her quite the beauty. Without paying any attention to her beauty, the Legal ugly said "You can''t meet the Chairman or the CEO unless you have a warrant, which makes me wonder, do you have a warrant miss?" Listening to his voice which seemed to be empty of any emotions, she was offended inside immediately, because men always used to try to gain her favor in different ways everywhere she went or at least tried to act cool or ignore her or thousands of other ways for her attention, but as she was a good FBI agent, she could always see it in their eyes that the other person had an interest in her, but knowing their intention was not pure, she ignored them, but still, it made her happy that other people saw her as a beauty. But this person was just annoying, he seemed to lack any kind of emotion, she could feel there was nothing in his eyes while he was looking at her, it was a blank stare, like a person who was looking at the wall with no thought whatsoever, she was getting this feeling which made her greatly annoyed. "I said do you have a warrant, miss?" Seeing there was no response the Legal ugly asked again, still as dull as before. "No, I don''t. But we''re the FBI and..." She finally answered. As she started talking the Legal ugly interrupted her by saying, "Oh please miss, let''s cut the crap, we are all lawyers here and we all know our rights. You coming to our door without any kind of evidence to accuse us of something would just make us able to sue you for libel you know that right?" Listening to him talk the police beauty started gritting her teeth, but she didn''t say anything because he was right, they had come today just to see their reaction as they were ordered from the higher-ups to see if they would cooperate. ''It seems they won''t cooperate...'' As she was thinking this, her thoughts were interrupted by that emotionless ugly man. "... But as our Chairman is a really good man, even though he won''t be able to come for interrogation as he''s a really busy person, he told us to cooperate with the police and go with you for interrogation... so let''s go " The Legal ugly said. Listening to him made the FBI beauty surprised because she hadn''t expected for them to cooperate. And just like that, they went to the FBI station with fifteen disciplined lawyers. After they arrived at the FBI station, they went inside a room probably used for interrogation. Right now inside the room, the FBI beauty and the Legal ugly were each sitting on one side of the table, while behind the Legal ugly three rows of lawyers, each row consisting of five lawyers, were standing without moving in a very disciplined manner, they were famous lawyers that lots of FBI agents at the station recognized. That beautiful FBI wanted to start the interrogation as she said "Okay Mr. James, so let''s start with this, was it the Virus Company that..." She was just starting the interrogation with the first question when she was interrupted again by that ugly man, making her furious inside. "Miss, I think you''re misunderstanding something, we can leave whenever we want to and we''re here just because of our Chairman''s kindness in trying to bring justice to light, so I will do the talking while you listen." The Legal ugly said with the same blank expression he always wore. "First let me start by saying that we, and by ''we'' I mean the Virus Company, were not behind the ''Ghost Theft'' case and neither have we stolen any kind of technology from anywhere, all of our technologies come from ourselves and decades of research." The Legal ugly said. "Now talking more than this would be a complete waste of time unless you have evidence, which obviously you don''t." The Legal ugly said. At this point the FBI beauty almost felt like exploding, pressing her lips firmly together while thinking ''first they come here by their own feet, saying they agree to the interrogation out of good will, then after coming here, this ugly bastard doesn''t allow me to ask a single question and rejects everything straightforwardly, then what the heck did you come here for!!! You could''ve just told me this there!'' As she was almost on the verge of exploding, as she was clenching her jaw, the Legal ugly talked again with that blank stare of his, "But worry not, miss, as we have not come here just to announce this and waste a ton of our time." "Then what exactly have you come here for?!" The FBI beauty said frustrated while glaring at the Legal beauty with fire burning in her eyes. Honestly, even though there was a serious atmosphere about her right now, but that seriousness and frustration oddly made her seem even more beautiful, the fifteen lawyers behind the Legal ugly couldn''t stop themselves from thinking ''So... beautiful... .'' 56 From Peak To Bottom 4 "Calm down miss, take it easy, I''ll naturally explain everything. Our Chairman was already suspecting them so he had them under his radar for a while now..." As he was talking, he suddenly stopped as he started staring blankly at her face. Seeing him stop talking all of a sudden the FBI beauty asked with an awkward tone as she touched her face "What?... is there something on my face..." "... I''m thinking it would be better if you watched it for yourself, instead of me explaining everything, here, watch what''s inside this USB Flash Drive, then I believe most of your suspicion on us would be cleared naturally." The Legal ugly said. Listening to this, she took the USB Flash Drive from his hands with the minimal eye contact, some seconds later someone naturally brought a laptop to the interrogation room before leaving, turning on the laptop, the FBI beauty inserted the USB Flash Drive to the laptop, but before inserting it, she was amazed at how thin and small it was, this was the first time she had seen such a USB Flash drive. After inserting it, curious about how much space such a thin and small USB Flash would have, she checked its memory. But seeing the memory her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as she said uncontrollably "Fi... five hundred gigabytes of memory!" Right now a small and thin USB Flash Drive having five hundred gigabytes of memory and space was really a huge matter, something shocking and unseen, so the shock plastered on her face was not surprising at all. Seeing her distracted, the Legal ugly said, "Oh, no need to be surprised miss, that''s just one of our somehow advanced technology... now if you would please check the video inside." But the Legal ugly knew this was not even considered somehow advanced in his master''s dictionary. Even though she was still very much shocked, she knew this was not the time for it, so she brought her attention to files inside the USB Flash, there was one video file by the name of ''One'' inside the USB Flash which she clicked on. After she clicked on it, a video started playing, its view was from the top of one of the walls in the conference meeting room, this video was recorded from the eyes of a very small fly which was sitting there, without moving in the least at the moment. Seeing the extremely high-quality video the FBI beauty was amazed at the thought of such an advanced camera existing, while they were using such a crappy camera''s, She thought very much astonished that even the FBI seemed not to have these kinds of advanced technologies like the camera and the USB Flash Drive, while this Virus Company that had popped out of nowhere seemed to have all of these wondrous techs. Forgetting about the irrelevant stuff, for now, she focused all her attention on the video. ____________ THE VIDEO NAMED ''ONE'' "Hahaha, now that we''ve finished reverse engineering the phones and even made some changes, so others won''t recognize the foundation was copied, we''re back on business!" One of the CEO''s said with a very happy mood as he laughed out loud. "Hahaha." some other CEOs also laughed along with that previous CEO, while some also agreed loudly with joy saying "We''re finally going to at least rival this giant enemy of ours." ... ________________ The video continued like that as the FBI beauty watched it all wide-eyed, all of the allied phone companies'' CEO''s which had just released the advanced phones in the past few days were present in the video confessing they had reverse engineered the phones with their own mouths. With this there was no need to waste time suspecting the Virus Company, the FBI beauty just stood up as she hurriedly took the laptop and USB Flash with herself as she left the room. This was a very big case and an even bigger matter, so she was obliged to report to her boss immediately the moment she found something. Going to the other room behind the one-way mirror glass, she showed the video to her boss. Half an hour later she finally came back to the investigation room where the Legal ugly was still sitting with his hands crossed and his eyes closed, while the fifteen decorative lawyers were still standing behind him. She started talking the moment she entered with a smile on her face, completely different from his previous annoyed expression. "You could''ve just shown me the video from the beginning Mr. James and I wouldn''t have treated an innocent company like a criminal organization." Seeing her different treatment, there was no change in his facial expression or in his blank look. Seeing his blank stare and the way he looked at her which was like he was looking at nothing, started annoying her very much again, but her boss had told her to treat him well, so she was forcefully keeping her smile on her face all the time. "Okay then, we shall take our leave," he was about to stand up when the FBI beauty said "Wait! Wait for a moment please and listen. That USB Flash Drive and the camera technology your company has, my boss contacted the higher-ups about the matter of the video and while reporting the video, he also talked about your USB Flash Drive and Camera technology with them... and let me tell you, the government of the United States is very much interested and eager to work with your company for advanced technologies like the USB Flash Drive and the camera technology with great conditions." "I''m only the head of Legal Department, I don''t have a say in these kinds of decisions, and the only one who can make a decision on matters like this is the chairman himself, not even the CEO has a say in this, so stop wasting my time with this." The Legal ugly said as he stood up wanting to leave. "We thought it would be like that too, and someone will make a visit to your chairman soon. All I''m asking is for you to talk about this with your chairman and put some good words before the person in charge makes a visit, would you do that please?" Said the FBI beauty with flashing eyes, getting closer to him while initiating and maintaining eye contact with him. 57 From Peak To Bottom 5 Seeing how excited she seemed and thinking he had to report this matter to his master anyway, with the usual blank stare of his, he monotonously said. "I''ll see what happens, but no promises." ''Though master should have already seen this, I better report it as he seems to like living like a normal person at the moment.'' he thought inside. "YESS! That''s all I''m asking for! Thank you... really thank you. Can I have your phone number so I would be able to call you when I have something to ask?" she said excitedly, while still maintaining eye contact with him. "No." He just rejected her straightly making the FBI beauty annoyed and also surprised inside, she had rarely asked for other people''s phone number and this was the first time she was rejected! And without a moment of hesitation at that, this made her think that maybe she wasn''t attractive for him and his taste might be completely into another gender, but that thought was rejected quickly because in this short period of time she was with him, she had him under her watch and it seemed he didn''t show any kind of emotion to anyone, it was like he was completely emotionless and not interested in anything. Still not wanting to give up, she said "I just said I want your phone number so if any questions or matters related to that case arise, I would be able to get in contact easily." While she said that, she thought inside ''I only asked your phone number in order to get the news of the related matters to your company''s technology, otherwise, why would a beauty like me ask for the number of such an ugly person like you, hmph.'' "If you have any questions you can contact the Legal Department and they will answer accordingly. And in case they can''t, they will connect the call to my office naturally. If there is nothing else I shall take my leave." The Legal ugly said as he started walking to the door of the interrogation room while he said "Let''s go." The fifteen lawyers still followed behind him and left with the Legal ugly. They didn''t get to use their skills even once as they were going back still disciplined behind the Legal ugly, they all had similar thoughts like ''It''s seems we were only used as decoration, sigh.'' But as they would be paid a lot for this, they didn''t have the slightest of objection, they were even happy to gain some free money by just following the head of the Legal Department. Even the Legal ugly''s skills were not needed in the least as he just showed them the video. ______________ WITH VIRUS Seeing the FBI do the necessary things needed to act against the allied phone companies, and seeing the press conference held by the CEO ugly, he first send the video named ''One'' to all of the countries that the allied phone companies were at, then he waited patiently for a while. After some time passed and he made sure all of the governments related have seen the video and made enough preparations to act against them. But as he had expected some of the governments didn''t start acting against those allied companies that existed in their countries. Virus thought this was understandable as the existence of those companies in their countries helped a lot in their economic section. But the economy of other countries including the United States didn''t matter to Virus in the least, so with a sly smile he said, "Let''s create another wave." As he said, he began sending the video to all of the news agencies, television channels, internet news, and whatnot, big or small, around the world. The golden beauty who was beside her master, as usual, knew another storm was coming to the world. Just after he had sent the video to almost every country around the world, he got a call directly to himself which knowing it was Ella he answered. It''s been weeks since he and Ella had met, and in this period of time other than talking on the direct line they had, they hadn''t met, not even once. An almost gentle smile found it''s way to Virus'' lips as he answered saying in his mind "Hey my beautiful Ella, how have you been? Is everything fine?" "Hi Ai, sigh, do I need to call you only when something is wrong?" She replied back in her mind with knitted brows while pouting. She could talk out loud too if she wanted as Virus would still be able to hear her, but she preferred talking with their minds, as it made her feel closer, like they were one even in their minds, also, honestly she was a little embarrassed to talk out loud because that would make everyone look at her with weird looks, like she was crazy. "Of course not, haha... I was just asking, where are you?" Virus asked. "I''m at my college, my class has just ended and I''m at the campus where you picked me up last time, sigh, it''s been days and I don''t even receive a single call from my boyfriend, let alone a visit, and every time it''s me who calls..." She said from the other side of the line, right now she was standing there with a vacant look in her eyes while her head was tilted downward. "My beautiful girlfriend, you know I have been busy these days, otherwise I want to meet my Ella too." Virus said with a tight-lipped smile while staring down at the table in front of the couch. "I know, but still..." She understood that he was a busy guy, but still, as a girl, she wanted her boyfriend to spend some of his time with her, now however much busy he was. "How about this, after I''m done with my things here, I would take you out on a date, but for now, you can come to my building to spend some time with me, while I do my things... ." Virus said. Even though hearing this made her happy, she was honestly still feeling a little down and upset inside, so she hesitantly accepted, as she replied in a low voice "Okay..." Immediately after hearing her say ''okay'', he called the nearest taxi in the vicinity, telling it to go to where Ella was at, while he told Ella "Okay then, a taxi will come to the place you''re staying at in a moment, it will bring you to my building and when you get here, someone will guide you to me." Thinking about how her boyfriend could even make a Communication Device as small as a cell, she wasn''t surprised that he could immediately send her a taxi the moment she had accepted to come, so she just said, "Okay." Then after Virus said he will wait for her, they hung up as the taxi arrived before her immediately. After hanging up, he looked at the golden beauty who was sitting right beside him as he said, "My lil beauty, please tell the reception to send Ella to my floor alone through the elevator when she gets here." "Okay, master." The golden beauty said as she called reception, ordering them to do what her master had said. 58 The Bottom Almost every government started recognizing the allied phone companies as the criminal who had stolen the technology through their websites or through holding a press conference. They said the higher-ups had received the related evidence which points at the allied phone companies as the offender, while obviously making it clear that the Virus Industries were the victim in this plot. Listening to this, everyone who followed the government related topics and announcements were astounded, while most of the normal people still hadn''t heard of this news. But it didn''t take long before almost every news channel, television and radio channels, news websites, and whatnot started playing the video which made everyone who saw the news around the world amazed and astonished. This was the same video that the FBI beauty had watched and seen, everyone started cursing the allied phone companies as the real shameless people and thieves after watching the video. Now both the government and the common people knew who was the real culprit behind the scenes, and some were blaming themselves for believing too easily in what other people said. All in all, just like Virus had expected, people''s impression of Virus Industries couldn''t get better. But, some people with brains existed that were still suspicious of Virus Industries, now some of these people were among common people while some belonged to different governments with power. Though this suspicion was not toward believing that they had stolen the phones from the allied companies, no, their suspicion of that matter was completely cleared after seeing the video. What they suspected was that only the Virus Industries who was so advanced, could be behind the ''Ghost Theft'' case, and this suspicion became even more when they realized the technologies like the phones, truly belonged to them. ____________________ After seeing the press conference held by the CEO ugly, all of the CEOs from the allied companies held an emergency meeting at a hidden location. Now, they were all together in a meeting conference room, much smaller than before. All of them had ashen faces like they were facing the greatest crisis in their lives as a deadly silence loomed over the conference room. Finally, the CEO from the USA talked with a heavy tone, breaking the silence "I''ve never imagined they would release better phones, and exactly on the day we release it at that. If we''ve known, we would have stuck with the first plan to equal the scales, at least like that, our chances would''ve been higher than this." "Yeah... that''s true... " The CEO from Korea said with a downcast face. A dark and depressed atmosphere was looming over the room as some had slack expressions, while some had dark circles under their eyes. The CEO from the USA''s phone company turned serious as he continued, "Okay, it''s not the time for us to give up, let''s think about this very seriously and I''m sure we would definitely be able to find a solution to this problem too, if we put all of our heads and brains in this, just like we did the previous time." Everyone started gaining some hope as light started coming back to their eyes, thinking what the CEO from the US said was not wrong, they had faced lot''s of crises in their career and they had gotten past all of them. They thought they will definitely get past this one too just like the previous ones. And more importantly, they were not alone too! As they were about to start pouring ideas to the table, suddenly someone barged into the conference room as he said "Sorry to intrude, but let me turn on the television, I was just informed that important news related to the allied phone companies are being broadcasted all over the world." Listening to his tone everyone started having a bad feeling about this. The CEO from Korea told him to turn it on and leave, and just like ordered, that person who was the secretary of that Korean CEO turned the television on before taking his leave. All the news around the world had just started broadcasting the video about the allied phone companies'' meeting which the FBI beauty had watched. As they saw the video that was being broadcasted from the news their minds completely froze! All of the CEOs had been stunned silly and stayed frozen like that, staring blankly with wide eyes at the television which was showing their secret conference meeting which was supposed to be completely secure. Almost all of them went pale immediately, paler than ever in their lives as their features started trembling. Some had beads of sweat pouring down their foreheads, while some had faraway look like they were wondering where had it gone wrong. "...It''s all over... we''re done here..." Said the CEO from the US phone company clenching his jaws with his pale face, he was the first to come out of being frozen silly, as he immediately started thinking what this meant and he knew that there was nothing that could be done to save them from this situation anymore, which made him sink into the depths of depression and hopelessness. "We''re doomed..." The Korean CEO too came out of his daze as he said with a dark tone, but his eyes were red, completely moist. There were different reactions from the CEOs as some started crying, some were laughing like they had gone crazy, while some had almost no reaction at all. One of them even grabbed behind his neck as he seemed to have started having a heart attack, but there were trusted bodyguards, guarding the doors inside the conference meeting room, which immediately acted and took that CEO out of the conference room as they took him somewhere and his fate unknown. Some were mumbling something under their lips like "All those efforts... everything I''ve done.... is completely destroyed." One of them even seemed to be denying all of this as he smiled saying "Come on everyone, we will get past this too! let''s just put our brains in this as Mr. X said, and I''m sure we will figure this out too!" Listening to him the CEO from the US who had almost accepted the reality and knew everything was over thought ''He has lost it...'' 59 The New Plan Is To... Fifteen minutes later, they finally came out of their extreme moods. Almost everyone started accepting the truth, even though they had pale faces as hopelessness was plastered on their face, at least now they could think with more clarity. The Japanese CEO said with his blank stare while his head was down "It seems we have a spy among us, maybe one of the bodyguards, or one of the secretaries, or someone else who put a hidden camera on our last meeting conference room... I don''t know... and it doesn''t really matter anymore... as he was probably just a pawn." After saying this he went quiet again. The CEO from the US said with a grave face, he was still pale, but his paleness was much lesser than the other CEOs, it was clear he had one of the strongest minds among the allied CEOs as his eyes too had a lot more focus in them than the others "You''re right, like you said, it doesn''t matter anymore and we don''t have the time to look for him too, so let''s just forget about him. Now is the time we accept reality and act according to our options..." After seeing no one talk or respond he continued "Our companies are definitely doomed, as the reverse engineered phones we released will be collected and banned from being sold anymore... and with this... most of our companies won''t be able to tolerate this much damage and will eventually go bankrupt, of course, some of your phone companies that are in other industries too might recover from the damage, but that will be hard and even if it happened eventually, that''s unrelated to everyone present here as we will be all fired from our companies or forced to step down from our positions." Everyone still wasn''t talking but most of them were at least listening now, trying to see where this was going and what options were left for them. Seeing most of their attention was drawn to him, the CEO from the US continued "And if you stay in your countries, except some of you that have more loose laws or very powerful connections, the rest will be all detained and imprisoned by their own governments and put to prison, so I suggest all of us run away to a country that won''t detain us and doesn''t care about these crimes we''ve committed, a country that won''t hand us back to our countries." Listening to his words even though they were very much disappointed that there was no way other than running, they knew this was their only option, so some of them started nodding their heads, very much depressed. "Don''t lose hope everyone, we will run for now, but that doesn''t mean this is over." The CEO from the USA said, his eyes were red with hate and veins were pulsing through his neck, it was very much obvious other than being extremely upset and pale, he was hiding incredible hate and fury inside him which showed up at this moment. Seeing his expression some of the CEOs who by this time had almost regained their outward external calm thought. ''He is a person with an ocean of patience, he would definitely be a scary enemy for that company in the future, those we too would take revenge if we get the chance ever.'' As they were thinking this, the Korean CEO said "I don''t want a life full of running, I will stay and face my punishment, this is something I brought upon myself, so I will face it with no rage now that I''ve lost." Listening to him some of the CEOs admired him for his decision thinking he was a true man, thinking they could never make such a decision, while some disdained his decision, thinking this was complete idiocy, not bravery. Listening to the Korean CEO, another person actually decided to turn himself in too, like the Korean CEO, he was the CEO from Finland. This CEO was actually the best phone seller around the world before all this had started happening, before the Virus Industries had appeared. "... I think I would be able to get away with it, so... so long... sigh," Suddenly, the CEO from Russia said with a Russian accent standing up as he started walking outside the conference meeting room, but before leaving he couldn''t stop himself from sighing. He was one of the CEO''s that had talked the least, he thought this alliance would be able to make a genius plan on how to deal with that company, but now seeing them completely give up as they were only planning to run away, there were no more reasons for him to stay there, so he decided to leave at one, as they were of no use to him anymore. "Okay, those who want to turn themselves in or has a way to get away with it, can leave and do that, while those who want to try my way... stay." The CEO from the US phone company said. ________________ After that, while the governments were looking for the CEOs and searching all of their companies'' documents and files, the CEOs were running away to different countries. But now that they had run away, their crimes had gotten even worse and more severe and if they ever got caught, they would face even more grave punishments. The countries they chose were either a country that wouldn''t bother themselves with them, or countries that were the enemy of their own country, so they wouldn''t send them back to their own country. Of course, the Korean CEO and the other CEO from Finland who had followed his steps had gone back and turned themselves in, while the Russian CEO did the same. ________________ WITH VIRUS "Smart move." Virus said in a low voice grinning all of a sudden, now it wasn''t clear who he meant exactly when he said ''smart move'', the Russian CEO, the Korean CEO and the other CEO from Finland, or the other CEOs who were running away. Right now, he was still sitting on his coach, while Bella was sitting on his left side, in the same place she was used to sitting. But it wasn''t only the two of them anymore as another person had joined them a while ago, Ella. 60 Scared? Right now, Virus was still sitting on the couch, while Bella was sitting on his left side, in the same place she was used to sitting. But it wasn''t only the two of them anymore as another person had joined them a while ago, Ella. She was sitting on his right side while hugging his right hand as she placed her head on his shoulder. She was enjoying her time with him very much. When she had just arrived, she was still a little down and slightly upset with Virus, even if she was feeling happy to see him after a long time. But after she spent a bit of time with him as she lay her head on his shoulder, all of the negative emotions seemed to have just disappeared, like they were never there, to begin with, though that might be only temporary as she was with him at the moment. Hearing him say ''Smart Move'' all of a sudden, Bella was neither fazed nor surprised, as she was used to her master talking from time to time and knew he was dealing with the CEOs right now, but Ella who had just joined them a while ago got curious as she asked "Who made a smart move, Ai, what do you mean?" "Haha, nothing my beautiful Ella, I''m just playing with some monkeys." Virus said with a burst of short laughter. "Oh, okay..." Listening to him say ''monkeys'' Ella assumed that was probably the word he used for his enemies, so she didn''t probe any further, as she lay her head on her boyfriend''s shoulder again. After answering her, Virus focused on the CEOs again as he thought ''Now, let me show you monkeys that there is no running away from this... the amuse continues.'' As he thought that, he reported the exact location of every allied CEO to their own governments or other related departments in the world, but four were excluded on his list of the report. Three of them were those that had surrendered and turned themselves in, while the fourth was another one of the CEOs which was on the run. Other than reporting the CEOs'' location, Virus did something else too, thinking about it, he grinned as he looked forward to its result which would show itself later. _________________ After receiving the exact location of every one of the allied CEOs from an unknown source, the governments knew their jobs had gotten only more difficult, seeing the CEOs had fled to countries that won''t return them easily. But still, they needed to at least try returning the criminal CEOs, so they started working, as they requested those countries to deport the criminal CEOs back. But as they expected, except one or two of the countries which were asking for their CEOs to be returned immediately, the rest either rejected or ignored them completely. Seeing this happen they knew they had no way of getting back those CEOs, and in the meantime, the CEOs that were not returned were celebrating for not being deported. While all of this was happening, the Russian CEO who had willingly surrendered was released from custody all of a sudden. Following the happenings, some hours later, the CEO ugly announced that those countries who do not return the criminals which had plotted against them will no longer have any kind of business dealings with their company. He also added that the same would happen to that country who had released that criminal CEO if he was not put back in prison again immediately. The CEO ugly had revealed a name list of the criminals that need to be put in prison along with the country name they were currently at, letting everyone know which of the CEOs needed to be imprisoned. The names on the list excluded the Korean CEO and the CEO from Finland along with another one of the CEO''s who was on the run at the moment. Listening to this, most of the countries that thought the CEOs were not worth the cost of going against the Virus Industries returned them to their countries willingly. But some countries, Russia included, thought the Virus Industries were being too arrogant, as, through their media, they said things like "a little company thinking it can go against a country." or saying "Their country was the one that would no longer do business with that company, not the other way around." And the Russian CEO seemed to have a strong backing in Russia as they were very firm in their decision of not imprisoning him again. Seeing this reaction and response from those countries, there were no other announcements, dissing or threat coming from the Virus Industries anymore, making those countries believe that the company was probably scared of the power a country has in its disposal. Even the people on the internet believed they were scared, saying things like, "They are truly scared." "This was expected as they won''t go against a whole lot of countries unless they''ve gone mad." "Truly funny people, did they think their measly threat would work?" "Lol, I know right? I mean... you''re not against another company... you''re threatening a country and not only one at that!" "Okay, let me analyze, so they thought if they threaten our country, the country would just be nicely scared of the company and return the CEO back, so naive, but seeing that their threat is not working on some of the countries, they became silent and afraid thinking ''We''re doomed'' hahaha, and that''s why they are silent at the moment, they are probably thinking of ways on how to fix their hurt relationship with our country even as we speak!" There were lots of people on those countries and even other ones that were saying the Virus Industries were digging their own graves and this continued for around two days. But two days afterward, the phones in those countries started deactivating with no rhyme or reason, and no matter what they did, they could not reactivate it. This made those countries shocked at first but then they knew that Virus Industries were behind this, in fact, everyone could guess this was the case which left them with gaping jaws. 61 Leverage "HOLY COW!" "OH MY GOD! THIS COMPANY HAS COMPLETELY GONE MADDD." "How can we witness something like this happening in today''s world!" "Lol, I''m enjoying this so much, this is making my dormant blood start boiling again." "Bravo Virus Industries, I love the way they handle things, hahaha." "How is this possible? Is it truly the Virus Industries behind this?" "In response to the above, well, there is no evidence leading to them, but who can it be other than that Virus Company? I mean you were following the previous news since two days ago, right?" "Isn''t this too much? I mean, they shouldn''t be able to do this as the law shouldn''t allow it, am I wrong? the country should sue that company!" "Actually, this is just plain stupid, they are harming themselves too by showing they are not trustworthy and like this, they will take lots of economic damage, they might be experiencing it even now, as we speak." "I just heard the country can''t do anything as the contract was too much loose, almost allowing the Virus Industries to do whatever they felt like doing..." "To the above speaker, why would the country sign such a contract in the first place? Are they stupid? And more importantly, how do you even know such important inside news." "Well, seeing that advanced phones and the cheap prices they were selling for, the country only wanted to sign the contract faster to allow the phones to be sold in the country, not caring about the clauses and terms in the contract, it''s not like they were left with any other choice too, as that company had said they would not change a single term and clause in the contract, also, I know of this because my father is one of the higher-ups... now I won''t say who, hehe." The internet was exploding once again as people started talking about it all over the world. But despite all this, the Virus Industries remained silent about the matter, now however much those countries accused them of different things. Because first, they could not prove this was done by the Virus Industries in any way, no one could even figure out how this was happening, even though it was obvious who was behind this and everyone could guess it was done by them. And second, it was their phones and software so if they wanted, even though it would be a little difficult, they could probably start banning and sanctioning specific countries from using their phones. Because before going into contract with all of the countries, Virus had already roughly anticipated such a day might come, so he had ordered the Legal ugly to add odd and harsh clauses that would almost make the company do whatever it wanted. At the time, seeing the super advanced phones with such cheap prices, almost all of the countries had accepted it with no hesitation whatsoever, while a few did hesitate at first but eventually accepted it with opened arms, thinking only a fool would reject such a good deal. And about the company''s image which would take some damage because of this matter, Virus didn''t care honestly, as the more advanced their technologies start to get in the near future, the more the countries and their people will throw themselves at to buy. Seeing their phones not working, people of those countries with deactivated phones started complaining about the Virus Industries as they condemned and criticized them at first, but after a while they saw the country could not do anything about it, so they started thinking they just wanted their phones to be activated again as they had paid for it, so they changed their side and started saying it was their country that was in the wrong for not returning the criminals, as they started blaming their own country. Seeing the situation escalate and knowing things couldn''t continue like this as most people had already bought the phones, all of the remaining countries except Russia sighed in surrender as they returned the criminals while thinking the Virus Industries were a fearful company that could take you down only with its advanced products. But Russia was still not cooperating with the Virus Industries as they did not imprison that Russian CEO back again, it could be imagined what kind of background that CEO must have for the country to go to these lengths for him, though what they announced through their media was that, "they will not imprison back that CEO, because the country does not negotiate with criminals, as the true criminal here is the Virus Industries for deactivating the phones." and they also said the Virus Industries was probably behind the ''Ghost Theft'' too. After the countries made their standing points clear, all of the deactivated phones other than those in Russia started reactivating by themselves again, as it had never happened in the first place, this made the common people around the world speechless of how a company could just do whatever it wanted and no one could do anything about it unless their demands are met. Some of those CEOs that were returned back to their countries and imprisoned were once again in despair and started regretting their decision of ever going against that Virus Industries, they swore if they only had another chance, they would never go against that company again, but unfortunately for them, no such a second chance was going to be given to them. While most of the CEOs started hating the Virus Industries to their bones, hating it for destroying their companies, hating it for not leaving them alone even when they had run away, some of them even started planning whatever they could think of to deal a blow to that company in any way possible. Even though they were not as powerful as before, they still had some of their connections and more importantly, now they had almost nothing else to lose, which made them even more dangerous than the past. ___________________ WITH VIRUS "It''s truly amusing watching them in despair bound by the laws they thought they could use to their advantage..." Virus said while grinning. A couple of days had passed since Ella had come to his visit, after laying on his shoulder for some time, she left as she seemed to feel better and happier. Now although Virus still had things to do, he decided to put a hold on it temporarily for something else. Today, finally his bones and skeleton were completely immune to all impurities, so he wanted to break through to the eighth stage of purifying stage, which was considered the top and peak of the purifying stage in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. 62 Crying Ugly "Master, everything is ready, I''ve emptied the yellowish-white liquid which was made by the MDA to the WRD. Now, master just needs to give the commands to the WRD and then go inside it." The golden beauty said as she walked in front of her master who was drinking red wine at the moment. "Okay, good job my lil Bella." Virus said as he gulped down the rest of his glass of red wine as he stood up from the couch. Then, he started walking towards the White-Ray Device as he said "Guard beside the WRD this time too and don''t allow anyone to disturb or get nearby, not even the uglies." "Yes, master." The golden beauty answered with a serious face. Then as Virus arrived in front of the White-Ray Device he stopped as he started looking at it. A very huge amount of words in that futuristic language kept appearing on its 3D screen, but they disappeared almost as soon as they appeared, only to be replaced by another set of words as Virus kept adding more commands into the WRD. This level of the Purifying Stage was a very important level as this part of the body was in charge of lots of important matters of the body. Except wanting to breakthrough to the next level faster, there was another reason for why Virus stopped dealing with the allied CEOs matters just to breakthrough to the next level of the Purifying Stage the moment his bones were immune. The reason was because if he doesn''t purify this level and this part of his body faster, most of the impurities will remain in that specific part of the body as the other surrounding parts of the body, which all didn''t allow any impurities, might lead the impurities or the destroyed impurities to this specific part of the body, if it doesn''t get immune as fast as possible. And as time passed these impurities will increase and accumulate in that specific part of his body leading to unknown side effects, and that was the most important reason why Virus didn''t want to wait for even a second longer before starting the process. After he was finally done with the commands, the White-Ray Device was now like an expert surgeon ready to act according to the different situation it may face in the process of operation. "Good luck, master." The golden beauty said with a bright smile before his master went into the WRD. He looked at the golden beauty''s face as he smiled back at her for a moment before he lay down inside the coffin-like WRD and its door was closed. Again, a series of commands started appearing on the 3D screen of the White-Ray Device, but it was very short, as it started working soon. At the same time, a text appeared on the 3D screen stating: The surgery has been initiated, please refrain from interrupting the process as it may put the patient at risk. Inside the WRD before anything else, Virus was put into a coma like before, though a matter worth mentioning was that this induced coma which the WRD put him in, had no side effects like the induced coma which the hospitals puts the patients in. After he was put in a coma, almost everything that happened was the same as the previous level. First, his bones got softened again by the White-Ray just as before, and then those thinner than hair-like needles started injecting the yellowish-white liquid into different parts of his bones. But the difference this time was that those very thin needles were sinking much deeper in the bones. And other than that, another difference was that the needles were mostly gathering in the flat bones such as hip bone, breast bone, skull, ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blades, and in the cancellous (''spongy'') material at the proximal ends of the long bones femur and humerus. The other parts of the bones like the long bones too had those thin hair-like needles injecting the yellowish-white liquid into them, but the number of the needles gathered there were much lesser than those other areas mentioned above. _______________ The CEO ugly was in the 4 Times Square inside the elevator at the moment, ascending to the highest floor of the building wanting to report some matters related to the allied CEOs, his attention was completely somewhere else analyzing some company-related stuff when his hairs all over his body stood on end as he heard a chilly cold voice saying "Don''t come any closer or I''ll cut you into pieces." At the same time, a sword was touching the skin of his neck, it was clear if he did make any moves, his head would fly away. Slowly looking at who was pointing the sword at his neck, the CEO ugly felt like crying, because it was the golden beauty who was putting the sword on his neck, he hadn''t recognized whose voice it was at first because the voice was too cold and too horrifying, unlike her usual voice he hears most of the time. Looking at his face the golden beauty said, still with that chilly voice of her remaining "Return for now, master has something to deal with for a while." The CEO ugly who had imaginary tears of depression pouring down on his face said with a wronged voice "Couldn''t you just tell me that without putting a sword at my neck..." "..." There was a couple of seconds of silence before he received a response from her. "Master told me to guard beside him and to not allow anyone to disturb or get near him, not even the uglies.... so...I''m just following orders, now return." The golden beauty replied. Listening to her the CEO ugly now truly felt like crying in depression for real as he thought ''But he didn''t tell you to scare us away while putting a sword at our neck, did he?!'' "Go away, I can''t take any risks." The chilly and cold voice of the golden beauty brought him out of his thoughts as he answered with a depressed voice "Okay, see you later miss." After that, he turned around leaving the floor with that depressed ugly face of his. _________________ Around ten hours had passed since the CEO ugly left, the hovering 3D screen of the WRD showed a text stating: The operation is complete. As she saw the 3D screen, the door of the coffin-like WRD was opened as Virus sat down inside it, he checked what time it was, only to see it was six in the morning, after knowing the time he thought ''So it had taken around twenty hours for the operation and the process to be over huh..." "Welcome back master." As he was in his own thoughts he was brought back by a very sweet sounding voice, even sweeter than the sweetest candy in the world. 63 Curiosity And Suspense "Thanks, lil Belle, did anything happen while I wasn''t awake?" Virus questioned. "No, only the CEO ugly came, but I sent him away for now." The golden beauty said without any change in expression. Listening to her report, Virus grinned looking at her face but didn''t probe further. "So where and what did you purify this time, master?" She asked a little curious. "Hmm, well, let me guide you to answer that question yourself, " Virus said looking at the golden beauty. Listening to him not answer like the usual, the golden beauty had a quizzical smile on her face with blinking eyes. Seeing her eyes blink in some curiosity, Virus continued "The place I purified has two types of red and yellow. The yellow color in the yellow type is due to the much higher number of fat cells. At birth, all of them are of the red type and both types contain numerous blood vessels and capillaries. There are also several serious diseases involving this part of the body which I purified. You should have guessed where I purified at the first sentence, right?" Virus asked with a dimpled smile. "Hehe, yes, I had figured the answer when I heard there are two types of yellow and red, the purified place of the body is the bone marrow, It is the place where new blood cells are produced and it has also two types of stem cells: first, hemopoietic, which can produce blood cells and second, stromal, which can produce fat, cartilage, and bone." She replied with shining eyes like she wanted to be complimented for knowing her stuff. Reading her shining eyes, Virus said "Hahaha, great job my lil Belle." The place he had purified was indeed the bone marrow and it was the eighth level of the Purifying Stage which was called: Cleansing The Bone Marrow. "But, master, when are you going to be done with purifying your body and why are you so insistent on purifying your whole body?" The golden beauty asked with a quizzical look in her eyes. Listening to her question Virus answered as such "I''m almost done, and about why I''m so insistent on purifying my whole body, well, that''s because it''s very important especially for me to have a completely pure body with immunity to impurities. But, having this kind of body would be very beneficial to anyone who cultivates, as it would be like having a stronger foundation as I told you in the past and it would make cultivation much easier as it would be like increasing the potential the body has." Now according to the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, not only had he achieved the complete Purifying Stage but also done far more than that as he had purified all of the eight levels perfectly by hundred percent, this was almost a myth in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. "I see." The golden beauty answered as she understood. Now Virus only needed to wait for his Bone Marrow to be completely immune, but for the meantime, he wanted to finish some of his unfinished business. __________________ ONE DAY LATER As Virus and the golden beauty were sitting on the couch in silence, he suddenly said, breaking the silence, "Go tell the CEO and Legal uglies to get ready, we''re going out." Listening to her master talk, the golden beauty was confused about where her master wanted to go all of a sudden, and together with two of the uglies too, but putting her confusion and curiosity aside for now, she said. "Okay, master." _______________ Half an hour later, Virus and the golden beauty along with two of the uglies were inside the CEO ugly''s Jaguar B99 which was now called Virus B99. Right now, the CEO ugly had just started driving the car while the Legal ugly was at the front seat, and Virus was sitting at the back together with the golden beauty. "Go to the airport, we''re going to Russia." Virus said yawning. Sometime later they were finally at the airport, the four were in front of Virus'' private jet, as they boarded the jet. The people who were piloting the private jet were the Legal and the CEO uglies as they had already gotten the relevant certificates for piloting, they didn''t know why they were going to Russia, but they didn''t ask either. They could only guess and their best guess led them to think Virus wanted to do something about the Russian CEO, but that was just their best guess. While the two were at the flight deck, piloting the jet, Virus and the golden beauty were at the back relaxing. Virus had a glass of red wine on his left hand as he was staring out of the jet''s window at the clouds as he laid back on his seat relaxing and thinking about something. An hour later, after the golden beauty was done looking out of the window with shining eyes as she got tired of it, probably for a while, she finally couldn''t contain her curiosity as she asked looking at her master who was savoring the wine and scenery as he lay down on his seat relaxingly "Master, why are we going to Russia? Is it to deal with the Russian CEO?" Seeing her no longer able to contain her curiosity, Virus came out of his relaxed mood as he started laughing "Hahaha, my lil Belle truly couldn''t contain her curiosity, I thought you would last for another two hours before asking." Listening to her master''s answer the golden beauty pouted as she thought ''It''s because you always don''t tell me what you are doing or where we are going for what reason exactly, so I''m forced to ask, hmph.'' "Well, my reason for going there is not for the Russian CEO... that''s all I have to say, you will know the rest for yourself soon, haha." Seeing her cutely annoyed face as she pouted, Virus answered her question with an answer that could probably count as half an answer. This answer made the golden beauty even more curious as it made her even more frustrated inside, but her only option was to wait and see for herself as she knew her master wouldn''t tell her the complete answer, she thought her master seems to enjoy keeping people at suspense. 64 Moscow Eleven hours after the jet had taken off, the four finally arrived at Moscow, the capital city of Russia. When they were above Moscow, the golden beauty''s eyes were shining in excitement as she stared out of the jet at the city underneath. After the uglies landed the jet, they guided the jet to a location where a black 2002 Ford F-650 Super Limo Bus 5297 was waiting for them with a middle-aged man beside it. The first one to get off the jet was the CEO ugly and seeing him getting off, the man immediately recognized him seeing his ugly feature as he walked towards him. "Welcome to Russia Mr. Greg, hope you have a wonderful time here at Moscow." He said respectfully with a Russian accent, it was obvious he was a native from here. This man was in charge of the Moscow Branch of Virus Industries in Russia, right now the Russian branch wasn''t doing well because of the deactivation of the phones all over the country, and the Russian government was also very hostile toward them at the moment, if it wasn''t because they had signed the contracts themselves, the situation would have been even much worse. But still, the branch still wasn''t closed down, though they were targeted a lot by the government and even the common people since the Russian government had rejected to compromise. Lots of common people were angry at the Virus Industries too, for deactivating the phones they had paid for. The CEO ugly had called him as they were on the way to the airport, telling him to prepare a good and strong car for them. The CEO ugly hadn''t said exactly who was coming with him to Russia, the only thing he had said was that he was coming to Russia and he wanted a good and strong car ready, as he was only relaying Virus'' orders. "Hmm, did you prepare the thing I told you over the phone?" After nodding his head the CEO ugly asked. "Yes, I prepared it just as I was ordered. Here is the key." The man replied as he reached a car key out with both of his hands very politely as he continued "Just like I was ordered, I prepared a very good car which is very strong and hard too, I hope you like it." Seeing the CEO ugly take the key and nod his head again like he was satisfied, the Russian middle-aged man continued, "Please tell me if you need anything else Mr. Greg, I will definitely accomplish it." "Very good, you can go now, I''ll call you if I need anything else." The CEO ugly said. "But do you know Moscow? I could be your guide..." The middle-aged man said. "No need, I know the way." The CEO ugly replied back as he had the satellite map of all of the world in his memory, so he would be able to find his way wherever he was on this Earth. "... Okay, Mr. Greg, I had another question related to our branch in Russia, as you know the situation is not..." As he was continuing he was interrupted by the CEO ugly as he ordered, "Go for now, we will talk about this matter over the phone when I''m done with my business here." "Yes, Mr. Greg." The middle-aged man respectfully replied as he went to a little further where a black Sedan was waiting for him with a person beside it who opened the door for the middle-aged man, but what no one saw and realized was that a very small fly had entered their car too. After he got the keys and the middle-aged man went back, Virus and the golden beauty along with the Legal ugly got off the jet as they started walking toward the CEO ugly who was waiting beside the Super Limo Bus. Virus and the golden beauty were walking together while the Legal ugly was a little at the back with a bag on his right hand. Without saying anything the CEO ugly opened the door for his master and the golden beauty. After they went in to sit at the back, the Legal ugly and the CEO ugly went to the front seat and the driver''s seat to drive the car. After the CEO ugly sat behind the driver''s seat to drive Virus said "Go to the Lotte Hotel from less crowded places... just follow the path I sent you." "Okay, Master." The CEO ugly replied as he started driving. _________________ A while later they were near the hotel when Virus talked again, "We need to enter the hotel from a place which people usually don''t go, here, check the map of the Hotel I''ve sent to you, you will know where to park the car." As Virus said that a map with a marked line on it appeared at the CEO ugly''s mind as he immediately understood which paths he had to take and followed as ordered. "Put them on." After they were at their destination, Virus pointed at the bag which the Legal ugly had brought with himself, inside which were sunglasses, masks, wigs, gloves, and baseball caps. Following the orders they all put them on, even though the two uglies and the golden beauty didn''t know for what reason they had come here, they knew it wasn''t something good. After all of them including Virus put them on, they got off the Super Limo Bus as Virus said "Follow me." _______________ Right now, Virus, the golden beauty, and the two uglies were walking in a relaxed speed inside the hotel from another passage of the hotel which was hidden, probably made for shady reasons. Virus and the golden beauty were walking beside each other while the two uglies were following behind them. But the golden beauty''s hair was no longer gold, it was black, just as Virus'' and the other uglies, they all had put on wigs. They had sunglasses and masks on too so it was impossible to see their expressions or eyes, no one would recognize them now even if they examined the four from a very close distance. Right now, the four were walking inside the hidden passage and their walk took around five minutes. 65 Hunt 1 There was no camera at the passage but after they finally came out of the hidden passage, the corridor was filled with cameras and they were oddly still recording as Virus seemed not to have turned them off, but even more oddly, no security guards were coming to see who these suspicious men with baseball caps and masks were, it was as if they were not here at all. The golden beauty who had a hunch of what was going on asked curiously "Master, why is no one coming here even though the cameras seem to be still on?" "Well, the cameras being on doesn''t mean they can see us, right now, I did a little something so everything seems completely normal in the control room as we are like ghosts on their screens, invisible." Virus replied with an indifferent tone, as he continued, "And as for why didn''t I turn them off, I''m sure you can guess that if I had turned them off, they would try to fix them which means they would need come to check and fix them." "Okay, now focus, be careful to follow me very closely from now on." Virus said just as he was done explaining to the golden beauty after he made the three completely understand. Agreeing to the order, they all nodded their heads in compliance. After that, Virus stopped at some areas for around a second or more, while he quickened his pace at some of the corridors and at some, he even took a detour. At first, the three didn''t know what was going on, but soon they understood what was happening exactly without asking. Even though they were walking at the main corridors of the hotel, they had not seen a single person the whole way, this meant that their master was avoiding everywhere that a person was walking by. If a person was going to pass by a corridor, he would stop or quicken the pace while detour if it was too crowded. They had also taken an elevator to another floor, but while they were inside the elevator, the elevator straightly went to the floor they wanted without waiting on the way for those who wanted to get in the elevator. After around twenty minutes, they were standing in front of a hotel room quietly. The golden beauty and the two uglies didn''t know why they were waiting in front of this room, but they could guess that the reason why they had come here was probably behind this door, so they were looking forward to meeting this reason. Virus had raised his left hand as he was looking at its middle finger at the moment, there was a pitch black ring on that finger of his which was there since the day the White-Ray Device was delivered to him, this was one of the ''toys'' Virus had ordered the Island ugly to make for him in his passing. It took a moment for Virus'' mind to connect to it when the ring seemed to melt and then transform into a very beautiful futuristic black matte handgun. There was a line of blue light above the trigger on it''s left and right sides which continued from the rear sight to the middle parts of the gun. There were about ten pairs of vertical blue dots of light too on the two sides of the front rear of the gun which continued from the trigger guard to almost the muzzle. All in all, it seemed to be a very complicated weapon. Seeing the black ring on their master''s finger turn into a very beautiful weapon the two uglies were surprised inside, though on the outside under their sunglasses, the Legal ugly still had that blank stare of his while the CEO ugly unconsciously hid his emotions very skillfully, but under the golden beauty''s sunglasses, her eyes were shining with stars in them, if anyone saw her right now, that person would immediately realize that she seemed to be extremely interested and excited about the gun. But not waiting for the golden beauty to talk and react, Virus looked at the digital lock of the hotel room as it opened by itself, opening it he immediately went in just to see a man sitting on the couch in his bathrobe looking at Virus and the other three who had followed Virus in shock. Not waiting for the man to come out of his shock Virus pointed the gun at him and shot, but before he shot him, in his mind he said ''Paralysis Mode''. A blue light came out of the handgun''s muzzle as it directly hit that man''s heart, as he was immediately completely paralyzed, still looking at Virus with that shocked eyes of his. The two uglies were still a little surprised seeing the gun but they knew their duties well and what had to be done in particular situations, so without waiting for Virus'' order they closed the door behind them, as they then walked behind their master who had just shot the man and now had his left hand which was holding the beautiful handgun down. At the same time, he told them they could take their sunglasses and masks off for now as there was no risk of anyone coming. The golden beauty wasn''t paying any attention to the man who was just shot down, both of her eyes under her sunglasses were now shining with even more intensity after seeing the blue light that came out of the black ring which had transformed into a beautiful handgun. Coming beside her master, her eyes were still at the gun as she said with those hidden shining eyes of hers "So cool!" Some seconds later she looked at her master with stars still shining in them as she asked "Master, that gun so so cool! Can I touch it?" Looking at the golden beauty, Virus laughed as he saw the amusing reaction she had after seeing the gun, as he had predicted she would react like this. After the laugh, he said, "Sure, here you go." As he tossed over the gun to her which she easily caught. Then, she completely forgot the situation she was in as all of her focus was drawn away and put on the cool handgun. Meanwhile, the two uglies were no longer surprised about the gun in the least, knowing some of their master''s capabilities, honestly, they were surprised in the first place because they thought the gun was really cool too as it could transform. After that, they took their masks and sunglasses off like Virus had, while the golden beauty had taken them off the moment she had received the gun to check it out and see the gun more clearly without her sunglasses. Now, the two uglies attention were no longer on the gun like the golden beauty, as they were looking at the paralyzed man at this moment, and seeing his face, the two uglies were immediately shocked because they recognized him. 66 Hunt 2 The man had just come out of the shower when the door suddenly opened by itself as four masked men barged into his room, with one of them having a gun in hand, which shocked him very much. He just wanted to yell, when the first masked person who entered with a gun in hand shot at him, and then he could no longer move, as he lay paralyzed on the couch he was sitting. The paralyzed man was now looking at the four with his shocked gaze, which was moving between the four, even though his body was paralyzed completely, as he lay there powerlessly without the capability of moving in the least, his eyes could move around looking at the masked men. He was afraid inside as his skin color had gone somewhat pale at the moment, he was afraid of that gun, afraid that he couldn''t move, and terrified of what they were going to do to him next. He was in a strange country at the moment as he was on the run, he had just run away here because he thought this country would be the safest place for him against that company. But now, just a day after he got here, here he was paralyzed by a group of four unknown people. He just hoped they had come for his money and would leave after they emptied out all of the money he had on him. But, after they took their masks and sunglasses off he experienced something unbelievable which made him forget the situation he was in temporarily. That was because, first, he was shocked and stunned, seeing how devastatingly beautiful the young girl who had just taken off her mask was. Seeing her golden eyes, nose, eyebrows, and charming lips, he was completely dazed. His heart was uncontrollably beating faster, not in fear, but in a way when men''s heart tremble and beat faster after they see an extremely beautiful woman, even though currently, he wasn''t in a situation to be feeling like that. A moment later, he came out of his daze, just to be sent into another one, when he saw the charming man who seemed to be the leader of the group, he could swear he had never seen such a handsome and charming man in his life before. Those colorful eyes of gold and clear blue with a tinge of gray, that little mole under his right eye which gave him a devilish quality, his lips, nose, eyebrows, etc. He thought this was probably the most perfect face in the world that other women would die for, a face that could have anyone he felt like having, even every man who was not interested in the opposite gender would probably kill to have him for himself. Then, after he finally came out of his daze again, he was sent into another one, but this time he was dazed into another level completely after seeing the two uglies. So he immediately took his gaze off of them, as he felt like it was too much for his eyes like he would go blind if he looked at them for even a second more. The reason for that was because he had just seen two otherworldly beautiful and handsome beings when his eyes gazed upon two extremely ugly men, which made them seem even more ugly considering the fact they were standing beside those other two beings. This experience made the paralyzed man totally touch and comprehend the true meaning of paradox. He felt like he was sent to hell just after he had experienced the pleasure of heaven. But as he was too terrified at the moment, he was stunned for a very short period of time before he came to himself, remembering what kind of situation he was in currently. After coming to himself, he started thinking about the situation he was in, but as he thought, his fear of the situation increased, because they had just casually shown their faces to him, this either meant they didn''t care about their faces being exposed, or that they were not going to let him go, but he knew it was most probably the latter one. Anyway, he decided to put that thought aside for now, as he started looking at their faces carefully trying to remember them so he would know why they were doing this, and like that, he might be able to find a way to convince them to let him go. First, he looked at Virus and the golden beauty, but he was sure he hadn''t seen them before. Then, unwillingly, his eyes fell on the CEO ugly, but the moment he looked at his face with focus, his eyes were frozen still immediately, because he knew that ugly face very well. The next moment, his paralyzed face went even paler than before, as he knew who had come for him and most of his hope of convincing them to let him go disappeared from his mind, but deep within his eyes now, there was a hidden trace of strong hate too. _______________ Seeing his face the two uglies were shocked as they had recognized him right away, this was the man who was shown a lot on the television all over the world recently. With wide eyes, at the same time, both of the uglies thought, ''That''s Mr. X, the CEO of that phone company of the United States!'' They were honestly surprised seeing that the reason why their master had come to Russia was this. They had not seen this coming. They started thinking of why their master would come all the way here for this man, because they were certain if he wanted to deal with him, by the things they had seen so far, their master definitely had lots of ways to deal with him very easily, which wouldn''t involve him moving in the least. He could probably kill him without even moving a finger from his 4 Times Square, without the need for him to come all the way here to Russia. And the more they thought about it, the more confused they got. _______________ Virus was looking at the two uglies at the moment, and seeing their faces which seemed to be in deep thought, he grinned, a little amused, as he took his eyes off of them for now, then he looked at the paralyzed CEO from the US as he started walking beside him. 67 Hunt 3 Walking beside him, he looked down at his face with his cold eyes as he started talking with a little chilly tone, "You don''t know me, but you know Steven Greg very well, don''t you?" Seeing his paralyzed body unmoved without the ability to respond, Virus continued "Well, it doesn''t matter if you know me or not, just know I''m the highest seat of the company you were trying to destroy, but that''s not important right now." "Let''s talk about you, I mean, let''s figure out what kind of person you truly are and what kind of sin you''ve committed for being in the situation you are currently, now, let''s start by analyzing you step by step...." After saying this Virus stopped talking for a moment as he only stared into the paralyzed CEO''s eyes with a cold expression on his face. Seeing the look by which he was being looked at, the paralyzed CEO felt very nervous and beads of sweat started appearing on his forehead, because he was feeling like something far above his level was looking at him currently, like an elephant staring at a single ant. Then, still with his eyes on him, Virus started talking, "Okay, so first, you ran off to Syria from the US, thinking Syria wouldn''t return you, even if they were asked to deport you back because they have no US Extradition Treaty." "After arriving at Syria you thought you were safe now, but then... that list of the location of every criminal CEO was released which made you worried, however after checking the list and seeing that your name was not on the list, you were relieved." Virus continued staring into his eyes as he talked, which made the paralyzed CEO feel like he was all naked in front of Virus when he heard his voice and that penetrating gaze like he was easily seen through by him as he analyzed him with those piercing eyes. Four people''s name was not on the list of location report, three of which had already surrendered, while the fourth was the CEO from the United States who was on the run. He was the only CEO who was on the run but not reported. Virus continued with the same gaze, but his voice was getting colder and chillier the more he talked, "At first you thought you were safe, as even if your name was on the list, you thought the country you were in, probably wouldn''t deport you back as their relationship is not that good with the US, but then we started threatening the countries and afterward deactivated their phones..., while asking the CEOs to be returned, now with this, you thought, only if we asked you to be returned they would definitely return you... but oddly, it was like our Company had completely forgotten about you." "This made you somehow relieved, but as you are a suspicious man by nature, you started doubting if this was a plot or scheme planned against you, so you started looking for a haven that would protect you no matter what, but then again, you thought, which country would be stupid enough to let their people''s phones be deactivated only for you your sake?" "You were almost despairing that such a place wouldn''t exist when you saw that Russia seemed to reject and even condemn us for their CEO, this made you finally have some hope, as Russia seemed determined to go against us, so you immediately planned to come here and as a result, here you are..." At this point Virus'' tone was freezingly cold, to the point the paralyzed CEO felt fear in his core, it wasn''t that his voice was truly freezing him and that it could freeze reality. No, his voice was more like an ancient voice which could freeze his courage and the ability to see another person at the same level as himself. At this point, the paralyzed CEO was horrified inside like never before, as beads of sweat were pouring down his face, thinking just what kind of frightening monster was he against, as every sentence he said was absolutely true too! Seeing his eyes which were obviously very much frightened as they seemed to be pleading him, Virus said "If your crime was only going against my company, then I wouldn''t have bothered coming here, and if I wanted to destroy or kill you, I would''ve done it without moving in the least, but you... did something you should not have done." After saying that, he turned around looking at the CEO ugly as he said "Do you know for what reason we''re here? I mean why we came here only for this man, and why did I ask you to come along?" "..." Listening to his master question him all of a sudden and connect the question of why they had come here for this man and why his master had asked him to come along, made him start connecting the dots and after a while, he was finally able to think of a reason as his eyes shone, but thinking more about it, he started doubting his thoughts, doubting if his master would come all the way here for him, nevertheless, he answered "I''m not certain, but I suspect that he was behind my assassination attempt." Listening to the conclusion the CEO ugly reached the CEO of the phone company from the US was stunned deeply as he hadn''t expected him to reach this conclusion, not in his wildest dreams had he thought anyone would ever know he had sent an assassin to assassinate the CEO of that company, as he had done that very secretively. Virus grinned evilly as he replied "Bingo! You are correct, his greatest sin was not to go against the company or trying to destroy it, it was trying to harm my important properties! And no one other than me has that right! If he had not done that, I would''ve given him a natural death at most, without the need for me to personally come all the way here." Listening to his words the two uglies were really surprised inside, though what he said sounded a little off, still, they had never seen this side of their master that seemed to care about them, they thought their master only cared about the golden beauty between the five of them while he felt dislike toward the other four uglies if not hate. 68 Hunt 4 But they had just heard him state he had come all the way here because that CEO had attempted to assassinate the CEO ugly, who wasn''t even put in danger because of that assassination attempt. Right now, they were witnessing a completely different attitude from him which he had never shown toward the four uglies. Even the golden beauty, who was almost done checking the handgun was taken aback hearing her master''s words, as she assumed Virus almost didn''t care about the uglies, though she knew he wasn''t completely indifferent toward them. The CEO from the US too, at this moment, realized he was probably not going to live for long, so he despaired completely as tears started pouring down his extremely pale and horrified frozen face. "And the reason I ordered you to come with me to this hunt was so that you would deal with him personally." Virus explained looking directly into the CEO ugly''s ugly eyes. The CEO ugly was still feeling very much moved, just as the Legal ugly was. "How do you want to deal with him?... If you want to torture him, lil Belle has a torture bug which would torture him to insanity." Virus questioned the CEO ugly while making a suggestion. After pondering for a moment, the CEO ugly sighed as he shook his head and replied "No need to torture him deliberately, just killing him is enough for me master, as that assassination attempt wasn''t even something that endangered my life." Listening to his words Virus acknowledged "It''s your decision." Then looking at the golden beauty Virus spoke "Lil Belle toss him the handgun." Listening to this, the golden beauty felt a little unwilling. But nevertheless, her master had already spoken and also, she was finished checking out the handgun, so she tossed it over at the CEO ugly as there was no reason for her to not hand it over. While the handgun was in the air going toward the CEO ugly, Virus connected to the handgun as he changed it''s mode from the ''Paralysis Mode'' to the ''Incineration Mode''. The CEO ugly easily caught the handgun with his right hand, seeing it being tossed at him. As he caught the gun and wanted to shoot the CEO from the US, Virus raised his right hand interrupting the CEO ugly''s action, "Wait, let me notify and show him something before his death." Without checking to see if the CEO ugly had stayed his hand and lowered the gun, he stared icily at the CEO from the US who had almost shat his bathrobe until now, as tears and snot were flowing down his paralyzed face. Then he stated in the chilliest of voices, "You won''t be tortured before you''re killed, and so, your punishment will be lowered, as you will be only killed. Because that''s a choice I gave to the CEO ugly, I won''t interfere with it, but don''t think just because I gave the choice of handling your life to the CEO ugly means I''m not going to punish you... No, I had a separate punishment ready in mind for you since the day you hired that assassin organization. So you will die today, but don''t you worry, as that will not be the end of your punishment, because I will also engrave your name in history as one of the worst of at least this decade." Listening to the icy and chilly voice of Virus, the paralyzed CEO knew this monster in front of him had done something, which made him start shaking at what would befall him next. "Turn the television on, and change it to channel XXXXX, there is something I want him to see before his death." With a lack of interest, Virus dictated. _______________ Today a Swiss Bank had announced that there seemed to be a suspicious account in their bank that had escaped their sights until now which they found by almost pure coincidence. This account was a completely anonymous numbered one which was impossible to exist in today''s world, as right now at least a select few private bankers had to know of the identity of its anonymous clients, but this account which seemed to have escaped their sights skillfully until this very moment seemed to have no identity at all. But all of this was not what astounded the world. The thing that astonished the people and the world was that the Swiss Bank announced that the amount of money in the anonymous numbered bank account was almost the same as the money that was stolen in the ''Ghost Theft'' case. Now, they could''ve hidden this news or tried to use the money for themselves, but this matter was too big and it would make any person or organization scared, so the bank had decided to reveal it. They said for discovering the person behind this suspicious account, they had hired the best and most powerful experts around the world to discover this person''s identity, and after many days and nights of effort, they finally somehow cracked it, as at last they successfully bypassed the advanced program that was hiding and faking the IP of the person who was the owner of the anonymous bank account. The bank said the program that was blocking the experts was a very powerful and unlike anything they had seen before, which proved even more, that the owner was most definitely the one behind that case called the ''Ghost Theft''. And now, today they finally announced who was behind this major world level crime theft. Listening to them announce the name of the person who was the owner of that account, and hearing that person''s background, the whole world was bewildered. _________________ The Legal ugly heeded Virus'' command as he turned the television on and changed the channel to the one Virus had asked for. A press conference room was being shown on the screen, as a person of authority from that bank seemed to be standing above the tribune as he was in the middle of an announcement, stating "...So after days of effort and struggle, we finally could trace the IP back to its source, which was hidden to an almost impossible level, but with the world''s best hackers and programmers, we were finally able to crack and access its source, which was the IP of the owner of that account that handled the money." 69 Hunt 5 He continued "And that man is, Mr. X, the CEO of the XXXXX phone company in the US... so he used his own personal laptop at his office, we checked his laptop which was at there and found traces and evidence of the money he used for different reasons." Listening to the television, Mr. X was psychologically near insanity, he didn''t understand how this was happening. He started yelling inside himself that it wasn''t him, that it was all a conspiracy, but alas, no one would hear ever hear him. After he completely despaired at the situation he was in, he thought why did everything had to come to this point? He was going to die and according to this monster in front of him, even after his death, his little remaining legacy was not going to be left alone intact and ruined completely to the last bit. "Kill him." Virus pronounced those two words with a completely indifferent tone like he was muttering two of the most normal words in the world. That cold look in his eyes was completely gone too as if he had died already and now there was nothing to look at with coldness. ~POP ''I should have never provoked... AAAaaaAaAAaAhH....'' This was the last thought that went through the CEO from America''s head, when a low noise was made because the CEO ugly had fired without any hesitation and then a light shot out of the handgun hitting Mr. X, as his thoughts were cut off only to be replaced by inner screams of anguish which he could not let out as he was paralyzed. Then around five seconds later, nothing of him remained as he had disappeared completely from existence. Even though the CEO ugly didn''t deliberately torture him, the CEO from the US had spent the last five seconds of his life in a monstrous amount of pain and suffering that would probably break anyone. After the paralyzed CEO was dead, Virus connected to the handgun as he mentally imagined the gun to be ''Released'', as he raised his left hand. Immediately, the gun hurled by itself into Virus'' hand as it started transforming into a pitch black ring on his left hand''s middle finger once again. "We need to leave here immediately, but destroy everything that paralyzed CEO had before we leave." Virus commanded them as his left hand was lowered. _______________ The world was going crazy once again, the media were reporting the matter like they were on steroids. Different television programs were talking about this matter very intensely. But one of the most popular ones was the program on which Amanda was hosting Professor West who was invited as a guest again. "So Professor, the last time we invited you, you talked about different possibilities about how the ''Ghost Theft'' happened, now here we are again today after the culprit behind the ''Ghost Theft'' has been revealed, what do you think about this?" The middle-aged woman called Amanda questioned. After a short silence of pondering, Professor West started talking "..., well, I''m very astonished and almost not believing that it was Mr. X who was behind this, but the evidence clearly leads to him and there is no doubt he was behind this because he has spent some of the money too. Now, I think our first priority should be to find Mr. X and bring him in for interrogation." "But Professor West, I remember at the last program you were with us, you stated the hack was unlikely to be done by a single person, but now the evidence says all the money was being controlled by Mr. X, what does this mean?" The middle-aged Amanda questioned with a smile. Professor West was a little upset that Amanda mentioned the last episode in which he was present because the evidence was pointing at the only possibility he had said to be far fetched. Still, after a little pause he replied with a very calm outward appearance "Well, nothing about this case made sense to anyone from the beginning, not even to me. I just analyzed and reached the most logical conclusions I could think of, but as this case was illogical from the beginning I''m thinking maybe I shouldn''t have done that, I should''ve just thought outside the box. But still, even though almost all of the money was with Mr. X, this doesn''t completely eliminate the possibility of him working with someone else, because I still have a small doubt that it was not done by a single person, so the first thing we need to do is to find Mr. X for interrogation for more solid answers." "That''s true... right now we only know Mr. X was the mastermind behind this act, but we don''t know if anyone has helped him in doing what he did, but I''m sure we will naturally receive an answer to our question soon after we find Mr. X," Amanda stated. "How is the stolen money going to be handled by the way?" Amanda continued with a tricky question. This was a question to which Professor West knew a definite answer so he responded without any pause, "Well, Each country will receive the stolen amount of money back, then each of governments will in charge of returning the money to their rightful owners." The old Professor West replied with a calm voice. "That''s good to hear, is there anything else you want to add Professor?" Amanda asked further. "No that was all." He responded. ________________ The governments in different countries around the world were in a mess at the moment, as they were trying to return their money to their own country, while also trying to find Mr. X faster so they would know the method by which he stole the money. More importantly, they also wanted to be ready in case something like this happened again. Every country started looking for traces of Mr. X and they finally found that he seemed to have run to Syria first, only to change locations again, this time to Russia. The Russian government was very cooperative in finding the CEO, as they started searching everywhere in order to find him sooner, and after hours of searching, they discovered the last location he was at, which seemed to be in their own capital, at the Lotte Hotel. 70 Unsolved Mystery They immediately sent lots of soldiers and agents to detain and secure him. Honestly, the government was feeling happy he was in Russia, because if they could detain and interrogate him themselves, they might be able to learn the method by which he stole the money from all over the world, and that would benefit them in lots of different fields. As they arrived at the hotel, they straight away went to the room of the paralyzed CEO. But after they finally went inside, they saw the room was completely empty with no traces of the CEO from the US there. Still not giving up, they checked every camera at the hotel or outside, but to their dismay, absolutely nothing was recorded on them, it was like he had melted away in the room. After that, they started searching for him very intensely all around the country, while other countries were searching for him in their own countries. But after that, no one found or saw that CEO again, that room was the last place he was ever seen. This made the world very anxious because, with the CEO from the US missing, it meant their money could still be stolen from them by him. So they started searching for him even more intensely because he was like a threat to everyone in the world. Some said a person who could steal from the whole world probably had genius ways to flee and never get caught, while some said Russia already had that person, but they were probably interrogating him while trying to learn his methods of stealing, so they might benefit from it. All in all, now the world believed that the money was really stolen by him, and the fact that there were lots of pieces of clear evidence proved he was truly the person behind this case. Now, almost every country put his name on the top of their wanted list and naturally, he became known as one of the worst criminals alive in the world, as his name would definitely go down on the history as one of the trashiest people just like Virus had stated. But obviously, no one saw him ever again, leading him to be one of those mysteries never to be solved. At least now, everyone''s suspicions on the Virus Industries were gone as they realized that the Virus Industries were the good guys from the beginning. They saw them as a company who was only trying it''s best to prove its innocence, and like this, their sales skyrocketed as everyone was buying their phones. _________________ WITH VIRUS After they had left the hotel quietly, Virus was done with Russia for now, so he decided to go back to America. And thirteen hours later they were at 4 Times Square again. Meanwhile, the Legal ugly had left while Virus had asked the CEO ugly to remain as he had orders to pass over. The golden beauty too was present beside her master sitting at her usual spot, at that left side of her master on the couch. "Okay, now that the phone industry is dealt with, let''s enter some other industries. But before that, about the Automotive Industry, note that I''m going to send you a few more advanced blueprints of some cars and some other motor vehicles. In conclusion, remember that I''m going to speed up the process of dominating the economic world from now on." Virus stated calmly. Virus continued, "But if we are going to enter more industries all at once we need lots of capital, so our first one industry we enter should be a field that would grant us with lots of profit and solve the problem of capital immediately." "And for that, we need something that everyone would buy, something that everyone is forced to buy to be exact." Virus said, but as the CEO ugly saw his eyes at this moment, he didn''t know why, but he could feel some cruelty in them. "Okay, the industry we''re going to enter is ... " ________________ TWO DAYS LATER Virus was sitting on his couch alone as he thought, ''Uhh, it''s not entertaining enough to play with those monkeys anymore... I mean, what''s the fun in playing them when they have lost everything, they are already at the bottom... it just feels like a waste of my time.'' ________________ IN THE MEANTIME WITH THE IMPRISONED CEOS OF THE ALLIED PHONE COMPANIES Some of them had already regretted what they had done, while most of them were still gritting their teeth in hate. Among those CEOs who was regretting and despairing at their decision of going against the Virus Industries, some were recovering from their despair, but the more they realized the situation they''re in, the more they realized they had nothing to lose anymore, so some of them even started planning to harm the Virus Industries in any way they could, small or big. Some of those who were hating the Virus Industries to their bones had already taken some actions to start dealing some small damages to the Virus Industries. Alas, they didn''t know Virus was watching all this through the eyes of the flies around them, and seeing their petty actions of trying to deal very small damages that wouldn''t be even noticed by him, he was kind of disappointed with the CEOs. So he started feeling like it was boring to play with them now, like it was a big waste of his time to even pay some of his attention to them anymore, it was like being distracted with some small matters which were only a nuisance, thus he decided to stop playing with them completely. If the imprisoned CEOs knew what Virus was thinking at the moment and the decision he had reached at, it could only be imagined how hurt they would be and how their already full of hate minds and hearts would probably start loathing him to insanity. At the moment, some of the CEOs were at their cells while some of them were at the other parts of their jails, like meeting their family, etc. One of them was even meeting someone who was the last of his remaining connections, that CEO was talking to him about how to deal some damage to the Virus Industries. The intense hate in his eyes was very clear as he was explaining to the other person of what exactly he wanted to be done "So I want you to ..." It was at this moment that the flies that were flying around each of the CEOs suddenly sat on their necks, hands, or other areas of their bodies as they stung. But oddly, none of the CEOs felt any pain, they didn''t even feel the fly sitting on their body for that moment. 71 To Have Your Wish Granted All of the imprisoned CEOs of the allied companies other than the two CEOs of Korea and Finland, which had surrendered, were stung by the flies. For now, Virus'' motivation was not clear as to why he had left those two alone. Maybe he was sparing them, or maybe he had other plans for them. Nobody could provide the answer to that question in the world other than Virus himself. Anyway, after the flies stung, they flew away. But oddly, nothing happened to any of the CEOs, as they continued their normal lives in prison like before. However, other than the imprisoned CEOs, there was one other person who was stung too. _________________ WITH THE RUSSIAN CEO Currently, the Russian CEO was with a young Russian beauty as he was relieving all of his stress on her by doing her in lots of different ways. As time passed, the girl''s moans were getting louder and louder, but her eyes seemed to have some traces of tears in them. She was one of his bodyguards, she still remembered the day when she realized she was appointed and hired to be an important person''s bodyguard and how happy she felt inside at the time. But her happiness didn''t last for long as she realized she had to satisfy his needs if she didn''t want to be a jobless and miserable person in life. So, even though she was feeling disgusted to do these things with him, she had no other choice but to surrender. Right now, she was cursing him inside as she thought ''This bastard should just die.'' And then, like her prayers were heard, a fly that was roaming around the room suddenly sat on the Russian CEO body and stung him. But exactly like the other imprisoned stung CEOs, he felt nothing when the fly sat on his skin and stung him. However, unlike the other CEOs who were fine after being stung, the Russian CEO dropped on the floor a minute later as he started screaming like he was experiencing hell, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." The naked young female bodyguard was very frightened when she saw the man that was doing her drop on the floor all of a sudden as he started screaming like had gone crazy, the naked bodyguard was stunned and a little scared as she didn''t know what to do at a situation like this. His screams were short though, as some seconds later, he dropped on the floor dead, no longer breathing. The moment he died though, his other bodyguard which was a male entered the room in a hurry, but by the time he entered the room, his boss was already dead. Seeing his boss dead, his eyes went bloodshot and his skin pale, as it was not obvious what would happen to him anymore, now that he had died under his watch. He was this afraid because he knew just what kind of horrifying background this deadman in front of him had. After a while of being stunned and pale, he finally snapped out of it as he stared at the beautiful female bodyguard in anger and hate, but still with a little sanity he had left, he knew he might survive if he put all the blame on her, so he immediately made her unconscious by attacking her while she was stunned. __________________ Virus had just watched the Russian CEO drop dead as he thought ''I could''ve imprisoned you in a while if I wanted, but imprisoning you is no fun, as you would still live like a king in there. On the other hand, you being dead will be much more entertaining than you being alive and useless.'' ''Now though, you might attract some amusement later.'' He thought inside his mind as there was a playful grin on his face. ___________________ FIFTEEN DAYS LATER Virus'' bone marrow was finally immune at this moment so he could now proceed to the next part of his cultivation. This next part was very special as it was something that didn''t exist in the system of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. But as he wanted to proceed to the next part, something happened which distracted him. _____________ WITH THE CEO UGLY Right now, the CEO ugly was at the hotel in another city as he had come to investigate one of the Virus Company''s branches here, and after his investigation, he had come to this hotel he was currently at to stay for the night. His professional bodyguard and driver Mark Sanchez was also with him at the moment as he brought some wine for his boss. "Is there anything else Mr. Greg?" After he brought the drink and poured some for the CEO ugly, he asked with a respectful tone. "No good job, you can go to your own room now, I will call you when I need something." The CEO ugly replied. After Mark nodded his head and left the room, the CEO ugly started drinking his wine, while thinking and analyzing different things. But only half an hour later, suddenly four bullets hit his head at the same time. After a moment bafflement, he knew it was another assassination attempt, so immediately, like the previous time, he started predicting the exact direction from which the bullet had come from and after confirming the place, he began running with a very fast speed as he left the hotel and went to the rooftop of the building from which the bullet had come from. After arriving there, he saw four people with masks and weapons already waiting for him there. Seeing them, he sneered with a cold tone as he stated "You guys never learn, do you?" Then without waiting for their response, he stormed at them. ______________ WITH VIRUS ''So they want to do this huh? We dealt with one, they sent four, what''s next? Eight? or more? This is just monotonous, let''s see how many they can send if none is left.'' Virus thought. "I wanted to let these monkeys be for now, but it seems they are impatient to die... So... I shall grant their wish." Virus mumbled to himself, but his tone was very cold. Then he walked beside a box as he opened it, inside, thousands of flies were sitting in a very orderly manner like they were trained to act this way. After the box was opened, all of them bolted out of the box going toward the rooftop, from which they disappeared to all directions. _____________________ ONE DAY LATER All of the flies were now at their destinations which were determined by Virus, each one flying around a person, at different parts of the world. The flies had traveled to different places by sneaking into planes or other things, but all of them were now at their positions waiting for further orders. And it was at this moment that they finally received an order from their master commanding, ''Kill''. All of the flies around the world attacked at the same time as they stung their targets, who didn''t even feel any pain. But a minute later, they all started screaming like they were in hell before they dropped dead some seconds later. ____________ Currently, inside a room, there were three people, who were discussing something when the three flies received the ''Kill'' order from their master. One of them which seemed to be the leader of the group was a female, while the other two were males. The three flies stormed at their targets at the same time. The male who was sitting at the left side was successfully stung on his left arm, but the moment he was stung, suddenly his face went pale like he was horrified of something as he took one of the many decorative swords at the room and immediately cut his own left arm with it, without even a moment of hesitation. While the second fly who had attacked the other man was sitting on the right hand of the man as it tried to sting. But surprisingly, it couldn''t penetrate his skin at all, it was like his skin was rock hard. While the third and last fly attacked the only female among the three who seemed to be the leader among them, but as the fly was about to sit on her skin, electric arcs rose from all over her body automatically, as the fly was burned to a crisp. 72 Related AFTER THE RUSSIAN CEO WAS KILLEDAfter the Russian CEO died, the Russian government went into turmoil for a while.At first, they thought it was the female bodyguard that had killed the Russian CEO, but after torturing her for countless hours by lots of cruel methods, they were sure the bodyguard was not behind this.And so, after they killed the two bodyguards, they started looking for the reason as to what or who would kill him.Even the president himself personally gave orders that the culprit behind this had to be found no matter what.They even did an autopsy trying to understand what had happened to him exactly, but they found there was nothing odd with the Russian CEO''s death.So, in the end, the only clue they had was that before his death, he started screaming like crazy before dying in a few seconds, this made them only know that whatever had killed him, was extremely painful and it was something that strikes suddenly.Fifteen days later, a piece of disturbing news was released and broadcasted through the media outlets.The news stated that thousands of people around the world had died at the same time in the same way with no rhyme or reason.The news stated that the only thing they could say with certainty was that they all died with the same symptom.The symptom was that they had all screamed like they were going through an intolerable pain before dying in a couple of seconds.Later, after the news was updated the media announced that these thousands of people who had died, seem not to be some random people, as they all seemed to belong to the same place. After the police investigated those people deeply, they realized most of them were professional killers.Also, the police announced that every investigation mostly led to a single criminal organization, a hidden assassination organization which killed for only money.The police couldn''t find the reason as to why they had died as nothing strange was found in their autopsy, so they could only guess that they might have provoked another criminal organization leading to their massacre probably by a poison that cannot be detected from the body.The world was truly disturbed by hearing the news, but they didn''t feel much pity for them as they thought they were only murderers and that the world would be better off without them.When the news spread to Russia, a wave washed over the Russian government, because they had seen another death just like this one, it was the death of their beloved Russian CEO.Everyone was interested in the news as they wanted to know more but that was it, they only wanted to sate their curiosity.The Russian government though wanted to know who was behind this matter because they wanted revenge.Seeing thousands of people die just like how their Russian CEO had died, they finally knew where to look for his killer.So the first thing they started doing was to investigate this Assassination Organization by every source they had.And after investigating this organization, they started looking for the remaining members of that organization to ask who they had offended to lead to their massacre, as the person or group that had massacred them was definitely behind or related to the death of their beloved CEO.Alas, to their dismay, it seemed all of them had died as not even a single member could be found, but they found a useful tip from a criminal organization source that the leader of that organization seemed not to be among the found dead people and so it was suspected that the leader was alive.After Russia got to know the leader''s portrait and everything related to her, they started looking, in order to find her and ask who was behind this massacre.This kind of hidden power that could kill thousands of people honestly scared lots of powers and even the common people.The governments were astounded by this incident because even they couldn''t kill thousands of people at the same time and go unnoticed._______________MEANWHILE WITH ELLACurrently, Ella had just left her last class, but unlike most of the times, she was alone.Neither of her best friends such as Jessica, Grace, and Faith was with her as they had all gotten another class which they attended, but Ella couldn''t choose that class due to some family-related reasons.So right now, she had walked out of the campus and was on her way home.But as she was walking, she suddenly noticed Virus was on the line of her Communication Device, immediately answering she responded, while there was a bright smile on her face "Ai, you called!"Virus'' voice came directly into her mind as he replied with a grin "Of course I called my beautiful Ella, how can I not, when I have such a beautiful girlfriend waiting for my call, huh? Because that would be an unforgivable sin, wouldn''t you agree?"Listening to Virus'' words made Ella feel sweet inside as she became very happy, it''s been days since they had met and she was honestly missing him.But suddenly there was a silence as Ella didn''t know what to say, this made her heart beat faster, so without much thought, she asked, "...So... how is everything ... my Ai?" But after she said that, she suddenly realized her mistake of saying ''My Ai''.She made this mistake by unconsciously imitating Virus who always called her ''My Beautiful Ella'', and now this mistake made her face turn red with embarrassment.Even though lot''s of time had passed since they started dating, she hadn''t seen him much, which made her still not totally comfortable around Virus. When she is around Virus or even talking to him, she still loses herself after all these times as her heart starts beating like crazy leading her to be unable to think clearly and be herself."Hahaha, your Ai is doing fine my beautiful Ella." Virus answered back with a teasing tone, knowing she was blushing at the moment."St...stop teasing me! what''s wrong with calling my boyfriend mine!... why did you call me anyway?" Listening to his voice which seemed to be teasing her, she was even more embarrassed, as she tried to change the subject."Haha, I''m just kidding, you are free to call me whatever you want, my Belle. Uh, I called to tell you that the date I promised you, I''ll take you to it soon." Virus replied with a laugh.Ella was delighted as she became cheerful hearing Virus'' words so she asked back "Really? when?" 73 Heaven TWO DAYS BEFORE THE MASSACRE OF THE THOUSANDS OF ASSASSINSThere was an Assassination Organization called Heaven in the world which few people were aware of its existence.This organization was considered to be one of the top 10 Assassination Organizations in the world.The reason for that was because they were big enough and had thousands of assassins to be called an organization with lots of them being top-notch assassins.But other than having top-notch assassins and lots of members, there was another reason as to why they came to be known as one of the top 10 Assassin Organizations in the world, and that reason was because of a special rule they had, that rule stated if they accept a case of assassination, they would definitely accomplish it and won''t stop until their target was eliminated and dead.This rule meant that if they send an assassin to eliminate the target but failed, the next time they would send stronger and more assassins until their goal was accomplished, this was their promise to their clients and so a big part of their reputation was founded based on this rule.This Assassin Organization was also the Organization which Mr. X, the CEO from the US had hired to kill the CEO ugly, now even though Mr. X went missing and was considered to be the one behind the ''Ghost Theft'', the Organization honestly didn''t care much about it, what they cared about was their reputation, which would be endangered if they didn''t accomplish the mission that was tasked to them.They had previously sent one of their somehow elite assassins for the job, but oddly their target was still alive and kicking while their assassin went missing, the higher-ups of the organization at first thought maybe that assassin will come back, but it''s been days since he went missing and they were now certain that something had happened to their assassin._____________Right now, the leader of the Heaven Assassination Organization was in a dark room talking with her right-hand and left-hand men.This woman was the leader of the Heaven Assassination Organization, she was called Electro by others in the organization, but almost no one knew why she was called that.And about her true name, she had only told that to her right-hand and left-hand men personally, her name was Giana Nova.She had started out from almost nothing with no parents, her true origin was unknown as her parents seemed to have abandoned her in front of an orphanage when she was just a kid. So from that moment on, she became an abandoned orphan girl with few friends who was always bothered and hurt by other kids at the orphanage. She had pitch black eyes with black hair. All in all, her features were above average, but she was considered a beauty by a lot of people.Anyway, she was used and quite enjoyed her normal life at the orphanage at first, because even though she was bothered a lot by the other girls and kids at the orphanage, she had some friends at least, which she enjoyed spending her times with.But inside, there was something that was unconsciously bothering her constantly, making her feel like she was different from the rest.And that feeling became true on a fateful day in her life when she became certain that she was truly different from the rest and that living a normal life for her was just wishful thinking, so from that moment onwards, she abandoned her real name as she started calling herself Electro.After that Electro ran away from the orphanage, and after many hardships, by a chance encounter, she met her master who was an elite member of the Heaven Assassination Organization. He accepted her as his disciple after witnessing her specialness in an accidental coincidence, and just like that, she was thrown at the assassination world, a world where you had to kill if you wanted to live and have a better life. Also, it was a life you could never quit.At first, she was very bad at assassinating and quite unwilling to kill, but her mindset started changing the more she saw the cruel world of assassination.But soon, with her advantage over the others, she started to improve by leaps and bounds in a rather short period of time as she started to surpass others. She even reached a point where she could kill with only a simple touch.And now, after many years, she had climbed all of the stairs of the Heaven Assassin Organization and became their highest leader.Just a while ago, she received the news that one of her assassins had gone missing on a mission for days now, as his target was still alive too. So currently, she was having a meeting with her right-hand and left-hand men, whose positions were only behind her at the organization."So according to the report, that elite assassin was not someone who would run away from the life of being an assassin, right?" Looking at her right-hand man she questioned."No, we have lots of reasons to believe he was not that kind of person who would run away from the life of being an assassin, on the contrary, he was one of the few who enjoyed the life of being an assassin to almost an abnormal level, so it''s near impossible he had escaped." The right-hand man, called Skin stated.Then he continued "And he was also a very loyal person who had passed our Organization''s Loyalty Tests quite easily, so his loyalty can''t be questioned either. With all this, the most likely conclusion we can reach is that he was killed while he was attempting to assassinate the target.""I see..." She acknowledged as she then turned her head in the direction of her left-hand man as she added "How do you think we should deal with the situation, Viper?"The left hand man called Viper pondered for some seconds before responding "Leader, the first and most important thing we need to do right now is to get rid of that target which is still alive, as our organization''s reputation is on the line, but doing this will also avenge our lost assassin and appease the other members.""Now to do that, let''s send four of our most powerful assassins to deal with that target." Viper ended his words like that.And the next day, on top of the roof of a building, four of the most powerful assassins of the Heaven Assassin Organization were present as they were looking at the CEO ugly, who was currently with his professional bodyguard Mark offering him some wine. 74 Those People A little while later, after their target''s bodyguard left, they finally sniped their target. They thought the bullets had fired had hit their target''s head, straight to his brain.But to their horror and shock, after remaining unmoved for a moment, their target turned around toward the window as he directly stared at them, seeing how he was directly looking at them sent shivers down the four assassins spines.But thinking someone who was shot four times in the brain couldn''t possibly be alive, they assumed the bullets must have missed or maybe they had miscalculated the glass hardness or the wind that was blowing.Next, the four witnessed another astonishing scene, they saw their target start running outside his hotel room at an extremely fast speed as he was almost a blur.They obviously could feel he was coming for them, so they quickly got ready as two of them equipped their machine guns while another picked up his handgun, but the final one was different as he picked up a katana.A moment later, to their disbelief of how quick he was, the CEO ugly appeared before them as he sneered with a cold tone stating "You guys never learn, do you?"Then without waiting for them to reply, he attacked, first going toward the man with the katana, the man tried to cut down the CEO ugly''s head with a strange technique.Seeing the strange katana technique, the CEO ugly knew he could dodge it with his speed, but he didn''t as he let the katana hit him, after the katana hit and cut the flesh and skin of his neck, seeing this the katana user thought he was successful but then his katana seemed to hit an iron wall, which made him baffled.But without waiting for even a second more for him to come out of his bafflement, the CEO ugly grabbed the katana that was at his neck from his enemy''s hand.After taking the katana away, he stabbed it into his chest as the katana went straight inside the heart of the assassin, as his heart immediately stopped beating, but he was still standing while looking at the CEO ugly with a shocked gaze. A moment later he fell on the floor and died as his heart was bleeding.The other three remaining assassins who were looking until now thought the katana user would win, but they were shocked into being speechless seeing the situation completely turn hundred-eighty degrees around in a moment. Then they realized, not only was he extremely fast, it seemed his body was extremely hard too.Without waiting for even a second more to try to understand what exactly was going on here, the three started shooting at the CEO ugly all at once, as lots of their bullets immediately hit the CEO ugly in the head, eyes, and other parts of the body making the three assassins feel relieved for a second that this time he were sure the bullets had hit their target.But the next moment, to their absolute horror, all of the bullets started dropping down on the floor as their target was strangely still standing.But without waiting to see their reaction, the CEO ugly stormed at them as he stabbed one heart after the other, and just like this, all three assassins had a hole inside their hearts just like the one the katana user assassin had.After they were all dead, he incinerated them as he walked back to the hotel normally like nothing had happened at all, though he changed his room and then started drinking some wine again._________AFTER THE FLIES ATTACKED THE THREE LEADERS OF HEAVEN ASSASSIN ORGANIZATIONWatching every one of the Heaven Assassin Organization die, except three of its highest leaders, Virus thought ''Interesting, it seems I''ve underestimated them, they were one of those people.''After that, he no longer paid them any attention for the moment as he focused all of it on the next thing he was going to do.Right now, he was standing beside the glass windows while looking out at the city under him.A while later, he decided to do what he has been delaying since yesterday, so turning around, he looked at the golden beauty who was sitting on the couch currently, watching a movie on the television.Even though he didn''t want to interrupt her watching the television, every second was important to him, so he began "My lil Belle, help me with the next level of my Purifying Stage."Suddenly hearing her master talk, her attention was drawn back from the television immediately as she happily stood up. She thought she was the happiest when she was helping her master with something.So she agreed immediately and replied back, "Okay, master, what do you want me to do?""Well, I need you to help me with making the liquid first and then keep watch while I''m inside the WRD." Virus explained.After the golden beauty happily nodded her head, first they went beside the MDA as the golden beauty placed the materials Virus told her to put at specific entries, then after it''s commands were given, it started working by itself when finally a sign appeared above the 3D screen of the MDA.Then, Virus told the golden beauty to go beside the MDA and get the prepared liquid.The golden beauty obeyed and after grabbing the liquid from inside the MDA, she looked at it and saw a very thick and concentrated brownish liquid inside."Master, Are you going to do something to your bones again?" The golden beauty asked after she was done looking at the brownish liquid."No, why?" Virus replied baffled."Well, because you said you will go inside the WRD, and the White-Ray softens the bones right?" She asked."No, White-Ray has lots of other uses too actually, but I''m not going to use the White-Ray today, the reason being that I don''t need it." Virus answered, then seeing the golden beauty listening, he continued "Actually what I need this time is the WRD''s precision and the fact that its needles won''t leave any damage on the body." 75 Shes Back "Also other than that, the pain I will experience is going to be almost unimaginable, so I need the WRD''s function of sending and bringing me back from the state of induced coma."He finished his explanation with, "If it weren''t for these three reasons, I wouldn''t need the WRD at all." It seemed like Virus had completely forgotten about the fact that he had just murdered thousands of people a little while ago, as he started getting ready for the next level of his purifying stage while yawning.If anyone was currently seeing how indifferent he seemed just after he had killed thousands of people, that person would definitely start sweating bullets out of terror while standing beside him."Oh... alright, then let''s do this master..." The golden beauty nodded again as she continued "But master, what are you going to do this time? Are you still going to purify your body? And if yes, what part of your body is it gonna be?" Looking at the golden beauty he replied "Well, I am going to purify a part of my body this time too... but as to where I want to purify..." He grinned as he continued "You will know it naturally later, just know this level is going to be another part of my body too, unlike the next level which will be different from this one and the previous ones altogether."The golden beauty once again knew she wasn''t going to be provided with a whole answer, which frustrated her inside as she unconsciously pouted very cutely.After looking at her cute face in amusement, Virus walked beside the WRD as he told the golden beauty to put the thick brownish liquid inside it.At the same time Virus started providing commands to the WRD like always, but unlike the past times, it didn''t even take two minutes for it to be ready.After the WRD was ready he first told the golden beauty to send away anyone who comes and tries to disturb him, then he went inside it, as he lay there and commanded the WRD to start working.__________________As Virus was focusing all his attention on the next level of the purifying stage with a complete disinterest in the thousands of people that had just been killed by him, like it wasn''t even related to him, the whole world was in chaos as at least someone had died everywhere in the world all of a sudden._________________FIVE HOURS LATERVirus was still inside the WRD when someone came to see the chairman of the Virus Industries.This person was that woman who was in charge of the interrogation of the Virus Industries the previous time, she was the FBI beauty.Currently, she was at the reception asking to meet the Legal ugly, so she would ask for his help in order to arrange a meeting with Virus.Sometime after the reception called the legal ugly''s office, the legal ugly finally came down with the elevator as he started walking toward the FBI beauty, but without even greeting her, he questioned her immediately with those blank looks in his eyes "Why are you here?"The FBI beauty was honestly angry inside seeing him ask why she was here, without even saying hello first.But she knew she was here for something else today, so she calmed down as she replied with a gentle voice "Hello Mr. James, I''m here today on behalf of the government of the United States for that deal we talked about the last time we met.""Last time? Oh, you mean the time when you interrogated our company because you were suspicious of us?" The Legal Ugly said with an emotionless tone, which made the FBI beauty confused, as to the question of if he was mocking, teasing, or just stating a fact.But nevertheless, she replied, "Ah I''m really sorry for that time, it was a mistake from our part to start going around only based on rumors...""..." After the Legal ugly remained silent for a short period of time he asked "Why did they send you? Don''t they really want to have this cooperation between us?"The FBI beauty got really upsetlistening to his words as she thought inside ''What''s wrong with me being the one to come?'', she really felt like crying when she heard this, but still keeping that brave face of hers she answered back by saying "Well, the government sent me because I''ve already been in contact with your company so they thought the wisest decision would be to send me, and thus here I am, but if you are not satisfied with me in any way, you can totally tell me so I would tell the higher-ups that you requested the agent to be changed."After listening to her words, with a completely indifferent tone, the Legal ugly responded, "It doesn''t really matter to me who the agent is or who is in charge of this, it''s the chairman who will decide if you are good enough to be the bridge between our cooperation or not, or even if he wants to have a cooperation between the United States and his company at all.""Oh, can I please meet the chairman then?" The FBI beauty asked with quizzical eyes."Well, I don''t know the answer to that question either, as I don''t know if the chairman would be willing to meet at all, but... I will go and check if he''s willing to meet... wait here." The Legal ugly stated as he turned around leaving to the highest floor of 4 Times Square and five minutes later he was there.But when he arrived at the highest floor, as the elevator''s door opened, he was about to go and find his master when a sword appeared on his neck all of a sudden, as he heard a cold voice commanding him "Go away, master can''t meet with anyone right now, not even you." 76 The Ninth Level Of Purifying Stage Having a sword at his neck, the Legal ugly''s eyes still had that blank stare in them as he calmly replied "Oh, okay." Then he turned around and left the floor.Seeing this, the golden beauty didn''t know why, but she felt disappointed inside as he just left without even trying.He didn''t even try to relay the message before leaving, because he believed there was nothing his master wasn''t aware of, and the act of him coming all the way here was only because he knew his master enjoyed living like a normal human being, although on the contrary, he seemed to quite dislike most of them for some reason.After leaving the highest floor, he went to the reception where the FBI beauty was still waiting as he lay his blank eyes on her and spoke "The chairman is currently busy and can''t meet anyone, please come back at another time."Listening to his words she had a strained smile on her face as she mumbled something while looking down. But then she looked straight into the Legal ugly''s eyes as she spoke "I see, but didn''t your boss arrange a time at which we could come back and have a meeting?""No, you need to come back at another time to see what happens, you might meet the chairman then or you might not at all." Still monotonous, the Legal ugly replied."Oh okay, then I will come back at another time... so I shall take my leave." The FBI beauty stated with her eyebrows drawn together as she turned around and left.___________________9 HOURS LATERInside the WRD currently, Virus was still in a coma as a countless number of needles were going in and out of his body at different places.Right now, the needles were injecting the brownish liquid to very specific places in his body.Finally one hour later, the WRD showed a sign stating: ''Process Done: the Cleansing process is complete.''Seeing this, the golden beauty who was standing a little further as a guard until now cheerfully went beside the WRD and opened its door as she looked at her master who was just about to open his eyes.After Virus opened his eyes, the first thing he witnessed was the cheery golden beauty who brought her head closer to his head and whispered "Welcome back master."After that, Virus came out of the WRD as he went and sat on the couch, while the golden beauty sat exactly beside her.Virus was pondering to himself at the moment ''So the Ninth Level of my Purifying Stage is complete, now I just need to wait for the immunity process to be over before I complete the last and final tenth level... And also, the most important one to me is this Tenth Level rather than the first nine.''It was at this moment the golden beauty interrupted, "Master, are you hungry? Is there anything you feel like having?"Remembering hunger, Virus realized his stomach was making some noise in protest, it was no surprise though, as he hadn''t eaten for around fifteen hours, so after hearing the golden beauty''s words, Virus nodded his head confirming "Yes lil Belle, I''m truly hungry, go buy me something.""Okay..." After that, the golden beauty stormed out joyfully, as Virus continued his interrupted thoughts.So if you look at the current level he''s at from the perspective of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, then he''s a never before seen example of a cultivator who''s at the Ninth Level of the Purifying Stage.Those from the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi would probably start laughing like they had heard the funniest joke if they heard from someone that he is at the Ninth Level of the Purifying Stage, because according to their knowledge, this level did not exist at all.But if they were proven that this level truly exists and someone was already at it, they would definitely be stupefied to no ends.Now if they knew that the person who was at the Ninth Level had completed all the Nine levels by hundred percent, they absolutely won''t believe it, but if they were to be proven otherwise once again, they would probably be shocked silly, as even the peak powers couldn''t cleanse their young talents'' bodies by hundred percent, they were not even close.Though they would be able to expel more of the impurities as their cultivation stage and realm improves, that was for the far future and by the time they are truly able to completely purify their bodies, it wouldn''t be of any significance to them, as they are already at a place it wouldn''t matter if they purified their bodies or not.But here was a mortal, who hadn''t even officially started cultivation but had a body that was a hundred percent pure at every level till the eighth level, and that was not the end, as he had even surpassed their level system and went to the ninth!Now if you talk about letting them know that there was even a Tenth Level? Their reaction can''t even be imagined as it''s not clear how they would react or what they would do.But, even though these Ninth and Tenth Levels of the Purifying Stage didn''t exist in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi and would be seen as impossible that can''t even exist, it was almost a common knowledge and thing in his past world, 1.49 million years in the future.There, almost anyone could achieve the Tenth Level of the Purifying Stage.So now, if you looked at Virus'' achievements from the perspective of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, then he and his level would be seen as an impossibility that can''t be achieved, something that would make everyone dumbfounded with no predictable reactions. But if he tells his achievements to someone from his past world? They would definitely not feel anything about it and just think of it as something completely natural, but they might sneer at him for saying it out loud like it was something to be proud of.__________Virus was finished with his thoughts for a while now, sitting on the couch hungrily thinking why she was late without checking to see where she actually was.And fifteen minutes later, the golden beauty finally came back with three plates of food and wine beside it.But seeing the dishes, Virus was surprised and asked "Why are they in the dish? Didn''t you buy it from outside?"The golden beauty grinned broadly like this was exactly the question she wanted her master to ask, so while she walked to sit beside him, she replied very joyfully"No master, I cooked this especially for you myself!" 77 The Cleansed Part Of The Body Listening to the golden beauty, Virus became surprised that she had cooked food for him.But nevertheless, he began eating before saying anything, because he was really hungry, but after he started eating and took some bites, he looked at the golden beauty while chewing what was in his mouth, as he complimented "It''s so delicious my lil Belle, good job... it seems I had a talented cook beside me all this time without even realizing..uhh." As he said ''Good Job'' he patted the golden beauty''s head making her blush with a warm feeling rising up inside her.With this, the golden beauty was determined to cook a lot for him from now on, because she loved to be complimented by his master.After that, Virus focused on eating without saying anything, but while he was eating, the golden beauty suddenly remembered something, as her curiosity peaked once again while she pointed her finger at Virus and pouted cutely asking, "Master, didn''t you say that I will know naturally later which part of your body you purified? So where was it in the end... master always keeping things from lil Belle."Listening to her call herself lil Belle, Virus broke out in laughter, "Haha..."But remembering that he had told her she would know later, he replied with a grin on his face "My cute lil Belle, of course I would tell you...alright, so..."Listening to her master who seemed like he was finally about to do a big reveal, the golden beauty focused all of her attention on him, eager to know what her master was about to say."So the place I''ve purified is... " As Virus was going to reveal the mystery to her, he suddenly stopped talking, then said "Nah, let''s do this, I will give you a hint and you try to guess it, how about it lil Belle? A simple hint and answer game, but also, don''t access your deep knowledge, just use the basic knowledge in your memories, like that of every normal human being." The golden beauty unhappy seeing her master stop all of a sudden, but she nevertheless agreed while nodding her head, as she quite liked to play games too."So the hint is that this part of the body has two components, one is called central, while the other one is peripheral. Now, can you guess?" Virus asked."Hmmm..." Listening to Virus'' words, the golden beauty started thinking as she seemed to be trying really hard to figure out what part it was, but as she had temporary locked most of her knowledge and other areas that made her abnormally smart, it was very hard for her to figure out what her master meant.So right now, she was unconsciously pressing her index finger to her cheek while propping her chin on the rest of her clenched fingers with a serious look in her eyes, which made her look very adorable.Finally, she gave up as she replied with a frown on her brows, "Give me another hint master..."Seeing her unable to reply and ask for another hint, Virus grinned as he said "It''s okay, I''m sure you would understand with this next hint I provide you with...""So every sense and emotion in the body such as taste, eye-sight, smell, pain, joy, etc. All of them without exception are related to this part of the body, can you guess now?" Virus asked with a grin on his face.This time without thinking much the golden beauty replied with a face filled with enthusiasm "It''s the brain, master has purified his brain!""Haha, mostly correct, but that answer doesn''t entirely cover it, the complete correct answer was the ''nervous system'', and a nervous system consists of nerves and other parts too other than the brain." With an amused look in his eyes, Virus laughed as he pointed out her mistake.The part of his body which he had purified this time was his whole nervous system, and so the brain was considered only as a part of it.Structurally, the nervous system has two components: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. The peripheral nervous system consists of sensory neurons, ganglia (clusters of neurons) and nerves that connect to one another and to the central nervous system.Functionally, the nervous system has two main subdivisions: the somatic, or voluntary, component; and the autonomic, or involuntary, component. The autonomic nervous system regulates certain body processes, such as blood pressure and the rate of breathing, that work without conscious effort. The somatic system consists of nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord with muscles and sensory receptors in the skin.So with this cleansing act, all of those structures were completely cleansed now, and with the cleansing, their functionality too improved to some extent."Oh... I see master, so you basically have purified the wirings in your body too along with the central processor and everything that is related to it, right?" The golden beauty''s eyes glimmered with understanding as she talked in her own simplified words with her currently restricted mind."Haha, a great simplification, you''re right lil Belle." Virus replied with a short laugh as he continued eating the delicious food the golden beauty had just cooked for him.This time while he was inside the WRD, the needles had injected the brownish liquid inside his brain, nerves, spinal cord, etc. All in all, everything related to his nervous system was now successfully purified as the brownish liquid was directly injected to every part of it.These needles of the WRD were special kinds of needles that would not leave the least kind of damage on the body and even if they did which was unlikely, the WRD had countermeasures to apply accordingly in different situations, so it was a completely safe process.Also, this injection process was a very complicated one that needed extreme precision for it to go smoothly, but fortunately, Virus already did have such a device which dealt with precision as he was now successfully at the Ninth Level of the Purifying Stage: Cleansing The Nervous System._____________________Meanwhile, a silent storm was brewing throughout the world without anyone noticing yet. 78 Taking Off Again EIGHTEEN DAYS AGO, AFTER VIRUS HAD COME BACK FROM RUSSIA, WITH THE CEO UGLYThe CEO ugly had just left the highest floor of 4 Times Square after receiving Virus'' orders which commanded him to make everything ready for entering into a specific industry, which would bring them such a monstrous amount of capital in a short period of time, that would be able to support them for entering into lots of other industries all at once.Other than giving him the orders of the things he was required to do, Virus also told him some details of the plan which he had in mind.Now, the first thing he had to do, for that plan of gathering the capital, which would be needed for simultaneously entering into a lot of industries all at once, was to take a short trip to somewhere.After coming down from the highest, he saw his bodyguard Mark Sanchez waiting for him in front of the elevator.The moment Mark had received the news that his boss had come back, he immediately returned to work, because he knew with how busy his boss was, he would be needed all the times.Mark always thought in amazement of how could his boss be able to do so many things at the same time. He ran lots of companies all at once, while he would remember and analyze everything at the same time too.He had witnessed him predict most of the things that would happen or could happen in the business world as he was always ready for them far before it even happened.He was always tens of steps ahead of other rival companies or enemies in the industry.Mark didn''t know how a human being would be able to do all these things together, he even sometimes doubted his boss was no human being at all.Another amazing thing Mark had seen was that he never saw him glance at something more than once, for example, when the CEO ugly looked at a contract of buying some materials or other things like that, he would only take one glance at those papers and then never look back again, but still, he would be able to talk about it over the phone with such fluency like he had read it thousands of times and memorized it line by line with the greatest of details.Seeing his boss in front of him, the first thing he did was to welcome him, "Welcome back Mr. Greg.""Thank you, Mark, I see you came very quickly." The CEO ugly thanked him."Yes boss, where shall we go now?" Mark questioned.Going out of the elevator, the CEO ugly started walking in the huge hall of the ground floor with his bodyguard Mark following him closely behind.The ground floor was very crowded now as the Virus Industries had gotten very big with lots of customers.The employees, visitors, or the big customers immediately recognized the CEO ugly as their attention was drawn to him, and the moment they saw him, their eyes started shining in adoration like they had seen their greatest idol and role model in life.However, all of them were also sighing inside, thinking about how could such a great and magnificent person be so ugly?But nevertheless, that thought didn''t lessen any of the feelings of worship and adoration they had for him, because the reason why they adored him in the first place was genuinely for his capabilities as a CEO rather than how he looked.The CEO ugly was already automatically recognized as one of the great CEOs because he was the CEO of a company who was unknown at first but became one of the greatest in a very short period of time.Even lots of magazines had already printed his ugly face on their covers, but oddly, they all experienced a small decrease in sales on those specific magazines."Where shall we go huh..." The CEO ugly mumbled as he was walking after hearing what Mark had asked, then he informed Mark, "I need to go on a short trip again, but this time too, you are not needed, so you just need to drop me off at the airport, also, make a call for the private jet to be prepared until we arrive there."Mark was surprised listening to his boss'' words, he had just left to a trip without him, now he was leaving for another one, but nevertheless, he made the call while escorting him to the car.While they were on the way to the airport, the CEO ugly inquired "So how is your little daughter, is she fine now?"Mark was moved inside hearing this question, because he had only told the CEO ugly casually that his daughter was currently sick and how he could use the time while his boss was away on the trip to Russia to be with his daughter. Mark assumed his boss didn''t care about what was happening to his life or daughter at all and even if he did, he would''ve already long forgotten about it with all of the things his boss was busy with.But it seemed he was wrong and he still remembered, so he thanked him sincerely "Thank you for asking boss, she''s a lot better now.""Good, Go be with your daughter while I''m on the trip." The CEO ugly ordered as he no longer talked after that.After they were finally at the airport, Mark directly drove to the front of the already prepared private jet.After getting off of the car, the CEO ugly ordered Mark to go back as he boarded on the jet, which took off soon after.________________A COUPLE HOURS AFTER THE JET TOOK OFF, AT THE ALDABRA ATOLLRight now, the CEO ugly was looking out from the private jet''s window at the atoll that was under him.He couldn''t help but appreciate the beauty of this ring-like island which his master had bought.A while later the private jet finally landed on the private airport which Virus had made on his atoll.After the CEO ugly got off of the jet, he saw that the Island ugly was already waiting for him there, seeing the CEO ugly come down from the private jet, he walked toward him with a smile on his ugly face, and when he was in front of the CEO ugly, laughing out loud, he greeted him, "It''s been a while ugly brother... haha..." 79 Classification "Haha... Yes, it has, how is everything here? Oh, and where is the security ugly?" The CEO ugly asked."Well, I''m very busy with everything, master gives a large number of tasks for me to complete... and about the other ugly brother... he usually likes to walk around the Atoll at this time of the day, so maybe you will meet him later." Stated the Island ugly with a grin on his face.Since the day Virus had separated the duties which were done by each of the four uglies, they were all busy with specific jobs that Virus had granted them.The Island ugly was placed in charge of everything on the atoll such as creating different blueprints, managing the workers, planning, dividing the responsibilities, etc."I see, I''m the same as you, very busy with the company and the tasks master gives. Anyway, I''ve come all the way here to let you know of a special task master wants you to finish in a short period of time..." The CEO ugly started talking, but he was interrupted in the middle."Wait, now that you''ve come all the way here, let''s not just stay here, we will talk as we walk and in the meantime, I''ll also show you around, is that good for you?" The Island ugly offered.The CEO ugly was honestly curious about the things that were being done on the Island too, so he accepted "Okay... let''s talk while you show me around then, I''m actually also pretty curious about what''s happening on this island."After that, they got on an SUV car that was already there as the Island ugly started driving toward a somehow big building at the distance, and a while later, they arrived before it''s entry.After they arrived, the Island ugly guided him inside, while at the same time, the CEO ugly started explaining some stuff related to the plan Virus had in mind, "So, master wants to..."At the same time, there were lots of human workers and employees working in the building.As the CEO ugly was explaining and the Island ugly was listening, they arrived in front of an elevator.Watching the Island ugly stop in front of the elevator and enter, the CEO ugly questioned, "Are we gonna go to a higher floor?""Hahaha, just get in, you will know soon." The Island ugly replied with a mysterious laugh.After that, the Island ugly talked to the air saying something in the futuristic language when a scanning light appeared for a moment. After the scan was done the elevator started moving by itself.It was a full see-through glass elevator, so they could see outside easily.Feeling the elevator move the CEO ugly started talking, "...So for the plan to work, we need a large number of an advanced tech and if I want to talk about the plan in more details...wh... what..." but as he was explaining, he suddenly stopped, dumbfounded by what he saw in front of him.He saw a world outside the see-through glass elevator, as right now there was an endless underground world in front of him, which the CEO ugly suspected was as big as the island itself!"Hahaha... a wonderful reaction, well, welcome to the... First Floor." The Island ugly announced."What''s this place... how could this place even exist?" The CEO ugly who was calmer by now inquired."With master''s capabilities and knowledge which we can''t even begin to understand, are you really that surprised?" The Island ugly answered his question, with another question.Then he continued "This place is called the First Floor, and it''s size as I''m sure you can guess is almost as big as the island itself above us... This is one of the projects that master has given me."As the CEO ugly was listening to the whole description and speech, he was looking at the ground to the far reach, and he could see tens of thousands of worker robots working everywhere, as there were also a large number of different-sized objects and materials on the ground of the underground world.And it was finally at this moment that they were about to arrive at the ground of this world. But as he was thinking they would stop on the ground there, the elevator kept going down and soon they entered the ground once again, but then, after a thick earth layer was passed, to the CEO ugly''s amazement, another underground world appeared.The Island ugly who was explaining some things to the CEO ugly while looking at his face, laughed again at his face which was kind of surprised again, "Hahaha, ugly brother, I can''t get enough of this flabbergasted face of yours, anyway, welcome to... the Second Floor."At this floor too, there were tens of thousands of worker robots working.Seeing these many robots, the CEO ugly asked "Are those robots... the worker robots which we only made a dozen or so? How did they increase so much?" "Hm, yes, it''s those robots, but they are much more now haha, as you know they increase very quickly by making more of themselves very quickly... so after a while of letting them reproduce themselves, I realized there were too many of them." The Island ugly said."I see, there seem to be lots of different-sized objects and materials on each floor too... I witnessed some technologies but I have no idea what they are, they must be some amazing out of this world things right?" After listening to him, the CEO ugly inquired with interest.The Island ugly''s face turned more serious promptly when he heard this question, as he replied after a short pause, "Well, I think they are spectacular personally... but according to what I heard from master, they are only the lowest-ranked machinery and mechanizations... you see, master talks to me directly sometimes, and he told me there are ranks and classifications to the machines and things alike, and most of the things we are capable of making at the moment are the lowest-ranked ones among them."Listening to his response, the CEO ugly thought it was incredible as he was really astonished inside. 80 The Security Ugly "Anyway, we have other underground world floors like these two and the lower we go the bigger they get... but that''s not even the end, because we want to go even deeper as much as possible. This should be enough sight-seeing for a day, let''s go back." The Island ugly stated as he pushed another button, which made the elevator stop for a second before it started moving up."Alright, now please explain more about master''s plan..." Now that he had shown him around, the Island ugly changed the topic."Okay, so if I wanna be more detailed..." The CEO ugly continued his explanation again, as he was interrupted previously by everything he witnessed."I see... so master wants to do that... huh?" The Island ugly mumbled after he had heard the description of their master''s plans."Well, yes, this is the easiest way for us to collect the most capital at the shortest period of time..." Replied the CEO ugly. "And... what does master want me to make?" The Island ugly questioned.The CEO ugly took out a USB Flash Drive from inside his pocket giving it to the Island ugly as he explained "There are two blueprints inside this, they are the ones we need for the plan to work."Taking the USB Flash Drive from his hands, the Island ugly started looking at it, at first he thought why wouldn''t his master just send him the blueprints and give the order directly, but remembering his master who seemed to like living like a normal person, he didn''t continue with his thoughts.After a while he talked again with a shimmer of understanding in his eyes "I see, so master wants to make these for it... So... I guess we will need lots of these devices then, am I correct, ugly brother?""Actually, we need only one from the second blueprint while we need a large number of the first one, but I''ll tell you the exact number later. For now, start making the second blueprint because I need to take it with me when I leave." The CEO ugly explained while looking into the Island ugly''s eyes.After that, they went to the highest floor of the building where they saw the Security ugly waiting for them currently.When the CEO and Security uglies saw one another, they started greeting each other with a smile on their faces.Now that the CEO ugly had someone else to be by his side and accompany him, the Island ugly immediately left to go and make the blueprint that the CEO ugly needed to take with himself.____________________The Security ugly''s task on the atoll was to keep the whole island secure at all times and to eliminate anyone who was intruding it by any means.Currently, the Security and CEO uglies were drinking the tea that the Security ugly had made while talking about different topics and subjects."So, do people try to sneak into the atoll?" The CEO ugly questioned casually, wanting to talk about something."A lot! I don''t even know how many intruders I''ve incinerated anymore, they just don''t learn their lesson... Well, it''s expected though, with the Virus Company suddenly appearing out of nowhere with super advanced techs, now almost every country is curious about how we are doing it or what other advanced techs we might have hidden, they are especially curious about what''s happening on this specific island." The Security ugly explained."I see, well, that''s to be expected. But, how do you realize when you have an intruder?" The CEO ugly inquired with a little curiosity."Oh, that... let me show you instead of explaining." As the Security ugly said that, he took out something from his pocket. Then he brought his hand higher as he opened his palm.Inside his palm, there was a marble, and a moment after he opened his palm, a revolving 3D image of the whole atoll appeared above the marble.And that was not all, as there were also many floors like spaces under the island that got bigger the lower it got which were obviously the underground worlds under the atoll."I always have the whole island on the palm of my hands." He stated with a grin, "And it''s not only that, I know everything that''s going on to the tiniest of details, I can even know the location every ant on the island if I want, by filtering the search."The CEO ugly was honestly amazed inside by how advanced the island''s security was after seeing the 3D image and listening to the Island ugly''s words."Now, forget about me... let''s talk about you, tell me... how is it, being a famous CEO? You must be having a great deal of fun, right? Ahh, if I knew that day that master was going to give the CEO position, I would''ve volunteered to take the position." After putting back the marble in his pocket, the Security ugly opened his mouth again, with a little regret clear in his tone.The Security ugly was very bored being stuck on the island, with only the duty of keeping the island safe. He craved for more excitement in his life, and he wanted a way to escape from this monotonous life on the island.Listening to his words though, the CEO ugly replied with a tone like what the Security ugly had stated was absolutely false, "You''re wrong! It''s no fun at all. You know, I''m busy all the time trying to predict and analyze everything, like the things that could happen in the industry or the whole business world, and I need to be very careful so as not to miss any details.""So, tell me, what''s the fun in that?" The CEO ugly said, a little frustrated and annoyed that he thought he was having a great deal of fun."I know how it is like to be a CEO, but still... I would prefer your job over mine." This was the Security ugly''s final response.They continued their conversation without realizing that somewhere far away, on the highest floor of 4 Times Square, someone had been listening to their conversation passively._________________A few hours later, the CEO ugly was once again above the clouds inside the private jet, as he was enjoying the view while looking outside the window. 81 Stalker? WITH ETHAN MARTINCurrently, Ethan Martin was sitting on his chair behind his desk in his study room while he had a deep frown on his face.He had been following the news these past few days, and the more he witnessed how things progressed, the more serious and confused he got.He thought with the direction he presented to the allied CEOs, they would be able to reverse the situation and deal a huge blow to the Virus industries with their own already prepared plans.But instead, the result was completely the opposite, the Virus Industries was now even more famous and powerful, and the phone companies were all almost destroyed.The baseless hypothesis he informed them with also seemed to be wrong, as the real culprit was even found inside the party of the CEOs themselves.Now, the Virus industries were the highest and the sole ruler of the phone industry around the world with no one to rival them in the field.The only thing that made him sigh in relief was that he didn''t make any moves himself in all of this, as otherwise, things would have gone a lot more wrong and his company''s name would have been probably mentioned at least along with the other phone companies and then, his company''s image would have taken a blow. He couldn''t even imagine what kind of consequences he might be going through if he had interfered himself, even the thought of this terrified him honestly.Now even though it seemed the Virus Industries was not behind the ''Ghost Theft'' case, which made him feel relieved that they were not as scary as he had thought, but he still felt strange that oddly, everything seemed to go to a direction that would benefit the Virus Industries in the end.He even subconsciously thought that there seemed to be an invisible hand that was leading everything in a particular direction, that, at the end of the road, would benefit the Virus Industries mainly. But this notion which sent chills down his spine only passed through his mind for a moment before he rejected it completely, realizing how ridiculous it sounded.The only thing that made him happy in this situation was that he had not personally stepped forward to make a move with that wrong hypothesis John had provided him with. Remembering the hypothesis matter, he couldn''t stop himself from being a little disappointed with John. Though, even he thought that hypothesis sounded very logical at the time as he had accepted it willingly.After pondering to himself about all these things, he decided to forget about it for the moment as his line of thinking shifted to somewhere else.He wondered what her daughter had been up to these days, as he started checking the report of how she had been managing her job in the branch company of Aston Martin recently and after checking, he saw that the results were quite impeccable.A while later his mind wondered to another subject related to his daughter as he contemplated to himself, ''That family keeps requesting to let Amara marry their eldest son who''s going to inherit their company soon, but I can see clearly they only want to use my daughter as a way of making the two families closer...'' After brooding over this for a while he finally picked up the phone above his study desk, ''I should call her and ask how she''s doing these days.''________________WITH AMARA MARTINAmara was currently outside 4 Times Square as she was staring at its entry from inside her car.In the past couple of days, she had been coming here whenever she had the time, hoping that she would be lucky enough to see Virus leaving or entering his building, but she was disappointed every time as she left in the end after hours of waiting pointlessly.Other than the reason of wanting to see him, she wanted to use this as an excuse to get closer to him while acting like she was passing by 4 Times Square by coincidence just to spot him among the crowds.But this didn''t happen as Virus seemed to never leave his building. Now, as she was wondering maybe she should just come up with another way to coincidentally meet him, her phone rang which brought her out of her reverie as she picked it up seeing it was his dad, "Hi dad, what is it? Is there anything wrong?""Hey daughter, am I only allowed to call my girl when there is something wrong? Can''t this old man call you just because he misses you?" Ethan said with a sigh like he was wronged."No dad, I didn''t mean it like that... It''s just that you usually call when there''s a matter related to the company, so I thought..." Amara stated."Sigh, to be truthful, my reason for calling you was really to ask how you''ve been doing these days, but other than that... I wanted to ask your opinion another matter too..." Ethan explained, with a tone of hesitation.Listening to his father''s words made Amara a little surprised inside but she replied nevertheless "I''m fine dad, thanks for asking... please tell me, I''ll answer you to the best of my abilities."Hearing her response, Ethan Martin continued, "So... that family asked me again to let you marry their son... what do you think ab..."But as he was talking, he was interrupted by her daughter who seemed to have completely lost her calm as she exclaimed in a louder voice "DAD! I told you I don''t want anything to do with them! And I told you I''m only gonna marry the man I truly come to love... and I... already have someone I really like and probably love!" As Amara had completely lost her calm at the moment thinking about that family, she just blurted out that she liked someone currently, because hearing her father talk about marrying her off to another family just for business matters and profit made her feel sick. After spilling the beans, she finally realized her mistake, but she knew it was already too late to try to conceal it from her father now, as he would naturally come to know by investigating it even if she didn''t tell him the rest. She hadn''t wanted to let her father know about this before she made sure Aizen was truly hers. But now, she had spilled the beans unintentionally on the spur of the moment."... Oh... is that so? who is this lucky person who has stolen my daughter''s heart? Please do tell father about it." After some seconds of silence, her father inquired, but his voice was obviously different than before.Amara felt frustrated inside listening to his father''s words, she mainly didn''t want to tell her father about this because she was sure her father would probably do something that would make the situation even worse. 82 The Oval Office WITH VIRUS Currently, Virus was at the highest floor of his 4 Times Square like always as he was eating food. But this food was no ordinary food, it was the second food the golden beauty had made for him personally and Virus was thinking it was really delicious. Just as he was about to compliment the golden beauty, someone came to his floor. _____________ A DAY BEFORE The FBI beauty had just left 4 Times Square as she was on her way back to report the matter to her boss. After she finally arrived at her destination, she straight away went to see her boss. Knocking on the door to her boss'' office, she entered. Her boss was doing nothing at the moment as he seemed to be impatiently walking right and left inside his office waiting for the news his agent would bring back soon. Seeing the agent he was waiting for enter his office, before giving her a chance to talk, he questioned her, with impatience clear in his voice, "What happened?" The FBI beauty just replied back seeing how anxious her boss was, "Boss, I was rejected from meeting their chairman for the moment, they said he can''t meet anyone currently, but I feel like they are playing hard-to-get." Her boss'' face changed a little listening to her answer as he got a little angry, "This is outrageous! Who do they think they are to stall the country?!" "Well, boss calm down, they are businessmen after all, and all they look at is probably profit, so I was thinking maybe they are avoiding us to get better conditions later?" The FBI beauty expressed, this was the conclusion she had reached after pondering a lot, while she was on her way back. Her boss seemed to calm down a little after hearing her words as he responded, "That''s probably it. Anyway, I need to report this to the higher-ups, they are putting special importance on this matter as they believe the Virus Industries are hiding a lot more than they show on the surface, so they want to have this cooperation with them no matter what!" "In the meantime, you keep calling them until they schedule us a specific time for a meeting." He ended his words with this as he no longer paid any attention to the FBI beauty, as he went behind his desk wanting to call and notify his own anxious boss who was waiting for the results. After the FBI beauty left her boss'' office, she became determined to call the Legal ugly''s office every two hours to try arranging a meeting with their chairman. ________________ THE WHITE HOUSE Currently, the president of the United States of America was sitting behind a desk in his Oval Office, when the phone on the desk started ringing. This was a phone through which only important calls passed over. Picking it up he answered, "What happened with the Virus Industries matter of collaboration?" There seemed to be one of the important high-ranking officials on the other side of the line which replied, "Mr. President, it seems the agent we sent was rejected of a meeting with their chairman, that agent was demanded to visit at another time because they stated their chairman can''t meet anyone at the moment." The President was a little displeased hearing this, but remembering this was a profit-seeking corporation he was dealing with, he sighed as he stated, "Alright, we need this cooperation no matter what, as it will be of great assistance to our country, so arrange this meeting soon without paying much attention to their conditions. Also, improve our current collaboration conditions a little more." The person on the other side of the line immediately responded listening to the president''s orders, "Yes, sir." ________________ Just as Virus was about to compliment the golden beauty for her great cooking skills, someone entered his floor. Turning his head in the location of the elevator, Virus saw that it was the Legal ugly. Entering the floor, the Legal ugly started walking toward where his master was sitting at and when he arrived before him, he just stood there without opening his mouth in the slightest. Seeing this, Virus couldn''t help but muse to himself, "Maybe it''s time I stop this order of them not being able to talk before I allow them to, it''s just kinda tedious and unnecessary phrasing from my part." After this short muse, he uttered, "What is it Legal ugly?" Listening to his master give him the permission to talk, he voiced what was going through his mind, "Master, I''m sure you already know about this, but I thought it would be better if I reported this matter personally." "Don''t worry and just state what''s on your mind." Virus told him with a grin that seemed to give the Legal ugly the assumption that he was truly aware of what was going on. "Master, I''ve been called a lot by the government''s agent in charge of the matter of cooperation today, and the government seems to want this cooperation very badly with our company. I came here because I want to know what I should do and how should I deal with this matter? Should I reject them completely or...?" The Legal ugly emptied almost everything that was on his mind currently. Listening to the Legal uglies query, with a broad smile Virus declared, "You can reply back to them and tell them we will have a meeting in..." Virus continued and stated a specific time and date in which he would meet their agent. "Yes, master." The Legal ugly replied back, finally aware of what he should do from now on. "Okay, you can go back now. Oh right, also go and tell the CEO ugly to come to my floor." Giving him further orders, Virus dismissed him. After that, the Legal ugly left the floor to where the CEO ugly was at currently, but while he was on the way, he began to deliberate over what his master had declared, ''It seems master has decided to take the deal with the government...but I don''t know why he would do that... or maybe I''m overthinking this and he just wants to reject the agent personally... Well, my job is to only follow master''s orders, I''m sure he has his reasons for arranging this meeting.'' 83 The Whole World Shall... The moment the Legal ugly left, Virus started wondering about the changes his appearance in this time will cause in the near future by the actions he took to this very moment. He was certain that because of the big deeds he had done, like founding the Virus Industries, the scale of the butterfly effect of the things he has caused with his interference would be very enormous. Things that were supposed to happen in ten years were happening at this very moment, and in the near future things that were originally going to happen in hundreds of years later would happen. Wondering about these, he began analyzing and predicting the direction the world would possibly go from now on because of everything he had done until now. And the vague possible conclusion he reached made him certain that a large number of matters were progressing in a different path altogether now. A lot of events, incidents, etc. That was supposed to happen in the near future would not happen because of him. For example, people who were supposed to die in accidents or because of other reasons won''t die now, while people who were supposed to live might also die. Currently, everything was changing, but this was not all, and from now on, the more the time progressed forward, the more different it would get from the future he was aware of. Just as he wanted to assess the situation from different perspectives and viewpoints, the sound of the elevator was heard, which let Virus know that the CEO ugly had arrived. So coming out of his contemplation, he looked at the CEO ugly who was now standing in front of him with a respectful look in his eyes. "How are the preparations progressing for the production of the new cars?" Virus questioned the CEO ugly opening his mouth. Listening to his master''s query, the CEO ugly replied, "Everything like the materials are already prepared, now the only things we needis the blueprints, so we could begin making the cars while doing the other necessary matters." Virus mused to himself after hearing the CEO ugly''s report, ''Hmmm, what cars should I release?... Just jumping one or two years won''t be any good, so I should release the cars that were going to be released in a couple of years later.'' A while after pondering to himself, he finally decided, ''So... the better cars that were introduced in 2017 should be good enough... yes.'' ''I should include most of the luxurious cars on the list too. Also, beside just cars, I should give the CEO ugly some other automotive blueprints...'' After that, he finally stopped deliberating over it as he began declaring the orders, "Okay... I''ve sent you a set of blueprints, go do the necessary things and start producing them as fast as you can." "Yes, master." The CEO ugly replied in obedience as he was about to leave to accomplish the orders. But before he started walking, Virus opened his mouth again, "Oh, by the way, how is everything progressing with matters related to our starting capital?" While the CEO ugly was on the way to the highest floor, he was actually expecting his master to have summoned him mainly for questioning him about this matter, so he had already thought of his answer. Therefore, without any pause, he immediately replied, "It''s all progressing very well master, just like you''ve ordered, I''ve made that thing with the device I brought back from the island and I''ve already released it to the world." He continued, "Even though the world is still unaware of what''s going on at the moment, they will definitely start realizing it one of these days, and the whole world shall... " "I see, okay, you can go now." Knowing where this was going, Virus Interrupted his words, just to dismiss him. Being dismissed, the CEO ugly nodded his head in courtesy as he started walking out of the floor. But afterward, he directly went to the Legal ugly''s office and entered it after knocking on the door. Seeing the CEO ugly, the Legal ugly asked, "What is it? Is master''s new orders has anything to do with me?" The CEO ugly replied, "Not exactly, I have new blueprints for a large number of more advanced automotive, I''m here to notify you of this so you would begin dealing with the legal stuff and be done with it before we finish producing the cars, as master seems to want this to be done more quickly." Listening to his words, the Legal ugly responded, "I see, I shall do it as I''m required then, rest assured." "Okay, see you later..." Saying that, the CEO ugly left the office and immediately took out his phone, calling his secretary. After his secretary picked up, he ordered the secretary to notify each department''s head to be at the conference meeting room in at most fifteen minutes. The secretary started calling everyone immediately as she told them the exact orders she had received. Hearing the orders, every head of the departments started running toward the conference meeting room because they knew if the CEO said fifteen minutes, they had to be there in fifteen minutes. _________________ EXACTLY FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER The heads of each department were all already in the conference room, quietly discussing why they were all suddenly summoned. Some of them were in a meeting with their own department employees, while some of them were eating food at the cafeteria, and one of them was even in the toilet relieving himself when they all received the calls. After answering their phones, without any hesitation, they all stopped what they were doing and began running toward the conference meeting room. This was all because just recently, when a department head was summoned by the CEO ugly, that person was late by ten minutes, making the CEO ugly wait for a whole ten minutes. And when that department head finally arrived at the CEO ugly''s office, the CEO ugly fired him immediately, telling him that every minute of his time was extremely precious. Since that day, all of the department heads were extremely accurate in their time management because they were terrified of the fate of being fired from this amazing company just because they were late by a couple of minutes. 84 Automotive Industry It was at this moment that the door to the conference room was opened by someone, and looking at who it was, every noise in the conference room disappeared as everyone went quiet. The person who had just entered walked to where the microphone was on the tribune and after taking a short look at everyone, he started talking, "Hello everyone, I see all of you are already here, that''s good." He continued, "I asked you all to be here because we have important things to do now and we will get very busy from today onwards." "You might ask why would we be busy... well, it''s because we have just received lots of new automotive blueprints we need to produce and release to the market in the shortest period of time." After the CEO ugly uttered these words to the microphone, he went quiet as he gazed at every department head. Every department head got very confused hearing the CEO''s speech, just like how they were bewildered the previous time when they heard they had new blueprints. They were all very curious inside about where these blueprints were coming from, as they were aware that there were not any departments for researching and developing further technology in the Virus Company. To them, the blueprints always appeared out of nowhere from time to time, and each time, they were more shocking and advanced than the last. The department heads just couldn''t comprehend how it was possible to progress this fast in the technology field. But since they were not in a position to ask or question the company about this, they stayed silent about it as they just followed orders without sticking their nose in matters that the company was quiet about, because honestly, they were afraid that their questioning might offend the company and thus lead to their expulsion from there. Witnessing the confused look in everyone''s eyes and understanding why those eyes were confused, the CEO ugly decided to say something about it, "No need to be this confused, the department in charge of further research and development is directly under the chairman''s control and orders, and no one knows where it is. The only thing you all need to know is that we receive all of the new blueprints directly from the chairman himself, and no one is sure from exactly where they all come from." Listening to his words, the confusion in their eyes lessened a lot as they all mused to themselves, ''I see, so there is a hidden Department of Research and Development somewhere hidden which is directly under the orders of the chairman, and every blueprint comes from the chairman himself after he receives them!'' Though they were still not certain of the blueprints'' source, now at least they had a vague answer to where it was all coming from and that was enough as an answer for them. After witnessing the results of his vague explanation and seeing the confusion lessen to almost none, the CEO ugly nodded his head as he reckoned, ''I only tell them what they want to hear, which is a conclusion even they have probably thought of already and just like that, they are all convinced and their curiosity is sated. I wonder how would their reaction be if they knew there is no such a thing as Department of Research and Development, this is kinda funny.'' "Okay, let''s continue now, the blueprints we''ve received this time are much wider in range than the previous times. The last time we mostly made two passenger cars or four passenger cars, but from now on, we will produce a much wider variety of cars and automotive. Basically, we''re going to produce passenger cars, utility vehicles, SUVs, motorcycles, trucks and buses, and trailers. But each classification is also further divided into subsets according to gross vehicle weight." The CEO ugly explained while introducing the basic classification of the automotive they were going to produce. Listening to the CEO ugly''s explanation, the Department heads were bewildered and amazed inside as their eyes started shining. Because the CEO''s words meant they were going to enter a much wider and bigger in size market now, and this further denoted that the company would just continue to grow bigger and bigger! They were all in reverie as they pondered about how lucky they were to work for such an amazing company, but after a while of thinking about it, they finally came out of their impressed moods as they began to get worried about how heavy the load of their works would be from now on. But without paying any attention to the changes the faces of department heads were going through currently, the CEO ugly continued, "So with these blueprints which are much more advanced than the previous ones with a more complete classification, we''re going to need to produce a large number of other technologies first before we can start making the blueprints, thus right now, our first duty is to create them while our Legal Department is dealing with the Legal field of the automotive production." "Okay, that was all, I will give all of the related departments their blueprints, and as we need to produce them in the shortest period of time, use every resource we have, including every factory we have around the world, and if needed, hire more employees that are qualified, but that''s after making the other employees work overtime for at least some hours first." "Okay, that was all, does anyone have any questions?" Being finished with his words and speech, the CEO ugly called for any questions or doubts the heads might have. Knowing that it was probably the only time they might have to clear their doubts, the heads started their inquiries which were related to their own department. For example, the head of the Human Resource Department raised questions such as how many new recruits were they allowed to hire at the maximum, what kind of contract should they make for them, and whether to hire them as part-time employees or full-time. The CEO ugly started replying to every question that was raised very patiently and after around half an hour passed, the inquiries were finally done as the CEO ugly adjourned the conference meeting and left. 85 What Did Just Happen? RIGHT AFTER THE MASSACRE OF EVERY MEMBER OF HEAVEN ORGANIZATION "What did just happen? Why did you cut off your left hand, Viper?!" Electro yelled at his left-hand man who ironically no longer had his left hand. They were just discussing some things when her underling''s face suddenly went pale as he immediately grabbed one of the swords in the room as he cut off his own left arm. The electric arcs around herself didn''t surprise her in the least because those were like a self-defense mechanism that activated whenever something came to a specific distance of her, it was like a shield that was always around her and activated when things like bugs tried to come close to her, it was so sensitive that even while she was sleep no mosquitos could come near her. So she was not alarmed at all by the small electric arcs that suddenly appeared around her body. What she was shocked and alarmed about was her left-hand man who suddenly cut his own left hand with no rhyme or reason! Her left-hand man seemed to be in a lot of pain as sweat was pouring down his pale face, and Electro thought that was the reason as to why he wasn''t replying to her. But she was wrong, the pain of losing one hand didn''t bother him much. Currently, Viper was lost in thought because that feeling he felt in his hand a moment ago was still terrifying him. He was sure if he had been just a moment later, he would''ve been already dead. The feeling he suddenly started having in his left-hand all of a sudden was unlike anything he had ever felt and it horrified him, what was even more horrifying to him was that his body couldn''t withstand it. This occurrence was stupefying to him because every poison or things similar he had come across until now had never affected him in the least as his body had been poison resistant since the day he remembered. But now, there was something which his body was completely defenseless against and this honestly terrified him. "Viper! I said why did you cut off your arm?!" Electro once again yelled at his left handless left-hand man, but this time louder, which immediately brought Viper out of his stupor. Looking at his leader, Viper stated, "...Leader, I don''t know what happened just now.... but it was terrifying... really terrifying." "What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Electro questioned as she was very confused, just as lost as Skin was currently. She didn''t understand what had just happened, but she was sure it must''ve been something serious because otherwise, Viper wouldn''t have reacted like this, this was the first time Electro had even seen this kind of expression on Viper''s face. After being lost for a little while longer, Viper started talking again, "Just now, I felt something terrifying appear in my body out of nowhere, I don''t know if it was poison or something else, but if it was poison, that was the scariest poison I''ve ever felt in my whole life!" Electro and Skin were listening very attentively to his words at the moment, as Viper continued, "And my body was completely powerless against it! And I''m only alive right now because first of all, I could sense it inside my body the moment it appeared and secondly, because I didn''t hesitate to cut off my left hand before it spread to the rest of my body!" Listening to his words both of them were stunned, because, before today, they assumed no poison in this world would ever be able to harm Viper as he was like the master of poisonous things in the world. But here he was now, stating with his own mouth that he was powerless against a poison, this somehow felt even more stunning to them than him cutting off his own hand all of a sudden. Thinking about this situation in more depth, both Electro and Skin started sweating bullets, fearing the possibility of them being poisoned too, so Electro immediately uttered with a little shaky tone due to her anxiousness, "Viper, what if we''re already poisoned too?" "... No, you aren''t, because if you were poisoned, both of you would already be dead as a doornail, I assume it takes around a minute for it to kill anyone who is poisoned." Viper spoke shaking his head. They were relieved hearing Viper''s words, but they also realized the poison was even scarier than they had imagined. "So, what do you think is the cause of that poison, how were you infected with it?" Electro asked. "I don''t know... I didn''t feel anything before I was poisoned, maybe I was poisoned in the past and now certain requirements activated it, or maybe I was poisoned right now... I have no idea..., maybe the tea in my cup was poisoned, we need to investigate this more in-depth to find an exact answer." Viper started explaining any guesses he had, then he also added as he was a suspicious person by nature, "Oh, by the way, why did your electric arcs activate just now?" Listening to this, Electro started thinking about her electric arcs activating by themselves, then she started searching the floor trying to find the cause of the activation of his self-defense mechanism, and around a minute later he finally found the cause. There was a fly that was burned to a crisp on the floor, putting it on the desk she stated, "It was this small fly, why? Do you think it was this fly that poisoned you?" "... I''m not sure, maybe... but we can''t be sure anymore, as you can see it''s completely burnt." Viper replied looking at the burnt fly. Now that the fly was destroyed by the electricity arcs, they could not experiment on it at all to see if it was the fly which was the cause of the poisoning. But not giving up, Electro uttered further, "Think as hard as you can and try remembering anything you might''ve missed which might be the cause of your poisoning, being poisoned by a fly sounds almost ridiculous, so it''s unlikely that you were poisoned by it." Listening to his leader, Viper started thinking of the things he had done today or even yesterday, but he could not remember any details that might be helpful, as everything seemed normal. 86 Anyone? So his only choice was to shake his head as he replied, "There is none, but let''s experiment on my cup for now, maybe there is something in it." As there was no better alternative right now, Electro could only agree with Viper''s suggestion as she stated, "Okay, then let''s do your suggestion, but before that... for God sake...why are you acting like you''re feeling even better than me? Don''t you see you''re bleeding? Skin, go help Viper tend his cut off arm, and then... afterward, give the cup to one of our members so as to run all the possible experiments and tests on it." Heeding the order, Skin helped Viper walk out as they left room toward the elevator. It seemed this place was an underground floor with only the three of them inside this particular one. Getting inside the elevator, they left to another floor which had the first aid and medical stuff. But when the elevator''s door opened, after they took a couple of steps out of the elevator, what they witnessed shook them to their very core as they stood there completely frozen, watching the scene in front of them which was dreadful even to them who were professional assassins. After a while of being shocked into an absolute daze, they finally started getting a grip of their senses. The first one who spoke was the bleeding Viper who muttered with a shaky voice, "Wh...What did happen here? What... is going on?!" On each floor of this hidden base of Heaven Assassination, there were around fifty people, now some of them were assassins while some were not, but all of them worked for their assassination organization and had specific duties like intelligence-gathering or doing some other matters. And right now, what the two right-hand and left-hand men were witnessing in front of them was a complete silence, but this silence was not because the place was empty, no! On the contrary, the place was very much filled with people currently. Seeing this scene in front of them they were both shaken very badly. Now, the reason as to why they were shaken wasn''t because this place which was usually noisy was currently absolutely silent, what shook them was that the people which filled the space of the floor were all currently... dead! Seeing these many corpses made them unable to think straightly for a while, about what was going on exactly in front of them. "I...I... What...?!" This was the only reply Skin could give him at the moment as his attention was completely on the scene of dead people in front of them. Now, if these dead bodies were people who they didn''t know, they might not have reacted this intensely and at most, they would''ve been a little shocked by the number of the dead bodies which even they as assassins rarely saw, because they mostly only dealt with one target at a time. What they were witnessing was fifty dead bodies of the people they were very familiar with, some of them were their underlings, while they viewed some of them as their juniors or brothers about whom they cared very deeply from the bottom of their hearts. But now, they were suddenly witnessing their dead corpses, they even remembered talking to some of them just a while ago, but now they were dead and gone. Finally, after getting a grip of themselves, both of their eyes started turning bloodshot, and while they both were gritting their teeth in strong hatred, Viper yelled, "WHOOO! WHO WOULD DARE DO SUCH A THING TO OUR MEN?!" At the same time, Skin, who was burning in fury and hatred as well, as his eyes were about to bleed because of the anger that was apparent in them, punched the wall beside them with his right hand without saying anything, while still supporting Viper with his left hand. The wall that was hit by all his might exploded, breaking into pieces in the location of the punch, making a hole in it. But he still wasn''t saying anything at all as he just stared at the dead bodies in front of him with absolute coldness and fury in his eyes. Viper, who by now could almost think logically suddenly had a notion passing through his mind which made his already pale face even paler as he anxiously mumbled, "Let''s go check the other floors." His voice was lower than his normal voice because by now, he had lost too much blood and was almost on the verge of collapsing, but what he cared about more even in this kind of situation was not his injured body, but that terrifying notion that had passed through his mind. Right now, he only wanted to make sure his whimsical thought was wrong, he even prayed that it would be wrong. Listening to his weak voice, Skin who was very furious came to himself a little, and became worried about Viper as he spoke, "Let''s take care of your injuries first, we will do that after you''re no longer bleeding." After that, no longer listening to the weak Viper who was trying to reject this suggestion, he brought him to a room where five dead bodies lay in eternal sleep as he started taking care of Viper very professionally like a real doctor. First, he took off the clean cloth by which Viper was putting pressure on his cut off hand and then started doing other necessary stuff, while also transferring him new and fresh blood. Two hours later, Viper was finally good to go, and even some color had returned to his pale face. "Let''s go check the other floors now." He spoke these words with a grave face, they had been here for two hours but no one came to this floor, this could only mean one thing and he understood what it was, but still unwilling to believe before seeing it with his own eyes, he tried to get up when Skin put his hand on his shoulder making him lay again. "You rest, I''ll go check the other floors and then I''ll be back." Skin advised him while shaking his head. But not listing to him at all, Viper rejected his good intentions as he replied with a louder tone, "No, it''s not the time to rest right now, and I have to see it with my own eyes!" Listening to his words, Skin knew it would be in vain to try to persuade him anymore, so he respected his decision as he would''ve made the same decision in a situation like this. Then, helping him stand on his feet, he started supporting him again as they left the floor into the elevator while walking among the dead bodies of their comrades and underlings as they gritted their teeth with all their might. Then, visiting another floor with both hope and fear, they witnessed things that made them completely despair, because there was another floor filled with dead bodies in front of them. This made them have a bad premonition of what if everyone had died, which made them filled with dread even thinking about it. 87 Sensitive One after another, they kept going to different floors, but every floor was quieter than the previous one. Each floor just kept adding to their hopelessness, desperation, and anguish. Each floor kept increasing their loathe and hatred toward the killer, but they didn''t stop and searched every floor until none was left, when they were finally certain, that no one was left alive. At this point, both Skin and Viper were experiencing the worst day of their lives as the scariest possibility in their minds had come true. "I don''t know who has done this, but I swear I will take revenge." Skin declared in fury and pain, he was literally talking while gritting his teeth. Viper though seemed to have become extremely calm outside by now as he spoke, "Leader should still be unaware of this, let''s go report it first." Then, they went to the lowest floor under the ground as they walked to the previous room. Entering the dark room, they saw that Electro was reading some reports with a serious face, this made Viper sure she still hadn''t realized what had happened outside. Hearing the door open, she looked up and saw it was Viper and Skin, so she calmly said, "Viper, you seem to be fine now, but why do you have that look in your eyes, like something is wrong? And Skin, why do you seem so furious? What happened?" Turning grimmer, Viper replied, "Leader, something terrible has happened..." "Huh... what is it?" Listening to Viper, Electro turned more serious as she questioned. "Leader... everyone..., it seems, everyone has died, every member in our secret base is... dead!" With a grave face, Viper stated. Listening to this absurd statement, Electro didn''t believe it at all as she had a grin on her face, "What is it? April Fools'' Day? Stop joking around." Seeing her reaction, they realized even they wouldn''t have believed this kind of absurd statement before seeing it with their own eyes, so Viper painfully asked Electro to come with them. ___________________ TWENTY MINUTES LATER "WHO?!? WHO DID THIS? WHYYY...?" After witnessing everything Electro screamed in anguish and resentment as tears uncontrollably poured down her face after she witnessed that her left-hand and right-hand men were not joking around and everyone who worked for her was truly dead. This was the only place she always felt like she belonged to somewhere, this was the place she felt like she was more normal, and more important than all, she had seen every one of them like her own family members, which she had sworn to protect to her last breath. But now, in front of her, she was witnessing the dead corpses of almost every member of her family. She was witnessing the only place which was truly precious to her destroyed and taken away from her just like that. Currently, she was in extreme pain and anguish because of their death, while deep hatred was clearly emitting for the person who had done all this, but above all, she was feeling a pang of enormous guilt for the death of their members. Because all of this had occurred just under her watch, so with all these mixed feeling currently going on inside her, probably no one in the world could truly comprehend and understand how she was feeling right now. Some minutes later, she stopped her tears of guilt, hatred, and pain as she looked at Viper with the coldest of eyes he had ever seen as she asked again, "Who massacred my family?" Understanding that she has gotten a grip of herself, Viper responded, "Leader, we don''t know who has done this, but if I had to guess, it can only be two of these possibilities, one, it could be one of our enemies, or two, it''s one of our extremely strong targets, who lived and did this out of anger and revenge." Without stopping he continued, "And about how they had died, as there is no injury on any of their bodies, it can only be done by one thing... and that is... that poison for which I just cut off my own left hand." Listening to his words, Electro spoke again, but this time, Viper could see the craze in her tone and eyes, "You have to find who has done this, I want that person and his whole family to be killed by my own hands!" "Yes leader, I will definitely find who was behind all of this so we would take revenge for every single one of our members together." Viper replied with cold bloodshot eyes. Actually, they were all almost on the verge of going insane because of their hatred and the things they had seen, now the only thought in their mind was to take revenge no matter the cost, they didn''t care about anything at all now, as they had lost everything and had nothing to lose anymore. __________________ WITH VIRUS A day after sending the CEO ugly away with his new orders, Virus was sitting on the couch, smelling the fragrant tea in his hand while taking sips from time to time. He was really enjoying his tea. But, as he was savoring it, his mind began ruminating about something else, ''I mentioned Ella that I would bring her on a date soon... today seems to be the appropriate time for that, as I''m not occupied and busy with anything for at least today, so... why not take her on that date which I had promised her.'' Meanwhile, the golden beauty who had made the tea, was also taking sips from her own cup of tea, but unlike Virus, her attention was mostly on her master as she was looking at him with her fluttering eyelashes while deliberating, ''I''d really love to go out with master...but he hasn''t left the building since we came back from Russia, maybe I should just ask him to go out somewhere with me to have some fun!'' The golden beauty was aware that Virus currently had nothing to do unlike the past as every matter seemed to have been dealt with for the moment, so knowing this, she was hesitating over the decision of whether to ask her master to go out with her. After finally deciding to tell her master about what was on her mind, her gaze turned downward as she was about to express her question, when Virus beat her to it as he had already made a decision and conveyed his own thoughts, "I wanna go on a date with my Elle, but before that, I need you to tell the CEO ugly to do something for me even if he''s busy with the matters of the company." The golden beauty who had almost voiced her words ate them back promptly, hearing her master''s voice as she mused to herself very disheartened, ''That''s right, master has Ella, why would he wanna go out with me when he has her girlfriend.'' Then looking at her master with that dispirited look in her eyes as she felt like crying inside, she replied and asked back, "Alright master, what order do you want me to deliver?" Virus, who was extremely sensitive to details immediately recognized that look in her eyes, so he questioned, "What is it, my lil Belle? Is there something wrong?" 88 Cute Realizing her master seemed to have instantly figured her mood, she promptly hid that dispirited look in her eyes grinning, "Uhh, master is so quick in figuring that lil Belle is thinking about something dissatisfied... to be truthful master... lil Belle is sad because master hasn''t complimented her tea! So... so... I was thinking maybe master didn''t like it..." By the end of her words, she was pouting outside like she was very unhappy because of it. "Heh... is that so? Forgive master for that. Actually, the tea was amazing lil Belle, I''m in love with its fragrance especially. A top-notch good tea made by a top-notch lil beauty." Chuckling Virus expressed his opinion of the tea while patting her head. This was his genuine expression of mind. The tea was actually the perfect cup of tea made with extreme accuracy according to one of the best tea recipes in the world, so how could it possibly be bad? Listening to his compliments, even though the golden beauty was feeling a little down inside because of the other matter, she still couldn''t stop herself from feeling sweet inside for his dismaying singing the praises of both her beauty and the tea, so now, she was experiencing a strange feeling of sweetness mixed with bitterness inside herself at the same time. But nevertheless, the compliment still made her unconsciously a lot less disheartened as she became more energetic and happier. "Okay... lil Belle forgives master, hehe... now, what do you want me to tell the CEO ugly?" She gushed, giggling energetically. Seeing that look on her face disappear, Virus breathed a sigh of relief as he continued his previous words which were cut off because of the golden beauty''s unhappy look, "Phew... so, go tell the CEO ugly to buy a..." After that, Virus started explaining the thing he needed very detailedly as she listened attentively. Finally, as he was finished, the golden beauty stood up as she was about to leave to notify and pass along the orders to the CEO ugly. But before she turned around, Virus talked again stopping Bella in her tracks, "Oh, right, I want you to be present on the date too, because I need you for that thing I''m ordering the CEO ugly to prepare for me... and more importantly, I need my lil Belle protecting me all the times... so we can''t be separated haha..." But by the end of his words, Virus couldn''t help himself from bursting out in laughter for some unknown reason. Hearing his words, she started feeling even sweeter inside as the bitter feeling in her was almost defeated and suppressed, at least for now. So very jolly, she replied with a giggle "Yay, okay master!" And then turning around, she walked out of the floor. Meanwhile, Virus was very amused seeing her jovial and cheerful expression as he shortly thought, ''Cute.'' Afterward, he continued, ''Now... I should let Elle know of this.'' Deciding by himself, he directly connected to Ella as he voiced, "Hey my beautiful Elle... what are you doing at the moment?" ________________ WITH ELLA Ella was currently at home in her own room laying on her bed, when she realized that Virus was on the other side of the line, so without any hesitation, she opened the line and greeted him with a grin, "My Ai! Hey, you called your girlfriend again." She particularly emphasized the words ''My Ai'', and also seemed not to be embarrassed this time, unlike the previous time they conversed. Listening to Ella call him ''My Ai'', he felt tickled inside knowing and witnessing how she had practiced by herself in private repeating ''My Ai'' tens of times before it felt natural to her. He also felt strange being called ''Mine'' by a child who hadn''t even lived for a measly century. But fully understanding why and for what reason he was being called like that by her, and knowing this was just her way of showing her affection to him, he didn''t dislike it at all. Of course, if someone else other than Ella called him that, even if it was just as a way of showing affection, Virus'' reaction to that would be downright unknown and unpredictable. "Hahaha... it seems my beautiful Elle has gotten used to calling me ''My Ai'', I''m impressed." So, without holding back, he laughed out loud. "Of course...", Even though she still felt a little embarrassed inside listening to how Virus was laughing at her, but as she had practiced a lot to be prepared for this, she could reply back to him almost naturally. "Anyway, guess why I called?" Virus asked, a little curious about what her answer would be like. "Hmmm,... because you missed your girlfriend? ...Hehe." She replied with a grin. "That''s a matter of course and I always miss you! But other than that, I have another matter for which I called... and that is to... take, you, out." Virus replied pronouncing the last three words one by one. Hearing this, she rose excitedly into a sitting position on the bed which she was laying on previously, as she almost yelled because of being too exhilarated, "REALLY?" "Haha, Of course, why would I lie to my Elle? So would you give me the honor of going out on a date my beautiful lady?" Virus laughed at first as he was really amused by her reactions, but continuing, his voice turned more deep and profound, as he questioned with a meaningful tone. Realizing she had been too excited and enthusiastic just now, she promptly got a grip of herself as she replied in a calmer way trying to add more depth into her voice while attempting to remove any obvious disturbances in it as if she didn''t feel much about his request, "Sure... when are you coming to pick me up? Oh, I''m home by the way." "Then I''ll come to you soon my lady, in around an hour at most... you dress up and be ready for your man to come and pick you up." Virus answered with a broad smile on his face. Ella felt really cheerful and happy inside hearing the way Virus talked to her as she agreed to his request. After that, they cut the line off temporarily so Ella would get prepared. But the moment she cut the line off, she started jumping up and down on her bed while screaming excitedly as she no longer tried to hold her emotions back. Being able to clearly witness her cheerful jumps, Virus burst out into laughter as he muttered, "Haha... She''s cute too." _________________ After Ella had calmed down a little, she immediately took out her Virus Cellphone as she called one of her best friends. ~Beep ~Beep After two beeps the call was answered, but without even greeting first, Ella impatiently delivered her exciting news, "Grace! I''m going out with my Ai! Finally! I''m going out with him again." "Hehe, you''re so cute Elle, are you that happy to go out with ''Your'' Ai again?" Listening to her excited tone, Grace sincerely felt glad and ecstatic for her best friend. But outside, she smirked and questioned while intentionally emphasizing the word ''Your'', trying to tease her a little bit. 89 She Chose But she was too exhilarated to realize that and as she had already practiced getting used to calling him ''My Ai'', she genuinely didn''t notice her tease at all and replied, "Yes! I''m super happy! I''m really happy, he''s gonna come pick me up in an hour!" Grace Hill was one of Ella''s best friends who was also present with her at the party the first time Ella and Virus had met each other. At the party, Grace was also stunned into being senseless after seeing Virus for the first time, as her heart had thumped insanely like almost everyone else. Imagining going on a date with Virus, she mused to herself that she would''ve been probably as cheerful as Ella is, because who wouldn''t dream of having such a boyfriend even in their sleep? Though jokingly, she thought to herself that if Virus wasn''t her best friend''s boyfriend, she would''ve definitely made a move on him. "Alright, alright... go get prepared now, otherwise you might make your Ai wait outside when he arrives." Grace replied. "Okay! Then I''ll go now, laters..." Hanging up, the first thing Ella did was to look for a dress to wear that would make her look more stunning and attractive while adding to her allure and beauty. So she started comparing lots of clothes and dress with each other very sensitively. Each cloth she chose, she would reject wearing it in the end for various reasons such as it''s color not being the right one for the occasion, or being afraid that Virus won''t like it. But finally, after an unknown amount of time, she was holding a dress which she felt truly connected to, she could feel with her whole body that this was the one. So, now that she wore the right dress which felt just right to her, she started doing light makeup, even though her face didn''t need it at all. Because the Ellas with makeup and without makeup were both top-notch beauties, with their only difference being in the almost separate special vibe they each emanated. __________________ In the meantime, the golden beauty went to the CEO ugly as she described what Virus wanted in at most around an hour. "What! Master wants me to prepare that in an hour?! That''s not possible!" The CEO ugly shouted in surprise, hearing it. "Just make it possible, pay twice or thrice the price or something. But no matter what, you have to fulfill this order as fast as you can." She stated with her normal cold attitude toward the four uglies. None of that cute attitude of hers could be seen, like they were two entirely different people to begin with. After she was done delivering the order, she just turned around and left the floor. The CEO ugly was already very busy with the matters of the company when suddenly, he was given another task to complete and the time he was given for it, was only around an hour, this made him extremely frustrated. But as it was an order from his master, with no other choice, he started calling around wanting to complete it with the fastest speed he could, before going back to the affairs of the company. The first place he called retorted that it was not possible to be that quick even if he paid twice the price. Then calling another place, he first offered the same twice the price offer, but after he was rejected again, left with no choice, he offered three times the price when the other person agreed instantly replying respectfully that he would accomplish it no matter what. The CEO ugly breathed a sigh of relief hearing the other person agree, which meant he was capable of doing it. So without wasting any more of his time, he started explaining all of the details to him. _________________ WITH VIRUS A while after Virus called Ella, the golden beauty came back. "Master, I delivered the order... Now, what do we do?" The golden beauty questioned. "Let me wear something... then we''re good to go." Replying to her answer, Virus stood up as he left to a room. A minute later he came out wearing a random T-shirt as he spoke, "Okay, let''s go." Seeing him wear a random dress, Ella felt a little speechless as she uttered, "Master, I know you don''t care about what clothes you wear, but still... this is no good, it''s better if you dress something nicer and manlier for this date of yours." Virus truly didn''t care about what dress he wore, otherwise, he had all the knowledge related to fashion in his mind and knew exactly what kind of dress and cloth was required for different occasions in different years, so he replied back, "It doesn''t matter, I''m fine being seen like this." "No... even if it doesn''t matter to you... it matters to girls, especially on their dates, so... wear it for her, and I''m sure as you know already dress will have lot''s of impact on how she will feel on the date, so..." The golden beauty explained to her master. But her true reason for wanting her master to wear something nicer wasn''t for Ella, she was only advising him that, because she didn''t want her master to be seen less than perfect in front of anyone. "Alright... but I don''t have that kind of dress which would be appropriate for my date." He uttered after a little pause. "Then let''s go shopping!" She proposed instantly with excitement, while inside she was thinking, ''I''m going to shop with master, hehe.'' __________________ A while later, Virus and the golden beauty were at a suit shop, looking at different suits while a salesman was beside them ready to guide them at any time they needed it. Virus was just about to choose one of the suits and order the salesman to bring it for him, when the golden beauty interrupted him and voiced with hope in her eyes, "Master, let me pick your suit, please?" Witnessing how she seemed to be very interested in choosing the suit for him, Virus grinned and nodded. He also didn''t mind her picking it for him if that made her happier. Seeing the nod, the golden beauty started looking everywhere for around ten minutes as she was considering each option carefully, when her gaze finally fell upon a black suit, and then she could no longer take her eyes off of it as she mumbled, "This should be the best one here which would look great on master while heightening his sense of being unapproachable to others." After that, she pointed to that suit as the salesman obeyed and brought the size the golden beauty had asked for. Taking the suit, she presented it to Virus as she said with a broad smile on her face, "Please try this master." Nodding his head, Virus went to the changing room and took his random T-shirt off, revealing his fit body under the clothes, then he started changing into the suit. ___________________ A COUPLE OF MINUTES LATER The golden beauty was impatiently waiting for her master to change so she would see how he would look in the suit she had chosen for him. She was especially eager and exuberant, as he would be wearing the suit she had personally chosen for him. And it was finally at this moment that Virus walked out making the golden beauty startled, as she was lost in his overall looks which were screening in front of her. Her eyes were also shining in astonishment because of the mix of his master''s suit and looks, which made him seem more godlike. 90 Out of The World "How is it?" Virus asked. Finally, snapping out of it by her master''s voice, she replied, "Master... you''re out of this world right now, hehe. But, it''s not the suit that is making you extraordinary, it''s you who is making the suit look more remarkable while also elevating your own manly quality at the same time." Listening to the golden beauty''s complimentary description, Virus grinned as he replied, "Haha, thanks, lil Belle... Okay then, let''s go." Then they started walking out of the suit shop as they went beside a parked black Audi Q3 which was known as Virus Q3 now. Virus directly walked beside the driver''s door as he went inside while the golden beauty hopped in the car to the front passenger seat. Then Virus started driving toward his destination, which was his girlfriend''s house. On the way though, they both almost didn''t talk at all. When it was exactly one hour later since Virus had told Ella that he would be there in an hour, Virus parked in front of a particular house. Turning the engine off, Virus glanced at the golden beauty beside him and said, "Let''s go pick my Ella up." "You want me to come too, master? Wouldn''t that look bad? Maybe I should wait in the car?" The golden beauty asked with a worried look on her face. "Of course you have to come. I need you to protect me all the time, this world is filled with variables and anything can happen at any time, so we need to be extremely cautious at all the times." Virus explained the importance of her being with him at all times. Listening to her master''s world, the golden beauty''s eyes shone in understanding as she realized she should make protecting her master the top-priority rather than worrying about his date, so she replied, "I understand master." After that, they got off the car as Virus started walking toward the house which was in front of them. The golden beauty too left the car and was about to follow her master, but before that, at the moment she got off of the car, she noticed a car parked a couple of hundred meters further back from them, but like she hadn''t seen it at all, immediately taking back her gaze from it, she hurried after her master as she began accompanying him by his side. Walking side by side, they finally arrived in front of the house''s door. The house seemed to be the home of a middle-class family. ~RING Ringing the bell on the door, they waited for someone to open the door. And a while later, the sound of rushing footsteps was heard as the door was opened. Then, as the door opened, a lovely beauty appeared in Virus'' line of sight. The lovely beauty in front of him was wearing A-line off-the-shoulder short red satin which elevated and heightened her loveliness and alluring quality from a top-notch beauty to an almost otherworldly beauty. Her short red satin reached to her knees making her legs from knee part under be visible and naked, while her hands too were completely naked showing her smooth skin under. Virus was impressed by her looks, as she was giving a completely different vibe from her usual self. The difference between the usual Ella and the Ella of right now was that the usual Ella who dressed normally was a beauty who emitted a graceful and pure aura from herself, while the current Ella in front of him was giving off an intensely heightened quality of loveliness and allure at the same time. "Hey, my lovely Ella. Your beauty has a dominating loveliness to itself tonight." He remarked shortly after seeing her, starting his greeting with a compliment together with a broad grin. ________________ ELLA''S POV ~RING Ella was waiting prepared in front of her mirror looking at herself while expecting Aizen to arrive at any moment when she heard the doorbell ring, standing up in a hurry, she started walking toward the door with a rush when she saw her mother walking toward the door. Quickly yelling with a louder voice, enough for her mother hear, she said, "Mom, I''ll open the door, it''s my boyfriend...he''s come to pick me up." Hearing her daughter''s voice, Megan stopped in her tracks stupefied for a moment because she had been unaware of her daughter having a boyfriend, then instantly turning around in shock she shouted, "What??" Her shock was understandable though, as she had never seen her daughter bringing a date to their doorstep ever before, so this was the first time something like this was happening at their front door. Seeing her mother''s shocked reaction, she began walking toward the door without voicing anything else, but as she was passing by her stupefied mom, she mumbled to her, "Mom, we''ll talk about this later, now is not the time." And afterward, she bypassed Megan and went toward the door, no longer paying any attention at Megan. Megan, hearing her daughter''s words, totally agreed that it was not the right time to question her daughter, so she promptly started walking toward a room where her husband Daniel was at currently. She agreed this was not the time to question her daughter, because right now, she believed it was the time to notify Daniel about this and interrogate their daughter''s boyfriend first. Passing by her mom, Ella rushed to the door and opened it without any hesitation. Then, she saw two people standing in front of their doorstep. First, her eye-sight fell on the golden beauty, instantly recognizing her by her golden looks, but she was confused as to why she was here too. nevertheless, putting that matter aside for now, her gaze was directed at the second person who she expected to be her boyfriend Aizen. But the moment her eyes fell on him, she was startled into being dumbfounded. Like her expectations, the person in front of her was truly her boyfriend, but she didn''t recognize him for a moment, because right now, he was wearing a black suit which completely made him look so godlike and totally out of the world! She felt like the words hot and charming could no longer be used to describe him. That black suit on him which was exactly befitting of his body was emphasizing his perfect muscled body in a way that would daze any girl at first glance. And this suited up body together with his perfect looks, made anyone looking at him be stupefied of how this kind of face could coexist with this kind of body. "Hey, my lovely Ella. Your beauty has a dominating loveliness to itself tonight." It was at this moment when Virus finally talked as she was still continuing to be dazed and dumbfounded by his looks and body. But instead of snapping out of her dazed state after hearing Virus'' voice, she sank more into it. A part of the reason as to why she was so dazzled and dazed was because now that he was broadly smiling, he looked like a completely different person altogether, as the dimples on his face were showing and his eyes were smiling together with him. The most important thing that stunned her was after witnessing that small mole under the right side of his right eye mixed with his smiling eyes, which added an extremely devilish nature to him, making him be seen completely different than the usual Virus with his now suited manly look. 91 Odd? She was sure any girl would be immediately doomed into falling for his boyfriend the moment they saw this devilish look of him. The notion which passed through her mind honestly made her worried about the future, worried and also jealous of the thought of too many girls looking at him all the time. "Shall we get going now, my lovely Elle?" receiving no response and realizing his first time speaking didn''t bring her out of it, Virus talked again. This time, finally snapping out of her daze, Ella responded a little embarrassed of her previous state, "...Uhh... yes, let''s go." Reaching out the palm of his left hand, Virus sent a signal to her to put her hand on his, so he would escort her to the car. Understanding his meaning, Ella was about to reach her right hand out when two people appeared behind Ella, but the moment they appeared, they were stupefied by the looks of this man in front of their door. Because this was the first time they were seeing Virus, their reaction was even more intense than Ella''s just now. However, Ella''s dad was quite quick in gathering his wits together, unlike Ella''s mom who stayed dumbfounded for a longer period of time. Seeing his features, Ella''s dad could only appreciate this man''s look which had a perfect face and body, he thought even though his hair was silver in color, oddly it didn''t look unnatural at all on him and he guessed it was a natural hair, not a dyed one, and it fit his perfect face to an almost unbelievable degree, unlike when most other men dyed their hair which gave a strange feeling like they had a problem or a special kind of mindset. Virus who clearly saw Ella''s parents behind her, took back his reached out hand to Ella''s bafflement. Then, before her parents came out of their stunned state, he greeted them, "Hello, I''m Ella''s boyfriend, it''s lovely finally meeting you two." Hearing Virus'' words, Ella understood what was happening, as she instantly turned around looking at her parents, while her mom came out of her dazed look with Virus'' voice as she could finally gather her wits and reply, "Ah, Hi, our daughter''s boyfriend seems to be super charming..." After uttering her greeting with what seemed to be a compliment, she was about to continue when her husband interrupted with his own greeting while reaching his hand out in order to shake it with the man in front of him, "Hello..." Because Daniel was a man who believed the way a man shook hands with another would talk and reveal a lot about the other party''s personality. Virus reached his hand out as he shook it with Daniel with a strong grip as he put a small smile on his face. But shortly after, he took his hand back. Afterward, without stating anything more Daniel looked at his daughter and questioned her, "Daughter, would you mind introducing him to us?" "...Ah, yes dad, he... he is my boyfriend and his name is Aizen Vee." A little surprised by her father''s question, Ella answered. "..." Hearing this, Daniel gazed at Virus once again, as he inquired him directly this time, "Why are you dating my daughter?" Listening to the inquiry, truthfully, Virus didn''t like it as he disliked to be questioned. But nevertheless, looking at Ella''s nervous face, he spoke without any kind of nervousness or impatience in his voice, "Of course, it''s because I like your daughter." Listening to his simple and straight to the point answer, Daniel seemed to be satisfied and relieved a little. But then, for the first time, his eyes fell on the golden beauty by the side which he had ignored because of his mind being too occupied by the thought of his daughter''s boyfriend. But the moment his eyes fell on her, he was astonished as he uncontrollably asked, "Who is she?" Without any delay in his response, Virus provided an answer, "She''s my family." "Ah... is that so..." As he was still a bit astonished by her looks, he acknowledged this fact without any further thinking on it, assuming she was Virus'' sister. Then, he opened his mouth again and asked another question which had been on his mind since he heard his daughter had brought a boyfriend to their house, "What do you do for a living and how old are you?" Virus about to respond to this too, when Ella intervened promptly for some reason and spoke a little nervously, "Daddd, we''re late for our date, let''s leave the questioning for another day!" As she uttered these words, she took Virus'' left arm by her two hands and literally dragged him with her while the golden beauty followed them, she had not uttered a single word since they had arrived. Seeing this, Daniel was about to continue when Megan intervened with a smile, stating, "Right, you two go and have your fun, but Aizen, visit our house for dinner whenever you can because we want to know our daughter''s boyfriend more... how about it?" Hearing this, Virus who was being dragged looked back and replied, "Sure, I''ll visit you two when I''m not busy with my other matters." Then without looking back any more, they left walking beside the parked car some distance away, Megan and Daniel continued to watch Virus opening the front seat for their daughter as she got in, while the golden beauty went to the back seat by herself. Then going to the driver seat himself, Virus turned the engine on as he drove away. The two were still watching when Megan finally spoke and broke the silence with a more serious tone, "Don''t you think it''s a little odd he''s bringing a family member on a date with him?" Hearing this, Daniel muttered, "... Now that you mention it... it''s a little strange... and why did Elle drag him away impatiently when I inquired about his job and age?" "Hmm... maybe she thought we wouldn''t like one of them... whatever, let''s just trust our daughter''s choice for now and wait for the time when he comes to dinner." Even though Megan had her own doubts, nevertheless she decided to trust her daughter for now. "...Alright." Daniel agreed. ___________________ Virus had just driven away with the two beauties when Ella looked at him and inquired, "Where are we going, my Ai?" Hearing that, Virus only replied with, "You will naturally now when we get there." It was at this moment when the golden beauty''s phone started ringing, looking at its screen, she saw that the caller was the CEO ugly. Answering it, she asked, "What is it?" "Master''s order is already prepared at the address I just texted you." The CEO ugly replied from the other side of the line. "Okay..." Then immediately hanging up on the CEO ugly, she reported the address to her master. And hearing it, Virus nodded his head. But oddly, the direction to which Virus was driving, even before the call connected was exactly in line with the address. After that, Ella kept glancing at Virus who was driving, while asking some things from time to time, trying to talk to him as much as she could. Other than that, the three conversed about some casual matters until they were finally at their destination. Currently, Virus had parked in front of a very tall skyscraper. This was the address the CEO ugly had texted to the golden beauty. 92 Under The Three of Us After they left the car, Virus and Ella began walking toward the building hand in hand while the golden beauty was accompanying them escorting Virus closely. Walking side by side, they entered the building and directly went to the highest floor through the elevator. Then, from the highest floor, they walked to the roof of the skyscraper, and upon arriving there, they spotted two people who were apparently expecting someone to appear there. The trio began walking toward the two after spotting them. And witnessing the trio that had just appeared on the rooftop, the two also began coming at them after a short pause. When they were by each other''s side, one of the two asked, "Hello, are you, Mr. Vee." "Hey, I am, is everything ready?" Virus leisurely replied with a greeting. Pointing to a helicopter that was behind them, the man continued with a respectful smile on his face, "It''s a great fortune meeting you Mr. Vee, I''m Dean Pratt, the person assigned to guide you. The helicopter you see behind me is yours now and you can go wherever you want with it," "Also, please note that this is one of the most silent helicopters in the world, and the glass along with other parts used in producing it are all almost completely soundproof, which means the noise you will hear throughout your trip will be close to none... so I''m sure this will make your short trip much more pleasurable." The man continued, "Oh right, you have permission to park your helicopter here until you have your own parking spot for it too." "I see, okay good job, tell those two people on the helicopter to leave." Virus stated. Listening to this, eying the two beauties beside Virus doubtfully, he thought these two beauties must be this charming tycoon''s sweethearts, then he replied, "But Mr. Vee, they are the temporary pilots we assigned for you... and it seems there are no pilots with you currently... unless, you don''t intend to have a ride with your helicopter right now..." Virus glanced at the golden beauty by his side after hearing Dean''s words, "Lil Belle... can you pilot a helicopter?" The golden beauty replied promptly, "Yes, I can." "You see? We have a pilot here, is there any other problem?" Virus questioned while staring at the man in front of him calmly. Dean was surprised that a girl who seemed to be only at the latter parts of her teenage life could pilot a helicopter. But since the person in front of him was said to be someone he could not offend at any cost, he just agreed and told the man by his side to call the temporary pilots back. After they all finally left, only Virus, the golden beauty, and Ella were left there. Now, the three were standing in front of a brand-new helicopter, while they were surrounded by the city lights all around them. "Do you like our date''s flying vehicle?" It was at this moment Virus glanced at the beauty on his side and stated with a broad smile. Ella was astonished that the helicopter in front of them was for their date, and it seemed it was just bought by Aizen! This uncontrollably made her very impressed inside as her heart started beating faster, even though she was worrying that it was a waste of money for Aizen. After that, Virus brought Ella beside the helicopter as he grabbed her hand and helped her board it. The golden beauty who was previously informed by her master that other than protecting him, he wanted her to pilot the helicopter he was going to buy, went to the pilot seat and began pushing different buttons on it. Virus and Ella sat at the back while looking at each other''s eyes, smiling from time to time. A couple of minutes later the helicopter started slowly elevating higher and higher as it flew away above the city night filled with light. Inside, Virus and Ella almost couldn''t hear the sound of the helicopter''s rotor blade spinning above them, as they were sitting side by side enjoying the view of the city below them which was filled with lights emitting from the cars and skyscrapers under them. They could see the city from under their feet because the bottom of the helicopter was transparent. Time passed as they continued watching the day of the city at night. A while later, Virus picked the bottle of wine which was prepared beforehand by Dean Pratt and poured two glasses from it, giving one to Ella while keeping the other one for himself, as they drank it sip by sip while enjoying their time together. Sometime after they had a glass each, Virus grabbed her by hand as he pulled her into his embrace, making the distance between them none. Being pulled into his embrace suddenly, Ella blushed while her body was touching her Ai. Ella''s head was now also on his chest as one of his hands were currently hugging her. Then a silence became dominant between them after that as they enjoyed the scenery from that position. But for Ella, it was a silence filled with lights in the shape of hearts, as she was feeling extremely sweet inside in his embrace. This was like a romantic scene which she witnessed only in the movies, but now, she was experiencing it herself for real. Though, she realized that just watching those movie scenes were nothing compared to experiencing it for herself. They were worlds apart from each other in essence. ''Oh my God... please calm down heart...he will realize it.'' She thought a little shyly, as her heart was beating like crazy about to jump out of her chest. She was unconsciously feeling, this was the most romantic scene in her life. It was at this moment that Virus all of a sudden separated her from his chest with his two hands put on her shoulders, as they each started gazing into the other''s eyes in that position. The wine they had just now, was adding a small feeling of being drunk to her which made her emotions run amok and her feelings much more intensified. Then at this moment, while they were still in that position, lost in each other''s eyes, Virus suddenly leaned over as he sealed her lips with his own and instantly, everything went quiet. Now, a couple was kissing high above in the sky with a city of colors under them. The golden beauty who was peeping stealthily, checking them from time to time, glanced back too, but instantly took her gaze back after seeing the scene in her line of sight. After that, she no longer looked back as her emotions were also entirely unknown. ___________ AROUND TWO HOURS AGO Outside 4 Times Square, currently, Amara was waiting inside her car like always as she was observing the entry of 4 Times Square from time to time. She was feeling completely disappointed while thinking Aizen would never appear here if she waited just like this, so she was thinking of coming up with another way to meet Aizen. She was just about to leave for the day, when her eyes fell on two people who had just left 4 Times square, just like her, a large number of other people were observing them too, lost in themselves. Spotting them, she immediately realized it was Aizen, so immediately getting off her car, she rushed at him, but before she could even pass the street, Aizen drove away with the golden beauty. Not giving up, she hurried back to her own car as she began following them. _________________ AT THE SAME TIME WITH VIRUS "Master, I think the car behind us is following us... if you park somewhere quiet, I''ll deal with it." The golden beauty told Virus who was driving at the moment. "I know... it''s okay, let her just follow us." Virus only replied as such before continuing his drive in silence, making the golden beauty confused as to why it was okay for that car to follow them. 93 Founded Then, they went to the suit shop where the golden beauty chose the black suit for Virus. At the suit shop, Amara didn''t follow after them because of the golden beauty being present there, she decided to wait longer to look for an opportunity when she would leave Aizen for a short period. After leaving the suit shop, they arrived at Ella''s house. Amara who followed them there, parked a little further than them, watching to figure what they were doing here. She witnessed them getting off the car when she felt like the golden beauty had glanced at her, but that gaze seemed to be random and only for a moment before it was taken back. Still, this made Amara suspicious as to whether the golden beauty had realized she was following them, but as she took her gaze back quickly, Amara started thinking she was being too paranoid. After that, the two walked in front of the house, and soon, the door was opened by a girl dressed in red. Seeing her made Amara''s face a little dark because she recognized the girl as she had seen her pictures in the report. According to Amara''s own words, she was okay with Aizen even two-timing and dating with both her and Ella, but Virus seemed to not be interested in doing that in the least. ''Just if you give me the opportunity... I''m sure you would choose me, it''s okay even if you two-time with me and that girl because even if you do that, you would pick me over her in the end... but why don''t you just give me the opportunity to do that?'' Amara thought. Then, as she continued to watch, Virus was dragged away by Ella to the car after her parents appeared and soon, they left together with the golden beauty. At their next stop, the trio strolled inside a building. Amara too, followed after them while being very careful so as not to be spotted by them. Soon, they were at the rooftop, where she stealthily observed them from the other side of the door to the rooftop. A while later, she realized that four men were coming her way, so immediately hiding somewhere, she waited for them to leave before continuing her watch again. Afterward, as she was monitoring them, the golden beauty piloted the helicopter as they left. Seeing Virus and Ella, sitting lovey-dovey in the back of the helicopter before they leave, Amara couldn''t stop herself from feeling jealous as she thought, ''That should''ve been me sitting there with Aizen!'' _________________ PRESENT TIME After receiving the news of thousands of similar deaths around the world in the same way as the death of their dear Russian CEO, the Russian government have been looking for the leader of the Heaven Assassin Organization to question her and today, they finally received the news of her exact location as they promptly sent their agents to invite her somewhere to talk with their leaders. ________________ After finding everyone in their base dead, filled with hate, sorrow, and guilt, the leader of the Heaven Organization, Electro, together with her left and right men, tried contacting the other members of Heaven which were spread all around the world, but to their dismay and confusion, they couldn''t contact any members at all! But soon, they received the news of random people dying all over the world which made their faces even more ashen and pale than ever before. Finally, they realized that the Heaven Organization had been annihilated completely and it was no more from that day onwards. Then, leaving the base together with all of the information related to their enemies, etc. They tried to find the person behind the massacre of their organization in order to take revenge, so the soul of every member of Heaven would be able to finally rest in peace. At the same time though, they wanted to empty all the wrath and fury they had been accumulating inside themselves since the day this all happened. Also, a couple of days after they abandoned their hidden base, the base was discovered by the government as they began identifying the dead bodies. Now, it''s been days since Electro has been looking for the killer but no matter how hard she searched, she could not even begin to guess who was behind the massacre. This was mainly because, the number of their enemies were too many, so no matter how they looked, they couldn''t find anyone with the capability of killing everyone at the same time. Their strongest suspicion was that the killer was someone with powers. As it was hard for them to even begin to understand how it was possible to kill those many people around the world at the same time. But this made things even more complicated as they became even more lost in the end. As the three were feeling completely lost with no idea about where to begin, some people suddenly appeared before them. Currently, Electro and her two men were in a desolate place at one of their temporary secret hideouts when a group led by a male dressing like a normal civilian appeared before them as he began talking with a Russian accent, "Hello miss Electro, the leader of former Heaven Assassin Organization." Electro, who has been extremely sensitive and on edge these past few days since the massacre, seeing some people appearing before her out of nowhere, instantly grew suspicious of them for being the killers who had slaughtered every member of their organization. She made sense of this suspicion thinking, ''How would they know who I am or where I was? These people just might be the people we''re looking for!'' After these thoughts went through her head, arcs of electricity began rising on her body as a bolt of lightning appeared on her hand as she questioned coldly, "Who are you? Did you kill my men?" Seeing the arcs of electricity around Electro, the person in the lead was very surprised as he mumbled, "So her name wasn''t Electro for nothing...". He was surprised because he didn''t know that her power was electricity. Even the people who had sent him were not certain about what her power was exactly. In reality, very few people were aware of her power of electricity. One of the reasons as to why no one knew her power was because everyone who had witnessed it were all dead. Another reason was that all of her targets always died with no particular symptoms whatsoever. They all just fell and died as their hearts always stopped beating with no rhyme or reason. Other than that, no burning marks or anything similar was ever found on the corpses of her targets, so most of the times they were deemed as experiencing a natural death caused by a normal cardiac arrest. And like this, it wasn''t even discovered that her targets have been assassinated most of the times. Prior to this, normally, she would''ve never shown her power easily to anyone, as she had put lots of effort in keeping it a secret from everyone else. But that was all under normal circumstances and prior to the death of her men. Now, she didn''t care at all about her power being revealed to the world because the only thing she wanted was to take revenge. So, with a bolt of lightning gathering inside her palm, she stared icily at the leader of the group who was in front of her with intense killing intent in her eyes, ready to attack. 94 The Moment of Death The man who seemed to be in charge of the other group quickly came out of his surprise, then turned completely calm and stated, "Miss Electro, please calm down. We are not the killers of your men and we have no hostility toward you, it''s the opposite, to be frank. Today, we came here to find you only because... the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Don''t you agree, miss Electro?" Listening to this, Electro held her hand as she questioned confusedly with a cold voice, "What do you mean by that?" "Okay, just dissipate that bold of lightning so we could be able to explain with a peace of mind..." The other man spoke again. Electro stayed quiet for a short period, before demanding, "Explain... or die!" As she said this sentence, that bolt of lightning also got stronger in intensity. With a helpless grin on his face, the other man knew this wasn''t working after listening to Electro''s words, so he voiced powerlessly, "Alright, alright..." "Let me begin with introducing ourselves to you then." The man muttered before saluting as he continued, "We are sent here by the Russian government to ask for your assistance and help in bringing the person behind ''The Moment of Death'' case to justice." "Not interested." Listening to his words, Electro only rejected coldly as she questioned further, "Just tell me who was behind all this, and we three shall personally bring him to our own justice!" The Russian man felt very dissatisfied when he heard the first part of her sentences, but then after she continued, he felt awkward about what she wanted to know, "...", Nevertheless, after a short pause, he notified her, "Miss Electro, to be truthful, the main reason we came after you was to ask who was behind this all... don''t you really know who it was? Didn''t you provoke someone you shouldn''t have? You should know at least who you''ve provoked, right?" Electro felt angry inside hearing his words as she felt like being insulted, so she uttered coldly, "So you guys are useless! Then leave this place immediately if you''re not looking for death." "Wait, wait, wait... miss Electro, maybe my higher-ups know already who was behind this heinous crime, if you would just follow us, we will bring you to a place where you can talk to them directly by your own mouth." Seeing her impatience and realizing she was about to attack if they didn''t go, the other man uttered his words in a hurry. Electro didn''t believe that they were aware of the identity of the person behind the massacre, but nonetheless, she couldn''t just pass the small possibility that they knew who was behind it, so after a long pause, she first glanced at her left and right men before voicing, "Okay, where shall we go?" Witnessing the result of his words, the man smiled as he stated more respectfully this time, "Please follow behind us miss Electro, it''s in the nearest town to this place." After that, they got on their cars and started driving to a direction while the trio assassins followed closely behind them with their own vehicle. On the way Viper asked Electro whether she believed their words, to which Electro replied with, "I don''t believe their words at all, but if there is a small possibility of them knowing the answer we have been looking for weeks, then I''m willing to take the risk of following them even if it''s a trap!" After that, they talked no more as they followed the car in front of them in silence. Forty minutes later, they entered a small town and directly went to a house in an abandoned part of the town. Getting off their cars, the trio assassins followed after the other man inside a house where they saw lots of monitors through which they seemed to be able to communicate with somewhere else. "Where are your higher-ups?" Electro stated with a chilly voice after witnessing no one around. "Wait for a moment please, let me connect you to them. You''re gonna talk to them online." After uttering these words, he sat behind one of the desks as he started pressing buttons after buttons. And soon, a person appeared on the screen of one of the big monitors, but that person''s face wasn''t clear. The moment it connected, the man saluted the other person inside the screen before he began talking, "Sir, we have located and brought the leader of Heaven together with two of her men to our hideout, if you would please, talk to her in person, but... they seem not to know who is behind the massacre at all." "I see, okay, I''ll talk to her myself, all of you other than her leave the room." The man inside the screen ordered, from his voice, it seemed to be a Russian middle-aged man''s voice. "Yes, sir." After they left, only Electro was left in the room, she looked at the screen and spoke coldly, "Just tell me... who was it?!" Without beating around the bush, the other person replied, "I don''t know." "Then there is no reason for me to be here, goodbye." Uttering this, she turned around wanting to leave, when the person in the screen talked, "Wait! Even though I don''t know who it was that killed your men, but I know a way through which we can probably at least narrow the list of suspects!" Electro was intrigued as she turned toward the screen again and asked, "What way?" Seeing her interested, the other man grinned, but her grin wasn''t clear on the screen. Then he said, "It''s simple... actually, there is someone else in our side who died in the same way your men died... the only thing we need to do is..." Talking until here, the man went quiet for a couple of seconds, but soon he continued, "The only thing we need to do is to compare our lists of suspects and see who appears on both lists! How is it? Do you accept my suggestion of comparing our lists?" Electro''s eyes started shining when she heard that there was someone else in the world who died the same way her men died. Then, they shone even brighter listening to this unknown man''s method as she replied, "I accept!" 95 Agreed And Rejected "But, we will do it my way... you show me the list of your suspects and I will choose the one which exists on mine, do you agree?" After accepting the other man''s offer, Electro put a condition on their cooperation. "..." A short pause after hearing her offer, the man on the other side replied, "Sure, I agree..." "Then let''s stop with the unnecessary chit chat then and just begin." Electro uttered impatiently. Then, the man seemed to stand up and disappeared from the screen for a while. Five minutes later, he finally came back with a file on his hand. "This is the file of our suspects, I will begin saying the names one by one and you tell me if you see any familiar names which exist on your list." He voiced. Then he began pronouncing different names to all of which Electro started shaking her head. "Osya Belsky" He said. Hearing the name, Electro shook her head. "Natalia Belkin" Again, she shook her head. "Jean Rose" "No." She said. "Anya Berezin" . . . _______________ The cycle of pronouncing a name and afterward Electro shaking her head continued for around half an hour. Most of the names on the list were the names of Russian women, which made it clear this Russian CEO was no decent man. For some of the names, she shook her head without any hesitation as she had never even heard of anything familiar to them, but she had to deliberate more carefully about some of them before shaking her head, so it took a while to run by the list. "Latisha August" "... No." "The Virus Industries" "No... WAIT!" After saying no, she suddenly remembered that two days before the massacre, they had sent four of their elites. She hadn''t suspected them before, because the massacre had happened only a day after the estimated time the four elites should''ve made an attempt on assassinating the CEO of that Virus Company. She thought it was impossible to respond back and massacre them all in just a day, so she hadn''t paid them much attention. But now, hearing it from the man inside the screen, alarms started ringing in her head, warning her, this was the result of an instinct she had acquired in her years as an assassin. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Seeing Electro''s face suddenly turn completely serious and perturbed. "That company is on our list too!" Coming out of her disturbed state of mind, Electro stated with a louder voice. Listening to her confirm the Virus Industries, a deep frown appeared on the unclear face of the middle-aged man but Electro could not see that. What she witnessed was that the man had just gotten deathly quiet all of a sudden. "So it''s them huh?" Finally said the man on the screen after his long silence, his voice was much colder and chillier by now. He started pondering about everything that had happened with the Virus Industries. They hadn''t suspected about the Virus industries much since the death of the Russian CEO because this conclusion was far-fetched mainly because the other CEOs that went against the Virus industries were still alive and kicking. But now that he considered them to be the top suspect, and how suspiciously they appeared on both their and the Heaven Organization''s list, he started doubting everything. He began thinking that maybe this wasn''t only an act against the Russian CEO alone, and it was that company''s way of getting back at both the Russian CEO and the Russian government who went against their will. "I will kill them all!" Electro who by now was emitting a strong killing intent from her eyes turned around and started walking out of the room, but before she could walk out, a voice called and stopped her in her tracks, "Miss Electro, wait!" "Do we have anything else left to talk about?" Electro stated coldly. "You want revenge right? We want the same! So... join us! You are a great woman with great capabilities and we could absolutely use those capabilities to its fullest potential against them if you do join us! Consider this offer very seriously. Just think...we have the same goal as you which is to destroy them completely!" The man uttered. Electro was truly tempted hearing the offer, but thinking further, she was determined to take revenge by her own hands alone, so she rejected quickly, "No... I will take my revenge by my own hands, I don''t need anyone''s help!" __________________ WITH VIRUS Kissing passionately for what felt like a short spark of time for the two but an eternity to another, their moist lips finally separated from each other, as they started gazing at each other from close proximity. Shortly after they separated, Virus began reckoning while gazing in her eyes, ''Her lips oddly feel sweet... and the natural fragrance which comes to me when I embrace her is... almost indescribable, the closest thing by which I can only nearly come to describing it is that... it''s very sweet just like her lips, with hits of vanilla mixed with hints of rose...maybe. It''s a natural scent which tempts me to do her all night...'' ____________________ TWO DAYS LATER ''I should check and see how much it has progressed so far, it must be close to its ends... so it should be finished soon enough.'' Virus wondered while sitting on the couch. A random television channel was playing in front of him, it was currently showing a comedy television series about a group of friends who spent most of their time in their New York apartment and a coffee shop. A while after his attention was drawn to his cultivation, turning the television off, he stood up and began walking toward a cubic box around forty centimeters in width, length, and height which had a hole on one side of it. The hole was big enough to fit a human''s palm inside it, or more precisely, it was big enough to fit in Virus'' palm in it. After grabbing it, he walked back and sat on the couch exactly in his previous location before putting his palm in it. Soon, a small 3D screen appeared above it, on which some futuristic language sentences started appearing before they all vanished entirely shortly afterward. Then, around thirty seconds later, a list appeared on the 3D screen in the same futuristic language. Its translation was the following: 1st Level: Cleansing The Skin [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 2nd Level: Cleansing The Flesh and Muscles [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 3rd Level: Cleansing The Organs [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 4th Level: Cleansing The Bloodvessels [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 5th Level: Cleansing The Blood [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 6th Level: Cleansing The Tendons and Ligaments [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 7th Level: Cleansing The Bones [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 8th Level: Cleansing The Bone Marrow [Immunity: 100%] [Impurities found= None] 9th Level: Cleansing The Nervous System [Immunity: 98.7%] [Impurities found= None] ''Hmmm, the immunity process this time has progressed even faster than I expected, it''s almost like it accelerates and gets faster on each level instead of getting slower... this should be due to... '' Taking his left palm out of the hole, Virus pondered after seeing the results on the 3D screen. 96 Blue Flame ''Well, the immunity process should be hundred percent in at most two hours, so I should get ready and begin the next and final level of the Purifying Stage...'' He estimated quickly in his mind as he decided to get ready for initiating the last level of his current stage. The final level was going to be completely different from the previous levels to a whole new degree. "Lil Belle..." With a voice louder than his normal volume, Virus called the golden beauty. Then, a couple of seconds later, the sound of her footsteps was heard together with her voice, "What is it, master?" Shortly afterward, she came out of a room as she was in Virus'' line of sight with a teapot and a cup of tea. Virus replied, "We need to go on a short trip to my atoll..." Listening to his words, the golden beauty turned around and uttered while walking away, "Okay master, let me just put these back..." "Wait... we will go after I taste your tea, lil Belle." Stopping the golden beauty in her tracks, Virus voiced. A broad smile of happiness appeared on the golden beauty''s face whose features Virus couldn''t see due to her still looking the other way. Then turning back to her master with a small smile on her face, she questioned, "But master, won''t you be late like that?" "It''s okay lil Belle, even if I''m late, it''s worth it... because... I''m trying the best tea in the world instead." Virus replied with a grin sitting on his face. After Virus enjoyed his cup of tea, they immediately left to the airport where they took off to their next destination. _________________ A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER - ALDABRA ATOLL Finally landing on Virus'' private atoll, the two walked out of the private jet where both the Island ugly and the Security ugly were waiting patiently for their master to come out. Seeing their master walk out, without any delay, they both bowed from their waists and saluted at him simultaneously without actually voicing anything. "Let''s not bother with the unnecessary stuff, it''s prepared, right?" Without beating around the bush, gazing at the Island ugly, he inquired. "Yes, master." The Island ugly who knew what his master meant by that question, replied. "Good, then lead the way." Virus commanded in response. Receiving the order, the Island ugly led the way to the SUV from where he drove directly to the place he had taken the CEO ugly previously on a tour, the underground world. When they were above the First floor, Witnessing the huge underground world in front of her, the golden beauty was amazed and fascinated. Prior to this, she didn''t know this magnificent place even existed, and now that she witnessed it, she stared with a frustrated gaze at Virus accompanied with a cute pout, while musing to herself, ''Master always keeps interesting things a secret from lil Belle...'' But Virus seemed not to have realized the golden beauty''s gaze as his own was directed at the small world in front of him. oon, when they were on the ground of this level, the see-through elevator stopped as its door opened. The moment the elevator opened, noises of worker robots working were heard from everywhere, but without paying any attention to any of them, Virus and the rest of the party started walking toward a specific direction. While he was on the way, a particular gigantic unknown tech caught his attention for a moment as he casually made a query without taking his eyes off of it, "Hmm, is this Shape Shifter Technology finished and ready for use?" The Island ugly who was aware that this question was directed at him replied promptly, "Yes master, it''s production is complete and fully usable." After that, without any further talking, they continued their way and soon enough, the four were standing in front of an enormous cubic metal which appeared to have been made of some unknown material. A while after staring at the enormous cubic metal, taking his eyes off of it, he directed his gaze at the Island ugly and threw a question at him, "Are the materials I ordered previously already found and placed in their own specific locations, exactly according to my words?" "Yes, master. Everything is prepared exactly the way you told me." He replied. "I see, good job." After confirming this, he turned around and told the golden beauty, "Lil Belle, I''m going to enter this cubic room, you keep watch outside." "Okay, master." Without any delay, she replied. "Oh also, keep this syringe with you, I''m gonna need it when I come out." Taking out the small futuristic syringe from his pocket, he gave it to the golden beauty. This was something he had prepared in his free time by himself. After giving her the small syringe, Virus walked to another side of the huge cube where it had a door at. Opening the door, he entered and closed the door behind himself without even taking the slightest of a glimpse at his back. Now, he was standing inside a room with every wall in every direction being completely white, this was inside of the gigantic cube. Some seconds after staying still, he mumbled, "Interface." And the moment these words came out of his mouth, 3D screens and texts with other 3D pictures started appearing all around him. Now, the whole room was filled with this huge 3D interface. ''Hmm, these are just random and meaningless unorganized codes. Let''s start making this thing ready.'' Thinking this, without moving in the least, all of the texts around him started changing, every code in the room were changing at the same time as they were being written anew. If only there was someone else in the room with Virus, that person would probably think the codes were complete gibberish as there were an infinite number of different shapes in them, almost no single code seemed the same. ''Hmm, now that the materials I ordered have been placed in their own correct spots, I should just optimize it, input the exact order of processing and programme everything else that is necessary, then everything would progress just fine.'' In a moment far lesser than a second, this thought went through Virus'' head as, at the same time, the codes and texts all around him started changing with an even faster speed and accelerated. An hour later, a countless number of codes and other unknown things were given to the cube, and ultimately at this moment, the cube was finally ready to start functioning and doing the job it was commanded by Virus to do. Now that everything was prepared, looking at the interface which existed all around him he thought, ''It''s all ready now'', then he mumbled in an low voice, "Let''s begin, Initiate." The moment he uttered these words, the white light which existed in every direction abruptly went off entirely as everything turned completely pitch black. Virus could no longer see anything around him. But this situation lasted only for around five minutes when eventually, sparks of blue flames started appearing in random places everywhere in the room. 97 The Internal Phase As time passed, the blue flames increased as he was soon surrounded by them. After the blue flames filled the room and could be seen everywhere, Virus was soon drowning in them while standing in a room filled with blue flames. However, when his body came into contact with the blue flames from head to toe, oddly, no burnt marks appeared anywhere on his body, as if the flames couldn''t burn him at all like they were incapable of burning anything. His clothes too, seemed to be completely fine and nothing happened to them, they were just fluttering in the intense blue flame. If anyone saw Virus in this situation, the first thought that would pop into his mind wouldn''t be to be suspicious of the fire, on the contrary, he would believe Virus had some kind of impossible to exist immunity to fire like in those fantasy novels they had read in the past. After more in-depth pondering, he would also assume that his clothes were made of a material which was resistant to fire. Right now, Virus was totally fine standing in the pool of blue flames. And according to his current features, it appeared he was feeling no pain whatsoever. Then raising his left hand in front of his face, he looked in amazement at his hand which was surrounded by blue fire. Currently, Virus was feeling a deep warmth that he had never before imagined to be possible, it was like he was burning, but he felt no pain, on the opposite, it was filling him with tinges of pleasure. He reckoned that this feeling was completely paradoxical. ____________________ Inside his body, after achieving the magnification of 1000x, at the level where you would be able to clearly see the details of the cells, right now, changes were occurring in his body inside every cell. The cells seemed to be vibrating as they were showering in flames. The flames seemed to have passed the surface of Virus'' body without the slightest of obstruction as of now, they existed inside every cell too. As time passed, small changes were occurring inside every cell, because as they vibrated and were placed under the direct effect of blue flames, some parts inside them were apparently starting to disappear. This was what the blue flame was doing at the moment. It was burning every impurity inside every cell while turning them into nothingness. This blue flame was a very special kind of flame which could only affect things at the size of cells or smaller as it only worked on the smallest structural and functional unit of organisms or organic matters such as cells. Another feature which made this flame very special was that it could be commanded to target or not target specific parts, material, matters, or things in the cells. This was a technology the future civilization was supposed to develop in the future. When Virus was programming and coding previously through the 3D interface which filled the whole room, one of the instructions he gave the 3D interface at that time was for it to not target anything necessary a cell contains, so he had to input everything which has to exist in the cell for it to function correctly, excluding the impurities. o now, the blue flame was actually targeting everything in the cells which was not on its safe list. Hours passed, but Virus was still standing in the middle of the room without moving in the least. As he continued standing there, he started pondering about the actions he undertook until now, ''In the past nine levels, what I have been doing was to purify and cleanse the space between the cells, which means I''ve been doing nothing to the cells.'' ''For example, during the second level which is Cleansing The Flesh and Muscles, if I had magnified to the level of cells, I would''ve witnessed that the impurities being banished from the body at that time was only between the cells rather than the cells themselves.'' ''The cultivators in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi think that their whole bodies would be purified completely if they were able to purify up to hundred percent at each level of the Purifying Stage while assuming the last existing level is the eighth level. They don''t actually know that what they''ve been cleansing in all of the eight levels altogether was only the space between the cells rather than inside them...'' ''Also, they know the brain exists, but they believe it''s too dangerous and impossible to go near to before having a high level of cultivation, so they leave it be until be.'' ''But in the future after discovering the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, the Earth''s civilization realized that what the cultivators had been doing was very incomplete. And after years of research, mankind developed their own system of levels for the Purifying Stage.'' ''They called the first to eighth level together with the ninth level which they had discovered and added themselves the External Phase while naming the tenth level the Internal Phase...'' ''External Phase was called as such because its focus was outside the cells while the Internal Phase was called that because in this phase, inside of the cells were targeted directly.'' Two more hours passed as Virus just stood there while his line of thought went to different matters and places in order to kill some boredom when finally, the flames started to die out and eventually disappeared entirely. After the blue flame was gone completely, he walked toward the door and went outside. Outside, the golden beauty was still standing there together with the Security and Island uglies. Without paying any attention to any of them, Virus directly walked in front of the golden beauty and mumbled, "Give me the syringe." Then taking it from the golden beauty''s hands, he directly injected it to himself. After seeing the syringe injected, the golden beauty spoke with a grin, "Welcome back, master." "What did you do inside this huge cube, master?" She asked shortly afterward. "I purified my body." Virus replied casually. Listening to his response, the golden beauty uttered with a dull voice, "Again?! When are you going to be done with this cleansing process of yours master..." "Haha, don''t worry, I''m done already." Virus answered with a short laugh. "That''s good to hear... anyway, what did you cleanse this time? And why did you inject yourself with that thing..." The curious natured golden beauty continued asking about the details she didn''t understand. "Well, the name of this level was Cleansing The Cells, so I''m sure lil Belle can guess what I did, and as for the syringe, it makes the part which I just purified immune like the previous levels." Virus patiently explained to her. "Cleansing The Cells? That sounds cool master!... Did you cleanse every cell in your body?" She voiced again but this time her eyes were shining more brightly, indicating that she was now more curious. "Haha, yes, of course, I purified every cell that exists in my body including my neurons, red blood cells, white blood cells, and even the bone cells." Virus clarified further seeing her funny sounding curiosity. 98 Immediate Effects Afterward, looking at the Island ugly, Virus opened his mouth asking about a matter the Island ugly had notified him before, "So, you told me you couldn''t find the Stabilizer Rapid Essence even with the Scanner anywhere, right?" The Island ugly replied after seeing his master''s attention was now fully on him, "Yes, master, I even looked at the approximate locations you told me they would probably exist at, but I couldn''t find it anywhere..." ''Hmmm... why does it cannot be found? Maybe... it still doesn''t exist at this time? Or maybe all of it was gathered by someone else?'' These thoughts went through Virus'' head after hearing the response. Then, when his deliberation was over, he spoke, "If that''s the case... we can only replace that with something else... something that is very similar to Stabilizer Rapid Essence..." ''Hmm... let''s search for something similar then...'' Deliberating in this line of thought, he started searching for anything similar which can be found and in less than a second, a result showed itself in his mind as the most similar result with almost the same properties. ''I see, Brisk Balance Fruit... so this is the most similar thing to Stabilizer Rapid Essence... however, I found this in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi database... it seems I would need to go on another trip.'' Virus concluded inside. "I know another replacement very similar to it... from now on, you don''t need to be worried about this matter anymore, because I''m gonna go find it myself." Virus uttered after making the decision to go look for the material himself, he was doing this because even if he went looking for it, it wasn''t clear how much time it would take for him to find it, but he knew he would be able to find it much faster than the other uglies. And, he was in a hurry to find it as quick as possible, because it was something essential for his cultivation to continue. "Yes, master. When are you leaving? And... will I be following you?" The Island ugly asked. "I''ll leave soon, but first, I need to go back and finish some matters and give some new orders before leaving. Also, you won''t be following me on this trip, there are lots of things for you to do here." Virus continued, "Now, putting that matter aside, go and bring me one of those High-Frequency Vibration Ring Weapons." "Yes, master." Obeying his words without any kind of questioning as to why he needed it, the Island ugly left for a short period of time before returning with a ring in his palm. "Here it is master." After coming back with the ring, he presented it to him respectfully with two hands. After the ring was delivered, the party of four left for the airport, and from there, the golden beauty and Virus left promptly without any delay. Inside the private jet, Virus finally had the time to start checking the immediate changes that had occurred on his body now that no impurities were left in his body. Beginning from the first level, he focused all of his attention on his skin trying to remember how it felt before and after the cleansing. Quickly, he realized the difference easily, he felt his skin could now breathe and feel the air much better than in the past. And with the first and tenth level complementing each other, this feeling intensified even further. Every move he made with his body felt like he was being massaged by someone or as if he was stretching his body in pleasure, every move he made with his flesh and muscles was just filled with pleasure. His organs were all working a little better than in the past, for example, his lung could absorb oxygen more. His blood vessels were all very clean and unobstructed to the point he could almost feel the easy flow of his pumping blood through his veins. His blood was optimized to perfection in a way that it consisted of only things which were needed for the body at the most standard level, and no harmful or unnecessary properties or elements could be detected in them, they also functioned more superiorly compared to the past. His nervous system''s function too was eclipsing the past, because now, all the impurities were removed from all over the nerves and neurons throughout his body. His sense of touch, smell, eyesight, taste, and hearing had heightened a little now and his nerves and neurons could transfer and receive the messages to and from the brain much easier, so with these, even his reaction speed had improved by a small amount. The only thing which didn''t feel much different was the results of levels related to his bones and bone marrow, but Virus knew its differences would be realized in the long run, because from now on with no harmful properties or elements entering and existing in them, he, for example, won''t have weak bones or the blood produced would be in perfect shape, etc. And now, after purifying all of his cells, he noticed improvements in all of the past levels, capabilities, even if the improvement was small. But more important than that, he could feel his life much easier now, even the act of just standing in a place without doing anything or the simple act of breathing was filled with pleasure for him. In simpler words, he was feeling much lighter and much more connected to the world around him. But at the end of the day, all of this was not the main reason for him to spend this much of his time purifying every part of his body including the cells. _________________ THE NEXT DAY Virus was currently inside his car driving toward Ella''s university together with the golden beauty, because he wanted to see her and notify her of the news of his departure in person. Before moving, he had checked Ella''s location and witnessing her exact location, he started driving there. After arriving at the university, he and the golden beauty got off the car as they started moving toward her current class. Because it was the class period for most students, the campus was a lot emptier than the usual, however, there were some male and female students here and there passing by or sitting somewhere. Expectedly, those people all stopped in their tracks and even their thought process froze as their focus and attention were all targeted at these two charming and beautiful people. One of the more confident girls who was walking toward the two even stopped and tried to start a conversation with Virus, but without any change on his walking speed whatsoever, Virus passed by her together with the golden beauty. Only after they had walked away from her and were some steps further, did he respond with, "I have a girlfriend." Then no longer wasting any more thoughts on her, he continued his way. When they were finally in front of the class Ella was currently at, he looked at the golden beauty by his side and mumbled, "You wait here and keep watch lil Belle, I''ll be back soon." 99 Getting Ready Then entering the conference classroom quietly from the back door, where no one could see him unless they looked back, he directly walked and sat beside Ella without drawing any attention on himself. Sitting by her side, he promptly moved his mouth near her ear as he whispered into it with a small blow of air hitting her ear, "Hey my lovely Elle." Ella, who was entirely focused on the lesson was startled out of it by the sudden ticklish puff of air and the familiar voice she heard right beside her ear. Promptly turning her head to make sure who it was, she was greatly surprised to see it was truly her boyfriend sitting by her side, Aizen! "Why are you here?" Ella whispered surprisedly with a lower voice. Listening to her words, Virus replied with a tone of faking sadness, "Sigh, do you dislike me being here that much to ask why I''m here?" "That''s not what I meant!" She answered raising her voice a little unconsciously. Because of her louder voice, the attention of some students near her was drawn to her as they looked back at her. But then, other than boys, most girls couldn''t take their eyes off of the person they had accidentally gazed at. The male professor''s attention too was drawn to that seat, but soon he took it back and continued his lesson. "Haha, kidding my lovely Elle, by this high voice of yours it''s clearly obvious that it''s the opposite and you even want others to realize and see your boyfriend with their own eyes." With a short laugh, Virus responded, but this response made Ella''s level of frustration increase instead of decreasing. "Sigh... really... why are you here Ai?" She asked further. "Well, actually I wanted to notify you of something personally instead of doing it over our communicative line, because... I''m going on a trip... and you won''t be able to see me and contact me until I come back like the previous time." Virus continued whispering beside her ear. Listening to the words he phrased, Ella felt a rush inside herself, like she was impatient and couldn''t tolerate being unable to contact or see him again. Still, putting that feeling aside immediately, she asked, "How much long would it take?" Understanding what she meant by that question, Virus replied honestly, "It might take a week, or a year... it''s something I can''t predict without further information." That rush she was feeling which was similar to stress boiled inside her again after hearing it could even take a year before he returned, so turning her head, she looked straight into Virus'' eyes first and whispered after a short gaze, "Do you have to go?" Without any hesitation whatsoever, Virus answered, "Yes." "... I see... although I would miss you and it''s going to be hard... but if you must go... then go, I''ll wait for you to come back." Ella answered back, listening to the reply he gave without any delay. Honestly, she felt a little downcast because of Virus'' instant response, but putting that feeling aside, she immediately decided to respect his decision because that''s what two people should do for their relationship to truly work. After talking about some other matters, Virus said goodbye to her and left the university together with the golden beauty. Then, after going back to 4 Times Square and sending the golden beauty to the highest floor by herself, he walked directly to the CEO ugly''s office. This was the first time he was going to the CEO ugly by himself. After arriving at his office, the CEO ugly''s secretary was at first dumbfounded by Virus'' looks, but coming out of it soon, she stopped him, "Excuse me... do you have an appointment with Mr. Greg?" Seeing her stop him, Virus stopped in his track as he looked at the secretary who had stopped him and replied, "No." "Then you can''t enter there... please go back." She declared. Virus was truly amused hearing that he was rejected from meeting his own company''s CEO by this little girl who seemed to be around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, but wanting to continue for little while more, he stated further, "What if I still insist on entering?" Even though the secretary was impressed by his looks, but she was a very serious person while working and took the matters of work very seriously so seeing the other person not wanting to cooperate, she got angry and declared, "Then I would have to call the security to escort you out of the building." "Haha... you''re an amusing person, but what shall we do... I still insist on meeting him, little girl." Virus expressed after laughing out loud. Listening to him call her little girl, she was even angrier as she grabbed the telephone and called security, telling them to send some people to escort an intruder outside. At the same time, the CEO ugly who heard the laugh came out of his office, asking, "What''s going on?!" But seeing it was Virus standing outside his office, he was stupefied. Soon, coming out of his shocked state, he was about to bow like always, when the secretary interrupted, "Mr. Greg, this person was trying to intrude into your office, but don''t worry... I''ve called the security to escort him out already." Listening to this he felt horrified inside as predicting how Virus would react to different matters were unpredictable most of the times. But without saying anything he just bowed and waited for his master to give permission for him to talk. "CEO ugly, from now on, you don''t need to get permission before talking, pass over this order to the other uglies too." Virus stated after thinking that it was truly bothersome to grant them permission every time before they talked. After a short surprise and being moved, the CEO ugly began talking, "I shall do as I''m ordered, Mr. chairman. Also, I will immediately fire her and deal with her according to your wishes." The secretary was terrified by now as beads of sweat were pouring down her face, she felt so weak on her legs that she even peed herself a little after hearing the word ''chairman'' and listening that she was going to be fired soon. Listening to him wanting to fire her, Virus laughed loudly again as he uttered, "Haha... no need for that, this little girl was just doing her job... and she doesn''t even know me..." "I shall follow as I''m ordered then, please come in." The CEO ugly spoke respectfully. Afterward, they both entered the office as they closed the door behind them, leaving the dumbfounded, terrified and then relieved secretary behind. Upon entering, Virus sat on the couch while the CEO ugly stood standing there in front of her master as he spoke, "Master, you could''ve just told me to come over to you... there was no need for you to bother and come all the way down here..." "That doesn''t matter, anyway, I came to you because I need to pass over some orders before leaving on my trip." Virus notified him. "Master''s going on a trip?!" The CEO ugly was surprised. 100 Spaceship "Yes, the length of this trip is unknown as it might take from days to years. So in this period in which I''m gone, everything related to the company and its expansion will be entirely handed over to you. I will also give you more advanced blueprints so you won''t have any problems with further development." Virus began passing over his orders and words. "Furthermore, you can deal with the government''s agent on the arranged meeting day as I give you full permission on this matter to you. But, make them add some must-have clauses on the contract." Virus began explaining his next order. "What clauses master?" The CEO ugly asked. "First, they have to accept and fulfill every request we have from now on as long as the country has the power to make it happen. And second, the company will always have the final say in everything, even eliminating the contract, which means we can eliminate the contract whenever we want. Tell them these two clauses must be in the contract and if they don''t agree just deny the cooperation. Other than these two clauses, you can handle the rest and add the other cautionary, necessary, or beneficial clauses yourself. Just... don''t take it easy on them." Virus described in-depth. "I shall do as I''m ordered, master." The CEO ugly replied. "Also, the other matter related to the initial capital is already on progress and some countries have already realized it, they are just keeping it under wraps, but it will be realized by everyone soon. If I''m not back by then, just deal with it yourself as you see fit." Virus voiced as the CEO ugly listened intently. Gazing into his eyes, he continued, "That was all, just handle the rest of the things that pops up by yourself." "Yes, I will try my best to accomplish everything in the best way possible." The CEO ugly asserted. Standing up, Virus was about to leave but before leaving he took a ring from his pocket and handed it over to the CEO ugly as he stated, "Take this, you''re gonna need it. Use it when necessary." The CEO ugly was confused as to what the ring was and for what reason his master was giving it to him. But seeing that his master wasn''t commenting and explaining why he was giving it to him, the CEO ugly too didn''t question further. He only suspected that it was like the black ring on his master''s finger, but because he wasn''t sure, he just stopped pondering about it for now. So, taking the ring, he spoke, "Thank you, master." Nodding his head with a small smile, he left the office while the CEO ugly followed after him outside the office, where Virus ordered him to go back to what he was doing before. Outside the office, the CEO ugly''s secretary was standing impatiently like she was waiting for someone, and the moment she saw Virus, with downturned head, she spoke apologetically, "I''m so sorry Mr. Chairman, I didn''t know your identity... also... thank you." Witnessing this, Virus just made a half small before leaving without making any comments. Afterward, he directly went to the highest floor where the golden beauty was currently at. When he arrived, the golden beauty inquired after seeing him back, "Did you pass along your orders master?" Hearing this, he responded, "Yes, now that I''ve notified Ella and passed my orders, we''re ready to go. Did you pack your essential and necessary stuff?" "Yes master, let''s go." She uttered, with a bag in her hand. Virus thought this bag was probably filled with clothes or other unknown stuff. Then, they left to the airport again, and from there, they took off to the atoll again with the private jet. ________________ A couple of hours later, they were back to the atoll again where the two uglies were waiting like the previous time. Getting off of the private jet, they walked toward the two uglies and when they were by each others'' side, the two uglies greeted first by uttering, "Welcome back, master." They initiated the conversation because the CEO ugly had already notified them that they didn''t need to receive permission before speaking in front of their master anymore, which made them exhilarated and moved. Without paying any attention to their words, Virus directed his gaze at the Security ugly and stated with a grin, "Go, leave to New York at once." The Security ugly was bewildered hearing this, nevertheless, he inquired, "To do what, master?" "Go and protect my girlfriend from the shadows, but act only when it''s absolutely necessary at dangerous situations. So what you need to do is to secretly follow her everywhere, and when a situation arises where she can''t handle it herself, help her deal with it or escape with her if even you can''t manage it. Though there won''t be many people who would be able to threaten my current Ella, it''s better to be safe than sorry." Virus described the Security ugly''s new job, which was to keep Ella secure now. The Security ugly was exuberant listening to this as he thought jovially, ''Finally, I''m out of this monotonous island, I''m going to have some fun soon, haha...'' But outside he uttered, "I shall do as I''m ordered master, but who will be in charge of the security on the atoll?" Listening to this, Virus changed his gaze at the Island ugly and asked, "You can both take care of the matters of the island together with its security right?" "Yes, I can master." The Island ugly replied promptly. Then changing his gaze back to the Security ugly, he stated, "Then it''s solved, but remember to be discreet. Also, this job is only temporary, I already have another responsibility in mind for you, but that shall remain for another time after I come back. Go now, you can leave with this private jet." After that, giving back the marble which was used for scanning the atoll to the Island ugly, the Security ugly promptly left to New York. Virus and the other two also went to the location where the spaceship was parked at without delaying any further. When they were in front of the parked ship, Virus first dismissed the Island ugly before boarding the spaceship together with the golden beauty. Going inside the spaceship, the golden beauty looked around at the interior of the spaceship which was filled with blue and white lights and wondered, ''This spaceship still fascinates me even though it''s already the second time I''m inside it.'' Meanwhile, Virus just casually sat on one of the comfortable couches. Soon, without anyone touching anything, the spaceship started moving by itself after getting invisible. Though all of these were not being done by the spaceship itself as it still wasn''t equipped with an AI. It was Virus who controlled the spaceship remotely. Then, the spaceship started flying outside the atmosphere of Earth with extremely fast speed and soon, they were a long distance away from the planet. Currently, from the place they were at, Earth seemed almost only like a ball. Suddenly, a rift opened in front of them and the spaceship entered it without slowning down in the least. Then, the rift disappeared along with spaceship and its two passengers. 101 Cultivation Earth Witnessing the rift opened further from Earth than last time, the golden beauty promptly found it odd as she questioned, "Master, why aren''t we opening a rift like the last time? And where are we going exactly?" Hearing these inquiries, Virus began explaining patiently, "There is a reason behind this actually, the previous time we entered the portal when we went to the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, I actually didn''t know that an Earth exists on the other side too... because... in my own original time, there was no Earth in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. Now I''m not sure why it didn''t exist in my original time, maybe something will happen in the near or far future that makes it destroyed, or maybe it''s an anomaly related to time which I''m not aware of or something different altogether..." Listening to the explanation, the golden beauty confusedly inquired further, "What... what does this all have to do with my question, master?" Looking into her eyes, he responded, "It has a lot to do with your question lil Belle. You see, if I knew that Earth exists on that multiverse, I would''ve never opened the portal on our own Earth and pop out on the other one... because first of all, I have no idea how strong the cultivators on that Cultivation Earth is and I have no knowledge of them at all... Secondly, even though this is very unlikely, but if they are powerful enough in their cultivation they would be able to sense the opened rift at least, because I can only make the spaceship invisible and cloaked, which means that the rift we open is completely visible even to the naked eye." "But why does it matter if we are cloaked master? I mean, either way, they won''t be able to find us..." After hearing the explanations, the golden beauty still couldn''t grasp the reason behind this situation as she pondered, ''If we are cloaked and unable to be found... why does it matter if they find the rift?'' "Well, that''s true, but if by any chance they are at a stage where they are able to sense the rift, they will start suspecting things if these rifts continue to be opened near them." Virus clarified his reasoning further. "And let me tell you, some of these cultivators are smart people with powerful analysis capabilities, so if they start to suspect the rifts, then the measurements they would take are unknown. For example, they might instantly attack the rift the moment it opens, which would expose us." Virus concluded. "I see... I think I understand now master... so that''s why you opened the rift further from Earth." The golden beauty uttered with a glimmer of comprehension passing through her eyes. Virus delineated more, "Yeah, because like this the odds of the rift being found is lower even if they have the capability to sense the rift as it''s far away." Then, returning to her other question, he continued, "It''s good that you have a grasp of the situation now... also, you asked me where we are going previously... well, our destination is currently unknown. But if I wanna answer that in a simple way... we are just going to roam this Cultivation World of Qi to find the ''Brisk Balance Fruit''." "Now... let me turn the Scanner on, so the moment we are close by to the ''Brisk Balance Fruit'' it would notify us." Virus stated further as he began turning the scanner on while inputting the data and characteristics of the object he needed. By now, they were on the other side of the rift, but without stopping in front of it, the spaceship just continued its path which was horizontal to the Cultivation Earth. A couple of minutes later, the moment he had inputted enough data to the Scanner, it started beeping as a 3D map showed itself above the Scanner with a red dot blinking somewhere in the map. Hearing the beeping sound the moment he inputted the data and seeing the red dot blinking on the 3D map, Virus was surprised and a little startled as his eyes went almost wide-opened. "No way we are this much in luck..." After being startled for a short moment, Virus opened his mouth in surprise. "What happened, master?" The golden beauty beseeched witnessing her master acting astonished. "It seems we''re in luck lil Belle, the Scanner is pinpointing the location of a ''Brisk Balance Fruit'' near us.... hmm, it''s... on the Cultivation Earth... but this ''Brisk Balance Fruit'' is supposed to be a rare object..." He began clarifying the situation to the golden beauty again while also pondering to himself at the same time. "Does that mean we''re gonna go back soon?" The golden beauty queried. "Well, we need to go see where it is first before trying to answer that question, but... probably yes." Virus replied uncertainly, then changed the direction of the spaceship toward the Cultivation Earth. Sometime later, the spaceship was hovering invisible and cloaked exactly above an enormous pagoda which was made on a mountain range. There were other smaller pagodas too in the distance or close to the enormous pagoda. Also, there were lots of people who were walking around on the mountain range. There were some caves too in some places on the mountain range to which some people were commuting to and from. Currently, inside the spaceship, Virus was looking at the red dot on the 3D screen which was pinpointing somewhere in the middle of the enormously long pagoda. After staying silent for a short while, he breathed a helpless sigh and voiced, "It seems this won''t be as easy as I thought." "Why master?" Like always, the golden beauty was curious to understand what her master meant by his words. "Well... you see, it seems this place is a sect or a cultivation school of some sorts, so we can''t just go and take the ''Brisk Balance Fruit''." Virus patiently explained to her as usual. Listening to this, after pondering on the matter for a short period of time, she inquired further, "Can''t we just sneak in and steal it from them then run away with the spaceship?" _________________ The moment the rift had opened, Virus was already a long distance away from the rift. The rift was still opened for a while after they were gone as there was a deadly silence around the rift which was in the middle of space with no one around. However, this silence didn''t last long, because soon, someone appeared beside the rift all of a sudden, looking silently at the rift which seemed to be closing as more time passed. After a while of silence, he eventually opened his mouth breaking the absolute silence around him, "This rift opened once again... what''s going on?" Oddly, he could speak even in vacuum space as his voice spread to the space around him. If anyone else was around, that person would also be able to hear his voice very clearly. "This can''t be a coincidence... something suspicious is going on here and I need to figure out what that is as soon as possible." He continued. From his looks and features, he seemed to be a very old man with long hair and a long beard, both as white as snow. Amazingly though, he appeared to be entirely healthy while exuding a very ancient aura from his entire being, especially his eyes. 102 How Do I Look? After pondering on the matter for a short period of time, she inquired further, "Can''t we just sneak in and steal it from them and then run away with the spaceship?" "No, I don''t think that''s possible lil Belle, because there is only a single one of this fruit on the whole planet, and according to the place it is placed, it should be something extremely precious to them... so in conclusion, they won''t leave it unprotected. On the contrary, there must be very extreme measures of security around the fruit if I''m not mistaken..." Virus explained. "Then... can''t we just attack with the spaceship and level everything to the ground?" She asked further. Listening to this question, Virus expounded on the matter, "That''s too risky, because we have no idea how strong the cultivators at this place are, and also, this spaceship is not as strong as you think, if the cultivators are higher than what the spaceship could handle... we''re going to be doomed." "Then what do we do master?" She again asked back, confused about what they could do if stealing the fruit or getting the fruit by force were both not an option. "Hmm... let''s see" Afterward, Virus began roaming around with the spaceship, listening to what the people who were commuting were talking about. He already knew how he should at least begin his plan of earning the fruit, but he needed further information to set his plans in motion. "I''m sure senior sister Astes would win, she''s definitely the best in Alchemy among the Superior Disciples in the sect." A random person stated with his eyes shining brightly. "Yeah! There is no way anyone would be able to defeat senior sister in the match." The other person replied to the previous person. "So it''s a sect." Virus mumbled hearing this conversation. After that, Virus continued listening to their conversation, but it wasn''t helpful at all as they mostly talked about either how beautiful their senior sister Astes was or similar matters related to that. Changing the location, Virus started listening to other disciples'' conversations too, but they were not helpful by much as no one spoke about the information Virus needed. Changing his location, he went to the outskirts of the sect, where less important disciples seemed to live at. Then, he began listening to different disciples'' conversations when finally, he heard the conversation he wanted to hear. Currently, two male disciples were walking toward a direction while one of the males was walking a little ahead of the other male. "Big brother, the monthly inferior disciple recruitment is tomorrow... you previously told me to notify you one day before its date." The skinny young man who appeared to be around sixteen years of age informed the other male who was walking some steps ahead of him. "Is that so? Then go pass the news to Alice too, she''s very forgetful of such matters just like me, we''re both quite bad at keeping a track of time... Go... notify her, tell her to participate at tomorrow''s recruitment." In response to the notification, the other person stated. In the meantime, inside the spaceship, Virus muttered, "So it''s tomorrow huh..." The golden beauty who clearly heard the conversation between the two males, listening to her master''s muttering, got surprised, "Master... don''t tell me you''re gonna participate at tomorrow''s recruitment thingy?" With a grin of amusement, Virus replied, "That''s exactly what I''m gonna do... I mean why not? This seems to be the easiest way to get the ''Brisk Balance Fruit'', and more importantly, it sounds interesting..." "Oh... okay... but what do we do now? Just wait until tomorrow?" After being convinced by her master''s response, she inquired. "We''re going back first." Virus said. But, hearing his answer, the golden beauty couldn''t help but be surprised once again, "Eh... why are we going back? Didn''t you just say you''re going to participate at tomorrow''s recruitment?" "Haha, just be patient. You will understand soon enough." Virus laughed out loud as he guided the spaceship outside the atmosphere of the Cultivation Earth. Then, When Virus felt like the spaceship was sufficiently far from the planet, he opened a rift as they disappeared into it. ________________ Coming back to Earth, Virus led the spaceship directly to his atoll and parked it in its original place. At the main building on the atoll, when the invisibility of the spaceship was turned off, the Island ugly was instantly aware of his master''s return. So very confused, he promptly drove the SUV to the spaceship, wanting to pick them up. Getting on the car together with Bella, Virus commanded, "Take us to the main building, we''re going to the First Underground World Floor." "Yes, master." Receiving the order, without any questioning as to why they were back or why they were going to the first floor, the Island ugly just drove the car toward the main building which had the entry to the underground world. A while later, the trio arrived at the main building and from there, they directly went down toward the first floor. In the meantime, the golden beauty was still unclear about the reason as to why they had come back. But, even though she was extremely curious and wanted to know the truth, she asked nothing at all while trying her best to be patient like her master had asked. Finally arriving on the first floor, the beauty and the ugly began following closely behind Virus who seemed to be walking in a specific direction. And some minutes later, he eventually stopped in front of an enormous black piece of technology which had momentarily drawn his attention the previous time he was here. Seeing her master cease to move in front of the Shape-Shifter technology, the golden beauty finally had a hunch about what her master wanted to do so filled with doubt, she asked, "master... don''t tell me you want to shapeshift your body?" "That''s right." Virus replied without any hesitation together with a small on his face. "But why?... " The golden beauty was honestly even more confused now after hearing her master''s reply. "Well, it''s something that has to do with the recruitment. Think, right now, My body''s age is around twenty-seven years old, and I haven''t even begun cultivating, so... if I participate at the recruitment with this age of mine, they would all look at me with filled with disdain before throwing me out." After clarifying his reasons a little bit, Virus said no more as he walked toward the Shape-Shifter technology. Then, opening its entry, he went inside. The space inside the Shape-Shifter technology was very narrow with almost no space to walk around. So after entering, Virus just lay down on its floor and began giving different commands to the 3D screen which appeared in his line of sight. _________________ ONE HOUR LATER It was at this moment that the golden beauty and the Island ugly finally witnessed the door of the Shape-Shifter technology open. But what they saw next made them experience something almost indescribable which made them both dumbfounded and stupefied! Because right at this moment, a male who looked around seventeen years of age with a height of almost 175 cm exited the Shape-Shifter technology, to which their master had entered previously. Walking with a smile plastered on his face, the teenager voiced, "How do I look, lil Belle?" 103 Storm The teenager standing in front of them had jet black hair with large dull emerald eyes, which after mixing with his alabaster skin, created a feature that complemented one another and screened a face which would be seen as a rather good-looking young teenager by most people. Even though it wasn''t considered very handsome, everyone would agree that this look was definitely of a higher grade than an average face, and some would certainly say that he could be considered handsome. "Master... is that really you?" After gathering her lost wits together, looking at this oval faced teenager with low curved eyebrows in front of her, the golden beauty couldn''t help but ask. "Haha, who else would it be?" Virus stated with a laugh which was emphasizing his hawk nose a little. Still astonished, she uttered, "That''s amazing master! How did you do it? Is the Shape-Shifter technology really that capable to be able to shapeshift your whole being? I mean... you look so young and even your height is shorter now... how is that possible? Master... did you perhaps abandon your previous body and entered a new one?!" "Of course not, my body is still the same one as before, only I''ve made its shape change and made some modifications to it." Virus explained trying to enlighten the golden beauty. "But, the mass in your body is definitely a lot lesser than before with your body being smaller, where did the rest of your body go to then, master?" Still confused, she questioned. "Haha, a great question, actually the main function of the Shape-Shifter technology is to compress the matters in the body without making any changes to it... hmm... just look at it this way, which would make you understand better... imagine all the cells inside my body are compressed more closely together and so, the space between them is lessened, then the result is that my body gets smaller, with literally being the same in essence and everything else. Also, other than compression, it has another function called decompression which''s use I''m sure you are able to guess." Virus put a pondering expression on his face as he began describing what the Shape-Shifter technology is in the simplest way he could. "Ohh, so it works like that, but how did your eyes and hair color change too if it''s function is to compress the body and modify it however you want." The golden beauty inquired, putting her doubt on the table. "Well, that''s because other than this main task, it has some other functions added to it, like the technology to change the color of the eye and hair in an entirely natural way." Virus delineated further. With shining eyes, she inquired, "Really? That''s so cool! Master has changed his appearance... I want to do the same..." Suddenly stopping in the middle of her words, her feature turned a little downcast, as she questioned, "But is it even possible with this artificial body of mine to..." Virus wasn''t going to change her appearance at first, but seeing her dispirited expression, he decided against it and stated, "Of course you can shapeshift too, only... you can only shape-shift your external skin and flesh on the surface of your body, which means... you won''t be able to change your height at all." Listening to this response, her eyes began glimmering with hope as she voiced, "Master... then please help me change my appearance, make my face more normal, like your current face." "Alright... go in... oh, do you have any requests for the shape of your body?" He added after agreeing. "No, you can do whatever you want with my face and body master." Saying this, she entered the Shape Shifter technology with no more words. After she entered, she saw that a 3D screen had appeared by her side as it started being coded by itself without anyone commanding it, but the golden beauty was aware that this action was being done by her master. An hour later, the entry opened as a young Bella who appeared to be around sixteen years of age exited the Shape-Shifter technology. Actually, her age didn''t seem much different than her previous face and even her height was the same. But, everything else about her had changed completely. Now, she was a brunette girl, with lush lips of pink. Looking at her now cute button nose, Virus couldn''t stop himself from grinning as he jokingly uttered, "You''re an average beauty now... almost a beauty... now, we''re both just above the average look other people has... anyway, how is it? Do you like your new face?" Listening to this, Bella immediately went beside one of the technologies which were made with mirror-like material. Then, looking at her own reflection, she couldn''t help but gasp as she thought, ''My face structure is catlike and rosy, my eyebrows are arched, and my eyes'' color is... dark onyx I suppose...'' Looking at her feature left and right, the golden beauty who was no longer the golden beauty of the past smiled at herself in the mirror as she murmured, "I like it, even though this feature is not otherworldly like my previous face, but at least... this face of mine suits master''s new face more." "What did you say, lil Belle?" Listening to the golden beauty''s low mumbling, Virus questioned with a broad smile hanging from his face. "Nothing, I''m just saying I do really like my new face, master!" She stated, then remembering something else, a little worried, she queried, "But master, can you still go back to your previous original face? I mean... do you need to program your face to look like before or can you do something so it would turn back to your previous original feature without any modifications?" Listening to her concern, Virus replied, "Of course I can go back! I just need to go back in and press the hovering 3D ''Undo Compression'' button and just like that, my body would turn back to its previous state entirely." "Okay, enough with this, now that we''re both ready, let''s go back." Voicing this, Virus turned around as the golden beauty and the Island ugly followed closely behind. Previously, witnessing the golden beauty change her outward appearance, the Island ugly''s eyes began to shine like never before almost to the level of insanity. He then began thinking that he would do anything to make his outward appearance more handsome. But thinking about his master''s unknown reaction if he changed his appearance without gaining permission first, scared him back to the level of his normal mentality. This desire to be more handsome was like an inferiority complex inside the Island ugly now. Even though he was used to his ugly face since long ago, but imagining having a more handsome face nonetheless made him excited. Afterward, he tried many times to open his mouth to ask for permission to change his physical appearance, but no matter what, he couldn''t bring himself to open his mouth and simply ask! In the end, they walked toward the outside of the underground world and the two soon flew back to the Cultivation Earth again. After they passed through the rift, they were already long gone from the spot of the rift, but the moment they were gone, suddenly an enormous storm appeared which covered a large area around the rift. 104 Another Storm ON THE ORIGINAL EARTH OF TECHNOLOGY Everything seemed completely quiet on the surface at the moment, but behind this surface, without the knowledge of any of the common people, a crisis of brewing. The size of this crisis was so big to the degree of it being pandemic and threatening the whole of humanity! Currently, every country around the world, enemy or friend were at a secret meeting. Presidents, kings, supreme leaders, etc. All of them were discussing, trying to think of a solution for this pandemic problem they were facing at the moment. ____________________ AT THE MEETING THAT WAS BEING HELD The highest authority of each country was present in the meeting that being held right now, with the president of the United States being the one to arrange the meeting. They were at this moment looking at each other with pale faces, as hopelessness was plastered on all of their faces. The enemy countries were no longer looking at each other with hatred, the friend countries weren''t trying to flatter each other. Only an atmosphere of despair was dominant in the gigantic secret press conference room. "We don''t know when this had begun to spread... but we''re late now... it''s already too late." The president of the United States stated with a face that held almost no hope. Then he continued, "The only thing we can do now is to gather the best experts of that field we each have in our country and bring them together so they would be able to think of the best solution in the shortest period of time if that''s possible at all! Who knows, maybe after they all combine each other''s knowledge, they would be able to think of a solution." "Can''t we do anything else other than this? I mean... America is the most advanced in the world, right? America must''ve already thought of a solution right? Just let us in Mr. President... come on!" The King of Saudi Arabia voiced with a tone that indirectly accusing America to already having the solution to this problem. "Do you think I''m stupid enough to hide the solution if I had one? This is no longer the talk of benefiting the country or whatnot, this problem concerns the whole humanity!" The President of the United States replied with a harsh voice like he was greatly insulted. "Anyway, let''s bring all of our best experts together right now first, we can''t even miss one minute. Also, please use all of your powers to suppress this news from spreading to the world at all costs, though I don''t know for how much longer we can keep this under wraps... but just the thought of this spreading and the panic that would follow it after is sending shivers down to my spine." The president of Russia interrupted with impatience. "Okay... if all of you agree with putting our experts into this, call and make the arrangements right now before we continue our meeting, also emphasize absolute secrecy once again." The president of the Philippines, who happened to be a female, uttered after hearing what others said. Listening to his words, everyone nodded their heads in agreement as they began calling and making the arrangements to send the best experts in that specific field. They also ordered to make the media absolutely under surveillance while taking other security measures to prevent this from spreading at all costs. After their calls ended, they continued their discussion with a downcast mood showing on their faces. "How do you guys think this happened? Why would it mutate to such a degree all of a sudden?" The President of United States inquired confusedly, but he knew that others probably wouldn''t be able to provide an answer to that. After that, a deadly silence covered the room for a while, when the United States'' President asked once again, "Do you guys think there is someone behind this mutation? Why would this happen?" Hearing this the others had a pondering expression on their face for a moment before one of them replied, "Who would be crazy enough to mutate that? That''s impossible, it''s most likely mutated by itself... unless there is someone who wants us all dead?" "Right, right... that sounds unlikely." Another one uttered, while the rest were either nodding their head or didn''t even bother to nod their heads. _________________ After that, tens of best teams of experts and scientists were gathered from all over the world in the most advanced laboratory. They began putting all the hidden knowledge and breakthroughs they had together first, and after they were done with that, they began an intense phase of research together, putting all of their heads into it in cooperation. "How could this happen! HIV was supposed to be only transmittable through the transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids... or from a mother to the child at most... I mean it always transmitted and infected others through intense contact! But how... how has it mutated to such a monstrous degree, it''s now also spreading through the air! And it''s extremely infectious!" One of the best scientists in the world who was very famous in the field of HIV stated filled with desperation and distress. Then he continued, "You catch it whether you breathe or not just by being in a close proximity to the person who has it... even if you''re tens of meters away from the infected person, you still catch it... because this new HIV makes the air polluted to a degree that even if just the air surrounding the infected person touches another one tens of meters away, that person still catches it! This new HIV is simply impossible to stop from spreading to everyone and everywhere, even if it was possible, it''s already too late as probably ninety percent of the whole planet already has it and I would say in at most a couple of more days, everyone will definitely get it." By the end of his words, dark lines were clearly obvious on his forehead as he was full of distress. "Yeah... I can''t believe it has mutated to this degree... but if that was all there was to it, we would''ve still had around a decade or more to find the cure... but now... we only have at most around a year before the whole planet is... dead... because it''s mutated to such a degree that the process of it infecting and killing the carrier of the disease is now shortened to one year if that person is lucky..." Another famous HIV scientist stated in despair. Then he continued, "And that''s not all...you see, even for the previous HIV, if we all put our brains into this, it would''ve been almost impossible to find a cure... but now... it''s even more impossible because the mutated Virus continues mutating inside the carrier to thousands of new forms and it continues indefinitely... this is literally impossible to cure!" After that, even though they knew it would be impossible to find a cure, they still couldn''t give up so easily as they were the best hope the whole humanity had and more importantly, their families'' lives were on the line, so they began to research the matter with everything they had. But the more they researched, the more despair began to show on their face until finally one of them could no longer control himself from muttering, "This is the end of the world... we''re all... doomed!" 105 The Mindse As another storm was brewing behind the scenes on the Earth of technology, the huge storm near the rift continued for a short while before it went back to normal just like before as silence loomed over the still space once again. Then, the voice of an old man was heard breaking the dead silence, "It seems there is nothing attackable around the rift when it opens... and no one''s hiding... hmm, what''s going on exactly? What is it?... Well, at least, it was of some help..." ________________ After going back to the Cultivation Earth, Virus and the golden beauty waited inside the spaceship as they relaxed there until it was finally the time for the Inferior Disciple Recruitment to begin. Landing the invisible spaceship on the ground, the two exited it. Afterward, the spaceship flew back to the sky following them from the high above. Even though Virus was no longer in the spaceship, he was still controlling it remotely, making it follow him wherever he went just in case. Then, together with the golden beauty, he walked toward the Inferior Disciple Recruitment, as they stopped beside the place which was used for signing up. This signing up process was only for progressing the evaluation process in a more orderly fashion, so they bestowed each person with a number. Unlike the times when the two were always under the watch and full attention of others because of their otherworldly features, now, almost no one looked in their direction, other than sometimes someone randomly checking them out, but disinterestedly, they took back their gazes back almost instantly. Walking beside the signing up table, he saw a young man signing up the people who were in a line. Virus too imitating the others, went inside the line. The golden beauty too stayed by his side and followed closely. Quickly, an hour passed when it was finally Virus'' turn. The young man in charge of the sign up just gazed at him for a second before taking it back in disdain, because he felt no Cultivation Qi from the young teenager in front of him, which meant he hadn''t started cultivation at all. Then changing his gaze to the paper on the table he voiced with a tone that obviously contained some scorn in it, "Name!" "Vee." Virus replied not paying any attention to the tone with which the other person was talking to him, while on the other hand, the golden beauty was frowning, but didn''t make any moves, because, without her master''s consent and order, she would never make a move. "Since you have no cultivation base, then getting accepted in the sect through the first kind of test would be impossible. Your only hope is to be placed among the second group of testers, in which the cultivation base doesn''t matter... what matters is your talent in cultivation... but I don''t think you would be lucky enough to be talented in that either, hehe." Even though he was filled with contempt for these kinds of testers who were just looking after being lucky enough to be accepted in the sect, nevertheless, he explained where he could partake the test, because if by any chance, he was reported to not guide the new testers well enough, he would be instantly replaced with someone else. And in case that happened, he would lose the small amount of fortune and salary he received each month for being the person in charge of signing up. There were two types of testers. The first type was those cultivators who had high enough of cultivation compared to their age and the second type was only related to the talent of the person as the cultivation base didn''t matter at all. In the second type of test, just needed to score well in the evaluation method they had and then, according to the talent shown, that person would be sent to the place he or she deserved. But people who got into the sect were much lesser than those who took the first kind of test, thus most people preferred taking the first kind of test over the latter type. Hearing his short broken explanation, Virus could infer sufficiently and knew what needed to be known. "Here, take this number, when you''re called, go on the stage." The young man placed a number on the desk. Taking the number, Virus saw that the number was eighty-nine. Then, the two began walking toward the stage where the second type of testers was at. But, as they were walking toward that direction, the golden beauty couldn''t tolerate it anymore and uttered with frustration, "What was wrong with him! Why would he talk like that to master... master... if you give me the permission, I will deal with him!" Listening to her words, Virus couldn''t keep his laugh from coming out as he explained, "Haha, no need lil Belle, this Cultivation Multiverse is far more different than our own Earth... " "How come? Aren''t they human too just like the human beings on our own Earth? Why would they be different from the people on our Earth?" The golden beauty questioned confused. Hearing this, Virus began clarifying, "Yes they are like us in essence... but you''re forgetting something very important here. This is a world where strong eats the weak... there is an absolute law of jungle dominant... which implies if you are strong enough you can kill or do whatever you feel like to someone weaker than yourself, and no one would even bother to question you... this is the world they''ve grown up on." "This is a cultural difference between this world and our own which is completely different from the basis... so think of the influences this rule of strong devouring the weak would have on the inhabitants of this world and what would the result of that be..." After a short pause, Virus continued further, "The result would be the world you see in front of you... where strong looks arrogantly down upon the weak! They would easily look at you with hostility or scorn for the smallest of grudges or things because they always had this mindset that you are always right as long as you are strong enough." "These are just some of the influences a jungle-like culture has on the people living in that kind of environment... now, do you understand why that person looked with contempt at me?" Virus concluded. After a short pause of deliberation, the golden beauty replied, "I think I do master... so they don''t care about something being moral, immoral, or most of the other human values... the most they care about is strength because whoever is stronger... he is in the right and can rule over the week... this is a frightening concept..." "That''s right, and those who have the support of the powerful people are probably the most arrogant ones included on the list, because they were the most spoilt ones who think they have the world under them... so they do whatever they want with no consequences whatsoever, because they think the highest power is behind them... anyway, this list continues like this as their psychology keeps being affected more by these special cultures... which makes them very different from our own more civilized Earth... it''s like the two Earth''s are moving completely in different lines which keeps getting further and further from each other as time passes because of the circumstances they were put in." He expounded further. 106 Pale Yellow! A shimmer of further understanding passed through the golden beauty''s eyes as she uttered, "I see... this world is no good." It was finally in this moment that they arrived in front of a stage with almost a hundred people waiting for their turn to go on stage and participate in the evaluation. "Okay, so we have two kinds of evaluation, the first one will be a test of how much impurities your body naturally has. The less the impurities your body holds the faster your cultivation would be... so it''s a very important matter for geniuses to have fewer impurities in their bodies." A middle-aged man who seemed to be some kind of elder in the sect began talking while standing on the stage as he explained the first evaluation process to the hundred people in front of the stage. "Excuse me... but why would our cultivation be faster if our bodies have fewer impurities?" Raising his hand, one of the hundred people questioned. "Tch, the answer to that is very obvious, if your body has fewer impurities and filth in it, the easier it would be to break through in your cultivation." That elder explained rather impatiently. "Number one... quickly come on the stage." He commanded. Soon, a young fourteen years old male came on the stage and bowed respectfully to the elder on the stage, trying to make a good first impression. "Come, just place one of your hands on this colorless crystal orb so it would tell us how much impurities your body holds within." The elder guided, and then continued, "After you put your hands on the orb, it will start changing into different colors..." The elder continued, "Also let me shortly explain how this color system works... first, the colors would be from worst to the best... black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, azure, purple, pink, and white and... in order of what I just said, black would mean a body with ninety to ninety-nine percent of impurities according to the intensity of the blackness. "Black would be a body filled with filth as much as possible... this is the trashiest of the bodies which are rarely seen.. and if you have this kind of body, then you are one of the unluckiest of people in the world... you could even say the heavens have totally abandoned the person with this kind of body as breaking through would be extremely hard and after one or two breakthroughs it would be almost impossible to breakthrough any further." Then, after a short pause of glancing at the youngsters under the stage, he continued, "The next color is red and it shows the impurities from eighty-nine to eighty percent impurities, then, it''s orange which shows seventy-nine to seventy percent." "And this color ranking continues like this until it gets to white which would show the impurity of nine percent to zero percent impurities... but this kind of body is said to be impossible to exist naturally... so don''t mind it as you won''t ever see it. Okay... that was it, now put your hand on the orb." The elder clarified as he asked the first person on the stage to put his hand on the orb. Without delaying, that person put his hand on the orb, and after waiting for around thirty seconds later, the color of the orb changed into deep black, but it began losing its intensity as it turned paler and paler, until it once again changed color into a deep red. But, it didn''t end there as the redness began losing its intensity when it finally stopped in pale red. "Hmm, it''s a little superior to a normal talent... but this doesn''t qualify as there seem to be around eighty-three percent impurities on your body... so you disqualify for our requirements..." The elder told the male who had put his hand on the orb. Listening to his words, tears couldn''t stop from rolling down that young male''s cheek as he came down from the stage filled with despair and went away. He was full of despair because he knew that from now on, he would only live a normal mortal''s life unless he began cultivating and did the impossible and brought his cultivation to a level where he would be able to pass through the first group of testers by a high level of cultivation. But, he knew that would be impossible as he didn''t have the means to cultivate because he had come from a poor family and was already too old to start cultivating with that talent of his. So coming with determination to begin a path of cultivation and aiming for the top, he left with hopelessness. Everyone watching this scene couldn''t help but get nervous by the question of ''What if this happened to them too...''. "Number two..." The elder didn''t pay any more attention to that previous person and continued the process of evaluating by calling the second person on the stage. "Normal red... you disqualify." A while later he disqualified the second person too. . . . "Disqualified!" The tenth person who achieved a deep orange in color was disqualified too. . . . "Disqualified!" The thirtieth person was disqualified too. . . . The forty-sixth person who was a young girl came on the stage and put her hand on the orb very indifferently as the orb immediately began changing colors and went from black to deep red, and then from deep red to pale red before changing to orange without any decrease in pace. When the color changed to orange, the speed of color changing obviously slowed down as it began changing to pale orange when it finally changed into deep yellow when it finally stopped. "Hmm... deep yellow sixty-nine percent... good number... you qualify as a genius... wait beside the stage for the second evaluation process." The elder stated, with behavior which was much better compared to the attitude he had toward the previous people. Listening to the elder''s words that she had qualified, the other youngsters'' eyes began to change as some lights of admiration appeared in them for this first person who had passed. But that was not all and other than admiration, there was another emotion called envy toward the girl standing on the stage. "Next one..." Then the elder continued the process and kept disqualifying the volunteers until the sixty-seventh person came on the stage and put his hand on the orb. The orb kept changing colors until it stopped in a normal color of yellow, which showed that the body held around sixty-six percent of impurities, so he passed as his body was recognized to be a genius level body. Then once again, a round of disqualifying of the volunteers began until it stopped in the number seventy-eight. This time, a girl came on the stage and put her hand on the orb when immediately, the color changed to red from black and soon, it changed to orange and from orange to yellow. However, It didn''t stop in intense yellow nor in normal yellow as it went paler and paler until it stopped in pale yellow! Seeing this, the elder''s eyes shone as he stated without hiding any of the lights in his eyes, "Amazing, you''re a natural born genius! You definitely pass for the second evaluation and your body seems to hold only around 60 percent of impurities! This is extremely rare! You must be a favorite by the heavens! Good good good!" "Thank you, elder." Replied the girl respectfully and happily to the elder, but inside she was thinking, ''Good thing I took the Purifying stage seriously and consumed those purifying pills provided by grandpa... I think I understand now why grandpa wouldn''t allow me to begin cultivating before taking those expensive pills which he obtained with extreme difficulty through spending almost the whole fortune of the family without letting any of the other elders in the house realize.'' 107 Oh My Heavens Everyone was in awe of this young girl who could make the orb turn into pale yellow, but underneath that awe, there was an extreme yearning and jealousy over the thought of them not being in her place. They wanted to be in her place so much that their eyes had turned a little red by this point. After a while more, they began to start thinking about how unfair the heavens was to not give them a talented body instead of giving it to her. The elder too was currently pondering over the matter of this talented girl, because this kind of talent was so rare that the sect came across them only once every couple of years and sometimes it took even a decade for a talented person like her to show up, so secretly, he was thinking what would be the best path to rear her in the best way possible. But finally, putting that matter aside for a moment, he questioned, "Good, what''s your name?" "This junior is called Alice elder... Alice Ilon." She replied, with a tone like she was proud of her name, and this proudness was especially apparent in her second part of the introduction when she introduced her family name. "...Are you from that Ilon family?" The elder asked a little surprised after hearing her introduction. "Yes, elder..." She answered back with no pause. "I see, so that''s how it is..." The elder voiced after while nodding his head like he just understood something as he requested, "Go wait under the stage for your second evaluation..." Listening to the conversation between the two, the others thought, ''So that''s why she''s so talented... she comes from the Ilon family... and they definitely have a superior talent compared to most common people like us...'' In the meantime, Virus and the golden beauty were watching everything that was happening silently as the process of evaluation continued once again. Some of the failed volunteers left the place hopelessly, while most stayed behind wanting to witness the talents which existed in this batch of volunteers. Time passed as volunteers came and went down downheartedly, until finally, the elder on the stage announced, "Number eighty-nine, come on stage." Hearing this, looking at the golden beauty who was by his side, he shallowly whispered, "You wait here, lil Belle, I will be back soon." Then, walking on the stage, he stopped beside the colorless orb and the elder, when the elder commanded, not wanting to delay this first evaluation any further, "Put your hand on the orb." Without saying anything in response, Virus just put his hand on the orb when it stood colorless for around one minute without any change in color, witnessing this, the elder couldn''t help but frown, ''What kind of trash is this?'' Everyone else too was not paying any serious attention at all at first, but seeing the orb not changing colors even after one minute, at first they felt confused, but then, disdain began to fill their eyes one by one as some began mumbling, "This is one of those legendary trashes that goes beyond being trash... a super trash?" Another muttered, "The orb is not changing any colors at all... this must be because he''s even trashier than the worst color which is the black..." After some more whispers of contempt and derision amongst the volunteers, the elder was about to command Virus to pull his hands back to disqualify him, when suddenly the orb turned into deep black, but without even taking one second, it instantly turned into a deep red. But without stopping at all it went directly to a very pale red, but that was not the end as the colors changed one after another without any kind of decrease in acceleration... Orange... Yellow... Green! It instantly went into green making the other volunteers jaws drop in shock! As were the elder who was so stupefied to completely lose his calm. He didn''t even remember when was the last time he had lost his calm by this much if he had lost it to this degree at all. But before he and the others could gather their wits together and come out of their stupor, the colors continued to change... Blue... Azure! By this point, everyone felt like they were inside a dream, just as the elder was experiencing a tingling feeling of excitement and disbelief! Up to this point, each color had changed almost instantly, leading to everyone being incapable of noticing and distinguish between intense, normal, and paleness in each color. But after the orb turned azure, the speed of the color changes obviously began to decrease as they could now almost differentiate the intensity of each color. Deep azure... Normal azure... Pale azure Deep purple... Normal purple... Pale purple By this point, the elder''s heart was beating so fast that he completely lost himself out of feeling so many different levels of shock and stupefaction all at once and its degree still wasn''t reaching its climax as it continued to rise! Just thinking about achieving the color purple made his heart go crazy because he had never heard of anyone making the orb turn purple anywhere! More realistically, he hadn''t even heard anyone turning the orb azure, now let''s not talk about purple. The other volunteers too had completely lost themselves in their shock, while only staring at the orb which kept changing colors. But obviously, it was not the end of the process of color changing, though at this point it''s speed had decreased even more, when finally... Deep pink! The orb turned into deep pink then slowly changed into a normal color of pink before eventually turning into a very pale color of pink! At this point, no one knew what they were feeling including the elder himself. Well, that was understandable though, considering the fact something impossible and unheard of was happening right before their eyes. As everyone was thinking this pale seemed to be the final change of color, slowly, but surely, the color began losing its pinkness as it turned brighter and brighter when it finally turned into a very bright color of white! "Oh my heavens!" The elder unconsciously uttered, this was history happening just before his eyes, a scene that probably no one had ever witnessed prior to this unless there was some kind of special body that was born completely pure and stayed pure. The elder was thinking it was impossible for the color to turn any less bright when exactly that happened as the whiteness turned more normal to his complete dumbfoundedness! But seeing this normal whiteness, he couldn''t help himself but vaguely but surely have a strong hope and a crazed thought of him achieving the best color which was a very pale white. But by this point, the speed of color changing was extremely slow, and it was only after thirty more seconds the color steadily turned into... pale white! Witnessing this scene which he felt like was going to be recorded down on history books, he couldn''t help but gulp down uncontrollably, swallowing down all of the massive amounts of saliva which had gathered in his mouth without him realizing. Finally, when he and everyone else was thinking this was the end, the whiteness turned even paler and paler until it disappeared completely, just to be replaced with... A Colorless Gas! 108 Understatement? Currently, a colorless gas was roaming inside the orb like a steam of mirage which people usually saw in a very hot desert while looking at the far distance. This colorlessness was completely different from the normal crystal orb which you could easily see through when no one was touching it. No, this colorlessness was like there was a roaming gas stuck inside the orb with extreme pressure, unable to be released to the outside world! Seeing this, the horrified shock on everyone''s face promptly turned into blankness followed by confusion and bewilderment. They were sure they had just seen the orb turn completely white and then begin turning paler and paler until it was extremely pale, this was a terrifying concept to them because they were sure they had heard from the elder that the pale white color was the absolute best and peak possible. And now, someone had achieved exactly that in front of their faces! Which made them experience lots of things in a short period of time. They even began doubting if they were seeing things or if they had gone entirely mad. They had suspicions regarding the colorless gas inside the orb because it was not inside the short introduction of the colors ranking the elder had explained earlier, but that didn''t matter to the most of them as they didn''t understand it. What mattered to them was that he had achieved the white! And an extremely pale one, probably the palest, and just this notion alone sent shivers of bewilderment down to their spine. After a while of pondering about this odd occurrence, they began feeling what was probably beyond jealousy, as the eyes of some of them even turned bloodshot because of extreme jealousy. The elder who was just beside the orb though, was more shocked and dumbfounded than any of the other volunteers around the stage at the moment because only he truly understood what kind of terrifying of a notion it was to achieve the white! He had read in the history books that no one had ever achieved the white color, so to their knowledge, even the ancestors of the sect had never seen or heard anyone achieve this. This color had already stupefied him to no ends when he witnessed the white turn into colorless! This was something he had never heard of, as it was something that wasn''t supposed to exist in the first place within the ranking of the colors which confused and bewildered him very much. But after deliberating over this matter for a short while, he could only reach at one conclusion, and it was that the colorless probably was what existed beyond the white rank. However, he couldn''t understand what that meant, though that was the only possibility that he could arrive at. He reached this conclusion because, firstly, the colors changed in chronological order and the further it changed the better the body was, and next, the paler the color got, the better it was supposed to be. As a result, the colorless was something entirely pale without any color at all and it came after white, which could only mean it was at least better than white. But still, overall, it didn''t make much sense to him to achieve a colorless color, so he began doubting his own hypothesis and reached another conclusion that maybe the orb was broken because of too much change in color. After some more contemplation, he finally mumbled, "What is this? What''s going on?" Just as he uttered that, one of the volunteers in the crowd, who was a young boy which had already passed the first evaluation, sneered and stated with a voice filled with disdain along with clear envy showing in his eyes, "Hmph, he must have cheated or the orb is broken! That colorlessness at the end proves that!" Listening to his words, the other volunteers also began coming out of their shocked states of minds and agreed one after another. "Yes, that must be it, he must''ve somehow cheated, otherwise how is it even possible to achieve colorless which doesn''t even exist in the ranking!" "How does he dare cheat in the sect''s evaluation, this is a clear insult to the sect! Elder, please punish and disqualify him for slapping the face of the sect in front of everyone with his petty tricks!" "Yeah! He has either cheated or the orb is malfunctioning!" "Yes yes, he needs to be disqualified and punished!" "Disqualify!" "Punish!" After the seed of doubt was planted in them, it began to spread as everyone believed what the previous person had uttered, as it made sense to them. Because that was the only logical possibility in their minds and they would rather believe he had cheated or the orb is broken rather than believing such an otherworldly genius could exist in the world because that would mean they couldn''t even be called trash in front of him. Listening to the crowd of volunteers getting noisier and noisier, the elder shouted in irritation, "SILENCE!" And hearing this, everyone promptly went silent. "You youngsters think this person without any kind of cultivation can cheat in front of me? This statement in itself is an insult to me! There is no way he has cheated under my watchful eyes, and also, the orb can''t be cheated, that''s something impossible to do, so put those childish thoughts that he has cheated completely aside." Listening to the berating of the elder who criticized them, the volunteers could no longer protest anymore, so their only option was to just accept the elder''s words who was the expert here, though some still believed he was cheating. "However, even I thought that maybe the orb is malfunctioning or that it''s broken, so..." As he voiced this, he turned his head toward Virus and asked, "What''s your name?" "Vee." Virus replied randomly, which made the other volunteers angry at his rude and casual response. "I see, Vee youngster, I will test you once again, with another orb which is completely new and definitely with no problems whatsoever, so tell me... do you accept to redo the evaluation?" The elder questioned after hearing Virus'' name. "Why not." Virus replied casually once again without any kind of respect showing in his voice, but the elder seemed not to care about this at all as he responded back, "Good!" Then, out of nowhere, an orb appeared in his hand which he placed on the table beside the previous orb, "Okay, touch it." Without uttering anything in response, Virus only placed his left hand on the orb once again and one minute later, the orb began changing colors again. Black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, azure, purple, pink, white and finally... Colorless! Seeing this, everyone was astonished to no ends once again, and the elder''s eyes began to shine greatly as he began talking in a louder voice, "Good good good! This is unheard of! This is probably a myth happening before my own eyes, great! Vee youngster, your body is beyond the word genius or even demon level genius, I don''t even know what to call you anymore... you''re simply a monster! No... even the word monster would be an understatement!" 109 Another Monster ''If you''re as amazing as your result shows you to be... then you are definitely going to reach amazing heights in your cultivation... and our sect would rise to new heights if you are present in it, haha...'' Afterward, he began deliberating to himself and became lost in the thought of the amazing future his sect would reach with the help of this otherworldly monster. "But, still, rules are rules, even though you are a monster, you still have to pass both of the evaluations in order to enter the sect... so if you pass the second evaluation, I will determine what place you will have in the sect according to the result of that evaluation." He continued his words after some contemplation to himself. Seeing Virus show no reaction whatsoever to his words, he looked at all the volunteers under the stage and announced, "Let''s finish today''s evaluation quickly..." After that, the evaluation continued as different numbers were continued to be called on the stage, but in the rest of the evaluation, only one more male volunteer passed the criteria the sect had put forth by making the orb turn deep yellow. "Okay, five people have successfully passed the first evaluation... this is truly surprising... because in most of the previous ones... only one or two successfully passed the first evaluation..." The elder stated, obviously happy with the results. Then, he continued, "Anyway, today''s evaluation is done, and the second evaluation shall be held tomorrow... so go rest for today." "I shall come to you five personally tomorrow and guide you to the location of the second evaluation." He added. "Oh, also, the five of you will be provided with a temporary resting place... a disciple will come to you soon to guide the five of you there..." The elder ended his words as he turned around and left. A while later, just as the elder had said, a male disciple appeared wanting to guide them to their resting place, but seeing that there were six people instead of five, he asked frowning, "Why are you six?... I heard only five people passed the first evaluation..." Hearing this, everyone looked at the golden beauty, as Virus stated, "She''s with me..." "She can''t follow you inside... send her back. Only you can enter." He started a little annoyed. "Then, I shall leave too." Virus voiced as he took the golden beauty''s hand and turned around wanting to leave. "WAIT!" That disciple yelled remembering the elder''s words, ''Take good care of the five... especially the number one ranked of the first evaluation.'' "Are you by any chance... the number one ranked of the first evaluation?" He questioned, he had to be sure before sending him away. "Yes." Virus muttered while the golden beauty''s hand was still in his left hand. "Wait... I have special orders regarding the first ranked, you can bring her with you. follow me." He uttered as he turned around and began walking. Then, guiding them to in front of a house which was inside the sect at the outermost parts of it, he stopped and turned around. "Okay... you six can stay here. Each of the volunteers who passed the first evaluation can occupy a random room." Pointing to an old style house with lots of rooms, he declared before leaving. Then, after the male disciple went away, the six people were left standing there. But that didn''t continue for long when the first male who had passed the evaluation stated with a louder voice, "You! How did you cheat on the evaluation... how can you be so shameless?" This young man was also the first person to accuse Virus of cheating in the evaluation. He was filled with envy and jealousy toward Virus since he had made the orb turn white, and his jealousy was further intensified when he heard that disciple had special orders in the way he treated the first ranked volunteer. Looking at that young man for a moment, Virus took his gaze back, no longer paying him any further attention, as together with the golden beauty, he began walking toward their resting place. Seeing himself being completely ignored, the young man was filled with even more hostility toward Virus and no longer able to control his anger, he charged at Virus wanting to punch him in the face. "Don''t kill him yet." Virus mumbled to the confusion of others. The golden beauty who heard his master''s words was instantly on the move as she appeared between her master and that fuming young man. Then, without saying anything, she just punched with her tiny fist. Seeing the scene of this tiny girl with a small built punching at his direction, he couldn''t help but smirk in mock and disdain, as he thought, ''This won''t even tickle...''. But the rest of his thoughts were cut off as the punch reached his chest, making his face distorted before sending him flying away for a couple of meters. Watching this scene, the other three''s eyes popped out of their sockets, as they wondered in shock, ''This girl is a monster too!'' ____________________ ONE DAY LATER ON THE EARTH OF TECHNOLOGY As the CEO ugly was dealing with some of the matters related to the Automotive Industry over the phone, his secretary entered his office and notified him, "Mr. Greg, the agent in charge of the cooperation between the company and the government has arrived... where shall we lead her to? "Hmm, bring her to the meeting room." the CEO ugly commanded in a completely calm manner, remembering that today was truly the date of the appointment. ______________ The FBI beauty arrived at the reception of the building, but unlike the previous times, she didn''t need to wait there until the Legal ugly arrived. And after a short five minutes wait, she was immediately allowed entry as it was confirmed she had an appointment with the CEO of the company. Afterward, she was respectfully guided to the meeting room by one of the people who worked at the reception. And a couple of minutes later, they were in front of the meeting room as she entered it alone. Going inside, she saw that no one was there yet, so she had no other choice but to wait. ________________ FIVE MINUTES LATER The door to the meeting room was finally opened by someone as he entered. Looking at his face, the FBI beauty was surprised by the face she was witnessing in front of her because it was extremely ugly.So she couldn''t help but think, ''He''s just as ugly as Robert James ...'' "Hello, I''m Steven Greg, the CEO of the Virus Industries, it''s a pleasure meeting you." Voicing this along with an ugly smile on his face, the CEO ugly reached his right hand in order to shake hands with her. "Hello, Mr. Greg. I''m Sara Garner, the FBI agent in charge of the cooperation project between the government and the Virus Industries." The FBI beauty introduced herself too as she shook hands with him. "I know, please take a seat, Miss Garner. We have a lot to talk about..." Pointing at a seat, the CEO ugly announced with a smile plastered on his face. 110 The Contract 1 "Excuse me for asking this... but aren''t I going to meet the Chairman? I mean... according to what I heard from Mr. Robert James, the head of the Legal Department of the Virus Industries, only the Chairman can make decisions over matters such as this." As she sat on one of the chairs, the FBI beauty couldn''t help but ask in confusion. "Haha, that''s the case in normal circumstances, but currently, the Chairman isn''t present at the company... but worry not, as before leaving, he gave me all the rights to make the decision over this matter as I wish." With a short laugh, the CEO ugly explained the situation. "I see, that puts my mind at ease then..." She replied with a half smile. "Okay... so let''s not beat around the bush because I''m very busy these days..." Said the CEO ugly. "Alright Mr. Greg." Replying with this, the FBI beauty took some papers out of her bag, as she then stated further, "This is the contract that the government has made for this cooperation, please check..." She was then continuing with her words as she placed the contract on the table, when the CEO ugly interrupted her as he raised his right palm high in a stop sign and uttered, "I think you''re misunderstanding this cooperation, Miss Garner, it''s not the government cooperating with us... it''s us cooperating with the government out of goodwill, so naturally... it should be us offering you with the terms and you decide if you want to accept this cooperation or not." As he voiced his thoughts, the CEO ugly who had another contract in his hand placed it on the table in front of the FBI beauty. The FBI beauty was just about to voice her rejection when to her annoyance, the CEO ugly interrupted her, "Read the terms before we continue with our talk." With no choice, the FBI beauty could only do as he said and began reading the terms of the contract: In this contract, Party A is respectfully the Virus Industries while Party B is the government of the United States of America and all it''s hidden or revealed authorities including the current and the future highest authorities of the country, again hidden or revealed. 1. Fulfillment of all requests from Party A by Party B: 1.1. Party B has to accept and fulfill every request Party A has from now on as long as Party B, meaning the whole country, has the power to make it happen, now this request can range from, but not limited to, the use of the Army to the whole financial powers of the entire country and every other power and authority that the country has. 2. The clause of final say: 2.1. Party A will always have the final say in everything, even terminating the contract, which means Party A can terminate the contract whenever they want. If Party A announces they won''t fulfill a particular request of Party B, even if it''s within the main duties of the Party A like providing high technology to Party B, Party B has no rights to protest or object to Party A or anyone else. Reading up to only these first two terms, the FBI beauty''s eyes almost popped out of their sockets, but she decided to finish the contract first before trying to negotiate the terms and have these two terms removed. 3. The clause of permission to act and do: 3.1. Whatever Party A does from now on inside or outside the soil of the United States, is completely authorized by the Government of United States and they won''t ask or investigate anything regarding everything the Party A and their main or subsidiary branches, including but not limited to every secret organization or laboratories Party A claims to be theirs. 4. The clause of Protection: 4.1. Party B will protect Party B at all costs from all of the inside or outside attacks including but not limited to any kind of government, organization, individuals, etc. That happens in and out of the country against Party A. 4.2. Party B won''t allow any organization, industry, individual, government, etc. Reverse engineer or produce products similar to the technology of the Party A. This clause will act and apply as long as Party A claims, provides, or shows the similarities between its own technology and the copied technology. Party B will use all of its powers including but not limited to the use of Army and every other force, sanctioning other governments, etc. to stop them from this act promptly. 5. The clause of assistance: 5.1. Party B will help and assist Party A in all and every kind of requests, including but not limited to providing loans in unlimited amounts with no interests without any kinds of requirements. ''This is complete madness! This company is crazy!'' She thought screaming in her thoughts, she was doing her best to continue and finish the contract first, but the contract just kept pushing her patience further and further to its limits. 6. The clause of law and crime that will apply to both Party A and Party B: 6.1. Party B will never press charges against Party A no matter how big or small the crime committed is even if there is a hundred percent chance proof of the crime, and in case they do so, the contract will be terminated at once. 6.2. Party B won''t ever bring any of the employees or other people related to the company into questioning in trying to dig or reveal anything related to the company or the highest authorities of Party A''s organization. 6.3. No law of the country of the United States will apply against the whole organization of Party A, including the chairman, The CEO, and the other people the Chairman of Party A announces as ''Under his Protection''. 6.4. The common employees which the Chairman doesn''t name as ''Under his Protection'' can still be pressed charges against and all the laws of the country will apply to them. ''What the heck is with this term anyway!!! What the heck does it have to do with our cooperation, what do you mean by ''under his protection''! Under his protection my ass!... and ...just...WHAT THE HECK!'' She was gritting her teeth at this point, but she couldn''t lash out at the CEO, because he might just reject the whole cooperation matter, so left with no choice but to tolerate, she continued once again. 7. Special mention to the range of the clause: 7.1. All of the clauses will apply to the Chairman of the Party A who goes by the name of Aizen Vee. 7.2. The clauses will also apply to everyone else Party A''s Chairman introduces and names as ''under his protection'' including but not limited to anyone outside and inside Party A''s company. 8. The range of termination power and its punishments: 8.1. All of the clauses must be followed to the tiniest of details and in case the any of them are not followed to the fullest, the contract will be terminated at once unless Party A states otherwise. 111 The Contract 2 8.2. In case the contract is terminated, through any means including but not limited to being terminated by the government of the United States, etc (The whole Party B), or because of the contract being terminated naturally because of not following and abiding by any of the clauses, the government needs to pay fifteen percent of the whole capital of the country including but not limited to all of its organizations. This capital as the punishment of the termination of the contract needs to be paid fully in two months from the moment the contract is terminated. Only in case Party A terminates the contract by itself without any kind of justified reason, Party B doesn''t need to pay the named price. "Haha..." She couldn''t help but laugh out loud out of crazed frustration at this point because this contract''s terms mostly seemed like funny jokes to her, even though they weren''t funny at all. The CEO ugly just watched her laugh out loud with a chuckle of amusement, but he continued watching her in silence without interrupting. 9. The technology provided (Inferior in power and authority to the first eight clauses named above): 9.1. The technology provided by Party A will be all made by Party A itself and sold in unlimited amounts in the number Party B requests for by Party A. 9.2. The technology provided by Party A will be all sold in fifty percent of the actual price to Party B by Party A. 9.3. The technologies provided by Party A will need to be at least five years ahead of the current technology available on the market, and in case Party B wants any of the technologies available on the market, they can buy in mass amounts in eighty percent of the market price for usage-only purposes and not for beneficial or market purposes. 10. The requirements for the contract to officially begin functioning: 10.1 In order for the contract to officially and lawfully begin working and functioning, it needs to be signed by all of the authorities and names in the list provided by the Party A under this clause. Also, everyone named in the list is considered to be part of Party B: . . . After that there was a long list of names which ranged from the name of the president of the United States to the true heads and presidents of secret services such as FBI, CIA and others which were hidden or revealed to the common people, the Secretaries such as The Secretary of State and every other Secretary, other organizations, and even other powers who were controlling the country from behind the scenes were named on the list, some of them were the people which even the president himself didn''t know existed. 11. Payment clause: 11.1. All of the payments need to be paid at the moment of purchase before receiving any goods from Party A. 12. Sign of contract: 12.1 Party B has only one week to sign this contract and notify Party A, as otherwise, the cooperation will no longer apply and the contract is useless. . . . _______________ Reading the contract until clause twelve, the FBI beauty could no longer continue reading it as she was already shocked, amused, and angered beyond words. So looking straight into the CEO ugly''s eyes, she stated very coldly, "Why not just say we don''t have any kind of intention on having this cooperation! I''m sure the terms in this contract is even funny to you." Listening to his words calmly without any kind of interruption until she was finished, the CEO ugly only grinned as he replied, "Miss Garner, we have every intention of cooperating with the government, as otherwise, I wouldn''t have wasted even a minute of my time on you." Listening to his response just as she was about to shout in anger, suddenly, a thought went through her head which made a lot of sense to her as her eyes shone, "Oh... this must be the fake harsh contract... so that when I see the real contract, I would accept it with open arms, because it would be a lot less harsh and nothing compared to this. Good tactic Mr. Greg... you are truly a good CEO! You win, please show me the real contract now." With a grin of amusement, in a very calm and relaxed manner, the CEO ugly replied back, he was truly feeling like laughing now because of this beauty''s amused reaction to the contract, "Hehe, that''s the real contract Miss Garner, I haven''t employed any kind of tactics against you or the whole Party B. This is us coming to the government like an open book, stating everything we want... nothing less or more." "Then what''s with this contract and these terms? I mean... it can no longer be called a contract... because it even goes against the standards and laws of the contract itself! This is simply like creating tens of new laws in the country for your own company''s benefit, rather than a contract!!! Just what''s the meaning of this?" She spoke with a voice which made it obvious that she was extremely angry as she raged. But still in a completely relaxed state, the CEO ugly replied, "Well, those are our terms, but don''t worry... most of those terms and clauses won''t be ever used unless absolutely necessary... that''s just us making sure of everything... just see it as something standard we do in order to make ourselves relieved so nothing bad would happen to us in the future in case something ever went wrong." ''Standard my ass!'' She thought but didn''t say it out loud because she didn''t like to use those kinds of vulgar words, then she spoke, "You know the government won''t be accepting these terms right? There is just no way even a mad person would accept this contract and these terms, now let''s not talk about the government of the United States." "Haha, you leave that decision to the government after they read this contract... and when they see this blueprint which is just a pre-cooperation gift from us to the government... after seeing this gift, they can decide if they want to reject or accept this contract..." The CEO ugly stated after putting a book which had hundreds of pages on the table. "Sigh..." Finally feeling completely defeated by the CEO ugly''s words, she calmed herself and asked something very obvious, trying to bring some sense into this mad CEO, "Okay, let''s say by some miracle the President agrees to this contract which is entirely impossible... however let''s just say it happens for now, BUT even then... this contract cannot be done, as it''s not even in the Presidents powers and authority to decide or sign such a contract!" "Hmm...Miss Garner... about this contract being possible or not... don''t worry about that... because there are lots of things in America you are not aware of... also even if the President can''t make this contract come true... there are people on that list of names which can definitely make this contract happen... people who...Well, let''s just stop there as sometimes, ignorance is bliss... so don''t be worried at all about the possibility of contract, because it''s definitely possible."The CEO ugly explained with a serious expression as he was finally finished. 112 The Library "Can''t I just see the chairman? I mean he would definitely provide us with better conditions..." Said the FBI beauty filled with annoyance and wonder as to how this meeting would have gone if the Chairman was here instead of the CEO. "No you can''t... oh and believe me when I say this... that the conditions would''ve been much worse and harsher if the Chairman was here." The CEO ugly stated with a smirk. "Sigh... okay. Is there anything else?" She questioned, but at the same time she was thinking, ''All of the uglies in this company are evil!'' "Nope... that was all, good luck! Happy cooperation." Voiced the CEO ugly as he stood up and reached his out in order to shake hands. "But, the contract is still not signed and I doubt it would be possible at all... so why are you acting like it has already happened?" She asked with a confused expression. "Haha... let''s say because I have confidence in my vision of the final decision the government would make." Taking his hand back, he explained with a short laugh. "Okay... goodbye then, Mr. Greg." Saying her farewell, she began walking toward the door. But just as she was about to open the door, she heard a voice from behind, stopping her in her tracks. "Oh also, tell them to rest assured that even if they reject the contract... they wouldn''t need to return that blueprint... because our company doesn''t take back gifts... in addition... please notify them that we won''t change any of the terms... not even in the slightest... so they either take it or leave it." The CEO ugly concluded before she left with a grin. The FBI beauty who had stopped for a second promptly began moving again and left without uttering a single word further. ___________________ THE CULTIVATION MULTIVERSE OF QI - EARTH Yesterday, after that punch by the golden beauty, the young man who received the punch seemed to have calmed down, even though his eyes were filled with even more hatred, nevertheless, everything passed calmly for at least that moment. And just like that, a day filled with tranquility went by until it was the morning. Right now, Virus was sleeping while the golden beauty was sitting in a corner, keeping everything under her watch in case something dangerous happened. Normally, she could sleep just a normal person if she wanted, as that was another option Virus had added for her. And because of that, she very much desired to sleep beside her master in the same room last night. But, the thought of something unexpected happening had eventually kept her from doing that as she had been keeping watch throughout the whole night. Finally, at this moment, Virus opened his eyelids and seeing the golden beauty still keeping watch, he said, "Good morning lil Belle, good job." ________________ Walking down from the stairs, they saw that at the main table, there were six plates of food ready. Two were already emptied out while four were still full. Seeing the food, Virus went and sat on one of the chairs, wanting to try the food, but the moment he ate one spoon from it, he couldn''t help but say, "The food sucks here..." Then putting his spoon down, he no longer tried eating more of it. Afterward, the two walked out from the house, as they began walking around under the good atmosphere of this Earth which was very pure and natural, unlike the original earth. When he began breathing in and out, Virus realized breathing here felt a lot more pleasurable to him, who had completely purified his body. While he was enjoying his morning breathing while taking a walk, the golden beauty interrupted him by asking a question, "Master... what is the plan exactly?" Hearing this, taking a deep breath with his eyes closed, Virus replied, "The plan will change according to the situation we are in, but the current one is to gain access to the location of the fruit by having a high position as a disciple in the sect..." "I see..." As she understood a little and was about to continue with her words, she saw that in front of the house which was a little far away, that elder from yesterday was standing, as he yelled with a voice which easily traveled to their current place, "All of the volunteers need to be ready here in two minutes or you will be disqualified without any further evaluations." "Master, let''s go." The golden beauty uttered. Then, they walked toward the elder as they were soon there just like the rest of the four volunteers. "Follow me." Without any delaying, the elder began walking as the six closely followed after him. Twenty minutes later, they were standing in front of a building when the elder began talking, "This is the library of the Inferior Disciples, under normal circumstances, only Inferior or higher graded disciples are allowed entry to this place, but as a special situation related to the disciple recruitment, you five will be allowed entry to the first floor as candidates... come with me." Listening to his words, the other five''s eyes shone with excitement and promptly, they began going after the elder. Virus and the golden beauty too followed after the elder when the elder stopped and added, "Other than volunteers, the rest aren''t allowed entry, please wait outside, young miss." Listening to this, the golden beauty looked at Virus who told her, "It''s okay, nothing would happen to me... just wait outside till I return lil Belle." ___________ Entering the three-floor building, they saw another elder sitting behind a desk with his eyes closed at the entry, but that elder seemed to not react in any way to their arrival at all as they passed by him without any kind of obstruction. Soon, lots of bookshelves were in their lines of sight when the elder stopped once again as he announced, "This is the location of your second evaluation." Then, the elder started explaining, only... much more patiently than yesterday, "As I said previously, this is the library of the inferior disciples and it has three floors, each floor has different kinds of books... the first floor contains a thousand books mostly about basic information related to plants, herbs, monstrous beasts, etc. While there are other books on the next floors which you''re not allowed to know at the moment..." He continued, "Anyway if an inferior disciple wants to visit and gain access to the second floor, he or she needs to read at least three percent of the books here on this floor and pass the examination with having at least three percent of the knowledge on this floor." After a short pause, the elder delineated further, "... If you want to participate in the examination, you just need to pass through the door and go inside the corridor of stairs which leads to the second floor. Inside, a puff of Qi will be released, absorbing your mind and consciousness to a place where you can input everything you know about the books you''ve read and then, it will announce how much of each book you''ve comprehended and how many percentages of all of the books in the entire library you understood as a whole." 113 The Knowledge Ranking Seeing all of the four volunteers listening carefully, he added, "Now normally, the inferior disciples are required to know at least three percent of the whole knowledge which exists inside the first floor to proceed to the next one." "But as this is only the second evaluation with a time limit of two days, you need to receive a mark of two-tenths of a percent to successfully pass the test, which means you would have to at least read two books and get full marks in both of them." "You can also choose and read whatever book you want on this floor... so begin! "Oh... by the way, I will be back in two days around this time to see the results in action, so try to be ready by then...okay... that was all, do any of you have a question?" He concluded his explanation. Everyone stayed silent for a while after hearing his inquiry, when Alice, who had achieved pale yellow at the first evaluation opened her mouth while looking at the door to the next floor which had ten names engraved on it, "What are those ten names on the door elder?" Hearing the question, the elder first looked at the door before answering, "Well, that''s irrelevant to you five, but since you asked... it''s the top ten disciples with the best results for this floor." Hearing the answer, the four volunteers'' eyes started to shine as they looked at the ten names while checking their results. The Top Ten Keepers of Knowledge on the First Floor: Number one - Astes - [One hundred nine books] - [Ten percent of knowledge mastered] Number two - Ingon - [Ninety-eight books] - [Eight percent of knowledge mastered] Number three - Sila Agnes - [Seventy-six books] - [Seven percent of knowledge mastered] Number four - Ilith - [Eighty-one books] - [Seven percent of knowledge mastered] Number five - Su Jao - [Eighty-eight books] - [Seven percent of knowledge mastered] Number six - Emius - [Sixty-five books] - [Six percent of knowledge mastered] Number seven - Azar - [Sixty-nine books] - [Six percent of knowledge mastered] Number eight - Delia Tiniusenn - [Fifty-eight books] - [Five percent of knowledge mastered] Number nine - Riaxas- [Sixty-four books] - [Five percent of knowledge mastered] Number ten - Seruf - [Sixty-five books] - [Five percent of knowledge mastered] Witnessing the clear curiosity in the eyes of the volunteers, the elder decided to put a little bit of his time on this and clarify the different words on the knowledge ranking. So, he began explaining, "The numbers at the first column shows the rank of each disciple with the number one being the highest and the top one." Staring into different volunteers eyes, he continued, "The second column is the name of each disciple who is on the list, with the third column being the number of books which the disciples used and involved to achieve their percentage of knowledge which is stated in the last column." Hearing the explanations, all of the four volunteers'' eyes unconsciously looked at the top disciple on the list, which went by the name of Astes. Finally, one of them couldn''t help herself but ask, "Who is Astes...?" Hearing the question, the elder''s eyes seemed to shine with a little bit of pride as he replied, "Astes could be said to be the best Superior Disciple in the Alchemy section of the sect..." Looking at the volunteers who seemed unable to understand exactly how amazing the first rank on the ranking list was, the elder just couldn''t allow himself to let them stay in the dark as he began clarifying the situation, "Don''t look down on her first rank... She is much more amazing than you assume..." Listening to the elder''s words, the four who were already thinking Astes must be really amazing got confused, and seeing the confusion in their eyes, the elder expounded further, "You see, the first five rankers before Astes who took the first five places had all ended their discipleship years ago... with some even having finished discipleship close to two decades ago..." "And just like that... for years... no one could take the place of any of the first five rankers... that is... until finally, Astes showed up." He unfolded. "Before her, we all thought that for Inferior Disciples, with the time limit of the examination, using the knowledge of ninety-eight books to achieve eight percent was the absolute limit for Inferior Disciples unless at least they improve their cultivation by a lot... but by that time, they would no longer be an inferior disciple, and no longer stuck at the first floor." "But... a couple of years ago, a fairy-like genius showed up which changed all of our thoughts once again and toppled our views upside-down...and with just being an inferior disciple, she... in that short period of time, inputted the knowledge of shocking hundred nine books!!! More shockingly... she achieved a whole ten percent knowledge from it!!!" "Just imagine how startling her achievement must be to achieve mastery of ten percent knowledge..." The elder said with eyes which were shining with joy and pride by now. "At the time, almost everyone at the sect was stupefied and breath taken by her achievement..." Looking at the volunteers who were now even more dumbfounded by her achievement after they truly understood what achieving ten percentage of knowledge meant, after a nod of satisfaction he questioned, "Do you finally understand how amazing she is?" "Yes!" Now that everything was unraveled before their eyes, the four were truly astonished as they confirmed at the same time, with glimmering eyes which obviously yearned to be just like her. The elder then noticed Virus who was until this moment just listening to his explanations rather casually without any kind of reaction in his expression or eyes, which seemed strange to the elder, considering that he had seen almost no one who wouldn''t react at least by a little when hearing about Astes, but this monster in front of him wasn''t reacting in any way. He wanted to ask why wasn''t he reacting to what he had just clarified, but after a little thought, he decided against doing that, as it seemed strange and odd to simply ask, ''Why aren''t you reacting startled, dumbfounded, and stupefied after hearing such a heavenly achievement?'' "Good! Now begin... I will be back in two days to evaluate you all one by one..." Saying that he turned around, no longer looking back, about to leave. But it was at this moment that Virus called and stopped him, "Elder." Hearing the volunteer he was most curious about stopping him to inquire about something, the elder couldn''t help but grin as he reasoned, ''Oh... Is he finally going to ask about Astes and reveal a little bit of his feelings of stupefaction? Huh! I knew it! Earlier, he was just hiding his feelings to act cool in front of us, but inside he must''ve been greatly amazed and now he wants to ask something about it... hehe, I admit you hid your feelings really well and you could probably fool others by that facade, but you can''t fool my old experienced eyes boy!'' After that, he turned back as he questioned with penetrative eyes which seemed as serene as the clear sky, "What is it Vee youngster?" "Oh, nothing much... just that on your way outside, please tell the girl who''s waiting for me that I will be out in around eighteen hours at most." Voicing that, Virus looked back and began walking toward the first bookshelf, no longer paying the stupefied elder any further attention. 114 A Madman After the elder was gone, Virus walked in front of the first bookshelf, as he pondered, ''I should get the best evaluation and shock the whole sect, so they would grant me the position I''m after as soon as possible. Although this would attract some unnecessary attention and headaches, it doesn''t matter...'' Having made his decision to try his best on this evaluation, Virus took ten books from the first bookshelf all at once as he placed them on the ground and sat there beside them. Then, choosing two books randomly from among the ten books, he placed both books in front of himself and began turning their pages one after another. With his left hand, he was turning the pages of the book on the left and with his right hand, he began turning the pages of the book on the right. He was changing each page so quickly that it could be said at each second, both of the books'' pages were turned once. The passing disciples thought this volunteer must be looking for a book that was easy to memorize, so after feeling a little contempt at him for trying to pass the evaluation like this, they no longer paid him any further attention. At the moment, the other four volunteers who had also walked beside a random bookshelf were searching for the book they wanted to read and memorize. Currently, Alice was happily thinking inside, ''Granpa forced me to read and learn lots of books related to herbs and ingredients... who knew this would come in handy... now I just need to find those books and review them again just to be sure, then I would pass this evaluation easily... yay, grandpa... I love you the most, hehe.'' After this notion passed through her head, she jovially started searching for those books in their own related sections. Other than Virus and the four volunteers, there were other people at the library too, who were the official inferior disciples of the sect. Most of these people didn''t pay the five volunteers any attention at all as they were truly indifferent toward them. But some among them were ignoring them not because they were truly indifferent, but because they felt these volunteers weren''t worth their attention at all. While these people who were ignoring them for whatever reason didn''t bother the volunteers at all, there were some gazing at them with provocative eyes, which was really bothersome, but their only option was to ignore them too, at least for now. If it was a normal circumstance, some of the four might have retorted, but as they all understood time was essential right now, they didn''t pay them any attention in response. In the meantime, Virus was turning two pages at each second, with each hand turning one over. Every time Virus turned the pages, four new pages would appear in front of him which he just looked at once, before casually turning the pages once again. This process of turning pages after pages continued for around two minutes when the two books in his hands were finished and no more pages were remaining from any of the two books. Then, without stopping or relaxing in the least, he put the two books away as he picked two new books which he began changing its pages one after another. Time passed just like that as Virus continued this process just like a child that didn''t know how to read, but in order to pretend to know how to read, that child would turn the pages of the book in a quick manner. Now, Virus too was doing just that, only... he was doing it much faster. One hour passed when the walking ground of the corridor in front of the first bookshelf was almost filled with books everywhere. At first, the disciples and everyone else thought he was just looking for the easiest books to memorize, but after an hour passed, seeing him still continue doing what he was doing at the beginning... they realized they were gravely wrong. By this time, everyone at the library was looking at him like they were looking at a madman as they conversed between themselves in a low voice jokingly, "Who let this madman into the library? How could the evaluation let an insane person pass the first evaluation?" "Who knows... maybe they didn''t realize he was crazy... anyway, he''s just wasting his time. He''s going to fail the evaluation if he continues like this for any longer." Different disciples were muttering quietly to each other in a joking manner while looking at the volunteer who seemed to have gone crazy. The other volunteers were also confused by this genius monster''s actions, but as they didn''t have the time to pay attention to anyone else other than the books in front of them, they decided to ignore him and focus on what they were doing. After around one hour and forty minutes later, Virus seemed to have turned the pages of every book at the first shelf, as they were all on the ground here and there. But without stopping in that bookshelf in the least, he went to the second bookshelf and continued just like before. Seeing this, some couldn''t help but sigh in sympathy thinking, ''He''s truly gone mad... maybe it''s because the books are too hard for him to memorize...'' It was at this time, some of the workers in charge of the library went to the first bookshelf while gritting their teeth in anger and began placing the books at their original spots as they pondered, ''You just turn the pages without reading? Fine!!! But at least place the books at their own places after doing that you bastard!'' Even though they were thinking along these lines, they didn''t dare to lash out at him for real as it was their duty and job to clean the library and put back the books the disciples pick after they were done reading them. Around another hour and forty minutes passed when it was a mess in the corridor of the second bookshelf just like the previous one as a madman walked out from it before going to the third one to the speechlessness of the others in the library. Now, they were seriously wondering what was wrong with this person and if he had truly gone mad. Afterward, he went to the fourth bookshelf to the stupefaction of the disciples, accompanied by the library workers'' gazes which were filled with hatred toward this madman. At this point, some of their eyes were even red and bloodshot because of their anger toward Virus, but they still couldn''t protest in the least as that might lead them to be fired. But as if he didn''t notice the weird looks of hatred mixed with speechlessness around him, Virus continued to the fifth bookshelf which had exactly hundred books just like the other ten bookshelves in the first floor of the library. Then he went to the sixth bookshelf... At this point, the library workers had teary eyes as they were begging inside, ''Oh please stop my great ancestor...'' But to the extreme grief of the library workers, he proceeded to the seventh bookshelf... Then the eighth bookshelf... Ninth Bookshelf... And eventually, the final tenth bookshelf! 115 Stolen Thunder And at this moment, he was finally finished. By now, exactly seventeen hours and fifty minutes had passed since Virus began the process of turning the pages as no more books remained in the library which he hadn''t touched. At this point, no one was paying him any further attention as their speechlessness had dissipated long ago. Because now, they were certain he was a madman, and it was better to not look at a madman. Knowing that he was done, he began walking outside the library, no longer wasting any more glances at the library of books. When he was outside, he immediately spotted the golden beauty who was waiting at a corner beside the entry of the library and as soon as she saw Virus, she hurried over and voiced, "You''re finally back master! Exactly as you said, around eighteen hours... " "Haha, yes. You must''ve gotten bored waiting for me... isn''t that true, lil Belle?" Virus asked with a chuckle. He was feeling mentally tired now that he had turned page after page for eighteen hours. ''A true body has it''s downsides too...'' He thought. "Not at all master, you must be tired, let''s go back to that place which is reserved for the volunteers..." She replied after seeing her master''s face which seemed to be tired. ________________ After that, while they were on the way back, the golden beauty couldn''t help but ask, "What did you do in the library master?" "Hmm... I read a thousand books in the entire eighteen hours I was gone." Virus casually answered her question as they were walking side by side. But hearing the response, the golden beauty couldn''t help herself but get shocked as she uttered, "You read only a thousand books in eighteen hours, master?" "Haha, that''s too few in number right? Well, I had my reasons for reading them the way I did... anyway, no need to concern yourself with that." responded Virus with a short laugh. Honestly, he had other means to read the books in a much shorter period of time, but if he had used any of his other methods, it wouldn''t have the same effect he was looking for. If he had, for example, used another one of his methods to scan through the books without even opening them or touching them, the elder and the other people in the sect might think he had already memorized the books before coming to the sect, suspecting that he was specifically getting ready for this evaluation since a long time ago. And, that would bring their level of amazement to a lesser degree thinking he was just a person who had put lots of time and effort into trying to be an exceptional genius in the eyes of the others. Though even with that his result would be shocking, he wasn''t after just being shocking, he wanted to create the assumption that he was the best talent in regards to comprehension and understanding as he suspected that was the true purpose of the second evaluation. Otherwise, other than that, now that he was done skimming through the books, he clearly saw that lots of the basic information had already existed in his memory prior, though it was imperfect. But still, if he wanted, he could''ve bypassed some of the books which had existed in his mind already, but he didn''t do that, because he wanted to create the illusion that he had read every book at that very moment by just looking at it once and passing from it without stopping in the least. Now, he had all of the knowledge in the first level of the library in his head without losing even a single word, and the only question remaining now was if the examination would limit him in any way so that inputting all of the information regarding the books would be impossible. For example, if the examination made it so he had to pronounce and voice everything he knew and comprehended in a specific amount of time, even he wouldn''t be able to input all of the knowledge regarding the thousand books. At most, he would only be able to input some more knowledge than the current number one on the ranking, because even he had a limit of how many words he could produce with his own mouth in a limited period of time, especially now that he had a true body. As these kinds of notions passed through his mind, they were finally at their destination and entered the room that was reserved for them where Virus went to sleep as soon as he arrived. Now, he and the golden beauty had a day to relax and do whatever they wanted, until the time of the second evaluation arrived. ________________ In the meantime at another place, inside a rather luxurious looking house, a male was sitting while drinking his cup of tea which was on his hand. At the same time, he was listening to the report of the skinny male by his side which was currently talking about something very important to the other male, "Big brother, I heard something unexpected has happened on this month''s test as a monstrous genius has popped up among the volunteers..." "Hahaha... that must be Alice!" Laughing, he took another sip from the tea in his hand. "No... according to what I heard, Alice became the second-ranked on the first evaluation by making the orb turn pale yellow!" The skinny young man by his side stated. "What! She produced pale yellow?! And even with that... she was ranked as the second person?" The other male questioned as he placed his tea on the table in shock. "Yes..." Came the reply. "Which bastard dares to be ranked higher than my little sister? What color had he achieved to be ranked first? A little paler than my sister''s pale yellow?" He inquired further, obviously in anger and hostility. He had been planning for his sister to participate at the best time possible in the Inferior Disciple Recruitment and come out as the champion of the genius group, so she would be directly apprenticed to one of the best elders who took fancy of her talent. But now, he was hearing that another person had stolen her sister''s thunder which made him quite furious and grudgeful. "No... I heard he made the orb turn pale white... twice." The skinny male replied. "I see, so he achieved only pale white..." Just as he was nodding his head, he suddenly ate the rest of his words as he turned completely silent like he was processing something. After what seemed like an eternity of silence later to the skinny young man, the other male shouted in shock, "WHAT?! Are freaking kidding me in this kind of situation?" "No... I wouldn''t dare big brother." He answered shaking his head hastily for a couple of times. "..." "Pale white... pale white... what kind of monster is he... and he was tested twice... damn it... my little sis won''t be seen in any way if things continue like this..." He began talking to himself a little nervously. But by now, his hostility toward Virus who had used his sister as a stepping stone could be clearly seen in his eyes more intensely than ever. Just the thought of another person being in the limelight by dimming her sister''s shining light was making him extremely furious. "What''s that bastard called??" He questioned with a louder and chillier voice. 116 Its An Honor "He''s called Vee big brother... but I don''t think there is a need for you to make a move personally..." The skinny male said. "And why is that?" Confused, Alice''s brother questioned. "Well... because... I heard he''s gone mad..." The skinny replied. "What the fuck are you talking about?" He uttered frowning. "... I heard in the library he''s just skimming through all of the books... and not just that... he''s skimming two books at the same time and just turns both of the books'' pages at the same time every second... he''s famous as the library''s madman right now among the Inferior Disciples..." A little awkwardly the skinny male explained. "What the heck..." Alice''s brother became a little speechless hearing the skinny male''s explanation, he was just about to make a move against him, but he went mad, "Whatever... then let''s just watch for now... it''s good as long as he''s no threat to my lil sis anymore... like this, he will be disqualified and my sister will shine in the second evaluation as she was prepared long before the exam for this." ___________________ UNIVERSE OF TECHNOLOGY, EARTH After the FBI beauty went back to report to her boss, she heard that she was ordered to directly go and report the matter to the President himself. Hearing this, the FBI beauty couldn''t help but get excited, because this was her first time meeting the President from close by and before this, she hadn''t even dreamt of directly reporting something to the president himself. Afterward, she promptly flew to Washington, and from there, she was directly escorted to the White House. When she was finally inside the White House, someone immediately approached her and said with a smile, "Hello Miss Garner, Mr. President is waiting for you at the oval office, please follow me." She couldn''t help but get a surreal feeling about this whole experience more and more, now that he was being escorted directly to the oval office where the President of the United States was waiting for her. When she was finally in front of the door to the oval office, the person who had guided her here voiced as he raised his palm toward the door, "Mr. President is waiting for you inside, please enter." "...Okay..." A little nervous, the FBI beauty looked at the door, took a deep breath and then entered after a couple of knocks on the door. The moment she entered, she heard a man''s voice, "You''re finally here Miss Garner, welcome to the White House." Hearing this, she looked at the source of the voice and found a smiling man sitting behind a desk gazing at her. But even though he was smiling, the FBI beauty clearly saw that the President''s expression seemed to be extremely dark like he was in despair and hopeless about something, so she figured his smile was probably only a facade in welcoming her. "Hello, Mr. President, it''s an honor to meet you." The FBI beauty expressed her sincere feeling greeting the President of her country. "Haha, the honor is mine, anyway... no need for this kind of formality. So I heard you went to the meeting with the Virus Industries, please report everything that happened at the meeting." The President requested in a tone that seemed to be both asking politely but also with an air that probably only a president would be able to emit like he was in control of everything. "Yes... so I went to the meeting and waited a little while for the Chairman to arrive... but unlike my expectations, the person who appeared was the CEO of that company... " And just like that, the FBI beauty began explaining every detail of the meeting chronologically very patiently until she finally arrived at the contract part, "Then, he gave me this contract... please read it in detail before we continue Mr. President." Listening to her words, the President received the contract as he began to read it very detailedly with focus. In the meantime, the FBI beauty just watched him read. But as he read more, she could easily feel the impatience and anger inside the President''s eyes bubbling, and these feelings seemed to intensify the more he read the contract until it was at such a degree that he even let out a laugh like he was reading a funny joke. But his face turned deeply serious all of a sudden as his pupils couldn''t help but shrink to the size of a needle when he was at a specific part of the contract. He was currently on the name list of the people who needed to sign the contract. He recognized the official leaders on the list as they were listed from the least to the most important until the name of the President came up on the list, but what made him shocked was the unknown names that came after the President''s name, he didn''t recognize most of the names but he recognized one of them which was a specific ''bridge'' to a world only each President of the United States was allowed to connect and know about. He could guess what the names on the list after his own name meant, which made him extremely shocked about the information gathering power of the Virus Industries as he turned very serious. Even he couldn''t dig up those names, but here he was seeing another company which supposedly know all of their names. Reading the names, after a while of silence, he couldn''t help but mumble, "This Virus Company just might have a lot more power and deep roots than I could even imagine..." Nevertheless, after calming down, he began to read the rest of the most absurd contract he''d ever seen. When he was finally finished, the President looked at the FBI beauty and voiced with a sneer, "They must''ve known we wouldn''t ever accept this kind of absurd and funny contract just because of going into cooperation with them. This contract is definitely the most nonsense and implausible contract I''ve seen in my whole life..." The FBI beauty who had already expected this kind reaction from the President placed a book on the counter and continued her explanation, "That''s exactly what I told the CEO... I mean this contract seems completely impossible just as you said and who in their right mind would sign this contract, but the CEO said that you might change your mind after seeing this book which is only a gift before the cooperation for the government of the United States. Oh... he also said the country doesn''t need to return this gift even if you reject the offer." "What is it?" He inquired frowning. "It seems to be a blueprint according to what the CEO stated." She replied. Intrigued about what kind of blueprint could they possibly assume would be able to change his mind into signing this kind of insane contract, he opened the book wanting to understand what the blueprint was about. But the more he turned the pages, the more confused he got because he could understand almost nothing written on the different pages of the book. Finally, helplessly, he picked up the phone and called somewhere and when the other line answered, he only passed his order, "Bring me the best experts for understanding a blueprint in the shortest period of time." After he was done with the order, he hung up the line. 117 There is Something... "Oh... Mr. President, I also remember the CEO saying that they won''t be as harsh as the contract states, and probably won''t ever use those harsh clauses.. unless they have to..." Seeing the telephone call hung up, the FBI beauty added. "... That doesn''t make my feeling of rejection and distrust toward this contract any less than it was before..." The President uttered with a frown after hearing her words. "Yes... okay then, should I go back to New York now?" The FBI beauty asked. "No... hang on until we understand what this blueprint is all about for them to have this much confidence that we would change our mind after seeing it..." Mr. President stated. "Do you mean... you might accept the contract?" She asked back full of doubt. "Of course not, I just want to understand the blueprint before sending you to reject them." He replied calmly. "Ok, you are dismissed, wait outside for now..." Saying that he sent her away from the oval office as he focused on the contract once again, especially the name list. Two hours later, a group of best experts in different relevant fields came to study the blueprint. They studied it for around an hour when the president who was waiting beside them finally opened his mouth, "So what is this blueprint for?" Hearing the question, those experts looked at each other for a second before one of them answered, "Mr. President, we still don''t understand what this blueprint is all about... but we can say with certainty this is a breathtaking blueprint that would probably change the world and open many new doors... I mean just studying a few pages of it we are truly startled by it... this is too profound and advanced." The President was a little surprised listening to their response, so he began to contemplate, and soon, he asked, "How much will it take for you to at least understand this blueprint and confirm it''s authenticity? Tell me the quickest time possible!" The experts once again glanced at each other as they exchanged some words between themselves, when one of them responded, "If we put all of our brains together into this and study it intensely without much rest... we should be able to understand it and confirm it''s authenticity in one or two days at most." "Hmm... okay then, begin right now and finish the task as soon as possible... everything you need will be provided in this period of time. Go now." He ordered them as he then dismissed them. Then picking up the telephone, he called somewhere. When the other line picked without any extra words, he directly voiced, "Provide the best and most comfortable place for those people who just went out of the oval office, keep them under a very tight security surveillance too, this is a matter of national security, so take it very seriously, also confiscate their phones or any other way of communication they have with the outside world, they cannot contact anyone either... but be sure to provide the best living conditions for them... send someone to securely deliver this book to them too." "Oh... also, please send Agent Garner to the best hotel and notify her that I will summon her when everything is over with the blueprint. Tell her I ordered her to relax in the meantime and enjoy the luxuries." He further added with a smile at the end of his words. ________________ COUPLE OF DAYS AGO WITH ELECTRO "I want you two to personally investigate the Virus Industries without missing any details, also put them completely under the microscope and dig out everything you can in the shortest time possible!" Staring at her right-hand and left-hand men, she ordered with deep hate emitting from her eyes. From the day her men were massacred, every time she closed her eyes, she would see nightmares of her men being slaughtered over and over again, and she hasn''t had a single comfortable night of sleep with a peace of mind ever since! So, taking revenge was now almost like a demon in her heart that was almost the purpose of her existence as she burned with hatred. "Yes, leader." Listening to their leader''s order, Skin and Viper replied at the same time and left the current room their leader was staying at. After the two left, they began hiring different Private Investigators and professional people who were in the field of gathering information and keeping people under watch. They also bribed cops and other officials for gaining access to the information regarding the Virus Industries. Afterward, they didn''t sit around doing nothing either as they were elites themselves when it came to gathering information, it was just that the last time they had gathered information by themselves was a couple of years ago, so they were feeling a little rusty now. Days passed just like that, until eventually, the two were summoned back by their leader. ____________________ THE PRESENT TIME Walking in front of the door to the room of their leader, one of them knocked on the door. "Come in." After hearing their leader''s feminine voice, they entered promptly. "Did you fully investigate that company? " Seeing Skin and Viper walk into the room she was currently at, Electro put away the snack she was eating and questioned them from behind the table. "Well, actually... we couldn''t investigate much about the company leader, that place is shrouded in mists of mystery..." Viper stated with a helpless face. Listening to this, Electro couldn''t help but to feel disappointed inside, nevertheless, she questioned further, "So... what were you two able to find out?" "It''s pretty much general information which anyone would be able to gain access to... we figured the CEO of that company is only busy with the matters of the company these days... it''s like he doesn''t have a life... and he seems to have no one in his life... not a wife, nor other family members, so he almost never leaves 4 Times Square..." Viper replied, a little confused himself as to how someone so lonely could exist. Listening to the report, Electro frowned and stated, "So that means... we could hardly make a move against him... we can only wait until the best opportunity arises to hit him when he expects it the least." Changing the target of her question, she inquired, "What about the chairman... I believe the CEO is only a puppet controlled by the chairman..." She continued, "As you both know, the true owner of the company is the chairman and he owns all of the hundred percent shares of the company... so the real person we need to take revenge against is the Chairman, as I''m willing to bet he must''ve been the real mastermind behind the massacre of our Heaven." "... Hmm... according to our investigation, all of the family members and relatives of the Chairman oddly seems to be already dead. Other than that...hmm oh, currently, the Chairman seems to be away somewhere with his exact location unknown... we only know that his personal jet flew to sky with its destination undetermined." Viper began explaining. Electricity arcs rose from all over Electro''s body as she slapped her right hand on the table in front of her and yelled angrily, "Is there anything useful at all in your findings? Or did you two just waste all of this time for nothing?" Seeing her anger, no longer beating around the bush, Viper replied, "There is something..." 118 The Pagoda Master Seeing her anger, no longer beating around the bush, Viper replied, "There is something... well, it''s just a rumor... but it could be considered the most important piece of information we discovered that would be of use... that info reveals that the Chairman has a girlfriend... and we know her exact identity!" "Hmm... how were you able to get a hold of this information?" Frowning, Electro questioned. "... One of the Private Investigators we hired was able to find a girl who claims her best friend is dating the Chairman of the Virus Industries." Viper explained. "That''s most likely only a rumor though... probably some drama queen spreading rumors trying to be the center of attention... " She uttered putting a contemplative expression on her face. "Maybe... but there is a good chance it''s true... because after hearing this rumor, we went to the college that girl was studying at and began an investigation there and questioned other students about it... then, we found that... there is truly a rich man with godlike features and devilish charm around twenty-seven years old who comes to their university and picks up that specific girl from time to time... each time stirring the hearts of all of the girls there. Oh, also... they know he''s rich because he always drives different models of the best cars of the Virus Industries... dotting this with another rumor among the employees of the 4 Times Square which states the Chairman is an out of this world devilishly charming man who seems to be also around the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight... you know where I''m going with this right, leader?" Staring into his leader''s eyes with an evil grin in his face, Viper stated. At last, hearing something useful, her eyes began to shine in excitement mixed with hate, as she had finally found a target she could vent a little. Inside, she thought, ''Great... you massacred the people that I care about...now, it''s my turn and I will begin by slaughtering the person you care about the most in this world. Just wait... I swear I''m gonna let you understand what true pain means! First, I will start by showing you your girlfriend cut into a thousand pieces bit by bit.'' "Good job! There is a big chance that her boyfriend is truly the Chairman of the Virus Industries... but even if it was just a long shot and we weren''t certain at all... I would''ve still chosen to make a move. Okay, now first, tell me more about his girlfriend..." She inquired with a new found motivation. "She''s called Ella Dell, the daughter of Daniel and Megan, currently studying at the Columbia University... we were able to identify four of her best friends called Jessica Sheen, Grace Hill, Faith York, and Mary Brown ... and the best friend through which we learned this rumor from is..." Then, he began to report everything he had learned about Ella and everyone around her in this period of time when they were investigating. After he was done, Electro sank into deep thought. Eventually coming out of it, she uttered, "Okay... let''s think of a good plan." ___________________ BACK TO THE CULTIVATION EARTH After that Elder left the library, he directly began walking to the inner parts of the sect where you had to at least be a Superior Disciple in order to have the permission of entry. But the moment he entered one of those inner territories, everyone began to treat him differently than the treatment he received in the Inferior Disciples section where almost no one knew who he was. All of the disciples here began to recognize him immediately and without any exception, all of them bowed from their waists in respect and spoke with clear reverie showing in their eyes and tone, "Good morning, Pagoda Master." Nodding his head in response, he passed by the disciples who greeted him until he was in front of a pagoda half the size of the main pagoda in the sect and entered it. In the path of cultivation, there were many paths and daos a cultivator could follow, like following the path of Alchemy to become a great alchemist respected by all, or the path of the sword to become an amazing sword master so as to be feared by all. More specifically, the paths a cultivator could follow were numerous with some being considered as one of the main or mainstream paths like the path of Alchemy, the path of the Sword, the path of Blacksmithing, etc. But other than the main paths, there were numerous other paths too which were considered as subsidiaries or non-mainstreams, like the path of becoming a great poison master which was considered to be a non-mainstream path followed by very few people. With these daos and paths being numerous, a sect couldn''t possibly be skillful and have mastery, resources, etc. In all of them. So, each sect would focus only on the paths and daos that they were most proficient in and had deep roots in together with the addition of sufficient quality resources through which they would be able to nurture amazing disciples for their sect or school. So a sect or school might mainly focus on the path of a sword and mostly have sword cultivators while some others might only follow the path of alchemy. Of course, there are many sects or schools which follow both of the paths together and has sections allocated for each of them separately. There are even sects or schools which follow a lot more paths all at once like the sect Virus was currently at which was divided into many sections with each section focusing mainly on only one path, but these kinds of schools or sects were either very powerful or very ancient in history. Now, in Virus'' current sect, every section was provided a pagoda. Furthermore, each of the pagodas had a master which was called the ''Pagoda Master''. The pagoda master of each pagoda was the strongest cultivator and the best expert in his own field among the elders in that specific pagoda. Everyone in the sect revered the Pagoda Masters in different pagodas because to their knowledge, they were the highest authority in the sect right after the sect master who lived in the biggest pagoda which was the main pagoda at the center of all of the other pagodas. Entering his own pagoda, the elder was just about to enter his own study, when a feminine voice stopped him in his tracks, "Master." Turning around, the elder saw a very beautiful woman with a very pale skin with plump chest who seemed to be just in her mid-twenties. She had the tranquil features of an extraordinary beauty who had big eyes and long eyelashes together with a small nose and thin rosy red lips which would calm any person who looked at her with anxiety, but at the same time... this tranquility had the effect of making their heart start pounding faster and faster until a burning desire of never wanting to separate their gaze from her would be born inside them which would force them to look at her as long as they able to. 119 Too Young For You In summary, she was the true living example of a beauty which would cause the various kings of numerous kingdoms to fight over for to the point of destruction. Recognizing the King-level beauty in front of him, a gentle smile found its way to the elder''s lips as he spoke, "Astes... what kind of fortunate event has forced my genius apprentice to visit this old man?" Listening to her middle-aged looking master''s words, a soft smile crept it''s way into Astes'' face as she replied, "Master... your disciple has come looking for you because I was stuck with a problem while concocting the Small Restoration Qi Pill..." "I see, tell me... what''s the problem?" The elder asked a little surprised because his personal disciple faced very few problems in her path of concocting pills. But amazingly, each time she asked for guidance in her path of Alchemy, after she received the least amount of instructions from him almost to the point of not even being worthy of being called instructing at all, she would be able to fix that problem with ease at her first attempt... and this made the elder sometimes unconsciously doubt if that problem of hers was real to begin with or if she was only asking about it because she didn''t want her master to feel bad about almost never having the chance to guide her even though she was his personal disciple. "When I''m refining the third ingredient on the recipe, I control the flame to X temperature but it still burns at the last moment..." After that, she began to explain what her problem was exactly when he was concocting that particular pill. "Uh... is that so...As you know, you first refine the second ingredient and while it remains inside the cauldron, you mix it with the third one and begin the third ingredient''s refinement... so... your problem''s source must not be in the third ingredient... but in the second one! Or more specifically, what you do wrong is ..." Hearing the problem, with shining eyes, the elder patiently described the source of her problem with a solution to it. After he was done, Astes replied, "Thank you, master, I understand now." "That''s nothing worthy of your gratitude..." He said with a bit of depressed tone. "Oh, right master... I heard you voluntarily went to be the elder in charge of the Inferior Disciple Recruitment this time around, why would you bother with that?" She asked filled with confusion. "Haha, well... I was bored doing nothing, so I decided to go and be the elder in charge of the Recruitment Test, and guess what! It was truly worth it..." Listening to her query, excitement began to appear in his eyes as he uttered. "Why??" Intrigued a bit as to why her master seemed so enthusiastic about this matter, she asked for details. "Well, you see, at first I thought they were all mediocre geniuses... until that monster showed up! Haha, he''s probably one of a kind that won''t repeat again even in a million years when it comes to the talent of that part... can you guess what color did he made the orb turn into?" The elder began describing with great fervor. "Eh... for master to call him a monster alike which we won''t see even in a million years... and together with a little overestimation from my part... hmm he should''ve made the orb turn pale blue... am I correct master?" She provided an answer after some contemplation and linking her master words to her final conclusion. "Hahaha... not even close!" He replied laughing. "Not even close? Don''t tell me... he achieved... pale azure?!" She inquired surprisedly. "Haha... still wrong... let me provide the answer for you, cuz it seems you can''t even imagine the correct color... it''s not purple, neither pink, but white, A VERY PALE WHITE! Do you understand?" No longer able to tolerate the suspense she was experiencing, the elder just directly told her the answer with a louder voice. "What? That''s impossible!" She said astonished to no ends. Prior to this, she had thought achieving the white color was something impossible, but now she was hearing that someone had achieved exactly that unbelievable color. "And that''s not all, I believe that he might have gone beyond the scope of even what the ancient cultivators'' recordings and history states... because he made the orb turn colorless too! Though I''m not sure what that means or if it means anything at all." The elder explained with vitality and vigor, just like a kid who had found something which he greatly admired. Astes was shocked and even stupefied hearing the explanations, until she could no longer tolerate it anymore and inquired, "Who is he exactly? What''s his name?" "He''s called Vee... but he''s too young for you my great apprentice, haha." Jokingly, the elder teased her while introducing him. Without bothering with her master''s nonsense in the least, she thought, ''He seems to be a person with an unforeseen and unparalleled talent at least in the body part... I should witness that with my own eyes and see what kind of prodigy he is...'' ___________________ TWO DAYS LATER Virus and the golden beauty had spent the previous day doing almost nothing other than having some small talks together or accompanying each other in a short walk outside. Other than that, they spent the rest of the day being bored and doing nothing, when the time eventually passed and the next day arrived. With today''s arrival, the two days countdown of the elder ended and soon he would probably show up at the library for the second evaluation, so washing up after waking up, Virus went toward the library together with the golden beauty. When they arrived, the golden beauty waited outside while Virus began walking inside. Inside, first, he checked out the volunteers only to see that three of them were still studying with bloodshot eyes, with the only exception of Alice who was doing nothing as she sat on a seat and hummed something very quietly to herself as she wore a happy smile on her face. After checking them out, he began to pay more attention to his surroundings and realized the disciples were much more than before as the library was almost completely crowded. Three inferior disciples were currently chatting with each other. At this moment, the first one was saying, "How many volunteers did you bet that would pass the second evaluation? Also... did you specify their names?" "Me? I bet that none of them will pass... you?" The second disciple muttered and then asked back. "Hehe, that''s unlikely, I put my money on that Alice girl... she will definitely pass, oh also... I specified that she would be the only volunteer to qualify." The first one replied as such. "Oh, you two... I put my luck on the first ranker of the first evaluation... I heard he''s quite a monster, you know? Also.... the odds for him was strangely twenty times... I would get rich instantly...alas, you two should''ve betted on him too..." The third disciple stated in a sad tone but on the contrary, his face seemed to be happy and excited about the thought of winning. "Pffff... junior brother... haven''t you heard the rumor of the madman wreaking havoc in the library?" Listening to his words, the first disciple couldn''t stop himself from laughing as he inquired. "Eh... what rumor... I just came out of closed-door training, so I have no idea what you''re talking about." "Haha... you just made the biggest mistake of your life... listen he is a madman who..." Then that disciple began explaining how he went mad under the extreme pressure and didn''t do anything other than skimming all of the books in the library with the fastest speed possible. "I hope that at least you didn''t bet too much of your fortune on him..." The other disciple stated feeling a little sympathetic. But listening to them, the face of the third disciple which had just come out of his closed-door training turned ashen white and pale as he responded, "Fuck... I put everything I had on this..." 120 The Failure Listening to the whispers among the gathering crowd of disciples for a moment, Virus realized that they had mostly gathered because they wanted to see who would pass the second evaluation and become an official disciple of the sect while also making some fortune through gambling. Then, no longer paying any attention to them, he continued to wait for the elder to arrive. But then, some of the disciples who had witnessed the madman at the library by their own eyes instantly recognized him after spotting him in a corner, so they began to whisper among each other. One of them said, "Look, see that person?... he''s that madman!" "That poor bastard." As they were conversing between themselves, suddenly one of them said, "But did you know? One of the volunteers in the first evaluation was my cousin... he told me that this madman has achieved the white color in the first evaluation... ." Another stated filled with doubt. "..." "Hahaha..." Listening to his words, everyone around him began to laugh like they had just heard the funniest joke ever. "Nice one... hahaha" They continued laughing. "But I''m serious here." He said filled with frustration. "That''s impossible." Finally, one of the laughing disciples stated while patting his shoulder. "Is that so? But my cousin never lies..." He replied with clear doubt showing in his eyes. "I heard the same thing... and to make sure, I questioned some of the failed volunteers... and I realized... it''s really true." A certain skinny disciple calmly voiced. Listening to the skinny disciple''s words, everyone was shocked, because they knew this skinny disciple was not a person to blabber gibberish without being confident in his own words first. "Well, then that orb must''ve been broken or he has cheated, it can be only one of these... so don''t mind it... well... even if he has truly made the orb turn into white, it doesn''t matter, does it? Because he''s just a madman." The Previous disciple replied. Everyone unconsciously nodded their head and heaved sighs of relief hearing that disciple''s words. Wanting to see the madman by their own eyes, the disciples all took a peek for a moment before retracting their gazes almost immediately. While looking at him, a few were feeling sympathy for him, but most were feeling contempt and disdain. Alice too, who by now had nothing else to do was looking at Virus as she thought, ''I will definitely take the number one position this time and show everyone that I''m the true genius here, not you!... Though I don''t think there will be any challenges at all this time around...'' It was at this moment, when suddenly, a particular King-level beauty entered through the entrance of the library, making every single eye in the library locked at her as they silently gazed at her in stupefaction. Most of the disciples recognized her at first sight because she was very famous in the sect and even her portraits were secretly being circulated among the disciples who secretly admired her. Soon, one of the disciples who were here since the past few years uttered with a voice everyone could hear clearly, "Oh my heavens! That''s Senior sister Astes!" Listening to this, those few disciples who didn''t recognize her were dumbfounded as they gasped, but soon, their eyes began to shine in deep admiration, because even they had heard of this rising legendary figure in the sect. "How can such a beautiful person exist in the world..." "She''s my Goddess!" "She''s everyone''s Goddess, but don''t you dare to try to have any thoughts about her... because first of all it''s impossible for senior sister to be interested in you...and second... you would probably be murdered by her other strong pursuers... some of her pursuers are even the strongest disciples in the whole sect..." "Oh myyy Gaaawddess is hereee" "So... so beautiful." Virus too took a glance at the King-level beauty after hearing that disciple yell her name and truly seeing her, he couldn''t help but think, ''She is beautiful...'' Then he continued his line of thought, ''these people in the Cultivation Multiverse are truly fortunate people when it comes to physical traits and features... because the existence of a dense qi and cultivators have made the offsprings mostly superior in looks, physical strength, etc. Since birth, especially if their parents are strong cultivators. And their beauty''s continue to increase as they cultivate. This is an advantage this Earth has over the technology Earth and that''s the main reason why more high-quality beauties exist here...'' As these kinds of thoughts were passing through his head, finally, someone entered the library and strolled beside the door to the second floor before announcing, "The two days countdown is done. Now... we will start the second evaluation... volunteers... come forth!" Listening to the words of the elder who had appeared beside the door, most of the inferior disciples were confused because they didn''t recognize him at all. So they began to whisper among themselves once again, "Who''s that elder? Do you know him?" "No... I don''t know... maybe he''s a new elder?" "Hmm... that might be the case." Some of the disciples'' eyes though began to shine after seeing him as they glanced at Astes once more, but they didn''t open their mouth at all trying to announce who the elder was as they were uncertain if their words might make the elder feel offended, because if that happened, they might be doomed. Though they decided to notify the others about the identity of that elder which almost never appeared in this section of the sect, thus being less known among the inferior disciples. Virus, Alice, and the other three disciples with the bloodshot eyes promptly walked toward the elder as they stopped in front of him. "Okay... I hope you juniors have studied well these past two days. Now... who wants to take the examination first?" The elder questioned looking at the five volunteers. "I will enter first." One of the male disciples with bloodshot eyes raised his hand and volunteered. ''Hmm, I should enter as the last volunteer because my result will be too shocking... and I need to wait until all of the other four are done anyway ... so that''s the best choice.'' Virus decided inside his mind instantly. Looking at Virus who didn''t seem to want to volunteer just yet, Alice thought, ''I should go after or before this Vee person... like that, the elder would immediately realize I''m the true genius!'' "Okay, enter at once then." Agreeing, the elder allowed him to go inside. Afterward, when he entered and closed the door behind himself, the elder promptly took out a big orb and send his qi inside as he also touched the door at the same time, then he uttered, "Like this, we would be able to witness the live result of his examination." Listening to his words, everyone looked at the huge orb as they all could see a bar indicating between zero and a hundred. At the same time, a picture of a book appeared above the bar. Everyone was now staring at the orb when the zero at the beginning of the bar changed into one-hundredth of a percent and it slowly began to increase. At the same time above the book, a number appeared indicating that currently one-tenth of the knowledge of the whole book was inputted and mastered by that volunteer. As time passed, the numbers increased until the bar was at five-hundredth of a percent and the book was indicating that half the knowledge of the book was mastered when the book disappeared and was replaced by another book. This process continued like this until, in the third book, the bar stopped at the seventeen-hundredth of a percent. Soon that volunteer exited the door with a very sad and pale face because he had... failed. 121 My Name Is Vee "Unfortunately, you are disqualified, but you can watch the rest of the examination before leaving the compounds of the sect if you want." The pagoda master announced to the failed volunteer who was extremely dispirited at the moment. If he had failed in the previous evaluation, he might have not been this disappointed, but now that he had passed the first evaluation, as he was filled with hope... he failed, and to him, this felt like descending from the heaven to hell as all of his hope was crushed to smithereens, thus making it a lot harder for him to bear. "I will leave..." So as he was too downcasted at the moment, he turned around as he left the library. Soon, the second bloodshot volunteer who was a girl volunteered to enter the examination. So, she went inside, but her result too could be only considered a complete failure as the orb showed that she had achieved fifteen-hundredth of a percent... she was even worse off than the previous volunteer as she cried and tears kept pouring down her face. Also, she too, like the previous volunteer decided to leave. Most of the other disciples, especially males, couldn''t help by feel bad and sympathetic for the girl, but there was nothing they could do for her, so they just watched everything happening. Next, the male volunteer who seemed to have some hostility toward Virus went through the door as everyone watched him. He was the first person to state his doubt out loud about Virus cheating in the first evaluation. Everyone was expecting this to be just like the previous volunteers. But on the contrary, the percentage of knowledge kept increasing quickly as it soon reached nineteen-hundredth of a percent while it was in the third book. Not stopping there, it slowly but surely increased once more as the number changed to two-tenths of a percent, much to the surprise of other disciples present. But, they were even more surprised when the number kept increasing until it hit twenty-three-hundredth of a percent when it finally stopped, no longer increasing any longer. Soon, he exited the room with a proud smile on his face as the pagoda elder announced, "You are qualified to enter the sect, what rank you will have and which section of the guild you go will be determined after the examination is done, so wait." Then, changing his line of sight, while looking at Alice and Virus, he asked, "Which one of you two wants to go first?" Listening to the question, Alice looked at Virus to see if he would go before her, but seeing him show no reaction whatsoever, left with no choice, she could only raise her hand and volunteer. "The genius from the Ilon family? Good, come on in." The pagoda master announced. Astes was almost bored at this point, but after hearing the whispers about Virus, she knew he was the one who had made the orb turn white, but she also heard about his madness, which made her frown at first, making her not to know what to expect anymore. Nevertheless, she decided to wait for his turn, and other than that, she didn''t pay any attention at all to anyone else other than directing her gaze at Virus from time to time. As Alice went inside, just like the other volunteers, the bar and the image of a book appeared on the orb as they began to increase, but the speed of this increase was much faster than the other volunteers by a huge margin. "Oh, she achieved eight-hundredth of a percent with her first book!" One of the watching disciples said with surprise in his eyes. Then the second book showed itself on the orb as the number of the percentage continued to increase with a very fast speed. The second book, eighteen-hundredth of a percent... The third book, twenty-five-hundredth of a percent... . . . The seventh book, five-tenths of a percent! The disciples at this point were amazed by the result Alice had achieved up to this point as some even began to compliment her, "She''s amazing..." "Truly a genius... she is his sister alright." "Nothing less can be expected from a member of the Ilon family." But the number seemed not to want to stop as it continued to increase with almost the same speed as before. The tenth book, Seventy-fifth-hundredth of a percent! . . . Fourteenth book, One percent! At this point, the speed had obviously decelerated by a little. Afterward, when she was finally done with her fifteenth book, half the time of what the previous volunteers had spent inside the door passed. Even the pagoda master couldn''t help but nod his head in satisfaction. Then the number of books kept increasing. Sixteenth book... Seventeenth book... Eighteenth book... . . . Twentieth book, One and a half percent... . . . Twenty-fifth book, One hundred eighty-five-hundredth of a percent... . . . And finally... Twenty-seventh book, Two percent! It was at this moment that the examination stopped and a girl came out with a proud look plastered on her face. Seeing the result, others couldn''t help but admire her in louder voice wanting her to hear their compliments, "Wow, she achieved Two percent on her first try... what kind of genius is she?" "She''s big brother''s sister alright?" A certain skinny young man uttered in deep admiration. "She just needs to study for a while before ascending to the second floor... she''s a smart one... so envious." One of the girl disciples said among the crowd. "Okay... you over-qualify... truly a genius, now wait until the end of the examination." The pagoda master said with a grin of satisfaction on his face as he nodded his head. "Alright respected elder..." Replied Alice with a happy smile on her face. "Now it''s your turn Vee junior... but by the whispers I hear, you don''t seem to have studied..." Looking at Virus, the pagoda master spoke. "Oh... it''s that madman''s turn, he''s gonna disqualify immediately, just look." One of the disciples uttered with a mocking tone. "Of course he would disqualify! What else do you expect from a retarded madman, huh?" Another said. Astes'' attention was finally drawn to the examination unlike the previous volunteers as she looked at him and the pagoda master. "Sigh... My whole fortune! Why didn''t anyone let me know! Why??" voiced a special someone. Seeing it was his turn at last, Virus began to walk toward the door and entered without any delays without bothering to respond to the elder. Once he was inside and closed the door behind him, a puff of qi invaded his brain and mind, and soon, he saw himself standing in a completely white space alone. ''Hmm, what''s this space?'' He thought. As this notion passed through his head, these exact words appeared in front of him inside the blank page of a hovering book. Witnessing this, he pondered, ''So it works like this, whatever passes through my mind is written on the book... Good, this means there are no limitations on the speed of inputting the knowledge, it''s just the matter of how fast I can think...'' As he was thinking about this, a voice interrupted him by saying, "Name." ''Hmm... does the space wanna know my name?'' Wondering to himself, Virus thought, ''Vee'' but nothing happened, so he decided to voice his thought for real as a test and uttered out loud, "My name is Vee." The moment he uttered his name, a five-day countdown of one hundred and twenty hours appeared high up in the white space, as he heard that voice again, "Start." 122 Thirty Seconds "Start" At the same time as he heard this voice, the book in front of him disappeared. ''So it''s about to start... that book must''ve been just a guide to let me understand how this exam works before it actually begins.'' ''Also, it seems the ratio of the time difference between here and the outside world is 120:1 and every hour outside is one hundred and twenty hours inside... that''s amazing, though this seems to be putting some pressure on my mind as it''s making the mind overload... now this much pressure is no problem for me and I can easily bear with it, but for a normal person, one hour must be the limit...hmm.'' Virus pondered to himself. As these kinds of thoughts were passing through his head, he saw that the countdown had changed into 119:59:40 and it kept decreasing more and more. A new blank book had also appeared in front of him by now, he just needed to begin thinking and filling the book. So not wanting to waste any more of his time, Virus decided to first fill and complete the book in front of him with the fastest speed possible in order to know how much of his thinking and processing speed could the white space tolerate and keep up with and also he wanted to clarify how much time would he need exactly to input the knowledge of all of the thousand books in this exam. So, when the countdown was at 119:59:30, he began to think with the fastest speed possible to input all of the knowledge. Then, a moment later, like lightning, pages after pages were flapped as the book was instantly complete. So looking at the countdown to see how much time had passed, Virus realized it was still 119:59:30! ''Hmm... so it doesn''t even take a second to input all of the knowledge I have in my mind huh? And all of those wasted times in between was wasted for the pages to turn over... '' Virus pondered. Then he realized, ''So in order to not exceed the limit this space can tolerate... they have set a time limiter on it which is set in the form of the pages turning to the next and the time it takes for the new book to appear huh... a good limiter to keep it from being destroyed by stronger minds...'' _____________ On the other side of the door outside, everyone including Astes and the pagoda elder were watching the orb to see what happens next. But except Astes and the elder who was a little hopeful, everyone else was only watching it because they were interested to see just how bad his results would be and how much it would amuse them, other than that, they weren''t even considering him passing the test. Everyone was watching the orb with a lack of interest when suddenly, the percentage of the bar changed into one-tenth of a percent instantly as the book above it also showed that all of the knowledge relating to the book was inputted fully inside. Seeing this, at first, everyone thought it was one-hundredth of a percent rather than one-tenth, so there was no reaction whatsoever from their side, but suddenly, one of them uttered, "Eh, why is it one-tenth instead of one-hundredth... am I seeing wrong?" Saying that, he rubbed his eyes wanting to see if he was seeing wrong or hallucinating. Hearing that disciples'' words, everyone paid attention to the number, but then... they all turned dumbfounded! The elder and Astes too were feeling extremely shocked, so they immediately checked the book above the bar to see what the book was showing. And what they saw promptly surprised them even more. "Ehhh... what''s happening, why did the number change into one-tenth of a percent all of a sudden?" One of the disciples mumbled. "What''s going on, is the ''Examination Door'' broken? Is something wrong with it?" Another said. ''Is this a coincidence?'' In the meantime, Astes wondered to herself. "What''s going on elder? Could it be the ''examination'' is not working flawlessly? That must be it, right?" Frowning and feeling a little nervous inside, Alice inquired. The elder was currently surprised too just like everyone else, but putting his surprise aside immediately, he stated, "There is no way the door is malfunctioning or flawed, because I''m checking the ''Examination Door'' as we speak and I''m sure that it''s totally fine and its qi is entirely healthy... but maybe there was a little delay in the qi of this orb which shows the result..." Then he continued, "What you need to know is that this result is absolutely accurate. He must''ve written down the knowledge of a whole book..." ''Maybe... these disciples judged him wrongly...'' The elder thought after his explanation. Listening to the elder''s explanation, everyone felt stupefied as they thought, ''What''s going on here exactly?'' _______________ Currently, inside the white space, Virus was thinking to himself, ''Hmm, should I just input everything I know in one go? Or should I input them one by one slowly throughout the time I have left?'' After the previous book was perfected, it flew high up in the white space as it stopped hovering there as another book appeared in front of Virus, waiting to be filled. ''Well, the more I impress them, the better it would be, so...'' ''I''ll just do it fast, and if they doubt that the ''Examination Door'' is broken or something... I''ll just take the exam again after they check it up...'' ''So... let''s just be done with this and get out of this space.'' Finally, making his decision Virus looked at the book in front of him which was filled with his previous thoughts. But after he willed for the page to turn blank, all of his thoughts were instantly erased. ''Let''s... begin.'' Then, as this thought ran through his mind, all of the pages of the hovering book in front of him was instantly filled before the book flew high above and stopped hovering just beside the previous book. But without delaying at all, he filled the second book instantly too... then the third! Then... the forth! . . . The repetitive process continued just like that as books after books flew to the sky of the white sky like flying birds as they hovered beside the other complete books. If anyone else was currently present in this space, they would''ve been truly amazed by the sight in front of them, as with a puff of air a book would appear in front of Virus but almost even before it had appeared, it would be filled with texts before flying high up, but once again before they even begin to fly up, another book would appear just to be filled with knowledge and texts again! Soon, the books which were hovering in the sky of the white space reached a hundred. And realizing the number of books had reached a hundred, Virus stopped for a moment in order to check the countdown. 119:58:02 Seeing the countdown, Virus realized he had filled a hundred books in around thirty seconds, which meant he has filled ten books around every three seconds, though more precisely, almost all of the three seconds was the time it took for the book to appear and for the pages to turn over. ''Hmm, this speed is good enough.'' Virus thought in satisfaction. 123 A Slap In A Dream? Outside of the door, everyone was still feeling shocked about the sudden increase of the bar from zero to one-tenth of a percent, so they were looking at the orb with complete focus and interest to understand exactly what was going on. But suddenly, from one-tenth of a percent, the bar increased to a whole ten percent! The whole library instantly went entirely silent as every disciple''s pupils had turned into the size of a needle as they almost popped out of their sockets because of their sense of disbelief and surrealism. Even the pagoda master and Astes who were the least surprised in the previous increase from zero to one-tenth of a percent could no longer keep their surprise under check at all as they stood there dumbfounded just like others. To other disciples, this increase felt like that the bar had instantly increased to ten percent. However, the pagoda master who had a higher level of cultivation and a better grasp of the time witnessed otherwise. Although even to him this increase was too fast almost to the point of him being unable to catch any sight of it, he was sure that he had seen the orb gradually increase from one-tenth of a percent to a whole ten percent throughout what felt like one-fourth of a second! At the same time, he had also caught glimpses of extremely quickly changing books above the bar, albeit it was very blurry. So even though it didn''t make any sense, he was certain of what he saw and knew that inside the white space, Virus had truly achieved ten percent knowledge in thirty seconds. Still in disbelief, he decided to check with how many books Virus had achieved ten percent, so he sent more of his qi inside the orb which immediately changed the bar image into the shape of a book, above which a number was hovering as it showed the shocking number of a hundred! He was even more stupefied seeing the number as he wondered to himself, ''This monster.... did he really fill the books with the full knowledge of a whole hundred books in just thirty seconds?... If this impossible feat is really true... then I have still underestimated his talent...'' Currently, Astes was greatly shocked too as she thought to herself, ''What''s happening? Why did the bar percentage shot up to ten percent all of a sudden?.... Don''t tell me... he truly achieved that in a moment? But that''s impossible unless your cultivation is very high, right? How could he suddenly achieve what I was barely able to achieve after using the fastest thinking and processing speed I could use for almost five days straight in a moment?'' Other than her shock which was clearly visible in her eyes, she was also very confused as every question she asked herself, threw her into even more confusion and doubt. Alice was entirely frozen right now, as she didn''t understand what was going on at all, and her mouth and mind were totally shut as if her soul had run out of her body. The state of other disciples'' mind could also be only imagined, because they were the least prepared for this to happen as they were now witnessing what they thought to be a madman, doing something even the smartest person among themselves could barely achieve after much more effort! This phase of silence and dumbfoundedness continued for a while when finally, one of the disciples could tolerate no further and uttered, "Ehhhhh, what''s going onnnn?" Coming out of that state, the other students also began to voice their astonished thoughts. "Have we all gone nuts? We must''ve, right? Otherwise... how could that madman make the orb change into ten percent all of a sudden..." "This must be a joke..." Alice who had finally snapped out of it mumbled while gritting her teeth. "LOOK AT THE ORB!" Afterward, Alice was just about to voice her thoughts at the pagoda master when an attention seeking shout was heard from one of the disciples which immediately draw everyone''s attention to the orb once again. But what they saw sent them into another phase of disbelief because... in front of them, the bar percentage had increased once again, but this time, into... twenty percent! __________________ Simultaneously, inside the white space, Virus was once again looking upward toward the hovering books which had now increased to two hundred books! ''Hmm, the people outside should be raising a ruckus by now...'' Virus thought to himself as he gazed at the books once more before taking it back and beginning another round of inputting knowledge into empty and blank books. Thirty seconds later, another round of a hundred books joined the other flying books, hovering beside them. _________________ Seeing the percentage bar change into twenty percent, everyone was in disbelief and confusion, but before they could even react in any way, it changed into thirty percent! After that, it seemed the numbers had no intention of stopping as the percentage kept increasing... Forty percent... Fifty percent... Sixty percent! It had almost instantly changed numbers three times after hitting thirty percent, leaving all of the disciples, Astes, and the pagoda master, unable to show any kind of reaction whatsoever. Everyone was bewildered already before, but this bewilderment jumped to another level as they no longer understood what they were seeing anymore. Though other than experiencing bewilderment and shock, Alice was despairing by now after seeing the numbers grow continuously, as she was completely helpless to do anything about it. Now, everyone could only watch the numbers continuing to rise. __________________ Right now, Inside the white space, Virus was filling the books one after another and only paused for a little while after every hundred books were filled with knowledge to the brim. He was pausing because he didn''t want it to seem like the percentage had jumped from zero to hundred percent abruptly, which would make them doubt him even more in return. He wanted everyone to at least have a sense of the increase and what was going on. So, after a short pause, he began another round of filling books. Seven hundred books... Eight hundred books... Nine hundred books... He continued this repetitive process until he had finally completed nine hundred books altogether! ''Let''s see how much time has passed since I began...'' Virus thought as he glanced at the countdown. 119:47:10 ''Hmm... with the pause of one minute or less between every ten percents... they should''ve clearly seen the swift gradual increase...'' Virus pondered to himself. ''Okay... Let''s wrap this up now...'' _________________ Outside the door, everyone was looking at the orb quietly with so many emotions mixed that they longer knew how to express. They were all just looking at the ninety percent bar in front of them, as if they were expecting something impossible to happen, maybe just a miracle before today. In the meantime, different thoughts were passing through everyone''s minds. ''Don''t tell me...'' ''Would he... would he be able to make the percentage bar....'' ''It''s definitely impossible... but how did he achieve the past ninety percent if it''s impossible... is a hundred percent just something expected of him to achieve now?'' ''Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.'' ''This must be a dream.'' ''Have I gone crazy? I must be seeing wrong... everything must be continuing ordinarily with that madman already failing the exam... wake up!'' ~SLAP! Finally, at the same time as a particular disciple slapped himself in the face, the bar percentage was filled and it changed into... A full hundred percent! 124 The Glowing Wooden Table Witnessing the percentage bar completely filled up and show a hundred percent, everyone''s eyes widened to the extremes! The elder couldn''t help but gasp as he was having quite the difficulty in believing what had occurred in front of him. Astes too was shocked very much, and if anyone else from the superior disciples'' section was seeing her features right now, they too would''ve been astounded, because this level of shock was something that the King-level beauty had never shown on her face before. As everyone was still staring at the orb, the door to the next floor was finally opened as Virus walked out of it and strolled before the elder with the most casual of the expressions. Seeing his relaxed way of behavior like he had achieved nothing special, everyone felt quite annoyed inside. The elder though, couldn''t help but admire his calm way of behavior even after he had achieved something unbelievable. _________________ IN THE HIGHEST FLOOR OF THE MAIN PAGODA At the center of the sect, there was a pagoda with the biggest size among all of the pagodas around it. Currently, inside the highest floor of that pagoda, an old bald man with a very long white beard was sitting with closed eyes as if he was in deep meditation. There was also a very long scar on the right side of his face which began from his eyebrows and continued to the right side of his mouth with just a few centimeters away from it. As the old man seemed to be persisting on his peaceful meditation, his eyes abruptly opened in surprise, and soon, a wooden tablet appeared on his hand which was currently glowing with light. Seeing it, the old man couldn''t help himself but mumble, "What''s going on...? Why would the sect''s main tablet glow with light all of a sudden?" __________________ After Virus came out of the door, everyone changed their gazes from the orb to Virus, with an entirely different look than before he had entered the door. Before he had entered the door, they all looked at him like they were looking at a crazy person, but now, they were looking at him in shock like a monster was walking in front of them. Alice who was truly despairing at this point didn''t know what to do anymore as she was feeling a very intense grip in her chest, like someone was pressing her chest with all of his might, making it extremely difficult for her to breathe. At the same time, she kept thinking to herself inside, ''This isn''t possible, this is absolutely impossible!'' Afterward, before anyone could say a word, looking at the elder, she broke the silence as she voiced loudly, almost screaming, "Elder... he must have cheated just like how he did in the first evaluation!!! You gotta see that! Expel him... no... you have to kill him as punishment for trying to fool the sect! You know this result is simply something impossible to achieve... or maybe the ''Examination Door'' is broken by him..." Listening to her desperate voice, it was like the other inferior disciples were enlightened all of a sudden as glimmers of understanding passed through their eyes, and some of them also began to voice their minds one by one. "Oh.. so he cheated on the first examination just like I thought, huh?" "Is he just a cheater after all? For a second there, I thought he was one of those monsters..." "This bastard... how does he dare to cheat in front of the pagoda master! He''s definitely doomed now!" Another inferior disciple, who was lucky enough in the past to see the pagoda master somewhere, mumbled. But, as everyone''s focus was currently on Virus, their attention wasn''t drawn to that particular disciple''s words as they didn''t even realize it. Some other disciples also expressed their opinions when the elder finally shouted while staring at Alice, "Silence!" Hearing the shout, everyone was instantly silenced as they no longer dared to let out any kind of voice whatsoever. Seeing everyone silent, he uttered, "Junior Alice, what do you take our ''Examination Door'' as for?" After a short pause, he continued, "First, let me begin by saying he didn''t cheat in the first evaluation at all and I had clarified that before. Secondly, this ''Examination Door'' was set up here by our very first founder in the ancient times... and it has never failed or shown any kind of malfunction to this day... do you really expect this kind of ''Examination Door'' to fail to work properly? Do you really think someone would suddenly pop out and be able to cheat now for the first time when no one, not even me or the sect master is able to alter the result in any of the ''Extermination Doors'' in the slightest?" Listening to his words, everyone was suddenly jolted out of their previous state as they began to wonder to themselves, ''That''s right... if not even the sect master is capable of cheating or making the door malfunction... then who is this person without any kind of cultivation base in front of us to be able to cheat?... Because that would be the funniest joke ever.'' ''Then... don''t tell me... he truly is one of those monsters?'' ''Then... does that mean that when he was skimming through those books with such a speed... he was actually memorizing them? No...that''s impossible right?'' Alice was speechless listening to the elder''s explanations. Even though she didn''t want to accept his words, she knew he was right and her nonsensical gibberish was just her last ray of hope to be seen as a genius in front of everyone and the elder. Seeing Alice and the rest of the disciples calm down as they seemed to be able to think clearly for themselves now, the elder changed his line of sight toward Virus and thought, ''He is truly a monster... even though it''s still hard for me to believe he had truly achieved this result... there is no way it wasn''t correct either...'' Everyone was now looking at Virus, when suddenly they heard a sound from the door which draw their attention to itself, so looking over, they saw the list on the door change by itself as a new name appeared at the highest place of the ranking: Number one - Vee - [Thousand books] - [Hundred percent of knowledge mastered] Just looking at this number, everyone''s heart couldn''t help but begin to pound faster. The elder too looked at the door before taking it back as he looked at Virus once again and uttered with a grin, "Congratulation Vee Junior, you''ve truly achieved something that was never seen before by someone at your level of cultivation... just as a mortal..." Listening to the congratulation, Virus continued his expressionless way of looking at the elder as he lacked any kind of reaction whatsoever. Witnessing this, not bothered in the least by his behavior as he had seen even weirder people before, the elder continued, "According to the disciples, you''ve skimmed through every book in the library in almost a day with an extremely fast speed... tell me... were you memorizing every book you saw at that time?" As the pagoda master waited for Virus'' response, he finally received it, "Yes." Hearing this response, the elder and the others were amazed once more as the elder declared, "If that''s true... then... that means... your memory is even stronger and greater than those with the so-called ''Photographic Memory''... because... they can''t even compare to half of your capabilities when it comes to the power of memorization and comprehension... they aren''t even close." After a short pause, the elder opened his mouth again with eyes full of admiration as he remarked, "You''re truly amazing!" 125 Interesting! "Thank you." Virus replied shortly. After the pagoda master was done complimenting him, he looked at Alice and the other male who had also successfully passed the second evaluation before gazing at Virus once again, as he announced, "You three have successfully passed both of the evaluations and thus, you are all now officially disciples of the sect." Then, he continued, "As for which positions you each will take in the sect and to which section you will be sent to..." After a short pause, first, looking at the third ranker in the evaluation, he proceeded, "You barely qualified... so you will be positioned as one of the inferior disciples." "Thank you, elder." Bowing respectfully, that male replied, but at the same time, he stole a glance at Virus before taking his eyes off of him quickly. Afterward, the pagoda master changed his line of sight toward Alice, as he continued once again, "The rules clearly state that in case the ''number one'' testee achieves at least pale yellow in the first evaluation and two percent in the second evaluation... he or she will be placed as a Normal Disciple... but since you couldn''t obtain the first place... this rule doesn''t apply to you..." Listening to his words, Alice began gritting her teeth in hate as her nails were almost making her palm bleed. "But, since your results are what usually the first ranker achieves... you can be positioned as a normal disciple if... an elder from the Normal Disciples Section agrees to accept you as his disciple." The elder concluded his words with Alice like that. "... Thank you, respectful elder..." Listening to the second part of the pagoda master''s words, she couldn''t help but feel hope inside her heart as she thought, ''I can still be a normal disciple... I just need grandpa to use some of his connections in the sect... hehe... I still have hope... I will definitely get back at you... just you wait....'' Then, looking at Virus, the pagoda master once again began to talk, "And about you, the champion of this month''s Inferior Disciple Recruitment... honestly, your results are something that no one has expected... not even the rules. The champions whose results are extraordinary would be usually granted the position of a normal disciple... but... since your results were too heaven-defying... I will make an exception here and offer you a position in the Superior Disciple Section as my own personal disciple... which would mean... you will directly be a Superior Disciple even without any kind of cultivation base whatsoever." Listening to the elder''s words, everyone was greatly bewildered, first of all, because the elder seemed to confirm that he came from the superior disciples section which shocked them very much, and secondly, because Virus was directly being promoted to be a superior disciple just by the Inferior Disciple Recruitment Test... this shocked them greatly because this kind of straight promotion was simply... unheard of. ''Ahh... he was an elder from the superior disciple section... I can''t believe this...'' ''I would''ve been more respectful if I knew he was an elder from there...'' ''So with talent... this is what happens...'' ''We cultivate for years just to aim to be a normal disciple, but he... he just bypassed the Normal Discipleship and directly advanced to be a superior disciple... I''m so envious...'' After thoughts of astonishment like these passed through the mind of everyone present, they focused on Virus and the elder once more to witness what would happen next. "What do you say? Do you accept to be my disciple?" The pagoda master questioned. ''Hmm... it seems this is the highest I can go with the inferior disciple recruitment... though this situation is better and higher than what I anticipated...'' Virus began to ponder to himself after hearing the pagoda master''s offer. ''But... I can''t bring myself to call him master... especially since his knowledge is clearly lacking and not even close to being compared to me... his strength is also not that out of my reach...'' ''For someone to qualify to be my master... he or she must at least exceed me in the knowledge part... or be so powerful that would naturally qualify him or her to be my master as he or she would have something new to teach me... but even then, me calling that person wouldn''t mean I''m accepting to be inferior, it would mean that I''m acknowledging that person truly has something new to teach me so I would be stronger or know more.'' These kinds of passive thoughts went through Virus'' head for a while. And soon, once he was done, he replied, "Yes, I accept." Listening to his response, the elder clearly felt Virus'' tone which was much less indifferent and cold than before, so he grinned and was about to open his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by the rest of his words. "But... I have a condition if you truly want me to be your disciple..." Virus continued. The elder was a little dumbfounded that he actually wasn''t directly accepting him to be his master and was actually putting forth conditions for him. However, even though this was clearly inappropriate and any other elder would''ve been burning with rage by now, the pagoda master just couldn''t bring himself to be angry and feel offended by Virus'' words. On the contrary, he was kind of starting to like this behavior of him more and more which didn''t just accept him as his master only because he was being offered a higher position. So, he asked, "What is it?" The disciples, however, were boiling with rage by now inside as they angrily thought, ''Is he stupid??? How dare he put forth a condition...'' Virus was aware that in almost all of the worlds where strong ruled over the weak, the matter of ''face'' was a very serious matter, but even if it wasn''t, he wouldn''t be so insensible to directly state his condition in front of everyone and slap the face of this elder which was obviously trying to just assist and help him. So, he uttered, "I would like us to be alone for that..." "Oh... is that so... fine." Surprised by his words, the pagoda master accepted. Then, looking at the other two volunteers which had passed the evaluation, he informed the two, "Another elder would be coming soon to guide you two, so wait in the library until then." After he was finished with his words, he looked at Virus, as he said, "Let''s go." . . . Soon, they were out of the library as they began to stroll toward the pagodas in the distance. "Okay... tell me now, what''s your condition?" The elder inquired with a kind smile plastered on his face. "My condition is that I won''t call you ''master'' ever... unless a day comes when I see you worthy to be my master. Do you accept this?" Virus explained with a tone that didn''t contain any malice or disrespect in it. The elder, on the other hand, froze in his place after hearing Virus'' words, as his smile also instantly disappeared entirely. Witnessing his expression and reaction, Virus couldn''t help but sigh inside as he thought, ''Sigh...did I just ruin my opportunity to obtain that fruit in a short period of time?'' ''Whatever, I still don''t regret my decision... the matter of me being someone''s personal disciple is not a simple thing ... and if he can''t even tolerate this much... then he truly doesn''t deserve to be the master of I, Virus, even if it''s just in name.'' As he was thinking along these lines, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the elder''s unexpected laughter which surprised him, "Hahahahahahaha..." His loud laughter continued for a while until the elder finally stopped and stated with a broad smile, "Interesting... you are truly an interesting person..." 126 The Sun Elder Afterward, he continued, "I like this condition of yours... okay... I won''t ever force you to call me master unless you want to... I don''t care about titles that much anyway... so don''t worry about it." "Now, tell that young girl to join us." Then he continued as he glanced at the golden beauty who was walking a little further behind them. Virus didn''t care if the golden beauty heard his condition or not, but nevertheless, he had told her to get away from them so the elder wouldn''t feel disrespected in front of others as he wasn''t aware of the intimacy between the two, so he asked her to leave them for a short period of time, while he told the pagoda master his condition. The pagoda master though seemed to have realized Virus had done that for his sake, which made him like Virus'' personality even more. So seeing the pagoda master accept his condition, he signaled the golden beauty to return and walk by their side. After the golden beauty joined them, much of the time hadn''t passed when suddenly, an old bald man appeared beside the pagoda master, Virus, and the golden beauty who was walking almost side by side. This old man had appeared so abruptly that even the golden beauty wasn''t able to follow his speed and witness his appearance. As soon as he appeared though, the pagoda master bowed in respect and uttered, "Greetings, respectful Sun Elder... what brings you to this humble one?" The so-called Sun Elder nodded his head as he replied, "The sect''s Authority Tablet just began to glow all of sudden... and when I put my qi in it, I could sense it was pointing toward the library...then I remembered a report which stated you volunteered to be the elder of this month''s Inferior Disciple Recruitment examination... and If I remember correctly, today was the day of the second evaluation which is also held there... tell me... what did just happen there?" Listening to his inquiry, the pagoda master was surprised as he hadn''t expected that such an occurrence would take place when someone had achieved a hundred percent in the ''Examination Door''. He wanted to keep this under wraps for a while but that seemed impossible now, so he began to reply, "The Authority Tablet probably began to shine because my disciple had just achieved a hundred percent completion in the examination..." Hearing his explanations, the Sun Elder was honestly very surprised that someone had achieved a full hundred percent in the knowledge examination of the library, so he inquired further, "Oh... what''s this disciple of yours called? Where is this junior?... And what''s his level of cultivation?" Pointing at Virus with his palm, the pagoda master introduced Virus, "In response to the Sun Elder, he is my disciple which had just achieved a hundred percent result." Then he continued with his introduction, "He''s called Vee..." "Oh... I haven''t heard of you having a personal disciple called Vee before... what''s going on?" The Sun Elder inquired further in doubt. "... That''s... that''s because I''ve just accepted him as my personal disciple... he was one of the volunteers for this month''s Inferior Disciple Recruitment... and seeing him achieve a hundred percent even though he''s just a normal mortal made me interested in him, thus... I accepted him as my personal disciple." The pagoda master responded. Listening to him talk, the Sun Elder checked Virus'' level of cultivation, and instantly, became a little astonished that Virus had achieved a hundred percent just as a mortal because that was an impossible feat for a mortal to achieve under normal circumstances. But soon, his astonishment died down because although achieving a hundred percent was incredible, it didn''t mean anything to cultivators without having the talent in the body part too. For example, if a person had heaven-defying comprehension abilities, but the talent of his body was just mediocre, even though that person will exceed other cultivators with just mediocre talent, he wouldn''t be able to exceed them by much. "I see, what color was he able to make the orb change into in the first evaluation?" So, taking another short glance at Virus, he looked back at the pagoda master again and asked. It was obvious his astonishment had died down greatly as he seemed to be asking this question with the least amount of expectation like he was just waiting to hear a disappointing response from the elder. ''Damn it...'' The pagoda master thought to himself and left with no other choice, he provided the Sun Elder with a response, "He achieved pale white..." The pagoda master didn''t say that Virus had achieved a colorless hue, because he believed that was a shocking result which would astonish anyone even more so than the pale white color if they interpreted what that might mean, so he decided to tell the half-truth which everyone would have an easier time to believe, and if anyone realized that he had achieved a colorless hue instead of the pale white color in the future and questioned him as to why he didn''t tell the truth, he decided to just say he thought it didn''t mean anything. "Sigh... pale white huh? Like I expected... it''s..." Listening to the pagoda master''s answer, he sighed in disappointment as he began to state in a helpless tone, but suddenly, his voice froze as his eyes went wide in disbelief. "What did you just say? I didn''t hear wrong, did I? Did you say ''Pale White''?" The Sun Elder asked impatiently, losing his calm for the first time. "Yes... pale white... lots of volunteers witnessed it... thinking the result might be wrong... I even re-examined him with another orb, but the result was the same." The pagoda master replied without any expression appearing on his face. The Sun Elder was very shocked hearing the pagoda master confirm it again, because if what he stated was true, then this person in front of him was probably one of those hardly ever seen geniuses... and just the thought of a person being overpowered in both the body talent part and the comprehension part made his long beard shiver in excitement. But then again, he began to wonder if it was possible for a natural born body to possess this kind of talent in both areas... because that was obviously very unlikely, and this conclusion only meant one thing to him, that the person in front of him had top-level secrets... secrets that might be even greatly helpful to him or anyone else. Though he calmed down very quickly, as one of the advantages which came with his age and high level of cultivation was that he was able to control his emotions much easier. However, after calming down, he remembered a particular utterance of the pagoda master, which made him begin to frown deeply as he questioned him, "You just said you accepted him as your personal disciple... did I hear that wrong?" "...Yes, he is my personal disciple now and he has accepted it by himself willingly." With a frown in response, the pagoda master uttered. "Do you think this kind of matter and this kind of talent is something you can decide on your own and just take him as your disciple before announcing it to the sect?" The Sun Elder questioned further with a serious expression appearing on his face. 127 The Matter Of Trus "Of course not... and that''s why I was about to report this matter to you as soon as possible... but that doesn''t matter as he has accepted me on his own... and you know that in the end, it''s the will of the disciple himself that matters the most... so even if I had notified the sect beforehand, if he had still decided to choose me as his master, the sect couldn''t have any objections regarding it and the result would''ve been still the same..." The pagoda master logically responded in a way that would make sense and free him of any punishments. "You''re right... but if you had notified the sect before he accepted you as his master, the sect would''ve placed much better options in front of him to choose from... like in the matter of choosing his master, the sect could''ve placed much better candidates than you, with myself included among them... and who knows... the result might have been completely different then... don''t you agree?" ''This bastard...'' The pagoda master thought inside, but promptly thinking of a solution to counterattack his words, he stated out loud, "Yes, that''s true... and that''s why... if he ever wants to stop being my disciple, I will allow that... or if he decides to choose someone else as his master... I allow that too... even if he wants to accept a second or third master... I''m fine with that too. With these conditions, there shouldn''t be any more problems now... right, respected Sun Elder?" The pagoda master announced looking at the Sun Elder. ''Damn it, he''s truly a cunning fox...'' The Sun Elder frowned for a moment hearing his words, but soon the frown disappeared as he replied, "If it''s like that.. then naturally, there will be no more problems whatsoever." "Okay..." Then looking at Virus, the Sun Elder began with introducing himself, "This junior, let me begin by introducing myself...I''m called the Sun Elder, the current highest authority in the sect... first let me begin by saying that it''s our sect''s greatest fortune and honor to come across and have such an amazing genius among us..." Listening to the Sun Elder''s words, Virus replied casually, "Thank you." The Sun Elder couldn''t help but frown a little when he heard the casual tone with which Virus talked to him, as he thought, ''Why is it that the more of a genius a person is... the weirder of an attitude and personality that person usually has...'' Then, ignoring his previous casualness on the account of him being a genius, the frown on his face disappeared immediately as he proceeded while trying his best to approach Virus, "Vee junior, our sect greatly treasures and values talents like you... and that''s why if you allow me, I''ll make the sect provide you with the best resources available to us so your true potential would blossom in the shortest period of time possible... I will also guide you personally as my own direct disciple... what do you say? Do you accept my offer?" Staring into his eyes for a short while, Virus replied, "Thank you for the great offer, but I will stick to my decision temporarily, though be rest assured, as I will seriously consider your magnificent offer from now on and I will notify the Sun Elder as soon as I decide otherwise... oh and if you allow me, I shall pay you a visit personally later." Listening to his tacit half-rejection while also leaving some leeways for the future to change his mind, even though the Sun Elder was feeling a little dissatisfied inside for his half-rejection, he thought it was good enough for now. So nodding his head in satisfaction on the outside, he stated, "Okay, you considering my offer is enough for the moment. Then, I will wait for your visit... at that time, I''ll explain the advantages you would have if you accept my offer in more depth." Then, glaring at the pagoda master on purpose for a moment, he continued, "Oh, but be careful as the people you have decided to trust may not be that trustworthy after all... just mark my words and be careful." "I shall do that." Casually saying that Virus thought to himself, ''Of course I won''t easily trust any of you... if anything I''ve learned in the countless years of my existence... it''s that the monkeys are the least trustworthy beings out there in the world... and you both are one of them in the end even if you''re not really from the same Earth...'' ''However, It''s actually good that you appeared here... because now, I can use both of you to achieve what I really want more easily.'' He concluded his own thoughts with that. After listening to Virus'' response, the Sun Elder no longer paid him any further attention as he focused on the pagoda master and warned him, "Take good care of him, and remember that I will pay close attention to our new genius disciple from now on..." "Yes, that was my plan from the beginning, respected Sun Elder..." Bowing in respect, the pagoda master replied. Then, no longer having anything else to add, the Sun Elder took another casual glance at Virus before disappearing instantly, like he was never there to begin with. After he left, Virus looked at the pagoda master and questioned, "Who was he?" Looking in the direction he left, the pagoda master replied, "As he said it himself, he is the current highest authority in the sect in absence of the sect master... you could say he''s the acting sect master of the Silver Sky Sect right now." "Oh... so this place is called the Silver Sky Sect..." Virus mumbled, finally coming to know the name of the sect. Though he had only mumbled it, how could it escape the sensitive ears of the pagoda master, so hearing his words, he immediately became speechless and asked, "... You... you volunteered to be a disciple of the Silver Sky Sect without even knowing its name beforehand?" Not wanting to talk about this matter for now before understanding the previous topic, Virus inquired, "So why is he the current highest authority? And where is the Sect Master?" Seeing him not respond to his question, the pagoda master thought he was embarrassed to respond to his previous question, so putting it aside, he answered, "Well... this has got to do with the Authority Tablet... you see, the Authority Tablet is something that is originally owned by the sect master of our Silver Sky Sect himself... and it''s like a symbol of authority each sect master of the sect comes to posses..." "Now, what''s special regarding the Authority Tablet is that there are rules attached to it... the first of which states, the true owner of the Authority Tablet is always the sect master... while the second rule attached to it states that if any of the other members of the sect come to possess the Authority Tablet, that member would have the highest authority in the sect just after the sect master himself!" He continued his explanation. "Which means in case the sect master is not around... the possessor of the Authority Tablet would have the highest power in the sect..." 128 Just Around The Corner "Now naturally, the real owner of the Authority Tablet is still the sect master and he has the power to take it away from the Sun Elder whenever he wants. However, the thing is... the sect master has left the sect for years now and hasn''t returned ever since." "Furthermore, before departing.. he seemed to have imparted the Authority Tablet to the Sun Elder, thus making him the temporary highest authority of the sect at least until the sect master returns." Finally finished with his words, the pagoda master went quiet as he seemed to have sunk into deep thought like he was remembering a particular memory regarding a specific day a couple of years before. "I see..." Saying that Virus went completely silent for a while as they walked side by side toward a direction while the pagoda master continued to be lost in his thoughts. Finally, pointing at the main pagoda, Virus opened his mouth and began to inquire about what he had been wanting to ask since the moment he had stepped into the sect, "What''s that big pagoda... and why is it bigger than the other pagodas?" Snapping out of his daze by Virus'' voice, the pagoda master looked at the gigantic pagoda before replying, "That''s, of course, the first and the most important pagoda in the entire sect, and it''s usually the inhabiting place of three people, with the sect master and the Sun Elder being two of them." He continued without any pause, "When the sect master was around, he would live on the highest floor of the pagoda all by himself while the other two would inhabit and guard in the first floor of the pagoda." Then, a short frown appeared on the pagoda master''s eyebrows, but it disappeared quickly as he proceeded, "However, after the sect master left and gave the Authority Tablet to the Sun Elder, the Sun Elder occupied the highest floor...and this situation will continue at least until the sect master returns." Listening to his explanations and seeing none of them was the thing he really wanted to hear about, Virus pretended to be casual as he began to talk once more, "Is that so? That''s truly an interesting and gigantic pagoda... it''s almost penetrating the sky... what''s on the other floors by the way? For example... the most middle one?" Not suspecting anything, the pagoda master explained, "Hmm... the most middle floor is the main treasury of the sect which is only accessible by the sect master and the possessor of the Authority Tablet... which means...currently, the Sun Elder also has access to it..." ''Oh... so the Brisk Balance Fruit is in the Main Treasury of the sect... hmm... in worst case scenario, I should use the Sun Elder and this elder to somehow gain access to the treasury to obtain that fruit...let''s think...'' Listening to the pagoda master''s description of the treasury, Virus pondered about it for a short moment. After explaining that, the pagoda master was about to pass on and explain the other floors when he was interrupted by Virus. "Oh... then no one other than those two can access the treasury... then what''s the point of having a treasury if no one can gain access to it? There really isn''t any way for the disciples to benefit from the treasury?" He inquired in a casual tone. "Well, it''s not like that... it''s just that the disciples and the other elders can hardly gain access to it and each time they have access... they can only take away a limited amount of treasures from it." "... How can a disciple gain access exactly?" Virus inquired with intrigued eyes. Realizing his curiosity, the elder replied, "Now that you ask... actually you''re in luck... as you would be able to witness two disciples gain access to the treasury soon... one of which will most likely be your own senior apprentice-sister..." Listening to his words, Virus was a little excited inside as he smelled an opportunity right in front of him unlike his previous expectations which he thought that most likely only the sect master and the Sun Elder would have access to it, so he asked calmly, "Is that so? How is that?" At this point, they had arrived in front of a pagoda, when the pagoda master stopped, then turning to look at Virus, he uttered, "I need to go somewhere as I''m in a hurry, if you have any further questions about the sect, you can ask your senior apprentice-sister or wait for me to come back..." "Oh, that''s your senior apprentice-sister..." Then, pointing at the entry of the pagoda, the pagoda master voiced, as he soon disappeared without waiting for Virus'' reply. ''He really seems to be in a hurry...'' Virus thought as he looked in the direction the pagoda master had pointed at. But seeing the target in his line of sight, Virus was surprised, because he saw someone he had just seen a while ago in the library. She was the girl that even Virus had thought she was beautiful. After being a little surprised though, he promptly put that feeling aside and began to walk toward her as he had questions he needed to be answered. Soon, arriving in front of her, Virus stopped and spoke, "Hello, I''m Vee, the new disciple of your master. Before leaving, he said you would be able to guide me and answer my questions regarding the sect..." Listening to the way he talked, Astes couldn''t help but frown a little, because he didn''t say ''Master'' while calling the pagoda master, but used the word ''He'' which made her quite annoyed for some reason. Nevertheless, she replied without any kind of expression showing on her face, "Hello, I''m Astes, your senior apprentice-sister, what''s your question?" "The elder was just about to explain how two disciples soon would be able to gain access to the main treasury... and that one of them will most likely be you... can you clarify the situation regarding that to me?" Inquired Virus. Listening to his inquiry, Astes glared at Virus for calling her master ''Elder'' at first, but not stating anything about it for now, she turned around and began to walk as he uttered, "Okay, I will explain while I guide you and your servant to your room inside the pagoda." "She''s not my servant, she''s my family." Virus replied promptly hearing Astes call Bella his servant as both of them began to follow her. "Alright, so regarding your question... actually... there are two contests just around the corner, with the first one being the Alchemy Contest which only the Superior Disciples can participate in... and the second one is the Martial Contest... but unlike the Alchemy Contest, it''s not limited only to Superior Disciples, and other than them... the Normal and Inferior Disciples can also participate in it." She began providing the answer Virus was after. "As I''m sure you can already nearly guess, the prize for the champions of each contest is an entry ticket to the main treasury and the right to choose one item, ingredient, etc. From there." She explained without any emotion apparent in her tone. 129 Are You Crazy??? "Oh... so it was like that." Virus mumbled with shining eyes, thinking about this whole situation and the opportunity present in front of him. But afterward, processing the Martial Contest, he casually inquired about it as he wanted to gather further information related to it, "Why would the Inferior and Normal disciples participate too? I mean... there isn''t any point in them participating, right? Because they will lose anyway... unless... there are prizes specifically prepared for them." Listening to Virus question and almost get to the answer all by himself, Astes spoke, "That''s right... though they won''t be able to aim for the top rankings, there are great benefits for them too, with the most important one being that the top three disciples of each section will be upgraded to be a higher section disciple. For example, the top three of the Inferior Disciples will become Normal Disciples, while the top three of the Normal Disciples will become Superior Disciples." "Oh, I see... so that''s why... and like that, those disciples will also be able to take a glimpse of more powerful disciples fighting with each other, which would benefit them greatly...the sect truly has great insight by making the contest this way..." Virus voiced analyzing the contest a little further. By this point, they had already walked to the second floor as she stopped in front of a door, uttering, "This room is for you two, if she was your servant, then we could''ve given her another room if you requested, but since she''s family, there is no need for that." Then taking a glance at the golden beauty, she asked, "That''s fine, right?" Hearing the question, Bella replied without any hesitation, "Of course! I would always stay by Mas... by big brother''s side! I won''t ever budge from his side in the least!" Listening to her words, Astes was a little suspicious of what she was about to say, but forgetting about it, she looked back at Virus and probed, "Anyway, do you have any other question?" "Yes, when are those two contests you mentioned?" He asked. "They start in two days..." She replied, then finally unable to tolerate any longer, she voiced, "I''m your senior apprentice-sister, so you should call me that!" Hearing this sudden change of subject, Virus was surprised because talking like this and calling others ''you'' was the normal way of talking on his Earth, but this Earth seemed to care too much about titles, so he decided to ask a question, "What does ''Senior apprentice-sister'' mean exactly?" It wasn''t that Virus was unaware of the meaning of the word, it was just that each word will have a relatively different meaning in each location influenced by the culture of that place in the long term, so he wanted to know the exact meaning of the word, for example, if the word ''senior'' in ''senior apprentice-sister'' meant ''older and more experienced'' or something else altogether. Astes was confused by his abrupt simple question, but nevertheless, she replied, "The word apprentice-sister obviously means that we are from the same sect and the same martial family of the Sky Silver Sect, and the word senior means that I''m older than you in the sect as I was here long before you... this is what the word ''senior apprentice-sister'' means to me." Listening to her description, Virus nodded his head as he decided to call her ''Senior apprentice-sister'' as she had asked, but he couldn''t stop himself from teasing her a little bit to be entertained, so he said, "Okay, I will call you that, but without the word ''Senior'' in it, since it makes you seem like an old person... is that fine, apprentice-sister?" Astes was happy hearing the first part of his words, but when he began the second part of his sentence, she began to have mixed feelings inside. At first, she felt angry because he said he wouldn''t use the word ''senior'' which was a kind of disrespect to their relationship, but then, he said he didn''t want to call her that because it made her feel old which meant he was saying it out of good will and she kind of... liked it, because which girl would want to seem old. Even one of her main purposes by cultivating was because she didn''t want to get old and stay young as long as possible, so how could she like to be called old. Thus, she was struck speechless, unable to respond to Virus'' previous statement. Virus, on the other hand, seeing that he had succeeded, smirked and said, "Silence is a sign of consent and acceptance... so it''s decided then... okay, apprentice-sister, I have another question for you now... how can someone sign up in the contests?" She was still having mixed feelings and processing Virus'' previous words when Virus took that as a sign of consent which quite annoyed and frustrated her to be honest, but she didn''t say anything in the end, and just replied a little absent-mindedly, "You just need to go to the elder who is in charge of signing up... " "Oh... and who and where is that elder exactly?" He inquired further. "The elder in charge of signing up for both of the contests is the elder in charge of the library of the Normal Disciples'' section... " At first, she was explaining and clarifying the situation without much thought, but by the end of her sentence, a thought suddenly struck her which shocked her quite a bit as she asked, "Don''t tell me... you want to participate in one of the contests?" "Of course, what''s wrong with me participating in the contest, is there any rules stating that I can''t?" Virus responded. "Are you seriously asking that? Are you crazy??? You''re just a mortal being without any qi right now... so how can you participate in any of the contests... the Martial Contest itself is obviously for those who are already cultivating qi... but you... even taking the last place would be hard for you because you will probably die immediately." She began explaining the obvious in a tone as if she had just heard the most absurd thing in the world. Then, she continued completely frustrated, like she couldn''t believe he didn''t even understand something as basic as that, "And... let''s say you''re not going to participate in the Martial Contest... but in the Alchemy Contest... but even in that, what matters is the qi! Both contests need some cultivation base for you to have a chance to stand out... but you have neither... so why are you going to participate in any of them? To lose? Or to lose your mortal life? Just forget about it... because you have nothing to gain out of it too as you are already a superior disciple... " "Is apprentice-sister that much worried about her apprentice-brother?" Virus inquired with a serious face while grinning evilly inside. Listening to question, Astes froze for a short moment, but understanding what he meant, she lashed out at him in a louder voice, "Who was worried about you! I''m just saying because you are my junior apprentice-brother... if you want to lose your puny mortal life... then just go ahead and participate!" 130 Going Ou Staring at her with doubtful eyes, Virus replied, "Oh... is that so? Then it''s fine. I want to participate. However, I don''t exactly know where the Normal Disciples'' library is at... so could you please tell me where it is, apprentice-sister?" Seeing him still wanting to participate, Astes could only helplessly shake her head in exasperation, but didn''t try to dissuade him any further as she uttered, "... Actually, I''m going to sign up tomorrow myself, so if you want, I will come after you tomorrow and show it to you too while I''m at it..." "That would be great." Replied Virus. ____________________ THE EARTH OF TECHNOLOGY - THE NEXT DAY AFTER ELLA WAS INJECTED WITH [POTENTIAL OPENING INJECTION] Going out of the bed like usual to begin her new day, Ella walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face, etc. However, what she didn''t realize was that she was moving abnormally quick as she walked into the bathroom. When she was in the bathroom, going in front of the washing basin, she tried opening the mixer tap like always to wash her face. But, to her stupefaction, unlike the previous times, when she tried opening the mixer tap until the end, its handle came off as it broke. Looking at the handle of the mixer tap in her hand in shock, Ella suddenly remembered that she was now a lot more powerful than before after being injected with the [Potential Opening Injection]! Then, she tried putting the handle back, but after many tries, she realized she couldn''t fix it. Out of frustration, she gave up and began to first wash her face with utmost cautiousness, however, when she tried brushing her teeth, her toothbrush too suddenly broke inside her mouth, making her eyes wide-opened staring at the mirror as she voiced, "Uhh..." In the end, when she was finally finished with her matters, she closed the flowing water from the bottom of the washing basin before leaving. . . . A while later, she was sitting around a desk with her parents as she began to eat her breakfast very carefully after she notified them that the mixer tap has broken. "Daniel, you know that''s not true! My sister didn''t do that on purpose... it''s just... her personality is like that..." Megan said. "I know, but that was still rude... and you can''t justify that by just saying her personality is like that!" Daniel replied a little upset. SHATTER~ At this point, Ella became completely distracted by her parents'' argument as she picked up the glass in order to drink it, but the moment she picked it up, it shattered to pieces in her hand! Her parents who were arguing stopped instantly as they looked at Ella in shock as they froze, when Megan finally uttered, "You... Elle... your hand!" Megan wanted to say ''Did you just break that out of anger because we were arguing?'' but seeing Ella''s hand bleeding, she instantly hurried over to bring her away to bandage it. Ella herself too was shocked as she thought in pain, ''Uh... I forgot again.'' __________________ A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER Since that fateful day when Virus injected Ella with the [Potential Opening Injection], Ella has been very careful with her every action in dealing with the side-effects of being too powerful, especially when she was around people. For example, at first, it felt like time had slowed down and her normal talking speed became too quick for others to understand, though it seemed normal to her, so she slowly trained herself to talk slower so it wouldn''t seem strange to others. Additionally, she became abnormally strong from the moment that injection was injected. So, she had been trying to very careful when touching something fragile or sensitive. However, even though she has been extremely cautious, there were many times when she couldn''t control it at all, like when she became extremely nervous, scared, alert, etc. . . . Currently, Ella and one of her best friends called Jessica was sitting in a conference room beside each other as they listened to the professor''s speech. However, instead of the professor, the two were mostly the center of attention as the boys kept stealing glances at them, with the reason of Ella being too beautiful as one of the campus belles, while her friend, Jessica too, was deemed as a beauty just a tad bit inferior to Ella by a lot of males. Nevertheless, there were an endless amount of boys who pursued both of them almost evenly. Though unlike the other boys in the conference classroom, the two of them didn''t pay any kind of attention whatsoever to their surroundings as they were fully focused on the professor''s speech. CRACK~ It was at this moment when Ella was noting down some of the details the professor was uttering when suddenly, her pen broke into two! Seeing her pen broken, she helplessly mumbled, "Uhh... another one broke..." Then, taking out another pen which she had prepared beforehand, she continued writing. "Again? What''s with you, Elle? Are you angry at someone or something?" Jessica voiced as she shook her head. . . . At the same time, when Ella''s pen had broken in her hand, some of the boys were looking at Ella and Jessica, as they witnessed this strange scene in their line of sight which made their eyes almost bulge out! Afterward, they no longer dared to look at either of them as they were afraid they would annoy and anger Ella once more, thus dooming them to the same fate as the poor pen. _______________ THE PRESENT TIME WITH ELLA Right now, Ella was in her room, as she seemed to be getting ready and dressing for going out. ~Knock ~Knock ~Knock Knocking on her door first, her mom entered as she saw her daughter getting ready as she seemed to want to go out, so she asked, "Elle... why are you dressing??? Are you going somewhere?" "Mom? Did you forget already? I told you last week that I would go out with my friends tonight..." Ella replied, as she stopped dressing for a moment. "Oh... that was tonight... I see... okay, get ready and go... have fun. Buuut... don''t tell me my daughter wants to go out with her boyfriend secretly without telling her parents first?" Megan voiced as she remembered that she had truly notified her of going out tonight, but she couldn''t help by try to tease her a little bit. But not teased in the least, instead, Ella hit her hard with her response, "Mom... seriously, do you think I''m just an elementary-school kid to keep such things from you? If I wanted to go out with Ai, I would''ve just said so... also, he''s not around at the moment, so even though I would very much like to go out with him... I can''t." Listening to her response, Megan couldn''t help but think, ''Sigh... My baby girl has truly grown up to be a good adult now. Kids grow up too fast...'' Then she asked a little surprised, "Eh... where has he gone off to?" Not wanting to talk about this with her mother, Ella casually answered, "He had some small matter to attend to outside of the city." 131 The Night Ou After that, Leaving the house, Ella took a taxi as she directly gave the taxi driver the address to the restaurant she and her friends were going to meet tonight. She was going out to have fun with two of her best friends and she was actually happy about it because this was their only night out after a long time. A while later, the taxi finally stopped in front of a restaurant which you could see the inside of, from directly standing outside. Getting off the taxi, Ella walked in front of its window as she looked at the seats on the other side of the glass. Finally, spotting her two best friends, she began walking inside the restaurant, when a man who seemed to be the receptionist in charge of allowing entry to the customers stopped her as he asked, "Excuse me miss, do you have a reservation for tonight? And under what name is it?" "... I don''t, but my friends should have... look, there... they are my friends." Pointing at two girls who were sitting on a specific chair, Ella uttered with a half smile. "I see, enjoy the meal, miss." The receptionist smiled as he no longer obstructed her path. Afterward, Ella walked beside her two best friends and began talking, "You were both here earlier than me... Mary... Jess. What are you two talking about without waiting for me?" "Elle! Is your boyfriend really that mysterious Chairman of the Virus Industries like Jess says?" But without even saying hello first, Mary began questioning her in a hurry. "Sigh, this girl, at least wait for her to sit down before bombarding her with questions will ya!" Jessica uttered in a helpless tone as she shook her head. Listening to this, Ella looked at Jess as she asked with a bit of frown, "Who did you hear that from, Jess?" "Hey Elle, you''re finally here... sit, sit..." After Ella sat down, she continued, "Mm, Actually, Grace told me... she said you confirmed it yourself! Other than that... there are also rumors spreading in the campus about this." Listening to Jess''s clarification, Ella voiced angrily, "Grace!!! I should''ve known she can''t keep a secret from you guys!" ________________ A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE - IN THE CAMPUS Right now, Ella and Grace were sitting on the lawn of the campus as they seemed to be conversing. "So! How was our beauty''s date with her prince charming?" Grace asked right away, just after they sat on the lawn. "Hehe..." Ella giggled happily as this was what she was waiting to hear, then she began talking, "It was amazing Grace!!! Can you guess where he took me? Uh... it was so romantic... my heart''s still not calming down..." "Hmmm.... a restaurant?" Grace guessed. "Nope." Ella shook her head. "Shopping together? Or doing a particular sport together?" She guessed once more. "Nope nope!" Ella shook her head once again. "Just tell me already!" Finally frustrated because of her curiosity not being sated, she yelled. "Hehe, okay... you won''t be able to guess it anyway... sooo... here is the answer... for our date... he took me to his personal helicopter as we had our date above the city in the skies!!!" Ella answered with her eyes still shining in happiness just thinking about her date. Listening to the response, Grace was speechless and astonished as she thought to herself with a bit of jealousy anyone would feel, ''Oh my God, seriously, wish I had him as my boyfriend..., just how rich is he? Could he really be...?'' "You''re shocked speechless right? Hehe, well... that''s understandable..." Ella uttered giggling seeing Grace dazed and deep in thought. "Oh my God Elle, I want a boyfriend like him too... doesn''t he have a rich friend or something for me to date?" Grace asked afterward in a jokingly manner. "Hehe, who knows, if you want, I can ask him?" She replied with a chuckle. "Please do so!!!" Grace said with an exaggerated voice, then she continued, "By the way Elle, there is something I''ve been wanting to ask..." "Eh... what is it?" Then, she began, "... So he''s called Aizen Vee, right? That''s quite an uncommon combination which will be seen rarely... but I keep hearing that name on the television as the News and the other programs keep talking about the mysterious Chairman of the Virus Industries which hasn''t even publicized himself yet." "Tell me, Elle, are they the same person or am I overthinking things?" Grace questioned staring doubtfully at her as she further added, "Also, he''s filthy rich! How many Aizen Vee''s could we have in New York who happens to be filthy rich?" Ella was a little surprised listening to Grace''s deductions, but soon, she sighed and replied, "It wasn''t that I was trying to keep that a secret or anything from you... I just hadn''t found the right moment to tell you about it, anyway, yes, he is that Aizen Vee, the Chairman of that famous company... though I haven''t talked about this with him at all. You see, even I came to know of this just because I''ve gone to 4 Times Square before." Grace was almost certain with her own deductions as she was mostly asking to hear it from Ella''s mouth, but listening to Ella really confirm it, she couldn''t help but to be truly shocked. Ella gave her some time to digest the matter as she understood her astonishment and also gave her the right to be shocked. "You never talked about it with him? Are you for real Elle? How could you not ask anything related to that?" Grace inquired speechlessly. "Well, he never mentioned it, but he never tried to hide it either, so I''m just doing the same for him, I''m waiting for him to talk about these stuff with me whenever he feels like if he wants, as it''s also not that much of a big deal... what matters is that he didn''t hide it." Ella explained with a tone like she seemed to be talking to herself rather than Grace. "I see... you''re such an understanding girlfriend, haha." Grace said jokingly with a laugh. Afterward, Ella requested, "Keep it a secret for now, okay?" "Uh... of course I will..." _____________________ BACK AT THE RESTAURANT "..." Remembering that day, Ella couldn''t help herself but be speechless when she thought about Grace''s loose mouth. Then, looking back at Mary, she responded, "Anyway, Ai is the Chairman of the Virus Industries, It wasn''t like I was trying to keep it a secret from you guys or anything..." They were both amazed hearing her response, but right after, Jessica said, "Actually, we were just talking about a News which is somehow related to the Virus Industries, and thus, our topic finally arrived at your boyfriend, Aizen." "Oh... what is it?" Ella asked surprised. "Don''t you watch the News?" Jessica asked with a helpless tone looking at her friend''s ignorant face. "Do you remember those Allied Phone Companies'' CEOs who tried to go against the Virus Industries? Its news had startled the whole world at the time... and in the end, one of them was even revealed to be the mastermind behind the ''Ghost Theft'' which the CEOs were trying so hard to accuse the Virus Industries of... do you remember?" Jessica uttered. "Of course I remember them... what about them?" Ella asked back in doubt. 132 The True Bottom _______________ RIGHT AFTER THE FLIES STUNG THE CEOS Seeing every imprisoned CEO other than those two CEOs from Korea and Finland stung without any of them even realizing, Virus mumbled, "It''s just that you monkeys are no longer entertaining but still have some thoughts of plotting against me and annoying me later on, so..." ''If you guys had your previous positions, this might''ve been still a little interesting and I would''ve waited to see what you guys are going to do and how you would do it... but now, you have no power whatsoever and whatever you do won''t be a challenge for me other than annoying me, just like a bunch of annoying flies.'' He thought. When they were imprisoned, Virus wanted to leave them alone as they seemed to have lost all hope and surrendered. However, Virus witnessed that slowly but surely, the hate in their eyes began to accumulate and grow by each day. And when they finally began to realize that they no longer had nothing else to lose, they began plotting to harm that company in whichever way possible even if it wouldn''t deal much damage to it. And witnessing them begin to plot and plan, Virus became annoyed rather than being entertained. Then, as he sat on the highest floor of 4 Times Square, he thought, ''When you see a bunch of harmless flies flying around you and they don''t leave you be, it would annoy you and you should naturally get rid of them.'' __________________ IN THE RESTAURANT WITH ELLA "Of course I remember them... what about them?" Ella asked back in doubt. "Well, since the past few weeks, they have been dying one after another for some random causes of death..." Jessica voiced with clear shock as if she was finally meeting karma in flesh and blood. "Huh... what do you mean?" Ella questioned in confusion, not quite understanding what she was saying. "I mean exactly what I said!" Jessica replied. Then, she continued, "Some of them died of heart attack, while some had a deadly stroke, or all kinds of cancers found in their bodies... what I wanna say is that they have all died now... except four of them! But one of those four is the missing mastermind behind the ''Ghost Theft'', so we don''t know if he''s alive or not, while the other one is already on the verge of death in the hospital bed because of some kind of deadly cancer at its last stages. Only... two of them are completely healthy and kicking in prison!" Listening to her non-stopping friend''s description, Ella was stupefied. Looking at Ella''s dumbfounded face though, Jessica proceeded, "...Right? That was exactly the kind of expression I had when I heard the News... before today, I didn''t believe in karma, fate, or such things, but that changes today!" "Do you know what''s more shocking?" Jessica asked with amazed eyes. "Huh? What is it?" "The last two remaining CEOs who seem to be totally fine after a check-up are those two which had surrendered themselves in the beginning! Can you believe this? It''s like God is punishing those who didn''t regret their actions until the very end... this is like a miracle!" Jessica voiced with her shining eyes. Ella too, thought it was amazing that these things were happening to those CEOs, but remembering her boyfriend''s illogical capabilities, she couldn''t help but frown a little as she wondered, ''He couldn''t have... right?'' Then, shaking her head, she continued, ''No, he wouldn''t, and he''s not even around at the moment... also... it''s not like the cause of their death is some kind of poisoning or something.'' ''The cause of their deaths seem to be completely normal and they aren''t even dying at the same time either...'' But then, forgetting that logic doesn''t make that much of a sense when it comes to her boyfriend, she began to think logically and made sense of the entire situation. ________________ In the meantime, in a hospital bed, a middle-aged man with an oxygen mask on his face was taking his last breathes as he thought, ''Is this God''s way of punishing me? I should''ve never tried plotting against that company... I should''ve lived a better life. I didn''t understand the saying that ''We all die naked in the end and return to dust'', but now that I''m on the verge of death, I understand... however, it''s too late now...'' This was the last thought which went through this particular CEO''s mind as he closed his eyes and sank into eternal darkness. ___________________ Right at this moment, inside each of their own prison cells, two specific CEOs were watching the News on the television. "Breaking news! We just received a new update on Mr. XX, who was the last sick CEO... he was just announced to have passed away by the hospital." A beautiful lady was currently reporting the news of the last dead CEO as both of the CEOs from Korea and Finland listened to it very attentively with a frown in their faces. ''Sigh, what is this? Is it truly God''s judgment? And why is it that it specifically didn''t hit us two who surrendered in the beginning?'' Both of the CEOs from Korea and Finland thought along these lines. "Could these have been done by that company?" The CEO from Korea couldn''t help but mumble with a momentarily light of suspicion passing through his eyes. "Hahahaha..." But hearing his mumblings, the other prisoners in his cell began to laugh out loud as one of them finally stopped and said, "Do you think the Virus Industries is God to make every single CEO''s die with entirely natural and normal deaths? Brother, It''s just a horrifying coincidence which would probably happen every ten thousand years, haha..." Listening to them, the Korean CEO truly thought he was just illogically overthinking things, so he uttered, "Whatever it is, I and the other CEO from Finland are truly lucky to be still alive... now whether its God''s punishment, coincidence, or something else altogether, it doesn''t really matter to me and I have no intention of thinking further about it." . . . A large number of people were actually shocked by the news of the criminal CEOs dying one after the other, and at first, some were even suspicious of the Virus Industries being behind the whole thing. But hearing the news of their autopsy which announced their cause of death was completely natural and normal, their suspicion and doubt subsided as they become speechless in another way. They were stupefied because this seemed like some kind of miracle and justice sent upon the CEOs by God himself. With this happening, there were even some who began to believe in God, while some others who were previously slacking in their religion began to pray for their God once again. Some even made stories about this whole situation and narrated them to their children in their sleeping time. A story about how some evil CEOs went against a just, righteous, and innocent company called Virus, just to face Divine punishment at the end sent by God, teaching them this moral lesson that evil will always be punished in the end as the ''righteous'' and ''just'' will definitely triumph over the evil. All in all, this whole situation made the Virus Industries'' image improve further as it gave a large number of people the illusion that even God was supportive of them. 133 The Trio _________________ BACK TO THE RESTAURANT "Anyway, Jess and I were talking about those CEOs when she mentioned that the Chairman of the famous Virus Industries which those CEOs plotted against is your boyfriend, shocking me to no ends!" Mary concluded. "I see... by the way, Faith and Grace really can''t make it tonight? I mean... it''s been a long time since we went out together..." Ella questioned as she changed the subject to tonight. "Sigh... they are both busy with something so they can''t make it tonight, though they were both dying to come and join us too..." Jessica uttered. "That''s a shame... anyway, let''s order something..." Said Ella as she signaled the waiter to come and take their orders. Afterward, they had a nice dinner together as they began to chit-chat about everything in life cheerfully. But, the dinner wasn''t finished without Ella bending the prongs of the fork unintentionally. _________________ When they were finally done eating, the trio decided to walk on the streets of the crowded city which was absolutely beautiful at nights. They also stopped at some shops too as they began to look at different kinds of merchandise such as clothes, perfume, etc. In the end, when they were finally finished with their night, they decided to separate from each other and leave for their own houses. So, saying their goodbyes, the trio separated as each of them took a different route which led to their houses. After parting ways with them, Ella decided to walk alone in the crowded city for a while before taking a taxi. So, she started to stroll down the streets as she began thinking about Virus at the same time, ''Ai, when will you be back... I miss you...'' As these kinds of thoughts were passing through her mind, a woman suddenly appeared in front of her as she stopped Ella. Seeing Ella stop, the woman spoke, "Hello, Miss Ella, I''m sent here by Mr. Vee, your boyfriend, to take you to him right now." Listening to this woman who had a pitch black hair and black eyes as dark as night sky, Ella got excited as she uttered, "Ai is back?" "Yes, Mr. Vee is back and he''s currently waiting for you, please get on the car." Saying this, that woman respectfully pointed at a Virus car which was parked right beside them a couple of steps away. Knowing that Virus was back, Ella was too exhilarated and thrilled to meet him as soon as possible that she totally forgot to ask herself why Virus didn''t contact her through their special connection first after coming back. Though even if she wasn''t excited, it was unknown if she would''ve suspected anything in the first place at all. So just like that, without doubting anything or trying to make a call to Virus first, she hopped in the car, too eager for meeting him. Then, as she sat in the back seat of the car, she realized that there was a man dressed in a suit beside her in the back seat, but assuming that it must be a bodyguard or someone else who works for Virus, she decided to not mind him. Seeing Ella already in the car, the black haired woman also went into the car as she sat in the front seat. After the car began to move, Ella happily decided to call Virus to see where he was and where these people were taking her to. However, as she tried contacting him, much to her surprise, she realized that no call went through at all... which meant... "What''s happening? Ai said I would be able to call him if he''s anywhere close by... could it be he''s not back? Then who are these people? Uhh... I trusted them too easily, why would Ai send them to pick me up without telling me first?" Immediately, Ella began to suspect everything that was happening and realized something was definitely wrong here. So, she said nervously, "Stop the car right now!" Listening to her suddenly ask them to stop the car right away, the trio in the car was greatly surprised because they thought their acting was definitely top-notch and she wouldn''t be able to realize it until they arrived at their destination, but this girl seemed to see right through it. But as they were not sure, the black-haired woman decided to test her first, "Sorry Miss Ella, we can''t do that as we might lose our job, Mr. Vee ordered us to take you to him, so we have to accomplish the order or else we would be fired at once. Please understand the situation we''re in." Listening to her, Ella was sure that these people were not sent by Virus as he wouldn''t force her to go to him, which made her begin to feel afraid inside. But remembering that Virus had already prepared her for such a day, she calmed down a little as she inquired, "Who are you? Why are you trying to kidnap me?" Listening to her question, the black-haired woman thought, ''Ahh, she knows, this makes things a little complicated...'' At the same time, she signaled the driver to go to a dark alley where not even a fly could be found. Soon, without Ella even realizing because of being too focused on the people in the car, they were already in a very dark Valley with no one around to be seen when the car finally stopped. "This place should be good enough to knock her out without anyone seeing it and being suspicious, Viper... knock her out already." The black-haired woman''s tone seemed to have changed one-hundred eighty degrees around into a very chilling voice as she turned back and looked at the man who was sitting beside Ella. "Yes, leader." It was at this point when Viper finally moved his body and looked at Ella. It was also at this time that Ella realized this man beside her didn''t have a left hand. Viper on the other hand, just raised his right hand which still existed as a very strange mist began to form above it. Afterward, when the mist was fully formed, he uttered, "Just don''t move and let this mist touch you...don''t worry, it''ll only make you unconscious..." Saying that, he began bringing his right hand closer and closer to Ella, while on the other side, Ella felt more terrified the closer the misty hand was getting to her. She was so afraid by seeing the approaching hand which had a strange mist revolving above it that her body was completely frozen out of fear. ''No...no... I have to fight... I can''t just stay still while doing nothing... but what do I do? Ai... what do I do?'' ______________ RIGHT AFTER ELLA WAS INJECTED WITH THE POTENTIAL OPENING INJECTION The golden beauty had just come back from slaughtering the ''Snake to dragon'' gang when she witnessed Ella kissing Virus on his cheek in front of her. After hearing the report of the matter regarding the golden beauty''s successful slaughter, Virus'' attention was once again fully focused on Ella, "Anyway... with your potential now opened... if a day comes when you are in danger... punch... punch with all your might... alright?" ___________________ WITH ELLA - PRESENT TIME Suddenly remembering those words of Virus, she discovered new-found courage in herself as she closed her eyes and punched toward the man in front of her while making a loud scream, "Ahhhhhhhhhh..." "Little miss, what do you think you can possibly do with..." BANG~ 134 Do You Trust Me Now? BANG~ He was just about to finish his line when his voice was cut off when a very fast punch hit him right in his chest as it produced the sound of bones shattering. Then, with eyes as big as saucers, he was sent flying toward the door on the other side of the car which made a loud noise because of the impact of his body with the door. However, amazingly, when he hit the door, it immediately broke open as a result of the impact, making both of them continue flying for almost a meter. Witnessing the scene, Electro and Skin''s eyes bulged out as they both stared at the place where Viper was previously sitting at in shock. In the meantime, Ella began to feel an intense pain in the hand with which she had just punched Viper. But knowing it was not the time to check her hand or stay still, while the two were stupefied by the punch, she hurriedly went out of the car wanting to run away from this alley to a crowded place. After she was out of the car, Electro and Skin, who were both stunned by the scene in front of them to this very moment, finally snapped out of it as Electro murmured, "It seems she''s one of us..." "Yes, we miscalculated things and totally underestimated her..." Skin uttered. "Let''s go, we can''t let her get away." . . . At the same time, after Ella came out of the car, she saw a man standing just outside the car a couple of steps away from it, like he was waiting for something. Ella was about to try punching him too, when the man bowed at her from his waist and spoke, "Hello miss Ella, I''m your secret bodyguard, master Vee has ordered me to show up only when your life is in danger." Listening to this man''s words, Ella who was just fooled by someone else had a hard time believing it, so she voiced nervously, "How could I believe you? You must be with them too..." "You don''t need to believe me, just run away toward the crowd at the end of the alley, I will get rid of these people myself." At this point, Electro and Skin were already out of the car as they were looking at the poor Viper whose details of life and death was unknown, the only clear thing was that lots of bones in his body were obviously broken. After they were done looking at Viper, Electro gritted her teeth in anger as she looked at the Security ugly and Ella, as she ordered Skin, "Get rid of that puny bodyguard immediately, then catch the girl..." "Yes, leader." Skin himself who was already very much angered began moving toward the direction of the two with very fast speed. Seeing Skin''s quick speed, the security ugly was surprised as he thought, ''These people are no normal people.'' At the same time, he moved in front of the still alarmed Ella and stated, "It''s too late to run away now... as it seems they are no normal people, please stay behind me, I will protect you with my life on the line if I have to." Ella was surprised hearing this as she looked at this ugly man in front of her as she couldn''t help but trust him a little bit unconsciously. By this time, Skin was already in front of the Security ugly as he punched at him. However, the Security ugly didn''t stay still to be punched either as he punched too toward the punch that was coming at him. BANG~ A loud noise was heard when their punches meet each other, as a result of which Skin was forced to back away a couple of steps as he thought in shock, ''Ah, My fist really hurts! How is this possible...'' He was shocked because rarely someone was able to compare to the hardness and strength of his body while none of those people were normal. In the meantime, the Security ugly who was still standing in the same position as before looked at his fist which''s flesh was completely destroyed as the iron-like material inside it became visible. But only a moment later, his flesh had already healed and covered his fist once again. Both Electro and Skin were shocked seeing his Iron fist which was instantly covered with flesh again as Electro thought, ''What the hell was that? Does he have an iron fist? And what''s with his flesh regenerating so quickly? Is his power..." Skin, who was forced back also thought like that, as he charged once more, but this time... against his expectation, the Security ugly dodged the attack instantly as he counter-attacked toward his stomach, making Skin forcefully pushed back for almost two meters! After finally stopping two meters away, Skin vomited a mouthful of blood as he thought while staring at the Security ugly, ''Damn it, he''s fast and strong... and he uses some unknown top-notch techniques... it''s my skin which is the hardest part of my body... while the other parts are also hard, they can''t compare to my skin... just now, I think the shock of his punch hurt an internal organ of mine...'' ''I need to avoid being hit by his punches...'' He thought as he looked back at Electro and voiced, "Leader, he''s powerful... It''s gonna be really hard for me to defeat him as he has both techniques and speed to back him up... we can''t waste time like this... so... let''s work together, I will keep him busy while you retrieve the girl..." "Alright..." Knowing he was right, Electro agreed immediately as arcs of electricity began to cover her body. Witnessing those arcs of electricity, both Ella and the Security ugly were shocked to see a human covered in electricity. But the Security ugly knew it was not the time to be shocked or astonished, so he delayed no further as he began to analyze the whole situation. Even though he was really enjoying this situation and the exciting fight, he knew his top priority was the safety of Ella as he remembered his master''s words clearly. __________________ "Go and protect my girlfriend from the shadows, but only act when it''s absolutely necessary in very dangerous situations. So what you need to do is to secretly follow her everywhere, and when a situation arises where she can''t handle it herself, help her deal with it or escape with her if even you can''t manage it. Though there won''t be many people who would be able to threaten my current Ella, it''s better to be safe than sorry." Virus described the Security ugly''s new job, which was to keep Ella secure. ___________________ Remembering these words, the Security ugly began to analyze the situation to see if he can handle the situation while keeping Ella safe. But no matter how he analyzed, he realized that with that electricity women in front of him, whose extent of powers was totally unknown, together with this powerful man, he couldn''t guarantee being able to deal with them at the same time while protecting Ella safe too. So, he understood this situation could be considered something that he can''t handle all by himself. Thus, he needed to follow his master''s order and escape with Ella, at least until a situation arose where he could finally deal with them while keeping Ella safe. Afterward, the moment he was done analyzing the situation, he made a decision as he mumbled, "Do you trust me now?" Ella, who knew the question was directed at her replied, "Uh... for some reason... I do..." Listening to this response, the Security ugly grinned with his ugly face as he muttered back, "Then let''s go." Right after he muttered this, he had already turned around as he picked Ella on his shoulders and began to run toward the end of the dark alley, as he seemed to be headed to a particular direction. Seeing him escape with Ella with extremely fast speed, both Electro and Skin were once again astounded by his speed which was even faster than what they had seen previously. Then, Electro angrily stated, "We can''t lose them no matter the cost!!! You bring the car after picking Viper up! And I will go after them." Next, without waiting for Skin''s reply, she also began to chase after the Security ugly with extremely fast speed while electricity arcs were surrounding her all over her body. 135 The Light Of Anger The Security ugly, on the other hand, was already almost at the end of the dark alley by now with Ella on his shoulder. At the same time, Electro was done giving her orders to Skin as she began charging toward the two like a bolt of lightning. Then, when the Security ugly was finally out of the dark alley, there was a still turned on car waiting just outside the alley, this was because when they had previously entered the dark alley, the security ugly was in so much hurry that without even trying to turn the car off, he dashed toward the alley in secret when he saw it stop there. In fact, before they had made a turn into the alley, the Security ugly had thought that Ella had entered the car because she recognized a friend or someone else she knew, and that''s why she hopped in the car. And it wasn''t until they stopped in the dark alley, that all of the alarms went off in the Security ugly''s brain as he dashed into the alley. In any case, after arriving beside his car, he immediately opened the back door of it as he put Ella there in an extremely quick manner before going into the driver seat as he put his foot on the gas pedal until the very end. By now, Electro had almost caught up to the car when she witnessed it whirl away as she missed it with just a few meters distanced from it. But fortunately, at the same time, Skin had also driven the car to her side. So, without delaying for even a second more, she hopped in the car too and yelled, "Drive! Don''t lose them!" During this time, inside the Security ugly''s car, Ella was bombarding the Security ugly with questions, "What''s going on? Who are they? Why would they wanna kidnap or harm me? And who are you?" Listening to the chain of inquiries though, the Security ugly only replied with, "This is not the right time to be answering your questions... I will answer them when this is all over...and right now is not the time because they are still following us... however, as to your question of who they are... even I have no idea about it..." Then, after responding like that, the Security ugly took out his phone and called someone. Listening to his words, Ella looked back to check if they were following them, and was shocked to see that they were truly still following them. __________________ The CEO ugly was currently very busy even at this time of the night, while he was dealing with some documents which needed his signature as the CEO of the company. ''Good thing I don''t get tired unless I want to...'' This thought just went through his head, when his phone on the desk began to ring. Taking a look at the caller ID, he was surprised to see that it was actually the Security ugly calling him, so after a momentary surprise, he immediately picked it up as he responded, "It must be something important for you to call at this time of the night, tell me... what is it?" "Hey, I''m having a bit of a situation going on here... you know master has given me the task of protecting Miss Ella while he was gone right?" His voice came from the other side of the line. "Yes... I heard some things about it, you must be happy to be finally out of that island, right?" The CEO ugly voiced with a smirk. "It''s not the time to... anyway like I said, I''m in a bit of a situation here and I need your help to deal with it..." His voice came from over the phone once again. "Go on..." With a bit of frown, he uttered. "So, just now, I was secretly following her when someone tried to kidnap her... now she''s safe with me. However... those people who tried to kidnap her were both really powerful... and they had some kinds of superpowers or something similar." He continued describing the situation, "Now, saving her was not that much of a problem but they are still following us currently... I could lose them if I want to, but, that''s not a solution as they will definitely try kidnapping her again." The CEO ugly was astonished to hear that there were actually two people with strange powers, but understanding the dire situation he probed no further on that matter for now, as he asked, "So... why aren''t you dealing them? Are they even more powerful than you?" The Security ugly replied in response, "I don''t know, they have strange powers and even though I think I might be able to handle them eventually, that would be hard while also protecting miss Ella... so I need your help." "I see, alright, bring them to the roof of the building beside 4 Times Square somehow... no one goes there usually, so it''s the safest place for dealing with them quietly, I will be waiting there." After a short pondering, he said. "What about Miss Ella?" "Bring her too, the safest place in the world for her is definitely by our side." "Alright..." Finished with his words, the Security ugly hung up the phone as he seemed to be focused on his driving and his pursuers. ''Who would dare try kidnapping master''s woman? Some balls they have...'' Thinking this, the CEO ugly stopped doing whatever he was doing as he began to move out of his office. But he didn''t forget to call the Legal ugly too, "Hey, come to the rooftop of the building beside 4 Times Square... someone''s trying to harm master''s woman." The Legal ugly who was also busy in his own office dealing with some legal stuff replied back in a similar manner to his own thoughts, "Who would dare try to harm our master''s woman?" "No idea... anyway, come as quickly as possible." Keeping his words short, he uttered back. "I''m on my way right now as we speak." Replied the Legal ugly as such, because he had begun to move the moment he was notified of the news. . . . Soon, the CEO ugly was standing on the rooftop of the building beside 4 Times Square patiently. And even two minutes didn''t pass when the Legal ugly also arrived, but seeing the CEO ugly standing there alone, he was surprised as he questioned, "Where is that person who''s trying to harm master''s woman?" "The Security ugly''s leading them here as we speak, so wait for now." With a very serious face, the CEO ugly responded. "Them? Who are they? And why are they trying to harm her?" The Legal ugly asked further. "I have no idea who they are or why they want to harm her... but according to the Security ugly..." Then, he began telling him the exact information the Security ugly had passed on to him previously while he also explained how they seemed to have some strange abilities. Listening to his description though, the Legal ugly was quite indifferent to the strange powers part as always, but his eyes which usually lacked any kind of light in them seemed to be emitting some kind of intense light in them, which the CEO ugly interpreted it as being the light of anger. Seeing this rare reaction from him, even though the CEO ugly was surprised inside, he totally understood it, as he was also filled with rage since the moment he was notified that his master''s woman was in danger. 136 Are You Done Now? The two uglies waited for another ten minutes when finally, they heard the sound of quick footsteps. Soon, they witnessed the Security ugly appear in the rooftop with Ella on his shoulders. Then, spotting the two uglies, he smiled and uttered, "You are here! They are coming." Then, he let Ella off his shoulder as the CEO ugly began talking while glancing at the ugly beside himself, "Legal ugly, you keep Ella safe behind us as we fight them... don''t leave her side no matter what!" "Alright." Legal ugly accepted without any delay because he knew the importance of Ella''s safety. Ella, seeing the CEO ugly, was finally put at ease as she had seen the CEO ugly before, so knowing this was not the time to be asking questions, she went and stood by the Legal ugly''s side. Seeing this, the CEO ugly directed his line of sight at the Security ugly and inquired, "What are their powers?" "The male has a very hard body together with almost super strength... while the female who seems to be the leader can control lightning." Without beating around the bush, he replied. "Hmm..." Listening to the Security ugly, the CEO ugly began to ponder deeply as he put his thumb and index finger on his chin. Then, almost three seconds later, he was finished thinking as he declared, "Okay... you fight the male while I deal with the female leader..." "I''m fine with that, I wanted to continue my fight with him anyway..." The Security ugly agreed easily. . . . A few seconds later, they began to hear the sound of footsteps again and soon, two people were standing right before them. The CEO ugly looked at the two first before questioning in absolute calmness, "Who are you two and why do you want to hurt her?" Seeing the CEO ugly right in front of her, Electro began to grit her teeth as waves of hostility and hatred began to shoot out of her eyes as she thought, ''They were all massacred just because we tried to assassinate this man...this is all his fault!'' "Good! You are here, this makes things much easier as you were our next target, I will kill you and then... I will take her with me too!" She chillily voiced filled with enmity and revulsion as electricity arcs even more intense than the previous times began to cover her all over her body as she then raised her right hand and pointed it toward the CEO ugly. Immediately, a bolt of lightning shot out of her palm as it instantly traveled the distance between them and hit the CEO ugly right in the chest, making his cloth and flesh in the middle of his chest explode while also sending waves of electricity all over his body. This was happening because the bolt of electricity had a destructive power too just like a bolt of lightning when it hits a random place on earth. Afterward, Electro was thinking that he was dead for sure as a smile crept over her face, but it didn''t last for even a minute when a shocked expression replaced the smile seeing his iron-like chest as she muttered, "What... what are you... what''s... with your chest?" Skin too, who was by her side had the same expression, seeing the CEO ugly still standing with his iron-like chest screening in front of them. The Security ugly on the other hand didn''t wait and charged toward Skin with an extremely quick speed after seeing Electro attack without trying to respond to the CEO ugly''s question. Still in shock, Skin was surprised by the sudden attack from the Security ugly which hit him right in the face, forcing him to retreat back for a couple of steps before finally stopping as he snapped out of his shock. The CEO ugly, on the other hand, had a dark expression on his face after going through her attack without any effort of trying to reason first. So, without even waiting for his chest''s flesh to close up, he charged at Electro while she was still in shock. Extremely quickly, he went by her side as he punched her in the chest. Bam~ Then, the sound of a fist hitting something was heard, but the sound seemed to be different than what the CEO ugly had expected. So, focusing on his target to see the reason... he became shocked! Because, instead of hitting her chest and sending her go flying, his fist had just hit a shield which seemed to have been made out of electricity while she stood still in her same place as before. Although in shock, the CEO ugly began to punch the shield one after another trying to break it by sheer force, so sounds of his fist making contact with the shield began to spread on the rooftop. Bam~ Bam~ Bam~ Bam~ Bam~ Bam~ . . . But no matter how much he punched, he witnessed that the shield was still the same as before as she just stood in her place while glaring at the CEO ugly with a dark and deep animosity. Afterward, she finally spoke, "I don''t know what you are... but that doesn''t matter... because I will kill you anyway." Then, raising both of her hands, she pushed them toward the CEO ugly as an even more intense electricity attack hit the CEO ugly, this time making him go flying back with bits of his flesh scattering around everywhere. On the other hand, the Security ugly was punching Skin one after another which was producing the loud sound of steel hitting a rock. Bang~ Bang~ Bang~ Bang~ Bang~ Bang~ . . . Skin, on the other hand, was kept being punched as blood kept splashing from his mouth while his skin had turned red and purple all over in the places he was punched at. Meanwhile, he continued to struggle as he tried defending and attacking back at the same time, but whenever he sent a punch or a kick toward the Security ugly, his punch was met with another punch while his kick was met with another kick. The Security ugly''s iron-like fists were totally revealed with no chance to be covered because of the force he put behind his continuous punches. Skin continued to be punched and kicked for a while, when he could finally no longer tolerate it as he yelled with anger, "Ahhhhhhhhhh..." Hearing the sudden yell, the Security ugly was surprised as he stopped for a moment. Seeing him stop, Skin''s malicious eyes stared at him with wrath as his bloody face contorted. Then, he stated, "Okaaay! You are worthy enough to die by my full power!" Then, he began to yell once again as he seemed to be tensing his body all over, "Ahhhhhhhhh..." The Security ugly on the other hand felt like it was kind of funny as he charged to start punching him like a punch-bag once again. But even as he punched, Skin continued to scream. It wasn''t until fifteen seconds later when he finally stopped yelling. But at this moment, an astonishing thing happened! And that was... his skin had almost changed into... orange! And more shockingly, he just watched the Security ugly punch him one after another now without even flinching or moving from his place in the least! The Security ugly finally stopped and looked at him in shock as Skin mumbled, "Are you done now?" 137 Thunderstruck! "You... you''re much more powerful now..." The Security ugly muttered as his eyes went wider in surprise. "Haha... of course, what did you expect would happen when my skin''s color changed? That I got sicker?" Skin replied. Then, this time, he charged toward the Security ugly with a faster speed and grabbed the Security ugly''s right hand as he pulled him by all of his strength up to the air and then slammed him hard to the floor of the rooftop with all of his might. Bang~ Accompanied by a very loud noise, the rooftop floor shattered like a spider web as the Security ugly lay there unmoving in the middle of the crack with his eyes wide open. ''He''s heavier than I thought...'' Surprised, Skin thought, ''Whatever, let''s break him into pieces and teach him the fact that he was never my opponent to begin with...'' As these thoughts passed through Skin''s head he began to pull Skin''s right hand and roared with all his might as he sat on the Security ugly, "Aaaaaaaahhh..." Soon, sounds of cracking were heard from the Security ugly''s right hand as it was severed entirely! The CEO ugly on the other hand, who was just electrified in his chest, was feeling like his reaction speed had gotten slower after getting hit by the intense electricity as even moving his body was a little harder now. Also, seeing the Security ugly''s hand get severed, he was dumbfounded, because prior to witnessing the scene of his hand get ripped off, he had assumed their bodies would be much harder to the point of being invincible at least on Earth! On the other hand, seeing the Security ugly''s hand get ripped off, Ella uttered in a louder voice worriedly, "Oh no! His hand... We need to quickly take... " But immediately, she saw that other than the surface muscle and skin, the inside of his arm was made of some iron-like material which made her astonished and shocked to no ends as she mumbled, "What... What is that...?" Ella wasn''t able to see the CEO ugly''s iron-like chest to this moment because he always had his back turned toward Ella as he stared intently at Electro in front of him. Even when Electro''s lightning had hit him and made his chest revealed, he was very cautious and careful so that Ella wouldn''t be able to see his chest. But now, she had seen the Security ugly''s hand, so he didn''t know how to explain it to her later or even if he was allowed to explain it to her at all without his master''s permission. The Legal ugly who was indifferent most of the times, seeing how the Security ugly''s hand was severed and how the CEO ugly seemed to be having troubles dealing with the situation mumbled, "This is bad... it seems they can''t handle the situation by themselves... but... even if I join them now... probably, we still won''t be able to deal with them..." However, he still looked at the shocked Ella and voiced, "We will explain what''s with the Security ugly''s hand after this is all over... right now, we need to concentrate and think of a solution to keep you safe." As the Legal ugly spoke those words, he moved right in front of her in order to protect her from any possible sudden or sneak attacks. Currently, even her line of sight was covered as the Legal ugly was now standing exactly in front of her, so she wasn''t even able to witness the ongoing battle anymore. Meanwhile, Electro who had just electrified the CEO ugly looked at him and uttered with a grin, "How is it? Do you think you can be my opponent? Haha... it''s time for payback! I swear I will avenge every single one of them and it shall begin with you!" Saying this, even a stronger bolt of lightning was produced from her hands as it instantly hit the CEO ugly once again, sending him flying right beside Skin who was ready to take action and sever the Security ugly''s other hand. Laying there helplessly, the CEO ugly began to wonder to himself, ''Uh... it seems we are not their opponents at all like this...this situation cannot continue this way any further or else ...'' Tap~ Tap~ Tap~ At the same time, Electro began to walk toward the CEO ugly as she uttered, "Now, there is no one that can save you, not even God! This is something you brought upon yourselves... so if you want to blame someone, blame yourselves for offending the... Heaven!" However, not paying any attention to her words, laying there while looking at the dark starry sky, the CEO ugly''s mind wandered back to the last time his master had paid him a visit which also happened to be the first time he had personally come to his office by himself. He remembered how when Virus was about to leave there, he had taken a ring out of his pocket and handed it over to him as he stated, "Take this, you''re gonna need it. Use it when necessary." At that time, he was really confused, but now, he finally enlightened as he understood his words fully, ''This can be considered a necessary situation, right?'' Then, no longer hesitating at all, he sent a bit of his consciousness into the ring on his right hand as he connected to it directly. The moment he connected to it though, he heard a voice which was very similar to his master''s in his mind. ¡º Ding! Do you want to activate the High-Frequency Vibration Ring Weapon? Yes/No ¡» ''Yes!'' Seeing the question, he sent his thought to it instantly. ¡º Congratulations! The High-Frequency Vibration Ring Weapon is activated! ¡» These words appeared in his line of sight the moment he had confirmed the activation as he also began to hear that voice once again. ¡º What type of weapon would you like the ring to transform into? Melee/Ranged ¡» ''Melee.'' ¡º Please pick one of the melee weapons below. ¡» ¡´1.Axe¡µ ¡´2.Sword¡µ ¡´3. Spear¡µ ¡´4.Dagger¡µ ¡´5.Kitchen Knife¡µ ¡´6.Heavy Sword¡µ ¡´7.Katana¡µ ¡´...¡µ Witnessing the list in his line of sight, the Security ugly took a glance at each option before directing his eyes at the next weapon. This process continued until his eyes became fixed on the seventh weapon on the list as he no longer even bothered to check the rest of them and commanded while pondering, ''I used the Katana before and I''m quite fond of it now, to be honest. So... my choice will be... Katana!'' ¡º Are you sure? Please note that the weapon you choose will become the permanent and the only option for this ring from now on. ¡» ''Oh... so it becomes permanent and I would be able to only choose Katana from now on... well, that doesn''t change my mind, I still choose Katana.'' The CEO ugly thought while connecting to the ring. ¡º Done! From this moment onwards, the ring will be called The High-Frequency Vibration Katana Ring. ¡» ¡º Now, do you want the ring to activate and change into its Katana form? ¡» ''Yes! At once!'' He thought as a cruelly sharp and penetrative light began to shine in his eyes. ¡º The vibration power will be automatically set to 50% of full power, you can manually control the vibration at any time you desire by connecting to the Katana directly. ¡» Then, the ring on his right hand instantly transformed into a pitch black Katana which he shrewdly kept behind himself in an angle Electro wouldn''t be able to spot it for a while. In the meantime, Skin had just grabbed the Security ugly''s left hand as he was ready to rip it off at any moments now. But suddenly, without him even noticing, from out of nowhere, a shadow appeared right behind him wearing a very dark expression as he slashed at Skin''s neck without any kind of mercy or hesitation. Electro who was walking toward the CEO ugly stopped when she witnessed him promptly stand up in an extremely quick manner as he went behind her right-hand man. Seeing this, she was amused as she thought, ''You desperately want to help your dying comrade, huh. Alas, in Skin''s current form... it would be almost impossible to harm him.'' She continued, ''But go on... as this vain attempt will only make you sink in more despair which is even better for me! Hehehe...'' Right now, the CEO ugly''s body was standing absolutely still with a very chilly and dark expression as he slashed with a speed which made his hand seem like a blur! Instantly, the Katana in his hand made direct contact with the skin of his neck! Then, the CEO ugly was expecting to experience a feeling similar to chopping at a hard rock when something entirely opposite to his expectation took place as the sword continued in its path and cut through his neck as if it was cutting through tofu! No, it didn''t even feel like cutting through tofu as it felt more like he was just swinging his Katana through the empty air without any kind of obstacles in its way! Then, the blur disappeared as a completely clean Katana became apparent in the CEO ugly''s right hand without any kind of blood stain visible on its surface. Oddly though, Skin''s head was still attached to his head as he mumbled with wide eyes, "Wha..." Unfortunately, before he could even phrase his confusion, his voice was cut off as his head rolled on the ground, falling off of his neck. Afterward, a fountain of red blood shot off from his headless neck making everyone thunderstruck as their eyes turned into saucers! 138 A Tear That Never Rolls Electro''s eyes were as wide as it could be as she stared at the headless body in front of her and mumbled, "Ugh... No... this can''t be... Tom..." Obviously, the CEO ugly wasn''t going to give her the opportunity to recover from her state of shock as he charged toward her to cut her head off too once and for all, in order to get rid of any kind of future trouble. And so, with the Katana in his hand, he was almost instantly upon Electro as he raised his weapon and slashed at her with very fast speed. Unfortunately though, in an instant, Electro''s body was abruptly covered in electricity as even her hair stood up on its end, then the next moment, she just disappeared from her spot! The CEO ugly was surprised by her sudden burst of speed which was almost three times faster than before. However, he quickly began looking around to spot Electro in order to continue attacking. Then, turning around, he found Electro standing beside the headless body of Skin as she murmured in a low voice while gritting her teeth, "I will definitely avenge your death just like the others... I promise." A drop of tear then gathered in her eyes but before it could even begin to roll down her face, it was vaporized as she was currently covered in electricity as it also coursed through her body. By now, the CEO ugly was once again upon her as his own speed had accelerated further too, but Electro dodged again, though with a little difficulty this time. After that tear had gathered in her eyes and vaporized, she turned bizarrely calm to the point that her face no longer wore any kind of expression as she pondered, ''I cannot go on for long like this in this form... it seems the wisest choice right now is to retreat. Even though I hate to do that to the last bit of my existence, I have no other choice if I really want to take revenge as it would be too hard for me to deal with all of them at this moment.'' ''Sigh... it seems I have no other choice but to contact master... it''s been years since we last talked, I wonder what he''s been up to all these years at that place.'' While this thought was passing through her mind, she was constantly under the barrage of attacks from the CEO ugly, but unfortunately, none of it successfully hit her. Now that she had made a decision, she looked at Skin''s cut off head one more time before changing her gaze at Ella who was being tightly protected by the Legal ugly to the point of her not even being able to see Skin''s dead body. Then, she began running toward the entrance of the rooftop, not even bothering to leave a few words of hatred before going away. Seeing this, strangely, the CEO ugly didn''t chase after her, which made the Legal ugly question, "Why aren''t you following her? Go!" Shaking his head, the CEO ugly replied, "I just checked, I''m not as fast as she is... she would be long gone before I arrive at the parking." "I see..." The Legal ugly muttered, understanding the situation. He also had just compared her speed with his own and knew he too was incapable of chasing after her, so he knew they had no other choice but to let her go for now. Then, almost a minute later, a loud sound of an engine car roaring was heard as it soon disappeared into the night of the city. "You bring miss Ella away from here, the Security ugly and I will deal with the mess here." The CEO ugly voiced. "Okay." __________________ THE HIGHEST FLOOR OF 4 TIMES SQUARE Currently, Ella was sitting on the couch extremely quietly with her head lowered, as she seemed to be still dazed about the whole situation she had just gone through. It was then that the Legal ugly appeared beside her with a glass of water in his hand which he placed on the table and offered, "Drink it, it will help you calm down." Seeing the glass of water in front of her, Ella picked it up as she drank the whole thing without even breathing in between. ~Gulp ~Gulp ~Gulp Being done with her drink, she placed the glass on the table, and looked at the Legal ugly with a serious expression and opened her mouth, "What''s going on? Who were they? And why did they try to kidnap me?" "I''m not sure..." This was the only reply he could provide her with as he truly didn''t know. "Then... what were they using before? I mean... that guy turned orange... and the other woman could produce electricity from her palms, was it because of some kind of advanced technology like Ai''s things?" She probed further. Shaking his head, the Legal ugly answered with an indifferent face, "I don''t think so... I guess they were using some kind of supernatural power or maybe some kind of super ability, or maybe something else altogether. To be honest, I didn''t know people with those kinds of abilities even existed before today, so I''m not sure either, sorry." Listening to his response, she said, "It''s okay... you must be shocked yourself just as I am... oh right... who was that person... that guy whose hand was cut off? I mean I had seen you before... but it''s my first time seeing him." "Oh, he''s one of us and he also directly works under Mr. Vee just like me and Mr. Greg ... he''s your temporary bodyguard at least during the period the chairman is gone. You can call him the Security ugly... uh, also, you can call me the Legal ugly." ''Even though you''re all horribly ugly... but still... is it okay to call yourself ugly?'' Ella thought awkwardly as she sweated a little. "Anyway, what was with his robotic arm? Some kind of advanced technology?" She questioned again, this time her eyes shining a little. ''Why do you assume everything is some kind of advanced technology...'' He wondered, before continuing his thought, ''Though what you said isn''t false either, as that hand ''is'' truly an advanced technology... so, guess I''ll stick to that for now, at least until master comes back.'' Instantly being done with his thought process, he confirmed, "Yes... it is, anyway... if you have any further questions regarding the arm, you can ask the chairman yourself when he comes back." _________________ CULTIVATION EARTH ~SLAM "Damn it! That bastard!!! How dare he steal my little sister''s thunder again!" Deadter Ilon yelled with an enraged voice as he shattered the table in front of him with a simple slap. "Big brother... calm down, I''m not done yet... he achieved a hundred percent completion. Moreover, he''s a superior disciple now, which means you need to be careful from now on and make no rash movements when it comes to him, he''s not a nobody anymore." The skinny male who was previously interrupted by the enraged Deadter continued. Listening to him, he became speechless for a moment as he went completely silent, it wasn''t until a while later when he finally mumbled, "Hundred percent...? Superior Dusciple? That bastard...?" "Yes! That''s why... maybe it''s better if you forget about..." The skinny male was just about to finish his sentence when he was interrupted again. 139 A Mortal _________________ THE NEXT DAY Accompanied by Astes and the golden beauty, Virus was currently standing in front of the library when Astes finally opened her mouth, "This is the Normal Disciples'' library... let''s go inside." Saying that, she walked inside as the two followed after her. "How have you been elder?" By the time the two entered, Astes was already greeting the elder behind the counter. "Hoho... isn''t this the genius of the Alchemy Pagoda, Astes? You finally came to register?" The elder who had long white hair with white brows questioned. "Yes, but before registering me... please register my new junior apprentice-brother." Astes voiced as she directed her gaze at Virus. "Hoh? Who is this junior?" Looking at Virus, the elder questioned. "He was just accepted to be my master''s disciple yesterday..." She replied respectfully. "Hooh... so he''s that boy who has achieved hundred percent in the Inferior library''s knowledge examination just by reading for around a day or two... truly an amazing young man I must say..." "Oh, so you''ve heard of him already." Astes voiced surprisedly. "Of course! I''m a librarian and matters related to the library travels to my ears fast." The elder replied. "I see." "Anyway, what''s your name and which contest are you interested in, young boy?" The elder once again directed his gaze at Virus as he inquired. "Others call me Vee here. Please register me to the Martial Contest." Virus replied casually without bothering with anything else. "You''re interested in The Martial Contest huh... interesting, interesting." "Okay, tell me your current cultivation stage and the level of your cultivation." Taking out a paper from behind the counter, he questioned. "No cultivation stage... I''m a mortal." Virus replied in a very relaxed manner. "I see, I see, no cultivation sta... what...WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" He was nodding his head in satisfaction at first as if he was just about to compliment his cultivation stage when his eyes suddenly popped out of their sockets as he yelled in shock. "I said... I don''t have a cultivation stage yet, is there a problem?" Behaving as natural as before, Virus repeated his words. Seeing his face which was absolutely serious, the elder flinched as he inquired, "Young man, do you have a death wish? Don''t you know what you''re getting into? You will instantly lose and just humiliate yourself... even worse, you might lose your mortal life!" Listening to his words of kindness, Virus replied, "Thank you for your concern, but please just register my name if there are no rules stating a mortal can''t participate in the contest... as I''m already well aware of the risks and dangers of participating in this Martial Contest." Listening to him reject his good intentions promptly like his words of advice were entering from one ear just to exit from the other, the elder was honestly a little pissed off as he thought, ''This brat seems to be one of those people who overestimates himself too much...'' But then, shaking his head, he continued thinking, ''Sigh... at least I tried...now he will learn his lesson the hard way, though this experience might be good for him if he''s able to preserve his mortal life.'' After that, no longer trying to persuade him in vain, he registered his name and also gave him a piece of wood which was as small as a finger and stated, "This will be like your entrance ticket to the contest, keep it safe until tomorrow." Receiving the piece of wood from the elder, Virus looked at Astes and notified her, "Apprentice-sister, We will wait outside while you register." As he was done registering, he saw no point in staying any further, so he walked out of the library with the golden beauty. A while passed as they waited outside but Astes was still nowhere to be seen, ''She must be busy talking with that elder.'' Then, in order to kill some boredom, he took a look at the piece of wood he had received from the elder. Examining it, he realized that on one side of the piece of wood, the word ''Martial'' was engraved while on the other side the number ''three'' was written with black ink. "Oh, if it isn''t the famous number one ranker of the Inferior Disciple Recruitment..." As Virus was lost in the details of the piece of wood, he was suddenly interrupted by two males who had stopped just in front of him and Ella. "Who are you?" Frowning, Virus inquired. "Me? I''m Deadter Ilon from the famous Ilon family." With arrogance and pride clear in his voice, Deadter introduced himself. "No... I mean who are you to talk to me all of a sudden out of nowhere? Do I know you?" Virus questioned with a serious face. "You!" Deadter was very angry hearing his words to the point of almost losing control as he was about to charge at him. However, the skinny male beside him hugged Deadter''s hand with all his might as he muttered in a low voice, "No... you can''t do this big brother, you will be in big trouble! Restrain your anger!" "I have to teach this bastard a lesson even if I have to be fiercely punished for it, let me go!" He declared in anger as he pushed the skinny male away as he was about to charge at Virus once again. The golden beauty had already moved in front of Virus as he was ready for the collision by this time. However, when Deadter was just a couple of steps away from the two, a shout suddenly interrupted his charge, "What do you think you''re going to do to my Junior apprentice-brother??!" The shout made Deadter stop in his track as he and the rest of the people present looked at the source of the voice only to become astounded because it was the famous Astes! Hearing her words, Deadter''s face went a little pale as he stood frozen in front of Virus as he mumbled, "Junior apprentice-brother? He? This bastard... is he close to senior apprentice-sister Astes...no... that can''t be..." "I said! What were you trying to do to my Junior apprentice-brother? And how are you in the normal disciples'' section?!" Astes inquired loudly once again. Hearing those words again, even though he didn''t want to, Deadter had no choice but to give up for now and accept the reality in front of him as he replied palely, "It''s just a simple misunderstanding Senior apprentice-sister... I didn''t know he''s close to you... I''m only here to register for tomorrow''s Contest... and then I''ll leave this section immediately as the rules state." After that, gazing at the skinny man by his side, he declared, "Let''s go." But then, just as he was passing from beside Virus and Bella, his eyes fell on the piece of wood in Virus'' palm which instantly made his eyes shine brightly when he saw the word ''Martial'' engraved on it. ''Good... you just made this whole situation much easier for me...'' As he thought that, he no longer paid any attention to his surroundings, as he entered the Normal Library with the skinny male walking by his side. 140 Revelation "Why was he angry at you, junior apprentice-brother? What did you do?" As they were walking back to the Superior Disciples'' section, Astes asked. "I have no idea... it seems he has some kind of grudge against me..." Virus replied as he then thought, ''He introduced himself as Deadter Ilon, hm... the second-ranked person on the Inferior Disciple Recruitment was also called Ilon... are they related?... And...? Hmm.'' "Anyway, be careful with him because I think he has some kind of grudge against you... he''s also one of the strongest disciples among the Inferior Disciples... And more importantly, he has a powerful background." Astes explained, clearly worried. "Don''t worry, I will... so... did you register in the Martial Contest too? Am I really going to face my apprentice-sister on stage? Ah, defeating my own apprentice-sister would make me sad though..." He voiced with a grin on his face. Listening to his words, Astes couldn''t keep it in, "Pfft, you wish! Like you could''ve lasted until you face me... and you''re already talking about defeating me, hehe. Anyway, unfortunately, every disciple can only register for participating in one of the contests because both of the contests will be held in the same day... so obviously, between the two, I chose the Alchemy Contest." "I see..." Said Virus. ___________________ TECHNOLOGY EARTH, US The whole world was quite calm for a while now as everyone was busy living their lives trying to earn a living, get accepted to their favorite universities, dating, going through some kind of difficulty in their lives, etc. However, it was at this moment when one of the famous independent News agencies broadcasted a piece of news which shook the whole country and began to break the peace of the world. This particular News Company was very famous for being completely unbiased and for working with the sole purpose that every citizen had the right to know exactly what was going on around the world without any kind of censorship and bias. "For everyone watching this News channel, please be warned that every word spoken from now on for this next piece of news is absolutely legitimate and real, and its authenticity was already proven by more than thousands of tests. Please keep your calm during and after hearing it." Right now, a middle-aged woman was talking on a particular News channel while a lot of people and citizens of the United States of America were watching it. Listening to this piece of very odd news which strangely began with a warning while stating its authenticity even before announcing its related information made every person watching the channel quite curious and alarmed at the same time because it meant the news was very important and absolutely serious. And looking at the middle-aged spokesperson''s features, some people could easily tell that she was feeling quite nervous about something as there were even some drops of sweat on her forehead. "Also, please be aware that every government throughout the whole world is trying to keep this piece of information from their people as they''re afraid of panic spreading, but our News Channel feels otherwise... we feel that it''s everyone''s right to know this particular piece of news as it will determine their fate and life and death." The middle-aged woman continued, "Now regarding the news... currently, as we speak, there is a mutated type of HIV spreading throughout the whole world with the danger of pandemic level." Listening to the middle-aged woman, everyone watching the channel stopped doing whatever they were busy with as they began to listen intently with a rising wave of nervousness within them. "Now, what makes this mutated HIV disease highly dangerous is that it''s extremely infectious... and we have estimated that right now, limited only to our own country, more than ninety-seven percent of citizens are already infected with this mutated Virus..." Explaining to this point, the middle-aged woman oddly went silent for a somewhat long period of time before finally continuing. "Unfortunately, this mutated disease is much more severe and dangerous than a normal kind of HIV... because other than being easily infectious through air unlike the previous version... the estimated duration for it to kill the infected patient is also only a single year..." After getting to this point, the middle-aged woman went silent again. Then, finally, with a blank look within her eyes, she proceeded, "More details regarding this revelation will be released on our website soon... also, please be warned once again that this piece of news is absolutely true, but in case you still have doubts regarding it, you can take a test in a lab which you can trust... that was all, may God have mercy upon us." By now, every single person who was watching the shocking news had gone absolutely silent as their gazes were all fixed on the television screen in shock. Especially, right now, in one of the bars at which the News channel was playing, every single person had gone completely silent as the sound of the television was the only voice spreading around. It wasn''t until a while later when the silence was finally broken, "That was a joke... right?" "Haha, yes, definitely... it must''ve been..." Another replied with a voice filled with doubt. "Haha, yes, yes... The News must be making some kind of prank... a bad one..." But after that, everyone turned silent again. "Maybe we should check that news'' details on their website? Just in case..." One of them finally couldn''t tolerate it anymore as he suggested anxiously. "Yes, we should do that." Another replied. Though by now, everyone''s heads were already lowered to gaze at their phones as they were checking it to see the news for themselves personally. Situations similar to this continued to happen all around the country for around half an hour when suddenly the website completely crashed and went down for some unknown reasons and it never went back online again. Some of those people who had watched the News was having a hard time believing what they had just heard, while some didn''t believe it at all. . . . However, this seed was already enough as the news began to spread like wildfire because those who had recorded it put the video over the internet, while some others uploaded the details which were placed at that News channel''s website for a short period of time before going down. . . . And just like that, a lot of people went to special laboratories which could be trusted with the real results in order to test themselves just to make themselves relieved by knowing that the news was fake. But unfortunately, except a few people, most received a shocking result! "It''s positive sir, you have some kind of mutated HIV too, just like I do!" The receptionist who was in charge of the distribution of the results announced with eyes which could be only described as dead. "You too... oh my God, we''re done!" Falling on his two knees, someone mumbled with a pale face. "Is this the end of the world, this can''t be the foretold apocalypse right?" "No, this can''t be it..." . . . At first, even when the news spread, most people still didn''t believe it, but then, the results from the people who tested themselves kept spreading around all over the internet too as more and more people came to be aware of this world-shattering piece of news. 141 Humanitys Last Hope? Furthermore, later on, it became apparent that people who were already infected with the normal HIV for a long period of time were dying one after another even though they were previously diagnosed to have at least a year or two to live. But since there were less than forty million people with HIV/AIDS in the world, almost no one paid them any attention. Before the news had spread, some people had already realized the shocking increase in the number of people who now had AIDS, which was to the point that the result of everyone who came to test for AIDS came positive. However, they assumed it was a simple increase in the statistics and even if they began to worry about it, their thoughts would never reach to the pandemic level. A very few numbers of people, countable with two hands, though had realized that something was wrong with the world, but they couldn''t spread it to the rest of the world in any way because they would be called insane, mad, or something similar. _________________ THE WHITE HOUSE Currently sitting inside the Oval Office, the President was talking to someone. "So you''re saying the news is spreading all over the world and we have no way of putting a stop to it?" The President questioned with a deep frown on his face. "Yes, we''ve also experienced some small riots at some places because they are upset that the government has kept this from them and more importantly because they are despairing." That person responded. "Why didn''t you stop that News Company from broadcasting it?" He questioned with a little bit of anger apparent in his voice as if he had finally found an excuse to let his anger out on. "That News Channel works independently... and they planned this revelation in secret, so we came to know of it when it was already too late sir... I''m sorry." The other person replied with an apologetic voice. "Jesus Christ... just thinking about this whole situation makes me really afraid, to be honest..." The president voiced, still frowning as his face was also pale. "Sigh... whatever, what''s done is done... so what''s the best solution you suggest right now?" The President queried further. "I believe what''s important right now is to gain people''s trust back... and since we can''t control the situation and keep the information from spreading, I believe our best option is to reveal it all right now. That''s my thought, Mr. President." "Hmm... what happened to those groups of scientists we gathered from all around the Earth? Did they make any progress? Is there any hope left?" Questioned the President with very weak lights of hope burning in his eyes. "This... unfortunately, no sir, there was almost no progress at all and they seem quite pessimistic about this whole situation." "Hm... that''s what I thought... okay, you can go outside now, I will think about it and notify you of my decision in half an hour at most." And the small meeting between the two was adjourned just like that. ___________________ HALF AN HOUR LATER "Okay, I''ve decided, tell the other countries this..." The President finally notified that person of his decision. ___________________ CONFERENCE ROOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE Currently, the conference room was filled with waves of reporters who had rushed here with the fastest speed they could, the moment they heard there was going to be an important announcement from the White House Office. Now, the reporters were all gathered in the conference room and after they waited for around ten minutes, finally someone came on the tribune. And looking at the face of the person on the tribune, the reporters were a little surprised to see that it was the president himself facing them. With this, they could immediately infer that the matter must be quite serious for the President himself to personally show up. "Hello everyone, please let me do all the talking, also, keep in mind that there will be no Q/A sessions." Saying this, the President began. "Today I''m going to reveal this piece of information we''ve been keeping to ourselves from the public eye for the good of the people because we thought it would cause unnecessary panic." "But since it''s already out, there is no point in denying or keeping it a secret... so, what I want to announce today is..." As he talked until here, the president went entirely silent. Then, after what seemed like an eternity later, he replied, "Yes, the news regarding the mutated HIV disease is absolutely true, this disease has come to be called the Super HIV by the group of scientists we gathered from around the whole world." "And, after intense research and investigation, we realized that every carrier of this Super Virus will be dead in around a year... and that it was highly infectious, like none other seen before... and ..." Once again, he was quiet after that. "Unfortunately, almost the whole world has already been infected with this extremely infectious disease... because by the time we realized the existence of this Super Virus, it was already too late." And so, he was finally done revealing the shocking news which would probably greatly affect the whole world. Lots of gasps could be heard shortly afterward, as the reporters even forgot to start taking photos or noting the President''s words until a long while later when the sounds of repetitive pictures being taken were finally heard. "So it was true..." "Is this world ending for real...?" "Oh my God, I can''t believe we''re all dying... the whole world is dying, does that make any sense?" Then, mumblings like these could be heard among the reporters, when finally one of them asked what would probably be everyone''s question after calming down, "Mr. President, please reply to this question..." "Has our government or any other governments throughout the world found a solution or a cure for this disease?" Listening to this question, the President''s face darkened a little, but after a short period of silence, he replied, "Everyone can be rest assured because we''ve already gathered the best group of scientists in the field of HIV in the most advanced laboratory along with hundreds of thousands of other scientists helping from the sidelines... so, it''s only a matter of time before we find the cure to this deadly disease, that will be all, thank you for coming." Concluding with this, the President began to walk out of the conference room. "I see, so we might be saved after all." "That will definitely happen, this can''t possibly be the end of this world." "Sigh... that scared me for nothing..." "But, what if they are unable to find the cure in a year? What then?" Someone asked worriedly. "Didn''t you hear the president''s words, almost every scientist is putting his brain on this... so like this, with just one year of research, it will probably compare to hundred years of gradual research, don''t worry." "Yes, yes, he''s right, let''s announce the bad news along with humanity''s last hope to the rest of the world." Almost every reporter was so preoccupied biasedly deducing conclusions from the President''s words that they forgot the President had said it''s only a matter of time and hadn''t announced a specific time like ''The cure will be found within a year'' which meant, now, everything was up to this one simple question: Would mankind last until that fateful moment? 142 The Martial Contes At the same time, in every country around the world, an event similar to the United States'' was happening as every country''s leader was finally revealing the truth. Then, shortly afterward, the whole world was dumbfounded by the news which was being broadcasted at almost every channel! . . . "So it was true... nooo, this can''t be happening." A man sitting in his own house watching the News muttered in despair. "What do we do honey? Should we escape to some mountain where no one steps a foot in?" Her wife who was also seeing the News asked worriedly. "No, it should be already too late... didn''t you hear... the whole world is already infected." The husband replied with a darkened expression. "Then our kids..." She couldn''t stop her tears from falling at this point. "It should be fine, they just need to find the cure, don''t cry, nothing will happen to us or our children." . . . "Boss, it seems the world''s truly ending, everything was true after all." A suited man uttered to his boss respectfully. "Is that so? Then... if the world''s gonna end in a year, let''s do whatever we wish to do... call all of our brothers... we''re gonna have an epic last year together." The man who seemed to be the boss replied in a rather calm voice, unlike what he was feeling internally. . . . "Hahaha, so they are saying the world''s going to end and we''re all gonna die in a year??? Hahaha" A young man uttered as he laughed loudly. "Dude, why are you laughing? Have you gone insane?" His friend inquired worriedly. "Shut up, or I''ll kill you for real, I have nothing to fear anymore." With absolute insanity coursing through his eyes, the young man voiced. . . . "Oh no...did you hear that, Hana? We''re gonna die... what should we do? I don''t wanna die, sob..." With teary eyes, a girl asked her best friend. Her friend though, seemed to have been acting strange and quiet since the moment she had heard the News, but at this moment, she finally opened her mouth, "I don''t know... but I know what I''m gonna do... I''m gonna live the last year of my life by doing whatever I feel like doing... first of all... I liked that boy for a while, right? I''m gonna have my way with him first." . . . "Uwu, dad I don''t wanna die, I don''t wanna die..." A crying young child who was at the age which could clearly understand what was going on around him asked his father. "Don''t worry son, it''ll be okay, I promise." Hugging his child, that person replied with a forced smile. . . . Situations similar to these were currently happening throughout the world, while some accepted the situation rather nicely, most didn''t. __________________ CULTIVATION EARTH - THE DAY OF CONTESTS In a particular section of the Normal Disciples, there was a place which had tens of stages that were usually used at the times like this when there was some kind of contest or ceremony inside the sect. Right now, this place was filled with disciples who had come from different sections of the sect in order to participate in this special contest, while having high hopes of winning something if they were lucky enough. "Greetings senior brother, you''re participating too? Weren''t you in closed-door training?" One of the Normal disciples asked her senior brother in the same section. "Haha, well, I just ended my closed-door training session and then I said, hey, why don''t I participate in the ''Martial'' Contest and try my luck." "Don''t tell me you''ve already brok..." "..." That senior disciple though, replied to her question only with a wide grin which was yelling ''of course''. "Ahh, you must be the dark horse among the normal disciples then... congratulations senior brother." "Haha, it''s not as exaggerated as that." . . . "Senior apprentice-sister, you''re aiming for the championship, right?" "I will see what happens..." That specific senior apprentice-sister replied as such with a very cold attitude. "Well, with your special bloodline, it shouldn''t be that hard for you... though I''m a little worried about those two..." . . . "What?! You''ve already broken through to the sixth level of Qi Passage Opening Stage? Are you for real? But... you had just broken through around a month ago..." An Inferior Disciple uttered in astonishment. "Haha, well... what can I say, I must be a genius..." . . . Noises were being heard from everywhere around the stage when at this moment, two people appeared near the stages. Then, stopping one of the passing by disciples, the male asked, "Hello, can you please tell me where should a disciple with the number three on his piece of wood go to?" Being stopped by a random disciple all of a sudden honestly made that disciple quite annoyed, so he replied, "Tsk tsk, you don''t even know that? Well, from the number three written on your wooden ticket, that was to be expected, anyway, go there... don''t bother me anymore." After pointing at a particular place, that disciple instantly left in disdain. "Master... these people are all so arrogant... what''s wrong with them? Are they crazy?" The girl by that male''s side finally opened her mouth as she talked while gritting her teeth. "Haha, well I told you before didn''t I... this world is different from ours... this is a world where strong eats the weak... so they are strongly affected by the rules and cultures here. There are some who aren''t really affected by them too, however, they are really hard to find." The male by her side, who was obviously Virus, replied. "They are on my nerves all the time, if I could just teach them a lesson..." The golden beauty uttered as she was really annoyed and frustrated. "Haha, when a dog barks at you, you don''t bark back, do you now? Don''t forget about our goal of coming here, until then, try to control yourself." With a short laugh of amusement, Virus replied. He was actually so casual and unbothered by these rude behaviors for now mainly because he didn''t want to put himself at their level, as he felt like he would be degrading himself like that, though he would teach them a lesson not by talking, but by action if he ever felt like it. "Let''s go." Saying this, they began to walk toward a particular desk where that rude person had previously pointed at. Arriving in front of that table, he witnessed a middle-aged woman sitting behind it, "Hello, ma''am, can you please guide me as to where I should go in order to participate in the Martial Contest?" Though, hearing his words, the middle-aged woman stayed quiet for a while as her head and attention were entirely on the book in front of her. A while passed by when that woman finally began to utter without even raising her head, "What''s the number written on your wooden ticket?" "Three." Hearing that, the middle-aged woman took out a piece of wood from under her table, as she began to talk, "Three, huh... then you need to start fighting from today onwards... here, take this piece of wood, go to stage number five, and when the number written on this piece of wood is called, be present on stage." Listening to the middle-aged woman''s words, Virus didn''t really understand why she said ''he had to fight from today since his number was three'', but regardless of that, he voiced a ''thank you'' as the two began walking toward stage number five. When they were there, the two patiently waited for around half an hour, when a middle-aged man appeared on stage number five as he began to talk, "The ''Martial'' Contest will officially begin now." 143 Number Sixteen Then he continued, "First, I will begin with the rules! The number one rule is that no killing is allowed, and other than that, as long as the opponents can heal, everything is fine. Rule number two is regarding the conditions of defeat: If you step down from the stage, you lose! If you admit defeat, you lose! If you faint or cannot rise again to stand on your feet, you lose!" After explaining everything in one breath, he stared at the disciples who were listening to him for a short period before uttering, "That''s all, now, those two disciples who have the number ''One'' and ''Two'' written on their piece of wood, come on stage!" As the middle-aged man who seemed to be an elder in the sect declared that, two disciples came on stage as they began to intensely look at each other. However, without bothering with anything else, the elder just took a quick glance at their piece of wood before announcing, "Begin!" Then, the moment it began, the disciple on the right mumbled, "Fist Of The White Tiger!" At the same time, he charged toward the other disciple on the left as he punched his chest. The other disciple seemed shocked, so before he could recover and make a move, he was punched as he was sent flying to a meter away as he fell on the ground holding his chest in pain. The other disciples who were watching the scene were surprised as they mumbled, "Oh, Ifen seems to have learned a Low Mortal Technique... who would''ve thought..." Someone else mumbled, "Not only that, he seems to have broken through to the fourth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage." "Oh yeah... you''re right." The previous person confirmed. The elder who was on stage, seeing the disciple who was hit in the chest was no longer in a condition to rise and fight back, announced, "Disciple number one wins." As he said, he took a piece of paper from somewhere as he wrote something on it. Disciple number one who was called Ifen by the other disciples under the stage though, after his win was declared, looked around until his eyes stopped on Virus as he smirked in disdain. Afterward, no longer paying any attention to anyone, he came down from the stage. That stare and smirk though was instantly spotted by Virus, but he didn''t show any kind of reaction whatsoever to it. "Number ''Three'' and ''Four''! Come on stage at once!" The elder declared once again. Two more disciples came on stage as they looked at each other. "Oh my... that''s apprentice-brother Brooc, I heard he''s already in the fifth level of Qi Passage Opening Stage... and moreover, I heard he has already learned a Mid-rank Mortal Technique... his opponent on the other hand..." One of the more powerful disciples voiced, and from his tone, it was obvious there was no such thing like respect or reverence in his eyes when he looked at Brooc. "Begin." The elder declared. But, instantly afterward, the disciple number three voiced, "I forfeit!" Hearing that, the person who previously revealed Brooc''s cultivation level talked again, "Well, that was expected since he''s merely at the third level of Qi Passage Opening Stage..." After he won though, Brooc too looked in Virus'' direction for a very short moment before taking his gaze back as he walked off the stage. . . . "Number ''Five'' and ''Six''... on stage!" Elder uttered. Soon, a male and a female were standing facing one another, the female had a short sword in her hand while the male was bare-handed. "Oh... that''s senior apprentice-sister Hadelia and senior apprentice-brother Undea..." People began to murmur seeing the two disciples standing on stage facing each other. "Begin!" The elder declared the start of the fight after checking their number. Then, the moment it started, Hadelia charged at Undea with her short sword as he muttered, "First form ¨C Descent Of The Sparrow." Then instantly, her sword hacked at her opponent''s head, but before her short sword could come near him, the opponent uttered with a rather loud voice, "Water Strain Palm". As he said that, his two hands were raised above his head as his whole body also began to move as he gracefully began to change the direction of the sword. Seeing this, Hadelia seemed surprised that he was able to stop her attack, but nonetheless, she attacked once more as she muttered, "Second form ¨C Dance Of The Sparrow". Listening to her words, the other person seemed to have gone a little pale, but nevertheless, he voiced too, "Water Strain Palm". Then, he was able to once again change the direction of her attack, but before he could celebrate, another attack came at him from the exact opposite direction as it slashed at him and left a fresh wound from which blood began to flow out. "Admit defeat and go tend to your wound, otherwise... you would bleed out to death." Hadelia voiced rather calmly. Listening to her words, Undea knew she was correct, so very dispiritedly, he looked at the elder and admitted defeat. . . . The contest in stage five continued like that as Virus, Bella, and the rest of the disciples watched one fight after another, but oddly, a lot of disciples were glaring at Virus from time to time as if they were saying, ''You''re dead!'' Virus though didn''t pay them the slightest of attention as he continued to watch the fight while also talking to the golden beauty now and then. It was at this moment, when the fight on stage had just finished, that the elder announced the next number, "Number fifteen and sixteen, be on stage right now." Hearing the elder''s voice, Virus looked at the golden beauty with a smile as he rose on his feet. However, before he could walk on stage, his right hand was held by the golden beauty, as she voiced worriedly, "Master, are you really going to be okay? I mean how are you going to defeat them?" Hearing this from the golden beauty, a wide grin found its way on Virus'' face as he asked back, "Who is your master?" "Uh... you are..." She replied surprisedly, confused as to why he was suddenly asking this question all of a sudden. "Haha, exactly." Saying that with a short laugh, he no longer uttered anything else as he went on the stage, where his opponent was already waiting for him. Seeing it was Virus, lots of eyes were fixed upon him all of a sudden, most of which held obvious hostility in them. Then, some people began to murmur, "Oh, it''s him... he''s doomed." "Yeah... he''s so misfortunate..." "Well, who told him to..." Virus'' attention though, was currently entirely focused on his opponent, who was also obviously looking at him like he had a grudge. "Begin!" It was at this moment that the elder announced the beginning of the match. But, the opponent didn''t instantly attack as he asked a little surprised instead, "What''s your cultivation stage? Why don''t I feel any Qi from your body?" Hearing the question, others also got curious about the reason as to why no one could feel any Qi from Virus'' body. Amused by the question, Virus decided to provide his opponent with a reply, "Oh that... well, that''s because I still haven''t begun to cultivate yet." 144 No Cultivation?! Listening to Virus'' words, everyone was greatly surprised as they began to murmur in disdain. "What?! He doesn''t have a cultivation stage?" "Then, how is this trash participating in the Martial Contest?" "How is this even possible?" "Well, there are no rules stating someone who hasn''t cultivated can''t participate... so..." "Trash! Utter trash... And these many disciples were asked to... this is just humiliating..." Virus'' opponent who was standing on the other side facing him was also very surprised, as he asked in doubt, "But... if you have no cultivation, why are you participating in the Martial Contest? I mean without Qi, you can''t even use the trashiest of the Mortal Techniques... then why? Are you only seeking death?" "Nope, the reason is simple... and that''s because I don''t need ''cultivation'' to defeat stupid monkeys like you." With a wide grin plastered on his face, Virus answered. Listening to his reply, a light of anger flashed through the eyes of Virus'' opponent, but immediately afterward, it stopped as he began to laugh like a maniac, "Hahahahaha...!" Finally, stopping to laugh, he uttered, "It seems other than being a useless trash... you''re also a retard... well, let me knock some sense into that head of yours..." As he voiced that, he began to calmly walk toward Virus as he added, "But I don''t even need to use any kind of techniques to beat a trash mortal..." Some of the other disciples nodded their head agreeing with his words, "He''s right... with just his cultivation alone, he would be even able to kill him if he''s not careful enough." "Their difference is just too much." Virus watched as his opponent walked half the distance between them as he thought, "Well, let''s begin." . . . As he thought that, his mind immediately connected to the pitch black ring in the middle finger of his left hand as he transmitted his direct command to it. ''Trigger Initial Configuration ¨C¨C Handgun!'' Instantly afterward, the pitch black ring seemed to start transforming as it got bigger and bigger in the palm of his left hand as it turned into that futuristic black matte handgun Virus had previously used in his trip to Russia. The moment the handgun with its two long blue lines and its ten pairs of vertical blue lights appeared in his left hand, with a very quick speed, Virus raised the gun and shotted at the person in front of him. But before shooting, he didn''t forget to give the handgun one more command, ''Paralysis mode.'' Then, after he pulled the trigger, a blue light shot out of the handgun with an inconceivable speed as it directly hit his opponent who instantly fell on the floor, paralyzed. Watching this whole process of some kind of black metal suddenly appearing in this trash''s hand, everyone was astonished, but then, to their shock, they watched as a blue light suddenly shooted out from that strange metal as it hit the other disciple, who fell to the ground the next moment. Watching this whole scene, everyone was stupefied, the elder included, as they looked at the handgun in Virus'' hand in confusion and shock. Looking at the elder who seemed to have forgotten where he was, Virus reminded, "He can''t move or stand up, aren''t you going to announce the results?" As he uttered that, the handgun in his hand also began to change back as it went back to its ring form in Virus'' middle finger. Finally, coming out of his daze, the elder looked at the other disciple in amazement and seeing him unable to move even though he was conscious and his eyes were clearly open, he announced, "Disciple number ''Sixteen'' wins!" Listening to the results, everyone felt like their hearts tremble as they unconsciously remembered Virus'' previous words, ''Nope, the reason is simple... and that''s because I don''t need ''cultivation'' to defeat stupid monkeys like you.'' Then, they began to whisper among themselves, still in shock, "What was that black metal?!" "Moreover, what was that blue light which came out of that thing and hit Gonia?!?" "That must''ve been some kind of amazing weapon!" "Oh my heavens, what grade do you think it is?" "How should I know!" Listening to the announcement, Virus walked down from the stage as he went beside the excited golden beauty. "Master!!! That was awesome! Master is truly my master alright?! Hehe..." She began to giggle happily seeing him come back unscathed, emerging easily victorious. "Haha, do you see now that there was nothing to worry about?" Looking at her happy face, Virus chuckled as he uttered. "Yes, master is the best, hehe." She replied giggling in happiness again as she raised her hand in front of her smiling lips. The elder, who''s gaze was on Virus'' ring until now, finally took it back as he announced the next match, "Number ''Seventeen'' and ''Eighteen''... on stage, now!" "Oh my, it''s Haden!" . . . Just like that, the match continued for around three hours until finally, everyone had fought at least once. Now, the participants in stage five area had been reduced to half from hundred twenty-eight to sixty-four. Then, after a few more rounds of matches took place, the elder announced, "Number ''Sixteen'', Vee, and number ''One'', Ifen... on stage." Now, it seemed the elder was also calling the disciples'' name other than their number like he was saying they were finally worth being called by their names. Though, the moment everyone heard the two announced names, their attention was all fully drawn to Virus and the so-called Ifen who was already walking above the stage with a face filled with hostility. "Oh, who do you think will win?" One of the disciples who had beaten his opponent previously asked his apprentice-brother who had also come out victorious in his own match. Putting his palm under his chin like he was analyzing and pondering very deeply about the question, the apprentice-brother replied, "Probably Ifen, that trash''s previous opponent underestimated him and didn''t even use his technique, but Ifen won''t do that now... so it''s probably going to be Ifen winning." "Yeah... most likely..." . . . Virus began to walk on stage again, but the moment he was there, before the elder announced the start of the match, he once again connected to the ring on his finger. ''Trigger Initial Configuration ¨C¨C Handgun!'' Seeing him produce his weapon even before the match started, Ifen looked at him in disdain as he said, "Are you that scared? Hmph, well, that''s understandable since I''m not like that previous idiot who totally underestimated you as he relaxedly walked toward you like a practicing target... let''s see if you can aim at me like that." It was also at this moment that the elder announced the start of the match with interest, "Begin!" Then, the second the match started, Ifen began to run with a very fast speed in a circle with Virus at its center. Seeing him run at the corners of the stage in a circle as he slowly got closer and closer to Virus, the other disciples whispered, "This is truly a good strategy, like this... with his mortal body and mortal reactions, his hand won''t be able to aim at Ifen at all... it''s truly a good method..." "It seems that trash is finally going to lose... Huh, so there was no need for me after all." Some else mumbled. 145 Brooc Watching Ifen get closer and closer to him, Virus didn''t move at all. And this made other disciples, including Ifen, think he truly couldn''t follow Ifen''s speed. "Hahaha, what is it? You can''t aim at me anymore?" Ifen uttered as he ran around him with that speed as he got closer to him every second. But suddenly, everyone watched as Virus raised his hand to a random location where Ifen wasn''t even currently at. More oddly, he wasn''t even looking at the location he was aiming at nor was he looking at Ifen. And this made most disciples confused and think that he was struggling to aim at Ifen to no avail, "What is he doing? Has he gone nitwit cause he can''t aim at him? Hehe." By this point, Ifen was almost upon Virus as he opened his mouth and began voicing, "Fist Of The White..." But, amazingly, when he arrived at the word ''White'' of his technique, Ifen was exactly in the same spot as Virus was aiming for, though he was going to pass it soon. However, it was exactly at this moment when Virus pulled the trigger as a blue light instantly hit Ifen, who lay paralyzed on the floor the next moment. Next, an absolute silence covered the whole stage as everyone''s eyes went as big as saucers as they watched the paralyzed Ifen on the ground. They couldn''t believe nor comprehend how the situation had changed so much as one moment, Ifen was about to hit Virus with his attack and the next moment, they saw Ifen defeated. . . . Indeed, just as some of the disciples had guessed, if it were a normal mortal, that person''s hands'' movement speed truly wouldn''t be able to compare to Ifen''s running speed who was at the fourth level of Qi Passage Opening Stage. But that didn''t include Virus, since he had purified every single part of his body, to the point of purifying even his nervous system and cells. And one of the effects of that was some increase in the movement speed of the body. Now, with this speed, even though he couldn''t compare to the moving speed of Ifen, but, following him with his hand to aim at him was no problem at all. Furthermore, since he was basically an Artificial Intelligence in essence, his reaction speed almost wasn''t restrained by anything at all, as long as his body''s movement speed could keep up and follow. Moreover, his precision was also extremely high, because of the natural great control he had over his body. However, none of these mattered, since Virus didn''t use his speed to hit Ifen at all. What he had used and done was that before he had raised his left hand, he began to calculate every factor regarding Ifen, including his running speed, acceleration, how his speed changed the closer he got to him, his mental state, etc. And the next moment when he was done calculating, he knew exactly at what time, where Ifen was going to be, and that made it extremely easy for Virus as he had to just raise his left hand and pull the trigger at the right time without even looking at Ifen anymore. . . . Even the elder seemed to be astonished by what had happened as he once again forgot to announce the result for a while. But as his cultivation stage was higher than others, he was quickto come out of his daze soon as he announced, "Number Sixteen, Vee wins!" And with this announcement, the other disciples also began to come out of their daze as the noise of murmur once again covered the stage. "Oh my heavens..." "What did just happen? Am I the only person who doesn''t understand this situation in front of me?" "No, you''re not alone apprentice-brother... that just made my hair stand on its ends..." "Can anyone explain what happened... the trash mortal''s speed obviously wasn''t fast enough to aim at him and follow... but how..." Every disciple was confused after that but there was no one capable enough to provide them with a satisfying answer. Seeing it was over, Virus descended from the stage at this point as he went and sat beside the golden beauty, who clearly understood what her master had done as she could do it too, "Hehe, master... you were great back there. You won once again." Listening to her voice, Virus smiled as he voiced, "This is just the beginning." . . . After that, the matches continued until only thirty-two disciples had remained, while the other thirty-two disciples were eliminated. Now, excluding Virus from the list, every single remaining person was at least in the fifth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage. Afterward, once again, a couple of matches were fought when finally, Virus'' number was called again. "Number ''Sixteen'', Vee and number ''Four'', Brooc... on stage." The elder declared the names. The two opponents walked on stage as they looked at each other until Brooc finally opened his mouth, "You''ve offended someone you shouldn''t have... now you gotta pay for some of it in my hands..." Listening to Brooc''s arrogant voice, Virus didn''t reply anything as he only grinned while looking at Brooc before activating his handgun. This made Brooc think that Virus was mocking him with that grin of his as he ignored him which made him extremely enraged inside, ''I might''ve been a little easy on you if you weren''t this arrogant... hmph... just wait then.'' . . . Shortly afterward, looking at the two for a moment first, the elder shouted in anticipation, "Begin!" Next, the instant it started, Brooc began to charge at Virus with a speed a lot faster than Ifen as he got closer and closer to Virus while moving in a zigzag-like movement. Seeing this, Virus grinned once again as his mind began to calculate once again as he raised his hand to aim at the location where Brooc was going to be at. But, seeing the location he was aiming at, Brooc immediately changed his direction as he got away from the location where Virus was aiming at as he voiced in mock, "Hahaha... do you think I''m like that previous idiot who couldn''t control his speed nor realize that the place you''re aiming at has to be avoided at all costs?" At this point, he was only a couple of meters away from Virus as he came closer and closer to Virus with a wide grin as if he had already won. However, seeing only calculation wouldn''t work anymore, Virus thought, ''It seems I can''t aim prior to him being at his destination anymore since it''s a big giveaway. Well, that''s fine by me though...'' As this thought passed through his head, Virus began to calculate once again, as he again knew exactly at what time, where Brooc was going to be at. But, unlike the previous times, he didn''t aim at the location where Brooc was going to be at prior and instead, at the very last moment of his calculated time, just as Brooc was almost upon that place, he aimed toward that location with his fastest speed as pulled the trigger at almost the same time. 146 The Major Change However, just as Virus pulled the trigger and was expecting to see a fallen Brooc, he heard Brooc murmur at the very last moment, "Swift Rat''s Maneuver Technique". After that, Brooc was able to dodge the bullet with a very small margin between himself and the bullet at a very fast speed. The moment Virus heard Brooc murmuring, he knew he hadn''t put Brooc''s technique in his calculation. After dodging, Brooc began to charge at Virus with an even faster speed than before and in almost a second, Virus knew he would be upon him. And the moment he arrived in front of him, Virus was aware he would be injured with at least a bone broken. So, the instant Brooc had dodged, Virus promptly connected his mind to the handgun as he commanded it, ''Paralysis Mode ¨C Follow''. Then, changing the direction of his already raised hand by a little toward Brooc, he shot at him, but this time, without any kind of calculation. Seeing him pull the trigger, Brooc smirked as he changed his direction by a little with a lot of effort as he was sure he would be able to dodge it by at least a few centimeters. But, the next moment, he witnessed the blue blur line which''s afterimage he was hardly able to see, change its direction as it curved toward him like it had locked on him as a target. And the next thing he knew was that he has already on the ground, paralyzed. Seeing this result, everyone else was a little stunned once again, but their shock was nowhere close to before, as they began to talk among themselves soon. "Huh... he won again... just what kind of amazing weapon is that..." "Wish it was mine, cuz like that... I would''ve been invincible." "But it seems that weapon has reached its limits..." "Maybe I should ask where he bought the weapon so I would buy one too..." The elder''s eyes, who was intensely focusing on the weapon, was shining a little at this moment as he pondered in amazement, ''It changed its direction in the very last moment... amazing!'' Then, he announced the result. Afterward, Virus deactivated his handgun as he walked off the stage while thinking, ''That was close... as I had to stick to the new best plan of dealing with him while using the minimum amount of power... good thing he wasn''t fast enough to be able to distance himself from my aimed target by that much... otherwise, right now...'' Thinking until here, he began to calculate how the battle would''ve progressed and his possible reactions to it if Brooc was fast enough like in his imagination, though only he knew how the situation would''ve progressed in that case. The contest continued after that as one disciple after another fought until only sixteen contestants were remaining now. But, instead of continuing the contest, the elder began to talk to the sixteen remaining contestants, "That was the last match of today. Sixteen contestants now remain... and tomorrow, all of you will be merging with the remaining contestants from the other stages and continue your contest in the Normal Colosseum." "Also remember that the second graded disciples will also join the fray tomorrow." "Don''t forget to be present at the Normal Colosseum tomorrow or it would count as your forfeit. Okay... that was all for today." Saying that, the elder disappeared from the stage as he left. "Today''s finally over, master... you were great..." The golden beauty uttered with happiness." However, soon, his happiness was replaced with worry as he voiced, "But it seems your handgun has almost reached its limits... if things continue like this, you won''t be able to defeat disciples with higher levels of cultivation... what are you going to do now, master?" "Don''t worry my Belle, I will do something about it..." With a reassuring smile, Virus replied. ___________________ THAT NIGHT "What??! None of them were able to beat him up? Moreover... they were all defeated?!?" An enraged sound was heard from a specific room. "Big brother... it seems that person has some kind of amazing weapon which makes the opponent unable to move..." A certain skinny male replied. "Huh... what the hell''s that supposed to mean... anyway, now that I think about it, this is actually better as I''ll be joining the match from tomorrow onwards. I will exact my revenge personally by my own hands!" Deadter uttered with a distorted savage face. "But, you might not go against him till much later and by that time, he might''ve already lost." The skinny young man stated in doubt. "Haha, that''s easy to solve, we just need to be a little generous..." _________________ TECHNOLOGY EARTH Since the moment the mutated HIV''s existence was announced, and everyone had learned that they were all ill, the atmosphere of the whole planet had changed a lot. Some people had become very generous since that time, and lots of faithful people had begun to pray very intensely waiting for their entrance to heaven. While this was true for some people, a lot of others were acting the complete opposite, as they did whatever they wished to do before departing to the nothingness. . . . "Let''s call him, we don''t have much time left... wanna join Sara?" A girl asked her friend. "Hana, are you for real? You''re really going to do that?" Sara questioned. "Of course... are you with me or not?!" Hana asked back. "Hana, you know I will be with you no matter what! We''re best friends forever and that will remain like that until our last breath." Sara replied taking her friend''s hands into her own. "Hehe, I knew you would say that, let me call him." Saying that, Hana called a specific number from his contact list. . . . "Hey Josh, how have you been... you know with the world ending and all... I was thinking if you would like to see me and Sara for one last time?" Hana asked, a little nervous. . . . "What did he say?" "Of course he agreed! Let''s go." . . . "Hey (Hello) Josh..." Hana and Sara greeted with a happy smile while looking at the handsome male in front of them. "Hey Sara, hey Hana... to what do I owe the pleasure of getting a call from you two beauties?" Josh asked with a hot smile. A little nervous, Hana replied, ''You know... with all of us dying soon... We wanted to..." Unable to continue with her words, she looked at Sara, seeking help. Seeing her friend unable to continue, Sara who never had any feelings for Josh continued, "You have a car right? Let''s go... we will explain there..." . . . Soon, a car had stopped in a rather quiet spot as the moans of two girls were kept being heard from inside. "Ah... uh...Ahh..." "Mhm, yes, there... more!" "Mmm, Ahhh... Josh!" . . . At another place, currently, a certain suited man looked at someone else as he uttered, "Boss... all of our brothers are gathered outside! What are we gonna do now?" "Hmm... first, let''s visit our old friends and teach them all a listen." The boss answered as he picked his gun from above the table. . . . Bang~ Bang~ Bbang~ Soon, the sound of guns being shot was heard in a specific house in the middle of the night. . . . "Please... show some mercy... I''m gonna die in a year anyway... just let me remain by my family''s side to the very end." Someone begged. "What''s the fun in that... just like how you took something I desired from me that time... I will take something you desire from you. Goodbye old friend." Bang~ 147 Gods Last Prank? "Dude, is that a gun you have there? Where did you get it?" A male asked his friend as they were currently in school. Oddly though, the school was very quiet as lots of students were absent, even some of the teachers didn''t bother to come anymore. Then, at this moment, an announcement was made, "Listen, everyone, since most students and teachers didn''t bother to attend the school, today''s classes will be over right now... and this might happen in the next days as well." "Dude, I said where did you get that gun?" That person asked again. "Doesn''t matter... the world''s ending... nothing matters anymore, I just want to take my revenge from those bastards..." Uttering that, that boy with the gun didn''t pay any further attention to his friend as he left the class. ''Hmm... let''s see... what was their leader called...? Hmm...yes... his name was Josh!'' ___________________ In the following days, since the moment of the Mutated Virus'' revelation to the world, the number of crimes had gone off the charts as each day, a large number of murders, thefts, drug overdoses, rapes, etc. Were happening and their number kept increasing by each day. By now, a lot of people had stopped going to work while students stopped going to school or college altogether. Plenty of people began to journey all over the world, in hopes of seeing the world before their time of death. Numerous people began to lose themselves in the pleasures of liquid, whether by drinking massive amounts of whiskeys and alcohol or by injecting themselves with drugs like heroin. Fights or aggressive behaviors were occurring everywhere too, as people would beat each other or kill one another for even the slightest of conflicts without much thought about the consequences that would follow. Massive amount of plunderings were happening all over the world as many people no longer bothered themselves to pay for what they wanted, as they began to pillage supermarkets, shops, and other places in groups. Others were trying their best to keep their family safe from the hands of this insane world. Police could hardly control the people as they even sought assistance from the army and other places, but even then, they were still kind of short-handed, though they were somewhat temporarily successful at least for a while. Some countries were even experiencing small riots which kept increasing by the day and soon, if things continued this way, even their government wouldn''t be able to stop and control them. The Earth was almost in chaos and if things continued like this, it wouldn''t even last a year before they would ruin themselves completely. A lot of people now believed that the world has gone completely mad as the apocalypse has arrived. __________________ "The government assures its citizens that a cure will be provided to them soon, as scientists from all over the world are currently working to find this cure in the shortest period of time possible... so the government requests its people to keep their calm and do not commit any kind of crimes or behaviors that would undermine the law." "All those who do not follow the protocols and laws will be punished harshly without any exceptions." Right now, a certain spokesperson was talking over the news, trying to control people by giving them hope and the fear of punishment. Events like this were also happening all over the world as they were all trying their best to control their people, to stop those who were in absolute despair as they had lost all their red lines. __________________ INSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE Right now, the president of the United States was sitting on his comfortable chair with a very grave and dark expression as he thought, ''Is this truly the end? Is this the end of humanity? Why would such a thing happen all of a sudden? Why?!?'' ''Now that it''s all ending, everything I''ve gone through to get here seems kind of like a big joke... and all those matters which seemed like a big deal just a couple of days ago seems so insignificant, sigh... maybe I should''ve lived differently...'' As the President was lost in his thoughts of despair and regret, suddenly, the door to the Oval Office was opened by a lot of force as someone ran inside in absolute rush. Pant~ Pant~ Ppant~ Seeing someone enter like a savage without even bothering to knock on the door, the president got very angry as he yelled, "What the fuck are you doing barging here? This is the Oval Office you know? Get the fuck out!" The other person though continued to be breathless as if he had run here with his life on the line. "I said get the fuck out!!!" Seeing that person continuing to pant without listening to him, the President yelled at him once again. However, that person who seemed to finally regain some of his breath finally opened his mouth with difficulty, "Mr. President, great news!!!" Hearing this, the president was jolted as he screamed with shining eyes, "Did those group of scientists we gathered from all over the world finally succeed in finding the cure?" "No... it''s not the..." The person was just about to explain the situation when he was interrupted. "Then what?!? What could possibly be considered great news in this kind of situation when we''re all dying?" The President questioned even angrier than before. "Mr. President... we finally understood what that blueprint is!!! That blueprint send by the Virus Industries!" That person answered in extreme excitement and elation. "Uh...that? I had almost forgotten about that since they previously told me they would provide me with an answer as to what that blueprint is exactly in around two days... but I never received any further information from them afterward. Anyway, it doesn''t really matter anymore, so go away!" The President voiced again as he signaled with his hands indicating him to leave at once. "No Mr. President, you have to hear this. They weren''t able to understand the blueprint in that period of time because it was much more complicated than they had anticipated at first..." That person who had barged into the Oval Office uttered as he continued, "But they were finally able to decipher it... and let me tell you... it was much more valuable than we had thought at first... because with this... we might have some hope for saving humanity!!!" "Uh..." Listening to his words, the president gasped in shock as his attention was finally fully drawn to the other person as he inquired with his eyes shining in exhilaration once again, "Whatever do you mean? Explain to me in details and fast!!!" "Yes, sir... so Mr. President, according to what I heard from those group we hired previously... that blueprint was the cure to the HIV disease!!!" The man said in delight. "What?!? Really???" "However..." It was at this moment that man''s face suddenly changed and turned a little disappointed and helpless as he continued, "I heard it would cure the normal HIV permanently... it cures it by sending the disease Virus to a permanent hibernation all over the body... but, its effect on the mutated HIV is unknown... moreover..." Suddenly, by the end of his words, the man got quiet as he no longer talked. "Moreover what? It''s actually great news.. it might really work on the mutated HIV too by sending all of them to hibernation... so continue... moreover whattt?!??" By the time he was finished, the president was almost yelling with red eyes. "It seems... the technology which is needed to make the cure is almost a hundred years more advanced than our current technology... so... we wouldn''t be able to make that cure unless we have the technology needed for it..." The man opened his mouth as he stated with hopelessness and despair clearly showing itself inside his eyes. This situation was absolutely like torment for him because he was seeing the cure right in front of him, in so close of a distance that he just needed to reach out and grab it with his hands, however, despairingly, they didn''t have the means for creating it. This was like the biggest joke and irony he had witnessed in his entire life and existence on the scale of humanity, and probably... the biggest irony ever! Thinking of having the cure that might be able to save mankind, but not having the means for making it happen made him wonder in a craze, ''Is this God''s way of playing with us? Or, maybe... He''s just throwing one last prank before it''s all over?'' 148 The Box Listening to his explanation of the current situation, instead of falling into depth of despair like the other man, the President''s eyes began to shine brightly as he yelled, "Quick! Go and quickly contact the Virus Industries!!! I need to meet their chairman or CEO right away at all costs!" "Eh... but Mr. President... why would..." The man was just saying when he was interrupted by the President, "Go and just do what I ordered you to do! Now." ____________________ ''Josh... I''m coming for you!'' The first thing Eliot did after leaving school was to spot Josh''s car as he then waited for him to arrive in secret. Half an hour later, he witnessed Josh come back with two beauties from the same school as they went inside the car and drove off to somewhere. Eliot who wanted to get this over with quickly before going after Josh''s other lackeys thought, ''I gotta follow them.'' Thinking that, he ran toward the street as he came across a passing taxi which he stopped. "Follow that car! Don''t lose it." . . . A while later, Josh''s car stopped in a rather quiet place where no one passed by. Sending the taxi away, Eliot got off the taxi as he secretly watched from a corner. But soon, he began to hear those two girls'' moans from the car as their volume increased the more time passed. "Ah... uh...Ahh..." "Mhm, yes, there... more!" "Mmm, Ahhh... Josh!" Listening to them make out and more, Eliot couldn''t help but grit his teeth in anger as he began to think in a craze, ''After all you''ve done to me... you are having fun with two girls!!!?'' When he arrived at the end of his thinking line, it was like he had totally lost the control of his mind as he dashed toward the car like a madman before opening the back door of the car. Fortunately for him, Josh''s head was exactly on the same side as the door he had opened, so without further thinking, he just pulled the trigger while aiming at his head. Bbangg~ "Ahhhhhhhhhh...." "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." After Eliot pulled the trigger, blood and brain matter splashed on the two beauties face and naked body as they began to scream in horror. After Eliot pulled the trigger, he froze entirely as he kept aiming the gun in the same direction. This made the two screaming girls believe that he wanted to kill them too as Sara said, "Please... please don''t kill us, I swear we won''t say anything... the world''s going to end in a year anyway..." Saying this she waited for his response, but seeing he was still aiming at them without opening his mouth, Hana who was trembling a little also added, "We will do whatever you want us to do... just don''t... shoot." It was at this moment when Eliot finally came out of his daze as uttered after looking at the two, "You... two. For now... you two will follow me to my house... I''ll decide what to do with you afterward." "First put your clothes... also, put Josh''s clothes too and place him in the driver''s seat, we''re going to burn his car." Eliot uttered, his own voice trembling a little. __________________ Right now, outside Ella''s house, two people were secretly keeping watch without anyone being able to spot them. These two were clearly the Security ugly and the Legal ugly who decided to keep watch on her intensely after going through the previous dangerous situation which endangered Ella''s life. The CEO ugly was also prepared to storm here from the company if anything suspicious happened and was reported to him. Also, now, the Security ugly''s hand seemed to have been totally fixed as it was just like before. "Legal ugly, the CEO ugly just called, it seems he wants you to go to him for a short while... go, I will keep watch while you''re gone." The Security ugly voiced. "Okay, I''ll be back soon then." Saying that, the Legal ugly left. . . . Then, around half an hour later, the Legal ugly came back with a small box in his hands. Seeing the box, the Security ugly was confused as he inquired, "What is that?" The Legal ugly replied, "We need to give this to Master''s woman." "I see, let''s go." Saying that, the two went in front of the house as they knocked on the door. Soon, a middle-aged woman opened the door as she asked, "Hello, who are you?" Since it was rather dangerous lately, from her voice, it seemed she was rather cautious against them. "Hello, we are Ella''s friends, we just came to see Ella." The Legal ugly answered. Staring at the two uglies for a short while, Megan yelled, "Ella! Your friends are here, come down here for a moment." Soon afterward, Ella came while mumbling, "Who is it?!" However, seeing it was the two uglies, she was a little surprised as she then looked at her mom and said, "Mom, I gotta talk to my friends in private...so..." "Let''s go to my room." . . . Soon, when they were in her room, she asked with a little frown, "Why did you two come knocking on my door? Is something dangerous going to happen again? We''re going to die in a year anyway... I don''t think that person will try to harm or kidnap me again if she''s in her right mind..." "No, it''s not about that miss Ella..." The Legal ugly interrupted as he continued, "Here... take this." Then, he placed the box which was with him all this time above the table. Seeing the box, Ella was rather confused as she asked, "What is it?" "Please open it first..." Listening to the Legal ugly, Ella opened the box just to see three futuristic looking syringes like those she had seen in Virus'' hands previously, placed inside the box. Muddled, she asked, "What are these?" "After injecting this, you wouldn''t need to worry about the Mutated HIV ever again..." The Legal ugly stated. "What?!?" Listening to his explanation, Ella was shocked as she looked at the three syringes inside the box in bewilderment. She knew the whole world was in despair right now because there was no cure for the Mutated HIV disease, but here she was, with the cure placed in front of her, she honestly didn''t know how to feel about it other than feeling stunned. Witnessing her stunned expression, the Legal ugly explained, "There is one for you and one for each of your parents... don''t disclose the truth about the syringes to them as it might put you and them in more danger." "Are there more?" Listening to his words, Ella''s thoughts couldn''t help but wonder if there was more so she could help her friends and other family members too. "Why?" The Legal ugly asked, even though he was quite sure why she wanted more. "For my friends and other family members of course." Ella said. Hearing this, the Legal ugly opened a rather hidden compartment in the box, inside which lay ten lollipops. "Give one to each person you want to save... even though these are not the same as the syringes, it''ll at least save them." The legal ugly voiced as he continued, "Now, please inject yourself with the first syringe in front of us, miss." Seeing there was more for her friends too, Ella happily picked one of the syringes as she directly injected it to herself without any hesitation. 149 The Normal Colosseum CULTIVATION EARTH "Master, how does this dress look on me?" As she had just changed into a new cloth, spinning in front of Virus, the golden beauty asked, eager for his response. Looking at her new red dress, Virus grinned as he voiced, "It looks magnificent on you, lil Belle..." "Really?? Then I''ll put this on tomorrow when we go to the contest!" With a happy smile plastered on her face, the golden beauty stated. Knock~ Knock~ Suddenly, the door of their shared room was knocked which drew their attention, "Who is it?" The golden beauty inquired the other person''s identity. "It''s me... Astes." A familiar voice was then heard. Recognizing the voice, the golden beauty first looked at her master and seeing him nod, she walked before the door as she opened it. When the door was opened, Virus could clearly see it was Astes as she said, "Hello, junior apprentice-brother, how have you been?" Without standing up, Virus replied, "Hey apprentice-sister... great... what brings you here to my humble room?" "I''m just here to check on you... oh and also, how did the Martial Contest go? Were you able to last past your first match? Hehe..." raising her hand in front of her mouth, Astes giggled like a fairy. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was Virus and the golden beauty who were watching this scene, because if it was someone else seeing her beautiful smile, they would''ve been bewitched by that smile long ago. As a smile crept its way on Virus'' face, he replied, "Sorry to disappoint you apprentice-sister... I won them all." "It''s okay, I was expecting..." Astes was just about to say ''I was expecting you lose so I''m not disappointed'' when she heard Virus'' next words and was silenced entirely. A while later, Astes asked in amazement, "You won all of your matches? You must be kidding right? How?" "Well, if you wanna know, come watch my matches tomorrow... oh by the way, how was your contest?" Virus asked back. "Hehe, does that even need asking, I won them all too... anyway, I''ll have more time on my hands tomorrow, so I''ll pay a visit if I can... you''ve really made me curious now." Astes voiced. ___________________ THE NEXT DAY In a rather large Colosseum, many disciples were sitting on its seats as they watched the empty gigantic matching ground beneath. There was also a special section where only elders and those with a higher authority were able to gain access to. In that area too, there were currently some elders sitting, looking forward to today''s match. Then, as time passed, more and more elders and disciples continued to join their own area as the crowd increased. Each elder had his own reasons and hidden motives to be present today as some of them came only to entertain themselves, while some others came to watch how their disciples were going to fight. Among the elders, there was the two elders from the inferior and normal library, the elder who watched over Virus'' stage yesterday, and even Virus'' own master who had shockingly heard from Astes that his disciple had won all of his matches and thus came to watch how exactly he was winning. Finally, at this moment, an elder appeared exactly in the middle of the Colosseum as he began to talk, and oddly, his voice could be easily heard by everyone in the Colosseum, "We shall begin the second day of the ''Martial Contest'' immediately, there is already a list made for disciples to know who they will be fighting and the matches will continue according to that list." "You two, come..." Looking at the dark tunnel in one side of the Colosseum, the elder uttered and promptly, two disciples who were going to have the first match entered as they began to fight soon afterward. . . . Currently, inside the tunnel in a hall, Virus and the golden beauty were looking at the list in front of them. A while later, Virus opened his mouth, "So, the thirtieth match is going to be my first... and my first opponent is..." Seeing the name, Virus was surprised a little because he recognized the name, it was... Deadter Ilon. "He must''ve done something to go against you master, otherwise, the chances of such a coincidence happening are rather low." The golden beauty uttered with a frown seeing who Virus'' opponent was. "Yep, I think so too, but it doesn''t matter... as he just delivered himself for humiliation, so I''ll gladly take the offer." Speaking his mind, Virus grinned as he checked to see who was going to be his opponent afterward. ''Hmm, the winner of the match before me is going to face me, and that match is between Haden, who was surprisingly from the same stage as me, and his opponent... Bensli, who is a normal disciple...'' Virus pondered as he stared at the list. . . . After that, one match after another was fought until finally, it was time for the sixth match which was between Hadelia and Palas. . . . Two disciples were currently standing as they stared at each other when finally one of them voiced, "Huh, I''m against an Inferior disciple... young girl, we both know how this situation will be progressing, so just make it easier for yourself and admit defeat." Listening to Palas'' Words though, Hadelia didn''t respond in any way as she just stared at him coldly. Then, the judge elder finally announced the beginning of the match. The moment the match began, Palas seemed to disappear from his spot as he mumbled, "Okay... if this is what you want... ''Moving Like The Bat Night''". And the next moment, he seemed to appear right behind Hadelia as he began to mutter again, "Qi Imaginary Hand Slash". As he muttered that, his hand began to come closer and closer to Hadelia as it was about to hit her. In the meantime, the other disciples began to murmur, "Palas is at the eighth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage... so the result seems obvious, no?" Another continued, "Yeah... and that girl has just recently joined the inferior section from the last Inferior Disciple Recruitment... even though she was the champion among the Cultivation batch... still, she''s facing a Normal disciple here... so her defeat seems already set in stone before the match had even begun." "Yep... I agree..." . . . The disciples and even some of the elders were talking among themselves about how she would lose as Palas'' hand was getting closer and closer to Hadelia, when suddenly, her Qi seemed to increase as she disappeared from her spot just to appear right behind Palas with her short sword as she voiced, "Second form ¨C Dance of the Sparrow". Instantly, two big cuts were made on each side of Palas, which needed immediate tending or otherwise it could be dangerous. Seeing this whole situation, everyone including most of the elders was amazed and even shocked because they clearly felt Hadelia''s Qi abruptly increase and then from her body, they felt a Qi which would only exist on those who were at the ninth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage. "So she was hiding her true cultivation level through special means... " One of the elder''s muttered in amazement. "Already at the ninth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage at that age... oh my... it seems a genius has just slipped right through my fingers." Another mumbled. 150 Space Weapon? "So she''s the dark horse among the inferior disciples this time around, huh..." Another elder voiced. . . . Afterward, the contest continued as one match after the other was fought until it was finally the time for the thirtieth match to begin. Knowing it was his turn next, Virus looked at the golden beauty and voiced, "Go and watch the match from the disciples'' section..." "Alright, master." Understanding the situation, the golden beauty left as Virus began to walk inside the dark tunnel which led him to the Colosseum. However, while walking, Virus spotted Deadter who was waiting for him in the middle of the tunnel. And seeing Virus finally arrive, an evil grin found its way on his face as he said, "Haha, isn''t this apprentice-brother Vee? Don''t tell me you''re my opponent?" However, not stopping at all, Virus ignored him completely as he passed by him and continued on his path. Seeing himself ignored, veins began to appear on Deadter''s already dark face as he uttered with a deeply enraged voice, "Alright... then let me show you that your biggest mistake in life was offending me, my sister, and the Ilon family." Voicing those words, he no longer bothered himself with Virus as he too began to follow after him toward the stage of the Colosseum. . . . Seeing Deadter and some other unknown disciple exit the tunnel, the disciples began to whisper among themselves, "Oh... it''s Deadter against an unknown disciple... I heard Deadter is already at the seventh level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage and even close to the Eighth level!!!" "Right, right! He''s one of the strongest among the Inferior disciples, and I heard he can become a Normal disciple whenever he wants... but because he wants to be at the top, he refuses to do so..." "In conclusion... we all know what''s going to happen next to that poor unknown disciple." Another said. "I kinda feel sorry for him though... I mean... how can he be so unlucky to face Deadter in his first match today?" One of the female disciples muttered. As they finally walked to their spot on the fighting field of the Colosseum, Virus glanced at Deadter for a moment before connecting to his ring on his left hand. ''Trigger Initial Configuration ¨C¨C Machine gun!'' Instantly afterward, the ring on his middle finger began to transform into a long matte black Machine gun with ten pairs of vertical lines of blue light apparent on each side of it. There was also a glass screen above the gun which was shining blue all over. Strangely though, the gun didn''t seem to have any triggers at all. This was actually because there was no need to pull the trigger anymore, as unlike the previous handgun, now the only requirement was making a connection between the carrier and the gun itself. So from now on, the only thing Virus needed was to connect to the Machine gun in order to shoot directly whenever he desired. And this actually came with a huge advantage to the current Virus, because as of now, there was no need to waste time when he wanted to shoot a target. Previously, his mind was restricted by the limited speed of his body, which in this case was his fingers, so a very short period of time was wasted every time he shot at somebody. But with this new Machine gun, he was able to directly connect to the gun itself and shoot, so there was no wasted time in between as there was no trigger to be pulled anymore. At the same time, when the gun appeared on his left hand, Virus commanded the gun, ''Paralysis Mode ¨C Follow''. By this point in time, most disciples and elders were in confusion, surprise, and even shock as they stared at the strange metal that had appeared on this unknown disciple''s hand out of nowhere, as they thought, ''Did his ring just change into that black metal?'' Some of the elders'' eyes were even shining with a strange light as if they had just witnessed something amazing. A certain elder who was sitting alone in one particular area of the elders'' section began to mumble after recognizing Virus, "So he''s the disciple who achieved the color white in the aptitude test... and then soon afterward, he achieved a hundred percent in the inferior library examination through mysterious means...Ahh, I smell lots of secrets on his body... and moreover... now there is that ring of him which changed into some kind of weapon... hmm, actually... could all those heaven-defying occurrences be related to that ring?" By the time he was finished mumbling, his eyes were almost blood red because of greed, as he thought, ''Uhhh... I have to dig out all those precious secrets... it''s definitely going to be extremely beneficial for my cultivation...'' Another elder''s eyes were also currently shining in an intense light of greed just like the previous elder, as he thought, ''Oh my heavens... Is that some kind of ''Space Weapon''?'' Different thoughts were currently passing through every elder''s mind with different emotions of light greed, amazement, surprise, appreciation, etc. Showing in them. After thinking that, the elder who suspected the ring was a ''Space Weapon'' opened his mouth and mumbled, "Well... it might be something quite useless as well... let''s just watch for now..." The judge elder was also quite surprised by now, however, he still didn''t forget to announce the start of the match, "Begin!" "Finally... I can teach you some lessons!!!" With a distorted face, Deadter yelled as he began to charge at Virus with the fastest speed he could muster. In the meantime, Virus began to lift his left hand toward Deadter as well. However, by the time Virus was successfully pointing his gun at him, Deadter had already run half the distance toward him. ''Fire!'' Then, in an instant, this command arrived at the machine gun as a rapid succession of blue lights were discharged at Deadter. The blue lights currently being released were so fast that there was almost no pause between the launch of each blue light. And as a result of that, from the sidelines, the extremely close blue lights almost seemed like a laser-like blue line which was storming at its target. However, before the gun was pointed at Deadter, he remembered the skinny male''s account of the details of the weapon Virus had used the previous day and knew he had to dodge its blue lights at all costs. So, he immediately distanced himself from the pointing end of the barrel of the Machine gun. And so in doing that, he was able to successfully dodge lots of the blue lights which passed from beside him from meters away without changing their direction in the least. Seeing him dodge, as a countermeasure, Virus began to change the direction of the gun toward Deadter with the fastest speed he could while the gun continued to fire. And so, finally, some of the blue lights were shooting in the direction of Deadter, though he was also in the process of trying to dodge them, albeit in vain. Afterward, just like that, and much to his shock, when the blue lights were at a certain distance away from him, they began to change their directions exactly toward him. 151 Drunk In Her Own Bar So, without being able to respond in any way, the first blue light hit him and then it was followed by tens of more blue lights which struck at without stopping at all. By the time the first five blue lights had hit successfully, Deadter was helplessly screaming inside in pain. When ten more blue lights struck, he had already fainted as the result of experiencing extreme pain and torment of being hit by that many paralysis bullets. However, even after he had passed out, the blue bullets seemed like they had no intentions of stopping at all as they continued connecting to his body for a while until finally, Virus sent his new command to the gun, ''Cease Fire!'' By now, everyone, including both the disciples and the elders, was shocked silly as they could only watch with their eyes that were already out of their sockets. Some seconds passed in absolute silence when finally, the judge elder came out of his stupefaction and voiced, "Vee wins!" After that, noises began to rise from everywhere once again. "Oh my heavens!!!! What was that weapon!!!!" One of the disciples voiced "Ahhh... I want that weapon... it was so cool." A female disciple muttered in exhilaration. "He defeated his opponent with only the gun!!! And more shockingly, I feel no cultivation whatsoever from his body..." "Oh my...Now you say that... that''s true... just what kind of weapon would allow a mortal to defeat a cultivator!" ''I need to have that weapon at all costs.'' A certain greedy disciple thought. While most disciples belonged to the Inferior and Normal area, a few had come from the Superior section to watch the entertaining show as well. So, a disciple from the superior section also mumbled in a voice only the girl by his side could hear, "Oh... that''s a nice weapon... investigate him... and then tell him I would take him under my wings if he offers his weapon to me." Thoughts and words of greed, astonishment, jealousy, and admiration then began to circulate among the disciples. But, more importantly, these mixed feelings wasn''t only limited to the disciples'' section! Currently, in the elders'' area too, words of shock, amazement, and admiration were spreading around. But oddly, unlike the disciples, no words of greed or jealousy was voiced by any of the elders. However, even though no words of greed was voiced, the eyes of some of the elders were shining with so much greed which made disciples'' greed nothing compared to them. And in general, most of those greedy elders were thinking along the lines of ''I need to investigate him and then look for an opportunity to snatch that ring.'' Seeing all these interested gazes directed at Virus, the lonely elder at a certain corner began to ponder with more intense shining eyes of greed which was this time accompanied with deep worry and impatience, ''Oh no... this is no good... now, the other elders will eye him too and they will definitely try to get to the bottom of his secrets...'' The elder who had suspected Virus'' weapon was a ''Space Weapon'' also wondered, ''Oh... that weapon''s much more useful than I thought... it might come in handy sometime in the future... and I keep having this feeling like he still hasn''t revealed its full power... hmm... let''s watch more for now." Then, he continued his thought process, ''Maybe I should also order some of my disciples to target him intentionally to reveal all of its potential... well, I''ll do that if he lasts until then...'' . . . Afterward, the contest continued as Virus went inside the tunnel where the golden beauty joined him. "Wow, master! So your ring can also change into a Machine gun! That was mesmerizing!" She voiced with stars reflecting in her eyes. "Haha, yeah... Wanna see?" "Yes, please!" The two continued their conversation in an empty waiting room inside the hall while the ''Martial'' Contest proceeded outside. Hours passed just like that when finally, it was Virus'' turn once again. This time, his opponent was someone called Bensli who seemed to be a Normal disciple at the ninth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage. Virus had a very intense fight with him as he had to keep shooting to keep him away from getting close to himself. But even then, there were very close situations in which Bensli was almost upon him with his extremely quick speed while avoiding his blue bullets. Though, in the end, with much difficulty, Virus was able to defeat him with only the Machine gun and nothing else. This in return, astounded everyone on how well and adept Virus was in using his weapon ring. To them, it seemed like he could predict most of his opponent''s moves as he always succeeded in distancing himself from Bensli. As a result, this made some of the elders sigh in amazement, ''He''s a monster in controlling the flow of battle even though he has no cultivation whatsoever... he''s also totally in control of his opponent and the match.'' "What a monster..." One of the elder''s unconsciously mumbled. "Yes... a frightening monster... if he grows up..." Another agreed. ____________________ TECHNOLOGY EARTH Gulp~ Gulp~ Gulp~ Currently, Amara was sitting drunk behind the counter in her own private bar as she gulped one mouthful of drink after another from the bottle itself. And it seemed she had no intentions of stopping as she kept drinking more and more, when finally she voiced, "Why... why won''t he be with me???" "I... I was satisfied even if he dated both of us or even the three of us... but... but he just won''t choose me..." She mumbled with her eyes closed. Hiccup~ "Now... the whole world''s ending and I can''t even find him... I''m not even sure where he''s gone to..." Hiccup~ "That day..." As she muttered this, her memory began to fly back to the day when Virus, the golden beauty, and Ella happily took off with their helicopter, leaving her down there on the ground alone, with only the capability to watch their happy faces in secret. "I wanted to be with them too... why... whyyy...?" Completely drunk, she yelled. Hiccup~ Sob~ Sob~ "Uwu, I want him... I think I really love him... but that idiot..." Unable to tolerate it, she finally began to cry as tears rolled down her face. Sob~ Hiccup~ "But now, the whole world''s ending..." "It''s all her fault... that girl called Ella..." Hiccup~ "Only if she didn''t exist... or if only I had seen him before her..." Sob~ "I can''t sit like this... I need to... find him before it all ends... I need to... tell him how... I feel!" Murmuring in a slow pace with lots of pauses in between, in the end, her head fell on the counter as she fell asleep. When she fell asleep though, someone''s footsteps were heard as that person came closer and closer until he was right beside her. "Silly girl..." Said that person in a soft tone and then, placing one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back like a groom carrying his bride, he took her away while princess carrying her. If Amara was awake right now, she would''ve instantly recognized him just to address him by calling out, "Detective Lock!" 152 Hadelia "Isn''t... isn''t your parents home?" Sara questioned a little nervously while they were in front of Eliot''s house. "No, my mom''s long passed away... and dad hardly ever comes home." Eliot replied in a casual manner while unlocking the door. "Go inside..." He said, unconsciously pointing with his gun inside. After they were inside, Eliot became a little awkward as he didn''t know what to do with the girls anymore because he had brought them with himself without thinking what would happen next. Honestly, he never intended to kill anyone else other than those he hated like hell, so he knew he wasn''t going to kill these two from the beginning even if they didn''t follow him home. After they were inside, his eyes fell on the blood stains which were hidden underneath their clothes. There was also some brain matters splashed at some parts of their bodies. Understanding they can''t stay dirty like this, and finding no better thing for them to do, he uttered, "Okay... first, go wash and clean yourselves... the shower''s there..." Pointing at a door, Eliot voiced. Listening to his words, the two girls'' faces got a little rosy as they gazed at each other and the same thought passed through their heads, ''Is he going to do that to us? So he''s asking us to clean up first?'' Still, not trying to reject or resist in any way, they both began to move as they entered the bathroom. Then, taking off all their clothes, they went under the shower as water began to flow all over their bodies as it washed away the blood and brain matters. Afterward, while they were washing, Hana mumbled, "Do you think he wants to do ''that'' with us, Sara?" Hearing her mumble, Sara muttered back, "I think so... so... what are you going to do if that really is the case, Hana?" "Of course... I will listen to him... the world''s ending anyway, so it''s not like it matters or anything anyway..." Hana replied. "Yeah... you''re right, let''s just try enjoying it instead..." Sara voiced. . . . Currently, outside, Eliot kept walking back and forth as he pondered in distress, ''Why did I bring them to my house?!? Now, they know my house address too... I should''ve just released them after burning the car up.'' ''I wasn''t thinking straight at the time... oh my God... I must''ve gone crazy... how can I bring two girls with myself to my house...!'' ''What should I do when they come out?! Should I just send them away? No no no... what if they report me to the police and I spend the rest of my remaining one year in prison.'' Filled with stress, Eliot thought. . . . As he continued going back and forth in front of the bathroom, suddenly, the door to the bathroom was opened as two girls came out of the bathroom, totally naked! Seeing this scene in front of him, Eliot who had been a virgin his whole life froze entirely! . . . When the two were done taking a shower, after they dried themselves with a towel, to their dismay, they saw that their clothes were bloody on the inside since they wore it when their bodies were dripping with Josh''s blood. "What do we do? Should we ask for some clean clothes?" Hana asked, not knowing what to do. "Don''t you think he would''ve already given us some clean clothes if he wanted us to wear clothes? Why do you think he told us to take a shower in the first place?" Sara voiced like she had heard the funniest thing today. "Sigh... I think he wants us to go out naked like this..." Sara uttered helplessly as if she was seeing right through Eliot. Thinking it somewhat made sense, Hana said, "Then... you go out first... then I''ll follow after you..." "Hana... are you kidding me! I don''t want to!" Sara muttered like she had been greatly wronged and betrayed by her best friend. "Then... then... we''ll go out at the same time..." Hana mumbled helplessly. "Alright... let''s go." Whispering that, they opened the door as they went outside at the same time, only to face a frozen young man. But, seeing his frozen gaze which couldn''t leave their bodies, Sara thought, ''Tsk... So I was right... he was impatiently waiting for us to be done with showering... and now, he can''t take his gaze off us...'' As they were both thinking along these lines, they suddenly heard a voice which couldn''t get more nervous, "Wh...wh... what... what are you two doing? Wh... wh... why would you come out naked....?" Finally, at this moment, Eliot turned around as he nervously waited for their response. However, seeing him act strange like this, the two were lost for a moment as they didn''t understand why he was acting this way. Then, Sara finally mumbled, "Does he like acting innocent??" Hearing this, Hana finally understood, ''Oh... so that''s what''s going on...he''s asking us to take the initiative... and make it seem like it''s us who are raping him... damn it, what a bastard." __________________ CULTIVATION EARTH After defeating Bensli, Virus faced two more Normal disciples with the same level of cultivation as Bensli. But, after overcoming a lot of difficulties, he was able to successfully defeat them just with the use of his Machine gun alone. This made both the elders and disciples who were watching Virus'' every match sigh in even more amazement and admiration as they thought even if they had that weapon, they definitely wouldn''t be able to take advantage of it to this degree. . . . "Who''s your next opponent master?" Seeing her master back from his match, the golden beauty asked worriedly, since she knew it was getting harder and harder for Virus to deal with his opponents. "My next opponent? Hmm...when I checked on the way, I actually saw that girl Hadelia''s name on the list... you know... she was in the same stage as me before... It''s both amazing and surprising that she''s lasted until now." Virus uttered. "I see... but master... will you be able to defeat her? If she''s won until now... then that means she''s been hiding her true strength and that she''s very strong... master seems to be already at his limits..." Ella uttered with a voice filled with worry and anxiousness. "Don''t worry lil Belle... I have my plans." Virus replied with a reassuring smile while trying to comfort her. "Just please be careful master, even if you can''t earn that fruit today... there will definitely be chances later on... you could even ask Astes if it comes to worst..." She added. . . . Half an hour later, it was finally the time for Virus'' next match, so he entered the tunnel as he began to walk toward the fighting field. . . . Currently, Virus was facing his opponent Hadelia as the judge elder was about to announce the start of the match. But before that, Virus didn''t forget to call his Machine gun. "Let''s have a good match." Hadelia voiced abruptly as she looked at Virus with shining eyes. Actually, this was because she had been watching Virus'' matches until now and she had honestly come to deeply admire Virus'' control over his weapon at some point. "Sure." Virus replied with a smile after hearing her sincere words. "Begin!" The moment it began, to the shock of other elders, Hadelia''s cultivation level began to rise immediately as it increased to the tenth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage from the ninth. At the same time, she began charging at Virus while he also tried his best at raising his gun to begin shooting at her. Afterward, when he successfully raised his gun toward her, just as he began to fire, much to his surprise, he saw that Hadelia''s speed had increased to a terrifying extent abruptly, to the point that there was no way Virus would be even able to aim anywhere close to her. This situation was happening because she had witnessed Virus'' every match until now, and as a result, she knew exactly how to go against him if she wanted to win. So, the moment she felt the gun being raised at her, Hadelia instantly increased her speed to the extreme as she distanced herself from anywhere close to where the gun''s barrel was pointing at. Afterward, she began to charge toward Virus from behind as she was soon going to reach him. ''This is over.'' Thought Hadelia at the same time. 153 Far From I Slowly opening his eyelids, Deadter looked around in confusion as he thought, ''What happened? Why am I laying down here?'' At the same time, he could hear the skinny male''s nonstop voice which annoyed him quite a lot to be honest, "Big brother! Are you finally awake? Are feeling okay? Does it hurt anywhere? Do you need anything? Please say something!!" "Shut up!" Finally, unable to tolerate, Deadter shouted in frustration. Seeing him finally quiet down, he inquired, "What happened? Wasn''t I fighting that bastard? Why can''t I remember what happened afterward?... I mean when the match began?" "Sigh... big brother... this... listen... actually... you lost." Looking at Deadter with eyes filled with worry, the skinny young man voiced. "What?" Listening to him, Deadter couldn''t believe him at first as his thoughts went blank for a while. But then, his mind abruptly went back to the fight as he began to finally remember what happened. "No! That bastard!!!! I will get my revenge on him!" Next, as if he had gone insane all of a sudden, he started to yell. That was the case because Deadter could finally remember how he had been shot with one blue light after another as he could only helplessly tolerate that extreme level of pain which he had never experienced prior. Even just remembering the extent of that terrifying pain was really traumatizing for him and that made him really vexed and indignant as a result. "Calm down big brother..." The skinny male asked. "You''re asking me to calm down? Fuck! How the heck do I calm down when that bastard did that to me and defeated me like that?! Damn it!!! This is the greatest humiliation of my entire life and it happened in front of everyone!" Uttering in a loud voice, he went on a rampage as he began to throw everything around himself at the skinny male. So, just like that, everything in the room began to break as the skinny male''s forehead was also bleeding now as he silently looked at Deadter without the least bit of resistance or anger. After a while of venting, finally, Deadter was a lot calmer as opened his mouth again in malice and hatred, "Bastard, don''t think this is over... I might not be able to get my revenge by my own hands... but that doesn''t mean I don''t have other means to achieve my goal! Just you wait!" . . . Witnessing Hadelia''s cultivation level increase once again from the ninth level Qi Passage Opening Stage to the tenth, the elders became astonished very much as they hadn''t expected her to be still hiding the full extent of her power! "So... she still had some reserved power she wasn''t willing to reveal... just who is she exactly? I feel like she''s not an ordinary person." Virus'' master, the Alchemy pagoda master murmured as he watched his disciple and Hadelia begin their fight. In the previous matches of Virus, when he witnessed his ring transform into a weapon, he was greatly startled and confused as he thought, ''Sigh... this disciple of mine seems to have so many secrets inside his body...'' As he thought that, he took a look around, only to witness himself surrounded with eyes of greed, all of which were directed at his new disciple. . . . Other elders were amazed too when they realized Hadelia was still not revealing her full power. The same thought was passing through other people''s mind as they pondered, ''Until now, he was mainly winning because he had always succeeded in keeping his opponents away in a distance from himself... but now, this Hadelia has succeeded in breaking that routine... as she''s almost right behind him... and there is also no chance of her being shot anymore as she''s right at his back.'' ''Sigh... it seems this is as far as my junior apprentice-brother can go...'' A specific beauty who had just arrived in Virus'' previous match thought as she looked at Hadelia who was almost behind him. When Astes watched Virus'' previous match, she was astounded very much as she had stared at the match between Virus and his opponent in disbelief. Naturally, she too, just like every other disciple who had watched Virus'' match for the first time, at first felt amazement toward his weapon, but then as time passed, she also began to feel admiration in how well and experienced Virus seemed in controlling the weapon. Now, before Virus'' match with Hadelia had begun, she had been having this odd sense of excitement as she couldn''t stop herself from being extremely hopeful about Virus winning this match too. But, as the match began, after realizing Hadelia was much more powerful than she seemed to be, her hopes began to shatter until, eventually, she was almost right behind Virus, which made her totally give up on the notion of Virus winning. . . Currently, charging at Virus from behind with her short sword, Hadelia was just a couple of steps away as she thought, ''This is over.'' At the same time, she raised her short sword as she muttered, "Second form ¨C Dance of the Sparrow". Instantly afterward, her sword began to move with extremely fast speed as she knew the match was over. Then, she unconsciously blinked, like she didn''t want to see her short sword cut Virus up. However, much to her confusion, she didn''t experience that feeling of sword cutting somebody up. And more oddly, she could no longer hear any voice from the viewers as they had suddenly gone entirely silent for some unknown reason. So wanting to see what exactly had happened, she opened her eyes slowly, but halfway through, her eyelids jumped open as she stared at the scene in front of her with eyes as big as saucers as she was jolted and perturbed greatly, because she was witnessing no one in front of her at this very moment! Even though she was shaken greatly by what was happening right now, understanding her next most important action she had to do as fast as possible, she quickly began to search around in order to find Virus'' exact location. However, no matter how hard her eyeballs moved around, she couldn''t find anyone in her line of sight. Suddenly, a thought passed through her head which made the hairs all over her body stand on their ends as at the same time all of the danger alarms on her body went off altogether, ''Could it be that... he''s behind me right now?'' This thought kind of horrified her inside as she began to run away straightly from her current spot without even daring to check what was behind herself because she knew the most important thing right now was to get away. Then finally, successfully getting away, she heaved a sigh of relief, as she turned around in order to finally check her previous location. But, what she saw in her line of sight startled her once again as she grew dumbfounded. Because at this moment, right in front of her, she was witnessing something bizarre and amazing. And that was... Virus, whose arms and legs were currently covered with numerous pitch black scales, each of which was as big as half a finger. Moreover, she could clearly see that right now, everywhere in between each scale which was covering both of Virus'' arms and legs was shining with bright blue lights, creating a very beautiful, yet petrifying scene in front of her. 154 I Like You Seeing her almost at his back, Virus couldn''t help but think, ''It seems that''s the limit for the Initial Configuration...'' By now, Hadelia was almost right behind him and if he didn''t do anything immediately, he was sure to lose, the very next moment. ''Still... It''s a little hard to believe that a girl who began from the same fifth stage as I forced me to use this...'' Virus was truly impressed by this girl called Hadelia now and that''s why he decided to face her more seriously. So, after this thought passed through his head, abruptly, Virus'' eyes turned extremely sharper as he sent his new command to the ring. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' Instantly after this new command arrived at its destination, the Machine gun started to retract into a dot of pitch black ball before separating into four new smaller black dots. Then, each dot began to move toward a different destination as they charged at Virus'' left arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg as they entered from under his pants and sleeves. Afterward, just in a heartbeat, both his legs and arms were covered with those pitch black scales as the distance between each scale also began to shine in bright blue light as if blue colored lava was moving among the scales. Also, since the size of this new configuration was bigger than his pants and his sleeves, they were both ripped apart the very next moment. By now, his opponent''s short sword was almost upon him. However, without paying any attention to that, with an extremely fast speed, Virus raised his hand in front of his face as he pondered, ''Hmm... this is much better... because my body''s movement and reaction speed is so limited compared to my thought speed and thought process that it always feels like I''m caged inside my own body... but with this, at least... my body can respond a little bit faster to my wishes and thoughts...'' After that, he began to move his body with a monstrous amount of speed as he was behind Hadelia the next instant, staring at her slashing with her short sword at his previous empty location. By now, other viewers'' eyes had popped out of their sockets as they stared at the scene in front of them in shock! At first, they had thought the match would be over soon with Hadelia''s victory, but, the next moment, a series of extraordinary events happened which changed the whole situation a hundred and eighty degrees around. First, it all began with Virus disappearing from his previous location. Then, what happened next seemed like witnessing a bolt of blue lightning to most disciples as they couldn''t perceive what was really happening when Virus moved in extreme speed. As a result, to them, when Virus did move, it seemed they were witnessing a bolt of blue lightning or blue blur move around. However, most elders were an exception to this as they were able to follow Virus'' movements with their naked eyes and see him move behind Hadelia. However, from the disciples'' point of view, after witnessing a simple blue blur, the next thing they saw petrified them to no ends, because a moment before, they were watching Virus almost about to be hit with his opponent''s short sword, and the next moment, he was standing right behind Hadelia. Standing behind Hadelia though, Virus had sunk into deep thought as he watched Hadelia''s double slash without making any movements. What had really happened to Virus with the scales was that after they had covered his arms and legs, they had become a part of him, a part of his whole body, like the skin which covered the flesh of the body and this was achieved through the use of blue lights which seemed to be the only thing which existed between Virus'' skin and the pitch black scales. Though Virus knew this transformation wasn''t exactly permanent, so it couldn''t be considered him becoming one with the scales either. More specifically, the scales were only a temporary part of Virus'' body which could be undone if he wished for any time. Moreover, what this new body part was doing to him at this moment was that his arms and legs no longer used his bones and muscles as its foundation to move around or keep his body standing. On the contrary, every move Virus made from that point onward, was that his body was temporarily being supported and moved by the pitch black scales mostly, as they acted both as his bones and muscles at the same time. For example, when he raised his hand, instead of an order being sent from his brain neurons to his hand in order for it to move through the usage of his muscles and bones, the message was being sent from Virus'' own mind directly to the scales, making them move instantly without almost any kind of delay. Anyway, watching this whole bizarre transformation and what followed right after just in front of their eyes, made most of the elders greatly disturbed as they stared at the new Virus who was covered in scales on both of his arms and legs. "Oh, my heavens... how did he do that?" one of the elders who hadn''t seen the ring transform Virus'' body muttered unconsciously. Many of the elders were confused too because they hadn''t exactly seen the ring change into scales as all they could see was just a blur before Virus was covered in scales. Those with a higher stage of cultivation, however, were a different matter altogether, as they were totally able to witness what had happened and now, their eyes were shining with profound light. Among these elders was that elder who was sitting all by himself who thought with his jaw still dropped open, ''Oh my... I didn''t know that ring was that great!!! I gotta have it... I must have! But... damn it... those elders have seen it too... I need to think of something quickly!'' ''Is this still some kind of ''Space Weapon''? Damn... what is that ring of his exactly... Why haven''t I seen something similar before?! It seems I gotta have that ring even if it''s just for research purposes!'' The other elder who had suspected the ring being a ''Space Weapon'' thought in absolute amazement too. Virus'' master though, was feeling a mix of an extreme level of petrification and worry at the same time as he stared at his disciple which he no longer even recognized. Right now, Astes too was having a similar reaction to this whole situation like many others, as she couldn''t take her eyes off of Virus, not even for a moment, as mixed thoughts and feelings were passing through her mind and heart. Afterward, everyone watched Hadelia distance herself from her previous location in a hurry. Then, finally being away, she turned around as she looked at Virus in horror. Virus though, was completely calm as he had expected this kind of reaction from everybody, so without any kind of expression showing itself over his face, he looked at Hadelia as he uttered, "I like you... and I can see there is no malice present in your eyes... only a desire to fight and to get stronger... that''s why... I''m giving you the chance to use your full power to fight against me." 155 The Sparrow Moves Like Flying Listening to his words, Hadelia was stunned at her place as she stared at Virus with mixed feelings apparent in her eyes. A while later, she seemed to finally come to senses as a half smile showed itself on her face. Soon, opening her mouth, she voiced, "Are you sure you want to see the full extent of my power?" Seeing her reaction and hearing her words, Virus couldn''t help but become even more interested in her as he responded with a rather wide grin, "Use everything you have to the very last drop of your strength... let''s see for how long you can entertain me." However, hearing him use the word ''Entertain'' for their match as if it was just some kind of entertainment for him made Hadelia very frustrated as she thought, ''How arrogant... hmph... let''s see how long you can stay like that.'' Then, she said, "Hehe, before this match, I wasn''t going to reveal all of my power on this year''s ''Martial Contest''... but now... I''ve changed my mind, I hope you don''t regret your words later on for making me do this..." "..." Hearing her, Virus didn''t reply with anything more as only a mild sense of expectation rose in his heart as he waited to see what would happen next. Then, slowly, Hadelia closed her eyes, making those who couldn''t hear the conversation between them to misunderstand that she was about to surrender and honestly, if she really did that, no one would''ve blamed her because that was the most logical and reasonable decision at the current situation. However, against all of their expectations, a few seconds after she closed her eyes, abruptly, her cultivation qi began to increase as her cultivation level soon rose from the tenth level of the Qi Passage Opening Stage to the eleventh! More surprisingly, it seemed this increase wasn''t the end as his qi continued to rise even more until finally, it went past the eleventh level! "Holy mother of heavens! Her cultivation level just increased by two whole levels and now she''s at the twelfth level of the Qi Passage Opening! Just how is that even possible?!" "Amazing! She''s opened all of her Qi Passages!" The disciples'' shocked voices began to roam around the Colosseum as Hadelia''s cultivation level increased. "Look! It hasn''t stopped! It''s still increasing... could it be?" However, to everyone''s dismay, it seemed the show was not over yet... Her cultivation seemed to rise to the absolute limit of that level before going even beyond that as it broke through to a whole new stage altogether! "... Incredible... her cultivation is already at the Qi Circulation Stage!" One of the elders uttered, absolutely astonished! "Yeah...sigh... just thinking about it makes me wanna have her as my personal disciple... to have such a young disciple who''s already at the Qi Circulation Stage..." Another elder said. "Well... too bad for you, because I heard she rejected every offer she received from the elders... though she might accept it if better elders asked her to be their personal disciple, who knows. However, what I''m sure of is that you definitely don''t have any chances with her, hehe..." A female elder muttered with a giggle. "Awesome..." In the disciples'' area too, voices of amazement were heard here and there. . . . Finally, at this moment, Hadelia opened her eyes as she glanced into Virus'' eyes and voiced, "Shall we begin?" "Sure... would you please do the honor of attacking me first?" Virus replied with a little bit of anticipation. "... Hehe, you might regret your words... but if that''s what you want... why not." She vocalized before disappearing from her previous spot just to appear right in front of Virus... or at least, that''s how disciples with a lower level of cultivation perceived this situation as. On the contrary, those who had a higher level of cultivation could see this whole situation with much more clarity. . . . Going in front of Virus with extremely fast speed, Hadelia raised her short sword as she mumbled, "Second form ¨C Dance of the Sparrow". ''Hmm, nice try...'' Thinking this, Virus raised his left hand which was covered in scales as he easily defended against the attack which came slashing at his left side. However, it seemed the attack was not over as her hands seemed to move in a strange way as it suddenly attacked to his right side too. But, as Virus had long analyzed this technique and thus expected the attack, he easily raised his right hand and deflected the short sword. Immediately afterward, much to Hadelia''s surprise, Virus moved with extremely fast speed as he went right behind her and placed his open palm on her neck and whispered in her ears, "Just like that, you died once..." Then, he continued, "If that''s all you''re capable off, you should just forfeit now... as honestly, you''re not even close to defeating me." Uttering this, a light seemed to turn off inside Virus'' eyes, as if he was feeling disappointed at something or someone. Listening to his tone of speaking, Hadelia''s eyes jumped open as she felt something from Virus'' tone which made her extremely uncomfortable like she had done something wrong. As a result, Hadelia felt like she had to prove him wrong, so she replied, "Hmph... of course that''s not all... I didn''t want to do this... because I didn''t want my identity to be revealed, but that seems impossible if I want to go against you." Immediately after that, she uttered, "The Sparrow Moves Like Flying!" As she vocalized that, she began to distance herself from Virus with an extremely quick speed before turning toward Virus once again, looking at him, face to face. Then, not stopping there, she directly charged at him while muttering, "The Burning Sparrow ¨C The Sword On Fire!" The moment she opened her mouth, shockingly, her short sword which was slashing toward Virus in a strange way suddenly went on fire. "No way... is that..." The elders who were watching the fight suddenly seemed to have seen something shocking as they stared at Hadelia with shock visible inside their eyes. "Is she really from there?" An elder looked at another as he questioned in disbelief. "...I think so... that burning sword... and what she uttered before executing that technique... She''s definitely from there..." Another elder replied with her eyes shining intensely. Some of the disciples had also recognized Hadelia''s technique as some of them even shouted rather loudly, "Holy fuck! She''s from the Burning Sparrow clan!" "What''s the Burning Sparrow clan?" Listening to those shouts, one of the ignorant disciples asked in confusion. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? You don''t even know the Burning Sparrow clan? You don''t know the clan that has the bloodline of the Burning Sparrow who is believed to be a descendant of the legendary Fire Phoenix?" One of the disciples who was obviously very annoyed with the question said in surprise. "Really?... I''ve been living in my village before coming to the sect so I don''t really know much about the world... anyway, what''s that clan exactly?... Would you mind elaborating more please?" The ignorant disciple asked further. "Just shut up... don''t talk to me." However, unfortunately, this was the response he received for his curiosity as the other person no longer paid him any further attention and continued to watch the match. 156 Very Uncomfortable In the meantime, Virus was a little surprised seeing Hadelia''s sword starting to burn all of a sudden as her speed seemed to increase too, so, with less leisure than the previous times, he raised his hand once again to block the slash with the scales covering his arms all over. Clink~ The moment the burning sword and the scaled palm clashed against each other, a rather loud noise of metal hitting another metal was heard as Virus grabbed the burning sword and refused to let go while Hadelia struggled to free her short sword from his grasp. Amused by her struggle, Virus said with a rather broad smile, "Haha, this one was much better... Show me more techniques like this one." After he was done with his words, he finally let go of the sword. Seeing how easily he could still defend against her attack, Hadelia gritted her teeth, as she uttered again. "The Burning Sparrow ¨C Exploding the Fire!" Listening to her words and watching the incoming burning sword, Virus felt like it would be rather dangerous if what he was thinking really happened, so, at the very last moment, he dodged, making the short sword hit the ground. Bamm~ And as a result, the sound of a rather loud explosion was heard as dust rose and rocks flew around. . . . When the scene was clear once again, the disciples were breath taken to witness a meter deep hole on the ground at the same spot the sword had just connected to. "Oh... that was a lot more powerful than your previous attacks... if that attack hits anywhere near my unguarded body parts like my chest... I would instantly die..." Virus uttered. Listening to his words, Hadelia couldn''t stop herself as a strange sensation of pride swelled up inside her as she replied, "Of course... that is expected of my bloodline technique! You should feel proud for forcing me to use this much of my power." Looking at her proud face while listening to her words, a grin found its way on Virus'' face as he was unable to stop himself from wanting to tease her a bit, so he voiced, "However..." A frown appeared on Hadelia''s face when she heard Virus say ''However''. Then, after a short silence, he continued, "Though it''s true you would win if it really hits an unguarded part of my body... however, unfortunately for you, that technique would never be able to hit me..." "Anyway... if you have any more powerful techniques left, reveal it now... otherwise, this fight is already over." He concluded. "You..." The enraged Hadelia voiced as she stared in Virus'' eyes like she just wanted to devour this arrogant man right in front of everyone. But, unfortunately, she was aware that anger wasn''t going to help her win against her opponent. Moreover, Hadelia was clear that she was already at her limits and ''Exploding The Fire'' was the most powerful technique she could use at the moment. So, she just stood there staring at Virus while clenching her fist in anger. Watching her just stand there without taking any action, Virus opened his mouth again, "Hmm... was that really your limit? Well, you weren''t half bad..." As he was talking though, Hadelia interrupted him as she charged at him with all her might while yelling, "The Burning Sparrow ¨C Exploding the Fire!" "Sigh..." Seeing her not even waiting for him to finish his words, Virus sighed as he charged toward Hadelia too. Soon, when the short sword was almost upon him, Virus dodged it easily with the use of a strange kind of footwork which made him able to go behind her shortly afterward. Then, without stopping at all, he hit the back of Hadelia''s neck with some force which made her instantly go unconscious. After that, seeing she was about to drop on the floor, Virus grabbed her body in his embrace which stopped her from falling. "Good fight... you can rest now." As she lay unconscious in his embrace, Virus whispered in her ears. Meanwhile, seeing her unconscious, the judge elder announced Virus'' victory after a short pause. As his victory was announced, without waiting at all, Virus just threw her unconscious body over his shoulder as he began to walk toward the tunnel of the Colosseum. . . . When he was in the waiting hall of the Colosseum, Virus looked around as he found an empty room where he placed Hadelia''s body at. "Master!" Looking at the source of the voice, Virus realized the golden beauty had come back. Looking at her shining eyes which almost seemed to be on fire, Virus knew what this was all about as he exited the room with a smile on his face. "What is it, lil Belle?" Virus asked while closing the door behind himself. "Master!!! What exactly is that ring?!? Why didn''t you tell me it could even do that?!? That was so cool..." ''Just as I thought, it was about this.'' Virus thought with a smile showing itself on his face, then he uttered, "Haha, before we talk about that... do you have any of my clothes with yourself right now... I mean, as you can see, I''m almost not wearing any pants at the moment and I would really like to turn this ring off... it''s very uncomfortable." Listening to Virus, the golden beauty was surprised for a moment as she glanced at Virus legs which was mostly only covered with pitch black scales, then, she abruptly began to laugh in amusement while Virus looked at her with a poker face, "Hahaha..." After she was done laughing, she ran into a room before coming back with a bag, "... Since you''ve already told me to carry some of your clothes with me all the time... I do have some, here..." After that, taking the bag, Virus turned the ring off as he changed into a new set of clothes. Seeing him in new clothes, Ella inquired again, "Now, master... tell me about that cool ring please!" "You like it that much, huh?" Virus asked back with a grin. "Yes, I like it very much! Can I try it on too?" She questioned with bright stars shining in her eyes. However, looking at her eyes which were filled with lots of enthusiasm, Virus replied with a little bit of difficulty, "Uh, actually... you can''t try it." Hearing this, the golden beauty''s expression turned dispirited as she mumbled, "Oh... is that so?" "Well, you would be able to try it on when you have your own real body... so don''t feel down." Watching her dispirited expression, Virus couldn''t help himself but try cheering her up. "Oh, really??? Okay, I''ll try it at that time then." Then, just as he had anticipated, talking about the ''Real Body'' truly seemed to work as she turned a lot less dispirited. However, the topic of the ''Real Body'' seemed to create another confusion inside the golden beauty''s mind as she questioned, "Speaking of ''Real Body'', master... Didn''t you say you weren''t strong enough to defend yourself against danger and that you would make me a real body when you''re strong enough?" "But, with that ring, you are already very strong! And... you had it for a while now. So, why haven''t you made me a real physical body yet?" 157 Tinsel "Cough..." Virus let out a small cough as he put his fist in front of his mouth, in the meantime, he was thinking with the fastest speed he could to answer the question of why he hadn''t made her a real body yet, ''Hmm, let''s see... why haven''t I made a true body for her yet?'' "..." At the same time, he was having a poker face outside as he stared at the golden beauty. "Master?!?" Confused by her master''s poker face, the golden beauty asked. "Hmm... well, for me to answer that... first, think about the match I just had... remember how it took me a short period of time before my body was covered in scales?" Finally, Virus opened his mouth as he replied to her with a question of his own. "Yes, but..." Came the golden beauty''s doubtful response. "That short delay is the answer! Think about it, it might be too late for me to survive in a dangerous situation if my enemy is faster than that small period of time which takes for the ring to turn on and cover me in scales." He continued, "A simple example would be a gun! You see, even a mere bullet would be faster than that delay... and ''that''... is the moment you come into play and instantly move to keep me safe from that kind of danger without any kind of delay whatsoever. Do you understand now? I may be powerful when I''m using the ring... however, I can''t use it 24/7... which means that I''m pretty much vulnerable all the time without you." "But..." As she wasn''t totally satisfied with her master''s reply, she was going to continue arguing. However, before she could do that, Virus interrupted her and continued, "Moreover, I said I would make you a true physical body when I''m at least as strong as you, but right now, you can easily defeat me at this very moment before I even turn the ring on, right?" Virus dealt the final blow as he sighed in relief inside. "..." Unable to say anything more in response to that, defeated by his master''s words, he uttered, "Yes..." "Ah... by the way master, aren''t going to have another match soon? So why did you change into a new set of clothes? I mean, you''re going to ruin that too soon anyway..." She questioned as her mind was confused by another matter. "Well, actually that was the last match today... the rest will continue tomorrow... we can leave now." Virus replied. "I see, let''s go home then." . . . As the two exited the Colosseum, they saw a beauty waiting just outside the exit and the moment that beauty spotted them, she raised her hand as she rushed at them. "Junior apprentice-brother!!!!" Then, when she was in front of the two, she called Virus in extreme frustration. "What is it, apprentice-sister?" Virus questioned in a rather calm tone. "Are you stupid?! Why did you reveal that power?! Why did you reveal that ring at all?? Oh my dear ancestors! Do you know how everyone was looking at you just now? It was as if they would jump on you right there and devour you completely! And you say ''What is it, apprentice-sister?'' while you''re absolutely calm??!" Hearing Virus'' serene voice, frustrated, she dumped everything that was on her mind in a single breath. "Heck, even I''m feeling curious about that ring of yours! Don''t you get what that means?" She asked. "Hmm, that you''re going to try stealing the ring from your junior apprentice-brother?" Virus asked while putting a doubtful expression on his face. "Of course not! I meant..." Astes got frustrated and stunned by his response as that was truly what should be inferred by her words, but she hadn''t meant it like that, which frustrated her very much. Amused by her frustration and cute face, Virus finally decided to spare her, "Haha... Just kidding, of course, I know what that means. Now, every greedy eye is eying my ring. But, don''t worry... that''s not going to pose me much of a problem since..." However, he went entirely silent when he arrived at the last part of his sentence. Seeing him turn quiet abruptly at the end of his words, Astes got a weird vibe, as if, soon, she might not be able to see his junior apprentice-brother anymore and for some unknown reason, that made her extremely sad as she asked, "... ''Since'' what, junior apprentice-brother? Why didn''t you finish your sentence? Could it be that you''re leaving?" "Nope, I''m not leaving." Virus answered with a smile on his face as he pondered to himself, ''At least not right now.'' Listening to him, Astes unconsciously let out a relieved breath as she continued, "Anyway, since you know what that means... you have to be extremely cautious or you just might really lose that little mortal life of yours! Trust no one, and by that, I really mean ''no one''! I''m even having doubts if you can trust master since he''s a human being too you know." "So, you mean I can''t even trust you?" Virus uttered with a face filled with vigilance all of a sudden. "Urgh... no... I didn''t mean it that way... I mean you can trust no one other than me..." Seeing his face filled with vigilance toward her, for some unknown reason Astes herself didn''t understand, her heart ached as she felt upset and nervous inside. "Hahaha, you should see your face right now... calm down, I was just joking..." Feeling entertained enough by watching her cute reactions, Virus replied with a laugh while the golden beauty too was laughing by his side while thinking, ''Master''s evil!'' "You...!" Realizing he was messing with her earlier, Astes got angry as ''you'' was the only thing she could mutter before going silent. Seeing her angry face and knowing she was upset, Virus uttered, "Sorry for that, apprentice-sister... I understand what you mean and I''ll be very careful from now on, so don''t worry." "Don''t leave the pagoda on your own as that might be dangerous. In case you want to go somewhere inside the sect, we can go together... and about leaving the sect, that''s a total no-no, so you can''t leave the sect for any kind of reason until you''re strong enough, alright?" Astes further added as she still couldn''t put herself at ease. "Okay, stop worrying now, I''m not as weak as you think... didn''t you just witness that?" "I know, but that''s not even close to keeping you safe..." As she said that, she was suddenly interrupted by another voice, "Greetings junior apprentice-brother." As their conversation was interrupted by an unknown voice, the trio looked at the source, only to spot a rather beautiful young girl who was wearing very revealing clothes on herself. "Who are you?" Looking at this unknown girl he didn''t recognize, Virus asked. When Astes turned around, the unknown girl finally spotted Astes as she bowed in respect and said, "Oh, senior apprentice-sister Astes is also here... greetings senior apprentice sister." Since Astes was from the alchemy pagoda and was recognized to be a rare genius in alchemy, even the superior disciples talked to her in full respect and tried to win her favor in whatever chance they could get. Then, not forgetting about Virus'' previous question, she looked at Virus once again and replied, "I''m called Tinsel, a superior disciple." 158 You Wouldnst Understand "If it''s not rude of me, can I ask why you''re talking to senior apprentice-sister Astes?" She inquired, to which, instead of Virus, Astes herself replied, "He''s my new junior apprentice-brother from the Alchemy pagoda, is there anything wrong with two disciples from the same pagoda talking to each other?" "No, no... I didn''t mean it like that..." Tinsel responded in a hurry while shaking her two hands in front of her almost naked chest. After that, while gazing at Tinsel, suddenly a penetrating light appeared on Astes'' face as she questioned, "Now tell me, what business do you have with my Junior brother Vee?" Tinsel''s eyes jumped open when she heard Astes'' words, but soon, regaining her serene face, she opened her mouth once again while looking at Virus'' direction, "Since you''re already a superior disciple... you must know senior brother Hartas, right?" Listening to her question, Virus replied in confusion, "I have no idea who you''re talking about... nor do I have a reason to know this guy." {A/N: (Virus: Why would I even wanna know someone called heart ass, hmph.)} "I see, please let me introduce him then. So... Hartas is the second strongest person among the superior disciples." A little anger seemed to surface on Tinsel''s face when she heard Virus'' response. However, it instantly disappeared as she began to introduce Hartas with shining eyes of admiration. But, unlike Tinsel''s expectations, Virus responded with, "So what? What does that have to do with me?" "Uh... please hear me out. So, actually... senior brother Hartas has an offer for you..." Tinsel proclaimed. An amused expression showed itself on Virus'' face when he heard her words, so he responded with a chuckle, "Interesting... you can continue." Listening to him say ''You can continue'', Tinsel''s eyes began to shine as she assumed that Virus has been moved, and as a result, he was now looking forward to the offer, so she began talking with a smile on her face, "You''re a very smart person... I like that! It''s simple actually... senior brother Hartas said that as long as you''re willing to gift him your ring... he will support you with all his power from today onwards!" "Hmm... is that all?" A doubtful expression appeared on Virus'' face as he said while touching his chin. Seeing his reaction, Tinsel thought, ''This greedy bastard... he''s telling me the offer is not enough and that he wants more! Sigh, okay it''s your lucky day... I''ll increase the offer.'' "He will also cover whatever expenses you may have in the future! Moreover, he will buy you whatever you desire! Is that enough?" Tinsel added. Hearing the offer, a broad smile sat on Virus'' face as he voiced, "Of course that''s enough!" "Junior brother! You can''t..." Listening to Virus actually agree, Astes'' heart almost jumped out of her chest as she tried stopping him. However, just as she began talking, Virus raised his hand, signaling her to stop talking as he also gazed deeply into Astes'' eyes like he was saying, ''Trust me.'' "Really? Hehe, that''s a great choice! I''m sure senior brother will be very satisfied with this..." With a happy smile, Tinsel uttered. "But, before I gift the ring... since he said he will buy me whatever I desire, first, I want him to buy me something I really covet... if he fulfills this request of mine, then the ring is his." Virus stated. "Anything! Just name what you want!" She said with glittering eyes. "Okay, it''s very simple actually, tell him to buy me something that will entertain me for an eternity... if he accomplishes that, trust me... I''ll give him much more than just a worthless ring..." In all seriousness, Virus declared. However, listening to what he asked for, the three were instantly stunned silly. ''Is there even such a thing that would be able to entertain master forever?'' Afterward, unconsciously, this thought passed through the golden beauty''s head who was the person that knew Virus the best. According to what Bella witnessed until now by being beside Virus almost all the time was that his master wasn''t entertained and interested in many things others would kill for. Nonetheless, even when there was something that entertained her master on very rare occasions, she knew his sense of entertainment and interest only remained for a short while before disappearing entirely. And more importantly, the terrifying thing was that even those things which only entertained her master for a limited period of time were almost always something that would at least affect an entire country at the minimum. ''Something that would be able to entertain master forever...'' Just continuing to think about this notion sent shivers down the golden beauty''s spine as she couldn''t even begin to imagine how boundless and great this thing has to be to grant his master eternal entertainment. Truthfully, the golden beauty was horrified to continue further with her thoughts, so she decided to just stop thinking about it completely as she focused on the situation which was occurring in front of her at this moment. In the meantime, Astes was pondering to herself as she was totally lost, ''Just what''s going on inside that head of his?'' "Something that would entertain you forever?" Tinsel mumbled, but soon, she came to herself as she grumbled, "Are you kidding me right now? What is it that you really want? Just say it..." "I''m rarely as serious as I am right now..." Virus asserted. "...So you''re after something that will entertain you until the day you die... hmm, even though it''s a bit hard, I believe senior brother will be able to think of something... okay, that''s it for today then... see you soon." After mouthing this with a smirk on her face as if she had won, she respectfully bid her farewell to Astes too before turning around and leaving. After she left, Astes ranted, "Junior brother! Why did you agree to gift your ring! Are you on your right mind right now?" "Haha, didn''t you hear my condition? I only agreed to gift him my ring if he fulfills my condition." Reminded Virus while chuckling. "You mean buying you something that will entertain you forever? Even though I know that''ll be extremely hard... what if they really do succeed in finding something like that? What will you do then?" Greatly distressed and restless for her junior brother inside, she inquired. "In that case, I will gladly offer him the stupid ring..." Virus phrased as if he was stating the obvious. "You..." Astes was speechless hearing Virus'' response as she was even a little angry by him at this point. However, before she could even reprimand him, Virus continued calmly, "Not only that... I will offer that person things he can''t even begin to imagine... and I''ll also be greatly indebted to that person." "In fact, this offer stands for everyone... I''ll greatly reward whoever that can grant me eternal entertainment." He concluded. "I''m simply speechless by you junior apprentice-brother... I mean why do you even want something that would entertain you?" Looking into his eyes, Astes whimpered. To this, Virus simply stated, "You wouldn''t understand." However, when she saw the look inside his eyes while he was stating this simple sentence, Astes was greatly bewildered as she was shaken to her very core, because at this moment, inside Virus'' eyes, she spotted an emotion which was completely unknown to her. 159 When Greed Exceeds A Certain Poin Nevertheless, she continued trying her best to comprehend this unknown light inside Virus'' eyes. However, to her disappointment, she didn''t even come close to understanding this emotion other than having this feeling like the light could only be comprehended if she went through a certain experience. ''How is this possible? What''s that look inside his eyes? Why can''t I understand it at all?'' Astes began contemplating to herself as she stared at Virus in a daze, lost in his eyes. ''With my memories... I''m usually able to easily read other people and discern what kind of personality they have... but... since the day we met, it was extremely difficult for me to read junior apprentice-brother...'' She continued her deliberation. ''However, even if it''s been difficult, at least I had some clues as to how he was feeling, but right now...'' Seeing Astes lost in herself as she couldn''t take her eyes off of him, Virus opened his mouth and voiced, "Oh right... apprentice-sister, I''ve been meaning to ask you something for a while..." "What is it?" However, even with Virus'' voice, Astes seemed to be still dazed as she replied absentmindedly. "Hmm... what does the number ''Three'' engraved on the wooden ticket I received while signing up represent? I understand that number doesn''t represent the section of the disciples since other inferior disciples also have the same number as me..." Virus uttered. Then, he continued, "And If I''m not mistaken... it should be a system to arrange the disciples and the matches from the weakest to the strongest... right?" By now, Astes'' attention was at least drawn to Virus'' question, so she began explaining, "Yes, you''re totally right, junior brother..." "The matches and the disciples are not simply separated by the section they belong to, because if it was like that, the results would''ve been too inaccurate and thus, the match results would be very unreliable." "Instead, in order to make the match results more reliable and fair, the sect decided to arrange the disciples'' matches according to their cultivation level by separating them into three groups of number ''One'', number ''Two'', and number ''Three'' engraved on their wooden ticket." "Now, even though I''m sure you can already guess by yourself, the Number ''Three'' ticket holders are those with the weakest level of cultivation, mostly consisted of the Inferior disciples." "And next, the Number ''Two'' ticket holders are those with an average level of cultivation which mostly include normal disciples..." "And at last, there is the Number ''One'' ticket holders who are the strongest cultivators with almost all of them being Superior disciples..." Finally, as she was done with her description, Astes looked at Virus and queried with clear eyes of focus, "That was it, is there anything else you want to know about, junior brother? Because if there is... don''t hesitate and just ask away..." "I see, it''s just as I expected... So like this, the first day of the contest was held among the Number ''Three'' ticket holders, which is followed by the Number ''Two'' ticket holders who join the next day. And finally, there comes tomorrow, when the Number ''One'' ticket holders will be also joining the fray, right?" Gazing at her eyes, Virus related. Nodding her head, Astes confirmed, "Yep..." Virus was just about to open his mouth and say something again, when he was interrupted by a familiar voice calling his name, "Vee." As a result of hearing the call, the three looked in the direction of the voice in order to find the source. "Master!" Astes uttered while Virus gazed quietly at the new person who was approaching them. "Ay... it''s just been a few days since I accepted you as my disciple... but you''ve already caused so many troubles." As the Alchemy pagoda master arrived in front of Virus, the first thing he did was to start grumbling. However, Virus didn''t say anything in response as he just continued staring at him with an expressionless face as the atmosphere turned completely silent. "Master, why are you here?" Watching the scene of her master being totally ignored, Astes finally decided to break the awkward silence as she probed. "Isn''t that obvious? I mean how can I not appear when my own disciple has taken out such a heavenly treasure? I''m here to safely escort you to the pagoda..." The pagoda master stated with a serious face. "But... no one would dare to hurt junior brother for his treasure inside the sect... so isn''t he pretty much safe?" Astes asked in confusion. "Well yeah... that would be the case under a normal situation. However, the current situation is clearly a very abnormal one which would make even the elders extremely greedy, so we need to be very cautious." The pagoda master explained. Looking at his direction, seemingly not bothered by Virus ignoring him, he continued, "Remember, when greed exceeds a certain point, human beings often do rash things without considering the consequences in the slightest." "Also, don''t forget... there are special people in the sect who don''t care about the sect''s rules at all... so you need to be careful." The elder added. . . . In the meantime, two people were watching Virus'' group who was currently walking away from the Colosseum. One of them was a very old person with wrinkles all over his face, while the other one was a rather young man with a bloody aura around him. "So Howar, you''re saying the Alchemy pagoda master has already accepted him as his personal disciple right?" Deeply frowning, the old man questioned. "Yes, master." With a very respectful tone, Howar affirmed. "I see, that old bastard was one step ahead of me... well, at least I might not need to be worried about the other elders now... I hope he doesn''t eye his ring though... the ring and all of his other heaven-defying secrets belong solely to me!" Muttered the old elder with clear greed noticeable in his voice. "Her her her, Now now, Pagoda master Fernan, calm down... you can''t seriously mean you want it all, don''t be like that and let''s just share." Abruptly, a burst of creepy laughter was heard as a very haggard old lady with messed up white hair appeared beside the wrinkled Fernan out of thin air. "You! Murray! Stop sneaking around people like a creep. Also, what do you want with me? Just leave me alone." Pagoda master Fernan bellowed, feeling a headache coming his way. "Her her her, I know those eyes better than anyone, don''t you wanna dig those precious secrets hidden inside his body one by one and make it all yours?" Murray whispered after abruptly changing positions as she appeared right beside the Pagoda master Fernan''s ear. "Hmph, even if what you''re saying was true and I was after his secrets, why would I need your help?" Fernan stated while harrumphing coldly. "Her her her, think about it, a lot of eyes are currently zooming on him, how are you going to make your move like that? Also, you''re not going to actually lose anything from this cooperation since I don''t want anything tangible he has like the ring... all I ask for is a chance to learn the secrets and techniques which might be hidden inside his body and brain." Murray proclaimed as a wide grin appeared on her wrinkled and toothless mouth. "Alright, but first, elaborate what you have in mind." Listening to her rather harmless proposal, Fernan decided to hear what she has to say before deciding. 160 The Quality Of The Tea "First, let''s go somewhere private and then talk more about this." Murray muttered. "Alright, let''s go to my pagoda." As they both agreed upon it, they began to walk in a certain direction. However, while they were on their way toward a certain pagoda, Murray questioned, "Aren''t you afraid that he might have a special background? Did you think of that at all?" "Haha... Of course, I thought about it... but why would he have a special background? He is just a weak mortal, I don''t think anyone would care about him or that those who care about him are even that strong... more importantly, if he had a special or strong background, why would he bother coming here? I say he stumbled upon a great fortune or that he has obtained some kind of heavenly treasure or something similar." Pagoda master Fernan explained with a laugh. "That makes sense." Nodding her head, Murray agreed. . . . In the meantime, Virus and the company walked back to the pagoda with the alchemy pagoda master. When they were finally at their destination, the pagoda master uttered, "Vee, come with me to my personal room, I have something to say to you in private." "Sure." Virus replied. Hearing this, Astes got worried as she looked at Virus before vocalizing, "Master, may I follow you too?" "No, I want to talk to Vee in private, you two wait outside." Shaking his head, the pagoda master responded. The golden beauty was tense at this point as she was looking at Virus, waiting for his order. Seeing this, Virus grinned as he voiced, "Just wait outside." Listening to his words, in total understanding, the golden beauty nodded her head. After that, the two entered a room and closed its door while the golden beauty and Astes waited outside for Virus to come back. "Sit, let me make some of my favorite tea for you." Said the pagoda master with a gentle smile after closing the door behind himself. After that, around five minutes had passed when the elder finally seemed to be done making tea as he came back from another room connected to his own with two cups of tea on his hands. Afterward, placing one of them in front of Virus, he said, "Drink it, I''m sure you will love it!" "Sure." Virus replied as he picked the cup and took a small sip from it. "How is it?" The pagoda master asked curiously, wanting to hear his response. "Well... to be honest, this tea is nothing special... and from the place I come from... only the worst quality teas could be compared to this one." Virus answered his master''s question in all honesty. However, the pagoda master was suddenly startled upon hearing Virus'' response as his mind began to revolve and go in motion as the fog which was previously occupying his mind finally seemed to have started to disappear, ''Nothing special? Worst quality? But this is the best quality tea... probably on the whole planet! How could... wait... he said from the place he comes from...'' ''Just in what kind of place could the best quality tea be considered the worst?'' ''Could it be...? The ring... his peak-level talent, his way of behavior... damn it... nothing is normal about him. Just, who have I accepted as my disciple?!'' As his thoughts came here, his plan of the things he was going to say changed immediately, ''No, I know almost nothing about him nor his background, I shouldn''t say those things or anything careless to him, let me just... but, why would someone with a stronger background than the Silver Sky Sect even bother coming here?'' As he pondered until here, he looked at Virus and voiced, "Worst quality? Really? Can you bring me some later?" "Sure." In a very relaxed tone, Virus uttered. ''So he can still go back to the place he came from... which means... he''s not banished or anything...'' "I will be looking forward to that tea then, haha." The pagoda master muttered with a laugh. "So, what did you want to say to me which needed us to be alone?" Virus questioned with an expressionless face as he stared straightly into the pagoda master''s eyes without batting an eyelid. Seeing his emotionless stare, the pagoda master got this feeling as if his disciple''s eyes were currently seeing everything which was going on inside his mind and this made his forehead filled with beads of sweat unconsciously. "Ah... just wanted to ask, what is that ring you just used in the contest?" Quickly thinking of something, the pagoda master threw a random question about which he was really curious about. "Odd, why would that need us to be alone? You could''ve just asked me that outside in front of the other two." Virus questioned with a confused tone while staring at his master. However, inside himself, he thought, ''You fool.'' Even more beads of sweat appeared on the pagoda master''s forehead after hearing Virus'' question as he replied with a louder voice which didn''t have a harmony like before, "I... just thought... that maybe you don''t want others to know about this or that you might feel uncomfortable answering to it in front of others." "Hmm, Lil Belle cannot be considered as ''Others'' to me, she''s an extremely precious person in my life. From now on, whatever you want to say to me, you can say it in front of her, and about Astes, she''s the only person in this sect who I accept as my apprentice-sister and she''s actually to my liking, so she''s fine too " Virus stated. "I see... okay, I will do that from now onward." Heaving a sigh of relief inside, the pagoda master voiced. "And about the ring, even if I explain what it is to you... you wouldn''t understand a thing related to it. So why bother? Let''s just say it''s something I picked up from the place I came from." Virus added. "I see, it''s just that the ring is rather special... I''ve never seen a treasure which is in the shape of a ring and can change its shape to cover the arms and legs of its owner in an instant... and more shockingly... it can make even a mortal so fast and strong... that''s why I''m really curious about it." The pagoda master voiced calmly, but inside, he was a little angry as he thought, ''I wouldn''t understand? Just say you don''t want to explain.'' "Well, that''s understandable, if there is nothing else, I shall take my leave then." Virus uttered. "Yes yes... take care, and be very careful! It''s best if you don''t leave the pagoda." The pagoda master said. "I shall do that." Virus agreed as he stood up and walked out of the room as the pagoda master just watched him leave. . . . When he was outside, he saw that both Astes and the golden beauty were still waiting outside. The moment Astes saw Virus come out, she whispered worriedly, "So junior brother, what did master say? Did he try snatching the ring from you?" "Haha, why would he do that... He just wanted to know about the ring... and he also asked me to stay in the pagoda, just to be safe. "Eh... really? That''s weird... I thought he would at least try buying the ring from you... or fooling you somehow into giving it to him..." Confused, Astes mumbled. 161 A Gathering ________________ TECHNOLOGY EARTH Beep~ Beep~ "Hello? Elle? How are you? I miss you so much, uwu..." A voice came from the other line of the phone after a couple of beeps. "Hey Grace, I miss you more... I''ve been doing fine actually, tell me about yourself... how is your family?" Ella asked back. In the meantime, she was thinking to herself, ''How should I give my friends the lollipops without them even realizing what it is... hmm.'' Since the Legal ugly had requested her to give the lollipops to her friends without clarifying what they actually are, Ella has been thinking of a solution, but until this very moment, she wasn''t successful. "How could they be with the world soon ending and all? Everyone''s so dispirited and hopeless... sigh... I''m just very grateful they''re not losing it like some other people outside..." Grace''s disheartened response came from the other side of the line. "Well... that''s understandable..." Ella replied while thinking very hard about how to explain the matter she had truly called for. But before she could say anything, Grace talked again, "Moreover, since they heard about our neighbor''s daughter being raped by some strangers, they''ve become extremely sensitive about me leaving the house alone... so now, before I do anything, I have to report it to them first and receive their full permission..." She continued, "Sigh... I''m pretty sure I was already severely depressed with the world ending in a year... but it just had to get worse and I can''t even leave the house now... I''m literally stuck here." "Well... that''s pretty much the same as what I and the rest of our friends are going through right now... we''re all stuck inside our own houses." After listening to her friend''s complaints and grievances, feeling extremely empathetic, Ella responded. However, just after she was finished with her words, her eyes abruptly began to shine, ''Oh, that''s it... I know what to do!'' Then, she added, "Grace, we can''t continue like this... the world''s ending in a year, which means we only have a year left... so... we should live this one year to its full extent!" Listening to Ella''s words, Grace''s eyes regained a little light as she uttered, "I know what you mean... but... how should we do that?" "Grace... like you said, I think I''m getting depressed too by just staying home all the time without having anything to do! Let''s go out and have fun!" With determination, Ella expressed her intention. "Ah... where can we go at a time like this? You know most places are extremely dangerous right now..." Grace doubtfully said. "Let''s go to a night club!" Ella stated happily. "What? Elle, have you lost your mind? Did the apocalypse affect your IQ? That place''s probably the most dangerous location for us girls right now!" Grace yelled hearing Ella''s unwise suggestion. "Hehe, of course I know it''s very dangerous... I wouldn''t just randomly spout nonsense without thinking about it first..." Ella proclaimed as she continued, "However, both us and the rest of our friends really need to have some fun... and the best place for that is a nightclub." "Still... sounds pretty dangerous to me..." Grace impatiently interrupted. "Sigh... don''t interrupt me and let me finish what I''m going to say first!" A little annoyed, Ella uttered before proceeding, "Just don''t worry, all of us will be very safe there... because I have my own personal bodyguards now, hehe..." "Uh, really? You have bodyguards? How?" Filled with surprise and curiosity, Grace inquired. "Isn''t the answer to that obvious...? Because Ai hired them to protect me of course! And let me tell you, with them protecting us, I don''t think anyone would be able to harm us or pose a threat to any of us since they''re probably the strongest bodyguards in the whole world!" Ella explained with an excited tone. "Is that so?? But how do you know they''re that strong?" Full of doubt, Grace questioned. "Ah, actually, that brings us to another matter which I went through some days ago..." Ella uttered. "I''m listening... explain." Grace replied as she waited for Ella''s elaboration of the situation. "Okay... you see, some days ago... someone tried to kidnap me, and let me tell you, these people were unimaginably strong! I won''t go into details... but just let me say this, if my kidnappers had faced a hundred opponents, I believe they would''ve been easily able to deal with those hundred enemies! However, shockingly, my bodyguards were even stronger and dealt with them instead!!!" Completely sunk in her description, Ella explained with shining eyes of admiration. "Aii, Elle, you''re exaggerating this too much... how can an ordinary human deal with a hundred opponents? And easily at that? That just doesn''t make any sense... anyway, are you sure you''re okay?" Still feeling very doubtful, Grace inquired worriedly. "Hmph, Grace... am I the kind of person who would exaggerate these stuff? Forget about it... I don''t care if you don''t believe me... what matters right now is that they''re extremely powerful and we would be totally safe, so we''re all going to a nightclub!" Frustrated, Ella declared with a harrumph. In the meantime, she wondered, ''What would she have thought if I said they had superpowers? Probably assume I''ve gone crazy because of the world ending right?... Good thing I didn''t say that...'' "Aiii... Elle, you will be the death of both me and our friends... Why are insisting so much?" Feeling very troubled by her words, Grace complained. "Grace! Am I not asking this for your own sake? I just don''t wanna see you getting depressed to death by just staying at home all the time!" Ella expressed outside, however inside, she was thinking, ''Damn it grace... I need you guys to take these lollipops without asking me any questions... and the best place to do that and to gather all of us together is the nightclub...'' "Just say yes Grace... we all need this and trust me... like I said, it''s extremely safe! Furthermore, we''re all dying in a year anyway... so why does it matter?" Ella sighed as she insisted. "Sigh... alright, I trust you Elle... and like you said, the world''s ending in a year either way... so let''s just do something crazy for once at least." Finally, after being reminded the world was ending in a year, together with Ella asking her to trust her, Grace''s last line of defense was broken as she agreed. "Good!" "But... what do I say to my parents? I mean... I''m pretty positive they won''t agree If I say I''m going to a nightclub..." Grace questioned. "Just say all of your best friends are gathering at my place and that you need to be here..." Ella voiced, before continuing, "Okay, also, since you''re even better than me when it comes to convincing others, you call Faith and Mary too and notify them about our plan..." "What about Jess?" "Oh, just leave Jess to me, call them, alright?" "Sure I''ll talk to them... but, there is another problem here... you see, it would be extremely dangerous for us to leave the house alone... what do we do about this?" Feeling uneasy, Grace inquired. And listening to this, Ella felt very troubled inside as she went entirely silent. "Elle?... Elle? Are you still there?" Finally, a few seconds later, as she had successfully thought of a solution, she stated, "Don''t worry Grace! Don''t you know who''s my boyfriend? I''ll just ask my bodyguards to send some people after everyone!" "Alright... we''ll do as you say then... see you soon Elle." "Yeah, see you soon." 162 I Wonder How Shes Doing... "Well, he would''ve probably done that if..." Virus mumbled in a voice Astes didn''t hear. "Anyway, do you plan on going anywhere today? If so... please let me know, I''ll accompany you." Astes uttered. "I don''t have any plans... thanks anyway though." With a grateful smile, Virus thanked her. . . . "Here, though its quality is not as good as the ones I prepare on our own Earth, at least it is prepared with the best method of making this kind of tea, so I believe it will be good enough." Placing a cup of hot tea on the desk in front him at their own room, the golden beauty offered. Currently, the sky had already turned dark as the two were sitting in their own room gazing at the starry night sky as the golden beauty had also prepared some tea for Virus. So, putting the cup of tea on the desk, she also sat on one of the chairs in the room while starting to chitchat with her master. After a while, Virus grabbed the cup of tea as he slowly took a sip from it. Then, closing his eyes, he seemed to have been lost in the feeling and the taste his cup of tea was providing him with. "How is the tea master?" Seeing his master finally open his eyes with a nod, the golden beauty inquired. "Good! It''s far better than the one I had inside that fool''s office even though this tea''s leafs'' quality is worse than that fool''s." While savoring the fragrance of the tea, Virus stated with satisfaction. Seeing his satisfaction, the golden beauty voiced, filled with happiness, "I see, as long as master likes it, I''m happy, hehe..." After that, the room stayed quiet for some time, until finally, the silence was broken by the golden beauty''s nostalgic tone, "Master... do you think... I mean, can you guess how is the situation on our own Earth right now?" As Virus'' attention was drawn by the golden beauty''s abrupt question, he looked at her as he calmly stated while taking another sip from his good tea, "Hmm, on Earth... there should be quite a chaos right now as everyone should''ve figured out they are sick... lots of people must be going crazy..." Ella became surprised hearing his words as she inquired, "Ah, what do you mean master?" "Well, the whole population on Earth should be infected by the disease I released to the world by now so..." Virus added as he took another sip in a very relaxed manner. The golden beauty eyes jumped open as she became speechless hearing Virus'' words. Actually, what made her speechless and dumbfounded to this level was watching Virus'' paradoxical behavior. It made her really shocked watching how relaxed he seemed while his mouth had just confessed to having made the whole planet sick with some kind of disease. A while later, finally calming down, she curiously muttered, "I wonder how the CEO ugly and the other uglies are doing right now...?" "Hmm, they should be fine..." As he was reminded one the four uglies, it made Virus unconsciously think of Ella, ''I wonder how she''s doing right now...'' And, thinking about her made him have different mixed feelings as he began to deeply ponder about something. "Okay, it''s late, I should rest now... there''s a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Finally, coming out of his deep thoughts, he proclaimed while yawning. "Alright, Night night master, sleep comfortably without any worries, I''ll keep watch throughout the whole night." The golden beauty uttered with a tender smile plastered on her face. . . . An hour passed and it was now the middle of the night. At this moment, the golden beauty too was lying beside her master as she was watching her master''s sleeping face quietly. After a while, she too decided to close her eyes in order to pretend to be sleep beside her master''s sleeping body. . . . Hours passed like that as she kept her eyes closed when suddenly, a small creaking sound was heard from the window. Anyone else hearing this creaking sound would''ve assumed it was the sound of the wind blowing against the window as it made some noise. However, that didn''t apply to the golden beauty who was completely conscious. The moment she heard that noise, she began to analyze the voice while keeping her eyes closed. And soon, she arrived at the conclusion that the window was opened in a professional manner. And this made her very alarmed as she tried to detect the person who had entered the room while keeping her eyes closed. She kept her eyes closed because she knew her enemy was assuming she was sleep and this assumption would be helpful in ambushing that enemy. A while passed but she still couldn''t detect the enemy and this made her quite anxious as she was about to open her eyes and alarm her master with the fastest speed she could. However, before she could do that, she was finally able to detect her enemy as she spotted an old lady suddenly appear and stand beside her still sleeping master silently. On the right hand of that old lady seemed to be a dagger as she stared at Virus with a horrifying smirk on her face as if she was staring at the most delicious prey in the world. Finally, that old lady raised her dagger as she slashed it toward Virus'' sleep body. Then, in an instant, the sword was almost upon Virus'' sleeping body, when abruptly, a long sword surrounded with arcs of electricity appeared on the path of the blade, successfully blocking it. Chirrrp~ Clink~ The moment the noise of two metals colliding against each other resounded inside the room, Virus'' eyes jumped wide open as he spotted a blade and a long sword colliding against each other just above his face. "Oh... What an interesting sword... is the electricity because of your technique or the sword itself... hmmm..." "Her her, anyway, I didn''t expect his servant to be this powerful... I''m very impressed about how alert you are young lady..." The old lady grinned evilly as her toothless mouth was displayed in front of the golden beauty''s eyes. "How dare you to try to hurt master! You... must... die!" The golden beauty though seemed to be very enraged as she stared at the person in front of her with an extremely cold expression as she uttered with an icy tone. "Her her her, now-now, even though I admit you''re strong as you were able to block my first attack... but that''s just because I''ve been attacking rather half-heartedly... so don''t get over your head just because I praised you a little, her her her..." With a burst of creepy laughter, the old lady proclaimed. However, without paying any attention to her words, the golden beauty hacked toward the old lady with the fastest speed she could with her sword which was currently covered with electricity. Chirrrrrp~ Clink~ "Her her her, unfortunately for you, you''re not my opponent at the moment, young lady." mumbling this, the old lady raised her dagger as she easily deflected the long sword. After that, without stopping at all, the golden beauty attacked again as she tried slashing to an opening on the left side of the old lady. Clink~ However, once again, her attack ended in a failure as the old lady easily defended again. Chirrrp~ Clink~ Bam~ Clink~ CLINK~ Chirrrrp~ Afterward, a chain of noises as a result of the two weapons colliding against each other resounded inside the room, as a chain of sparks and electricity was produced here and there, either because of the two weapons connecting to each other or because of the golden beauty''s long sword emitting electricity from itself. 163 Overdid i "Her her her, still not giving up?" While their weapons continued to clash, the old lady uttered with her creepy laugh. After she was done with her words, suddenly, the Qi which was emitting from her body seemed to intensify and then, she kicked at the golden beauty''s chest who was sent flying toward the table, thus breaking it into pieces. Then, not even two second''s had passed when the golden beauty stood up and glared at the old lady while gritting her teeth. "Strange... your movement speed is so fast... but why can I not feel any Qi emitting from your body..." The old lady murmured looking at the angered golden beauty. "Is it some kind of concealing technique? Hmm, it seems I need to capture you alive too... if I''m able to learn that technique, I would be able to assassinate those enemies of mine before they even come to be aware of my existence around them.... her her her." Promptly, her eyes began to shine brightly as she voiced. In the meantime, Virus was silently watching the two fight as he thought, ''Hmm, even though the sound of their clashes are rather loud, it seems the room is kinda soundproof, thus making the noise unable to travel past the walls... huh, so unless I open the door, no one will realize what''s going on here...'' However, he didn''t even try to open the door at all as he continued to stand still without trying to aid the golden beauty in the least. After the old lady was convinced that the golden beauty also had some secrets on her body, she decided to take her with herself too, "You''re definitely coming with me too..." Listening to her words, the golden beauty just stared at her coldly as she began to analyze the old lady''s attacks and movements as she started to calculate all kinds of attacks that might be effective against her. Then, as the golden beauty dashed at her with her fastest speed, another chain of attacks began. Clink~ Chiiirrp~ Clink~ Clink~ The old lady''s eyes jumped open in surprise as she hurriedly used even more of her strength, ''What''s going on? How could her way of attacking change altogether? It''s like I''m fighting another person entirely...'' ''If I hadn''t used more of my Qi just now... I''m sure I would''ve been injured.'' ''I need to finish this fast before anyone realizes I''m here.'' "It seems I won''t be able to take you two away easily..." It was at this moment that she made a decision to end things quickly, so she uttered before continuing, "So... don''t blame me for being ruthless." And the moment these words came out of her mouth, she was suddenly upon the golden beauty as she stabbed at her chest with her dagger. The golden beauty instantly felt the dagger speeding toward her chest and knew she couldn''t dodge it, so increasing the speed of her empty hand, she tried her best to grab the old lady''s hand which held the dagger in it. Penetrated~ However, unfortunately, she failed as the dagger penetrated deep into her chest. Virus'' eyes turned extremely sharp seeing her stabbed right beside the heart area as his brows came together and a frown appeared on his face. He knew if it was a normal person who was attacked like that, even if that person didn''t die, at least, he or she would be mortally injured. In the meantime, keeping her dagger inside her chest, the old lady mumbled, "Sigh... see, you should have just followed me without making this kind of scene... now it''s too late... and..." She was still talking when the frozen golden beauty suddenly lifted her sword and pierced it toward the old lady with the fastest speed she could. The old lady was shocked silly seeing her ignore the injury and attack like she wasn''t injured at all to begin with. So, knowing there was no time for dilly-dallying and hesitation, she utilized all of her Qi to dodge the incoming sword''s piercing attack. Glish~ . . . However, as the distance between the two was too short, the sword instantly pierced deep into the old lady''s body for a moment before she retreated in a hurry. Haah~ Huh~ Haah~ Huh~ After retreating, as blood began to flow out of her body on the floor, she stared at the golden beauty with some fear apparent inside her eyes, as she thought, ''If I was a little late in retreating just now... that sword... would''ve pierced my heart... that was truly a close call...'' Even though the attack pierced right beside her heart, it didn''t hit it and thus, her heart was totally unharmed, so the current injury on her body could almost be considered just a normal injury as a result of the toothless old lady''s high level of cultivation. After that, she forced her Qi to gather in the place where blood was flowing out, which made her bleeding stop instantly. And now that the bleeding had stopped, her temporary feeling of fear vanished completely only to be replaced by an intense feeling of wrath. "You did it now!!!" Uttering this in a rather loud voice, she tried charging at her. However, to her absolute shock, she realized that her body was feeling extremely numb at the moment as it was making it very difficult for her to move now, so as a result, her speed was a lot slower than before. ''Urghhh... how could this happen...'' Then, as she thought about it deeply, she remembered, ''The lightning arcs...'' "You... a youngster junior forcing me to this extent... absolutely humiliating!!!" Gritting her teeth in extreme anger, the old lady''s expression began to distort as it changed into a very savage one. Then, no longer even trying to control her killing intent or Qi in any way, she released it all as she forcefully suppressed the numbness all over her body with her storming Qi. Immediately afterward, she appeared in front of the golden beauty and continuously stabbed right into the heart area on her body. Stab~ Stab~ Stab~ Stab~ Stab~ Stab~ Then, after she was done stabbing her, she kicked the golden beauty''s body with all her might. Bang~ Being kicked with that much brute force, the golden beauty was obviously instantly sent flying toward one of the walls inside the room as the wall she connected to exploded into many pieces. However, it didn''t end with that as her body continued to fly back into the room next door through the broken wall. Finally, at last, when her body hit the other wall of the room next door, the force the old lady had put behind her kick ended as the golden beauty dropped on the floor. . . . Looking at the golden beauty''s unmoving body, the old lady who had vented all her anger by now uttered, "Oh no...I overdid it... I might''ve revealed my presence now... What a pity... aiii... I was really interested in her hidden secrets... but now... she''s dead and useless." Then, forgetting about her entirely, looking at Virus, she declared with a chilly voice, "As someone might''ve noticed the noise by now... I don''t have any more time to spare for you... so... either follow me willingly or... die." 164 A Tease Then walking in front of Virus, one step away from him, she stopped and voiced with an expressionless feature, "Decide! Are you coming willingly or do you choose... death?!" Listening to her question, Virus looked straightly into the old lady''s eyes and stated with a cold face, "Neither." After that, without adding anything more, he connected to his ring as he sent his direct command to it. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' An instant later, the ring on his finger divided into four black dots and covered his arms and legs by changing into pitch-black scales. Seeing this, the old lady''s entire attention was drawn to the transformation taking place in front of her, as she started to mumble with a creepy smirk that didn''t reveal exactly which emotion of hers she was trying to display, "Is that so? Then let me take your dead body with..." Penetrated~ However, before she could finish her words, the blade of a sword suddenly appeared from her heart area as it began to drip with blood! In the meantime, Virus just continued to stare into the old lady''s eyes which had jumped open in surprise and confusion as her voice was interrupted and cut off. Then, slowly lowering her head, she looked at her own chest which had a sword tip covered with electricity sticking out of it, as she began to mutter terrified, "Huh...? What''s..." Pfft~ However, before she could finish her words, she coughed a mouthful of blood. Afterward, putting a lot of effort into turning her head around, she looked back like she wanted to make sure and cast away the doubt she had about the identity of the owner of the sword. And then, she began to talk with extreme difficulty, "But... how...?! She should be dead... I''m... sure... she... was... dead... how... pfft... why...?!?" To her absolute shock, she witnessed the golden beauty standing behind her with an icy expression while holding her long sword with her two hands. In the meantime, an evil grin appeared on Virus'' face as he stated, "Well... since she turned the artificial sound of her non-existent heart off, you would truly assume she had died, right?" Listening to Virus'' clarification, with even a greater level of confusion than before, she took her last breath as she fell on the floor and lay there unmoving and motionless with her eyes wide open. Looking at her open eyes, Virus added, "So... even you can''t survive a direct hit to your heart, huh?" Then, no longer paying her further attention, he looked at the golden beauty with a broad smile and uttered, "Good job lil Belle, you did great!" "Hehe... thanks master, but it was only possible because of your help... since you distracted her with your ring''s transformation." The golden beauty replied with a cute laugh. "Okay, now, first, let''s incinerate her body with the Incinerator before anyone else arrives." Virus stated. Listening to her master, Ella took the Incinerator out of her bag by the side and pressed a button on it. Then, a blue scanning light appeared from that object for a moment before disappearing entirely. And soon, the old lady''s body and every drop of blood began to disintegrate on the molecular level, however, unlike the previous times, this disintegration process took longer. Afterward, around one minute passed when finally no trace of the old lady had remained. By now, Virus was sitting comfortably on a chair inside the room with a new set of clothes as he pondered, ''Another set of clothes ruined just like that...'' "Master, thanks for not interfering personally while I was dealing with that disgusting old lady." Finally, as she was finished doing what her master had told her to do, coming beside him, she uttered. "Well... first of all, I did that because I wanted you to gain more real-life experience while fighting... and secondly, I believed you can deal with her by yourself, so I decided to control myself and let you get your revenge with your own hands." Virus replied with a relaxed smile. Listening to her master''s words, uncontrollably, a sweet feeling rose from her heart as she mumbled with a soft voice, "Thank you..." Bang~ Finally, it was at this moment when the door to their room was forcefully opened with a loud bang as someone rushed inside in a hurry. Then, looking around and spotting the destroyed wall on one side of the room, he hurriedly checked how Virus'' condition was and making sure he was just fine, that person heaved a sigh of relief as he stated, "So something was truly happening... Are you okay, Vee? What happened?" "I''m fine... why did it take you so long to come?" Then, he questioned with a frown. "It''s good as long as you''re fine... sigh, you see, I thought I heard a muffled sound... but I was suspicious if it was from inside my pagoda at all or if it was just one of the disciples accidentally making a noise... however, in the end, I decided to check just in case." The pagoda master responded. "I see..." Replied Virus with an expressionless face, making it impossible to decipher what exactly was going on inside his head currently. Unable to understand anything from his face, the elder inquired again, "Now, tell me what happened... who did this?" "Someone wearing a mask intruded into our room and tried kidnapping me... however, with lil Belle protecting me and I defending myself, that person was forced to flee in the end after a loud noise was made." Virus explained. Listening to his description of the situation, the elder appeared to be really angry as he yelled, "Outrageous!!! Who! Who dares to kidnap my disciple inside my own pagoda! Which impudent bastard was it??!" Soon though, he seemed to have forced himself to calm down as he looked at Virus and asked, "Did you see anything that might help in identifying the other person?" "Unfortunately... no..." Was Virus'' casual response. "Okay... I gotta report this to the main pagoda. You two can relocate and rest in the room next door... here, take the key." Throwing a key at Virus, the pagoda master stated before disappearing. Seeing the pagoda master gone, Virus looked at the broken door and voiced, "Let''s go." . . . After they relocated to another empty room, the golden beauty who was holding back until now questioned, "Master... why did you say she was wearing a mask and that we didn''t see her face?" "Easy... first, that elder would go missing from now on, so they might suspect we killed her if I said who it was... and by any chance, if they came to realize that we had truly killed an elder, they will try punishing us harshly... so in order to buy ourselves more time and to severe any kind of connection they might draw between us and that elder''s death or going missing... I simply said we didn''t see anything." Virus elaborated. "But, master... what if there is someone else who knows about that disgusting oldie''s kidnap attempt and reports it to the sect saying the last thing she did before going missing was to try to kidnap us?" The golden beauty inquired. "Good question... however, don''t worry, since that won''t happen... because even if there is someone who knows about it all, most likely, that person wouldn''t open his or her mouth... because in that case, that person would be confessing to his own crime of being involved in all of this... and let''s say, even if that person''s authority is above all and thus, totally unafraid of everyone inside the sect, he would still keep his mouth shut just to not lose face... since they care about that a lot here." "I see." . . . A few hours later, A greatly worried Astes came knocking on the door too after she had heard about what happened from her master. "Are you okay, junior brother?" She inquired with a lot of anxiety clear in her tone. "Uhhh... apprentice-sister seems so worried about me... could it be...?" Deciding to tease her a little, Virus queried with a concealed evil grin. Listening to his words, Astes'' face seemed to blush a little as she thought, ''Why am I so worried about him...?'', then she spoke with a flustered tone, "Who''s worried about you! I''m worried about my junior brother... not you!" "Haha... but aren''t your junior brother and I one and the same?" Virus continued the tease. "You know what I mean! I meant I''m not interested in you as a man!" Even more flustered and almost in a yelling voice, she uttered. "Eh... when did I say you''re interested in me as a man... wait, could it be that you''re...?!" With even more surprise apparent in his voice and eyes, Virus added. 165 The Winner After that, no longer able to tolerate the tease, Astes uttered, "It''s good as long as you''re fine." And then, turning around, she rushed out of the room as if she was running away from something. "Haha, this girl..." Seeing her manner of rushing out, Virus couldn''t help but let out an amused chuckle. . . . A few hours later, the Martial Contest was about to begin, so Virus and the golden beauty decided to walk there. . . . Arriving at the Colosseum''s spectator area, the two looked around when the golden beauty voiced in surprise, "Oh master, look... the Colosseum is almost full of people... uhh, the elders'' area is filled with elders too!" "Yep... well, today, the most powerful disciples of the Superior section will be joining the match, so it''s obvious a lot of disciples and elders will gather... to be more clear, it could be said that the real contest begins today." Virus uttered looking at the scene in front of him. "Let''s begin the Martial... contest!" Out of nowhere, the elder appeared in the middle of the Colosseum as he declared, then, he continued, "The first match of the day will be between Howar and Grindy!" Soon, two disciples, a male and a female, exited the dark tunnel of the Colosseum as they walked to the middle of the Colosseum where each of them stood on one side of the judge elder. "Howar, you know the rules right? You can''t kill." Then, as if the elder was worried about Howar''s opponent, he stated. "Hehe, don''t worry... I''m not interested in her..." Howar voiced and then mumbled to himself, "My target is someone else." "Okay then, begin!" The moment the match started, Howar seemed to disappear from his previous place as he appeared in front of his opponent and then, with a very disinterested expression, he directly punched the girl in the stomach, sending her flying in a direction. And just like that, his opponent Grindy who already had a bone or two broken inside her body could no longer move as she had fainted due to pain coursing throughout her body. Seeing this scene, those who hadn''t seen Howar fight before began talking among themselves, "So ruthless..." "How can he punch a girl like that..." While those who knew him, especially those spectators from the Superior section also began voicing words like, "Howar''s just as cruel as I expected... and the surprising thing is that this is him going easy on his opponent." "Yeah... he''s a merciless bastard." . . . After that fight, the contest continued and one match after another was fought as one winner after another emerged from each match. "The next match will be between Vee and Hilka, please walk to the Colosseum." The judge elder announced. By now, Virus had long gone to his waiting room as he was waiting to be called, and hearing himself finally called, he began to get naked in front of the golden beauty as he placed all of his clothes inside a bag. Then, after his clothes were placed inside the bag, he took out a sleeveless shirt and an underwear which the golden beauty had prepared the previous night by cutting the sleeves of his shirt and shortening his pants'' legs. So, checking them once, he began wearing them. And after he was done wearing them, Virus walked in front of the golden beauty and uttered, "You can go and watch my match from the spectator area." As he was uttering these words, he connected to his ring and send a direct command. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' Instantly, in front of her, pitch-black scales covered his arms and legs while the empty spaces between the scales were covered with blue liquid-like lights. The golden beauty who could see it in slow motion saw exactly how the transformation occurred as she first witnessed her master''s arms and legs become covered in blue liquid-like light all over before pitch-black scales began to grow out of them. When his transformation was complete, Virus was also finished with his words as he walked out of the waiting room and began to walk inside the dark tunnel. In the meantime, the golden beauty stood there frozen for a long time before she finally opened her mouth as she muttered while pouting with a face which was red all over, "Hmph... how can he get naked like that in front of a lady! It''s true I''ve seen him naked before... but... hmph!" After she was done with her words, she ran toward the spectator area as if she was running away from something. . . . Facing his opponent and watching her moves for a while, Virus realized this girl in front of her who seemed to be from the Superior section was surprisingly only as strong as Hadelia. So, without much difficulty, he finally appeared behind her as he chopped at her neck, sending her unconscious in front of everyone. In the meantime, almost all of the new people present were shocked and astonished as they watched the whole scene of Virus walking out of the dark tunnel covered in scales while he also moved with an extremely quick speed only to instantly defeat his opponent easily. Afterward, they began to ponder or utter along the lines of, "What are those scales..." ''He seems to have no cultivation...'' "How can he even move so fast like that." Listening to the new people, the old spectators'' eyes seemed to shine with a light of wisdom as they began to elaborate on the events of the previous day patiently. Listening to them, a lot of different emotions like shock, astonishment, greed, admiration, fear, fascination, etc. Started to show on the face of the new spectators which included both the elders and the disciples. After his match, Virus walked back to his waiting room but much to his surprise, he saw that he couldn''t find the golden beauty in the waiting area, ''Hmm... why isn''t lil Belle here?'' Then, directly connecting to his almost endless memories, he began to search for the location the golden beauty was sitting at in the spectator area previously. Even though he hadn''t paid any specific attention to the spectator area while he was fighting, he could still remember every single person as clear as the day since his line of sight had passed through every direction at least once. So, going through a particular memory related to the Colosseum, he instantly spotted the location at which the golden beauty was sitting, as he began to walk toward that direction. . . . "Eh, why didn''t you come to the waiting area like the previous times... did something happen?" Arriving before the golden beauty, Virus questioned. ''Because I was afraid you might get naked again... in front of me. Actually, I''m sure you would''ve done that.'' However, even though this thought passed through her head, her actual reply was different as she uttered with a smile, "No particular reason, just decided to wait for you here since I knew master would find me easily." Listening to her response, Virus seemed to be unconvinced, however, he decided on not thinking deeply about it as he nodded his head and sat beside her while uttering, "I see." Simultaneously, in another area in the Superior section, a different kind of judge elder announced, "The winner of the Alchemy Contest is hereby... Astes! Congratulations junior Astes..." 166 No, Thats Impossible "Thank you elder..." Astes voiced happily while taking a glance at the judge elder. However, after that, looking around herself, she saw that there were already very few people gathered and remaining. Because, since almost everyone had already anticipated her victory, they had all gone to watch the Martial Contest which was much more exciting. "Now, you just need to wait for the results of the Martial Contest to gain access to the main treasury of the sect together with its champion..." The judge elder further explained. "This junior shall do that, thank you, elder." She replied as she also began to leave toward the Martial Contest''s area. . . . In the meantime, Virus and the golden beauty were watching a match that was about to start between Tinsel and someone else called Rossefin. "Tinsel... it''s your boss who has a slight chance against me... not you...so why don''t you do yourself a favor and admit defeat. This way, you won''t be wasting our precious time either." As the two stood facing each other, Rossefin stated. "That might be true... however, I won''t give up." With determination coursing through her eyes, Tinsel uttered, while at the same time, she thought, ''I truly have no chance of winning against you... however, I will do everything I can to tire you out so senior brother would have an easier time fighting you!'' "Start!" At this moment, the judge elder finally opened his mouth as the match began in front of everyone. "Sigh... I see, then let''s dance." Rossefin muttered as she charged at Tinsel with extremely fast speed while she held a whip in her right hand. Then, when she was beside her, she tried whipping Tinsel, however, Tinsel was able to dodge it easily as she voiced, "Even though I might be unable to win against you... but that''s when you''re serious... if you wanna continue fighting like this... I might as well have a chance of winning this match." "Hehe... okay, I''ll get more serious then." Letting a short laugh out, the look inside Rossefin''s eyes seemed to turn more serious as she voiced, "Slavery Whipping Technique ¨C Direct Lashing!" At the same time, the whip in her hand appeared to have abruptly turned entirely straight as it hacked at Tinsel as if a long sword was hacking at an opponent. Seeing her finally turn a little more serious, Tinsel who never had any intentions of facing her attacks directly opened her mouth, "Wrathful Human Charge!" At the same time, her movement suddenly turned strange as she dodged Rossefin''s attack with a little difficulty. "Huh... now I see what''s going on here... so you''re trying to tire me out by forcing me to keep using my Qi!" Watching her dodge without even trying to counterattack in the least, Rossefin was easily able to see through Tinsel''s intentions. "You might have understood my intentions... but what difference does that make... also... I''m aware your weakness is when you go against women! So this won''t be as easy as you believe! Now... bring it on!" Tinsel voiced, trying her best to provoke her so she would be more impatient. "Hahaha..." Listening to Tinsel, Rossefin laughed for a while before continuing, "That''s true... I''m a lot weaker when I go against women. However! That doesn''t make a difference because even if I''m weaker, it''s still enough to deal with you!" "Now... go down for me!" Uttering this in a louder voice, a tinge of annoyance passed through Rossefin''s eyes as she mumbled, "Slavery Whipping Technique ¨C Hundred Snakes!" At the same time, she lashed at Tinsel with all her might, and astonishingly, the next moment, the whip seemed to generate afterimages because even from far away, it seemed like instead of only one whip, tens of whips were charging at her. Witnessing this, Tinsel knew she was entirely serious now, so she mumbled again, "Wrathful Human Charge!" And at the same time, she began to move out of the way in order to dodge the incoming attack. However, abruptly, an evil grin seemed to appear on Rossefin''s face as she stopped her attack and aimed once again at the escaping Tinsel and mumbled, "Slavery Whipping Technique ¨C Hundred Snakes!" Whip~ Whip~ Whip~ ... "Ahhhh..." Instantly, the whip seemed to connect to Tinsel''s body tens of times as she fell on the ground screaming while all over her body began to bleed. Looking at the screaming Tinsel, Rossefin''s grin seemed to grow even wider as she stated, "You lose!" Listening to her words, Tinsel who was very much in pain wondered, ''Nooo... I think I failed... I don''t believe even ten percent of her Qi was used up against me... senior brother... sorry...'' In the meantime, a certain someone who was watching the whole scene from the spectators'' area muttered in annoyance, "Tch... useless bitch." And then, he no longer paid her any further attention. Watching everything happen in front of their eyes, the other disciples mostly proclaimed words like, "The result of this match couldn''t be more obvious..." "Uh... that idiot Tinsel... why would he even try going against senior sister Rossefin..." "What a waste of our precious time." "She deserves it... she should''ve gone through even more pain! How dare she go against my Goddess!" . . . Afterward, the matches continued as Virus faced two more opponents, both of whom, were superior disciples. However, even though he faced a little difficulty while dealing with his second opponent because of him being extremely fast and his cultivation level being even higher than the previous ones he faced, in the end, it wasn''t enough to match Virus as he successfully dealt with him. "Damn! He defeated senior brother Logger too! He''s the eighth ranker in the Superior Disciples'' Ranking for heaven''s sake!" "Just who is he... how can such a dark horse even exist!" "Wait... doesn''t that mean he''s now..." After defeating his first opponent, to everyone''s amazement, he had successfully entered the top sixteen! And with successfully defeating his second opponent which he faced with some difficulty, he ascended to the top eight! Witnessing the mortal without any kind of cultivation ascending into the top eight list, everyone''s expressions could only be imagined. "Just what the fuck! How can a mortal who doesn''t even deserve to go against an Inferior disciple''s now in the top eight! This doesn''t make any sense!" Virus'' master also thought, ''He''s now in the top eight... I wonder what''s his background... but now, even more of those greedy eyes will be focused on him... in fact, the higher he ascends, the greedier others will feel.'' Another elder thought, ''Why didn''t elder Murray come back last night? Did something happen? Did she stop the plan and went outside the sect for some reason?'' Thinking along these lines while staring at Virus who had just defeated his opponent, he continued, ''Or could it be that... he...'' However, he stopped that line of thought as he shook his head continuously and muttered, "No, that''s impossible..." Today, there was another person present too who was sitting higher than every other elder in a special seat. This person was an extremely old person with a very long white beard and a bald head. Others in the sect mostly called this person... the Sun Elder! 167 A Secure Line Witnessing the way by which Virus defeated his opponent, lots of different and mixed emotions which was accompanied by different thoughts passed through the Sun elder''s mind. However, his expression didn''t change in the least as it remained like he was currently looking at nothing. . . . Coming back to the waiting area, Virus took a look in order to see who his next two opponents were going to be. And, after checking the list, he realized that he recognized one of the names, as a rather amused look appeared in his eyes as he pondered, ''I wonder if he''s found something that would entertain me forever...haha.'' ___________ TECHNOLOGY EARTH The CEO ugly who''s been very busy these past few days was currently sitting in his own office while reading some papers about the new vehicles they were getting ready to produce and release soon. However, since the news of the pandemic disease was released to the world, lots of employees had resigned from their posts, wanting to spend their remaining one year with their loved ones or for entirely other reasons. And because of that, the company was facing a few problems because of the lack of workers at various sections of the Virus company from the factory to the main company itself. As a result of these kinds of problems, the CEO ugly knew the plan of releasing the next generation of the variety of vehicles would take longer than anticipated. So, as he was sitting in his office reading those reports related to the various problems the company was facing at this moment, he began to ponder very hard in order to think of a solution. ''Sigh... only if we could just use the worker robots... we wouldn''t need humans at all.'' ''This makes me wonder... that if master allows everyone to die because of the mutated HIV without releasing the cure, won''t we have the whole Earth for ourselves? Then we would be able to develop it however we want without any kind of interference or problems we would otherwise face in the near future...'' ''However, seeing how much master''s obsessed with entertainment and boredom... I''m pretty sure he won''t let that happen... because even I admit... living on a planet without any inhabitants would be rather boring and monotonous...'' ''Aiii... let''s stop daydreaming about this as I can neither use the worker robots at this moment nor will master let the whole planet just die... hmm, how should I solve this problem?'' As he came back to the topic of finding a solution, the phone on his table began to ring as his secretary notified him that one of the managers was here to have a word with him. "Let him in." As he accepted to meet with him, someone entered the office after knocking twice, "Good afternoon, CEO Greg. How do you do?" "I''m fine, thank you, what brings you here, manager Kramer?" The CEO ugly voiced. "Sorry to bother you, sir... it''s in regards to the problem of lack of employees... just now, I was notified that one of our factories has stopped function altogether because of this problem... what should we do?" With obvious worry apparent in his tone, the other person inquired. "I was also just thinking about that... do you have a suggestion for the solution yourself, manager Kramer?" Wanting to see what the other person''s thinking, a little curious, the CEO ugly queried. "Hmm... CEO Greg... to be honest... the only solution I can think of is to offer more money so the employees would be tempted to come back." Replied the manager. Not even considering his suggestion for a second, shaking his head, the CEO ugly voiced, "I''ve long thought about that, however, I don''t think they''ll be tempted by that anymore with the world ending and all as they''ve long lost hope..." "Aiii... that''s true... losing hope is a frightening thing... if you lose that, then you''re just a walking dead, I honestly still have some hope that a cure will be found before our time ends and just like that, everything will be back to how it was before... honestly, that''s why I''m still trying my best for this job." The manager voiced with a hopeful smile plastered on his face, however, a sad light also seemed to pass through his eyes for a moment. However, listening to the manager''s words, the CEO ugly''s eyes seemed to shine as he muttered, "Hope..." Pausing for a short moment, he continued, "That''s right... only hope can be the solution now." "CEO Greg?" Listening to his confusing words, baffled, the manager inquired. Ring~ Ring~ Ring~ "Oh... nothing, I''ll think of a solution soon, you go back to work for now." Dismissing him, the CEO ugly picked the phone just to hear his secretary''s shocked voice on the other line, "Oh my God... Mr. CEO, currently, the President''s office is on the other side of the line requesting for a talk with you... he says it''s an emergency and he has to talk to you no matter what... what should I do?" "The President? Hehe, so they''re finally done studying the blueprint... that took much longer than I expected..." Mumbling this, the CEO ugly ordered, "Connect the line." "Yes, I shall promptly do that." . . . "Mr. President, the line has been connected." One of the two people sitting beside the President stated. "Alright..." Nodding, he picked up the telephone as he uttered, "Hello, Mr. Greg. Thank you for giving me some of your time." . . . Listening to the voice coming from the other line of the call, the CEO ugly thought, ''He''s behaving very politely and I feel respect in his tone...'' "Hello, Mr. President... you''re too polite... I''m honestly speechless because I never thought I would one day receive a direct call from the President of the United States himself! This is such a great honor! What can I do for you?" Feigning honor, the CEO ugly proclaimed. "Haha, you''re exaggerating too much Mr. Greg... it''s actually me who''s feeling very honored right now." Speaking until here, the President abruptly stopped talking for a short moment, before continuing, "Actually... you should be already aware of the reason behind my call yourself Mr. Greg... so I won''t be beating around the bush unnecessarily." "Let me be very direct here Mr. Greg... so here''s the thing... can you really create and produce that blueprint you sent us before?" With clear hope showing in his tone, the President jumped right to the topic. Seeing how direct he was, a rather wide grin found its way on the CEO ugly''s face as he thought, ''He''s so impatient.'' Then, after not talking for some time, which in return increased the President''s impatience, he finally opened his mouth, "Aii, Mr. President, shouldn''t we discuss matters like this in person... you know how telephones are... and someone might be listening to us right now..." Hearing his reply, the President''s eyes began to shine as this almost confirmed that they could truly make it, so just to make sure by a hundred percent, he added, "This is a completely secure line Mr. Greg... so please be completely at ease and just give me a clear confirmation that you can really make it... if you and your company are truly capable of producing it... we will hold a secret meeting together at once!" ''Secure line my ass! I can easily listen to it whenever I want and I know others who can do the exact same thing... and you call it a secure line.'' However, on the outside, he stated, "Is that so? So it''s a secure line... that makes me relieved then. Now, about the matter of that blueprint... let me reply by saying that... yes, we are a hundred percent capable of producing it." 168 Fairness After Death "Perfect! That''s all I wanted to hear... alright, let''s arrange a secret meeting at once! I will fly to New York right now." With an excited tone, the President voiced. "Sure Mr. President, where shall we meet then?" The CEO ugly inquired. "Hmmm... There is a secure location owned by the government there in New York... we will meet there if there are no issues from your part. How is it?" He politely offered after some consideration. "Okay, we will meet there. Notify me of the location when you''re in New York and I''ll be there." The CEO ugly further said. However, shaking his head on the other line of the call, the President uttered, "No need for you to come personally, I''ll send some cars to pick you up and escort you there." "Okay. See you soon, Mr. President." Agreeing, the CEO ugly hung up. __________ "Miss, do you need anything?" The Legal ugly questioned. As the two uglies were keeping watch outside Ella''s house in the shadows, the legal ugly had received a call from Ella who requested a meeting. And so, right now the Legal ugly was sitting on the couch as he inquired about why she had called him. "Do you remember how you told me that it would be better if I didn''t tell my parents and friends about the mutated HIV cure?" Ella asked. "Yes, what about it, miss?" "So, I found a way to let my friends eat the lollipops without making them suspicious..." Ella paused as she gazed at the Legal ugly, wanting to see how he would respond. "I''m listening, miss... please tell me how I can be of any help." The Legal ugly uttered. "Easy, I want to take them to a nightclub and give them the lollipops there... this is both because my friends need to blow off some steam and more importantly because of the lollipops." Ella stated before continuing again, "However, as you''re already aware of the state of this planet, that''s going to be very dangerous... and that''s why we need your protection." Listening to her words, the Legal ugly sank into thought as his head was lowered and faced the ground, however, soon, once again looking into Ella''s eyes, he uttered, "Alright, we will protect you with our lives... when are we going?" "Yay!" Very happily, Ella abruptly jumped from the couch she was sitting on and exclaimed in excitement. Afterward, calming down, she spoke, "We''re going tonight!" "Okay, then we will wait outside until the time arrives." Standing up, the Legal ugly was about to leave, however, Ella suddenly seemed to remember something, "Oh, wait." "What is it, miss?" Stopping in his tracks, the Legal ugly queried. "I forgot about something... can you do me a favor and send people to pick up my friends... since you know... it''s very dangerous outside and I''m really worried about them." With a flash of worry passing through her eyes, Ella said. "That''s easy, send me their address and names." "Hehe, thanks, Legal bro." With a sweet smile, Ella addressed. Hearing how she called him, the Legal ugly froze in his place for a moment, before turning around as he asked monotonously while looking in her eyes, "What did you say?" "Hmm, thanks?" Confused, Ella repeated. "No, after that..." Shaking his head, he asked. "Hmmm... Oh... you mean Legal bro!" Finally realizing what he meant, Ella opened her mouth and explained, "You know... you said I can call you guys the Security ugly and the Legal ugly... but, I think that''s too inappropriate... and since you guys saved my life before, I''ve decided to call you the Legal bro and the Security bro... unless... hmm... could it be that you don''t like it?" Ella asked with a questioning look appearing on her face. "No, I like it very much. Thank you miss..." Still as emotionless as before, the Legal ugly uttered as he turned around and began to walk toward the door of the house. However, shockingly, after he had turned around, a rather distinct smile found its way on his face, albeit very shortly. . . . After walking out of the house, the Legal ugly''s phone began to ring. So, seeing it was the CEO ugly, he accepted the call as he answered, "What''s going on?" "Hey, I just received a call from the President himself, he''s asking for a meeting... and I''m gonna need your help for making some modifications to the contract... come quickly." The CEO ugly stated. "..." Staying silent for a short period of time, the Legal ugly stated, "I don''t think I can make it." "And why is that? Did something happen on your side? Is master''s woman in danger? Should I come?" Listening to the Legal ugly''s words, the CEO ugly questioned with a worried tone apparent in his voice. "No, it''s nothing like that... it''s just that... Miss wants to go out to a nightclub with a few friends and we need to ensure her safety." He replied. "I see, if it''s nothing serious... just come, the Security ugly would be able to keep her safe... and just in case, tell him to call us if something unexpected happens and we will storm there at once. Anyway, come quickly... this meeting is very important for us." The CEO ugly added. Listening to him, the Legal ugly had some hesitations inside himself, however, in the end, his dilemma was gone as he replied, "Okay, I''ll be there after I talk to the Security ugly." . . . A few hours later, at the airport of New York, the President of the United States arrived without alerting anyone. There, lines after lines of black cars and men from the secret service were already waiting for him in order to escort him safely to the location of the secret meeting. So, boarding off the private plane, the President walked toward the main car which was specially prepared for him. After he was inside the car, looking at the person beside him, he ordered, "Send a few of our men to escort the CEO of the Virus Industries to the location of the meeting..." "Yes, sir." . . . "Take a look, I''ve added the thing you wanted me to..." Giving the CEO ugly some papers, the Legal ugly stated. It''s been almost an hour since the Legal ugly had returned to the headquarters and since then, as he was requested, he had made some changes to the contract as he had added something new to it. "Okay, thanks, I was just notified that the escort will be arriving in five minutes. Let''s go." Taking the contract, the CEO ugly uttered. . . . Exactly five minutes later, to the surprise of the passers-by, abruptly, in front of 4 Times Square, row upon rows of black cars were parked as if they were waiting for someone very special. "What''s going on? Why are those cars lined up in front of the Virus company''s building?" A passer-by asked his friend. "No idea dude... but don''t you think that line-up and those black cars are just like the escorts of the President himself?" His friend replied. "Now that you mention it..." "Well... none of these matters anyway... we''re all gonna die the same way soon... So it doesn''t matter if you''re rich or poor... Because in a year... we''re all gonna be dead without exception." "Yep, you''re right buddy... let them have fun because death is coming for them soon... then, all they have would be only a small cubic grave and a coffin for their body just like the rest of us... Huh, finally seeing some fairness before leaving this world." 169 This Is So Funny As conversations like these were happening among the passers-by, one of the most famous CEO''s in the current world together with another ugly suddenly exited 4 Times Square as they were respectfully escorted inside the lined-up cars by a few bodyguards. "Oh, so those cars belonged to the Virus Industries..." "Well... only an extravagant company like them could hire such a line-up... anyway, let''s go." . . . An hour later, the cars arrived in front of a luxurious mansion as one of the bodyguards inside the same car as the CEO ugly opened his mouth, "Mr. Greg, we''re at our destination... please let me escort you inside the house." Mouthing this, that bodyguard opened the door for the CEO ugly as he waited for him and the Legal ugly to come off the car. "Okay, let''s go." ________________ CULTIVATION EARTH Now that Virus was already in the top eight, his matches would almost be one after the other without much time to rest, so, he decided to just wait in the waiting room until his name was called so he would directly go out to the Colosseum. "Master, only three more matches remain... and then... if you win them all... you would be able to get your hands on Brisk Balance Fruit... how do you feel about that?" Looking at her master in curiosity, the golden beauty inquired. "Nothing special really... just that I would be finally able to continue my path of cultivation again... so... I feel like things would get much more interesting from then on." Without any change in his expression, Virus stated. Nodding in understanding, she questioned, "Hmm, I see... by the way, master... what are you going to do with that fruit? You never explained it clearly..." And by the end of her words, she questioned once again with a light of curiosity appearing inside her eyes. However, she didn''t receive the reply she expected and instead, Virus uttered, "You will know soon enough... Just know that it''s essential for my next stage to be finished quickly in the shortest period of time possible..." "What do you mean, master?" Confused, the golden beauty inquired further. "Well... if I don''t get this fruit... then finishing the next stage of my cultivation would''ve taken me at least more than a year... but now... anyway, just wait, you will get it later on." He replied as such. "But..." She was just about to say something else too, when an announcement interrupted her, "Next match is between Howar and... Vee! Please come to the Colosseum or it would count as you forfeiting." Hearing the summon, standing up, Virus was about to take off his current dress in order to change into that particular clothes he wore before activating the ring, and at the same time, he began to talk, "It''s my turn so..." Then, as he was continuing his sentence, he turned his head around, however, much to his amusement and surprise, his sentence was interrupted as there was no longer anyone in the room to listen to his words anymore. "This girl..." Saying this with a chuckle, Virus began to change into his special clothes. After he was done, he began walking toward the dark tunnel, however, again, to his surprise, he realized someone was waiting there before the entrance to the dark tunnel while leaning at the wall of the entrance. But, not caring in the least about that, Virus was about to pass by that person and go along his way when that person finally stopped leaning and obstructed Virus'' path into the dark tunnel the next moment. "Move." Virus proclaimed, expressionlessly. "I don''t want to." With a wide grin, the other person uttered. Afterward, seeing Virus show no reaction whatsoever to his provocative words, he added, "My master fancies your ring... let me give you the chance of offering it to him yourself instead of making this whole situation awkward for us and dangerous for yourself... what do you say?" Listening to the other person, finally, a grin sat on Virus'' face as he muttered, "Just as I expected... that''s what this is all about... okay... first, tell me who your master is." "My master? You really don''t know? Well... considering that you''re just a newbie it''s understandable... anyway, listen carefully because I''m gonna introduce him only once!" The other person added. "My master... is elder Fernan... the pagoda master who is in charge of the Spear Pagoda! So, stop making trouble for yourself and just offer him the ring because if you don''t... that''s just going to make your everyday life much more miserable since you''re going to live every second in fear of death..." With pride and arrogance emitting from all over his body, Howar stated. "Elder Fernan huh... alright, thanks for the introduction, bye." Uttering this, Virus abruptly disappeared from his previous spot only to appear at the end of the dark tunnel. Then, as if nothing had happened, he went out of the dark tunnel and walked toward the fighting ground of the Colosseum. However, witnessing himself and his words completely ignored, Howar''s face was already very dark as he mumbled in a low voice, "So you mean you don''t put my master in your eyes huh... then... don''t blame me for turning into a cripple after this match." And after he was done mumbling to himself, he also turned around as he began to pass through the dark tunnel to the fighting ground. . . . "What took you two so long! If it had taken you two just a minute longer to appear, I would''ve already announced both of you as defeated!" The judge elder who had been waiting for some time now uttered in annoyance. Then, he sighed and calmed himself down before continuing, "Anyway, you two have already wasted enough time... Now begin the match at once!" So, just like that, the match started. As the match had already begun, gritting his teeth, Howar spoke with deep hostility, "You will regret your decision soon... when you''re no longer able to cultivate forever after this match... you''ll cry everyday and live in regret as to why you didn''t just give away your ring instead of ignoring me... But it''ll be too late by then." "Oh, so you''re saying you want to cripple me, huh? You''re a cruel one, aren''t you?" With an amused expression appearing on his face, Virus asked. Hearing him, Howar''s only response was an evil grin which talked for itself. So, seeing him truly determined in crippling him, Virus questioned in bafflement, "But I heard one of the elders clearly announce that the first rule states that no killing is allowed in the Martial Contest and other than that, as long as the opponent can heal, everything else is fine... which literally means you can only deal a damage that ''can'' be healed, no? And here you are, saying you want to cripple me... which... as far as I know, cannot be healed... this means it''s against the rules... hmm, wait, could it be that you want to be expelled from the sect?" Hearing his logical analysis of the rule, against Virus'' expectations, Howar began to laugh out loud, "Hahahaha... this is so funny... hahaha..." 170 Dead? In the meantime, seeing how Howar was laughing like a maniac, others began to whisper among themselves, "Oi, oi... Howar seems to have lost it again... we''re definitely going to see another gore scene now..." A girl disciple uttered, "That poor Vee... I kinda feel sorry for him." "Oh no, I think he''s going to cripple him like that dude he crippled in the previous Martial Contest..." A male spectator voiced. "Well, actually... he doesn''t go around crippling random people... he mostly does that to people who have done something wrong to him... so that Vee must''ve done something to make him angry... he deserves it then..." Another male who had similar values as Howar stated. "Anyway, if he wants to live, he should apologize... or..." "This is going to be so fun, hehe." There were also disciples who enjoyed watching others suffer. After a while of laughing, with some traces of tear in the corners of his eyes, Howar stated, "It''s clearly you who do not understand this rule completely... hahaha... don''t think you''re safe from me just because of that rule... because that rule states everything is fine as long as the opponent is not dead and can be healed... the part ''can be healed'' means that as long as the opponent doesn''t die naturally after the match, it''s okay! For example... let''s say I cut off your fingers, hehe, that''s a good idea actually... anyway if I do that... then... even though you won''t be able to make it grow back and heal it to its former shape... as long as the place of that injury can heal naturally so that the bleeding would stop... it''s fine! Which literally means as long as the injury is not life-threatening, it''s no problem and thus entirely according to the rules! So... tell me... what does that mean?" "It means crippling and everything else is allowed as long as you don''t die." Virus stated with a strange light shining in his eyes. However, not spotting the strange light shining in Virus'' eyes at all nor realizing that Virus'' sentence was actually addressed toward him, he continued, "Bingo! So you get it now... haha... since I''m so kind, I''ll give you one last chance to offer your ring to me... if you do that, I promise at least not to cripple you." Then, contrary to the reaction and response he was expecting from Virus, he heard him talk in a relaxed manner, without any kind of fear showing itself in his voice, "No need. However, I truly need to thank you for clarifying that rule for me... I didn''t think it was that loose. So... thank you for the reminder." At the same time, seeing the two still not attacking each other and engaging in a conversation, even though a while had passed since the start of the match, the judge elder got angry as he shouted, "First you two come late to the match... and now... you are casually talking as if you''re in a restaurant? Stop wasting everyone''s precious time and attack!!! This is your last chance!" "Okay... however, before that... elder, can you confirm if what this disciple said was true regarding that rule?" Just so as to make sure, Virus inquired. Listening to Virus'' question while wearing an annoyed face, the judge elder replied, "Yes, it''s like a secret detail hidden inside rule number one in order to lower the casualties in each contest... however, in the end... in the real world... it all comes back to the basic rule that strong rules over the weak... so the strong decide the fate of the weak and can do whatever he or she desires to the weaker opponent... and the sect is also loyal to that rule in its roots and believes this would make the disciples thrive in the end." "I see... that''s much more interesting... I like it as..." Nodding his head in understanding, a half-smile appeared on Virus'' face. "Rock Ripping Piercer!" However, just as he was about to continue talking, abruptly, he witnessed that an extremely quick spear was almost upon his abdomen and the next moment, if he didn''t do anything, it was going to pierce through his flesh. ''I''m not fast enough to dodge.'' Realizing he was not fast enough to dodge, a frown appeared on Virus'' face as he began to contemplate the best move he could make right now... and an instant later, raising his left hand, he brought it in front of the path of the spear. Clink~ The next moment, the noise of Virus'' scales clashing with the tip of the spear was heard. After that, seeing the spear was successfully blocked, deciding to make use of this opportunity, a punch was sent toward Howar''s face by Virus'' right hand. "Wrathful Human Charge!" However, just as the punch was about to connect to his face, Howar retreated with all his might as he was able to successfully dodge his fist with difficulty. ''That was a close one...'' Howar thought in some fear as he could only imagine what would''ve happened if he was just a moment later. After he retreated, Virus looked at him while feigning disdain on his face and uttered, "Tch, aren''t you a despicable one for sneak attacking someone who''s busy talking to someone else and moreover... you obviously tried to cripple me with that sneak attack..." "Hahahaha... what''s despicable about that? That''s completely natural... because in a real fight, being distracted for even a second could make you lose your fragile life. Now that should teach you a lesson!" Laughing at Virus'' words, like he had heard the funniest joke in the world, Howar proclaimed. "Interesting... taking advantage of the rules and sneak attacking your opponent... to be honest, I see nothing wrong with any of them. However, I''m curious how you would feel if they happened to yourself?" Smiling in curiosity, Virus mumbled as he charged toward Howar. As he was almost upon Howar the next moment, Virus sent his fist toward Howar, however, before his fist was even close, "Wrathful Human Charge!" Using his movement technique, Howar dodged his punch and then counterattacked, "Rock Ripping Piercer!" Spotting the counterattack, Virus too dodged the attack with a little difficulty before taking a new stance as he abruptly sent a straight kick toward Howar''s stomach. Understanding that the power behind his kick must be a lot more powerful than his fists, without any hesitation, Howar muttered, "Wrathful Human Charge!" Then, he escaped from the range of his kick, however, knowing this was also a golden chance for him since Virus'' balance should be ruined at least until his kick attack was over, he began mumbling, "Bane Blast Penetrating Strike!" At the same time, his spear instantly charged at Virus'' stomach once again as it made contact with some unknown body part of Virus which he wasn''t able to clearly witness since his foot was covering Howar''s view. So, seeing his spear make contact with his opponent''s body, a rather wide grin found it''s way on Howar''s face as he thought, ''This is over!'' Bang! At the same time, at the location of the connection between the spear and the body part, the sound of an explosion was heard as Virus was sent flying for a few meters before his body finally crashed to the ground... And then, just like that, Virus'' body lay there completely motionless while facing the ground. 171 How Are You Feeling? "Oh no! Junior brotheeeerr!" At the same time as Virus was blasted away into being completely motionless, Astes'' yelling voice which seemed to be extremely worried reverberated throughout the Colosseum. "Oh¡­ I think this is over¡­ the countdown has begun¡­ if he doesn''t stand up soon¡­ the judge elder will¡­" Tinsel who was sitting among the spectators uttered. "He was blasted for like three meters! He must''ve been gravely injured. If I''m not wrong, the only place in his body which has defense is his arms and legs¡­ the rest of his body like his stomach is entirely at a mortal''s level and thus, defenseless¡­ nothing special¡­" Hartas spoke as he began to analyze the situation. "Ah, then he must be mortally injured right now. I was hoping he could at least go against you, senior brother¡­ so you would talk to him about the ring face to face¡­" Tinsel muttered. "Well¡­ it seems that''s not going to happen since he seems to be at his limits already." He stated. Seeing Virus motionless on the ground, another girl who was watching the match from among the spectators murmured, "It seems I''m not going to face that interesting guy¡­ uh, what a pity¡­ I was really curious about him, especially that ring of him¡­ uhhh, his background must be pretty amazing to have access to something like that while he''s only a mortal." Then, as the spectators were watching Virus lay there motionless, Howar finally moved toward Virus as he stopped right above his head and looking down on him, he uttered, "You think I''ll let you off just like that? Haha, well, you''re very wrong, since this is just the beginning." Declaring this, he sat down beside him as he gripped Virus'' neck with his right hand and raised him above his head as he stared at his closed eyes, "How about I first¡­" "No, let me." He was just about to continue when suddenly, Virus opened his eyes and voiced with an evil grin appearing on his face. Instantly, Howar knew something was wrong, however, it was already too late for him to show any kind of reaction as the next moment, he spotted that Virus took out something from behind himself as he aimed it at his right arm which was gripping his neck. Bang! Splash! Targh! The next moment, an arm fell on the ground as Howar, who''s eyes were already wide open, looked at his own right shoulder which had no arm attached to it anymore as he began to scream like he was going through hell, "AAAaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRrrrrrrrrrggGGGhhhhhhhhh¡­" However, not waiting for him to come to himself, before he had a chance to gather his wits, Virus aimed the object in his palm toward one of his legs and the next moment¡­ Bang! Splash! A leg dropped on the ground which was followed with even more pathetic and louder screams, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡­" As he began to scream, Howar''s whole body had also dropped on the floor because of the lack of balance and the extreme pain he was experiencing from the loss of both an arm and a leg. ____________ ALMOST TWO MINUTES AGO "Rock Ripping Piercer" Seeing the spear coming toward him, Virus thought, ''You''re so easy to read¡­'' And thinking that, he dodged that attack in a way which seemed it was rather hard for him to escape out of the way of the attack. ''Let''s begin.'' As this notion passed through his mind, Virus took a new stance as he sent a straight kick with an obvious weakness he was certain Howar would notice. "Wrathful Human Charge!" ''Huh, just as I expected.'' Seeing him move to the location of that certain weak spot in an extremely fast speed, Virus knew he had succeeded as he waited for what''s going to happen next. "Bane Blast Penetrating Strike!" ''Certainly¡­'' As the new spear attack rushed at him, Virus, who was already prepared for this, slightly moved his leg in a way so that it would obstruct the tip of the incoming attack from Howar''s line of sight. Then, after he was sure Howar and most others won''t be able to see what''s going to happen next, he brought his hand in front of the piercing spear at the very last moment before the hit. Bang! However, much to his surprise, the spear attack seemed to explode. Fortunately though, the power behind his arm was easily able to subdue the backlash. And, obviously, his arm''s defense was still strong enough to receive the damage from the explosion without any kind of injury. ''Ah, this is even better than what I had in mind¡­ what a nice opportunity¡­ haha¡­ let''s play along.'' At the same time, as this thought passed through his head, he put an abrupt force behind the fingers of his other foot, which was still on the ground, as he sent himself flying for a few meters before finally landing while his body was facing the ground. After his body fell and lay motionless on the ground, without any kind of movements, he thought, ''Divide Initial Configuration -- Handgun!'' As this command was directly sent to the scales which was still covering his arms and legs, on the palm of his left hand which was hidden under his body, a blue light began to separate itself from the palm of his left hand as it began to change and transform into a handgun! Then, Virus sent another command to the handgun, ''Explosion mode!'' The instant this command was sent to the handgun inside his grip, amazingly, the blue lights all over the body of the handgun all changed into¡­ red lights! ''Since there is no way he would let me off just like that, let''s wait without moving in the least¡­ come on Howar¡­ I have faith in you¡­ haha.'' As this thought passed through his head, Virus heard the sound of footsteps which stopped right beside him and then uttered, "You think I''ll let you off just like that? Haha, well, you''re very wrong, since this is just the beginning." ''Actually, I thought the opposite.'' Then, sitting beside him, Howar grabbed his neck and raised Virus'' whole body above himself as if he wanted to display the result of going against him to everyone, then he spoke, "How about I first¡­" Finally, knowing it was the time to open his eyes, Virus declared, "No, let me." And then, bringing his left hand from behind himself with an extremely quick speed, Virus pulled the trigger as a red light entered into Howar''s arm and the next moment¡­ Bang! Splash! Targh! At the place where the red light had entered, the sound of a rather loud explosion was heard as Howar''s arm was severed at that place entirely and fell on the floor with bits of his flesh and blood splashing around. So next, as his arm fell on the ground, Virus'' neck was finally released from the grip. ''Like you said¡­ this is indeed just the beginning¡­'' As this thought passed through his mind, Virus targeted one of Howar''s legs as he shot at him without any kind of hesitation. Bang! And just like that, a leg also dropped on the ground which was followed with Howar''s body also falling on the ground, as he rolled around in extreme pain accompanied by crazy screams. Next, as Virus looked at Howar''s body which was rolling around in extreme pain, he sat beside him as he inquired in a low voice without any expression showing itself on his face, "How are you feeling?" 172 Back At You Hearing Virus'' question, Howar, who had a huge ego felt like exploding as he glared at Virus while gritting his teeth in extreme pain and anger and shouted, " Yooou! You sneak attacked me¡­ You¡­ bastard!!!!! If¡­ ahhh¡­ You''re dead!!! My master will definitely¡­" He was about to say some clich¨¦ words when Virus interrupted, as he wasn''t really interested in his words and instead, he responded with, "It doesn''t feel good when you''re the one who''s being sneak attacked and harmed, does it?" "Now, let me allow you to experience how it feels like to be a cripple." Uttering this, Virus once again connected himself to his handgun and sent a new command, ''Imaginary mode!'' After this command was sent to the handgun, Virus began to imagine the shape of a needle in his mind and at the same time, he aimed the gun at Howar''s abdomen. "No¡­ please¡­ no¡­ anything but that¡­!" Witnessing where Virus was aiming his weapon at, Howar''s face went even paler than before as he began to beg for him to stop. "Say you''re sorry and I might forgive you¡­" Virus voiced as a large grin appeared on his face. "Forgive me! Please stop¡­ I''m really sorry!" Without any hesitation, feeling like he was facing a devil, he began to ask for forgiveness in fear, however, even though he was asking for forgiveness outside, internally, a different thought was passing through his head, ''Just you wait¡­ after I''m saved¡­ I''ll cut you into a thousand pieces! I''ll make you shower in your own piss and eat your own feces as food every day!'' Because he was so afraid of being crippled and as he was so preoccupied with other malicious thoughts¡­ he even forgot that he could just forfeit and then the judge elder will stop the match and protect him at all costs! Though he might''ve remembered it if Virus hadn''t said, "Say you''re sorry and I might forgive you¡­", which gave him the impression that his only hope was to be forgiven by him and escape from being crippled. However, how could any change in his expression escape Virus'' analyzing eyes which instantly concluded that deep down, he wasn''t feeling sorry at all, not even a bit, and instead, his expression was yelling he will be back for revenge. So, deciding to do the same thing as Howar once again, Virus showed a kind smile on his face as he uttered, "You seem really sincere in your apology¡­ since that''s the case¡­ I forgive you." "Ah, truly¡­ thank¡­" Assuming he was saved, Howar let out a sigh of relief as he was about to express his fake gratitude, however, before he could even finish his sentence, Virus abruptly raised his handgun and aimed it at his abdomen before pulling the trigger! At the same time as his handgun was raised, a very loud shout was heard from the elders'' area, "Stoooooop!" However, it was already too late as Virus pulled the trigger while completely ignoring the yell. Bang! Immediately, a very thin blue light shot out of the handgun as it entered Howar''s abdomen and pierced through his Dantian. "But¡­ why¡­ you said¡­ you''ve forgiven me¡­ why¡­ whyyyy!" Feeling his Dantian pierced, a crazed expression appeared on Howar''s face as he questioned in despair and insanity of his bleak future. "My my¡­ I did indeed forgive you¡­ but, don''t you like to play with the rules so much, Howar? And you made it sound totally just, right? You see¡­ I just did the same¡­ so you can''t really blame me. I mean¡­ I said ''Say you''re sorry and I might forgive you.'' Right?" Looking at his eyes with a smile filled with kindness, he continued, "And I''ve truly forgiven you¡­ however, I never said ''I won''t cripple you if I forgive you'', right?" "Yoooou!!!!! I... will¡­ kill¡­" As he had already lost it in great anger and pain, Howar howled in wrath and enmity, however, before he was even finished, at this very moment, he finally fainted, though it was unclear if he had fainted due to the blood loss and pain, or because of the rage he was feeling. After Howar fainted, astonishingly, a complete silence loomed over the Colosseum which made Virus surprised as he looked around to see what''s going on. At this moment, the whole Colosseum was totally dumbfounded as everyone was looking at Virus with wide eyes of shock and fear as if they were looking at a demon. Afterward, taking his gaze back, he looked at the judge elder and stated, "Aren''t you going to announce the winner? I mean he''s already fainted which means I''ve passively won according to the rules, right?" Finally, coming out of his stupor after hearing Virus'' voice, the judge elder announced, "Ahh¡­ Vee is the winner of this match!" Listening to the declaration, Virus continued, "Good¡­ also¡­ tend to his wounds faster or else it might endanger his life if it''s left like that for a long time¡­ though I doubt that will happen because as you know, even though his Dantian is already punctured¡­ his cultivation stage will remain at the Qi Circulation Stage since this stage still has nothing to do with the Dantian itself¡­" "Oh¡­ moreover¡­ since his life''s not in danger as his injuries can be healed and the bleeding can also be stopped¡­ keep in mind that I''ve not broken the rules and please clearly explain that to his master too." . . . Blergh~ After puking, a disciple uttered, "He''s the devil incarnate¡­" "No... more like¡­ he''s the devil himself!" Someone else proclaimed. "Demon! He''s a demon! How can someone be so cruel!" another disciple voiced after finally coming to himself from watching that bloody scene. "Although Howar kinda deserved it¡­ still¡­ that was too much! Bleeeerghhh¡­" Someone else puked watching the bloody scene and the severed body parts. "He''s too cruel¡­" Another disciple murmured as he thought at the same time, ''I should remember to never offend him¡­ Oh my freaking heavens, that was scary as hell, hope I won''t be having nightmares tonight." Words like these were being heard here and there from the mouth of those still innocent disciples who had never seen such a gore scene before today. However, there were also some disciples who very shivering, not from fear, but excitement, "Ahhh¡­ that was so cool¡­ Senior brother Vee''s so cool!" "What an exciting match¡­ ohhh my daddy¡­ I''m his fan from today onwards¡­ show us more of these kinds of matches pleaseee!" Every kind of reactions could be spotted from among the disciples and the elders who had watched the match as some blamed Virus, some feared him, some came to actually like him, together with lots of other reactions¡­ However, there was one reaction which differed from them all, and this reaction belonged to no one other than¡­ the pagoda master Fernan! Right now, elder Fernan''s eyes were very red as he gritted his teeth while watching his disciple being taken away to be healed without an arm and a leg as he thought, ''You dare do that to my disciple in front of me and everyone? This utter humiliation¡­ moreover¡­ you dared to cripple him? Just you wait¡­ If I don''t return this slap in the face by a hundred times¡­ I''ve cultivated my whole life for naught!'' 173 Suspicion TECHNOLOGY EARTH Following the bodyguard who was in charge of guiding them, the two uglies arrived in front of the door of a particular room inside the mansion, "Please enter, the President is waiting for you inside." Thanking the bodyguard, the two opened the door as they entered together. "Hello Mr. Greg, It''s a great honor meeting you in person like this! Come, come, come! Please sit down!" After seeing the CEO ugly enter, the President seemed to be greatly excited as first, he shook hands with both the CEO ugly and the Legal ugly before inviting the two to sit down shortly afterward. "Haha¡­ Mr. President, you''re exaggerating things¡­ it''s me who should be feeling honored right now, not you. Anyway, this is like a dream come true to me¡­ It''s hard to believe I''m even meeting the President himself personally right now..." Flattering the President, feigning excitement, the CEO ugly proclaimed. "Haha¡­ no, no! I mean it¡­ actually, it''s you who''s exaggerating! I''m excited and honored because I''m possibly meeting the CEO of the company which is going to save the whole world! Who am I compared to that kind of person!" With a chuckle, the President stated. Then, finally looking at the Legal ugly, he questioned, "And this sir is¡­?" "Ah¡­ he''s Robert James¡­ the highest authority in the legal department of our company." The CEO ugly introduced him as the Legal ugly greeted the President once again before turning silent entirely as meeting the President was considered nothing special or noteworthy inside his mind. ''He''s like the greatest joke in the world when he''s compared to Master.'' At the same time, he couldn''t stop this notion from passing through his head. "I see¡­ anyway, welcome, both of you¡­ now, let''s not talk about the unimportant stuff¡­ let''s talk about¡­ saving the world, shall we?" As his eyes shone, the President voiced with a very brilliant smile appearing over his face. "Sure¡­ about what exactly would you like to talk about, Mr. President?" Abruptly, the CEO ugly''s expression turned entirely serious as he asked back. Seeing him turn serious, the President also became much more serious as he stated, "I ask for forgiveness for the things I''m going to inquire about in advance¡­ but these questions are things that I have to know the answer to in order to clear the possible misunderstandings between us¡­" "I understand¡­ please go ahead, Mr. President." Nodding his head, the CEO ugly agreed. "Thank you¡­ so¡­ how did your company find the cure to HIV so soon, right after the whole world was infected with the Mutated HIV?" The president opened his mouth and inquired about the most important question as his face turned extremely grave by the end of his sentence. Hearing the question though, a rather wide smile showed itself on the CEO ugly''s face as he replied with another question of his own, "You suspect we''ve released the Mutated HIV to the world, Mr. President?" "Well¡­ excuse me for saying this, but, isn''t this whole situation too much coincidental? That right after the whole world realized they were sick with a disease called the Mutated HIV, you coincidentally happened to have the cure to it? It''s only natural that anyone would suspect about this, no?" Still wearing his grave face, the President uttered. "Haha¡­ I admit that anyone would have come to this conclusion if they were in your shoes, Mr. President¡­ However, you''re wrong¡­ and I can easily justify and prove how you are wrong." Looking at his eyes, the CEO ugly stated. "Please continue." "Think about it¡­ first of all, you should know that we''ve lot''s advanced tech which we haven''t revealed to the world yet¡­ I mean we''ve been secretly researching to find a cure for the HIV for almost decades now and it''s been sometimes since we''ve found the cure to it¡­ however, since we are businessmen, we''ve kept it a secret along with lots of other technologies, medicine, etc. We have at this very moment which we haven''t revealed to the world as of this moment like our USB Flash I''m sure you''ve already seen. This is because there is no profit in releasing everything at once to the market¡­ releasing a product at its most suitable time in order to reap the greatest profit and benefits are what we''re usually after, like this case of the cure to the HIV¡­" The CEO ugly was explaining when the President interrupted by saying, "However, that doesn''t justify that you haven''t released the Mutated HIV to the world¡­ and if anything, what you stated just increases our suspicion toward your company since that shows that you might''ve released it in order to reap the greatest benefit¡­ since as you said, you are businessmen after all.'' "That''s right, that has to do with what I was going to say next¡­ so please let me finish, Mr. President¡­" Uttering this, he continued with his next point, "Secondly, we''ve found the cure to the ''HIV'', not the ''Mutated HIV''¡­ and let me assure you that we do not have the cure to the ''Mutated HIV''. So... what does that mean Mr. President? Do you think we would be crazy enough to ignore our own life for the sake of more profits? We''re businessmen, Mr. President, not madmen!" {A/N: I''m Madreader.} Then, pausing there, the CEO ugly looked at the President''s expression, who after contemplating deeply for a while asked once again, "You''re right Mr. Greg¡­ that almost makes all of my suspicion towards your company disappear¡­ but that''s only almost¡­ because there is still another matter of suspicion." "Please do ask away, Mr. President." The CEO ugly said. "Hmm¡­ this cure to the HIV you talk about, according to our private researches, will at least temporarily send the Mutated HIV disease to a dormant state, right?" The President queried. "Yes, according to our rough estimations, it''ll make the Mutated HIV disease dormant for around a year." The CEO ugly replied. "There we have it then¡­ if it sends the disease to a dormant state for around a year¡­ then, doesn''t that count as almost a cure which we are inquired to be injected with once a year? Which means¡­ there is no need for you to be afraid of losing your life¡­ which makes me wonder once again¡­ that''s exactly what a businessman would do¡­ a businessman who can both live and enjoy an astronomical wealth and profit every year, no?" The President asked with an interrogative tone. "Haha¡­ I admit that''s a logical way of thinking¡­ however, once again, you''re ignoring one important fact here, Mr. President." With a short laugh, the CEO ugly replied. "And what is that?" "You are not considering the fact that this ''cure to HIV'' can be only considered a temporary solution for the Mutated HIV¡­ and that in a few years, our bodies will probably develop an immunity toward this so-called temporary solution of ours¡­ now, I''m not sure how long that''ll take¡­ but slowly¡­ our body will most likely develop an immunity toward the ''cure of HIV''¡­ and even worse, the Mutated HIV itself might learn to fight back soon and render the cure completely useless¡­ or that the Mutated HIV might Mutate once again, right? I mean, It mutated once, what''s keeping it from mutating again?" Elaborated the CEO ugly, as he finished his words with a question of his own. Listening to the CEO ugly''s logical words, the President''s face suddenly changed colors as he thought, ''Damn it, he''s right¡­ they definitely wouldn''t be crazy enough to risk their own lives for the sake of more profits, especially since they are already one of the biggest companies in the world¡­ so money shouldn''t even be a problem to them anymore¡­ Damn it¡­ It would''ve been better if they ''were'' truly behind this¡­ because in that case¡­ at least I would''ve been sure that the world lives one way or another¡­ but now¡­ the world might end sometime in the future¡­ like this¡­ it would be a race against time from now on¡­ with the question of¡­ would humanity be able to find the true cure to the Mutated HIV or would the Mutated HIV kill us before then.'' ''However, at least now, we might''ve bought ourselves at least a decade or more with this¡­ or even better¡­ our bodies might not find immunity to the cure or that we might be able to find ways to stop our bodies from developing immunity¡­ anyway¡­ this is going to be like a shining ray of hope and light in our times of despair and darkness, and that''s adequate for now.'' Finally, as he was done contemplating, his eyes began to shine as he looked at the CEO ugly as he stated, "Your explanations make total sense¡­ I believe you! Thank you for trying your best to justify your company even though it was rude of me to interrogate you, Mr. Greg¡­ I understand the situation clearly now." "Haha¡­ as long as it makes things clear between the country and us, it''s okay¡­ now is there anything else you would like to know about Mr. President?" Laughing shortly, the CEO ugly stated. "Yes, actually¡­ there is another important question in my mind, Mr. Greg." The president replied. "Go on, please." Signaling with his hand to continue, the CEO ugly mumbled. "So here''s the deal¡­ please give me an honest answer as this is a very important matter both to the country and world as a whole¡­" Talking until here, the President went silent for a short time before continuing, "Will you be offering the country your technology for making the cure?" 174 Ai Virus 001: The Savior @@ Hearing the question, a stunned expression sat on the CEO ugly''s face as his eyes became wide-opened. Then, after a few seconds of staring like that into the President''s eyes, abruptly, he cracked up, "Hahahahahaha¡­" The laugh continued for what seemed like a long time, when finally, the CEO ugly stopped laughing as his face turned very deep and serious as he uttered, "Mr. President, please don''t joke like that anymore¡­ of course we won''t be handing you our precious technology!" Listening to the CEO ugly''s response, the President couldn''t stop himself from frowning as he opened his mouth once again, "But this isn''t just about you and your company anymore! This is about saving humanity¡­ don''t you think it''s too selfish of you to try to gain profit out of this? Don''t you think it''s unethical and selfish to try keeping everything only for yourself?" ''Greedy bastard¡­'' The CEO ugly''s face also began to frown after hearing the President''s words which was indirectly askin@@ 175 Sincerely @@ Spotting his sharp gaze and dissatisfied expression, the CEO ugly further added, "Don''t think that the contract is a bad thing for the country as a whole, Mr. President. On the contrary, it would be extremely beneficial for it! Since we would be providing the country with a lot of advanced technologies which would bring the country and even the whole world to a new era soon ¡­ also¡­ actually¡­ we won''t be as harsh as it is stated in the contract¡­ like¡­ for example, when it comes to the use of the army¡­ we would probably never use it since honestly, I don''t believe we would need it at all. So just take it easy and trust us." By the end of his words, the CEO ugly''s face seemed very trustworthy, however, on the contrary, for some reason, it made the President even more anxious and scared to sign the contract. ''Damn it, I just want the cure! Why am I being forced to sign that unreasonable contract with the childish promise of a new era¡­'' This thought passed through his head as he vo@@ 176 What Happened? @@ So, raising his head once again, looking at the CEO ugly, he began to talk, "Mr. Greg¡­ about those names on the contract¡­ are they really necessary? I mean I''m the President, you know? So I believe my signature would suffice, no?" After thinking for around a second, the CEO ugly responded, "With all due respect Mr. President¡­ you''re not powerful enough to agree to this kind of contract¡­ and let''s say even if you have that kind of authority which I''m pretty sure you don''t¡­ even then, the next President after you might just come and say, the deal is off! I wasn''t the one signing it¡­ so what does it have to do with me?" "But, how do I convince so many people to sign this kind of contract? I don''t even recognize some of these people¡­ I don''t even believe some of them have any authority in the country¡­" With a deep frown on his face, he said. "That''s your problem, Mr. President. However, I''m pretty sure after knowing about the content of the contract which has to do wit@@ 177 The Profit Would Be... @@ As his stare abruptly turned much sharper, the CEO ugly added, "Oh¡­ Also, don''t forget to remind every person on the list to the very last one not to have any funny thoughts against our company or the cure itself¡­ I mean thoughts like ''Why go through so much trouble? We just need to simply destroy their company and snatch their technologies and ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'', right?'', or thought''s like, ''Let''s just find the location of the cure and the techs and steal them.''¡­ because first of all¡­ I''m pretty sure you guys won''t be able to find a thing and even if you do¡­ you won''t be able to gain access to it¡­ and secondly, in case they do such a thing or anything similar happens, the deal is completely off and the contract would have no meaning anymore, alright?" Listening to the CEO ugly''s words, a shiver went down the President''s spine as he felt that what he claimed was absolutely true and that if anyone tried anything funny, he felt that he would definitely keep his word and @@ 178 Gathered Once Again @@ "Well miss, actually we''re not really brothers¡­ but we could be considered brothers. And, about how we are so ugly¡­ well, you have to ask our creator that question, not me!" The Security ugly responded, however, by the end of his sentence, his voice sounded almost frustrated. "Uh¡­ I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to be rude¡­ of course it''s God''s fault for you guys to be like this¡­ uhh, actually you guys don''t look so bad¡­ I was just curious why everyone Ai hired looks on the under the average level side." With a shaky tone, trying her best to fix the situation after sensing the Security ugly''s frustration, Ella articulated. With imaginary tears of self-pity appearing on his face, the Security ugly thought, ''Under the average level? Why do I feel even worse now?'' Then his thought continued, ''And no! It''s not God''s fault! As I said, it''s your boyfriend''s fault!'' Afterward, looking at the rear-view mirror, quickly coming up with something random which was half-true and half-f@@ 179 Cheers To That! @@ Their hugging continued for a rather long time as the best friends seemed to have truly missed each other very much these past few days, however, finally separating from each other, they turned toward the Security ugly as Ella introduced, "This is Security bro everyone! He''s super strong and he''s going to protect us tonight!" "Hey Security bro!" Faith stated with a smile. "Hello." Grace too greeted while the other two only nodded their heads which was accompanied by their half-smiles. "Security bro, umm¡­ how should we enter the nightclub now¡­ I mean, I didn''t think the line was this long¡­ it''s going to take us forever like this¡­ should we go to another nightclub?" With hesitation apparent on her face, Ella inquired. "No need to do that, miss. I''ll deal with it, follow me." Uttering this, he began walking as the five best friends began to closely follow him as they walked directly in front of the gigantic guard who was in charge of the entrance. "Stop! G@@ 180 I Do! @@ "What a brilliant idea, boss! Then, we shall do as you said!" As if he had just heard the most magnificent idea in the world, the suited man commented. Afterward, walking beside some of their other men in the corner, the suited man seemed to be giving some kind of instructions to them. Soon, nodding their head in agreement, they left as they began to walk through the crowded area and just like that, before long, they disappeared among the dancing people. In the meantime, the five girls were dancing in extreme excitement and happiness like there was no tomorrow as the Security ugly continued watching over them. However, he couldn''t stop himself from showing some half-smiles from time to time as he too was feeling kind of happy watching how jovial the girls were acting. ________________ CULTIVATION EARTH Finally, the silhouette became completely clear as the other disciples, mostly from the Superior and Normal Section began to cheer for him as if th@@ 181 A Realization @@ This awakening made him realize something he wasn''t able to until this very moment, so, raising his scale-covered left hand in front of his face, he began to contemplate very deeply, ''Hmm, actually, since I entered inside this body... I feel like it''s affecting me in some unknown ways¡­ for instance¡­ it''s definitely like that when it comes to emotions sometimes¡­ and, since the moment I entered my body, it''s rather difficult for me to control my emotions and even some of my actions! Which feels entirely natural at that time but also results in stopping me from realizing it''s not like the me of the past since my state of being has also changed somehow in a minor way¡­ however, even though my [Existence Codes] should''ve slightly changed somehow¡­ the change shouldn''t be much¡­ it should be basically just the same as before¡­ but¡­ after entering my body¡­ I also feel like it''s getting even harder for me to have them under control as more time passes¡­ hmm¡­'' ''For example, in those two occ@@ 182 Hartas @@ "The King''s Buddha Palm of Forgiveness!" As Qi began to gather on his palms, a wide-smirk sat on Hartas'' face as he muttered, "This is the end for you!" Then, his right hand which was covered in Qi began to speed toward Virus'' heart who was in very close vicinity! Hartas was certain that his palm would definitely successfully hit him since Virus could barely fight against Howar previously. And, remembering that speed of his while fighting him, in addition to the speed of his defensive palms he had just displayed, he became even more confident. "Die!!!!" Looking at the incoming palms, Virus knew it was definitely aiming at his heart, and if it truly hits his heart, with how weak his mortal flesh was at the moment¡­ he would definitely die! On the other hand, seeing his right palm almost upon his heart, Hartas'' grin turned even wider as he thought, ''Since I can''t defeat Rossefin¡­ there is no point in even participating in this match¡­ so let me just kill¡­'' @@ 183 Outside This Planet? @@ Five minutes later, his breathing finally turned steady and normal, however, now that he could breathe easily and since as a result of that, he was no longer feeling any pain, a strong sense of tiredness hit him, forcing him to have this powerful urge to sleep. "Wake me up in twenty minutes¡­ when it''s the time of the final match." As his eyelids were already uncontrollably closing, with some difficulty, muttering this, Virus fell sleep. "Okay, master¡­don''t worry and rest well." Nodding her head, the golden beauty could only agree with a trembling chin. ''So¡­ that ring comes with some penalties and strains on the body¡­ well, that was to be expected since abruptly making a mortal that strong has to have its own side effects too!'' Thought Astes while gazing at his eased up expression. After he fell asleep, an awkward silence descended upon the room as both the golden beauty and Astes didn''t know what to talk about anymore.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. However, at last, as she found som@@ 184 No Suspence By now, Virus had already come to himself, however, seeing the situation he was currently in, scratching his head, with the minimal amount of eye-contact, he uttered, "Ah¡­ sorry, Lil Belle¡­ why didn''t you resist?" Then, with that mortal body of his, with the fastest speed he could, he promptly stood up. The golden beauty could''ve probably easily defended against that pull of his, however, she didn''t¡­ either because when it came to her master, she wasn''t on guard at all¡­ or because she willingly chose not to do so! "Ah¡­ It''s okay master¡­ you know how my body works¡­ it''s not like I''ll be harmed that easily¡­ while you on the other hand¡­ anyway, it''s fine master, don''t worry about it." With a smile that reaches the eyes, the golden beauty replied, while internally, she thought, ''Of course I wouldn''t try to defend and instead go with your flow master¡­ what if I had used my strength to resist your abrupt pull and that caused your body harm? If that happened¡­ I would''ve never been able to forgive myself. Idiot master¡­ hmph!'' To Virus though, listening to the words she had uttered was enough to analyze her words and instantly arrive at the conclusion as to why she hadn''t made any kind of movements whatsoever, not even in the slightest, ''So you were worried you would harm me¡­'' As he knew the answer to his own question and seeing how she didn''t even want to mention and clarify the reason as to why she hadn''t made the slightest of movements or resistance, made Virus think, ''Maybe¡­ her mind recognized making any kind of resistance even in that kind of situation a type of betrayal since there was a very meager possibility of harming me with that kinda resistance¡­ hmm, that''s probably it.'' As he arrived at the most likely possibility, nodding his head, with one hand he took the golden beauty''s hand into his own and with the other, he patted her head softly and whispered, "It''s okay, Lil Belle¡­ next time, you can resist!" And with that, while the golden beauty stood there daydreaming and stunned by Virus'' gentle touch, he had already walked beside a specific bag which contained those special clothes he wore before triggering his ring. Afterward, abruptly, without any care in the world about being seen naked by the two girls in the room, just like the previous time, Virus began to undress without any kind of warning whatsoever! First, he took off his dress¡­ Then, he took off his pants! And at last, just as he was about to take off his underwear too¡­ the golden beauty finally jumped out of her stupor as she clearly understood what was going to happen next if she did not make a move at that very moment, so, charging toward the stunned and blushing Astes, she proclaimed, "A¡­ Astes! Don''t¡­ don''t look! Let''s go out!" With that, at the same time as Virus who was pulling his underwear down, the golden beauty also began to pull Astes outside the room. As a result, fortunately, she couldn''t witness what was underneath that underwear¡­ If Ella knew about what had just happened and how her boyfriend was okay with casually getting naked in front of any girl without any care in the world, she would''ve probably fumed to death in anger! Actually, to Virus, being naked was something completely normal as he felt no sense of embarrassment or shame at all from getting naked in front of others, nor did it matter to him if his nude body was seen or not. This might be due to the reason that he had lived for a very long period of time and that at some point, either his sense of shame and embarrassment toward concepts like being naked had disappeared entirely, or that he had accepted that nakedness was a part of who he is, something that didn''t need to be hidden at all! Or it might have another reason entirely¡­ who knows. Knock~ knock~ knock~ "Master! Are you done changing?" Almost right after he had changed, the door of his resting area was knocked as the golden beauty''s voiced was heard from the other side. "Huh¡­ yes! Come in¡­" Virus said as he invited them inside. "Why did you two leave?" Seeing them back, Virus questioned casually while fixing his clothes, without bothering himself to think about what had just happened in the least. "Ah¡­ bec¡­ because¡­ we just wanted to give you¡­ your privacy!" As the two girls'' faces were flushing red by now, the golden beauty responded. "There was no need for that though¡­" While proclaiming in a very relaxed manner, connecting to his ring, he sent it a command. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' ''There is a need for that!'' Both of the girls thought scoldingly as Virus'' arms and legs were covered in pitch-black scales as usual. "Okay¡­ I should get going and end it in the fastest speed possible¡­" Muttering this, Virus started walking toward the door. "Wait, junior brother!" However, abruptly, he was stopped as Astes obstructed his path toward the door. "What is it, apprentice-sister?" Asked Virus wearing an half-smiling face. "I¡­ I just need to tell you... to be careful while going against Rossefin! She''s not the second most powerful person among the Superior disciples for no reason¡­" In a rather tense voice which was obviously somewhat distressed, Astes reluctantly expressed, while she thought to herself, ''Astes¡­ you idiot! Ask him if he''s really leaving¡­ what''s this nonsense you''re rambling on about?'' "Hmm¡­ wait¡­ I''m not going to face the number one disciple in the Superior Section? Isn''t this the final match¡­? Could it be that¡­ he lost?" Puzzled, Virus suspected. "No way¡­ if he was participating in the Martial Contest¡­ there would''ve been no suspense for the spot of the championship¡­ it''s just that he''s been outside the sect for some time now and hasn''t returned ever since." She briefly elaborated. "I see¡­ anyway, okay, I''ll be cautious, thanks apprentice-sister¡­" Appreciating the advice, Virus left the room. . . . A few minutes later, two people, Virus and Rossefin, were standing facing each other as the judge elder was going to appear soon and announce the start of the match. For a while, the two participants continued to stare into each other''s eyes expressionlessly, when finally, a rather shy smile found it''s way on Rossefin''s face as she articulated blushingly, "Ahh¡­ senior apprentice-brother¡­ you''re so strong¡­ I can''t believe we''re really talking to each other face to face¡­" However, unlike her expectations, Virus showed no response whatsoever to her calling him ''Senior apprentice-brother'' and continued staring at her as he waited for the elder to appear and announce the start of the match. Nonetheless, not admitting defeat that easily, determined on drawing his attention in order to achieve her goal, her blush deepened even further as she voiced innocently, "Uh¡­ senior apprentice-brother¡­ you¡­ you''re staring too much¡­ Rossefin feels shy¡­ pl¡­ please don''t look at me like that." Instead of getting drawn though, Virus'' began to feel truly disgusted inside, as he had easily analyzed and determined that she was faking that attitude of being shy and innocent. "Tch!" So, exclaiming his disgust, he even took away his glance as he no longer even took a single peek at her. Nevertheless, the word ''Give Up'' seemed not to exist in Rossefin''s dictionary as she continued trying to attract his attention to herself somehow, only to face the same result of being ignored every single time. What made her even more flustered though, was the fact that the more she tried, the less Virus seemed to care¡­ and at one point, it reached to such a degree that Virus appeared to no longer detect her presence at all, it was like she had changed into nothing but thin air! Finally, at this moment, the judge elder appeared between the two as he began talking, "The time of the final match has arrived!" The instant he appeared, cheers began to fill the Colosseum as everyone began to get extremely excited about this match between the top disciples in the superior section of the sect! There was even a bet going on about who was going to be the final champion between the two! "I bet on senior sister Rossefin!" "Me too." "Me three!" "I wanna bet every single Peridoto Qi Gemstone I have in my possession!" An Inferior disciple uttered. "Hmph, you''re going to bet your Peridoto Qi Gemstones? I, your father, am even going to bet the only two Jasper Qi Gemstones I have on my Goddess Rossefin!" Another Normal disciple said proudly. "Well, since all of us gathered here are already aware of senior sister''s power¡­ it''s not like there will be any suspense or doubt remaining as to who would come out victorious¡­ so let us men just bet everything we have on her and continue watching the entertaining show!" A Superior male disciple who was always seen following Rossefin around stated. . . . "The Match¡­ begins!" As the judge elder announced the start of the final match, Virus, once again looking at her, waited for Rossefin to make her first move. However, no matter how much Virus waited, Rossefin appeared to have no intentions of moving in the least as she only stood in her previous location with a shy smile still covering her face. ''Well, if you''re not going to make your move¡­ then let me!'' As this notion passed through Virus'' head, it transformed into determination as he charged toward Rossefin in an extremely quick speed. The next moment, as he was almost upon her, he sent a punch flying exactly toward Rossefin''s face as the very next moment, the punch was going to make direct contact with her face. Fweet~ In the very last moment, just as Virus'' fist was only a few centimeters away from Rossefin''s face, however, abruptly, a rather wide grin replaced that shy smile of hers¡­ And the next instant, the incoming punch¡­ stopped! "Hehehehe~" Afterward, the sound of amused laughter reverberated throughout the entire Colosseum. 185 Slavery Whipping "Why did you stop, senior apprentice-brother? Could it be¡­ you can''t bring yourself to hit this lovely junior-apprentice sister of yours? So cool, hehe¡­" With a wide grin showing itself on the corners of her lips, Rossefin uttered. For the first time since the contest had begun, Virus became astonished! Because what Rossefin has just uttered was entirely true! And for some unknown reasons, just like she stated in a casual manner¡­ he just couldn''t bring himself to hit her at the very last moment! And since the moment he began to charge toward her¡­ different thoughts like, ''I shouldn''t attack her!'', ''How can I attack her!'' Began to appear inside his mind and it got even more intense the closer he got to Rossefin! And at the very last moment, he totally couldn''t bring himself to hit her! Because he felt like he cared for her too much to actually hit her¡­! ''What''s happening? Why am I feeling like this out of nowhere?'' Though instantly realizing that something was wrong with him, Virus began to analyze the whole situation. If it was another person, that person most likely would not have understood that something was wrong with him, since this state of being bewitched was so intense that it even stopped the other person from straightly thinking about the whole situation¡­ And if by some miracle that person was able to think about the circumstance he was in at that moment, he might''ve assumed that he truly came to love her by seeing her and that it was a very natural thing, or maybe that he would''ve been totally occupied by the thought of being in love and obsessed with her that he wouldn''t even bother thinking about anything else¡­ Or worse¡­ that person might not care at all as to whether he was being affected, manipulated, controlled, or whatnot because in that very moment, what he felt was definitely genuine and almost no one would betray what he or she was desiring and feeling! However, Virus wasn''t everyone else¡­ and even though he couldn''t control how he was feeling at this moment at all, and to some extent, it was even affecting his actions, still, being the analytic AI he was before anything else, he began to think of the reasons as to why he was feeling this way all of a sudden. ''Hmm¡­ what''s going on¡­ what does this sudden change in my emotions supposed to mean? I''m pretty positive I absolutely had no interest in her before the start of the match¡­ but now, suddenly¡­ I can''t bring myself to hit her? This doesn''t make any logical sense.'' As these kinds of notions began to pass through his head, Virus began to think even further, ''No, there must be an explanation behind this¡­ I need to stop this at once¡­ or I''m going to lose very soon or even worse¡­'' ''And in order to stop it¡­ the first thing I need to do is to understand what''s happening to me.'' As his thoughts arrived at this point, Rossefin began to talk once again, "Senior apprentice-brother¡­ how about you¡­ admit defeat¡­ for me¡­?" Hearing these words, oddly, Virus had this strong urge to admit defeat for her sake, however, fighting this strong urge with all of his logical determination, gritting his teeth, he persisted. Then, a few seconds later, at least the urge disappeared as he heaved a sigh of relief and continued contemplating, ''Hmm¡­ I was about to admit defeat just like how she wanted me to¡­ and I actually feel so bad about not actually doing it¡­ haha¡­ this is absurd.'' ''Hmm¡­ what''s happening? Is this some kind of mind control? Hmm¡­ that might not be the case since it doesn''t feel like mind control¡­ maybe I''m being bewitched or charmed??? Hmm¡­ anyway, before arriving at any kind of conclusion, first, I should see what''s going on inside my body¡­'' As this thought went through his head, using a special method, soon, the live map of his entire body showed itself to him. And the moment that live image appeared in his mind, he could instantly decide as to what was different inside him as he first removed everything that was currently normal inside his mind. Next, he removed every other factor which was abnormal because of the effects the ring was having on his whole body. And with these removed, everything that was out of the ordinary inside his body immediately revealed itself to him, ''Um, the secreted amount of oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and some other hormones have skyrocketed at this moment!!! I see¡­ so she''s directly affecting my emotions like this¡­ my hormones and human body emotions to be exact¡­ since my human emotions are being controlled through the secretion of these hormones!'' ''However, there is no reason as to why these feelings I''m having has to be specifically directed at her only and no one else in my line of sight¡­'' ''Hmm¡­ could she be releasing some kind of pheromone from her body at this moment? A pheromone which forces my body to secrete these hormones and more importantly¡­ makes her the only target of my emotions? Maybe? Or maybe there is another reason to it entirely since I don''t spot any kind of foreign substance inside my body right now!'' Rossefin''s eyes opened widely at first as she was truly surprised that Virus could resist her request, then with a smile, she proclaimed, "Ahhh¡­ senior apprentice-brother¡­ I can''t believe that you actually resisted that¡­ such a strong determination!!! I''m truly impressed now, hehehe." ''Let''s try this once again¡­ let''s see if I can hit her while resisting these emotions¡­'' As he thought about this, Virus tried attacking her as he sent a fist flying at her once again. Fweet~ However, once again, he just couldn''t bring himself to punch her at the very last moment. "Hehehe¡­ ai¡­ senior apprentice-brother¡­ you still can''t bring yourself to hit me, can you? Um, just let me hit you instead so this match would come to an end soon... okay??" Uttering this, Rossefin''s hand which had a tight grip on the whip began to move as she announced the technique she was going to use. "Slavery Whipping Technique ¨C Direct Lashing!" Seeing the attack coming toward his direction, Virus thought, ''Let''s dodge this attack first¡­ it''s going to injure me if it hits me¡­ I''ll think of a solution afterward.'' And as this line of thinking went through his head, he tried dodging the attack, only to realize¡­ He couldn''t bring himself to move and dodge the incoming attack! He just couldn''t convince himself to move as his inner emotions and thoughts were yelling at him, ''You can at least do this much for her¡­ let her just hit you with that whip! Don''t move!'' Wuh-PSSSH! And so, just like that, the whip directly hit Virus in the stomach as his stomach began to bleed in the place of contact! ''Urgh¡­ fighting my emotions are proving to be rather hard¡­'' Frowningly, Virus thought. . . . "Ahhh¡­ why didn''t master move!!!" In a rather loud voice, while grinding her teeth and clenching her fists hardly together, the golden beauty queried in deep confusion, worry, and fear, seeing the sight of her master''s stomach bleeding. Anyway, since she and Astes had gotten a lot closer while Virus was sleeping, the two had decided to sit by each other''s side and watch the final match together So, since they were together at this moment, hearing the golden beauty''s question, with her brows raised and pulled together in worry, she responded, "That''s why I told him to be careful! This girl Rossefin has a special kind of bloodline from a creature called¡­ Sirin." "Sirin? What is that?" Asked the golden beauty while puckering her forehead. "According to what I know¡­ this Sirin bloodline allows her to bewitch and charm men in a mysterious way¡­" Chewing on her lips, Astes replied. "What? The¡­ then¡­ it must have some kind of weakness right? Right?" A little pale, the golden beauty inquired impatiently. "Yes¡­ it has a big weakness¡­ however, it is useless for junior brother¡­ since that weakness is that her bloodline doesn''t work against woman!" Astes exclaimed in frustration. . . . "Hehehe¡­ good, senior apprentice-brother is so cool! Please let me hit you once again!" As she voiced in a pleading tone while wearing a happy smile on her face, she mumbled, "Slavery Whipping Technique ¨C Hundred Snakes!" The instant the whip attack began to fly toward his direction, Virus narrowed his eyes in uneasiness as he thought, ''This attack is deadly for me¡­ if it hits me¡­ it''s going to kill me for sure! This is too dangerous now¡­'' 186 So What? ''Why is this even happening to me to begin with? I should''ve been still able to separate my entity, mind, and consciousness from my emotions and hormones to begin with¡­ just like how the other AIs were able to¡­ did something go wrong while I was making this body?'' As time passed extremely slowly compared to the heaven-defying thinking process of Virus, he began to consider the source of this problem despite being in grave danger. He continued, ''Hmm, impossible! I know exactly what happened throughout the process of making my body and I can say with a ninety-nine point nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight percent certainty that there was nothing wrong with the process at all!'' ''This is just like how some of the things regarding my personality and decisions have been influenced and changed from the past¡­ like with the case of Ella and me having intercourse¡­ so it might all come to my [Existence Codes]¡­ or it might not¡­ hmm, I really have to access it and check it out in the first moment I''m able to.'' He concluded as he came back to the problem he was facing at this moment. ''If I just stand here¡­ I''m going to die.'' Then, just as the thought of ''dying'' hit him, abruptly, his body began to move out of the whip''s way as it became much easier for him to make the decision of dodging the incoming attack which seemed like tens of snakes were attacking him. ''Oh, why was I able to move and dodge, unlike her previous attack?'' Surprised, Virus deliberated as to why he was able to dodge that attack so easily even though Rossefin had requested him to let the whip hit his body, ''Hmm¡­'' Then, the next instant, as thousands of possibilities passed through his head, he finally came to the most likely conclusion, ''I see¡­ so these emotions inside me aren''t strong enough to make me want to take deadly attacks or die for her¡­ it''s not even strong enough to force me to admit defeat, though it was almost there¡­'' ''Since this attack of hers would''ve injured me gravely unlike the previous time¡­ my emotions weren''t that much conflicted with my logical thinking process so I was able to easily dodge out of the way.'' Coming to the most likely possibility, Virus contemplated. ''So, she won''t be able to threaten my life or force me into admitting defeat¡­ however, she would be able to slowly increase my injuries by gradually dealing non-lethal attacks¡­ hmm¡­'' He deliberated further. Then he added to that thought, ''Though¡­ when the injuries accumulate to a certain extent and arrive at the point of being considered lethal if dealt with any further damage than that¡­ I might be able to start dodging all of her attacks from that point onward¡­ but it might be too late by then.'' In the meantime, seeing him dodge, Rossefin''s eyeballs had almost popped out of their sockets! This was because this person in front of her absolutely shouldn''t be able to resist against her requests¡­ not even if she requested him to kill himself! Since, her bloodline worked in a mysterious way that the weaker a person''s cultivation was, the stronger the effects of her Sirin bloodline would be on that opponent! And the extent of this bloodline of hers was that as long as the cultivation level of her opponent was in the same level as hers, requests like ''admit defeat'' or ''take a deadly injury from me for my sake'' should''ve been extremely easy! This bloodline of hers was so powerful that even opponents who were stronger than her to a certain extent wouldn''t be able to tolerate requests like ''admit defeat''¡­ But now, in front of her, she was seeing a puny mortal who not only refused her request of admitting defeat¡­ he even refused to take a deadly injury for her! This was simply¡­ too astonishing and shocking for her! ''How can a mortal resist against my bloodline? Just how much determination does a person have to possess in order to resist my bloodline to this extent even just as a mortal without any kind of cultivation base whatsoever!'' Feeling absurd, she pondered to herself. In the meantime, after dodging her attack, Virus continued his contemplation, ''Now, I know the extent at which her powers are going to affect me¡­ and moreover, I almost understand the cause of these kinds of conflicting emotions inside me¡­ however, I''m still not aware of the reason¡­'' ''Nevertheless, now that I understand the situation and the question of what''s happening to me¡­ the only thing I need to think of is to either find a way to resist and counterattack against this influence¡­ or to figure out the weakness her power has!'' Arriving at this conclusion, Virus began to analyze everything that had happened since the moment their match had begun and he even analyzed Rossefin''s previous match which he had watched¡­ ''She never used this ability of hers when going against Tinsel, which most likely means her powers are not effective against women¡­ or that she didn''t see the need to use her true powers against her¡­'' He concluded. Then, returning to the topic of analyzing the current match, Virus began to scrutinize her behavior, his own behavior, how the surroundings were having an influence on this whole situation, how her powers activated and reacted, whether they deactivated or not throughout the entire match, and many, many other factors which were instantly analyzed by him very thoroughly. And ultimately, when he arrived at a certain factor as to when and where her powers were the least and the most powerful, he finally found a weakness to this special ability of hers! ''Eyesight! That''s it¡­ her powers are affecting me in a mysterious way through my eyesight and it affects me as long as she''s in my line of sight! It''s not some kind of common pheromone emitting from her body that''s influencing my body by entering inside me directly¡­ no, it''s far more complicated than that¡­ this power of hers probably has something to do with her Qi and something special inside her body and it influences me directly through the visual images of the world and the way I perceive her.'' Enlightened, a smile finally showed itself on Virus'' face. He was able to discover this weakness by a very minor detail that he was almost a hundred percent sure that anyone else other than him would''ve missed. ''At the moment I blink each time, her power that influences me gradually starts to get weaker by a very small margin as the secretion amount of hormones inside me starts to lessen and that in return, makes those emotions inside me grew weaker to an undiscoverable extent of almost being considered none at all!'' This was the key that had triggered the answer he was looking for. ''Since the duration of each blink is extremely short¡­ and that this weakening is gradual... almost no one other than me who has even total image of what''s going on inside himself would''ve recognized this very hardly noticeable weakness¡­ well, let''s test it now.'' With a rather wide grin which in return made Rossefin frown in confusion, Virus thought. Then, looking at her in amusement, he uttered, "Truly¡­ the fight I had against you was the most entertaining thus far¡­ I really felt the rush!" "However, that''s as far as we go¡­ let''s end this¡­ since I''ve already found your weakness!" Virus proclaimed. Listening to Virus'' abrupt words, surprised, Rossefin''s eyes opened wider as the whites of her eyes revealed itself for a moment, however, soon, they went back to normal as she inquired with a strange grin, "And what is that, senior apprentice-brother?" "Eyesight! As long as I close my eyes¡­ you will no longer be able to have any kind of influence on me!" Virus stated while examining her reactions to the most minor of details. Hearing his reply, Rossefin''s eyes opened extremely widely as she thought in shock, ''How, how did he discover that? How did he know that my powers at this stage can only affect my opponent through eyesight???'' Seeing her reaction, the grin on Virus'' face grew even wide as he thought, ''Bingo, according to her reaction, now I''m a hundred percent certain that my hypothesis was extremely accurate!'' However, Rossefin''s astonishment didn''t last as she promptly began to laugh like she had gone crazy all of a sudden, "Hehehehehehe¡­" "What are you laughing about?" Smiling broadly, Virus asked. "No¡­ no¡­ it''s just that¡­ even if you know my weakness¡­ so what? What can you do about it? It''s not like you can fight while closing your eyes right? Hehe¡­" She declared with mirth. ''Well¡­ if others came to discover her weakness¡­ they might not have been able to counterattack this weakness on hers in anyway¡­ however¡­ I have two ways of doing that! Though, I''m going to utilize only one since the other one is¡­'' As he thought to this point, he uttered, "Well, we will just have to see about that, won''t we?" Announcing this, Virus broadly smiled once again as he closed both of his eyes entirely! Seeing this sight of him closing his eyes, both the spectators and Rossefin became truly speechless. "Why did he close his eyes all of a sudden?" This was the question that was passing through a lot of disciples'' mind at this moment. While, in a certain area, a male voiced confusingly, "Is this his way of admitting defeat?" And hearing this, his friend replied, "Hmm¡­ senior apprentice sister probably requested him to close his eyes and let her bash him up a little¡­ I mean¡­ you know how her power works¡­ haha." "Eh¡­ why did master close her eyes???" Becoming extremely shocked and worried as a result of seeing Virus close his eyes, the golden beauty rose to her feet and voiced before yelling in anxiousness, "Master! Open your eyes! This is dangerous!!" "Astes¡­ why do you think master''s closing his eyes?" Then, understanding Virus wasn''t able to hear her voice in this noisy and gigantic Colosseum, sitting back in distress, she inquired. "Hmmm¡­ I¡­ I don''t know either¡­" Almost just as tense as the golden beauty, shaking her head, Astes replied. In the meantime, seeing Virus actually close his eyes, after her initial shock and speechlessness, Rossefin couldn''t help but crack up again, "Hehehehe¡­ truly funny!" In the meantime, the moment Virus closed his eyes, just as he had predicted, those emotions inside him began to calm down and entirely disappear before long¡­ ''Let''s begin.'' Next, as this notion went through Virus'' mind, without anyone realizing, abruptly and very silently, with him being the center of it all, from his body, an unknown type of wave-like energy began to be discharged and emitted as it soon covered an entire ten meters radius around him. **************** Since this didn''t fit in the Author''s thought section, I''ll say it here, however, since it''s less than 200 words, it won''t affect the SS requirement, so be rest assured: [As the writer, I always believed, still believe, and will continue believing that the most appropriate situation for Virus'' first injury is through his emotions due to many reasons! Not through external conflict... but through Internal Conflict(artificially induced or whatnot) which arose as a result of him entering a human body! Some of you dear readers can''t trust me as a writer and just say whatever that pops into your mind like ''It is dumb for real wtf.'' without even seeing the whole picture first or because my logic doesn''t work the same as yours... fine! But commenting things like ''It''s like the author is stupid. Can''t believe that was just written.''! This is no longer about the story! You''re insulting me as a writer here and I don''t have to put up with that!] 187 Finally "Okay¡­ let''s see if you can dodge my attacks in that state, senior apprentice-brother!" As she was done laughing and mocking his action which she deemed as completely stupid, she murmured, "Slavery Whipping Technique ¨C Hundred Snakes!" An instant later, as if the whip had duplicated, tens of them were moving toward Virus as she thought with a broad smile, ''You should''ve committed suicide instead! Hehe, you''re done now!'' However, just as her grin was turning even wider, she froze as her smile disappeared entirely like it was never there to begin with. Because, she witnessed that, just as her whip was about to hit Virus, abruptly, he disappeared from his previous location as he appeared a few meters to the left. Her eyes opened widely as she became truly speechless seeing Virus dodge her whip even though his eyes were entirely closed. She was certain that his eyes were truly closed because in case it was opened even by a little bit, he would be under the effect of her bloodline by now. ''He must''ve been lucky!'' As this notion went through her head, she attacked once again only to see the same thing repeat itself. Astonished even further, she finally realized that he could truly dodge her attack! ''How is he doing it?'' She deliberated to herself trying to figure out how Virus was dodging her attacks at this moment. "Hmph¡­ alright¡­ I admit you can somehow sense and dodge my attacks¡­ maybe because you have a good sense of hearing, but that''s just it¡­ it''s useless, don''t you think so? I mean what''s the point? You still can''t attack me with your eyes closed, no?" She uttered as another grin showed itself on her face, however, internally, she was feeling rather tense, ''How am I going to win if he can dodge my attacks?'' Listening to her words as his eyes stayed closed, a wide grin appeared on Virus'' face as he voiced, "I was waiting for you to say that." Then, he once again disappeared from his previous location. However, this time, instead of just moving around by a few meters, he appeared right in front of her as he punched her in the stomach! Bam! With that alone, Rossefin was sent flying for a couple of meters before finally falling down and making contact with the ground once again. However, since her cultivation wasn''t that low to be defeated by a single punch of that level of power, she began to rise and stand up slowly. Pff~ Nevertheless, even if it wasn''t enough for defeating her, the punch had already dealt her some serious damage as she spat a mouthful of blood! "How¡­ how did you know where I am and where to punch so accurately?" In some disbelief, she asked. "Like this!" Biff! Bang! Without even trying to elaborate, Virus once again appeared in front of her while his eyes were still closed and punched her in the exact same place once again. As a result of that, once again, she was sent flying away, however, since she was already very close to the sidewall of the Colosseum, she hit it rather hard and because of that, spiderweb-like cracks and fissures appeared on the wall in the spot her body had made contact with! Pff~ Then, in that same location, before falling down, she spat another mouthful of blood because of the collision being too powerful. In the meantime, in the elders'' area, whispers were going around among the elders. "How did he do that? How can he see?" One elder asked curiously while looking at the elder beside him who was known to be rather knowledgeable. "Hmm¡­ to be honest, I don''t know¡­ he''s just a mortal¡­ so how can he see and fight while her eyes are closed? It''s not like he''s¡­ well anyway, this is just incomprehensible if you ask me¡­" That elder replied in confusion. "Could it be related to that ring of his?" Another elder mumbled. Hearing that, the previous elder who was known for his knowledge replied, "That''s the only explanation that makes some sense¡­ but if that''s true¡­ that ring would be much more heaven-defying than we thought!" . . . "Oh! Master! Well done¡­ so that''s why you closed your eyes! Hit her more!!! Break all of her bones!" Seeing the tables turned around, standing up in excitement, the golden beauty''s eyes began to shine as she started cheering. ''Sigh¡­ so he had a reason for closing his eyes¡­ he hasn''t given up¡­ good job, junior brother¡­'' Breathing a sigh of relief, Astes also thought to herself. "How can that bastard attack our Goddess like that?" "Isn''t he a man at all? How can he hit a woman like that?" "Noooooo¡­ my beautiful Goddess!" Simultaneously, lots of disciples were angrily watching the scene of Rossefin getting bashed by Virus as they cursed him in a lot of different ways. . . . Looking at Rossefin who was making a lot of effort in order to stand up, Virus sighed as he uttered, "Sigh, I don''t feel like playing anymore¡­" Afterward, connecting to his pitch-black scales which was covering his arms and legs, he commanded, ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Handgun!'' ''Paralysis mode!'' Instantly, a part of his scales separated as it transformed into a handgun with blue lights all over it. Bang! Then, not even wasting a second more, as his eyes were still closed, he aimed extremely accurately toward the struggling Rossefin and took a shot! . . . The whole Colosseum became very silent after the blue light hit Rossefin as she fell on the ground in a completely paralyzed state! "Vee is the winner¡­ this round''s champion of the Martial Contest is hereby Vee of the Alchemy Pagoda!" Announcing this in a rather loud voice which everyone would be able to easily hear, the judge elder looked at Virus and uttered, "Congratulations junior Vee!" ''Finally.'' As this notion went through his head, he replied with a happy smile, "Thank you." Waking up from their stupor due to the result of the match being announced, most disciples had this feeling of being amazement inside them as they began to murmur. "He really won¡­" With his jaw dropped open, a disciple mouthed. "Oh my heavens¡­ is this for real?" Some else proclaimed. "A mortal became the champion of the Martial Contest?" In total disbelief and astonishment, a certain disciple also muttered to himself. "Ah¡­ so now what? Is this Vee now the strongest disciple among the superior disciples?" "Not the strongest¡­ don''t forget that monster''s not present in the sect at this moment¡­ if that person was here¡­" Some replied to him with scorn.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Nooo¡­ my Goddess is wrecked! I''ll never forgive that bastard!" . . . Meanwhile, in the elders'' area, the elders also began to talk among themselves. "Oh¡­ he really won¡­ amazing." "I believe this is unprecedented! I mean¡­ there were no cases of a mortal disciple winning the Martial Contest before¡­ this is exactly¡­ what we would call heaven-defying!" Putting his fingers under his chin, a specific elder uttered. Everyone was voicing words of praise, however, there was a few elders who were frowning instead. One of those people was Virus'' master, who was in deep thought right now, ''Not good¡­ how am I going to protect him¡­ now that he''s¡­ sigh¡­ not good¡­ I hope I don''t get thrown in the middle of those greedy people and Vee''s background.'' Unfortunately though, just as this thought passed through his mind, his thoughts were interrupted by someone. "Pagoda master! Congratulations¡­ I can''t believe you''re so lucky¡­ ah¡­ I''m so envious of you right now¡­ I mean both of the contests happened to be won by your disciples¡­ is this luck? Haha." The elder who suspected Virus'' ring to be a ''Space Weapon'' said. Looking at the source of the voice, the Pagoda master deliberated, ''Shit, people are already getting me involved in all of this.'' Then, a rather wide smile showed itself on his face as he stated, "Haha¡­ of course it''s luck dear guest elder¡­ I mean¡­ I had just accepted this disciple of mine a few days ago and now, he became the champion¡­ so you got to understand¡­ I''m just as shocked as everyone else¡­" "Hmm¡­ is that so¡­ anyway, this disciple of yours is rather interesting." That certain guest elder replied as he walked away. Meanwhile, the Sun elder was looking at Virus rather expressionlessly while unknown thoughts were passing through his head. 188 Beyond Monstrous "Judge elder, when can I go to the main treasury in order to pick the item I want?" After his victory was announced, Virus who wasn''t interested in anything else questioned. "Hmm¡­ the treasury? You mean the reward for your championship? I don''t really know¡­ you should ask¡­" Just as he was about to finish his sentence, he was interrupted by someone''s sudden appearance right beside them. And the moment he realized who the other person was, bowing in respect, the judge elder uttered, "This elder greets the Sun elder!" "Hmm¡­" Nodding his head in reply, the Sun elder voiced, "You may go now, I''ll accompany and answer junior Vee''s questions myself¡­ also, notify the elder responsible for granting the rewards that I''ll take the winners of both of the contests to the treasury myself¡­ you''re dismissed." "Yes, Sun elder." Bowing once again in respect, the judge elder disappeared. After the judge elder disappeared, changing the direction of his gaze toward Virus, a kind smile showed itself on his face as he began talking, "Junior Vee, you''re truly a heaven-defying genius, I''m both honored and excited that our sect has the chance to come across a disciple like you!" "Thank you." Virus replied casually as he was then about to continue with a question of his own, when the Sun elder proceeded, "Right, in our last meeting, you had made a promise to visit this oldie ¡­ and I''ve been looking forward to that day to arrive ever since¡­ however, you still haven''t made that visit¡­ honestly, this makes this oldie a little sad¡­" Listening to his words, Virus pondered a little awkwardly, ''Well¡­ I was going to make a visit if I couldn''t find any other alternative in order to gain access to the main treasury¡­ but fortunately, the contests happened to be right around the corner¡­ anyway, sorry I couldn''t find the chance of tricking you into giving me that fruit, my bad.'' After this notion went through his head, looking at the Sun elder in front of him with a half-smile, he replied, "Unfortunately, I was too occupied with the contest¡­ so I couldn''t make that visit..." "Is that so??? Then it''s fine! This oldie''s just worried that you might not receive the best resources you deserve for your cultivation if things continue like this¡­ it would be such a pity for an unparalleled disciple with your talents to be buried just because you couldn''t gain access to the resources you deserve or because you trusted the wrong person." By the end of his words, a sharp light passed through his eyes as if they were yelling, ''I mean your master.'' ''Tch, just stop with the nonsense already¡­ I''m sure both of you have your own personal ulterior motives in trying to have me as your disciple¡­ I''m gonna leave soon anyway¡­ so what''s the point of these talks now¡­ take me to the main treasury instead of wasting so much of my time¡­'' Even though this impatient notion went through his head, externally, he let out a laugh as he proclaimed, "Haha, I''m embarrassed Sun elder, I''m not such talent as you state¡­" "Haha, you must be joking, junior Vee! If you''re not a talent¡­ then I don''t know who in this world would deserve to be called a talent! I mean¡­ first, you made the orb''s color change into pale white¡­ something completely unheard of¡­ then, you actually achieved a hundred percent completion rate in the examination¡­ These two facts already prove that you''re worthy of being called a monstrous talent¡­ no, something even beyond the word monstrous!" Then, after a short meaningful look, he continued, "However, the point is that the list doesn''t stop there as you''re now basically the strongest disciple among the Inferior, Normal, and Superior disciples too¡­ and shockingly, you''re the strongest even though you haven''t even begun cultivation!" At this point, a glint seemed to pass through his eyes as he added, "I''m sure with just these qualifications, any sects or schools out there would kill to have you¡­ yet, you chose our sect¡­ and this is also why it''s making me die in regret that you''re the disciple of that person¡­ I mean it''s such a waste, sigh, I must be such an irresponsible leader for this to happen inside my own sect under my watch." By the end of his words, the Sun elder couldn''t help but let out a disappointed sigh. ''What a glib-tongue you got there¡­'' Thought Virus as he listened to his words. Then, the Sun elder continued further, "Anyway, what I''m trying to get at is that my offer still stands, so¡­ how about you become my own personal disciple¡­ and like this, you might even have the chance of ascending to an even higher rank in the sect by becoming one of those Supreme disciples in our sect one day! How about it, junior Vee?" Surprised, Virus thought, ''Hmm? Supreme disciples? So the Superior disciples weren''t the most powerful ones in the sect? Well, whatever¡­ since it doesn''t matter to me now anyway.'' However, this surprise didn''t last for long as he uttered, "Thank you for having such a high opinion of this disciple, Sun elder. I promise to consider your offer very seriously and provide you with an answer soon¡­" ''Soon as in¡­ never.'' At the same time, this amusing notion passed through his mind. Seeing him avoid giving a clear response to his offer once again, the Sun elder couldn''t stop a small frown from appearing on his forehead, though it disappeared almost the instant it had shown itself as he said, "Okay¡­ I''ll wait for that answer¡­ just, have in mind that if you become my disciple, I''ll try my best to protect you!" These words of his basically meant that he would try his best to protect Virus from those who coveted his ring and completely understanding what the Sun elder was underlying by those words, Virus stated, "Okay, thank you¡­ oh by the way, when are you going to take me and apprentice-sister to pick the item we desire from the main treasury?" Then, acting as if this was a totally random subject, Virus finally inquired about the most important thing he wanted to know about.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Oh, right! Tell your senior apprentice-sister to come and I''ll take you two to the treasury in order to receive your prize right away!" Wearing a grin that normally a kind elder would give to a junior he really cares about, the Sun elder responded. ''At last!'' Thinking this, Virus stead, "Okay, please wait for a moment for me to change and call my apprentice-sister over¡­" "Sure¡­ no worries, I''ll wait for you two outside." . . . After that, going to his own resting room, first, deactivating his ring, Virus changed into a new set of clothes before walking out of the room only to see that the golden beauty and Astes were already waiting for him right outside. "Apprentice-sister¡­ the Sun elder''s waiting for us outside¡­ he''s going to take us to the main treasury." As Virus stated this, oddly, much to his surprise, he spotted a rather indistinct light of excitement pass through her eyes which disappeared immediately afterward. ''Could she be also after something in the main treasury?'' Virus deliberated after spotting that momentary light inside Astes'' eyes. 189 Find Him! "Is that so? But¡­ did you say the Sun elder? Is he going to accompany us himself? Why?" Afterward, Astes inquired in confusion and wonder. "Who knows¡­ anyway, let''s go¡­ he''s waiting for us already." While saying this, he also reflected, ''I hope we''re not after the same thing¡­ because in that case¡­'' As they walked out of the Colosseum, they saw that the Sun elder was waiting for them just like he had told Virus. So, after Astes greeted him with the utmost respect, they were led toward the main pagoda with the Sun elder in the lead. However, the closer they got to the main pagoda the taller it seemed in their eyes and so, looking at the gigantic pagoda in front of them, the golden beauty whose eyes were shining in some amazement finally couldn''t stop herself from questioning, "Wow, master¡­ I think it''s even taller than the tallest skyscraper on the other side¡­ how can they make such a thing without¡­ ?" She wanted to say ''Technology'' at the end of her question, however, remembering that the other two should also be listening, she decided against uttering it. ''Master? So, he''s her master¡­'' ''And did she just say the other side? What is that? And what did she want to say at the end of her words? Why did she stop?'' The Sun elder pondered to himself in skepticism, however, this confusion didn''t last for long before he wore a kind smile an elderly would show to a junior as he began responding to her question instead of Virus, "Actually¡­ making this kind of pagoda requires lots of cultivators in a certain stage of cultivation¡­ and this pagoda you see in front of you was made by our ancestors and the founders of the sect in the past¡­ and right now¡­ our sect is incapable of making pagodas as high as this one¡­" "¡­" Listening to him provide a reply instead of her master, a pout appeared on the golden beauty''s face as she thought, ''Tch, old geezer¡­ who asked you! I wanted to talk to master!'' . . . Around twenty minutes after that, the four people finally arrived in front of the main pagoda as the Sun elder spoke, "Let''s go." Next, as Virus entered the pagoda by closely following the Sun elder, he spotted a person sitting behind the counter right beside the entrance of the first floor. However, oddly, even after spotting the Sun elder entering the pagoda, that person didn''t show any kind of greeting or respect as he continued ignoring him. Afterward, they were brought to a cabin-like room inside which the Sun elder put his hand on a big orb as he started to directly inject a large amount of his Qi to it. "What is¡­" Seeing this, the golden beauty was just about to ask what it was when the cabin began to move up in a rough manner. So instantly understanding what it was, she exclaimed in surprise, "Oh¡­ so it''s their elevator! Hehe¡­" "Who was that person sitting behind the counter?" Finally unable to stop his curiosity, Virus inquired. Listening to his question, a somewhat dark expression seemed to display itself for a moment on the Sun elder''s expression before it disappeared entirely as he replied in a casual manner, "That was the Moon elder¡­ three people have the authority to live in the main pagoda¡­ the moon elder is one of them." "I see¡­" Even though he still had some suspicions as to why he didn''t greet the Sun elder who was like the current head of the sect, he decided to leave it be for now since it seemed to be a sensitive matter. _____________ TECHNOLOGY EARTH, RUSSIA "What? You still can''t determine the location of Virus Industries'' Chairman? How can you all be so useless?" An unknown figure proclaimed in anger. "I''m sorry sir, we''ve looked everywhere¡­ and all of our men in the highest authority of the government are searching for him 24/7! But it''s like he''s melted into the ground itself¡­ he''s not anywhere!" With drops of sweat apparent on his forehead, the other person replied. "Hmph¡­ What about Electro¡­ that woman Giana Nova.. what is her current location?" Asked the unknown figure whose features still couldn''t be seen. "Uh¡­ for some unknown reasons¡­ she has also disappeared, sir¡­ maybe she''s already¡­ " With even more droplets of sweat appearing, the other person responded in a very apologetic tone. "Useless! Absolutely useless!!! My brother and I have to kill that man by our own hands before all of us die in a year! He''s the source of everything¡­ he''s the reason why he died¡­ Find him!!! No matter what¡­ find him as soon as possible or you can just die already!" As veins of anger showed itself on the unknown figure''s neck, he voiced loudly. "Yes, sir¡­ we''ll report to you as soon as we discover his current location." Uttering this in fear, the man left in a hurry. "Aizen Vee¡­ just you wait¡­" __________ CULTIATION EARTH Finally, the elevator stopped as the Sun elder also took his hands off of the big orb and voiced, "This is our floor¡­ let''s go¡­" Soon, walking in front of a giant door which seemed to be made purely out of a special type of silver iron, the Sun elder stopped as he once again placed his hand on the orb in front of the door before closing his eyes. Din~ A few seconds later, a rather loud sound was heard as the door began to open by itself. When the door was finally completely open, Virus saw a rather big environment filled with different kinds of objects, materials, and even ingredients in it. "This is the main treasury of our sect¡­ hehe¡­ there are some amazing things inside¡­ however, there are also some unknown or worthless objects too¡­ so be careful with your choice since I won''t be guiding you¡­" The Sun elder began talking the instant the door was wide-open. Surprised by the Sun elder''s words, Virus queried, "What do you mean when you say worthless objects? Why would you place useless or unknown stuff in here?" The Sun elder started explaining, "Well¡­ I wouldn''t say this normally¡­ but since it''s you¡­ I''ll make an exception and elaborate¡­ so you see, there are reasons for unknown or worthless objects existing in the main treasury¡­ the most important being that we place them in here ourselves so the disciples who win a contest like you or gain entry to the main treasury through other special means would pick them when they come here¡­ this is like a tradition that has been going on for countless years now." "So you deceive your own disciples." With a harsh and direct tone, Virus uttered.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Haha¡­ well¡­ that''s not wrong... but it''s not entirely true either¡­ because we have two purposes by doing that¡­ the first one is to teach the disciples various lessons related to luck, trickery, deceiving, not judging something by its appearance, and many others which are purely for the good of the disciples themselves¡­ and the second reason is for the good of the sect itself¡­ in order to make the main treasury of the sect last for a long period of the time for generations to come¡­" Replied the sun elder with an awkward laugh. "You said ''there are reasons for useless things existing'' what''s the other reasons?" Remembering his exact words, Virus inquired further. 190 Its Valuable To Me "Haha, you truly pay attention to my words junior Vee¡­ that''s right¡­ there is another important reason as to why there are worthless or unknown things in the main treasury." At this point he paused for a moment before continuing, "And that has to do with the age of our sect¡­" "Hmm¡­ you mean¡­?" Not quite understanding, he asked while looking into his eyes. Seeing him curious, a grin appeared on the Sun elder''s face as he responded with a proud expression, "You see¡­ even if our sect isn''t close to being the strongest today¡­ we are one of the most ancient ones on the whole planet!" "And because of that¡­ in the countless years of our sect''s existence, numerous useless, unknown, or precious objects have been placed in here¡­ so now, even I can''t discern if some of the objects in here are truly valuable or not¡­" By the end of his words, the Sun elder''s face was a bit awkward to look at it as he thought to himself, ''That''s what happens when you put useless stuff in here one generation after the other... sigh.'' As that thought passed through his mind, shaking his head, he voiced, "Okay, that was all¡­ the two of you can enter the treasury and pick one object of your choice now¡­ though keep in mind that you can only bring one object outside, otherwise, the treasury won''t allow it." Then, changing the direction of his gaze toward the golden beauty, he stated, "However, this young lady has to wait here..." "Bella¡­ then how about you wait here till junior brother and I come back¡­" Astes voiced smilingly. "Sure¡­ master, I''ll wait here, so don''t worry and go." "Then¡­ you two may enter." . . . As the two entered the treasury, both of them separated as they began looking at different objects inside there. ''Hmm¡­ there are too many things here¡­ I won''t be able to find it if I don''t use my¡­'' Understanding that it would be very difficult to find the Brisk Balance Fruit with his naked eyes alone, a kind of completely invisible energy was released from his body once again as it covered an entire ten meters around him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Then, just like that, nothing in that radius of ten meters was concealed from his sight. Still, even with that, since the treasury was too big, it took him around two minutes to finally spot a dry brown fruit in a rather remote corner no one would bother checking. So, walking to it, he looked at it as he thought, ''It''s no wonder no one has picked it until now since it looks like a completely useless fruit that has rotten away inside out¡­'' ''If only they knew what kind of heavenly fruit this is¡­ haha, though it would be still useless to others since it has rotten and moreover, since this fruit¡­'' As he deliberated to this point, reaching his hand, he grabbed the extremely dry fruit. As he picked the fruit though, he spotted a golden ring with nine small gems of different colors attached to it concealed right under the fruit. ''Hmm¡­ what''s this ring? Why was it hidden under the fruit?'' As this thought went through his head, he surrounded the golden ring with that unknown energy of his as he studied it very carefully. ''Hm¡­ nine gems of different color¡­ and there is also a dragon engraved on the ring itself under those gems¡­ it looks like a ring filled with glory and grandeur¡­ however, that''s it¡­ it''s a totally a worthless ring and any disciple or elder in the sect would be able to tell that¡­ hehe, they''re doing really bad in trying to deceive the disciples¡­'' As he contemplated to this point, placing the ring in its previous place, he stood up as he thought further, ''I wonder what Astes is after for her eyes to shine like that at the thought of entering the main treasury¡­ hmm, I should just check it out¡­'' As he was done making a decision, he began walking toward the direction of Astes. Arriving in front of Astes, Virus realized that she seemed to be anxiously searching everywhere, "Apprentice sister¡­ did you pick something?" "Uh¡­ junior brother, you''re here¡­ no, not yet¡­ how about you? What did you pick? Let me see¡­" Startled by Virus'' abruptly voice, she looked at him as she inquired. "Here¡­ I picked this." Raising the dry fruit in front of her face, Virus showed it to her. "Hmm¡­ what is that? It''s rotten already? Junior brother¡­ that''s a useless fruit¡­ I advise you to choose something else." Shaking her head, Astes stated. Grinning, he thought, ''No worries¡­ I can restore it myself.'' "I don''t know¡­ I have a feeling about this fruit.. so I''ll stick to my choice¡­ even if it''s rotten." Then, he replied. "Aii¡­ junior brother¡­ stop being stubborn like that¡­ why not¡­" She was just about to continue persuading, when Virus interrupted, "I''m not gonna change my decision, so please just respect it¡­ anyway, I''m really curious about what you''re going to pick apprentice sister¡­ are you after something specific? If that''s the case¡­ maybe I can help you looking for it?" "Hmm¡­ that''s not a bad idea¡­ actually yes¡­ I''m truly after something particular¡­ it''s a golden ring which has nine small gems of different colors attached to it¡­ can you help?" Knowing that looking after that ring inside this treasury was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, she decided to ask for help. Listening to the description, Virus'' eyes opened widely as he unconsciously let out a sound, "Eh¡­ that ring?!" Seeing his surprised reaction, just as expected, Astes understood that Virus had seen it somewhere as she uttered impatiently, "Where!!! Where is it?!?" "Um¡­ apprentice sister¡­ it''s there¡­ but that''s definitely a useless ring¡­ you should really pick¡­" While pointing at a direction, Virus began trying to persuade her to make another decision, however, before he was even finished, he realized that Astes had already disappeared as she was charging in the direction he was pointing at. ''Uh¡­'' As Virus followed behind her quickly, the two went beside the location Virus was pointing at previously. "Where is it?" Then, she inquired in a very impatient tone. "There¡­" Pointing at the ring, Virus replied. Spotting the ring, Astes'' eyes began to shine like never before as she grabbed the ring swiftly before letting out a peal of unconscious laughter, "Hehehe¡­" ''Could it be that I was wrong and that it''s actually something invaluable? Hmm¡­'' Seeing her reaction, Virus couldn''t stop himself from suspecting his previous judgment as he then inquired, "Apprentice sister¡­ what is that ring exactly? And why are you so excited about getting your hands on it? Isn''t that just a worthless ring?" Hearing Virus'' voice right behind herself, Astes knew she had lost control for a moment there as she replied, "Well¡­ it might be worthless to others¡­ but it''s kinda valuable to me¡­" Simultaneously, while uttering this, she pondered to herself, ''Hehehe¡­ it was truly here¡­ yes!!! With this¡­everything will be different and I¡­ will definitely achieve what I could not in my previous life¡­'' 191 The Shallow Wound "Is that so?" Voiced Virus with a half-smile as he stared at her excited face which couldn''t take her eyes off of the golden ring. "¡­ Yes¡­" After a short hesitation, she responded. "So it''s not that valuable? It''s just kinda valuable to you?" He inquired further while putting her under his watchful eyes. "¡­ Ye¡­ Yeah¡­" Stuttering a little, she replied nervously. ''I don''t buy it.'' Thought Virus, however, externally, he revealed a bright smile as he uttered, "Okay, no matter what it is¡­ I won''t eye what interests my apprentice-sister¡­ so relax¡­ haha." "Junior brother¡­" Moved a little by his words, Astes could only call out to him. "Okay, say no more¡­ let''s go out if that''s truly your choice." Uttering this, he turned around as he began walking toward the door of the treasury while looking at his injury, ''Although it''s just a shallow cut and it would cause me no dangers¡­ I still better dress it soon.'' Afterward, as the two walked to the entrance, the Sun elder uttered, "Show me the things you picked." And with that, Virus showed the rotten fruit while Astes displayed the golden ring to him. Just as expected, seeing the things the two had picked, a very stunned expression appeared on the Sun elder''s face as he questioned, "Are you sure about your choices?" Hearing this, nodding their heads, both of them replied at the same time, "Yes." "Umm, I wasn''t going to help you two at all¡­ but seeing your choices¡­ uh¡­ I will make an exception once again¡­ hm, so, let me be frank here¡­ both of them are¡­ trash. You better change it." Looking awkwardly at the things the two had picked, the Sun elder stated. "It''s okay, Sun elder¡­ didn''t you say even you don''t really know if something is truly valuable or trash anymore? We will just try our luck so don''t worry about it." With a grin displaying itself on his face, Virus proclaimed. "Yes¡­ we will try our luck." Astes also agreed with a very serene face as she had long calmed herself by now. "Sigh¡­ Listen to me junior Vee, even though that golden ring of junior Astes is clearly useless¡­ still, there is a very slight chance that it might be of some use with a great amount of luck, however, about this fruit of yours¡­ it''s definitely a rotten fruit and to an extremely great extent at that¡­ so it obviously totally worthless." Shaking his head at this point, he continued, "It''s not about being lucky or not anymore, it''s most definitely trash¡­ I don''t even know why it was still left in the treasury, I would''ve thrown it away if I had seen it, sigh¡­ junior Vee, how about¡­" He was just about to insist on him changing his choice, when Virus interrupted, "Sun elder, this is my choice, whether it''s a treasure or trash, that''s for me and for my luck to decide, so I''ll stick to my decision, you need to respect that too." ''Tch, what a stubborn young man, I''m just trying to help¡­ why are geniuses always this weird? Whatever, I tried anyways.'' With a slight frown, this notion passed through his head. "Master¡­ let''s go clean your wound now." It was at this time when the golden beauty walked before Virus as she touched his chest around his wound as she uttered worriedly. "Alright¡­" Reaching his hand and patting her head gently with a smile, Virus agreed while nodding as he then looked at the Sun elder before uttering, "We shall take our leave now, so please take us to the first floor¡­" . . . Afterward, the trio was led to the first floor by the Sun elder before they left toward the Alchemy pagoda together.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. By now, Astes had long put the golden ring away as she was taking a glance at Virus from time to time in a weird way. Finally, when they arrived in front of the entrance of the Alchemy pagoda, she could no longer stop herself from asking, "Junior brother¡­ are you really going to leave soon?" Surprised by her question, Virus stopped in his tracks as he looked at the golden beauty''s direction for a moment as he understood immediately, ''Only Lil Bell could be able to guess the rough time of our leave¡­ so she must''ve told her herself.'' Then turning around, he gazed into Astes'' eyes as he answered, "Yes¡­ we''re going to leave tonight¡­" For some reason, Astes'' expression became really downcasted hearing the confirmation, as she uttered after some hesitation, "Can¡­ can I come too?" This time, it was Virus'' turn to be astonished as this was the question he was expecting the least. Nevertheless, after a little while of silence, he opened his mouth and asked, "Why would you wanna do that?" ''You idiot¡­ of course, it''s because¡­'' This notion popped into her head as she replied after some complicated thinking processes, "Umm, because I''ve truly come to accept you as my junior apprentice-brother now¡­ so I really care about you¡­ and that''s why I want to follow you wherever you go¡­ anyway, can I please?" ''Hmm, junior brother, huh?'' Listening to her response though, some rather mixed and complex emotions and thoughts passed through his head for a very short period of time before he replied shaking his head, "I''m sorry apprentice-sister¡­ but you can''t¡­ at least not for now." Astes became a lot more dispirited hearing his response as she couldn''t stop herself from feeling extremely disappointed inside. However, looking at his wound on his chest, she took out a small bottle from her pocket as she spoke, "Here¡­ I concocted these two pills myself¡­ take them, they''ll heal your wound." Putting the bottle in his left hand, she turned around and began walking away, however, before she had even taken two steps, she stopped again as she mumbled, "Let me at least see you off tonight, okay?" Gazing at her back, Virus smiled as he said, "Alright¡­ thanks for the pills anyway, apprentice-sister." With that, once again, she began walking as she left the vicinity. After she left, as Virus was looking at the bottle in his grasp, the golden beauty phrased with some worry, "Master, you better eat the pills since we don''t have anything better with us in our room." "Okay." Complying, Virus opened the bottle as he took out one of the pills and put it inside his mouth before swallowing it, however, she left the other pill inside the bottle as he put it in his pocket. "Master¡­ she told you to eat both of them¡­ why did you just¡­" Confused, the golden beauty was about to query, when Virus interrupted him, "For me¡­ taking one would be like taking two¡­ anyway, let''s go to our room and pick up our stuff¡­" "Alright¡­ ahh, it''s really hard to believe that we''re really leaving for our own Earth¡­ hehe, I can''t wait for us to go back¡­ I somehow miss our own technologically advanced earth with all those lights, cars, and other advanced stuff since this place is kinda boring and ancient." Instantly forgetting the previous topic, a very excited expression showed itself on her face as she began talking with a very bright face. 192 Parting Ways ''Then wouldn''t you love it if you went to my original time.'' Thought Virus with a smirk. . . . A few hours passed just like that as the golden beauty packed everything they had brought with themselves to this Earth. Right now, the sky had long gotten dark and Virus was currently sitting on a chair while looking at the dried up fruit in his grasp, ''Finally¡­ I can take the next step.'' "Master, it''s already dark outside¡­ should we leave now?" With some stars shining in her eyes, the golden beauty questioned. "Let''s wait for Astes to arrive¡­" Virus replied. "Un..." Nodding her head, the golden beauty agreed. . . . Knock~ knock~ knock~ One more hour passed when finally, the door of their room was knocked in a very weak manner. Opening the door, the golden beauty realized it was Astes, "Oh, Astes, you''re finally here¡­" Hearing the golden beauty call her by her name alone, Astes didn''t show any kind of reaction since she had long gotten used to it and instead uttered with a smile, "Yep, I''m here Bella¡­ are you two leaving right now or¡­" "Yes, we were just waiting for you." Replying with a smile, she turned around and continued, "Master¡­ since she''s here¡­" "Yeah, let''s go." Standing up, Virus proclaimed as the two began walking outside the pagoda. "Master, are we going to walk outside the pagoda and board our spaceship or are we going to leave outside first?" As they were walking outside the pagoda though, remembering something, the golden beauty came beside Virus as she asked in a low voice so Astes wouldn''t be able to hear. "Of course we will leave outside first, imagine how shocked she would be if we get on our spaceship in front of her and leave off to the distant horizon, haha¡­" Letting out a small laugh of amusement, Virus whispered into her ears. "Oh, okay¡­" Agreeing with a chuckle, she rushed beside Astes once again as they began mumbling something to each other.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. . . . A while passed when finally, the trio arrived at the entrance of the sect, "Halt!" Since commuting inside or outside the perimeter of the sect was tightly controlled by the sect itself, just as expected, as they got closer to the entrance, they were stopped by someone. "Where are you three leaving to? And when will you be back¡­? Urgh¡­ senior sister Astes¡­ it''s you¡­" "Only the two of us leaving, she will be back in a moment." Replied Virus while pointing at Astes. "I see, have you two accepted a mission that requires you to leave the sect?" Seeing it was only the two of them leaving, that disciple who didn''t have the time to watch the Martial Contest previously questioned. "No." "Then you can''t leave the sect." That Normal section disciple said before continuing, "Inferior and Normal disciples can''t leave the sect without permission¡­ only the superior disciples or above are free to leave the sect whenever they want after telling us some general information about their leave." ''They look rather young, even if they are geniuses, they must be at most from the Normal section like me.'' In the meantime, he thought to himself. "Then it''s okay for both of us to leave¡­ since I''m a Superior disciple myself, and she''s not a disciple of the sect at all¡­ she''s just a family member of mine who followed me to the sect." Reaching his hand to pat the golden beauty''s head, Virus stated. ''Ah, master¡­'' In the meantime, the golden beauty was enjoying her master''s pat with a bit of blush. "Sup¡­ Superior disciple¡­ ahh, forgive my negligent eyes senior apprentice-brother, I had no idea¡­" Startled by his reply, that disciple''s attitude went through a 180-degree transformation as he stuttered with a shaky tone. "It''s okay, write my general information down anyway, my name is Vee." "I see¡­ Vee, hmm, let me write it down¡­ wait a moment, why does your name sound so familiar¡­ I feel like¡­ ohhh." Abruptly remembering that the champion of the Martial Contest was someone called Vee, he was greatly dumbfounded as he yelled, "That VEE? Are you that Senior brother Vee¡­ the champion of today''s Martial Contest?!?" "Yeah, we''re in a hurry, so would you mind hastening the process?" With a bit of frown appearing on his forehead, Virus uttered in an annoyed tone. "Uh, I''m sorry senior brother¡­ I shall do that¡­ so first, where are you leaving to?" Gushed the disciple in respect. "Outside." Virus replied casually. "Outside¡­?! Umm, senior brother, could you be more specific? Outside what?" The disciple questioned awkwardly with some beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. ''Outside the sect, outside the continent, outside the planet, outside the galaxy, outside the universe¡­ whatever outside you can think of¡­'' This notion popped into his head in annoyance as he vocalized, "Does it matter really? You said general information¡­ just write outside the sect and be done with it!" ''Isn''t it obvious that you''re leaving outside the sect? Sigh, this Senior brother of mine is definitely not nice¡­'' Seeing him annoyed by his question easily, a little afraid that he might offend or leave a bad impression on the champion, he complied, "Uh¡­ okay, I''ll do that then." "For how long is Senior brother going to leave? I mean¡­ when will Senior brother return?" He then threw the next question on his list. "Hmm, days, months, years¡­ or maybe centuries¡­ who knows¡­ write that down." In a very relaxed manner, Virus provided the general answer to the next question. ''Fuck, can''t you be more freaking specific! I know we only need general information¡­ but not this general!'' By now, beads of sweat were rolling down the poor disciple''s face as he thought, ''I''m so going to be punished if an elder happens to check the general information related to his leave.'' However, he displayed the utmost respect externally as he responded, "Yes, then I shall write that down¡­ hmm, days¡­ months¡­ years¡­ or maybe centuries, who knows¡­ done, you can go now Senior brother, have a nice trip." ''You didn''t need to write the ''who knows'' part, but whatever¡­'' As this sentence went through his mind, he looked at Astes and uttered, "Apprentice-sister¡­ we can leave from here onwards¡­ how about you return and¡­" However, before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by her somewhat loud and nervous voice, "No! I want to walk with you for a little while more¡­" "Ah, okay then, let''s go." . . . The trio walked for a few minutes as the sect was no longer in their view when Virus stopped once again, "It''s enough if you accompany us to this point, we''ll leave now¡­ Astes¡­ you can go back." Seeing them stop once again, Astes herself knew it was the time to separate, however, for some reason, just the thought of separating was making her extremely sad and reluctant. It felt like she was losing something very important to her. She was feeling so reluctant and nervous that she didn''t even realize Virus had addressed her directly by her calling her ''Astes''. "Junior brother¡­ will I see you again?" So as her head was down, with an unseeable expression, she threw a question which she was dying to know the answer to. Listening to her question, reaching his hand out, he grabbed her snowy white and extremely delicate hand as he replied while gazing into her eyes, "Sigh¡­ we¡­ we will¡­ if fate wills it." Listening to his response, for the very first time, Astes could no longer control her red eyes as tears of grief began to gather and roll down her beautiful face as she finally threw herself into his embrace and started wailing, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡­" 193 The Claw "Astes¡­" Seeing the scene in front of her, the golden beauty was also somehow saddened as her eyes turned redder. "Eh, why are you crying apprentice-sister¡­? No need for that, we''ll probably see each other again anyways! There, there¡­ stop crying now¡­" At first, Virus was a bit surprised by this unexpected turn of events, however, he stopped thinking about it and raised his hand as he patted her head while she was still hugging and wailing inside his embrace. .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. . . Around thirty seconds passed when Astes was finally calm as she separated herself from that position and muttered, "I¡­ I''m sorry junior brother¡­ it just makes me really sad thinking that I might never see you again, so¡­" "It''s okay, apprentice-sister, no need to explain¡­ I understand because I''m feeling the same." Displaying a somewhat bitter smile, Virus voiced. Afterward, she and the golden beauty also said their farewells when it was finally the time to part. "You can return now, apprentice-sister, we can go by ourselves from here onwards¡­" Virus stated with a smile since they just needed her to leave so they would be able to board on their spaceship and fly away. "No, I want to watch you two leave first and then I''ll return." Shaking her head, Astes denied. ''Sigh¡­'' As this sight went through Virus'' head, he uttered, "Okay then, but return as soon as we disappear from your line of sight¡­ this place is dangerous for a girl to roam around alone at this time of the night." "Alright¡­" After looking into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity, he finally showed him one last gentle smile before turning around and leaving without uttering a single word like ''Goodbye'' or ''See you again''. Astes remained there watching the two slowly leave her line of sight as she slowly mumbled in a sad tone, "So he¡­ really left." However, no tears appeared in her eyes anymore as she turned around and left after muttering something under her lips, "I have a lot to do." . . . After making sure Astes was no longer visible to them and that she was definitely not following them, Virus uttered, "This place should suffice¡­" Then, he was just about to make the invisible spaceship above them land in front of them when the sound of laughter began reverberating inside the woods in their current location, "Hahahahahaha¡­" "Who is that!" As his eye-brows turned extremely sharper, Virus shouted. Simultaneously, connecting to his ring, he sent a direct command to it, ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' Instantly, his arms and legs were covered in pitch-black scales, however, this was not the end as he sent another two commands to it, ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Machine Gun!'' ''Explosion mode!'' And the next moment, a long triggerless futuristic-looking machine gun which had blood-red lights in some parts of it began to take shape on his hand. By now, a type of unknown energy was also long released from his body as it had already covered a specific area all around him. The golden beauty too was also in front of Virus as she was cautiously watching all around them in extreme alarm, waiting for the person to come out and so she would defend her master in case that enemy tried to sneak attack on them. ''Hmm, there is no one in my range of sight¡­'' Virus thought next as he waited for that person to come out by himself. "I''m up here, hahaha¡­" Once again, hearing the voice which obviously belonged to that previous person, Virus and the golden beauty both raised their heads as they looked toward the sky above them. At first, they could find no one in their line of sight¡­ no matter how hard they searched the area around them. However, that changed soon enough as they were able to perceive a dot getting bigger and bigger in their eyesight and finally, it was close enough for them to discern clearly that it was actually a person flying in the sky above then and it was slowly coming their way. "Haha¡­ junior Vee, this adept has been looking forward to personally meeting you." Stated the other person who was still floating right above Virus as he continued looking down on him. Seeing the features of the other person clearly, Virus began to search through every database belonging to everyone from the moment he had arrived at the cultivation Earth. And not even a second later, he found the result he was looking for as he remembered this man was previously sitting among the elders in the elders'' area. "I see¡­ so you must be an elder of my sect, but what business does a powerful elder like you have with me, a weak junior? And why not just directly come to me in the sect?" With an intense light of vigilance coursing through his eyes, Virus questioned. "Sigh, I''m no elder of your sect actually¡­ I''m just a temporary guest elder sent by¡­" At this point in his sentence, he stopped talking before continuing about another topic, "Haha¡­ anyway, this adept was passing by your pagoda earlier and was lucky enough to hear an interesting conversation between you and your senior sister and that should reply to your last question¡­" ''Tch, so you were spying on us¡­'' A frown sat on Virus'' face as he opened his mouth once again, "I see¡­ what interesting conversation might you have heard, guest elder?" At this point, his expression turned a lot more serious as he uttered, "Hm, that you''re leaving for good." Then without waiting for Virus to talk, he continued, "And that''s why I had to meet you here¡­" "I see¡­ well, I have some urgent matters to attend to at home¡­ but no worries¡­ I''ll be back soon. It''s just temporary. We''ll talk then if it''s okay with you¡­" Staring into the other person''s eyes intensely, he stated in a tone that no one would sense any falsehood in it. "Hahaha¡­ I understand¡­ however, it doesn''t matter anymore, since¡­" At this point, putting a pause to his sentence a weird grin displayed itself on his face, which instantly greatly alarmed Virus as he understood clearly what the guest elder was going to say next and what was going to happen next, so not even waiting for him to finish, raising his Machine gun with the fastest speed he could, he directly gave it the command of shooting continuously! Bratatat~ The next moment, lines of red lights began to shoot toward the guest elder, however, how could the guest elder who had previously seen clearly what kind of weapon Virus wielded just wait there in order to be shot down? ''Although I''m not sure if it would be able to injure me¡­ it''s better if I dodge¡­ just to make sure.'' As this notion had passed through the guest elder''s mind, he began to move out of the place Virus was going to aim at before the barrel of his gun was even close to it. This was a simple prediction skill for him as he only needed to avoid the place Virus was targeting with just the right amount of speed. In the meantime, even though he was busy dodging the machine gun, that weird grin on his face still continued to display itself as he voiced in a rather loud voice, "Hahaha, junior Vee¡­ it''s so rude of you to stop an elderly from talking¡­ sigh, let me finish my words¡­ haha¡­ I wanted to say ''it doesn''t matter anymore¡­ since none of you will go back or return anymore!'' Haha¡­" "Reverse Soaring Claw!" At the same time, as he mumbled the name of his attack, without moving from his current floating location in the least, he made his hand take the shape of a claw as he only waved that claw very gently. And shockingly, as a result of that, as he began to wave that hand of his, an immense amount of Qi began to gather right in front of his palm which soon took the shape of a gigantic claw and started to shoot down toward Virus and the golden beauty in an speed so quick that almost neither of them could show any kind of big reaction to it. Well, actually, with their monstrous thinking process, both of them could clearly see the incoming massive claw toward the two of them, however, unfortunately, none of their bodies could show enough reaction that would make any difference. All Virus could do now was to bring his scaled arms in front of his body so as to try his best in order to avoid any kind of mortal injury on himself. Still, even with this, after he made a quick calculation, he realized his arms couldn''t cover the whole radius of the attack and it was still going to gravely injure him. ''Sigh¡­ it seems I''m going to be wounded very badly this time¡­ it''s almost upon us now¡­ it is¡­'' At the same time, just as these sentences were passing through his head, something extraordinary happened which made Virus'' contemplation stop entirely as his eyes open widely. Because¡­ he witnessed the golden beauty use the little amount of movement she could make¡­ not in order to lessen the amount of injury she would receive¡­ but to move in front of the open spot of Virus where according to his calculation he was going to be mortally wounded from. ''Lil Belle¡­'' How could Virus not understand that doing this would greatly increase the amount of injury she was going to receive and he was certain that she was clear about this too. Boom! 194 When Darkness Prevails Anyhow, right at this very moment, their time was up as the brilliant claw had finally descended upon them. Boom! Bam~ As the golden beauty had literally moved in front of the claw attack in order to receive most of the damage and cover the open spots for her master, the claw made contact with her body, however, trying her best to not budge from her current location to the best of her abilities, she put all of her strength under her feet as if her feet were nailed right there. Nonetheless, since the attack was too powerful for her to resist, her body began to move back while a trace of her feet resisting with all her might was drawn on the ground and it was getting bigger and bigger every second! Simultaneously, right before the claw had made contact with them, since there was no longer any open spots that could come to injure him gravely anymore, Virus raised both of his scale-covered arms right in front of the incoming claw attack as he began to withstand it just like the golden beauty as the two started to be pushed back in a rather quick speed. Still, if the strength of the ''Reverse Soaring Claw'' and the damage the two were receiving as a result of that were split into percentages, then the golden beauty would be receiving around ninety percent of the attack with her whole body alone while Virus would be receiving the remaining ten percent with his scaled arms. Unfortunately, the attack seemed to be too powerful for the golden beauty''s body to handle as the more she was pushed back, the more her body began to crumble away. First, both of her arms began to break down just like how glass shatters after taking a hard blow. So, starting from her fingers to her palms and then from there to the rest of her arms, they began to break and shatter into pieces. However, this was not the end as very soon, both of her arms were going to disappear in a moment and if she didn''t do anything the very next instant, she was certain that the attack would arrive at her body! And that might endanger her whole physique breaking down into many pieces with no part left intact¡­ which was dangerous even for her!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Now, she had to make a very important decision as to with which part of her body she had to defend and which part of her body she should sacrifice in order to protect her own existence! So with that, an instant later, after doing some simple calculations, she began moving a specific part of her body and right before the last remnants of her arms were entirely gone, raising one of her legs in front of her body, she began to resist the claw attack with her knee alone. In the meantime, while the golden beauty continued defending the attack with her knee while leaning over toward his body, even though Virus had to tolerate only ten percent of the damage with his scaled arms, it still seemed to be way above the power and the durability of his ring as he even heard his scaled-claws crack the very next moment. Crack~ But, since it was only ten percent of the claw''s strength, right after the sharp points of some of his fingers broke, the whole ten percent of the damage was spent at last as the claw attack finally dispersed and ended. ''Phew¡­'' Letting out a sigh of relief seeing the attack was finally over, wanting to check the current state of the tumbled golden beauty, Virus looked at her fallen body, however, seeing her condition, his whole body froze as his face turned extremely dark. This was happening because right in front of him, he was witnessing only half of the golden beauty''s body left intact! Both of her arms were completely long gone! Even one of her legs was nowhere to be seen¡­ Though the heartbreaking thing was that it didn''t end there as starting from the place her leg had disappeared until her chest, only half of her chest and body had remained¡­ while the other half was¡­ nowhere to be seen! And that''s why at this moment, Virus'' expression was extremely unsightly and dark like never before! ''Uh!'' Witnessing the golden beauty defend against his attack with her life, the guest elder was truly surprised, however, soon, that surprise vanished from his face as he began to laugh out loud, "Hahaha¡­ what a stupid little young lady¡­ to let go of her own life for you¡­ still¡­ she must''ve had a very hard armor to be able to have some part of her body remaining even after such a powerful attack¡­ un, those broken armor-parts confirm my thought indeed." He didn''t realize anything odd or wrong with the golden beauty''s body since the outward appearance of her body possessed both meat and skin just like a normal person''s. So as a result of that, the external parts of her body were bleeding just like how a normal human being would bleed in this kind of situation and because of that, those blood had covered and concealed all of the mechanical parts of her body. Moreover, the damaged parts of her body were now facing Virus. If the guest elder had put a bit of attention and focus on her body, he might have figured that something was strange with her body, however, since all he cared about was Virus, he didn''t even bother to check the state of the dead girl''s corpse beside him. Thus, staring at that dark face of Virus, the guest elder began talking in a tone like it was a great pity how everything had progressed, "Aiii, having treasures like that space weapon of yours is truly a sin for a weak person such as you¡­sigh, just see what kind of disaster that treasure brought upon you¡­ hmm, oh right, it doesn''t seem to be a space weapon¡­ so it would be wrong to call it that¡­ anyway, blame that ring of yours for this calamity that fell upon you two¡­ sigh." In the meantime, internally, although Virus was truly infuriated to no ends after witnessing the current condition of the golden beauty''s body, still, knowing nothing good would result from being purely enraged, with absolute control over his mind, very rationally, he deliberated to himself, ''I still underestimated the strength the most powerful elder would possess in the sect¡­ according to the data I gathered considering the alchemy elder, the Sun elder, that elder Lil Belle killed the other night, and all of the other elders I had seen and analyzed¡­ I picked the possibility that the strongest person would most likely be at most a single stage higher than that elder Lil Belle had murdered¡­ however¡­ I shouldn''t have chosen that possibility, I should''ve¡­ Sigh, once again, because of the unknown variables that popped up due to insufficient data, my Lil Belle who''s currently one of my main last lines of defense was forced to this extent¡­'' As his contemplation reached this point, directing his gaze toward the elder who was still hovering in the sky, he uttered in a chilly tone that paradoxically couldn''t be calmer, "You shouldn''t have done that¡­" Listening to his words, the guest elder was just about to smirk and mock his na?ve words, when abruptly, he felt like his whole being from the deepest part of his soul tremble as his eyes opened very widely like never before, ''Impossible¡­ am I feeling afraid of him? Why? Uhh¡­ That''s¡­ that''s, that''s impossible!'' In absolute disbelief, he was thinking why his instincts were warning him so badly when just a moment later, he sensed a very dense bloody killing intent directed right at him. Then, with beads of sweat displaying itself on his forehead, different notions began to pass through his mind, ''How¡­ how could such a young man have such a dense killing intent¡­ how can it be so dense and immense to the point of it being visible! No, no¡­ how can a human being have such a killing intent to begin with¡­ no, this is impossible! Just how many people do you need to slaughter in order to have this kind of¡­ but¡­ but¡­ he''s clearly only a teenager! It can''t be! This must be an illusion!'' Afterward, finally forcing himself to take a deep breath, he continued, ''No¡­ I should calm down¡­ even if he has such a monstrous killing intent¡­ so what? He''s still just a normal mortal without any kind of cultivation whatsoever in the end! Right!'' As he finally concluded his own thinking process, trying his best to ignore the killing intent, a wide grin sat on his face as he uttered with a harrumph, "I did it¡­ so what? What can a simple mortal like you possibly do about it, huh? Hmph! Anyway¡­ prepare to die now¡­ tch, though I admit, you''re really talented in sending someone into a bad mood!" Uttering this, he was now ready to begin his next round of attack. All along though, Virus'' sharp gaze didn''t leave the elder at all as he continued staring into the guest elder''s eyes with a dark expression so cold that anyone would tremble upon experiencing it slightly just once. "How dare you look at me like that¡­ you rascal!" As expected, the guest elder couldn''t stop himself from entering into a state of panic while looking at his gaze, however, seeing himself horrified at the sight of a mere junior also made him feel extremely humiliated inside and that made him very irritated and antagonized. ''Tch¡­ this time, no one would be able to save your fragile mortal life.'' So, as this thought popped into his head, with obvious anger apparent in his tone, he began muttering his next attack technique, "Reverse Soaring¡­" BANG~~~ However, before he could even finish, out of nowhere, something invisible seemed to hit him hard from above as he was flattened tens of meters under the ground the very next moment! Right now, just a couple of steps in front of Virus'' cold face, a gigantic crater which was almost a hundred meters in depth, width, and length had shown itself! However, the shocking thing was that¡­ there was nothing that had previously made contact with the ground or the guest elder himself! The whole scene that had occurred was that one moment prior, there was nothing as the guest elder was hovering above the ground, ready to attack¡­ however, dumbfoundingly, the very next moment, out of nowhere, a gigantic crater of tens of meters suddenly appeared on the ground a few steps in front of Virus who still wore that dark expression over his face as he muttered, "I told you you shouldn''t have done that." 195 Be Safe Then, he thought, ''Forcing me to drop a nuke on an ant-'' As he looked at the golden beauty''s destructed body, feeling a mix of indescribable emotions, he picked her body princess carry style, "It''s time to go home, Lil Belle." At the same time, just as he muttered this, on nothing but thin air, abruptly a line of light began to be drawn as the very next moment, a door was opened right in front of him which showed the inside of a certain spaceship. ''Others must''ve heard the loud noise of the spaceship crashing on that guest elder¡­ it''s better if we rise to the sky immediately.'' Thought Virus as he began to walk inside the spaceship. As he went inside, putting the golden beauty''s body on a bed in the spaceship, gazing at her sleeping face for a moment, he directly sent a command to the spaceship itself. Promptly, the spaceship began to move as it took off to the sky. Meanwhile, a voice was heard from inside the spaceship, "Warning! Only forty percent of the shield remains intact." "Time remaining until full recovery of the shield to a hundred percent, 1:24:54¡­ 1:24:53¡­ 1:24:52-" Right after they had taken off, just as he had expected, a few elders showed up there as they looked at the gigantic crater in front of them with shocked expressions. "God¡­ what happened here¡­ who could possibly create this kind of¡­" One of the elders said in bewilderment. "Ahhh¡­ I think there is someone lying down there at the bottom-" Another dumbfounded elder suddenly spotted a body as he immediately jumped inside without any hesitation. "Oh no, it''s guest elder Falcon!" While the other two elders were still staring at the crater in disbelief, they heard a shout which definitely belonged to the elder that had just jumped inside the pit. "What¡­ did he just say guest elder Falcon?" Knowing this matter seemed to be way more serious than they had initially assumed, with some beads of sweat appearing on their foreheads, both of them jumped inside in a hurry while yelling in impatience, "Is he still alive?!?" ''God¡­ please let him be alive¡­ if he''s dead¡­ our Silver Sky Sect is finished and we''re all going to be¡­ massacred!'' In the meantime, while descending, one of the elders deliberated to himself while shivering in fear. "Barely¡­ he''s barely alive, both of you¡­ hurry up." . . . "So he''s still alive." Listening to their conversation, gritting his teeth for a moment, Virus mumbled while thinking, ''It''s not an ant¡­ no, it was a cockroach.'' Virus had assumed that he would most likely die with the whole spaceship crushing him like an ant, however, now he realized that the guest elder either had a higher stage of cultivation than the level his spaceship could deal with or that he had a special means of defense which was very strong. Whatever it was, he was sure that the current him couldn''t deal with it considering the fact that the other elders had also shown up now.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. He was confident that even if his current spaceship was the weakest battle-spaceship which was used for warfare, then right now, the guest elder would be already dead over and over. But unfortunately, it was just a transportation-spaceship used only for the purpose of commuting since he didn''t have the means of creating even the weakest one among the battle-spaceships with the current level of technology he had access to at this moment. Although his transportation-spaceship had some means of offense, even before making an effort on attacking the guest elder with them, Virus was pretty confident that they wouldn''t be able to kill off the guest elder. So, the only remaining choice he had was to activate the shield completely and then drop the spaceship on him with rather fast speed. However, unexpectedly, the guest elder was still alive, and that made the flames of anger once again blaze up inside Virus'' eyes as he uttered with determination, "I''ll be back for you-" Then, looking at the golden beauty''s currently deactivated body, he voiced, "Let''s go home for now." Afterward, with great resolve filling his eyes, he took one last glance at the elder which was being taken away as the spaceship began to shoot outside the atmosphere of the Cultivation Earth and left. . . . As the spaceship was far enough from the Cultivation Earth, a rift opened in front of the spaceship as it left this world. Right after the rift closed off, like always, a very ancient man showed up in the previous location of the rift as he muttered, "I''m late again¡­ sigh, what is it exactly¡­ maybe I should¡­" . . . A few minutes ago, while Astes was walking back toward the sect in a very downcast mood, abruptly¡­ BANG~~~ "Eh¡­" She jumped in fright hearing the loud noise as he murmured, "What was that?!" After contemplating a little about what that noise could possibly be and what it implied, her face suddenly turned very ashen as she thought, ''No¡­ it couldn''t be that¡­ nothing would happen to junior brother-'' Then, as she came to herself a bit, she realized that she was already dashing toward the source of the noise, however, since her cultivation was rather low right now, it took her a while to arrive at the source of the noise. And by the time she arrived, the elders had already brought the injured guest elder away with themselves. Feeling startled after seeing the huge pit in front of her, her body began to tremble a little while staring at it, ''What happened here? Could it be that¡­ something happened to them¡­'' As this thought went through her head which was the most likely possibility, she spotted bits of scrap metal and blood splashed in a corner, which made her feel as if she had fallen to the deepest level of hell for a moment as her heart felt even more uneasy, ''Could it be that one of those greedy elders¡­ no¡­ please... be safe.'' Afterward, filled with anxiousness, she started searching around trying to find any clues which might help her understand what had happened there, however, eventually, after finding nothing, the only thing she could do was to go back and pray that both of them were still fine. END OF VOLUME THREE. 196 Danger Alarms TECHNOLOGY EARTH Watching the five drunk best friends dance like there was no tomorrow, the Security ugly couldn''t stop a wide grin from appearing on his face as he thought, ''They seem so happy¡­ especially miss¡­ I think this is the first time I''m seeing her this happy¡­ I''m glad I brought them here.'' A few minutes passed as the five friends started to slowly get separated from each other among the dancing crowds which had everyone jammed together. This obviously made the Security ugly''s job a lot harder as he had to now focus on five different people and directions at the same time. However, even if he was putting some of his focus on Ella''s best friends, around seventy percent of his focus and awareness was still on Ella since he was aware that even if he could lose the other four people, he couldn''t lose Ella even if he had to sacrifice his own life. ''They should just stick together¡­ I should notify Ella about this just in case¡­'' As he was pondering along these lines, abruptly, inside his sharp focus, he realized that one of Ella''s friend which went by the name of Mary was being dragged away by a few drunk people outside the crowd of people. Seeing this, the Security ugly was hesitant as to go or not since he understood that if he left his current location to go after Mary which was being dragged out of the dancing floor, Ella would be completely unguarded and if she was left alone without anyone to watch over her¡­ even though the possibility of something truly happening to her in this short period of time was very meager, it was still possible! ''What should I do? Maybe I should explain it to her about this whole situation and bring her over with me¡­ no¡­ it would be too late by then.'' Thought the Security ugly as he was in a deep dilemma as he remembered that he had promised Ella to protect her friends. He also couldn''t connect to the whole world to see everything from the eyes of the cameras and CCTVs since that was only permitted after his master gave his direct permission to him, so he couldn''t make sure if this was planned by someone or not, however, according to his calculations with the limited data he had at hand, he realized that there was a seventy-eight point eighty-nine percent chance that it wasn''t the case. ''She''s going to hate me if something really happens to her friend¡­ sigh, okay, let''s just trust the numbers!'' Next, this notion went through his mind as he began to move while gritting his teeth, ''I''ll deal with them in a moment and then come back in the quickest speed possible!'' As he had made a decision at last, with an extremely quick speed, the Security ugly began to move among the dancing people, however, since it was very crammed right now, his speed was slowed down by quite a bit as he continued to push his way through the throng. "Now!" At the same time, seeing the bodyguard finally gone, the boss of a particle group signaled his underlings to bring the two girls away. And receiving the signal, two people among the crammed crowd began to get closer and closer to their target. In the meantime, just as Ella and Jessica were dancing jovially, someone grabbed each of their hands as they were pulled out of the dancing crowd. However, since they were truly hammered and wasted right now, they didn''t even have the slightest of awareness to realize that their hands were being pulled, so without any kind of resistance whatsoever, both of them were pulled out of the nightclub from the back door to a very dark and empty alley. "Boss is truly smart! Truly magnificent¡­" "Hahaha¡­ great plan boss!" Just as expected of the hooligans, the first thing they did after succeeding was to flatter their boss. "Haha¡­ so it was successful¡­ you start." Seeing that their plan was successful, pointing at his suited underling beside himself, the boss uttered. "Boss¡­ can we watch as you two¡­" In the meantime, the other four underlings which were beside the two questioned with very lewd faces. "Haha¡­ okay, you watch and learn from your boss!" With a loud laugh, he agreed. Since honestly, the thought of being watched by others while fucking a beauty made him extremely aroused. "Then I shall begin first, boss, hehe¡­" In the meantime, getting the order to start first from his boss, the suited underling followed the order as he jumped on Jessica instantly and grabbed her dress with both of his hands as he¡­ ripped them apart! Rip~ "Eh..." The harsh movement of her dress being ripped apart brought some of Jessica''s consciousness back, however, she was still drunk as a skunk. "Ow¡­" "Beautiful-" At the same time, the four underlings who were watching the whole scene couldn''t stop themselves from phrasing their thoughts as they looked at Jessica''s plump milky-white breasts which were covered by her sexy black bra. "Hehe¡­ such a hot body¡­ I''m so lucky-" In the meantime, looking at those white melons, the suited man voiced as he sealed his dirty lips on Jessica''s cherry pink lips.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Mmmhhmm¡­" Jessica, who had regained even more of her consciousness by now shivered in terror as she finally realized that someone was kissing her and that the upper-half of her body was totally naked with only her bra covering her. She began to fight with all of her might, however, no matter how hard she tried, instead, it seemed like it only made the other person even more amorous as he even grabbed one of her melons inside his grip as he began to squeeze it very hard, "Mmmmm!" ''No¡­!'' Jessica thought as she continued to struggle with a red face which resulted from her being tanked up. "Haha¡­ she''s blushing¡­ she must be feeling inflamed herself¡­ she must be enjoying it, haha! We have such a naughty one here¡­" However, seeing her red face, all of them thought that was the sign of her taking pleasure from being violated, even if she pretended to struggle and resist. "Haha¡­ come on! Stop the foreplay! Just start fucking her already!" "Yeah! Hurry up! You''re not trying to make love here, you''re trying to fuck her¡­ so just start fucking her already¡­ fuck her really hard!" From the side-lines, looking at the suited-man continue kissing Jessica, the four excited underlings who were watching the whole show with hard dicks encouraged him to take things a level higher. Watching his suited underling violate Jessica''s lips and chest, an evil grin found itself on the boss'' face as he muttered, "I can''t wait anymore¡­ Ah¡­ my heart is beating so fast¡­ I wanna fuck!" Then, as he made a decision to begin too, looking at Ella who still appeared to not comprehend the situation she was in currently, he pounced toward her. . . . After the Security ugly stormed in the direction Mary was taken off to, as he finally caught up, he was about to charge at the two hooligans when he realized that both of them had a very wide grin on their faces as if they were already successful! And seeing this immediately triggered a lot of danger alarms inside the Security ugly''s head as the possibility of Ella being in danger increased substantially instantly! With the numbers increasing, not wanting to be delayed here even for a second more, he directly charged at them as he punched both of their heads with all his might. Puf~ Puf~ Next, a very distinct sound of two watermelons popping and exploding was heard as he the Security ugly charged back toward Ella''s previous location while his mechanical heart had already jumped into his mouth, ''Please be safe¡­ please, miss¡­'' Afterward, as he finally arrived at his previous spot, his face went completely ashen, "Oh no¡­ this is bad!" Realizing this was a matter of life and death now and that in case something truly happened to Ella, his master was probably going to destroy him entirely anyway, no longer caring about Virus granting him permission first, he directly connected to every phone''s camera, every CCTV, and every other source available inside and outside the nightclub while trying his best to pinpoint Ella''s current location. 197 Help In the meantime, the boss was just pouncing toward Ella when the suited man finally decided to take things a level higher as he stopped kissing Jessica and separated his mouth from her lips. "HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE! ANYONE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡­" Jessica, who was horrified of what was happening to her and especially what was going to happen to her next, seeing her sealed mouth was finally free, began to scream like there was no tomorrow as she truly hoped it would garner the attention of some passers-by or anyone else who could help her at all in her current situation. Hearing her shrill voice, made everyone''s eardrums truly hurt as they looked at her in annoyance, "Bitch! Stop yelling for help! No one''s gonna save you!" "Urrghh, my ears¡­ ouch! What a bitch!" However, what no one realized was that this scream was like a clap of thunder to the wasted Ella as her eyes turned wide-open while she finally regained some clarity as she looked around in confusion when she spotted the man who was pouncing toward her, ''Eh, what''s going on? Why am I here? Wasn''t I in the nightclub just now? What was that scream? Why is this disgusting man coming at me?'' "Ah¡­ it''s your turn now beauty¡­ come to this daddy''s embrace now!" At last, as the boss was finally right in front of Ella, he was just about to steal her lips, when the afraid Ella''s face went pale as she understood what the other man was trying to do. So, with fear covering her face, closing her eyes, wanting to defend herself with all her power, she sent her fist toward the face of the so-called disgusting man who was almost upon her. Bam! Bang! The next moment, as everyone still had a wide evil grin on their faces, abruptly, they realized something had just flown by them like a rocket! "Eh, what was that¡­" Asked a bewildered thug, not quite understanding the whole situation since his attention was previously on Jessica and the suited man who were going to elevate things soon. However, some of the thugs whose attention were clearly on their boss now wore ghastly faces which were white as a sheet, "Bossss!!!!" Seeing their boss pass from beside them like a bullet and then crash into a corner very hard, the thugs were truly dumbfounded as all of their smiles froze! They also just couldn''t comprehend how a woman can have that kind of terrifying strength. A few seconds later, when they eventually got a grip on themselves, all of them charged toward their boss'' mutilated body whose condition was unknown. In the end, as all of them understood what had just happened, with very livid expressions, they charged toward the disfigured body in order to check its current status. "He¡­ he''s not breathing!" "Check if his heart''s still beating!" "Ah¡­ no¡­ nothing¡­ Boss'' dead¡­" "What¡­?" Hearing that their boss had died just like that, blood was drained from all of their faces as they had a hard time believing what they were seeing. One of them uttered in bewilderment, "Impossible¡­ boss was alive and kicking just now¡­" In the meantime, hearing the other person had died, Ella''s face turned ashen as she looked at the corpse a few meters in front of her in shock! ''He died? Just like that? So¡­ I killed him? I murdered someone?'' These thoughts began to pass through her head as she sat there with a blank look in her eyes, however, what made her feel a hundred times more uncomfortable and painful was that she wasn''t feeling any kind of remorse or any other emotion for that matter about murdering someone. Then, raising her hands in front of her face, she looked at them as she wondered, ''What''s wrong with me??? Why am I like this? I murdered someone for god sake and I''m feeling nothing!!! These hands¡­'' Although she wasn''t really feeling anything intense right now, she understood that the act of murdering someone was the gravest sin possible, something she could never come back from. So despite all of that, she understood what she had done and that made her extremely uncomfortable inside as it pressured her conscience greatly. ''Why? Why is this happening? Why should I be in this kind of situation?'' As these notions popped into her mind, without her realizing, she began to think about Virus, ''Ai¡­ where are you¡­ why¡­ why are you not here right now? Why aren''t you here when I need you the most? Ai¡­ I''m a murderer now¡­'' "Elle¡­ are you okay?" Jessica was completely free at this moment as she was left alone after the thug boss was sent flying, so, walking beside Ella in horror, she held her hand while looking at her best friend''s face in worry. As the thugs finally accepted the fact that their boss was dead, blood began to cover their eyes as that sense of bewilderment was replaced by an intese emotion of rage! "She killed the boss¡­ I''ll slaughter her! I''ll cut her into a thousand pieces!" One of the thugs voiced while gnashing his teeth while looking at Ella. Simultaneously, the other four including the suited man also rose up as they stared in Ella''s direction in absolute hatred! The next moment, four of them took out knives from somewhere inside their bodies while the suited man searched his boss'' corpse as he picked a pistol from inside the dead man''s pocket. The two girls, including Ella, were already terrified seeing the four thugs with knives in their hands, however that wasn''t the end as they even spotted the suited man holding a gun which left them trembling and pale. "Don''t shoot yet¡­ we''ll first cut her up! It would be too easy for her to die with just a bullet." Raising his hand, one of the thugs phrased toward the suited thug. "I know¡­ I have no plans of letting her go just like that¡­ you four, go at her at once!" The suited man said while gritting his teeth.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Seeing four thugs about to charge at them with big knives in each of their hands, Ella''s expression went stiff and rigid as she knew even though she had super strength together with a very fast speed¡­ she still wouldn''t be able to dodge all of them at once while punching them simultaneously. She was aware that she didn''t have any kind of techniques or martial arts to back her strength or her speed. Moreover, since she had to protect Jessica at the same time, she understood very clearly that she wouldn''t be able to come out of this situation unscathed or even alive. She was certain that even if by some godsend luck she was able to come out of this situation alive, she wouldn''t be able to fight back against a gun and dodge a bullet! "Attack them! Make some additional holes in both of them!" Shouting, the suited thug ordered. "Alright! Attack brothers! Let''s avenge our deceased boss!" One of the other four thugs proclaimed with bloodshot eyes. "Ahhh¡­" Then screamingly, the four began to charge toward the direction of the two trembling girls. As the image of the four charging thugs reflected itself inside one of the girls'' eyes, she hopelessly thought to herself, ''Ai¡­ where are you? Sigh¡­ Would I be able to see you again?'' . . . In the meantime, without anyone realizing, in a somewhat distant place in space, outside the atmosphere of Earth, a rift opened and closed as an invisible spaceship silently came out of it. "We''re home, Lil Belle." Watching the beautiful blue planet in his line of sight, Virus uttered toward the deactivated golden beauty while hearing no response in return. ''Let''s see how everything has progressed while I was gone.. let''s see the current situation on Earth¡­'' As this thought passed through his mind, Virus directly connected himself to the waves which existed even right outside the atmosphere of Earth. Then, an instant later, he was done checking the current situation of different countries and cities in the whole world as he nodded in satisfaction, "Hmm¡­ the CEO ugly has done a good job. Great!" "I wonder how Ella and the four uglies are doing right now¡­" As he murmured this, curious, once again, he connected to one of the waves in space as he began to check the current state of those he was curious about, however, the very next moment, very unbefitting of a teenager, his eyes and expression turned so chilly and hideous that anyone would be probably left trembling from the mere sight of it. 198 Hes Mine Then, with that unsightly and dark expression of his face, not wanting to waste a second more, giving the spaceship the exact coordinates, a rift opened once again as the spaceship disappeared inside of it. In the meantime, even though he had just deactivated his ring and had to tolerate a lot of pressure on his body because of it, he still connected to his ring as he sent a new command to it, ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' . . . Meanwhile, seeing Ella gone to his extreme horrification, the Security ugly first cursed his rotten luck before searching every CCTV and every other form of eye or ear available to him. Then a few seconds later, as expected, the current location of Ella was spotted through the microphone of the cellphone that belonged to one of the thugs. ''Found her!'' Next, as he thought this, he began charging toward that alley with his fastest speed without wasting even a second more. . . . ''Am I really going to die like this?'' As the reflection of four charging thugs with knives in their hands was displaying inside Ella''s eyes, this thought went through her head. "Ahhh..." The four thugs were now just around eight meters away from Ella and this distance was getting closer and closer. Seven meters¡­ Six meters¡­ . . . Two meters! However, without anyone noticing, very quietly, a rift blinked in the sky right above the dark alley. Then, shockingly, as if a portal to another world had opened itself, a door appeared in the middle of the sky as a man whose both arms and legs were covered in scales jumped right from there. If anyone happened to see this specific scene, they would''ve probably thought that this was some kind of magic or that aliens had invaded them. Boom~ The next moment, a rather loud sound, somewhat similar to the sound of an explosion, was heard as something landed a few meters away from the charging thugs. Although everyone was startled hearing the loud noise, since there were only a meter before the collision and the start of the fight, other than the suited man, no one else looked in the direction of the explosion which was now covered in dust. By now, Ella was standing as she was ready to engage in a bloody fight with the thugs any seconds while she wondered, ''Wish I had seen him one last time before it was all over¡­'' "Ahhhhhhh, die!" All four men with the big knives in their hands were now stabbing toward Ella simultaneously as Ella gazed at the incoming knives in despair while realizing that it was indeed impossible for her to defend against all four of them. ''It seems-'' This notion of despair began to pass from Ella''s head when to her astonishment, in the very last moment, she realized that she was being hugged by one arm of someone as that certain someone had raised his other hand to easily deflect the four incoming attacks at the same time! Looking at the face of this person which was now hugging her, Ella felt a familiar feeling rise inside her, however, then she realized that it was just a teenager which she had certainly never seen before in her whole life! "Who are-" She was then just about to question who he was, when out of nowhere, to her shock, she saw a huge machine gun with red lights all over it appear in his grip as he began to shoot non-stop while a very chilly glint passed through his eyes. Bratatatatatat¡­ She watched in fear as the four thugs bodies were reduced to many pieces of raw meat. Finally, ten seconds later, she saw that the shooting had stopped. However, by now, almost nothing had remained of the four thugs as this unknown person which was hugging her had even shot their raw flesh which had dropped on the ground. The suited man was frozen still in terror by now as he watched his underlings arms and legs drop on the floor¡­ He even watched their heads explode like a watermelon which had fallen on the ground as brain matter splashed everywhere! Even their organs were not spared as different organs were now covering the alley. At last, as he was no longer able to tolerate this scene in front of him, the suited man dropped on his knees as he began vomit with a colorless face, "Bleeerghhh." Jessica too, was on her knees as she was puking all over. Her whole body was trembling while looking at the scene in front of her in horror. Then, after she was done, she felt no strength in her body as she passed out. However, for some reason, Ella didn''t seem to feel much after seeing such a gorry scene other than a mild feeling of disgust overwhelming her. While the suited man was vomiting though, Virus didn''t seem to have any intentions of shooting him down as he just watched him be done with it first. A couple of seconds later, when the suited man''s stomach was emptied out, he rose to his feet as he aimed at Virus with a trembling hand. To be more exact, his whole body was shaking in absolute fear while looking at the person in front of him in hopelessness. "Who¡­ who¡­ who are you? Why would you-" These words were the only words he could utter. There was no feeling of anger or hatred inside his eyes about losing his underlings or his boss anymore. There was only¡­ fear. ''I have to shoot him quickly before¡­ or¡­ I have to-'' These kinds of thoughts kept popping in his head as he understood that if he didn''t do it now, he was certainly going to die the very next moment. So, finally gathering all of his remaining last bits of courage, he took the shot and pulled the trigger continuously. Bang! Bang! Bang! ¡­ Just like that, closing his eyes unconsciously, he emptied all of his bullets in the direction of the person which made him filled with fear with his whole being. Then, filled with hope about the result, the suited man opened his eyes while expecting to see his target bleeding from all over his body.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Unfortunately, what he witnessed next made him only stunned and then filled with even more terror. Because, right now, someone else was standing right in front of Virus and Ella. ''He''s that bodyguard!'' The suited man thought. However, what made his dread increase even further was that all of the wounds which were showing on the body of this bodyguard began to close up and heal the very next moment, ''Oh, god¡­ who have I offended.'' "Don''t kill him. He''s mine." Then, as the Security ugly was about to dash and kill, Virus ordered with an icy tone. "Yes, master." Without any hesitation, the Security ugly bowed before storming toward the suited man as he took the pistol from his hands and grabbed his collar, waiting for his master to come and deal with him. "Who are you¡­?" Finally, as the situation seemed to have been dealt with, Ella inquired while looking into the eyes of this teenager which she had never seen before. Hearing the question, a realization hit Virus, ''Oh right, I still look like a teenager.'' "I''m¡­" Then, he was about to say something when he was interrupted by Ella''s next course of action. In the meantime, remembering she was still inside the embrace of this stranger, a blush showed itself on Ella''s face as she pushed him away and escaped from his arm. "I said¡­ Who¡­ Who are you? Do you know Ai?" She asked again. "Sleep for now." However, deciding to not say anything for now as it was too shocking to realize that your boyfriend could change the way he looked like, Virus hit her neck as she fainted. Then, gently putting her sleeping body on the ground, Virus'' expression changed to a very cold one once again as he walked before the suited man who kept begging for his life, "Please¡­ spare me¡­ please¡­ don''t kill me¡­ I''m going to die in a year anyway¡­ please." Tears and snot were also covering his face. "Not kill you? I''m sure you''re gonna change your mind soon enough." Phrasing this sentence in a chilly tone, he began to move as he brutally pulled both of his arms off. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh¡­" Obviously, as his arms were no longer a part of his body, the poor suited man started screaming as he was currently going through true hell. Not stopping there though, Virus pulled his legs too as both of his legs were also detached from his body the next moment. Looking at the yelling person without limbs in front of him, Viurs opened his mouth, "Do you still wanna live?" "Please¡­ ah¡­ please¡­ kill me¡­ Ahh¡­ Ahhh..." said the bloody suited man. "Didn''t I tell you¡­?" Feeling the punishment was enough and any more would be meaningless, punching his head, the suited man''s skull bursted as he passed away. Afterward, standing up, he stood still deadly silent without any kind of emotions showing itself on his face. Seeing this, how could the Security not understand what was going on through his master''s mind, so walking before him, "Master¡­" Slap! He was just about to continue his sentence when a slap landed on his face. This slap was so powerful that the flesh of one side of the Security ugly''s face was gone entirely. "Do you know why I hit you?" Uttered Virus very coldly with a dark face. "Yes, master. This slave deserves to die." Not daring to look into his master''s eyes, as if his eyes were stuck to the very ground itself, the Security ugly voiced. 199 Never Come Back Staring into his eyes with all seriousness, Virus finally let out a sigh of helplessness as he voiced while shaking his head, "Damn it, Security ugly, be more careful from now on!" "Yes, master." Understanding that the storm seemed to have passed, the Security ugly uttered while celebrating inside. Then, Virus gave his new set of orders, "Okay, call those people and have them take Ella''s friends back to their home." Picking up the sleeping Ella, he added further, "Also, I''ll drop you off at Ella''s with my spaceship. Continue watching over her there and let me know when something happens." "Yes, master¡­ by the way, should I clean up these bodies?" Pointing at the various body parts left on the ground, the Security ugly inquired to which Virus'' reply was that there was no need for such action, "Just leave them be, they deserve to remain like this." Afterward, first, Virus put Ella inside the spaceship as he patiently waited for her friends to be gathered before sending them away with some loyal people who worked for the Virus Industries. ''If something happens to them¡­ she might be upset with me, so I better-'' Of course, Virus also did some quick background check on them in order to see if there was a risk of anything going wrong due to them. After making sure they were clean, and that they had quite a stable mentality, he was relieved. But still, just to be sure he continued having them under surveillance while they were being taken back to their houses. . . . After dropping Ella and the Security ugly off at her house, Virus finally returned to his private island where the Island ugly was already waiting. "Welcome ba¡­ uh, master! What happened to Miss Bella?" The Island ugly was shocked seeing the golden beauty''s condition in Virus'' arms, ''What did they go through for her to end up like this?'' Speechless, the Island ugly wondered. He understood clearly that the golden beauty''s body was even harder than their extremely durable bodies, yet, she was wrecked to that state and that startled him to no ends. "Let''s go fix her up." Not bothering to explain, Virus replied as he began walking toward the parked SUV beside the spaceship. "Did anything particular happen while I was gone?" Although he could figure everything out by himself in just a moment, he didn''t do that since he had previously decided to live and enjoy the entertaining life of a human being which was, to be frank, quite interesting to him right now. So he inquired directly. "Um¡­ not much, since the world is in chaos right now, the atoll and matters related to it are pretty much safe. However, before the worldwide disease was announced to the world, the Seychelles government visited the island and they even searched our building." Elaborated the Island ugly with a frown. To Virus, It was clear that Seychelles wouldn''t be able to find anything wrong with the island since everything was secretly done miles under the ground. Nevertheless, hearing that the government had investigated them, Virus'' mood turned even more sour as he uttered, "The world thinks this atoll is just a place for me to enjoy myself¡­ though if anyone investigates our company a bit, they would realize that the technologies are popping out of nowhere and that would make them believe there is a hidden team of highly intelligent scientists plus very advanced technologies concealed somewhere¡­ and obviously¡­ this atoll is the most suspicious place they can think of, so the Seychelles government must''ve come for some treasure hunting that might benefit them, tch." ''Maybe it''s time to-'' As this incomplete notion went through his head, shaking his head he stated, "Forget it for now¡­ let''s go fix Lil Belle." Afterward, Virus himself began to attach new body parts to the golden beauty while the Island ugly helped from the sidelines. . . . Two hours later, the golden beauty''s eyelids began to flutter as they slowly opened, "Master¡­?" She mumbled in confusion. "You''re awake, Lil Belle." Said Virus with a reassuring chuckle. "Where are we? Weren''t we¡­ what happened?" Thinking about the last thing she could remember, the golden beauty''s queried anxiously. "Don''t worry everything''s fine. We''re home now, you''re safe¡­" He comforted in a soft voice. ''Thank god, but I didn''t want master to see me like this¡­'' Looking down at her own body which didn''t have any flesh in many places, the golden beauty responded in a downcast tone, "I see¡­" Seeing her dispirited way of behavior, assuming she didn''t like to remain in this fleshless state, Virus said, "Let''s go¡­ both of us should change back to our original forms¡­ like that, your flesh will be recovered too." "En." She nodded with unknown thoughts going through her head. Soon, inside the First Floor of the Underground World, an extremely beautiful girl with golden hairs and golden eyes exited the Shape-Shifter Technology with a bright smile showing itself on her face as she inquired with a quick twirl, "Hehe, how do I look in my original looks master?" "Does that even need asking? My Belle is the most beautiful girl in the whole world! A beauty that would ruin worlds!" Replied Virus proudly while thinking, ''The way she acts has gone through a 180-degree transformation.'' Listening to his words, a crescent smile appeared on the golden beauty''s face. A couple of minutes later, the Shape-Shifter Technology''s entrance was opened once again as a mind-boggling devilish man walked out of it. As he came out though, deciding to cheer the golden beauty up a little, taking a funny yet tempting pose, he muttered, "How do I look?" "Pfft-" As expected, suddenly, she burst out laughing before continuing, "Master''s the most handsome!" "Right?" Placing her two fingers under his chin, said Virus while gazing into her eyes. . . . "Take this fruit and restore it to its original shape. Be careful while carrying it¡­ this fruit is very important to me. It''s the reason why we left for so long." Stating this, he threw the Brisk Balance Fruit toward the shocked Island ugly who promptly increased his accuracy to the maximum in order to catch the fruit in a way so no pressure or damage would be relayed to the fruit itself. ''Sigh¡­ Why do you throw it at me if it''s so important!'' Sighing in relief after catching the fruit, the Island ugly thought in defeat. Though he didn''t dare to say it out loud. "Also, you have two days to gather the rest of the necessary material." As soon as this order was given, a list of material together with their picture popped into the Island ugly''s head. ''Cold Dark Fungi, the heart of a Sun Bone Fish, Blue Rock Grass, Blue Flame Flower, and Golden Dried Sand Vine.'' Seeing the list of plants and animals, the Island ugly was speechless as he ruefully smiled, ''You want me to gather these things I''ve never heard of nor have I seen before in mere two days?'' Externally though, he accepted the command as he quried, "Um, Master, where can I find these things?" "Use the radar to pinpoint the exact location of each material¡­ however, since you need a rough address to look for¡­ let me explain a bit." Uttering this, Virus continued, "First you need to know that all of the things I mentioned can only grow and live in extreme places on Earth where no one has access to at the current day and time-" Taking a sip from his teacup at this point, he stopped talking for a moment as he pondered, ''Ah¡­ I truly missed this tea. The tea there was utter trash!'' Then he added, "Cold Dark Fungi can only be found deep inside the ices of the south pole. The Sun Bone Fish and the Blue Rock Grass can both only live and grow at the very bottom of the ocean itself under extreme pressure and absolute darkness." Taking another sip, he continued, "Then there is the Blue Flame Flower which can grow deep inside the lava of an active volcano¡­ and lastly there is the Golden Dried Sand Vine which grows at the unreachable bottom of the Sahara desert." "You can use the spaceship in whatever way you like in order to reach those places¡­ just don''t forget to activate the shield first or you might never come back." He concluded with an amused grin.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ''Are you seriously grinning thinking about my death right now?!?'' Speechless once again, out of frustration, the Island ugly thought screamingly. ********* DEFINITELY read the Creator''s Thought. 200 Deepest Par "Uh¡­ what a bad headache. Where am-" Grabbing her forehead with one hand, Ella''s eyelashes began to tremble as it slowly fluttered open. A light of clarity appeared inside her eyes as it was soon replaced by confusion after looking around herself and realizing she was on her own bed already, "Eh, how did I come back?" At this time, her room''s door was slowly opened as a middle-aged woman walked inside with a glass of water, "Gee, Elle! Why did you get so drunk last night? You should thank god that Aizen sent his friend to watch over you, otherwise how would''ve you come back? Do you even know how drunk you were? You had completely passed out!" "Hmm?" Hearing this, Ella''s mind began to race as she began to remember, ''Last night¡­ I was at the nightclub and then-'' At this point, her face abruptly went pale as she arrived at the point where she and Jessica were dragged out of the nightclub into a very dark alley by some thugs! However, unfortunately, her memories of that moment were extremely foggy to the point that she couldn''t recollect what had happened afterward at all. Seeing her daughter in a daze, assuming it was because of the terrible hangover she was experiencing, after letting out a sigh of helplessness, she began strolling out of the room while uttering, "Sigh, drink the water, it''ll help." Fear overcame her as she hurriedly tried recalling the rest in panic, ''No¡­ please, come on Ella, remember!'' ''No, no, no¡­ first I need to call Jessica and make sure she''s fine!'' Immediately picking her cellphone, she called Jessica. Beep~ Beep~ "He¡­ hello? Who is this? Ah, I have such a headac-" Interrupting her, Ella anxiously questioned, "It''s me, Ella! Are you okay Jess?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. With a giggle, she replied, "Oh, Elle¡­ hmm, why wouldn''t I be okay? Why are you bothering me so early in the morning, lemme sleep! Eh, but how did I come back? I can''t recall a thing after we got so drunk. Hehe, did mister prince in white horse''s bodyguards brought me back? Ouch, my head!" "You really don''t remember?" Having some doubts, Ella asked again. Growing curious, Jessica inquired, "Huh? Why do you keep asking that? Could it be¡­ did I do something naughty? Oh my god, what did I do?" ''She can''t remember either?'' Deliberating, Ella muttered before hanging up, "Oh nothing, since I can''t remember much either¡­ I thought you would. Anyway, as long as you''re fine, it''s okay. Will call you back later." It was unknown why Jessica couldn''t place the incidents of the previous night, it might''ve been because of the trauma she received as a result of going through such a horrible experience or maybe because she had been extremely drunk at the time. "I need to recall what happened no matter what! Otherwise, I will no longer have the courage to look into Ai''s eyes¡­ However, if something truly happened last night, then-" Muttering to this point, her whole body began to tremble as some traces of tears showed on her face, "Sob, no, nothing must''ve happened-" "I, I should ask the Security bro-" Mumbling this, she reached to her phone once again before hesitating, ''But¡­ but what if something truly happened- no, no¡­ Security bro must''ve protected me.'' "Hello miss, do you need something?" Came the Security ugly''s voice from the other side of the line. "Secur¡­ Security bro, where¡­ where are you right now?" Stuttering a bit, she queried. "Hmm? Of course, I''m inside the van in front of your house? Did something happen?" His whole body tensing up, the Security ugly questioned. "No, I''m coming to see you, I''ve got something to ask." Promptly hanging up, she rushed out of the house. . . . "What is-" The Security ugly was just about to complete his sentence when Ella jumped in the middle of his words, "What happened last night??? I can''t remember what happened after I was brought to the dark alley¡­ could it be that I''ve been already...?" Instantly, a sharp light passed through the Security ugly''s eyes, ''Hmm? She can''t remember?'' ''Should I tell her that master saved her?'' Thinking up to this point, he recalled how Virus didn''t confess it was him who had saved her and didn''t even say that he could change his appearance, he contemplated ''No, master obviously didn''t want her to know. Should I lie?'' Arriving at a decision, understanding that the first and the most important thing he needed to do right now was to reassure Ella, he phrased his thought, "Don''t worry, miss. I know what''s going through your head. But please be rest assured that nothing like that happened because I arrived in time and saved you." Listening to his words, filled with doubt, she prayed, "Really?" "Really! Why would I-" Before finishing his sentence, his eyes went wide open as he realized that a specific someone had charged into hugging him, "Sob, thank you!" ''Ah, I don''t wanna die¡­ please let me go miss.'' The Security ugly was frozen still in terror by now as he didn''t dare to move in the slightest because although he knew this hug was just a way of thanking him and didn''t really mean anything, he couldn''t be sure if Virus who was definitely watching would get mad over this and destroy him forever. "Ah¡­ okay, miss, you''re welcome. No need to mention it again." Finally coming to himself, with perspiration already covering his forehead, he pushed Ella away in a nervous and horrified manner. Fortunately though, even after Ella left, nothing such as a specific spaceship flattening him or his data and codes abruptly being deleted did not happen. . . . Two days passed just like that as Virus was currently laying back on a lounger beside the beach while taking a sip from his orange juice from time to time. ''I need to check my [Existential Codes] as soon as possible since I feel like something might be wrong with it. But¡­ I need to create a certain tool that''s almost one grade higher than the current level of technology I can make at the moment, so, unfortunately, it''s impossible for me to do that right now-'' As this line of thought was passing through his mind, it was stopped by a certain golden beauty who was sunbathing right beside him in her red bikini, "Master, what are you thinking so deeply about?" {A/N: Existence Codes has been changed to Existential Codes¡­ since I feel like it rhymes better.} "¡­ Nothing much. How is it? Are you enjoying the beach?" Instead of replying, Virus changed the topic cleverly. "Ah¡­ Very much¡­ Master-" Then, she appeared to want to say something, however, just as she was about to pronounce her piece of mind, her cheeks turned red as she didn''t continue. "What is it, Lil Belle? Just tell me, it''s okay." Quickly catching that she seemed to have some difficulties expressing her thoughts, Virus asked back. "Um, okay. Master¡­ can you help me put some sunscreen lotion on my back?" By now, her flushing face was as red as it could possibly get. Hearing the simple request, an amused light showed itself inside Virus eyes before mouthing with a hearty laugh, "Haha, sure. We have around half a day before the Island ugly''s finished anyway, so let''s enjoy the rest of our remaining time together." After that, rising into a sitting position, he picked up the lotion that was placed beside the lying golden beauty before popping open its lid. "Half a day? He''s still not done finding the materials? Where is he right now?" Watching Virus pour the lotion on his palm, a bashful expression displayed itself on the golden beauty''s face as she tried to lessen the feeling of shyness she was having by changing the subject. "Uh¡­" Not catching up the small moan which had uncontrollably escaped from the golden beauty''s mouth when he had gently placed his palm on her jade white back, he began to slowly rub it while adding, "He''s currently at the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. Since even the shield of the spaceship can only last for an hour before breaking apart from the pressure, he''s forced to wait for a few hours every time the shield is at its limits and that''s why it''s taking some time for him to return." 201 The Golden Beautys Resolve "I¡­ I see¡­ but why hasn''t the radar already found the things on that list?" Hiding her face which couldn''t get redder, she inquired stutteringly. "Well, it''s not that simple, first, it''s much harder for that tool to pinpoint a plant or something similar under the pressurized water. Secondly, it cannot pinpoint the location of the living creatures. And that''s what the Island ugly''s currently after, the Sun Bone Fish. It''s better if you watch it yourself, here¡­ look." After he was done talking, Virus connected a part of himself to the golden beauty as a screen immediately displayed itself in front of both of them which showed the current situation of the Island ugly. "Uh-" The golden beauty was a bit surprised by the sudden hovering screen that had abruptly popped into existence in front of her. However, soon, as if she had finally found a way to distract herself from the rubbing hands on her back, she started watching the screen in front of her quietly. . . . "Sigh" Letting out a frustrated sigh, the Island ugly pondered to himself, ''When am I going to find this stupid fish! I''ve been searching everywhere for hours now and I still haven''t found it! And there''s still another material I need to find after this!'' Currently, looking at the dark bottom of the ocean in front of him, the Island ugly''s focus was a full hundred percent as he watched the quickly passing by scenery in front of him. Soon, a voice resounded inside the spaceship which was followed by a sigh, "Warning, the shield has been weakened to the state of having only ten percent of its defense strength remaining, rising to the higher levels of the ocean until the complete recovery of the shield is strongly recommended." "Sigh, failed again." . . . A few hours passed just like that as the Island ugly continued searching for the fish when finally, he spotted a tiny bright golden light almost the same size of an infant''s fist moving around in front of him. So, letting out a loud scream of victory, the Island ugly proclaimed, "Found it! Yes!!!" Then, putting on the underwater suit wristwatch, he began moving to the back of the spaceship where he dived into the pressurized bottom of the ocean as he chased after the fleeing strange fish. . . . One more day passed very quickly. At this time, an invisible spaceship landed on a private island very quietly without anyone noticing. "Master, everything''s gathered per order" Bowing deferentially in front of a devilish man, the Island ugly stated. "You''re one day late." However, his response was an extremely icy reply which sent shivers down the Island ugly''s spine, "I¡­ I''m sorr-" "Look at you, I was just joking. Take it easy, haha¡­ good job anyway." Seeing his face go pale, Virus said while laughing out loud in entertainment. ''Screw you! I swear you enjoy making fun of me like this, you sadist master!'' Came the loud yell, albeit, it was only heard inside his own artificial brain, in his realm of thoughts. Afterward, Virus gave him his new orders, "Bring the other ''Maker Device Apothecary'' to my room for now." "Yes, master."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Oh, also, what happened to the fruit by the way? Is it ready? Did you restore it?" As if he had just remembered it, Virus inquired. "I made the arrangement before leaving three days ago. It should be restored entirely by now, I''ll bring that over too." Replied the Island ugly respectfully before leaving. Twenty minutes later, a new ''MDA'' was placed in front of Virus, this was not the ''MDA'' he had in the highest floor of his 4 Times Square building, but the second one he had ordered to be made in the past, just in case. Beside the ''MDA'', there were six materials placed in an orderly manner with the most eye-catching among them being a dead fish which was lightly giving off a golden light even though it was already dead. There were also a few dark fungi placed right beside the ''MDA'' which were shockingly giving off a very cold vibe from themselves. Other than these, there was also a hard rock, a fiery red hot flower, a fruit, and a golden vine situated on the table. "You can leave, don''t come back until I''m finished¡­" Ordering the Island ugly to leave, Virus murmured, "Finally, everything''s ready." Then turning toward the golden beauty beside him, he voiced with a smile, "Lil Belle, you keep guard beside me while I make it¡­ I can''t be disturbed at all throughout the whole process, not even in the slightest." Listening to her master''s words, the golden beauty was surprised as she asked, "Hmm? You need to focus on the process? Master, didn''t you just need to put some commands into the ''MDA'' the previous times and everything was done by the tool itself¡­ why is it any different this time?" Letting out a laugh, Virus began elaborating in order to clear the confusion inside Ella''s burning eyes of curiosity, "Haha, that''s actually very simple¡­ let''s assume we have two blades of grass of the same type¡­ now, even though these two are both from the same type of grass, there are still some very minor differences between them in their very essence." Raising both of his hands, he continued, "This brings us to my point¡­ you see, in the previous drugs I prepared¡­ I just needed to give its general structure to the ''MDA'' and it would handle it roughly according to that general DNA I gave it and like that, those minor differences didn''t matter at all as they didn''t have much influence on the overall effect I wanted to create." "But this time¡­ it''s different! And even the most minor of differences matter! So this time¡­ I need to process them myself and carefully focus even on the most minor of details in order to know how much I need to continue a particular process in order to achieve what I''m after. What I wanna say is that I would need to manually stop when it''s necessary to stop and carefully control how much pressure, etc. I put on each of the material along with many other phases. Anyway, this is all because the ''MDA'' is incapable of handling that kind of complex process¡­ so I need to do it manually step by step." Putting on an extremely focused expression, he explained further. "Actually, a more simple example would be comparing it to Alchemy¡­ especially in it''s earlier stages since the higher stages of Alchemy in the Cultivation Multiverse is even more complex than this and has other aspects to it too¡­ Anyway, do you understand my point now, Lil Belle?" Gently smiling, Virus concluded. With a shimmer of understanding going past her eyes, the golden beauty vocalized while nodding her head, "Oh¡­ I see! Yep, I get it now. So that''s how it is¡­ okay, don''t worry about anything, master. I''ll protect you with my life and I won''t allow anyone disturb master''s short period of seclusion." She finished her words with great determination. "That''s my Lil Belle, thanks." Patting her head with a chuckle, Virus said before walking before the ''MDA'' and picking up one of the materials situated before him. 202 Processing Picking up the Cold Dark Fungi which grew at the bottom of the gigantic frozen ices of the south pole, a very cold sensation transmitted into his palm, ''So cold¡­ if the current Earth discovers these simple-looking Fungi, it would be enough for at least two groundbreaking discoveries¡­'' By this point, some traces of frozen ice was showing up on his palm, so no longer waiting, he threw it inside the ''MDA'' as he then closed its lid and then released his strange sense of awareness, which could cover a certain distance around him, inside the ''MDA''. Although he could clearly see the inside environment of the ''MDA'' through its see-through glass, he still extended his awareness to cover all over it. ''Hmm, good, like this, I can catch every little change occurring inside the ''MDA'' without missing almost anything.'' As this notion went through his mind, strange-codes from an unknown language began to show up on the hovering 3D screen in front of him. These were the necessary codes for the adjustment of the ''MDA'' for the manual control and a few other functions that didn''t need to be controlled manually in the procedure of this specific material. ''Done.'' As this thought went through his head, in the space around the Fungi, a red flame began to lit and burn slowly as its intensity grew by every second. However, a mist-like gas was also released inside the closed-environment of the ''MDA'' which gradually mixed with the red flame. This flame was an ordinary red fire which was considered one of the weakest flames even to the current Earth. At first, the flame was hardly visible, ''526 ¡ãC¡­ barely visible¡­ I need more intensity.'' As this line appeared inside Virus'' head, the flame started to intensify as it turned dull red, ''714 ¡ãC¡­ need more''. After that, the intensity grew even further as more of that mist-like gas also fused with the fire. Finally, when the flame started to turn into a cherry-dull red in color, the Fungi began to show reaction as it began to steadily melt into a muddy-dark green liquid form. Anyone watching this scene from the modern Earth would''ve been greatly surprised seeing this strange phenomenon in front of them. Because instead of burning the fungi, a simple flame was gently changing it into a form of liquid! This strange occurrence was as a result of that mist-like gas mixing with fire, which took away the red flame''s capability of burning the fungi and instead made it extremely gentle without lowering or affecting its heat in the least. With this gentleness, if the degree of the flame required to utilize on each material was realized, anyone would be able to liquefy whatever plant they wanted in order to grasp their essence. Moreover, what was shocking about this method of gathering the essence was that it could transform those ingredients in startling ways as even their qualities increased further. ''All of it was successfully liquified¡­ good! I had to change the degree of red fire in each and every single layer. Though even the most intense heat I needed was the cherry-clear red flame which is about 1000 ¡ãC¡­ and so, even the most basic orange fire wasn''t required in the liquefying process¡­'' Analyzing inside his mind, he continued, ''Now, I need to burn away the impurities remaining inside the liquid fungi and get closer to their true essence¡­ this is even harder since I have to pay close attention to every minor detail in order to not burn away the essential pure liquid with the impurities too. At its hardest, the border between burning away the purity together with the impurities is only a single degree Celsius¡­ though luckily it''s only like that for some incredibly difficult to purify ingredients and not this one.'' As he concluded inside himself, the flame actually began to grow more fierce as it changed into deep orange in color. Then, at some point, the flame stabilized at the deep orange color as smoke began to rise inside the closed environment of the ''MDA'' before disappearing. These smokes were the impurities being burned away from the green fungi liquid. Five minutes later, a very bright green liquid which was as clear as water displayed itself in front of Virus. This was the sign that the first required ingredient for what he was about to create was successfully finished as it was already processed to its necessary degree. Even though a certain amount of impurities still existed inside the liquid fungi, Virus didn''t continue burning them away since not all impurities were useless. ''Done! Now it''s the Golden Dried Sand Vine''s turn.'' Pondering this, he picked the next material which gave him a very crispy and warm feeling. Afterward, repeating the previous process, Virus began to liquefy and then burn away the impurities in the Golden Dried Sand Vine. The only difference this time was that he had to utilize an even more strong flame throughout the process. In the first liquefying phase, a deep orange flame around 1126 ¡ãC was required while in the purifying stage, the flame transformed into a clear orange color with 1241 ¡ãC of heat.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. These repetitive steps continued as next the heart of the Sun Bone Fish and the Blue Rock Grass were also thrown into the ''MDA''. After that, throwing the Brisk Balance Fruit into the ''MDA'', Virus continued. The final result of the Brisk Balance Fruit was a colorless essence which was astoundingly giving off a slight bright light from itself. Next, it was the last ingredients turn to be processed, the Blue Flame Flower. This was the most difficult ingredient for Virus to process and that''s why he left it for the last one. The difficulty for this flower lay in the fact that it was extremely difficult for it to be liquefied since it could endure even the extreme heat levels of the burning lava. Ultimately, only by utilizing a white flame was he able to complete the procedure. ''Phew, the first part is over¡­ that took some energy even from me since I had to keep my awareness fully focused inside the ''MDA'' on every minute changes throughout the whole operation.'' Thought Virus while cleaning a few beads of sweat which were about to roll down from his forehead. Then, turning around toward the golden beauty, he uttered, "The first part is done Lil Belle, now I can rest before starting the second part. Can you please brew me some tea in the meantime?" By now, she had already walked before him as she softly cleaned his forehead with a tissue and stated while wearing a crescent smile, "Sure, master. Please wait." Sometime later, she came back carrying a tea tray which had a teapot and a teacup on it. "So master, I''m really curious, what were those different flames? How could they liquefy those ingredients?" While pouring him some tea from the teapot, the golden beauty inquired. "Those flames? Oh, they were only natural flames¡­ they could only temporarily have the attribute of liquefying the ingredients through a special type of gas." While staring at the beautiful color of the tea, Virus stated. "Oh, I see¡­but those flames actually also had different colors¡­ are they really no different than normal flames? Is the ranking of their heat the same as the general data that''s available over the internet? I mean¡­ from the weakest to the strongest, is it respectfully, red, orange, yellow, and so on?" She asked further. Hearing this, Virus directed his gaze at the golden beauty as he replied, "Yeah that''s correct, it''s the same as that. More accurately, it''s red, orange, yellow, white, blue, and violet¡­ these are the flames that can be produced most conveniently and they are actually the current limit of the ''MDA''." "Amazing¡­" Awestruck, the golden beauty murmured. Seeing how impressed she seemed, shaking his head, Virus continued, "Actually, there is no need to be amazed or anything, since these flames are considered the lowest of the low in the Cultivation Multiverse and their cultivators only see it as nothing more than utter trash, to be honest. All of these flames which can''t burn by themselves are called the Mortal fires and they are mainly used by mortals over there. The flames employed by the cultivators are instead those above the Mortal rank." Listening to his elaboration of the flames, the golden beauty seemed to be greatly bewildered hearing that all these flames were simply considered garbage, "Sigh¡­ I see. The world is truly endless and my knowledge seems to be nothing compared to the whole world¡­" With a burst of loud laughter, Virus proclaimed, "Haha, of course¡­ even I, with a monstrous amount of knowledge, can''t claim that I know a lot about the whole world¡­ the universe itself is simply limitless and there are almost infinite unknown things in it¡­ and I''m only talking about one single universe here¡­ if we consider multiverses too¡­ then-" By the end of his words, Virus simply went quiet and didn''t continue. In his past world of the future, mankind was actually never able to fathom the enormity of the entire universe since every time they thought they finally grasped the limits of their universe, they were repeatedly proven otherwise at some point. So in the end, they could only assume it was simply limitless. However, after searching the universe for countless years, in the end, they still assumed that there would be no further helpful knowledge that would be of much use to them and that''s why they focused on the project of multiverse-traveling. 203 Totally Worthless MOSCOW, RUSSIA A man was sitting in a luxurious room when suddenly, the door of his room was forcibly pushed open by a person who charged inside without even bothering to knock. Seeing this, the unknown man who was already in a bad mood was just about to yell and relieve some of his accumulated anger on this rude newcomer, when the intruder voiced rather loudly while trying his best to take in oxygen to no avail, "Sir! One¡­ of our satellites has just¡­ spotted the current location of the chairman of the Virus Industries, Aizen Vee! He''s finally shown himself!" Hearing this, the other man seemed to entirely forget about his previous feeling of rage as he inquired with shiny eyes of anticipation, "Really? Where is that bastard right now?" "Reporting to sir, our team in charge of finding him were just watching his private island as usual when they spotted him relaxing on the beach of his island together with a beauty." Elaborated the other man in a respectful tone. By now, he could breathe more normally as he was a lot less tired. "That bastard had disappeared for so long¡­ and now he''s enjoying his life while embracing different beauties in his embrace as if nothing happened?" Said the man shakingly, obviously in rage and anger. ''The way he died was the same as those fucking garbage assassins. And it was revealed that the Virus Industries was the most likely suspect behind the massacre of their members¡­ and moreover, it can''t be a coincidence that both of us just happened to make an enemy out of that company, and then both of their enemies died the exact same way! There is no fucking coincidence like this in the world! ''He'' must''ve been killed by this bastard Aizen! He must be the mastermind behind all this! That''s the only logical explanation. Damn it, I can''t believe we had previously mistakenly assumed either that slut or the male bodyguard had murdered him and so we killed both of them! They both still deserved to die though, since they failed to protect him.'' Gritting his teeth, the unknown man pondered before uttering, "Good! It''s time for payback, go notify my dear brother that we''ve finally found him. He''ll be so happy¡­ call him over so we can discuss and decide on our next course of action for dealing with him." Prior to seeing the unsightly deaths of the members of the Heaven Assassination Organization which was exactly the same as the Russian CEO, the people behind the Russian CEO had believed he was most likely murdered by that female bodyguard the Russian CEO happened to be fucking that same night. Another less likely possibility they had considered was that the male bodyguard had killed him. Thus, thinking along the line of ''Better kill ten innocents rather than allowing one guilty to escape unpunished'', they had ended the life of both of them who they deemed as ''Totally worthless''. However, after witnessing the massacre of the assassins of Heaven, they shockingly realized that all of this might not have been as simple as they had previously believed. And that there was a much bigger truth going on behind Russian CEO''s death! "Yes, sir." Voicing this, the intruder retreated reverentially. Before he could exit the room though, he once again heard the unknown man talk, "Also, tell the chief in charge of those people to be prepared¡­ we will probably need them soon." "Ah¡­ those people¡­ is it necessary to¡­ I mean¡­" With some beads of sweat appearing on his forehead, the other man was just about to continue when he was interrupted by a shout of anger, "Shut up if you don''t wanna die and just do what I told you to do!" Hearing this, the other man promptly went pale as he accepted the order and fleed the scene with his tail between his legs. ______________ After drinking his cup of tea, looking into the golden beauty''s eyes shortly, Virus stated, "That was great! I always enjoy drinking your tea, Lil Belle. Thanks!" Afterward, standing up he began to walk before the ''MDA'' once again while muttering, "I''ll bother you to continue guarding me, Lil Belle." Then, not even waiting to hear the golden beauty''s response, Virus once again immersed himself in the process of creating what he needed. Thus, releasing his awareness inside the ''MDA'' again, Virus first looked at all of the different liquids inside the separate compartments of the ''MDA'' before pulling back his sense of awareness as he brought his right hand above the ''MDA'' and abruptly cut his palm with a knife. Drip~ Drip~ Drip~ The golden beauty who was watching all of this from right beside him was absolutely dumbfounded and shocked because she hadn''t anticipated such a scene to take place in front of her all of a sudden! "Master!" Shouting, she was just about to charge toward him to tend to the rather wide cut on his palm when raising his hand, Virus stopped him, "No need to panic. Don''t worry, this is just a shallow cut, so it won''t pose a single threat for me¡­" Phrasing this, Virus picked a clean piece of cloth as he tied it around his wound. Then, focusing inside the ''MDA'' once again, he watched as an orange fire began to burn around his blood in the ''MDA'' which slowly began to vaporize more and more until less than a single drop of blackish-red blood had remained inside it. ''This should be enough¡­'' As this notion passed through his head, one of the separate compartments inside the ''MDA'' was opened as a colorless bright liquid was released from it. This was the liquid which had resulted from processing the Brisk Balance Fruit. The moment this special liquid was allowed entry into the main compartment in the ''MDA'', it naturally rolled until making contact and mixing with the scarce deep-colored blood. Immediately, a yellow flame mixed with a strange gas started to directly burn the newly fused slightly red liquid inside it. For two minutes, this process of burning continued when finally the white flame disappeared entirely and only a small amount of pink liquid remained there. ''The hard part begins now¡­'' As he thought this, a white flame began to burn the pink liquid inside it when the essence of the Cold Dark Fungi and the Blue Flame Flower were also released in the main section of the ''MDA'' as they blended with the pink liquid. Then, astonishingly, as if they were meant to be together in the first place, they began to harmoniously fuse. What was astonishing about this simple occurrence is related to the original attribute of the Cold Dark Fungi and the Blue Flame Flower. Since these two could be considered to be the very two extremes of fire and ice, they should''ve naturally rejected each other. This was because the Cold Dark Fungi released a very icy sensation from itself and it actually slightly froze anything that it touched, while the Blue Flame Flower was a very hot liquid that could even start fire! So, it was basically impossible for them to mix together without one of them destroying the other. However, surprisingly, they naturally began to mix together without any kind of resistance or without dealing any kind of damage to the other!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. This was naturally because of the existence of the Brisk Balance Fruit. One of the benefits of the Brisk Balance Fruit was that it could help merge different materials of complete opposition together! After they had all combined, Virus continued keeping them under the white flame which gradually weakened into becoming a yellow fire. At this moment, all of a sudden, Virus also freed the remaining three essences of the Blue Rock Grass, Golden Dried Sand Vine, and the heart of Sun Bone Fish which also happened to be of complete opposition to one another. And the moment these three fluids came into contact with the burning essence in the middle of the ''MDA'', a very intense light began to shine as if a flash bomb was dropped into the room. But, before the light had even started to shine, Virus who was already aware of this kind of reaction had closed his eyes beforehand since there was no need for him to even keep them open. All he needed was his sense of awareness which was completely unaffected. 204 Corporeal Tempering "Ah!" Unfortunately, the golden beauty was unaware of this reaction as she kept her eyes open. "Finally, it''s ready!" Then, opening his eyes, Virus exclaimed with some enthusiasm as he looked at the finished product inside the ''MDA'' which was automatically poured inside a futuristic-looking syringe. Picking up the syringe, Virus gazed at it carefully as the golden beauty also walked beside him and looked at the colorless liquid inside the syringe while muttering in some confusion, "How did it become colorless?" "Hmm?" Hearing this Virus offered the syringe to her before phrasing, "Here, put it directly under the shining light of the lamp." Although the golden beauty didn''t quite understand why she had to do this, still, picking the colorless syringe, she raised it above her head and kept it right under the bulb of the lamp. "Ah¡­ am¡­ amazing! How can it be so beautiful! What is this?" The next moment, her eyes began to shine brightly as she looked at the scene in front of her in fervor. Before putting it under the bulb of the light, the liquid was only a tasteless liquid without any color. However, after she placed it underneath the lamp¡­ as if it had come to life by itself, it transformed into a chaotic rainbow, as a variety of colors began to twinkle and flicker inside the liquid itself! Staring into the golden beauty''s obviously curious eyes, Virus began explaining patiently, "This is the final result of all those materials fusing together into forming a type of perfect fluid through my method of combination. In my previous world, it was called the Rapid Concurrent Crystalline¡­ however, that would''ve been its name if I had used the Stabilizer Rapid Essence. But now, because I used the Brisk Balance Fruit instead of that¡­ I have the right to give it a new name since a combination like this was never tried before. You see, it''s truly something nameless and entirely brand new." Afterward, Virus seemed to have sunk into a deep state of contemplation, ''Considering all of its attributes and benefits¡­ I should name it¡­'' Two seconds later, having decided, he uttered in a relaxed manner, "I shall name it the Synchronous Transformations Crystal!" Hearing the novel title, the golden beauty was amazed at first, but a moment later, a light of uncertainty covered it as she queried further, "Master¡­ this is clearly liquid... but why would you still add the word Crystal at the end of its label?" Hearing the logical inquiry, a knowing grin of amusement showed up on Virus'' face as he uttered in a clear tone, "You will understand later." That was all he mouthed before going silent again. "Uh, okay¡­ I won''t ask about that for now. But if I''m not wrong this is what you need for your next stage of cultivation, right master?" Wanting to understand further, she asked. "Yes." Came the simple response from Virus. Wearing a pitiful expression on her face, she began mumbling, "Um! So now¡­ can you please tell me what''s the next stage called? I mean¡­ master hasn''t even told me what''s the next stage''s name is since you like to be so secretive all the time!" By the end of her words, it was as if her face was yelling that she has been greatly wronged. "Hahaha¡­ of course¡­ it''s finally the time for you to at least know this stage''s title. However, I''ll only tell you its name and some general info regarding the first three levels of this stage. I won''t be telling you the more specific details about it until its appropriate time arrives." With a peal of loud laughter, Virus stated. "Ahhh, master''s so stingy! But alright¡­ I''ll be satisfied with that for now." With a light of dissatisfaction glimmering in her eyes, she proclaimed while hesitatingly nodding her head. "Haha, so here comes the greatly sought revelation¡­ it''s called¡­" Pausing at this point on purpose while clearly trying to tease her, Virus stated. "Master!" In a loud voice, the golden beauty yelled with some traces of tears showing up in the corner of her eyes. Seeing her intense reaction though, Virus felt a bit bad about teasing her as he said with a chuckle, "Haha¡­ okay, okay, I won''t tease you anymore, it''s called the Corporeal Tempering Stage." In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, just like the Purifying Stage, this phase was considered only a pre-stage that could be done before officially starting Cultivation. However, that was it and there was no requirement that these two stages had to be completed for sure before starting Cultivation. Therefore, not a lot of people put much importance on them. Although those with more common backgrounds were aware of the existence of the so-called Purifying Stage, most of them abandoned it entirely, thinking it wasn''t worth the time nor the resources to complete this particular stage. Because even though they were roughly aware of the benefits and advantages the completion of the Purifying Stage would bring, they understood that there were far more disadvantages placed beside actually doing it! First of all, making an effort to complete this stage needed the utilization of very expensive pills or even heavenly materials that only those top sects with monstrous foundation had access to! So it was considered very unrealistic to try actually doing this stage. Secondly, this stage was considered a very time-consuming one which would take years to finish and only brokenly at that! So, considering the fact that by the time some of the levels of this stage was done, those young talents would lose the best time to start cultivation and cultivating which simply wasn''t worth it at all! Thus, with this mindset, most cultivators only took what purification materials and pills they had at hand before no longer even bothering with this stage anymore. This was also the reason why they mostly cared about the natural purity of the body and considered those inborn with less filth in their bodies talents and even geniuses! However, coming to the next one that is called the Corporeal Tempering Stage, most of those cultivators with a more common background or sect wasn''t even aware of the existence of such a thing! Of course, there were those ancient clans and sects who had the knowledge regarding this second pre-stage. However, even most of them didn''t bother with it since it was even more time-consuming and wealth-burning stage than the previous one! And so, those who actually did this second pre-cultivation stage were gigantic clans in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi who had enormous wealth to burn for their talents and children from a very young age! But even some of them couldn''t complete this stage and could only conclude it until for example the second, third, or at most the fourth level. Furthermore, even those levels they did were not completed to their utmost limits since that was considered almost impossible for them in the first place!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. A distinction the Corporeal Tempering Stage actually had with the Purifying one was that in the previous stage of removing the impurities, one could first do the fourth level randomly before coming back to the third or even the second level to finish, so it couldn''t be considered systematic at all. However, the Corporeal Tempering Stage was different in that one had to foremost finish the first level before breaking through to the second one and continuing to higher levels like that! Nevertheless, they could still abandon this stage whenever they felt like in order to officially starting Cultivation. 205 synchronouss Transformations Crystal "So it''s called the Corporeal Tempering Stage¡­" "Yes¡­ actually, in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it usually takes years for a cultivator to finish this stage¡­ but for me¡­ hmm, well, this brings us to another question. Do you know why I was so adamant on traveling to the Cultivation Multiverse and getting my hands on the Brisk Balance Fruit?" Questioned Virus with a mystifying look. "Um, if I remember correctly¡­ in the past, master said that one of the uses of the Brisk Balance Fruit was to fuse two extremes of complete opposite¡­ like fire and ice. Isn''t that why¡­?" Putting her index finger on her lips, the golden beauty uttered in doubt. Nodding his head with a chuckle, Virus voiced, "Yes, that''s one of the benefits the Brisk Balance Fruit has¡­ but do you really believe that I wouldn''t be able to find another easier alternative in order to fuse two ingredients of opposite substances? Do you honestly think I would go through so much trouble just to get my hands on a simple Brisk Balance Fruit that''s only usefulness is to combine the cold and the heat?" With an inquisitive shimmer passing through his eyes, Virus asked. Letting out a funny sound as if she had just realized something very unexpected, the golden beauty''s eyes shone with some lights of curiosity before mouthing, "Eh¡­ now that you say it, it seems a bit odd. Could it be that master has another use for it and that there is a much more important reason behind it being so valuable to you?" "Hahaha¡­ of course, as I phrased before, that''s only ''one'' of its benefits. There is actually a much more essential reason behind why I had to definitely find the Brisk Balance Fruit and get my hands on it. This reason was actually my true objective all along and that''s why I called the Brisk Balance Fruit a heavenly fruit on a few occasions." With a loud burst of laughter mixed with delight, Virus began to talk. "Umm, and what is that reason, master?" With stars reflecting itself in her eyes, the golden beauty inquired while bringing her jade-like face closer to his face. "I like that look inside my Lil Belle''s eyes, so I''ll elaborate on it for you a bit! Hmm, so¡­ you see, as I said before, it takes many years for a normal cultivator to finish the so-called Corporeal Tempering Stage, and that''s mostly because you have to finish this stage in a systematic way¡­ by breaking through from the first level to the second, and from the second to the third¡­ it continues like this till the stage is completed! I mean, it''s no longer a matter of resources! Even if one had the complete set of resources enough to finish this stage, that would still require many years to complete. That''s mainly because it takes a lot of time and effort to break through each level, and the difficulty together with the time needed for each breakthrough increases the further someone advances-" At this point, in order to see her reaction, Virus paused. "Um, master still hasn''t clarified why the Brisk Balance Fruit is mandatory to you¡­" Said the golden beauty with some uncertainty. "Haha, wait for it, I''m getting there¡­ so you see¡­ since this stage being systematic was the main problem and the reason behind why it consumed so much time¡­ I just needed something in order to bypass that problem! And that''s exactly where the Brisk Balance Fruit comes into the play." With a pleased look displaying itself on his face by this point, he continued, "And this actually brings us to another major question¡­ do you know why I named that rainbow liquid the ''Synchronous'' Transformations Crystal?" "Ahhh, master! We only arrive at another question after sooo much? Just tell me already, hmph!" Pouting very seriously, the golden beauty phrased in a frustrated tone. "Haha, patience Lil Belle, patience¡­ we''re almost there." Tickled by her adorable behavior, Virus continued by another question much to her exasperation, "But first, tell me¡­ what does ''Synchronous'' mean?" "Its most common application form means ''Existing or occurring at the same time'', But¡­ what does that have to do with¡­" She was just about to announce her skepticism when she faced Virus'' interruption, "Exactly! Now, with the usage of this so-called ''Synchronous'' Transformations Crystal¡­ every level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage would occur at the same time! And this, in a way, could almost mean breaking the system of this stage entirely! Well, not exactly that either. By occurring at the same time¡­ I mean, all of the levels of the Corporeal Tempering Stage would gradually improve by themselves at the same time! And all of this happens because the Brisk Balance Fruit was added to the fray¡­ now, like this, don''t you think its worth to be called a heavenly fruit?" Startled and mostly amazed by the statement she queried, "Ah! By breaking the system¡­ do you mean you wouldn''t need to complete this stage in a systematic way anymore? And that you could actually, for example, do the second level first before jumping back to the first one? Is that what you''re saying, master?" "No, no¡­ it still can''t really be considered breaking the system entirely, since that''s simply impossible achieve¡­ that''s why I used the word ''Almost'' before saying ''Breaking the system''! All that the Brisk ''Balance'' Fruit can do is to help gradually temper all of the levels at the same time in a ''balanced'' way before even actually breaking through to higher levels of the Corporeal Tempering Stage¡­ I still need to break through this stage in a systematic way, for example, from the first to the second one and then to the third. Thus, in simpler terms, the Brisk Balance Fruit only administers access to all of the higher levels of the Corporeal Tempering Stage before actually breaking through to them." "However, the advantage of this lays in the fact that by the time I breakthrough from the first level, the second level might be already at its sixty percent completion rate! And then, by the time I break through to the third one, it might have already achieved the state of fifty or sixty percent completion rate by itself! Haha, don''t you understand what all this mean? Like this¡­ the time to consummate this stage would be reduced by many times!" By now, a burning passion and a fiery enthusiasm were reflecting itself inside Virus'' eyes as he explained everything clearly as he elucidated his true motivations. ''Ahhh, He''s most charming when he''s genuinely focused on something¡­ calm down, my artificial heart¡­'' Seeing her master''s eyes which seemed as if he would jump over to eat her at any moment made a small trace of redness to show up on the golden beauty''s cheeks as she stuttered, "A¡­ a¡­ and? But¡­ doesn''t¡­ doesn''t that mean like this, the fourth level might already be finished and broken through before the third or the second one? Wouldn''t that be a big problem since the system''s not really broken?" Hearing the rational question, Virus began to explain in fervor, "Haha, don''t worry, that would never happen¡­ because first of all, it gets harder to break through the more one advances. This means more energy is required for every new level the further someone goes! Secondly, the emphasis of the Brisk Balance Fruit lays in the word ''Balance''! It means every level will gradually improve in a balanced way with stability and equilibrium!" "Moreover, there is another more vital reason as to why that won''t ever happen¡­ " At this point, a rather deep contemplative light showed up inside his eyes as he stated this confusing sentence. "Umm, and what is that, master?" She asked while experiencing incertitude as some imaginary question marks popped up above her head. "Well, I have other special means by which I would be able to reduce the time required for each level I''m trying to break through¡­" Phrased this ambiguous sentence, Virus went quiet.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Can you please explain more clearly, master?" Annoyed by the broken description, the golden beauty pursued the topic. Nevertheless, seeing this impatient reaction from her, as if he had succeeded, Virus vocalized, "Haha, nope, sorry Lil Belle, you will comprehend what exactly I''m connoting when the time comes! Anyway let''s not talk about that anymore. Weren''t you so curious to know about the levels of the Corporeal Tempering Stage itself rather than these, Lil Belle? 206 Six Results "Let''s get to work!" Uttering this, he continued, "Call the Island ugly over, I require some things first." "Yes, master." Promptly, the golden beauty disappeared before returning in around ten minutes. "Master, please state your orders." Bowing respectfully, the Island ugly said. Seeing them back, Virus took off his pitch-black ring from the finger of his left hand as he looked at the small crack on it for a moment, ''That attack from the guest elder was too much and it even resulted in my ring cracking¡­'' As this notion went through his head, he extended his left hand and offered the currently defected ring to the Island ugly while mouthing, "Here, take this and fix it as soon as possible." "Yes, master." Taking the ring obediently, the Island ugly said. "Also, I need to use the spare White-Ray Device for a moment¡­ lead me to it." Virus stated further. "Yes, master. Please follow me." Heeding the command, the Island ugly turned around as he began to stroll out of the room. "Let''s go, Lil Belle." "Eh, master¡­ you need to use the WRD again? Why?" She asked in doubt. "I need to inject the Synchronous Transformations Crystal directly into my heart¡­ and currently, WRD is the safest tool that can inject it directly into my heart without damaging it." Virus explained patiently as he stood up. "Ah¡­ okay, let''s go." . . . Around ten minutes later, all three of them were standing in front of the spare WRD at the First Floor of the Underground World of the island. Seeing the Island ugly standing there without moving at all, Virus reminded, "Okay¡­ Island ugly, you can leave now, go fix the ring in the meantime." "Ah, yes¡­" Feeling a bit awkward, the Island ugly left the vicinity at once. After he left, walking beside the WRD, Viurs inserted the syringe to a specific entry in the WRD as he proclaimed, "I will make it so you can watch what''s happening inside my body throughout the process¡­" "Eh, why-" She was about to question the reason behind this particular action when she was interrupted with a chuckling Virus, "You will understand soon enough. Also, although with these many worker robots around, there won''t be any dangers threatening me¡­ still, be careful and don''t let anyone disturb me while I''m inside." "Yes, please rest assured master." With that special resolve starting to burn inside her eyes, she agreed. Afterward, laying down inside the WRD, Virus closed its cap. A few seconds later, a hovering 3D screen displaying the interior space inside Virus'' body showed up. At the same time, tens of needles, which were even thinner than a strand of hair, began to move by themselves as they directly pricked Virus'' heart. Instantly, all of the needles began to simultaneously inject that colorless liquid into Virus'' heart to the very same spot. The next moment, all of the liquid were emptied into a particular spot inside his heart to the very last drop. However, shockingly, the instant all of the liquids joined together and made contact with his blood inside Virus'' heart, it began to solidify and a second later, it turned into a crystallized form! "Ahh¡­" Watching all of this from outside, the golden beauty was startled and worried at first as she thought something had gone wrong in the process of injecting the Synchronous Transformations Crystal into his master''s heart. However, as she pondered about it a little more, promptly, a light turned on above her head as she understood what was going on, "Oh, so that''s why it''s titled as the Synchronous Transformations ''Crystal''¡­ I see. So that''s what master meant all along." Heaving a sigh of relief, she mumbled to herself before continuing, "But¡­ will it stay like that inside master''s heart? Won''t it be dangerous?" At this moment, the process was quickly finished as the door of the coffin-like WRD was pushed open as Virus raised into a sitting position. A few minutes passed, but Virus was still sitting in that frozen state as if he was deeply contemplating something. In the meantime, inside Virus'' mind, ''Ah, it''s wonderful! I feel like every cell inside my body''s being energized¡­ like I''m immersed in a hot spring after a day filled with hardships and fatigue.'' "Master? Are you okay?" Seeing her master stay quiet for a long time, the golden beauty began to grow worried once again as she muttered anxiously. "Huh¡­ I''m fine¡­ actually, I''m feeling great. Let''s return to our room now." After that, as they were strolling back to their own private space, they happened to bump into the Island ugly, "Great, I was just about to summon you again¡­ good thing you''re here." "Please pass your orders master." "Now that this step is finished successfully, I''m going to need a few novel tools soon¡­ so create them according to the list I''m sending to you." As he uttered this, a few blueprints popped into the Island ugly''s head as he voiced with a glimmer of understanding going through his eyes, "Your wish is my command, master." "Good, you may leave now." . . . "Lil Belle¡­ I need you to massage my body exactly according to the technique I''m sending you now¡­" After coming back to their room, this was the first sentence Virus relayed upon the golden beauty. Then, before the golden beauty could say anything further, new knowledge began to show up inside her head, ''Intermediate Massaging Technique.'' And looking at its description, her eyelashes began to flutter, ''Description: This technique was created after modifying an extraordinary massage technique of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi through the help of the scientific knowledge the Technology Earth has at hand. This technique will greatly assist human beings in centralization of all energy on the surface of their skin. Additionally, this technique helps in stimulating the skin substantially. Warning: This technique will only be effective if the target is stark naked.'' Even though seeing the description, a lot of questions had already popped into the golden beauty''s head, thinking the situation might be really urgent, she decided to put them aside for now and do what her master was telling her to do, "Alright, master. Please lay down and stri¡­" Yet, at this point, a realization hit her as she understood since there was a need to massage specific spots on the body through the use of certain methods, her master had to strip for the technique to be effective entirely, so with a slight blush appearing on her cheeks, she went quiet. Virus though, immediately understood what she wanted to say, so without any further ado, he began to undress and get naked as he lay on the bed facing down the very next moment, "Aren''t you going to do it?" However, seeing no one massaging his body even after some seconds had passed, he asked doubtfully. The golden beauty who had been keeping her eyes closed was shaken into opening them as she looked at her master''s back while thinking, ''Phew¡­ at least, most of these massage methods need to be done on the back¡­'' "no¡­ I¡­ I''m coming, master." Then, shakily uttering these words, she started walking toward her master. "Continue doing it until I tell you to stop¡­" After phrasing this, Virus thought, ''Some of the clans, sects or schools in the Cultivation Multiverse had special techniques which would immensely assist them in the Corporeal Tempering Stage¡­ some of them developed these techniques after spending countless years through the experiences of many generations, while some of them found their techniques in some ancient grounds or an abandoned site¡­ while a few did both as they gradually improved those ancient techniques they discovered in the past. Now¡­ I need to search through these techniques and choose one of the best among them¡­'' As these notions were passing through his head, hundreds of thousands of different techniques started to show up in his line of sight. "Hmm¡­ let''s just filter them through my special requirements¡­" As he mumbled this, he deliberated further, ''First¡­ since I never saw a satisfactory result among the practitioners of this stage in my previous world¡­ let''s remove all of the techniques that have been practiced before by those monkeys in my world." The moment this line of thought popped into his head, hundreds of thousands of techniques began to immediately vanish. After the removing process was finally done, Virus realized there were only 265,109 techniques remaining. ''Now¡­ let''s remove those with no potential according to their description.'' Thinking this, the number of techniques was reduced substantially once again as the remaining number was¡­ 87,210. ''Let''s also remove those techniques that are not suitable to the properties of the Synchronous Transformations Crystal, of course after also considering the special attributes of the Brisk Balance Fruit¡­ hmm¡­ so many were deleted¡­ only 1,089 remains. Although the ranking of each technique was roughly given by our own world itself¡­ let''s eliminate the low or mid-grade ones too¡­'' Looking at the final result after going through this elimination session, Virus realized there were only six techniques remaining. ¡´1. Five Diamonds Bodywork ¡µ ¡ºIntroduction: This is an ancient technique specifically utilized in the Corporeal Tempering Stage. It is rumored that if it''s trained to the fifth level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage, one''s bones'' hardness will be close to the hardness of the diamond itself, but due to its difficulty in exercising this technique, there was never a successful case for this particular one. Rough Grade according to the criteria of the Technology Civilization: High.¡» ¡´2. Buddha Corporeal Destruction ¡µ ¡ºIntroduction: This is a body strengthening technique invented by a very ancient clan. It''s said if this technique is cultivated to the fifth level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage, the person who has utilized this technique to achieve the fifth level will have a golden body like Buddha''s. Since there are more suitable Buddha techniques, this has been never trained by anyone in the Technology Earth. Rough Grade according to the criteria of the Technology Civilization: Top.¡» ¡´3. Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution ¡µ ¡ºIntroduction: An incomplete fragment of the Corporeal Tempering Stage Technique discovered in an ancient site of an abandoned planet by the Technology Civilization. Only a mysterious and odd revolving method remains from this technique and the rest seems to have been lost in the countless years of that planet''s destruction (the name of the technique is actually only the name of the revolving method and it''s real name has been lost too). There is simply not enough information regarding this technique and since there are countless other complete techniques using the word ''Dragon'' in them, no one in the Technology Civilization has ever chosen this technique. However, since every technique using the word ''Dragon'' in their title seems to be averagely among the high-grade ones, the rough grade given according to the criteria of the Technology Civilization is¡­: High.¡» ¡´4. Beating The Fragility Into Lonsdaleite ¡µ ¡ºIntroduction: This is considered a legendary technique by many cultivators. It makes the body stronger by getting the body beaten up. It is rumored that if this technique is exercised to the fifth level one would have a skeleton which can even be considered harder than a diamond! However, unfortunately, since the requirements of getting beaten up get harsher at every level, there has never been a successful record of this technique being trained to the fifth level since all of its practitioners are doomed to be beaten to death as they join the majority. Rough Grade according to the criteria of the Technology Civilization: Top.¡»Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ¡´5. Divine God Physique ¡µ ¡ºIntroduction: Obviously, the naming has been greatly exaggerated. But, according to the records of the past practitioners of this technique, their bodies grade seem to get elevated to a higher degree as their strength increase considerably to the utmost limits of a mortal body! So it can also be said this technique will be of great assistance for preparing the body for Cultivation. Unfortunately though, this technique is incomplete and the rest of it is lost. Rough Grade according to the criteria of the Technology Civilization: Top.¡» ¡´6. Bodily Qi Assimilation Technique ¡µ ¡ºIntroduction: This technique requires an astronomical amount of resources as it absorbs those materials Qi and assimilates a specific percentage of it in order to strengthen and improve the body. Rough Grade according to the criteria of the Technology Civilization: Top (One of the better ones even among the top). ¡» 207 A Decision Made ''Hmm, the first one simply doesn''t catch my eyes¡­ it''s just an ordinary one among the Corporeal Tempering Stage''s techniques.'' Looking at the first one, he immediately rejected it as his line of sight dropped on the second one on the hovering list in front of him, ''Hmm¡­ a golden body? First of all, I don''t want my body to become golden like Buddha''s statue¡­ secondly, according to my data, even though the influence isn''t to a great extent, I believe techniques with the word Buddha or other similar terms in them progress the best when they''re utilized by extremely righteous people¡­ and I simply don''t believe I fit that criterion, so¡­ denied.'' As his eyes fell on the third one, he began the contemplation, ''[Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution]¡­ hmm, it was found in some destroyed planet''s ancient site by our own people¡­ no one has ever practiced it since it''s risky and there is literally no information regarding it other than it''s mysterious revolving method''s name, and so, the other cultivators always chose another dragon technique rather than risking themselves by trying this¡­ so the introduction or the rough grade can''t be relied upon or trusted at all¡­ let''s put that aside for now and check the other techniques before considering further¡­'' ''Let''s directly discard the fourth one too since I don''t want to be beaten black and blue all the time just to get a bit stronger¡­ it''s just too much of a hassle in exchange for rather ordinary results. Although it would be able to make my body''s defense much better...'' With a slight frown, he directly proceeded to the following options as he no longer bothered with it. ''[Divine God Physique] and [Bodily Qi Assimilation Technique]¡­ hmm, by far they are the most eye-catching ones among the six results. Both of them mainly increase the strength of the body and also seemingly improve the physique itself by a slight margin¡­'' As his lips were pressed together, he pondered with a serious expression appearing on his face. Finally arriving at this point where he had to consider all of the remaining candidate techniques in order to pick the best one with the most potential among them, he continued, ''Number 3, 5, and 6 remains¡­ so, I have to choose between the mysterious [Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution], the exaggerated [Divine God Physique], and the luxurious resource burning [Bodily Qi Assimilation Technique]¡­ before making a decision, first, I should compare their methods of¡­ eh?'' The moment he made the decision to study the methods recorded inside each technique, Virus had already looked through them a few times. However, the reason why he abruptly stopped his deliberation was that among the three techniques, there was something very odd about one of them that piqued his interest immensely. Thus, with dilated pupils, he thought, ''Both [Divine God Physique] and [Bodily Qi Assimilation Technique] begin their starting point of rotation from the stomach itself since it would be significantly helpful in case the cultivator consumes particular resources as it would aid in digesting those materials which would then help bring their energies to a specific part of the body in order to have a special effect¡­'' After a short pause, shaking his head, he resumed his deep deliberation, ''No¡­ it''s not just them¡­ almost every other Corporeal Tempering Stage technique follows the same pattern at their beginning point since that''s the most rational route that has the best results¡­'' ''However, this [Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution] is¡­ different! It actually begins its revolution from the heart!? That doesn''t make any sense at all! And, it basically seems to go against the mainstream completely. Not only that, but the other parts of the revolution is also strange and entirely divergent from the rest of the techniques¡­ why? Could it be that the Techniques with the term ''Dragon'' in them follows this¡­'' At this point, he had already begun going through thousands of different techniques which contained the word ''Dragon'' in them, like the [Golden Dragon Scales Imitation] or the [Blood Dragon''s Bloody Figure]. However, to his surprise, soon he realized none of them began from the heart! "Hmm¡­ truly mysterious." Without realizing, he muttered these words out loud, while a strange light was burning in his eyes. "What¡­ what did you say, master?" The golden beauty who was still massaging the back of his body was startled out of her own world hearing her master suddenly mumble something. A moment later, for some unknown reasons, her face flushed deeply as she promptly distanced her jade-like fragile-looking hands from his master''s bottom. "Uh, nothing. Please continue, Lil Belle. You''re doing a fantastic job!" Realizing he had lost control for a moment, he responded with a half-smile before sinking into his own thoughts once again. ''Using the other techniques, I initially planned to first lead the pure energy within the crystal in my heart toward my stomach before starting their rotation methods, the downside of doing this is that most of those energies would have lost a lot of their efficacy and only around ten percent would''ve been actually utilized. But¡­ with this dark dragon technique, I might be able to exploit all of them without losing much!'' At this point, his eyes were shining with some light of anticipation and elation. Although he didn''t expect a lot from this particular strange revolving method¡­ to him, being able to utilize the greatest amount of energy contained within the Synchronous Transformations Crystal alone held much more temptation than any other top-grade technique with those wondrous effects since he understood just how terrifying the pure energy contained within the Synchronous Transformations Crystal was! ''Even though there are some risks training through this method considering the fact that no one has ever trained in it prior to this moment¡­ however, on the account of this one being the most suitable one for me¡­ I shall take this risk! Who knows¡­ maybe my boldness is even rewarded and I happened to bump into some unexpected surprises¡­ though the opposite is also possible.'' Making a resolute decision, a strong determination coursed through his eyes before continuing, ''Even if I''m disappointed in the end¡­ I shall only blame myself and my rotten luck for making such a decision.'' The truth was that in his past world of the future, true dragons were simply considered mythical creatures that didn''t exist even in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi at the time. Although there were some vague recordings of their existence in the past inside some ancient records, not a lot of cultivators believed in them because other than their external physical shape and how insanely powerful they were, not a lot of other information had remained regarding them. Nevertheless, if some basic knowledge concerning their anatomy was truly available and Virus happened to acquire them and understood that a dragon''s heart was the location with the utmost concentration of energy and that they drew energy starting from their heart for specific tasks¡­ then, at this very moment, Virus might''ve been greatly perturbed and stunned into being dumbfounded! ''Anyway, let''s begin the initial revolution.'' As this notion passed through his head, his eyes were closed as he began to concentrate at the interior world of his body with his own unique awareness.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ''Hmm, actually, successfully revolving any of these methods for the very first time are tens of times easier since I have a huge advantage over other cultivators¡­ my sense of awareness!'' Actually, Virus'' distinctive awareness was of great assistance to him at the moment because he could clearly sense everything that was happening inside his own body and that simple fact decreased the difficulty of revolving the technique for the first time by multiple times. This was also the phase the other cultivators struggled the most since they were as blind as bats at first and that resulted in them committing a lot of mistakes. By now, as a result of the golden beauty''s exceptional massaging method, Virus'' skin had grown a lot warmer. This was the aftermath of a slight amount of the Synchronous Transformations Crystal''s potency gathering on the surface of his body. However, after the revolution of the [Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution] started, his skin''s heat began to shoot up to the point that if Bella was an ordinary person, her hands would''ve been burnt by now! Finally, at this moment¡­ Ssss~ 208 True Skin Conversion As the temperature of his skin began to decrease, Virus chuckled in contentment before phrasing, "Haha¡­ finally, I''ve broken through to the initial phase of the True Skin Conversion!" "Lil Belle, let''s rest for a short while before proceeding. You can stop now." Saying this, Virus stood up before walking toward his clothes as he started wearing them temporarily. Seeing him abruptly stand up, the golden beauty was obviously startled before promptly closing her eyes, then she questioned, "Master¡­ you said [True Skin Conversion]¡­ moreover, the massage targets your skin, previously I didn''t ask about this since the situation seemed urgent. But why is the first level related to the skin¡­ could it be you need to break through ten times like the previous stage? That would need a lot of time, no?" Looking at the golden beauty whose eyes remained closed, Virus let out a grin of amusement before replying, "Hehe, actually¡­ it''s not ten levels anymore. Because unlike the Purifying Stage, the Corporeal Tempering Stage is systematic¡­ so the adjustments my past world could make to this stage was very limited." "Then¡­ how many levels are there in this stage?" She inquired in doubt and curiosity. "Hmm¡­ it''s a bit complicated. But you could say there are only five levels. Though it''s not exactly that either. Anyway, you''ll understand later." Putting his finger under his chin, Virus proclaimed in a deep tone. Hearing the response, the golden beauty was clearly confused by his ambiguous response. So, somewhat frustrated, she wondered, ''I''m so lost. What''s that supposed to mean...? Is it five levels or not?'' "Oh¡­ right¡­ the first three levels are respectfully called, [True Skin Conversion], [Altering The Flesh], and [Viscera Renewal]." Remembering that he was previously going to tell her the name of the three foremost levels of Corporeal Tempering Stage, he added further. "Hmm¡­ I see. Alright, you can rest now, master. I''ll go cook something tasty for you." Uttering this, turning around, she left the room for the time with a half-smile at the corner of her mouth. . . . After a short rest, once again, they resumed the massaging session and just like that, two hours later, the surface of Virus'' body''s temperature began to increase for a very short moment before he finally experienced a minor leap from the initial phase to the middle phase of the True Skin Conversion Level. Thus, clearly jubilant, a row of pleasant white teeth displayed itself as Virus exclaimed in glee, "Haha¡­ True Skin Conversion, mid-phase¡­ if it continues like this, I''m going going to breakthrough to Altering The Flesh level in at most a day!" "Ah¡­ master¡­ your skin just got a lot softer!" Greatly shocked to an exaggerated degree, the golden beauty''s shouted the next moment. Letting out a peal of amused laughter, Virus began elaborating on that, "Haha¡­ of course, with each small leap, the skin''s quality increases to a noticeable degree! You wouldn''t notice most of these changes happening to me since the external appearance of my skin was already in its optimum shape prior to now, though that''s only in appearance and internally, my skin''s quality is also like a normal person''s skin. Anyway, if a middle-aged woman was practicing this True Skin Conversion Stage instead of me¡­ most of her wrinkles would''ve disappeared by now and she would''ve transformed to how she looked at her prime age. One of the reasons why this happens is because the extracellular matrix increase-" By the end of his explanations, Virus suddenly paused as he realized that the golden beauty''s eyes were burning intensely while she stared at his skin with an odd light that was yelling ''I''m so jealous!''. So in mirth, Virus shook his head helplessly as he thought, ''She''s a woman by a true definition, alright?'' "Let''s continue." Afterward, vocalizing this prompt, Virus began the rotation of the [Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution] once again. The moment he revolved this method to a complete cycle a few hours ago was the moment he successfully broke through to the initial phase of the True Skin Conversion level as he officially crossed the threshold and entered the Corporeal Tempering Stage. Now, with every full rotation, the duration required for each complete cycle decreased by a small margin while it also got a bit easier to revolve the method. . . . ONE DAY LATER Currently, Virus was laying down on his bed while the golden beauty sat on his back as she continued massaging her master''s back. By now, she had almost gotten used to looking at his master''s stark naked back as she had also gotten a lot bolder in her way of massaging while she occasionally even touched his back in places that were obviously outside the range of the Intermediate Massaging Technique. Since yesterday, all Virus did other than being massaged and practicing the dark dragon''s revolving method was to sleep at night in order to relieve his fatigue or eat when he was feeling hungry. The rest of his time and energy was all spent trying to experience leaps and eventually breakthrough to the Altering The Flesh level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage. And now¡­ eventually, after many hours of tiresome effort, he felt his skin''s temperature abruptly rise to an unprecedented degree for a very short period of time before all that heat was led to a deeper section of his body as they instantly passed into his flesh and muscles all over the internal part of his anatomy under the skin. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Yes! The initial phase of the Altering The Flesh. Others take months in order to break through the first level¡­ but for me¡­ it only took a single day! I''m really curious to know how those ancient sects in the Cultivation Multiverse would feel if they come to get the news about this speed¡­ haha-" Just as he was announcing his successful breakthrough jovially, suddenly, the light of surprise twinkled inside his eyes as he pondered to himself while clenching his fists, ''Eh¡­ I feel as if¡­ my strength also increased by a rough estimation of fifty kilograms¡­ this¡­'' However, before he could finish that notion passing through his head, it was interrupted by the astounded golden beauty who exclaimed, "Ah¡­ master! Your skin''s like a baby''s now¡­ it''s so soft¡­ but oddly, it highlights the charming and manly demeanor of your muscles even further now¡­" "Give me a knife." However, without responding to her exclamation at all, wearing a broad smile, he threw a seemingly random request her way. "Uh? Okay¡­ please wait." Although she didn''t quite understand why he needed a knife all of a sudden, she did as she was told and promptly brought a knife over quietly. However, what she witnessed next left her dumbfounded as she let out a worried exclamation, "Ah! Master!" This happened because the moment Virus received the sharp knife, without any hesitations whatsoever, he sent a direct slash at the palm of his right hand! Unfortunately, this was not the end of her being surprised silly as what she witnessed next made her feel a bit more speechless¡­ because she realized there were no wounds on his master''s palm! Not even a scratch! "Wow¡­ master! How is this possible? Is your skin very hard now? But I clearly just felt it¡­ it was so soft!!! Um¡­ could it be because it''s now extremely elastic?" At first, she didn''t understand what was happening with his master''s skin. However, after using the scientific knowledge she had at hand, she was able to immediately arrive to the most possible conclusion. "Haha¡­ even I''m surprised by this result to be honest! Yes, you''ve almost arrived at the right conclusion, though it''s not complete. The knife can''t cut me because my skin''s now abnormally stretchy and elastic. But that''s not all¡­ because other than it getting very stretchy and soft¡­ it''s also a lot harder than before. Hmm, how should I put this... let''s just say it has retained its softness while also increasing in its hardness. Just think of this extraordinary outcome which goes against the norm as a result of cultivating." He explained in the simplest way he could. At the same time, internally, he was processing everything in deep shock, ''How could this be? The hardness of my skin increased and astonishingly¡­ it got softer! Not just that¡­ my strength also seems to have improved a bit¡­ could it be¡­'' 209 SSWJ Currently, the CEO ugly was sitting on the couch inside his own office as he pondered, ''Hmm, I heard the Security ugly say that master has returned from his trip¡­ but, why isn''t he back? Maybe he went back on his trip again-'' Just as this notion was going through his head though, his phone began to ring. Now, I ain''t sayin'' she a gold digger~ But she ain''t messin''¡­~ Looking at the caller ID, to his surprise, he realized that it was his master''s name written on it: Virus. This surprised him because as far as he remembered, he hadn''t saved his master''s number on his phone. Then, thinking a bit deeper about it, his surprise vanished as he thought, ''Well, doing this is nothing for master. So what am I astonished about?'' As this line entered his head, he touched the green button on the screen and uttered, "Welcome back, master. I hope you had a wonderful trip."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Hey CEO ugly. Thanks. Is everything proceeding according to your plan? Report everything." Immediately, the relaxed voice of Virus was heard. "Yes, everything is progressing according to my predictions. The contract is going to be signed in a few days at most and after that, the government of the United States will help us contact the other countries for negotiating with them and entering an exclusive contract with them." Elaborating to this point, the CEO ugly went silent. "Huh¡­ this result seems to be better than what I had in mind originally. I was initially going to sell all of the cure to the US government and let them possess the rights of distributing it to the rest of world while they gain the most amount of advantage from doing that. But it seems your patience brought us even more benefits. Anyway, good job! This will actually save us a lot of time for what we''re going to do in the future. So, add a few specific clauses with every country you''re going to enter into a contract with." Complimenting the CEO ugly, Virus added. "Please pass your orders along, master." Said the CEO ugly respectfully. "Here is what you''re going to add¡­ so in the indeterminate future, we''re going to¡­" Afterward, Virus began giving a simplified account of what was in his plans, what would happen as a result of that, and more importantly, what clauses were required for that to happen smoothly. However, after listening to the simplified explanation his master summarized to him, the CEO ugly''s eyes went wide open like never before as he thought unconsciously, ''Oh my god!'' "Okay, that was it. Is there anything else you need to report?" In an inquisitive manner, Virus questioned in a somewhat cold tone. Instantly picking this odd coldness in his master''s tone, the CEO ugly put away his astonishment at once as he began pondering about what would possibly make his master''s attitude this icy. Soon, a light of comprehension passed through his eyes as he began talking, "Um¡­ master, there''s another matter too. It''s regarding miss Ella¡­ so you see, the leader of the Heaven assassination organization which goes by the name of Electro tried kidnapping miss Ella. Fortunately though, together with the help of the ring master left for me, we were successful in preventing that from happening. However, we were unable to stop Electro from escaping with her gravely injured subordinate who goes by the name Viper. What shall I do about them, please pass your orders." Hearing the description, the icy light inside his eyes increased to another level. But, that freezing light soon disappeared as he announced, "Leave this matter be¡­ for now." "Yes, master." ___________ "Another clip just popped up, Mark. Delete it before this one goes viral too." Yawning, a woman muttered while watching a startling video on a gigantic screen. Inside the video, two men seemed to be arguing over an apparently unknown matter while some of the passers-by were recording it in amusement. The conflict gradually began to escalate until it reached the point where the two began to punch each other like savages. However, what was shocking about the video happened next as one of the men inside it suddenly roared, "Ahh, the world''s ending anyway¡­ so who cares about being revealed! Fuck it all! Imma release all of my pent-up frustration on you, you son of a bitch!" Yelling these ambiguous words, the man immediately took off his gloves and soon, both of his fists started to burn up as they mind-bogglingly went on fire as he punched the other man whose clothes soon began to burn. "Ai¡­ another-one? The world''s truly gone crazy, Tess. Now that everyone clearly understands they''re going to die soon, they care about nothing and just do whatever they feel like. This is even more true about those rare special people. They don''t care about anything anymore and just reveal their powers even in front of common people now." The man called Mark said. "Hmph¡­ I wouldn''t have originally cared in the least if they were to reveal their power! But now¡­ we''re being overwhelmed with them as we''re forced to delete tens of videos every day. However, even like this, a few videos still successfully escape our eyes and go viral since we''re extremely short-handed. Aii¡­ there is no point in us deleting anymore-" With a dissatisfied harrumph, the woman called Tess voiced in some anger. She was angry because almost all of the workload was being emptied on her and her few remaining colleagues in the SSWJ as most of her colleagues had resigned from their posts by now because they wanted to join their families and spend the remaining days of their lives comfortably accompanying them. Special Surveillance World Jurisdiction (SSWJ) was a top-secret confederation that was founded by all of the countries in the world. This special organization was a place that was hidden from the eyes of all common people in the world. It was a place that only the permanent highest authority in each country came to be aware of its existence! The secretiveness of this organization was so high and confidential that even some of the presidents of the United States itself failed to be aware of its existence throughout their entire period of the presidency! This organization''s task was to conceal the paranormal events throughout the world with whatever means possible from the eyes of everyone else on Earth. And, it was actually one of the sole organizations in the whole world which almost every country agreed upon the extreme importance of its existence! This hidden confederation actually had absolute access and control over many things like the very internet itself. And with this privilege, they could remove whatever they deemed as paranormal in order to conceal it from the eyes of ordinary people. Since ancient times, there were many paranormal events and occurrences happening on the very Earth itself. However, from a specific period in time when this hidden confederation was founded, they began to slowly fade from the eyes of ordinary people as they soon came to be seen as only myths or superstition! However, since the news of the Mutated HIV was announced to the whole world, the countries seemed to put the least amount of importance on this vital organization''s existence as they operated it with the minimum amount of significance placed on it. 210 The Course of History And this lack of care and monitoring ultimately led to the current deficiency of manpower in the SSWJ which resulted in many paranormal events and special people escaping the eyes of this top-secret organization as most of their employees had resigned without any replacements for the lost personnel. . . . "L, check this out!" A bare-assed girl who was playing with her phone stark naked on the right side of a nude man called Eliot uttered. At the moment, on the screen of her phone, a short clip of a man with burning fists was displaying. "Sigh, Sara, come on¡­ don''t just believe whatever you see over the internet! I bet that''s just some kind of photoshopping or something." Hearing Sara''s words, instead of Eliot, another uncovered girl from the left side of the nude Eliot voiced after letting out a short sigh. "Hana, if it was just this one, of course I would not have believed it. But, there are so many more short videos of people with strange powers uploaded over the internet these days¡­ how can all of them be fake?" Sara proclaimed in some dissatisfaction. At this point, Eliot''s attention was finally drawn a bit as he muttered, "What are the other viewers saying about these strange clips?" Seeing his interest piqued a little at last, a grin showed up on Sara''s face as she went on, "Most people say they''re all fake. Though there are also some people who''re commenting and saying that they are real and that they''ve seen it with their own eyes. There are even some remarking that they have had superpowers since birth, but they''ve kept it a secret. Anyway, it''s a total mess right now." Listening to her best friend''s explanations, Hana asserted, "You guys can''t possibly believe them, alright? Think about it, if people with superpowers existed, why would no one know about them until now? And why is it that just when the world turned strange and the apocalypse arrived, people like that are popping out here and there?" Listening to this, Eliot''s eyes began to oddly shine with an intense light as he speculated excitedly, "Ah¡­ maybe¡­ like in those novels, this is the aftereffect of the apocalypse which is slowly transforming mankind and granting them superpowers by mutating them! Ahhh¡­ This might even result in them turning more resistant to Mutated HIV! Could this be the new hope of humanity? A new era?" Hearing this, flabbergast, both of the girls'' eyes went wide open as they looked at each other in silence before no longer being able to control it anymore as they let it out, "Pffff¡­ hehe¡­ L, that was really funny! How would Aids transform us, hehe¡­" "Come on! Stop laughing you two! It could be real. Who knows, maybe the Mutated HIV differs from the normal type and it has the power of affecting and ultimately transforming us! If not this, what else could it possibly be? And why would these strange videos start to pop up all of sudden now?" With some lights of seriousness passing through his eyes, Eliot began elaborating. After laughing for a while, Sara revealed her own speculation, "Actually, one of the netizens proposed something which I trust it is highly possible-" "What is it?" With an ''I still believe in my own assumption'' attitude, Eliot queried together with a small frown. A profound light twinkled inside Sara''s eyes as she answered earnestly, "That netizen proposed that the world has been tightly keeping these kinds of news from the eyes of common people. I mean, he proposed there must be some kind of hidden organization in the world which is responsible for this! And the odd thing is that it wasn''t just that netizen suggesting this but a few others too! There was even one of them saying she had previously worked at such an organization, though I''m not stupid enough to believe that." "Tch¡­ that''s even more far-fetched than my theory! Either all of this is fake, or my speculation is the right one!" Stated Eliot in some anticipation. "Ai¡­ who cares which one is true or wrong. What does it have to do with us? We''re still going to die in a year anyway." At this time, Hana who thought all of this was fake mumbled while wearing an emotionless face which in return made both Sara and Eliot shut up. Seeing the atmosphere change into a depressing one, Eliot''s face abruptly transformed into a mischievous one as he uttered with an evil smile before jumping on them, "Whatever¡­ I don''t care! What I care is that you two forced yourselves on me¡­ ah, I was so innocent back then. Now, it''s time for payback and revenge! Let this daddy ride and ravage the both of you to my heart''s content! Haha¡­" ____________ Currently, Virus was sitting on the couch as he took a sip of the glass of red wine on the table from time to time while deliberating to himself silently, ''Hmm... a day passed, but even while utilizing the Synchronous Transformations Crystal together with the dark dragon revolving method, I''m still stuck at the initial phase of the Altering The Flesh. I estimate I would need at least a weak before breaking through from the second level. Heck, I should''ve been faster than this¡­ but it seems instead of accelerating the process, the dark dragon revolving method is making the speed decrease! It seems in order to hasten the process, I would need to use that-'' However, at this point, the silence inside the room was broken by a certain golden beauty, "Master, have you checked the internet since we came back? Did you see those videos of people displaying their abilities in public?" Hearing this, snapping out of his contemplation, an amused look showed up on Virus face as he replied with a small grin, "Yeah¡­ don''t you think the world''s becoming much more interesting now?" But although he said that out loud, internally, he began thinking to himself, ''My influence has outright changed the entire course of history altogether¡­ it can no longer be called a butterfly effect¡­ it''s more like a whole new butterfly altogether? Nothing will be the same from now on and even I don''t know what all of this will lead to. Did I do the right thing by interfering? Hahaha... that question was funny since I don''t really care if it was right or wrong. What I care is if it would make the world more entertaining from now on.'' Before releasing the Mutated HIV to the world, by introducing the Virus Industries alone to the world, Virus had begun a massive butterfly-effect on the history itself as that had directly or indirectly changed a lot of events. However, after releasing the Mutated HIV, that had utterly changed the direction of everything! One of the massive alterations that will take place from now on is that people who should''ve died by an accident or another cause might live, while other people that should''ve originally lived a long time might die. So in short, the time of death had changed for almost everyone! This also meant that people would also give birth to whole new children to the complete opposite of the previous future since the timing of everything had been already altered.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. And these results simply represented the fact that the entire course of history from now on will be different¡­ utterly! 211 Crunch In Virus'' past world of the future, at this period of time, everything had proceeded normally with no such videos popping up here and there over the internet. But now, against the past, with the world having the preconception that it was ending, the top people seemed to not have been bothered by this spread of news as they had more important worries themselves, to begin with. And thus, all of this eventually led to the ongoing revelations. . . . "Lil Belle, the Island ugly should''ve created what I need by now. Please go and tell him to guide us to it." Turning his head toward the golden beauty, Virus said all of a sudden. "Ah, sure. Please wait a minute, master." Uttering this, the golden beauty left the room before coming back with the Island ugly and afterward, five minutes later, the trio were standing in front of another door inside the same building. Not waiting for Virus to open his mouth, the Island ugly began talking by himself, "Master, I equipped it on this very room¡­ though you have to know that with the current technology base we have at this time, the highest multiplication you can advance it to is at most twenty times. That''s also the absolute limit this room can handle." "Hmm, I figured that would be the case and it''s actually more than enough for the current me. Anyway, you can retreat now¡­ also¡­ good job." Nodding his head in satisfaction, Virus dismissed the Island ugly. After the Island ugly left, looking at the golden beauty, Virus vocalized, "From now on¡­ you can bring my food to this room." "En, alright. But what is this room exactly, master? What did the Island ugly do to it." Confused, the golden beauty inquired ignorantly. "You will understand soon enough, let''s enter." Muttering this, not even wasting a single second, Virus opened its door as they entered the empty room. After he was inside, not bothering with anything else, Virus began to strip silently.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Seeing this abrupt act of her master, the golden beauty''s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as she helplessly pondered to herself, ''Here we go again!'' After stripping, he walked beside a piece of shorts that was laying in the middle of the room as he put it on, ''Hmm, I should start by adjusting it to 1.5 times¡­ that should be the best for the beginning phase.'' Next, as if there was someone listening to him, Virus began to talk, "Fifty percent amplification!" The golden beauty was just about to sink into an even deeper level of confusion when suddenly the room trembled slightly before going quiet once again. "Ah!" Immediately though, the golden beauty let out a shocked moan as she felt her whole body get heavier by at least fifty percent! At the same time, Virus'' body also experienced the same thing as he felt a rather heavy strain on his internal organs for a short moment before he was able to resist it gradually. "The gravity changed!!!" Proclaimed the flabbergasted golden beauty who clearly felt every part of her body get a lot heavier than before. "Haha¡­ yeah¡­ to be more precise, this room can now be called a Gravity Room." With a chuckle, Virus stated. "I see, so¡­ master needs a gravity room for the second level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage, Altering The Flesh?" Guessed the golden beauty with some lights of comprehension shining inside her eyes. "Exactly, this will aid me in shortening the time I originally needed for breaking through the second level. Actually, with this, I would be able utilize even more of the Synchronous Transformations Crystal''s energy since every single part of my body will be under extreme pressure from now on." After expounding on some of his reasons as to why the Gravity Room was essential to him, he sat down on the ground cross-legged as he closed his eyes and began to revolve the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution method quietly. The moment he began the revolution of the method, Virus could clearly feel that the energy he was drawing from the Synchronous Transformations Crystal (STC) was at least fifty percent more than before and this was only after multiplying the gravity by 1.5 times! {A/N: Synchronous Transformations Crystal will be abbreviated to STC from now on.} ''Hmm, I can evidently feel every single cell all over my flesh and muscles greedily absorbing the energy of the STC in a very active manner¡­ it''s as if they had been thirsty since forever¡­'' After thinking to this point, he focused his attention on the other parts of his body before continuing, ''Not only that¡­ the rest of my body''s also absorbing much more energy than before. However, since I''m still at the second level¡­ the majority of the power of absorption is mainly focused on my flesh.'' Two hours later, Virus realized that he could now easily tolerate the strain in a sitting position, so opening his eyes, he lay down as he started to crunch. ''I can''t stop the revolution¡­ hmm, I should separate some percentages of my attention on the rotation while focusing the rest on exercising.'' . . . Three more hours passed like that while Virus only stopped in order to take a breath or to eat food so as not feel hungry. For a normal person, continuing this process for almost three hours without sufficient rest would''ve been very difficult. However, amazingly, even after three hours, Virus seemed to be still fine and left with a lot of unused energy! It was as if he was still boiling with energy and the more he sweated and practiced, the more energetic he became! This was because, throughout the constant process of exercising, every fiber of his muscles all over his body was breathing the incredible energy being injected from the STC and this made him feel truly alive! "Adjust gravity to 200 percent!" At this moment, believing his body was strong enough, Virus stopped his exercise and commanded the gravity to be multiplied by two times. Now, the gravity inside the room was two times that of Earth''s. The Instant the gravity increased, Virus experienced a heavy strain all over his body once again. So left with no other choice, he continued sitting in an unmoving position while slowly getting used to the tension of this level. Five days passed very quickly. Right now, inside the gravity room, Virus was covered in sweat in every part of his skin as if he had just showered! Nonetheless, he continued doing push-ups non-stop! And shockingly, right now, the gravity inside the room was adjusted to six times that of the normal! In the past three days, the muscles all over Virus'' body had at first started to bulge and get bigger to an abnormal extent. However, from a certain moment onwards, they slowly began to get smaller once again until now. Currently, the muscles of his body were tuned and hardened to the extreme! Every move he made with his body now gave the illusion of the most natural movement in the world which enhanced the charming aura around Virus to an even greater degree! The golden beauty who had watched all of the astonishing transformations that had occurred to her master''s body in the past five days was currently observing his body with starry eyes as she thought with a gulp, ''Um, Ahh¡­ oh my god, master''s body is now simply heavenly! How can a muscle be refined to this extent, they are so beautiful¡­ I really wanna touch...!'' 212 The Dark Nigh ''What''s going on¡­ my body should''ve broken through the second level three days ago! But it keeps absorbing the energy as if it''s a bottomless pit! When will it get satisfied¡­ is this because of my mysterious revolving method?'' As he continued doing push-ups, Virus was analyzing this strange phenomenon inside himself and the only answer he could arrive at was that it was the result of his revolution method! ''Moreover¡­ originally, my muscles were only supposed to bulge outwardly and get bigger which is the result of exercising in the gravity room¡­ but why would it proceed further and become smaller once again? If I''m not wrong, they should''ve gotten much denser and compacted¡­ but the point here is that this wasn''t supposed to happen!'' In the past few days, Virus had exercised all kinds of training movements while constantly absorbing the energy of the STC with every fiber of his muscles, so naturally, experiencing muscular hypertrophy was the expected result. Moreover, since this level was related to the muscles themselves, it mainly targeted the strength of the practitioner as it would undergo a few levels of increase in power. However, according to his analysis of how his strength progressed compared to other practitioners, the utmost limit he should''ve been able to reach inside the gravity room should not have exceeded a multiplication of four times! But right now, the room was adjusted to 600 percent gravity! And he was having a rather easy time while experiencing it. ''Let''s adjust the multiplication to seven times¡­'' As this thought went through his head, he ordered the gravity room to be adjusted once more. Trgh~ For a moment, the walls began to produce a momentary noise before going silent once again.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Instantly, an intense pressure descended upon Virus as he felt his internal organs shift for a short moment which in return made him wonder, ''If my internal organs weren''t also slowly absorbing the energy of the STC and improving, then practicing inside the gravity room would have been simply impossible. This is only possible because of the existence of STC.'' Afterward, he slowly got used to the new level of gravity in a few hours before starting different kinds of exercising movements once again. Soon, a strange sense of fulfillment started to surface inside him. The process continued for some time when Virus finally felt like his flesh''s temperature rise to an abnormal degree, making him feel as if he was set on fire! "Ahh¡­" Unconsciously, he released a small wail of pain when he felt like the heat finally leave his muscles as they wildly invaded his organs and innards. "Haha¡­ finally, I did it! This is the third level¡­ the initial phase of Viscera Renewal!" Bursting out in laughter, Virus announced happily. "Congratulations, master!" Came the voice of the golden beauty who was standing outside the open door of the room. To be honest, she quite disliked staying inside the room due to the extreme intensity of gravity and that why it eventually let to the current situation. "It''s all thanks to my Lil Belle taking care of me so well!" Since he was in a rather good mood at the moment, Virus decided to compliment her a bit. And hearing his flattering words, the golden beauty became much more cheerful as she smiled from ear to ear. "Master''s already at the third level, Viscera Renewal¡­ I''m shocked by this speed of progress. Oh, right, the Island ugly brought master''s ring back¡­ he told me it''s fixed completely!" Taking off the pitch-black ring from one of her small cute fingers which was clearly very loose on her, the golden beauty stated while offering it to him. Walking beside her, Virus received the ring before putting it on his middle finger once again. Then, he inquired, "Did the Island ugly say anything else?" Putting her index-finger under her lips for a moment, it seemed as if she was pondering very hard about his particular question when she ultimately replied as such, "Umm¡­ yeah, he told me to notify master that the punching machine has been prepared too¡­ if you need it, he can bring it over." "No need for now. It''s the middle of the night and I''m really tired. So let''s leave it for tomorrow and talk about this again after I''ve had enough rest." Yawning, Virus phrased his response. "Ah, okay¡­ will you sleep under the gravity pressure like before or¡­?" "I''m too tired¡­ I just wanna relax for the night, so let''s go to the other room." . . . At the same time, without alarming anyone, two people jumped out of a passing plane with their parachutes as they dived toward an unknown island in the darkness of the night. Soon, as they were close enough to the ground, both of them released their parachutes as slowly descended to the ground. "Vital Burst, do you think anyone noticed us?" The first person who was clearly a woman queried. "Not likely¡­ since we''re using the cover of the night to conceal ourselves¡­ that''s very unlikely. But we better be careful just in case." Replied the mysterious man who went by the code-name Vital Burst. Meanwhile, the Island ugly with his iron stomach was cooking himself dinner when suddenly, the marble on the counter''s alarm went off as it promptly displayed the location of two red dots on the hovering 3D screen right above the marble itself. "Hmm?" Hearing the alarm, the Island ugly immediately stopped in his tracks as all of his attention was drawn to the marble which had the task of scanning the whole atoll 24/7. ''Someone''s invading the island at this time?'' Thought the Island ugly in amazement. He was surprised and kind of caught off-hand because since the news of Mutated HIV was announced to the world, such an incident had almost never happened. ''Well¡­ guess it''s time to work and secure the island.'' As this notion appeared inside his mind, he walked beside a shelf in a corner and picked an azure ring from above it while deliberating simultaneously, ''Just to be safe¡­'' Then, putting it on, he strolled out of the vicinity as he left toward the winking dots. . . . By now, the man and the woman were secretly getting near the building, when Vital Burst started repeating their orders at the woman beside him in a low voice, "Dusty Mercury, so here''s the plan, after we arrive at the destination, we will separate and search every corner of the building. If possible, eliminate whoever you see. But don''t forget the priority. The priority is the highest order, alright?" "Understood." Hearing her confirmation, his sight turned toward her busty buttocks while he mumbled with clear heat apparent inside his eyes, "Good¡­ let''s finish this mission successfully and I shall treat you to a drink of victory!" "Aiii¡­ I don''t think you two will return to celebrate your victory anymore¡­ so, no more drinks for you two." Dusty Mercury was just about to refuse when to their extreme trepidation, another voice reverberated in the area which instantly caught both of them off guard as a shiver was sent down to their spine. "Who''s there!" Vital Burst who quickly gathered his wits shouted toward the source of the sound. {A/N: It''s me, DIO!} "Haha¡­ that was funny! You two invade my land and then ask who I am in a surprised tone?" Cracking up, the Island ugly replied. 213 Together Vital Burst''s features were extremely dark by now as he jeered at him, "Actually, I don''t know who you are nor do I care¡­ but now that you''ve had the rotten luck of meeting us..." Pausing entirely, he suddenly raised his head and directly staring into the Island ugly''s eyes, he stressed, "You have to die!" The next thing that could be perceived was that Vital Burst was already charging toward the Island ugly while some traces of vaporation began to rise from all over his body. Then, he was already upon the Island ugly as he sent a punch toward his face. Bam! The moment they clashed, a muffled noise reverberated around the area. Seeing the result of his punch though, Vital Burst was surprised because he realized his opponent had stopped his punch by grabbing his sturdy fist inside his palm! ''He''s strong.'' Surprised, Vital Burst pondered as he directed another punch his way. Bam! Seeing the same result happen again, Vital Burst didn''t seem to be that astonished anymore as he sent a series of punches one after another. Bam! Bang! Bam!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. He continued his chain of attacks when the Island ugly abruptly muttered, "That''s enough." And immediately, he sent a hook toward Vital Burst''s stomach. Bang! Vital Burst was almost successful in dodging the hook, but unfortunately, he was late by a slight period of time and in this timeframe, that slight margin of error decided the final result as his fist connected to his opponent''s stomach which pushed him back for around two meters before Vital Burst was at last successful in being able to restore his balance and stop. There was also a line of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His face was so dark after receiving that hook that his features almost couldn''t be recognized anymore. However, the steam that was rising from his whole body until now suddenly doubled in amount! Psss~ "Now you did it!" He cried as he rushed at him once again. This time, it was the Island ugly''s turn to be astounded because his speed had risen to an abnormal degree as he instantly arrived in front of him and sent a heavy jab at his face. Bang! Although the Island ugly was successful in defending against the jab, much to his shock, he was pushed two meters back as even a trail of his feet were drawn on the ground itself! ''How can he become so powerful all of a sudden!'' Stunned, the Island ugly thought to himself with his eyes wide open. Regardless, Vital Burst wasn''t going to give him any time to be flabbergasted, so he immediately arrived in front of him and attacked once more. Bang! This time, the Island ugly was punched away even further as he felt even more power behind Vital Burst''s iron-like fist! ''His strength is increasing by every second, I must finish this as soon as possible¡­ or else, I''m not gonna be able to even react to his attacks!'' As this notion popped up in his head, the Island ugly didn''t hesitate any longer and directly connected to the azure ring on his finger and shouted out loud, "Activate!" Instantly, the azure ring began to melt as it covered his entire right fist immediately. Shhh~ Soon, the shape of a silver glove began to take form on his right fist and its fingers. However, that was not the end because next, his five fingers transformed into five golden claws. Afterward, on the back of each finger, a line of azure light appeared which continued all the way until they all connected to one another at the back of his palm. "Burn!" He said. And with that command, his golden claws began to lit in amber flames which covered the whole area of his sole silver glove. Though the amber flames were the most intense in the claws area as it became less intense on the palm area. Seeing this bewildering transformation, even Dusty Mercury who was staying still at a corner while watching the whole battle in a very relaxed manner had a look of disbelief on her face as she murmured, "Just what the fuck is that?! Some kind of advanced technology? Or maybe a trait?" After the flaming claw gloves were ready for attack, not wasting a second more, the Island ugly charged at Vital Burst. Seeing those amber flames burning while covering his sharp claws, an intense sense of doom appeared inside Vital Burst''s mind as he had this feeling that if the claws connected to his body, he would be in grave danger, maybe a life-dangering one! So, pushing himself even further, an even intenser steam rose from his body! By now, the Island ugly was already upon Vital Burst as he slashed with his claw at his body. Sss~ However, what happened next made the Island ugly''s eyes go wide open because he witnessed that Vital Burst had easily dodged his attack and instead sent a counter-attack upset punch at his stomach the very next moment. Bang! This time, the Island ugly was incapable of comparing speeds with him as was sent flying away for a few meters before the force behind the punch finally ended and he dropped on the floor with a rather mutilated chest. Pff~ All of a sudden, Vital Burst coughed out a mouth full of blood. It was clear that whatever he had done to get himself that powerful so fast was having a backlash on his body. Nonetheless, not paying any attention to the strain that seemed to have wounded his body, Vital Burst charged at him again once again as he began kicking the Island ugly''s fallen body non-stop. Bam! Bang! Trgh! Every strike was so powerful that a lot of damage was gradually accumulating on the Island ugly''s body while he felt one part after another breakdown and get crushed inside his body. ''Fuck¡­ it seems I won''t be able to defeat him¡­ if only I could make my claw-attack connect to his body directly!'' Deliberating to this point, he unconsciously thought of his master, ''I hope he''s not angry at me because of this.'' In the meantime, Virus had already laid down on his bed with his eyes shut off completely. It seemed as if he had long fallen asleep as an absolute silence was looming over the whole room. However, his eyes abruptly opened widely with a strong light passing through them as he grunted in annoyance before starting to curse, "Ahhh fuck! I''m tired, why won''t these monkeys allow me to sleep a bit! Damn it¡­ no, they''re not monkeys! They''re flies! Flies!" "Ah!" The golden beauty who was watching her master''s peacefully sleeping face in a relaxed manner was greatly startled and dumbfounded as she gazed agape witnessing this unexpected 180 percent change in Virus'' temperament. "What¡­ what happened, master? Did you have a nightmare?" Still a bit scared by the sudden turn in her master''s behaviour, she inquired in a muddled manner. "Sigh¡­ no, just two flies invading my atoll and the Island ugly incapable of dealing with them, that''s all. It appears I have to show up myself." Notwithstanding, regaining his calm almost instantly, he summarized the situation. "Hmm¡­ how about master sleep and I go deal with them personally?" Looking at his tired expression, the golden beauty couldn''t stop herself from suggesting this solution while looking at him worriedly. Seeing her worried look, Virus was a bit moved as he thought unconsciously, ''Cute¡­'' And just like that, his demeanor and temperament improved a lot as he articulated, "No¡­ these two seems to be rather strong. We should both go. Together." 214 Really? "Don''t you think that''s enough¡­? I mean, he''s already knocked out and I would say he''s doomed to die soon anyway. We should hurry and finish our mission before others inside the island are alarmed." Checking the Island ugly''s unmoving body, Dusty Mercury vocalized with a bit of pity apparent in her tone. Hearing this, Vital Burst who was continuously kicking him paused. Then, after a short period of deliberation, thinking her words truly made some sense, he replied, "You''re right. Let''s go." Afterward, without preventing the steams being released from his body, he began walking toward the building at the distance. Shortly afterward, before five minutes had passed, the two were stopped in their tracks once more by an abrupt speech. "You two chose the worst-timing to come. Even if you came, you should''ve been just defeated by the Island ugly and then scram. But now, you''ve forced me to come out of the bed, and that''s seriously annoying me." While strolling toward the two confounded invaders, Virus stated with clear frown displaying itself on his face. By his side, the golden beauty was also following him very silently. Next, pointing his finger at Vital Burst, he proclaimed as if he was emphasizing the obvious, "You¡­ you will die here." Then moving the direction of his finger toward Dusty Mercury, he added, "And you¡­" However, before he could finish his next line of sentence, he spotted that Vital Burst was already charging in his direction. ''Unfortunately, without my ring, I''m not his opponent yet.'' As this notion appeared inside his brain, looking toward the golden beauty, he uttered, "Stop him for a moment, but refrain from killing him for now." "Yes, master." As if she was already waiting for Virus to say these words, the golden beauty charged toward the incoming Vital Burst. Soon, they were upon each other as they both sent a fist at each other at the same time! Bang! A rather loud noise resounded in the vicinity as a result of their clash as they were both forced to retreat back for a few meters after the initial contact. After that, without any delay, the two charged at each other once again as they engaged in a heavy fist-fight. They exchanged a few punches and kicks when the golden beauty looked back and uttered, "Master, oddly, he''s getting stronger by every move we exchange¡­ at this rate, he''s going to exceed me in at most a minute. I better deal with him right now using my long sword, or else¡­ very soon, that might be impossible for me even if I use my weapon. What should I do?" "Haha! You''re right, I''m going to kill you soon and then I shall deal with that silver head! Just accept your fate and die already!" Getting even fiercer, Vital Burst announced maniacally. "Don''t kill him for now¡­ I''m curious about something." Uttering this, Virus released his sense of awareness while contemplating to himself simultaneously, ''How does he keep getting stronger like this? It''s as if his strength has no limits even if it''s just a temporary one...'' Putting one hand under his chin, he focused his awareness inside Vital Burst''s body, ''Let''s see what''s going on inside you.'' Instantly he began to study every abnormal change that was taking place inside him and soon, just like that, he arrived at the answer he was looking for. "Huh¡­ I see. So that''s your trait¡­ blood!" Muttering this, a momentary light of wisdom passed through his eyes while he proceeded to ponder, ''So his trait is being able to burn and consume his blood directly and then convert it to strength¡­ like this, the more he consumes it, the stronger he gets! Though it seems he has to do it in a gradual and slow manner or else he would face some backlashes-'' Remembering how he had coughed a mouth full of blood while facing the Island ugly, Virus concluded. Actually, the conclusion Virus had reached at was totally true. However, burning a lot of blood in a quick manner did put a lot of strain on his body and it even damaged his life to some extents, so unless he was left with no other choice, he would''ve never burned a large quantity of his blood in a short period of time. Catching their breath, shocked, both Vital Burst and Dusty Mercury''s eyes went wide open as they stared at him speechlessly. ''How was he able to guess the way Vital Burst''s trait functions so fast???'' Wondered Dusty Mercury to herself in astonishment as she secretly prepared herself to release her power at any seconds now. "How-" Pronouncing this single word, Vital Burst shook his head before continuing, "Haha¡­ I don''t know how you were able to see through my trait, but so what? It''s not like you''ll be able to do anything about it even if you have knowledge regarding it!" "Your face seems to have gone pale man¡­ is it due to lack of blood in your system?" Instead of responding to his mocking inquiry, Virus threw his own question at him. Hearing this, a sharp glint passed through Vital Burst''s eyes as he ruminated to himself while gritting his teeth, ''Damn it¡­ he''s already figured the shortcomings of my trait¡­ I can''t continue like this for long... so he''s going to stretch and prolong this whole battle until I''m at my limit! Though Dusty Mercury might be able to assist, I''m not sure about the extent of her powers¡­ so that''s a no. It seems I can''t dilly-dally any longer¡­ I have to complete my mission as soon as possible and then leave this damned place at once!'' Seeing the gravely distressed expression on Vital Burst''s face, a rather wide grin found its way on Virus'' face before he notified him in a calm tone, "Don''t worry¡­ I won''t try to prolong the battle just because I''m aware of the weaknesses of your trait." With this, a chill went down Vital Burst''s spine as he felt like he was totally being seen through with all of his secrets or thoughts exposed in front of this monster. Nevertheless, not bothering with any of his reactions at all, Virus proceeded, "I was just a bit interested in the way it worked, and now that my curiosity has been sated, this battle won''t continue for much longer!" By the end of his sentence, a very serious and keen glimmer had replaced that relaxed attitude as he glanced toward the sky for a blinking moment before he took it back and directly connected his mind to his ring. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument!'' Immediately, dark scales began to cover his arms and legs as the distance between each scale began to glitter in sapphire blue. Of course, his clothes were ruined as usual. Seeing this stupefying transformation, Vital Burst''s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he looked at Virus and stuttered in horror, "What¡­ what did you¡­ what kind of monster are you!" In the meantime, having a bad premonition about this entire situation, Dusty Mercury began to release her power to its limits! "Hmm?" He was just about to send another command to his ring when, abruptly, a frown showed up on his face as he distanced himself from his current spot the next moment. "So¡­ you can create a boundary of mercury around yourself and even intensify its effects to a specific degree. Hmm¡­ that''s a nice trait, to be honest. Mercury exists almost everywhere on this planet and with it, you can poison your opponent without them realizing¡­ which will, in a rather short period of time, lead to a chain of after-effects like muscle weakening, mental disturbances, etc, etc. And ultimately even death!" Focusing his awareness around himself, Virus replied after being done analyzing his surroundings. "How¡­ how are you still fine! And how did you guess what my trait was!!!" Seeing him totally unaffected by her mercury, Dusty Mercury yelled in his direction in utter shock. "Haha¡­ well¡­ if it was anyone else, that person would''ve been already influenced. But unfortunately for you, you met me!" With an evil chuckle plastered on his face, Virus voiced. Actually, the instant her power was released to its extreme limits, Virus had already sensed it and with that, he promptly began to study it while utilizing his awareness. And as a result of that, he uncovered almost everything about Dusty Mercury''s trait.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. He discovered that she could gather mercury from her surroundings like from the very earth itself and with that, she could make a boundary of mercury around herself. Moreover, the way this special boundary functioned was that it was most intense at the center of the boundary (Dusty Mercury''s location) while it gradually got weaker the further the target was from the very center. This was also the reason as to why Virus had quickly changed his previous location all of a sudden to a spot where the intensity of mercury was rather low. ''If it was someone else¡­ he or she would''ve been finished already¡­ good thing my body has immunity to impurities which is making it resistant against mercury. Though this won''t continue for long and I''m still going to be poisoned very soon.'' He deliberated to himself. Although Virus'' body was immune to impurities, it wasn''t immune to poison. So, when exposed to a very poisonous substance, the most his immunity could do was to act a bit resistant towards it and buy him some more time. Virus understood this fact very clearly. So left with no choice, Virus decided to deal with Dusty Mercury first before changing his target back to Vital Burst. However, at this time, Vital Burst swiftly took out a hidden gun from his pocket as he took a shot toward Virus. Bang! Unfortunately for him though, since Virus had already scanned him with his awareness, how could he not know about his hidden gun, so the moment the gun was shot in his direction, to the absolute disbelief of everyone other than Bella, without even taking his eyes off of Dusty Mercury, he brought his hand before the incoming bullet and then clenched his fist. The next instant, he opened his fist as a bullet dropped on the ground from inside his palm while he said with a chilly smirk, "Come on¡­ you''re using a trashy gun on me now? Really?" Then, connecting to the pitch-black scales covering his whole body, he conveyed a new instruction to it. ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Machine Gun!'' ''Explosion mode!'' Right away, a particular futuristic machine gun took shape inside his grip as he aimed it at Vital Burst without any hesitation. Then, articulating each word very clearly, he mouthed, "This is what you call a gun." Bratatatat~ 215 Thirteen Boosh~ Splatt~ Splatt~ Just like that, flesh and different body parts scattered all around the previous location Vital Burst was standing at. Especially one meter around him was totally red with different flesh matters and innards fallen on the ground. Blergh~ Seeing this horrific scene, Dusty Mercury''s face instantly went pale white as she fell on her knees and began puking all over! "Ai, Lil miss, why are you puking? Do you think that scene''s disgusting? Horrifying? You know that''s going to be your fate too right?" Seeing her current condition, a rather wide grin appeared on Virus'' face as he uttered in amusement. Listening to him, tears and snot began to roll down her face as she begged for her life in terror, "No¡­, please¡­ don''t kill me¡­ I don''t wanna die like this! Please spare me-" "It''s too late for that. Now¡­ die!" Responding like this, Virus immediately raised the machine gun in his hand as he aimed it toward her shaking body. Looking at the barrel pointed at her, Dusty Mercury, whose state of mind was already almost on the verge of breaking down after witnessing that gory scene of Vital Burst disintegrating just into a bag of blood and bones, could no longer control her bladder as she peed on herself right there. If it was a normal situation where she was threatened to death, she might not have shown this kind of reaction, however, right now she was in an extremely unstable condition, so she felt so powerless and terrified that she couldn''t even keep herself from wetting her pants. Just as she was thinking ''I''m dead now¡­ no, please¡­ god¡­ I beg you, save me¡­ if you do that, I swear, I''m gonna truly believe in you from now on!'', all of a sudden, a loud noise of laughter reverberated around the area, "Hahahaha¡­" "Just kidding. I wasn''t gonna kill you, to begin with. If only Vital Burst had allowed me to finish earlier, you would''ve already known about this and we wouldn''t be in this kind of awkward situation where you wet yourself, haha¡­" Now that he had enough fun, he notified her of his original plan. "You should thank god that you had previously stopped Vital Burst from continuing to kick the Island ugly and showed some pity toward him. If you hadn''t done that¡­ you would be already¡­ dead!" As a crescent smile appeared in the corner of his mouth, Virus proclaimed. "Now, you''re at least a bit qualified to leave here with your life to deliver my message to the true masterminds behind all this. So you shall receive my pity." Looking at his sharp eyes which felt as if it was going to devour her any minutes now, she listened silently. By now, her boundary had long deactivated due to her experiencing an extreme condition of fear. After hearing him out, she was stunned to realize that she was going to be allowed to leave just like that, so she gazed at him with her eyes wide open. "Pass along my words to those people who sent you without missing a single syllable. Tell them¡­ the game is¡­ on!" After being done with his words, Virus began to chuckle once again before he added, "Now go! I''m sure they''ve left you some methods of transportation to leave the atoll. Oh, by the way, remember this, if I see you again, I''m gonna kill you. No more second chances again." Seeing her still frozen in that powerless sitting position, he barked, "Go!" Startled out of her stunned state, while trembling, she utilized all of her remaining bits of strength and started to run in a random direction without looking back at all, not even once. "Go drag the Island ugly inside the building so he can fix himself up, it seems his ability to walk has been broken." Turning his head toward the golden beauty, Virus said. "Yes, master." "Well¡­ it seems I can finally rest now." Vocalizing this sentence with an emotionless face, Virus turned around and left toward the building at closeby. ____________Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. SOMEWHERE ELSE IN A LUXURIOUS HALL Currently, thirteen people were sitting around a round table while thirteen copies of a certain file were placed in front of each and every one of them. Among these thirteen seats, one of them was particularly eye-catching than the rest of the twelve other chairs which looked exactly the same. Each and every one of these thirteen people was wearing masks so their identities or faces could not be recognized or seen at all. Also, no technology was allowed inside the hall, and even some extensive preventive measures in order to stop any kind of signal from entering or exiting the hall were taken. So saying no type of signal existed inside the room would be true. "Everyone¡­ I think we have no other options here. Our only remaining choice is to sign this contract in order to save both ourselves and the country we rule!" One of the masked men proclaimed with a voice filled with charm. "Galahad, stop the nonsense. Why do we need to sign this bullshit! This would be almost like admitting another member to our table!" Another man said in a harsh tone. Looking at this masked man, Galahad seemed to get a bit annoyed as he threw his own question at him, "Then what do you suggest we do, Balin?" Already expecting Galahad to ask this question, Balin began to explain with a small laugh, "Haha, easy¡­ I say we use our forces to get everything we want! That company seems to have many secrets which even we can''t uncover! This will always be a thorn for us if we don''t act now¡­ now that we still have the power we should act! Who knows, we might even acquire some unexpected loots too!" "Both of you¡­ shut up!" Suddenly, a loud roar resounded inside the hall. This was the voice of the man who was sitting closest on the right side of the most luxurious seat. "Sir Lancelot." Seeing this particular person talk, both of them seemed to lower their heads as they obediently went quiet. "Both of your views hold their own truths, so none of them is wrong. But, we can''t risk everything like this. What if we tried to force our way to get everything we want¡­ only to end up with nothing? What then? I mean, it''s not like we know anything about this mysterious company called Virus which popped out of nowhere! Do you think they''re not prepared for our counter-attack? Do you two really believe that a company that has somehow even come to know the identity of each and every one of us in this room is that na?ve? I mean, other than Arthur, even we don''t know each other''s identity!" Looking at the man sitting on the most luxurious seat, Lancelot proclaimed. He was probably one of the sole people in the hall that could directly address him just as Arthur. Actually, everything Lancelot stated was true, no one in the hall even knew one another''s true identity, except one person. Even the contract copies placed in front of each person only had their own names remaining on them as the rest of them was already deleted by the highest authority prior to passing along the contracts. This had to do with one of the most essential secrecy rules among them which stated other than the highest order or people he allowed, no one else had the qualification to know the true identity of everyone else in the hall! "You''re right Sir Lancelot, we are by our own limited perspective." Said Balin while Galahad also nodded his head in agreement. "Then¡­ Sir Lancelot, what is your suggestion? What do you say we should do?" The closest seat on the left side of the most luxurious seat queried abruptly. Nodding his head, Lancelot began to elaborate, "Sir Mordred¡­ it''s very simple! We will comply with whoever they are for now¡­ we will also accept the contract and sign it off. We will save ourselves, our people, and our authority. Retaining that is of utmost importance at the moment. However, this shall not end here and it will be only temporary until we know our enemy! I''m sure all of you heard the saying that ''if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat!'' So, let''s temporary succumb to this and secretly begin the plan of knowing our enemy first! How does that sound?" 216 Viscera Renewal And... "That''s a very logical choice Sir Lancelot and I personally agree. Let''s vote and see what''s the opinion of everyone else. Those who disagree with the decision, please raise your hands." Said Mordred looking at everyone''s face once. After that, there was absolute silence for exactly a minute. Seeing no one raising his hand, Mordred talked once again, "Now, those who agree, please raise your hands." Immediately, twelve people raised their hands as most of them truly liked the idea. Only one person stayed his hand and remained unmoved while his eyes were closed. It was as if he had fallen asleep and everything that was happening around him had nothing to do with him. He was the man who was sitting on the most luxurious seat. "Okay¡­ then unless the highest order has anything to add or has a specific decree. We shall proceed with this plan." Vocalizing this, Mordred turned his head around to see if the man shows any kind of reaction whatsoever. Seeing his eyes still remain closed, Mordred understood they could continue with the decision, "Then it''s decided, we shall sign the contract." At this moment, someone else suddenly opened his mouth, "The current President should''ve seen our real names and he knows our true identities now. What action will be taken regarding that?" Hearing his words, everyone else started nodding their heads, meaning they also had this particular concern. Seeing through everyone''s worry, Lancelot who had already expected this matter to be brought up first glanced at the man on the luxurious seat before passing along the words, "Hmm, a good point, Lucan. We can''t deal with him while he''s the President¡­ since it will lead to many headaches and possible variables. Like that time in the past. So if everyone agrees, we will shut his mouth for now and deal with him when his period of Presidency is over. Of course, all of this will be executed by Arthur himself since the only one who has authority when it comes to the matters of the secrecy of our identity is him." After Lancelot was done talking, everyone slightly nodded their heads in agreement as they no longer opened their mouth. "Okay¡­ if there is nothing else, this meeting shall be adjourned here. Please keep in mind that each of you will be summoned one by one in order to sign the contract. You may return." As he announced the ending, simultaneously, thirteen unknown people popped out right behind every chair as they teleported away with their own representative. ___________ In another location, in a room filled with hundreds of screens, currently, some unknown people were watching a particular scene in front of them as their two spies landed on a specific atoll.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Afterward, they saw an enemy spot their spies. But that enemy was soon dealt with as they proceeded in their path. However, before long, another man appeared alongside a golden beauty. "That''s the target!" Next, they were closely watching everything that was happening when suddenly, the man inside their screen directly stared in the direction of the satellite and smirked. That was the last image they received as the screen''s connection was instantly cut off and they could no longer perceive anything! "What happened! Fix it asap! Quick!" Said one of the men which clearly had a lot of authority among the men present inside the room. After five minutes of failure, one of the soldiers replied, "Sir¡­ the satellite seems to have run into some sort of issue¡­ this may take a while." Yelling in anger, another man cursed, "Damn it! Why is this happening now? Could it have something to do with them? No¡­ that''s simply impossible! They did absolutely nothing and they definitely didn''t know we''re coming! So what can they do in this time frame? Fuck, how can we be so misfortunate?" By the end of his sentence, he was fuming at this random coincidence. "Continue trying to fix it! You have to make it work as soon as possible no matter the cost! If you can''t, then you can pack your things and leave, understood?" Declared the other man. ____________ Time passed just like that and soon, it was six days later. Currently, Virus was sitting cross-legged inside the gravity room with his eyes shut. Six days ago, Virus successfully broke through to the third level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage, Viscera Renewal. This level involved nourishing the innards and organs of the body to the point it would be completely sated with energy, and at that moment, when it reached the limit, every internal organ inside the body would shut off completely for around two minutes before restarting again after breaking through to a new and more powerful degree in their power. When this state was achieved, the organs would improve to a whole novel level in their functionality. That was also the moment a practitioner would break through to the fourth level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Bones Dense As Steel! For genius practitioners of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, the third level usually took around a year to break through from, and that was only if they had many resources at their disposal. However, under the constant supply of energy from the Synchronous Transformations Crystal (STC), that time was reduced by many times to around only a month. Of course, that was only in case the practitioner did nothing other than napping until he broke through automatically. The moment Virus broke through to the third level though, much to his astonishment, he realized the third level was already around forty percent complete! Which meant the innards had already absorbed nearly half the amount of energy they were capable of absorbing at this particular level. Nevertheless, after analyzing every element of his special means of practice like training inside the gravity room under intense pressure, the strain placed all over his body as a result of that horrifying gravity, and finally his mysterious revolution method, it all just made a lot of sense to him. This meant it would take him around two weeks to reach the peak of Viscera Renewal even if he absolutely did nothing but sleep. Of course, that wasn''t what he was going to do. For this level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, he had a special type of breathing method which would greatly trigger most of the internal organs inside the body and that, as a result, would reduce the time needed for the breakthrough by almost half give or take! Surprisingly though, this wasn''t the end as there was another element that would speed up the process. And that was the gravity room. To be more exact, what Virus did was to sit under the intense pressure inside the gravity room as he practiced the breathing method he had at hand. Now, normally, this would''ve lessened the duration required in order to reach a breakthrough even further and with that, Virus should''ve already broken through a few days ago! However, Virus was obviously still at the peak of Viscera Renewal. This had to do with an adjustment the Technology Universe had made to the third level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Viscera Renewal. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, normally, this level comprised of every organ inside the body except one. And that exclusive part was the brain and the nervous system. What the Technology Universe did was to develop an additional way in order to concentrate the energy utilizing the STC on the nervous system too! And obviously, coming back to the reason as to why he still hasn''t broken through to the fourth level, that was it. Since with this adjustment, the time required to reach a breakthrough naturally increased. So, right now, Virus was sitting inside the gravity room under a whopping gravity of ten times that of the normal as he practiced his special breathing method which was obtained by his past world''s Earth. A part of his consciousness was also focused on the rotation of the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution. In the meantime, the golden beauty had brought a television and a couch to right outside the door as she was watching a movie while eating some popcorn along with it. Simultaneously, at this time, soundlessly, Virus shattered the final barrier of the third level at last as the energy capacity of every organ reached the absolute limit of this level. Then, all of a sudden... 217 Absolute Deligh Catcha~ As he sat there unmoving, inside him, the sound of something shattering resounded in every corner of his body internally. This sound was only audible to him alone. To be more precise, this was the cracking sound of the final barrier of the third level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Viscera Renewal, being broken through. For many hours, Virus was stuck at the very peak of Viscera Renewal as his innards could no longer absorb any further energy from the Synchronous Transformations Crystal (STC). So, for these hours, he had been making a great effort in trying to break through this final barrier which was keeping him. And now, the final barrier was¡­ broken! As it was smashed apart, with great harmony, every single organ inside his body began to forcefully absorb a massive amount of energy from the STC simultaneously. His Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution was also rotating at a monstrous speed, a speed which Virus couldn''t even come close to when he rotated it himself. At the same time, his intestines, bladder, stomach, kidneys, lungs, and liver began to shut down one after another as it was proceeded with every other internal organ inside his physique. This process continued until finally, his brain and heart¡­ also ceased activity! It could be said that at this very moment, his physical body¡­ had truly died! Actually, the sign of finishing the third level was this momentary false state of death. As he sat there crossed legged without any heartbeat or any breathing whatsoever, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution began to rotate by itself as it grabbed a gigantic amount of energy from the STC before bringing it to every single internal organ inside Virus'' body. All of this was happening extremely fast. And shockingly, all of his organs were absorbing it like a bottomless pit. It was as if there were no limits to how much they could take up energy! And so, this process continued while one second after another passed. However, Virus remained in that dormant death-like state with no signs of life. Meanwhile, the energy was also continuously being sucked up to its every last drop. Time passed just like that as soon, a whole two minutes had already elapsed!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In these two minutes, his innards had probably absorbed much more than the accumulative energy he had received in the entire course of the third level of Corporeal Tempering Stage. Thump~ Thump! Thump~ Thump! Thump! Thump~ As the two minutes were up, at this split second, his heart started to function once again as it restarted its activity. However, astonishingly, the power behind each thump of his heart was getting stronger and stronger with every heartbeat! With that, blood began to flow inside his body as its speed kept accelerating higher and higher. Now, it seemed his physique naturally functioned at a higher level of blood pressure compared to past. Anyway, as his heart began to function, it was proceeded by his brain, and then his lung and liver. Soon, every single organ inside his body was working once again. Only now¡­ they were working a lot stronger. At this moment, Virus''s eyes finally opened widely as he felt his own body in absolute delight! Gasp~ "Ah-" After taking a deep breath, Virus couldn''t stop a moan of utter pleasure escaping from his mouth. This was because every single breath he was taking gave him a new sense of pleasure. It was as if¡­ he could feel the oxygen assimilating into his lungs itself! This made him feel so alive and refreshed! Moreover, he had this feeling as if with the same power of breathing as before, his lungs were assimilating a whole new level of oxygen into his lungs with each breath. This meant that slowly, with his breathing and increased blood circulation speed added together, every cell within his body would absorb more energy and that in return, would strengthen them even further. Other than his breathing, almost every other aspect of his body seemed to have improved to a new level. It was as if every organ inside his body was upgraded to an entire novel height at this moment. Even his eyesight could see with much more clarity now. Moreover, he understood that as these strengthened organs continued to work in great harmony, they would gradually strengthen his body even further to a certain point! "Eh¡­" At this moment, Virus let out a surprised yelp because he realized he was still sitting under ten times gravity, but unlike before, astonishingly, it felt so natural for him to continue staying in this kind of environment. It felt as if he was sitting under the normal gravity of Earth. This meant other than his organs experiencing a leap in their functionality, even his strength had increased to a whole new degree. "This wasn''t supposed to happen-" He murmured with a start. It was indeed as he stated and in this level, even though his body''s strength was also supposed to increase by a small margin, it wasn''t supposed to be this staggering! ''It seems the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution is even more mysterious than I thought for it to keep bringing me surprises.'' Immediately coming to this conclusion, Virus understood this could only happen because of the existence of his special revolution method. ''Anyway¡­ it seems I''ve broken through to¡­ the fourth level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Bones Dense As Steel!'' As this notion passed through his head, he uncontrollably burst in laughter, "Hahaha¡­" This in return draw the attention of the relaxed golden beauty who was still watching a movie, "What happened, master? Tell Lil Belle too, I wanna know!" Came her excited voice as she hopped on the couch as she asked looking back at her master like a curious cat. "I broke through to the initial phase of the fourth level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Bones Dense As Steel." Seeing her funny reaction, Virus replied with a grin of amusement. "Ohhh, congratulations, master! Master must be even more powerful now! What''s the name of the next level? And according to your previous words¡­ it''s should kinda be the final level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage, right?" With starry eyes, she questioned. "The next level-" Talking to this point, he went silent for a short moment before proceeding, "It''s called¡­ Tempering The Marrow." Then, he sank into contemplation, it seemed he was thinking about the fifth level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Tempering The Marrow. "Let''s see how much powerful I''ve become." Finally coming out of his deliberation, he proclaimed toward the golden beauty while wearing a smirk. This piqued the golden beauty''s interest as she turned the television off and then, even though it felt rather uncomfortable for her to stay inside the gravity room, she walked in temporarily as she resisted the ten times gravity. "Eleven times gravity." Virus uttered. Promptly, the gravity increased to that level, however, Virus still felt rather comfortable. So he commanded again, "Twelve times." "Huh¡­ it''s still too easy¡­ thirteen times!" At last, at thirteen times gravity, Virus began to have a slight feeling of strain on his body, but he knew he could still tolerate more, so he talked again, "Fourteen times!" Immediately, a rather intense pressure descended upon his body. ''I should be able to tolerate more!'' As this line appeared in his mind, a rather dense glint of determination passed through his eyes as he yelled, "Fifteen times!" Wuuu~ The room trembled for a short moment as Virus instantly fell on the ground, unable to stay standing! In the meantime, a strong pressure was pressing on him in every single corner of his body, both externally and internally! "Ah¡­ master-" Suddenly, he heard a weak voice from beside himself, so turning his head toward the source with a lot of difficulties, he realized that although the golden beauty was still standing, she could barely talk or move. . . . Very quickly, five days slipped away. Currently, Virus was inside the gravity room under the extreme gravity of seventeen times that of normal while doing push-ups. "Master! The CEO ugly has called¡­ he says he has something very urgent to notify master." Suddenly, the voice of the golden beauty arrived from right outside the gravity room, disturbing his training as a result. Nevertheless, hearing it was urgent, Virus uttered, "Fourteen times gravity." Then proceeded, "Bring the phone over." 218 Startling News At the same time, the government of the United States of America released an official piece of news which immediately stunned the whole country into feeling many mixed feelings overwhelming at them at the same time. Moreover, it didn''t take long for it to spread to the whole world to the utter shock every single human being on the entirety of Earth! At this time, almost every domestic channel in the country was showing the White House where the President was making an important announcement, "Hello, everyone. I admit, these past few months has been really tough on every single citizen of our country as there were a massive amount of chaos, riots, deaths, and many other unfortunate events and incidents which happened as a result of the pandemic disease named the ''Mutated HIV'' since everyone believed this would be the fall of our civilization, the end of humanity." "However, I''m standing here today officially, not only as of the President of the United States of America but more importantly, a human being, an envoy of hope, and a herald of good news for all mankind!" Raising his tone at this point, the President proclaimed in a loud voice. This was probably his way of raising his own image and hyping things up since he was literally about to announce and make history! After a short pause, gradually, a very excited and especially warm smile appeared on his face as he stated with the clearest tone he could possibly muster, "And the good news is that¡­ we have¡­ found the cure to the Mutated HIV!" As he phrased these few words, everyone currently watching the television was promptly dumbfounded and stunned as cups fell from many hands or even filled them up to the brim only for it to continue spilling. It wouldn''t be wrong to say everyone who was seeing this shocking piece of official news was stupefied into being speechless and much more. All of them became completely silent as they couldn''t take their eyes off from their televisions. Even the cameramen present at the scene had forgotten they were filming live at the moment as they only stared at the President''s face with their jaws dropped open. Finally, some of the reporters at the venue were able to get a hold of themselves and began bombarding the President with a myriad of questions. "Mr. President! Is what you just announced really the truth?" A reporter from Fox News questioned. "Mr. President, who exactly created the cure?" Another reporter from BBC who had rushed the moment he became aware the President was going to make important announcements regarding the Mutated HIV inquired. "Mr. President! When is the cure going to be distributed to every patient in the world???" A reporter of CNN yelled. "Mr. President!!! Is this really true? Isn''t this some kind of trick to make the chaos in the world stop or die down?" A doubtful journalist from New York Times threw this particular question. "Mr. President¡­" "Mr¡­" Just like that, the President''s voice drowned among the overlapping voices of many others. Meanwhile, standing in front of their televisions, those people who were shocked silly finally snapped out of it as a strange feeling of euphoria hit them and rushed to every corner of their being crazily. Trails of tears also began to be drawn on many faces as they cried while yelling in happiness, "We''re saved!!!" . . . "Yes, that''s right! The cure has been found! Everyone, please calm down and listen to everything I''m going to explain from now on." Raising his hand, he signaled the reporters to get silent so he could proceed with his announcement. "First, let me begin by introducing the name of the world-saving cure. It is called Ai Virus 001: The Savior." After phrasing these words, the President went quiet for the moment in order to allow others to have the time to digest everything a bit. "Ai Virus? What''s that supposed to mean? Is it as in the Japanese word ''Ai'' which means love? So¡­ does it mean ''Love Virus''? What the fuck? Are we supposed to love HIV?" Someone murmured to himself. Actually, there were many muddled people who were questioning the naming immediately. Ruefully smiling, he continued, "Please allow me to expound on this everyone. So, a few days ago, we were contacted by the Virus Industries regarding the matter of cure. They reported to us that they''ve been secretly studying the cure for the normal type of HIV since years ago and that after investing a lot of resources and capital in order to achieve this¡­ a few years ago, they were finally successful!" Listening to this point, a light bulb went on above a lot of those confused minds as they pondered, ''Oh my god! So it''s the Virus industries who was able to create the cure! Ahh, I see¡­ so that''s what they meant by Ai Virus 001: The Savior¡­ it''s telling us to love the Virus Industries who is the savior of mankind¡­'' As they thought to this point, those people couldn''t stop a chuckle of amusement and happiness from appearing on their faces as they wondered to themselves, ''Pfft, they''re so shameless, but I like it! Since they have the right to be shameless. But wait¡­ did the President say it''s only the cure of normal HIV?'' In the meantime, the President continued without stopping, "Initially, they were planning to release this cure of normal HIV to the world after they had enough funds to make it go worldwide. However, with the sudden appearance of this apocalyptic Mutated HIV, left with no other choice, they heroically stepped up in order to save humanity from their inevitable doom! Now, although this isn''t exactly the true cure to the Mutated HIV itself, they revealed that it was effective on the Mutated HIV too and it could directly send it to a completely dormant state for around a year!" Seeing everyone''s face abruptly turn anxious, the president continued, "Please be rest assured that it''s not a one-time thing and you can actually use it every year! This means that as long as mankind takes this cure once a year, we can still live a long happy life with no problems! The only downside is that we have to take it every single year until the permanent cure is created." "But please be rest assured that the permanent cure isn''t far away either and from now on, we will definitely focus all of our brains on finding that as soon as possible. This will be a lot easier now that we have a good foundation that is the cure the Virus Industries is providing us with!" Hearing it was actually the Virus Industries who has made the cure, every single soul was instantly bewildered as an intense discussion began. "It''s actually the Virus Industries who found the cure?" Someone asked in amazement. "Didn''t they only have a Phone Industry and an Automotive Industry¡­ when did they cross over to the Pharmaceutical Industry too?" Totally speechless, a rather knowledgeable person mumbled. "Not only they rocked the world with their groundbreaking advanced phones¡­ now they''re saving the world with their drugs? Oh my god! How can such a company exist in this world! I''m convinced¡­ I''m totally convinced them!" Another began to utter loudly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Someone else also began barking with stars shining inside his eyes, "Shit, this Virus Industries is a real blast! I''ll be their eternal fan from today onwards and Imma buy whatever they sell from today on! If they sell jewelry, I''ll buy jewelry, if they sell perfume, I''ll buy perfume and even if they sell smelly crap, I''ll happily buy the smelly crap!" 219 Bigger Picture "Now, I remember one of the reporters at the venue ask when is ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' going to be distributed?" After a short stop, he continued with a reassuring tone, "No one in the world should be worried about this at all because we, the White House, will personally oversee this matter and we shall connect the leader of every country that contacts us directly to the Virus Industries in order to guide them negotiate and go into contract with them." Then at this point, promptly raising his head toward a particular camera, he continued, "To every leader, President, or whichever highest authority of each country who''s listening to this broadcast, please keep in mind that you have to contact us and not the Virus Industries directly. This is because, through a contract, we''re legally in charge of this particular matter. You can try directly contacting them, but I strongly advise against that and the consequences of that have nothing to do with us. Anyway, you can even connect us right now and we shall help you with the procedure. Thank you." At the same time, he was pondering to himself, ''Well, I hope you guys really listen and don''t jump into that CEO''s bad side through contacting him personally, hehe.'' At this moment, all of a sudden, a reporter of BBC rose without any kind of permission and loudly threw a question that was probably popping inside the head of many journalists and reporters present at the scene, "Mr. President, I beg your pardon for talking without permission. But can you please tell us what do you mean by contract? Isn''t the blueprints for the cure going to be given to every country in the world?" "A good question indeed." Hearing this, against their expectations, the President didn''t ignore the question and instead began elaborating on it, "We will give the blueprint of ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' to every country in the world free of charge as a gift." Playing the same trick the CEO ugly had played on him, he proceeded, "However, I''ll be honest here, I''m quite positive no country in the world will be able to make it. And the USA is also in the same position. This is the case because making this drug requires far more advanced technology than we currently have at hand. And only the Virus Industries has access to that level of advanced tech. Some of you might be doubtfully questioning why isn''t the Virus Industries giving the technologies to the rest of the world, but I''m sure all of you understand doing that would be like destroying themselves and all of the foundations they''ve been building for decades!" Listening to his response, although everyone understood the logic, some of them still couldn''t stop a frown from appearing on their foreheads as they thought along the lines of ''What''s the life of a company compared to billions of lives throughout the whole world'' Or ''That sounds a bit selfish of them''. Nonetheless, there were a lot of people who truly comprehended the logic and reasoning behind those words and nodded their heads in both understanding and satisfaction. "If the negotiations go well, I believe in a few months at most, everyone in the world will be saved!" Reaching this point, suddenly the light inside his eyes took a sharp turn as he began to utter, "Now, returning to our own country''s matter. In these past few months of darkness, the country has been truly in chaos and a lot of crime has been committed. But please be rest assured that from now on, we will investigate every crime, every death, and whatever that makes us suspicious and we shall bring them all to justice. This is a vow I make to all of the loyal citizens of the USA as the President of this country!" At this time, he paused shortly as he took a sip from his bottle of water before continuing, "The second matter is regarding the economy of our country. Currently, with a lot of employee''s leaving their posts at their jobs¡­ a great deal of our economy is crippled. So, I, the President, humbly request every citizen to return to their original work and revive their daily lives with a peace of mind. Also, keep in mind that workers will be of utmost importance and they shall be placed in the first row of receiving the cure. That is all for now." The President was smart enough to know that the only way in order to revive the hierarchy in the shortest period of time possible was to place a tempting reward and create a sense of competition. And, what could possibly be more tempting than the cure itself? Also, like this, there will be a misconception that you might not receive the cure if you do not return to your job and with that, nearly no one would be relieved without returning to their jobs in order to reassure the life of themselves and their families. . . . "What is it?" Receiving the phone from the golden beauty''s hand, Virus inquired. "Master! The contract has been signed! Now, your words have a lot of weight in this country. Oh also, the President has personally helped us found and license our new sector of Virus Industries immediately, the Pharmaceutical branch! Now, other than being in the Phone Industry and Automotive Industry, we''ve officially stepped into the Pharmaceutical Industry too." Explained the CEO ugly in elation. He clearly understood that they''ve taken another big leap toward his master''s current goal with this. However, opposite to his great enthusiasm, Virus replied without any change in his mood or expression, "Is that all?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Ah¡­ yes." He replied a bit awkwardly. "I see, you''ve done a good job indeed. Now, begin the negotiations with other countries." He declared and was just about to hang up when he heard the CEO ugly hurriedly talk again, "Oh master wait! Now that you mentioned negotiations with other countries¡­ that brings me to another question." Coming to this point, he continued without waiting for Virus to say ''What?''. "If I remember correctly, your relationship with Russia isn''t anything worth mentioning¡­ so should I just refuse to go into a contract with them?" In an inquisitive tone, the CEO ugly queried. Even though as a CEO, his choice would naturally be to go into a contract with them while looking at the bigger picture, he clearly understood his master was the highest priority. Listening to his words, Virus began to respond immediately, "Let me ask you this, CEO ugly¡­ do you think if I don''t go into a contract with Russia, my few true enemies who seemingly have a seat at a rather high position in that country will die without being able to find the cure? Or do you think they would be able to buy the cure they need for themselves and their families from another country? I mean selling them a few of our drugs would be no problems for any country in the world. Right?" Nodding his head in agreement, the CEO ugly replied, "Uh¡­ master''s completely right." As if he had already expected this, Virus added further, "And with the situation continuing like this. Won''t the true victims of this be the common citizens of that country who has almost done nothing wrong against me? It''s not like I have a blood feud with their citizens¡­ so I don''t care if they live or die¡­ with that, don''t you think it''s better to make some profit out of them?" Grasping Virus'' mindset regarding this matter, the CEO ugly answered, "I understand, master." "Good, anyway, you can sign a contract with them. Still, don''t forget to make things difficult for those people." Virus concluded as he still didn''t forget to bother them a bit further in order to increase their enmity toward him. "Hmm, I understand, master. Should I demand their government to hand over your enemies directly?" With killing intent apparent in his tone, the CEO ugly uttered. "That would be too easy and no fun! This game has just begun. I''ll deal with them using my own methods. You don''t have to bother with them at all. Just let them go wild! Haha¡­" Replying like this, Virus burst out in laughter. Sensing some interesting events coming up in the near future. After hanging up the phone, Virus handed the phone over to the golden beauty as he increased the gravity to seventeen times once again as he resumed his training. 220 FAP Time flew by and two weeks drifted away. In these two weeks, there were world-shakingly massive shock-waves spreading everywhere throughout the entire world as some were anxious to go into a contract with the Virus Industries, while some were dissatisfied with the terms and the price of the cure the Virus industries were offering to them. However, in the end, all of them, without exception, had no other choice beside signing the contract.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Using the excuse of the cure, the President also reaped many benefits as he formed better relations and even some alliances with the USA being in the dominant position. To them, this was going to lead to many profits and even some power in the future. Actually, this was what the CEO ugly himself had allowed as one of the benefits and compensation they would receive as a result of signing the harshest or even worst contract. Among those countries, there was an especially dissatisfied one whose higher-ups were fuming in anger. That country was Russia. This had to do with the fact that after doing some inquiries to other countries'' terms of contract, they realized the terms offered to them were really harsh compared to the other countries and oddly, all of those harsh clauses directly targeted a special group of people in authority. So a wave of complaints was directed at the Virus Industries and the USA by them. However, in the end, having no other options, they could only bear a grudge, grit their teeth, and obediently sign the contract. Nonetheless, that didn''t mean this matter was finished. This was probably only the beginning spark of something much bigger. In these past two weeks, the title of the busiest person could only be given to the CEO ugly because he had to negotiate both day and night with different countries in the world in order to go into a long-lasting contract with them. Nevertheless, being the smart AI he was, almost everything went exactly according to his plan. In the outside world too, nearly every country in the world was celebrating the discovery of the cure. And many were singing praises toward the company who had created the so-called cure ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior''. There were even some young males and females who were yelling ''We love Virus!'' wherever they went. There were even hashtags like ''#We_Love_Virus'', ''#Virus_The_Hero_Savior'', or similar texts spreading all over the internet like a virus. And with every country announcing this fabulous news to their citizens, starting with the United States of America itself, nearly all of the remaining countries regained their social order in the span of these two weeks. Another matter worth mentioning was that the government of the United States initiated a massive program and plan to bring every crime committed during what many came to call the ''First Apocalyptic Phenomenon'' or ''FAP'' to justice. It was called by this name because, in the entire history of mankind, this was truly the first time a gigantic incident on this scale, which was eventually going to lead to humanity''s extinction, was happening. In the meantime, with the least amount of care in the world, on a specific atoll, currently, Virus was training under nineteen times gravity. At the time he had broken through to the fourth level, Bones Dense As Steel, he perceived that with the heavenly effect of the Synchronous Transformations Crystal (STC) 30 percent of the road of completing the fourth level was already treaded. And with that, the density of his bones was already high and that in return made them extremely harder. This also reduced the duration required in order to finish this level by at least a week for him. Originally, under normal circumstances of doing absolutely nothing at all, with the help of the STC, the fourth level would''ve taken around two months to complete. Luckily for him though, he had the gravity room which was extremely helpful in quickening the speed of consummating the levels that had to do with tempering various body parts like the bones, flesh, etc. So with that advantage at hand, he started a hellish training session under that terrifying level of gravity which made him keep exceeding his previous limits again and again as it decreased the time he needed to leap into the next level. Currently, while rotating his Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, he was hanging with a shoulder-width grip from two pull up bars and as his palms were facing forwards, he kept pulling his weight straight up. As he repeated this process, the golden beauty couldn''t take her eyes off of her master''s beautiful abs which were dripping with a lot of sweat. In the meantime, she thought mesmerized, ''I really want to touch them! Ah-'' In these past two weeks, much to the surprise of even Virus himself, he realized that with the rotation of the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, every part of his body was still getting stronger, even those parts which he had already broken through from. For example, although he had already completed the second level, Altering The Flesh and his strength should''ve stagnated from that point onwards since the future levels had nothing to do with the flesh and muscles, it still seemed with each breakthrough, the potential of his physique was increasing and that in return, with the help of STC and Dark Dragon''s Transformations Revolution, made it possible to continue strengthening even those levels of the past! This was truly a chain of amazing coincidences that accumulated over Virus'' body and made this current situation possible. In truth without the existence of STC inside his body, even while practicing the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, wanting to strengthen his previous levels would''ve been totally impossible! This was because the Corporeal Tempering Stage was a systematic stage! This meant you cannot strengthen a body part without being in that level or breaking through to that level. However, utilizing the heavenly effects of STC, which in a way broke that system, this became possible! Also, in case the opposite had happened and he had only used the STC without picking the training method of Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, this state still wouldn''t have been a possibility. This had to with the fact that the body could only be tempered to a certain limit unless it broke through in its grade entirely or the quality of the body was improved using a special method which would bring the body''s limit to another level. But now, both of these heavenly coincidences called the STC and the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution had come to exist inside a single body! One of them helped his body break the system of an entire stage while providing him with a massive amount of energy to support that, while the other one was able to perfectly grasp that enormous energy from his heart and keep transferring it to every corner of his body at every level while also in a way improving the quality and limits of his body. Yes, now, both of these lucky coincidences had gathered inside one body and they marvelously happened to complement each other so perfectly as they worked together in an absolutely harmonious way! 221 Jump Every bone inside Virus'' body was currently in its peak condition, meaning it had absorbed a hundred percent of the energy it was supposed to take in. Moreover, the technologically advanced Earth of the future had also invented some methods by utilizing which, one was able to even transmit these energies to the cartilage along with the bones itself! Actually, the same thing had also taken place when Virus was still at the second level, Altering The Flesh. Because in that particular level, with some minor adjustments, the tendons and ligaments also came to be considered a part of the flesh. Naturally, the veins and arteries, which existed inside the flesh itself, were already considered a part of the flesh in this particular level without any kind of further adjustments necessary. Anyway, at this time, Virus was attacking the final barrier which was stopping him from breaking through to the next level. He did that naturally by directing a massive amount of energy to his bones while also trying to lead those energies deeper into his bone marrow! And the moment this happened, Virus would successfully breakthrough to the next level. By now, it''s been four hours since he had been attempting this process, but unfortunately, he kept failing each time¡­ until this very moment. ''Let''s have a go at the bottleneck one more time.'' As this notion popped into his brain, he started making another attempt. Inside his body, a massive storm of energy was drawn from the STC inside his heart and while also rotating the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, he led all of them inside his bones before trying to direct all of them further within. Outside, beads of sweat kept rolling down from his face. It was obvious this process was a lot harder than it seemed. Then, slowly, some of the energies finally began to seep deeper into his bones. Ssss~ Immediately, the temperature of his whole body began to increase and with his bones being the center of everything, it was naturally the hottest body part. Actually, If one was able to directly see his bones right now, that person would be shocked to realize they were shining just like melting magma. This state persisted for thirty seconds before all of it finally began to stir and the next moment, they began sinking to the deepest parts of his bones¡­ his bone marrow! Success! I finally did it! This is¡­ the initial phase of Tempering The Marrow! After four hours of constant persistence, his efforts finally bore fruit as he crossed over to the fifth level, Tempering The Marrow! At this time, both of his eyes abruptly opened as he stood up and began to laugh in joy and contentment, "Hahaha¡­ I broke through!" If the CEO ugly was here right now, he would''ve been speechless other than being filled with a sense of remorse and sorrow while thinking, ''You didn''t show any kind of reaction for having the power to be able to do whatever you want in an entire country, but now, after experiencing a single breakthrough, you''re this happy? What the hell!'' "Hehe, master must''ve reached another breakthrough." Came the giggling voice of the golden beauty too from right outside the gravity room. Seeing her here, Virus turned around before saying, "Haha¡­ yes! Master''s even stronger now. I''m really itching for a battle in order to test my strength though. How about it? Would Lil Belle accompany this weak master of hers to a duel?" Catching his words, the golden beauty was surprised for a moment before she showed a closed-up smile at her face and phrased, "Sure! Hehe¡­" "Then let''s move outside." Mouthing this, for the very first time since weeks ago, Virus finally stepped out of the gravity room. However, the moment he walked out, an amazing feeling touched and descended upon him! "Ah... this!" He let out an expected yet surprised yelp. For a moment, he felt so light that his physique had this wondrous illusion that he was currently flying on the moon itself! If it was someone else in his place right now, that person would''ve definitely lost his center of gravity and balance as he would''ve tumbled on the ground the very next moment. And just like that, he would''ve faced a lot of difficulties before finally getting used to these new conditions of the environment. Though getting used to that was easier said than done because, in reality, it would take a lot of time and practice. However, Virus being the calculative AI he was¡­ he instantly began to adjust and introduce his mind to this new system of gravity which was very distinct from that of within the gravity room itself and just like that, a few seconds later, he was already familiar with the gravity of that of Earth and understood exactly how much power and weight he had to put behind his every movement. But, one thing that had to be noted was that at the moment, he was still calculating every motion of himself in order to walk and move naturally. Thus, it couldn''t be called truly getting used to this new extremely light level of gravity. This was because although his mind could instantly handle this situation by introducing and adjusting his every movement and motion, in reality, he was still calculating every single motion of himself, and until his corporeal body and experience truly elevated to that level and got used to it physically, it couldn''t be called a natural mastery in a true sense. So, for him to genuinely reach that level of achieving natural mastery in both body movement and body memory which worked in harmony together with his mind, he would require some time and some sessions of simple practicing outside. Though unlike others, he was capable of achieving this level of mastery at an appalling rate. Nevertheless, after seeing how easy it had become to walk to the point of him almost putting no strength behind each step of himself in order to move, Virus became extremely curious to know how high he could jump and how it felt like to stay in the sky for a few moments with his own power alone! This notion made him really exhilarated because it also sparked a new desire in him¡­ the ability to fly in the sky with his power alone! . . . Soon, they were both outside. However, Virus had already decided to try jumping first before dueling with the golden beauty, so he voiced, "Lil Belle, wait for a moment and let me try something before we begin." "Um¡­ okay?" Befuddled, said the golden beauty. As he vocalized his intention, much to the confusion of the golden beauty, Virus walked a few meters away from her, released every self-control he had on his strength, and began to gather all of his might and momentum as he¡­ jumped! And just like that¡­ seeing the scene in front of her, the golden beauty''s jaws dropped open so widely that it almost touched the ground itself! Because¡­ she watched as two feet prints left their trails on the ground and the next moment, her master was there no more!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. 222 The Painful Experience To Come Her master was there no more! Nevertheless, knowing this was because he had just jumped, she immediately looked high into the sky, only to realize her master was more or less ten meters above the ground itself! Seeing this scene in front of her, the golden beauty''s eyes went round in disbelief. A moment later, Virus began to descend toward the ground. Bam! The moment his feet landed on the ground, a rather loud noise reverberated around the area as dust covered the scene. "Master!" A bit worried, she looked at the direction her master had just landed on. "I''m fine." However, completely fine, Virus walked toward her in a relaxed manner while he wondered to himself, ''Huh, so around ten meters is my current limit. Though if I strain myself, I''ll be able to achieve a bit higher.'' Now that he was done with his little jump experiment, without any further ado, he distanced himself from the golden beauty. "Shall we start?" Then, he asked with a wide grin plastered over his face. Seeing her master was truly fine, at first, she became astonished by imagining just how hard her master''s bones had to be for him to be totally unharmed from such a fall. Afterward, letting out a sigh of relief, she replied while wearing a half-smile, "Whenever master feels like it, Lil Belle is ready." Now, there was a serious vibe emitting from her entire body which didn''t exist on the previously cute and casual golden beauty. Hearing the confirmation, showing a playful smirk, Virus charged. With each step, a small footprint was left on the ground as a result of his great momentum. Soon, he was five meters away from the golden beauty when he abruptly¡­ jumped forward! Bong~ Naturally, this time, the height of his hop was much lesser compared to the previous one as his main purpose was to reduce the distance between the two of them in the blink of an eye. In the meantime, as he was still on the air, drawing back his fist, he sent a straight punch toward his landing spot where the golden beauty was currently standing at. However, at this moment, a mischievous smile showed up on the golden beauty''s face before she began maneuvering at the very last moment as she effortlessly dodged the incoming attack and moved out of the way. Bamf! Some dust rose on Virus'' landing spot once again. Nevertheless, without a second of hesitation, Virus leaped toward the golden beauty''s current location once again, only this time, he had placed an even greater amount of power behind his feet before springing in her direction. Also, this time, he was clearly going to land on both feet, meaning, he was going to perform a dropkick on her. Then, just as he was about to succeed, the golden beauty once again smiled and swiftly moved out of the way. Bam~ Even more dirt scattered around as he failed once more. After that, Virus was just about to rush at her again, when to his surprise, before he could do anything, the golden beauty stormed in his direction. Then, not even a moment had passed, when she was already in front of him as she instantly placed both of her hands on the ground and swept with one foot at Virus'' legs. Bam! As a result of that, Virus easily lost his balance and was knocked down on the ground the very next moment. "Haha¡­" Seeing himself laying down on the ground, he burst out in laughter. Also, he no longer had any intentions of continuing this pointless fight and voiced instead with a sigh of helplessness, "Although I know I''m stronger strength-wise, my speed seems to be rather lacking compared to you." Shaking his head at this point, he proceeded, "There is truly no point in being stronger if your body''s speed can''t keep up. I admit defeat, for now." "Hehe¡­ yep, Lil Belle can''t compete with master when it comes to strength now, however, master can''t also compete with Lil Belle when it comes to speed." Voiced the golden beauty in amusement, clearly beaming to be able to defeat his master. Seeing how happy she seemed, Virus couldn''t keep himself from teasing her and proclaimed in an exaggerated tone as if it was really a pity, "Aiii, and here I was thinking if I could defeat my Lil Belle, I would make her a new biological body¡­ sigh, that''s truly a pity¡­ it seems that can only wait." Hearing this, stunned, the smile immediately disappeared from her face and the next moment, she was already on the verge of bursting into tears while thinking that if only she had been defeated voluntarily, she would''ve gotten a true physical body by now. "Ah¡­ master!" This was the only thing she could say in return as she was truly speechless and didn''t know what to do. "Haha, don''t worry. It won''t take much longer for my Lil Belle to receive her own body!" Not going any further with the tease, Virus replied as he reassured her. "Yay!" Promptly, her mood took a 180-degree turn as she was beaming once again. ''My Lil Belle''s really cute, haha¡­'' Unconsciously, this notion popped up into Virus'' head. . . . An hour later, as the two were sitting in their main personal room, the Island ugly entered the room, "Master, did you summon me?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Hmm, yes." Taking a sip from his currently favorite drink, tea, Virus mouthed before asking, "With the current technology base and foundation we have, is making the 20 times gravity room really the utmost limit? It''s proving to be inadequate for my final level of training." Previously, Virus had assumed 20 times gravity would''ve been more than enough. But now, with those two heavenly phenomena existing inside his body, he had become much stronger than expected, so he needed an even stronger degree of gravity in order to continue his training. Listening to his words, the Island ugly didn''t respond immediately and instead seemed to sink into deep contemplation. Virus didn''t interrupt him while he was thinking and instead took another sip from his cup of specially made tea. Around a minute passed when the Island ugly finally opened his mouth in order to provide his master with an answer, "Master, that''s truly our limit at the moment¡­ however, if you still insist on making it, I can adjust some parts forcefully in order to raise it to 28 times gravity. Also, since the building can''t resist such a degree of gravity, we can only make a gravity spot for you in our underground world. Nevertheless, that''s still beyond our level of technology base so there will be a lot of strain and pressure on the gravity device¡­ with that, it would at most last for twelve hours before it breaks down. So we would need to keep making new ones for master''s training." After listening to his words, Virus pondered for a moment before replying, "Alright, make them. Also, I need you to gather a lot of some specific herbs and materials. I''ll transfer them to your head." Blood seemed to disappear from the Island ugly''s face after hearing he had to gather some materials once more. Seeing the Island ugly''s face turn a bit pale tickled Virus as he spoke further, "Haha, don''t worry, you don''t need to go to those kinds of extreme places any time soon. Actually, the location of all of the things I need this time around can be accessed rather easily, so you can even buy them from other people if you want." After letting out a sigh of relief, the Island ugly responded, "Yes, master." "Okay, you can leave now." Signaling with his hand, Virus dismissed the Island ugly. After he left, muddled, the golden beauty inquired, "Master, what do you need those materials for? Are you gonna make something like the Synchronous Transformations Crystal again?" Turning his head to look into her rich golden eyes, Virus answered, "No, it''s not anything like that. It''s just that training this level is much harder than you''re imagining right now¡­ so I would need to take a special route of training in order to smooth the path for myself and to decrease the time required for finishing this final level." Afterward, while thinking about the painful experience he had to go through from now on, he took another sip from his cup of tea. 223 Painful Process A day drifted away just like that. Virus didn''t continue with his training since without the gravity room or the other things he needed, training by himself for a single day wouldn''t be able to help him progress in the fifth level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage, Tempering The Marrow, at all. So, he decided to rest for the day and release all of the tension that had gathered on his body. Right now, both Virus and the golden beauty were standing in front of a two meters long device while the Island ugly explained, "Master, this is the gravity device. With some adjustments, I had to make it bigger for it to be able to tolerate the pressure. Also, its diameter of effect has been reduced to only five meters, further than that, the gravity won''t work." "Okay, that''s adequate¡­ is the other thing I told you to make ready?" Nodding his head in understanding, Virus inquired further. "Yes, I''ll order one of the Worker Robots to carry it over." Replied the Island ugly respectfully. "Alright, where are the other materials I need?" Opening his mouth again, he asked. "Please follow me, they are placed in another section together with the MDA" Afterward, the trio went to another section where the MDA and the herbs Virus required were placed at. Nodding his head in satisfaction, Virus first sent the Island ugly away before telling the golden beauty, "Lil Belle, I''ll send you a recipe, it''s called ''Basic Blood Replenishing Pill''. I will need a lot of these pills in the Tempering The Marrow level. You shall be in charge of creating these pills. So whenever my stock gets empty, you come here and create new ones, alright?" "Yes, master." She answered cheerfully. As long as she could help her master, she was happy. Showing her a brilliant smile, Virus stated, "Good, now, create a few ones and let me see how you do it." After watching her make a few ''Basic Blood Replenishing Pills'' Virus took those few pills and left. Coming back to the area where the gravity device was placed at, Virus spotted a new tool there. This new tool was strangely in the shape of a big tank and from its body, a long flexible conduit for conducting liquid was sticking out and a needle was attached to the end of this hose. Virus walked beside this new tool as he grabbed the end of this hose before abruptly jamming it into the vein of his right arm. At the same time, the tool started to function as it sucked his blood in a rather quick manner.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Seeing it work perfectly fine, Virus popped one of the pills into his mouth as he ordered toward the gravity device, "Twenty times gravity." Instantly, an intense gravity pressed upon him, however, he realized this wasn''t his true limit and increased it once again. In the end, he realized the best gravity for the current him was twenty-two times gravity that of normal. So, finding the most suitable level for himself, he sat down on the ground, closed his eyes, and started his next session of training. Gradually, Virus'' face went totally pale as a lot of blood was drained from his whole body. He had lost so much blood that he was experiencing an odd and intense type of pain by now. However, simultaneously, gritting his teeth and persisting, he began directly guiding all of the energy from the STC to his bone marrow. This was an extremely painful process! After losing that much blood, his bone marrow was naturally forced to work with all its might to replenish that lost blood. However, at this time, the pill''s effect also began to kick in as it forced his bone marrow to overwork even further to another level while it absorbed all of the energy around itself like crazy. This speed of absorption was so fast that every last bit of energy that appeared inside his bone marrow was instantly sucked in. Slowly, fresh blood began to fill up his whole body. The difference between this new blood and his old blood lay in the fact that this blood''s quality was a tad bit better. His bone marrow was also a little tempered. Though this temperament was not worth mentioning at this moment. As his lost blood was finally replenished, the blood-sucking tool began to work again as it drained his blood once more! . . . Days began to elapse once more. While Virus continued his repetitive training of draining almost every last drop of his blood before replacing it with new fresh blood, one plane after another landed on the island before leaving a few hours later. Currently, the Legal ugly had borrowed a lot of planes and pilots from the government of the United States as he transported tons of ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' every day. The social order of the world was also long restored by now as people witnessed that the cure was really true. So nearly everyone returned to their everyday life. However, there still existed some people who could never return to their past routine life, for example, those who had committed a murder and now got caught. In America, lots of criminals were caught every day as prisons throughout the entire country were filled up one after another. A lot of people had also come to be aware of the existence of some odd people among themselves by now and every day, one article after another was published regarding these people. There were also some rather persuasive videos and pieces of evidence being uploaded on the internet over and over again which even with the day and night efforts of the Special Surveillance World Jurisdiction (SSWJ) couldn''t be stopped anymore. This was because if one video was deleted from one website, it would get uploaded in ten more! To be honest, it didn''t matter if they tried to stop those videos anymore because most people had seen it already. However, a lot of people still did not believe those videos and called them altered videos that have been photoshopped or professionally edited. And since no government showed any kind of reaction regarding these videos on the surface, they just assumed it to be false and not anything worth mentioning. Anyhow, as time passed like this and many startling events were taking place in the outside world, Virus proceeded with his training without any care in the whole world. . . . Right now, the Security ugly was sitting inside the van in front of Ella''s family house as he pondered to himself, ''Although master''s back¡­ he hasn''t come to visit miss Ella¡­ not even once.'' ''Sigh¡­ I wouldn''t have originally cared about this, but miss Ella keeps asking me when will he be back nearly every day. She even asks twice at some particular days. And looking at the way she looks, I can say with certainty that she''s not at her best shape these days-'' Just as he deliberated to this point, the door of his van was abruptly pushed open as an ashen-faced Ella appeared there. She was crying! Her eyes were filled with tears as she covered her mouth with one hand and questioned, "Ahh¡­ Security¡­ bro¡­ I killed¡­ sob¡­ I¡­ I murdered someone?!" Seeing this unexpected scene in front of him, the Security ugly''s eyes promptly went wide open as he thought while being totally at a loss, ''Oh no! She remembered!'' 224 Recalling "Ah¡­ miss, about that..." Not knowing what to say, the Island ugly could only stare at her awkwardly while pondering, ''Should I tell her everything? Well, I can''t say that teenager was master since he didn''t seem like he wanted her to know. But¡­ telling her everything else should be fine-'' Just as he was at this point, Ella interrupted her. "Just tell me the truth!" She bawled at him screamingly as tears continued to roll down from her face. For the past few days, she had been remembering bits of her memories, but she had strongly believed that those memories must be as a result of some bad nightmare she probably went through at night and now, she was just recalling them. Of course, that was until a few minutes ago before she finally vaguely remembered everything! Seeing this kind of intense reaction from her, the Security ugly instantly made the decision to tell her everything¡­ of course, except a certain fact. "Yes¡­ you did kill someone. But-" Finally, he admitted and just as he was about to proceed, he was interrupted by a despairing Ella, "So¡­ I did kill someone¡­ I''m¡­ I''m a murderer now!" With anguish apparent in her eyes and expression, she turned around and was about to leave, when the Security ugly grabbed her arm and began elaborating further in a loud voice, "Listen to me, miss! Yes, it''s true that you killed someone! But that was just an act of self-defense! You''re not to blame here! You get that straight." Catching his words, in a low voice, Ella began to murmur, "Was that truly the case? Was my action of killing a person with a single punch truly self-defense¡­ let''s say that''s true for a moment¡­ but so what? That doesn''t change the fact that I murdered someone, right?" By this point, the light of life seemed to have greatly dissipated from her eyes as she turned around and left dispiritedly while showing her lonely and fragile back to the Security ugly. ''Sigh¡­ should I report this? Well, she might get over it soon. So, I should just let her be, right? What she needs right now is time.'' Decided the Security ugly just like that while watching her vanish. After that, he couldn''t stop himself from also thinking, ''Good thing she didn''t ask about that teenager. Well, to be more precise, she wasn''t exactly in a state to care about that teenager''s identity, so¡­''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . . EIGHT DAYS LATER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT (NYPD) From the moment the social order of the world was restored and the President launched the massive project of arresting every criminal of FAP in order to bring them to justice, every police department in the whole country had been greatly busy with a monstrous amount of workload each day. Luckily though, there had been many fresh police officers joining every department while simultaneously, nearly all of those senior police officers with a bit of experience were promoted to be at least a detective. "Detective Argent, congratulations on your promotion, you are now a homicide detective. This is your first case, please handle it with care and utmost focus. Also, don''t forget that all cases related to FAP will be dealt with utilizing at least twice if not thrice the punishment according to the orders of the President himself." Handing a file to this new detective lady in front of him, the other detective voiced. In the meantime, he was pondering to himself, ''It seems our homicide department has gained another hot detective. I should try to flirt with her from time to time and we might be able to have some secret things going on later on. Should I buy her some donuts tomorrow?'' "But detective Brown, shouldn''t we treat all of the cases one and the same? Isn''t bringing others to justice about equality in these kinds of situations? So why should we-" Before she could finish, detective Brown interrupted her, "This has to do with the higher-ups and they are the decision-makers here. It seems there are a lot of enraged victims who want the criminals to be dealt with without any mercy and even rather harshly. The judges were also given special privileges when it comes to the cases of the FAP. But if you ask me, I think this is in order to prevent anything like those massive crimes from happening again if something like FAP ever took place once more. What I''m trying to say here is that they''re doing that in order to set an example of the criminals of FAP and like this, if a second apocalyptic phenomenon ever happened, wouldn''t people act way better this time around? Anyway, we can''t do anything about it, so let''s just do our job as we''re told, alright?" "Ah¡­ okay." Without any other options, detective Argent could only agree and follow the orders and do as she was told. Afterward, as detective Brown walked away, she started looking at her first case with some traces of excitement, ''Hmm, a massacre seems to have happened at Avalon Nightclub and its back alley. In a single night, two headless bodies were laying inside the nightclub and their heads seem to have burst apart like watermelons.'' At this point, she unconsciously gulped, nevertheless, she continued, ''Outside the nightclub at the back alley, one of the corpses had an extremely mutilated body whose neck had been destroyed almost to the point of his head about to be detached from the body.'' ''Hmm, there was also a limbless man''s body who didn''t have any legs or feet remaining, even his head had also been shattered¡­ like a watermelon? Oh my god¡­ just what kind of case am I dealing with? Who can be so ruthless¡­ just what kind of monster...'' Although even thinking about facing the perpetrator behind this massacre made her feel scared, being the brave detective she was, she proceeded, ''Also, other than those previous four bodies, it was estimated that roughly four other peoples'' body parts were found lying around. Almost nothing intact remains from their bodies, urgh, these pictures are so gory and disgusting. Brain matters and body parts are scattered everywhere-'' ''Oh my god! Just what kind of monster am I supposed to arrest! Is it okay to give this kind of terrifying case to a newbie like me?'' She thought while her heart trembled in some fear. Actually, since there were lots of cases that needed to be dealt with now, cases like this one were considered rather common these days as they were distributed in a rather careless manner and that was also why the case had ended up in her hand. At first, after seeing there were two headless bodies, she had believed it was one of those brutal cases, however as he went along and read further, she couldn''t stop herself from being deeply shaken by the horrible state of those remaining bodies. However, knowing she had to do very well in her first case if she wanted to be a successful detective, she decided to put away her fear and do her best. ''So, looking at those pictures from the scene, it appears as if four of those bodies have exploded into smithereens, with almost nothing intact remaining from their bodies, this should''ve been done using some kind of strange weapon considering the fact that many parts on the walls had also exploded apart. The rest seems to have been handled manually!? Hmm, maybe they used some sort of powerful tool to rip apart that person''s limbs or burst those heads into many pieces?'' The more she thought, the more confused she got. ''Whatever, I should check and see if there was any kind of evidence gathered from the scene.'' As this notion passed through her head, she looked into a particular box which the files related to this case was placed in and much to her surprise, she¡­ found a USB there? Besides the USB, there was also a simple description of where the USB came from, which stated, ''There is a piece of related evidence in the form of a video from the night of the incident which was recorded by an old camera of a random passer-by whose name and identity is unknown, that person seems to have disappeared as soon as he handed over the USB to a police officer.'' Seeing the identity of the provider of the video was unknown, detective Argent wasn''t surprised since, in that chaotic time, that person coming over to hand over the video was already an astounding act in itself. And she could guess that neither the provider cared to tell his name neither did the officer bother asking. Anyway, reading up to this point, detective Argent connected the USB to the computer as she began to watch a scene playing out on the video. Inside the video, the cameraman seemed to be filming the video from a hidden corner at the entrance of the alley. He was probably a random passer-by who happened to be passing by and came across this exciting scene of six men wanting to rape two beauties, so knowing the world was going to end anyway, he began to act, wanting to record some of this memorable scenes. The video started from the part where the boss of those thugs began to charge toward Ella in order to start his display of acting, however, much to the startlement of the cameraman, suddenly the man flew away as he no longer moved anymore! And that was also when the terrified cameraman stopped the recording and ran away. The whole video was only around ten seconds. 225 The Truth ''My god! Did that woman send him flying with a single punch? Moreover, she killed him¡­. with one punch-'' Her eyes were bulging out at this point as she stared at her computer''s screen before clicking on the ''Play'' button it again. After rewatching the video for around ten times, detective Argent finally pressed the close button and began to analyze everything, ''She was that powerful while she didn''t have a proper balance. If she took a good stand for herself and put a lot more power into her punches, maybe it would be possible for her to smash their skull like an exploding watermelon, moreover, this explains how those limbs were cut if! She must''ve pulled off that person''s arms and legs. So savage¡­ she slaughtered them all in cold blood just because they messed with her a bit. No¡­ maybe it was all a part of her plan to bring them to the back alley in order to butcher those people to her heart''s content!'' ''She could''ve easily defended herself and leave, but she just had to slaughter them all. This can''t be justified in any way, this is not self-defense, neither is it an accidental death case.'' She concluded to herself. ''Hmm, but how did she explode those bodies and the walls like that? Was she hiding some kind of gun somewhere? Or did a helper arrive? Ahhh, This case is not easy to solve at all, there are so many mysteries to it!'' Messing her hair all of a sudden, she wondered in frustration. ''Just who is she?'' Once again, she played the video, but this time, she zoomed on her face. From her figure and hair, she could clearly see the killer was a woman, however, since the camera was a very old and crappy one, the quality was very blurry after the zoom, considering the great distance. ''Hmm, will that team be able to improve the quality of this image by working on it? Highly unlikely.'' As this thought passed through her head, she decided to question the staff of the nightclub from that night.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . . "So, did you see those six men bringing two women out of the bar from the back door that night?" She asked the man who was the inside-guard of the Avalon Nightclub that night. This person was the third person she was interviewing and he was one of the most likely people to have seen anything on her list of witnesses. Simultaneously, she also placed the picture of the boss on the counter. Since only his corpse had an intact head, she could only bring a picture of him with herself. Without hesitating at all, the guard began to talk, "How could I not! That night was the worst night of my working life, we kept finding one corpse after another! And they were all killed so brutally¡­ it was simply a nightmare! However, I''ve been thinking about it everyday¡­ since it''s not really something you can forget, and I could only arrive at one conclusion! And that it was probably done by those two women who were dragged out of the nightclub by those men, it''s either this or that they must''ve had some backup. I remember those two women because they were both extremely beautiful and they had truly caught my attention." "Anything else?" "That''s everything I remember." Shaking his head, the guard stated otherwise. "Okay, then please come with me and help me draw the picture of those two beautiful women. Since they were so beautiful and had caught your attention, I''m sure you would be able to help us a lot." She said. "Yes, yes... let''s go, detective." Nodding his head while wearing a smile, he followed her to the precinct. . . . Two more days passed, currently, the Security ugly was watching a video of some cute cats playing on his phone when the door of the van was pushed opened again. Seeing it was Ella and how she looked a lot better, he put away his phone and asked, "Miss, did you finally calm down?" As he threw this question at her though, he didn''t understand why, but he felt as if something had changed about her. But unfortunately, he couldn''t grasp this fundamental change in her. "You lied to me, Security bro. You said you saved me, but it was that young man, why didn''t you tell me it was him? Who was he? Tell me the truth." However, without responding to his question, Ella asked another question of her own. "Ah¡­ that''s-" He immediately became speechless as he thought, ''So that''s why you''re here. I knew this moment would arrive, but not this fast.'' "He''s¡­ he''s my master¡­ He''s just like the chairman to us four brothers." Quickly thinking of some random bullshit which also held some levels of truth to itself, he voiced. However, hearing this, Ella had this feeling that he was lying since so many things didn''t add up. So with a frown, she proclaimed, "I don''t believe you, Security bro! Not even a bit!" "Miss Ella, I''m really telling you the truth¡­ he''s really my master." Helplessly smiling, the Security ugly repeated. "If that''s the case, why didn''t you tell me that the last time we talked! Also, why would your master be so young? Why would he appear there all of a sudden? And why would she save me? I don''t even know him!" She threw one question after another at him. These past few days, all she did was to think. She kept thinking about how she had murdered someone, and how someone had saved her wearing some kind of dark armor and a futuristic machine gun at hand. "This-" At this point, he didn''t know what to say anymore since she would no longer believe him, now however much he tried to explain. His only remaining options were to either tell her the entire truth or notify her that he can''t reveal the real truth which would also in a way reveal the truth he was trying to hide? Moreover, doing the latter would lead to her losing her trust in him entirely. If that happened, he was afraid his master would be dissatisfied with him. And thinking back to that night, it didn''t seem like Virus was intentionally keeping this information from her. It was more likely that he didn''t know how to explain at that kind of messed up situation. Looking at Ella who was glaring at him by now, the Security ugly was finally determined to tell the truth, "Ah¡­ okay, I''ll tell you the truth. To be honest, that was the chairman himself. He had just altered his appearance." Listening to this piece of information, Ella''s expression froze instantly as she murmured to herself while biting her lower lip, "Ai''s back? Moreover, he can shape-shift?" At the same time, she tried connecting to him directly again, but there wasn''t any kind of reaction whatsoever from the other side of the line. She was initially also shocked to hear that Virus could shape-shift and transform his appearance. However, her astonishment didn''t last for long. And, as she recalled the things her boyfriend could do, it didn''t seem surprising at all that he could also shape-shift. Afterward, the more she thought, the more this whole situation made sense, ''So that''s why he saved me¡­ that''s why he had that armor and that gun, that''s why he looked so familiar in that strange young body¡­ it''s because he was Ai!'' However, the more she realized this was most likely the real truth, the more aggrieved she became for some reason. "I understand. Thank you for telling me the truth, Security bro. And thanks for saving me." Showing him a very bright yet somewhat odd smile, she left. 226 Marys Dad Currently, detective Brown was going through his current case when suddenly, someone strolled beside his desk and phrased, "Detective Brown, someone has come to see you. She says she''s one of your daughter''s best friends, Ella." Hearing that Ella was here, at first, he was muddled, but then, putting away his confusion, a smile showed up on his face as he voiced, "Ella''s here? Please bring her over." "Yes." A few minutes later, Ella walked beside detective Brown and voiced, "Hello, uncle Jack, how have you been?" Seeing her serious expression which didn''t have her usual cheerfulness, being the detective he was, he instantly realized something was wrong, so without beating around the bush, his face also became serious as he inquired, "What wrong, Ella? You can tell uncle, I promise I''ll help you if I can!" Hearing this, an appreciative smile appeared on Ella''s face. However, shaking her head, she uttered, "I don''t need help, uncle. I''m just here to report a crime¡­ a crime I''ve committed myself." Listening to this, detective Brown was a bit surprised as he thought, ''Did she do something bad? So now she''s come to confess it? Anyway, what can this girl do, it shouldn''t be anything serious¡­ I should just tell her it''s okay after hearing her and then send her away-'' "I murdered someone." "Cough-" Just as detective Brown was completing his own line of thinking, his deliberation was interrupted by Ella''s abrupt words which instantly made him eat his thoughts in shock as his eyes became round. "What did you just say?" "I murdered someone." She repeated again while looking down in guilt, her face really dark. "Ella, you can''t joke about things like this! What is it? Some kind of prank Mary put you on to do?" He queried with some traces of anger appearing on his face as he thought, ''Damn it, this daughter of mine always doing these kinds of pranks on me.'' However, shaking her head, Ella mouthed, "Uncle, I''m not joking, that death at Avalon Nightclub at XXth was committed by me." At this point, Jack was truly stunned, because how could he not know about that case. However, thinking further, he uttered, "There is no way you''ve done that. Do you know what kind of mess that slaughter was? How can someone with your physique-" Bang! Just as he was about to continue, abruptly, a punch landed on his desk, breaking it into two sections to the shock of everyone at the precinct. Seeing him not believe her confession, left with no other choice, this was the only method Ella had at hand to make him believe it. Looking at his stupefied face, she added, "Uncle, I really did kill someone. I''m not crazy enough to confess to a murder I didn''t commit. I''ve made the decision to come here after a lot of struggling with myself." At this point, the other detectives and staff at the precinct also walked over, seeing her breaking the desk with a single punch, as they questioned Jack, "What''s going on here?" "She says she''s the killer of the Avalon Nightclub case." Another detective from the closest desk to Jack''s uttered. He had been listening to this entire conversation secretly from the moment he had heard her say ''I murdered someone.'' "WHAT!" Many people barked at the same time hearing these words. "Is that the truth? This girl?!" As they began to murmur amongst themselves, at this point, someone walked over and looking at Ella''s face, she screamed, "It''s her! That''s one of the two women from the facial composite!" This voice obviously belonged to detective Argent. Everyone was flabbergast at this point and didn''t know what to say anymore. . . .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "So you''re saying you killed the man whose head was about to be detached from his body?" Inside the interrogation room, detective Argent questioned. There were some traces of surprise in her eyes as she thought, ''How could such a harmless looking girl slaughter those men like that. But her strength was real, I also just saw her break that desk so effortlessly!'' "Yes." Ella confirmed. "Then what about the rest? Who killed them?" She asked further. "This-" Ella didn''t know what to say. Of course, she wasn''t going to say they were killed by his boyfriend and the bodyguard he sent to protect her. "I don''t know." Slap~ "Hah! Do you think I''m a fool? You must be trying to get away by changing the case to that of self-defense since you should''ve realized we''re after you after seeing the facial composite. But you can forget about succeeding in doing that since that will never happen." She shouted while slapping the table between them. "No¡­ I''m not trying to¡­ I was just trying to defend myself but-" "Keep this pitiful act to yourself, I know this is all just an act. Just confess everything and I promise I''ll do everything I can to bring your sentence to the minimum. Like that, at least you''ll have a slight chance of escaping the lethal injection!" She proceeded harshly. "No¡­ I wasn''t trying to-" At this point, trembling, Ella covered her mouth with both of her hands as tears kept dripping from her face. Hearing she was going to be injected to death, how could she not feel afraid. She was really afraid of both dying and pain. Bam! At this point, the door to the interrogation door was pushed open as detective Jack charged in and started shouting, "Detective Argent! I know Ella, she''s a good girl! If she says she hasn''t done it! Then she hasn''t! She''s not like what you''re forcing her to be! And! Don''t you hear her say she was trying to defend herself?" "Detective Brown, if what you''re saying is true, why doesn''t she tell us who has killed the rest of those people?" Vocalizing this, he added further, "Also, I''m sure you won''t persist on her being a good girl after watching the video of her killing a man with a single punch! A single punch!" She proclaimed while increasing the volume of her voice just like him. "Moreover, her strength is the only explanation for the rest of those murders other than those four, so unless she starts talking and has some evidence to back her words, I''m pretty sure there is a high chance she would be convicted at the court considering the fact that the judges also have some special privileges when it comes to the cases of the FAP¡­" At this point she went quiet. Although she didn''t like this FAP thing, she couldn''t stop herself from thinking maybe this girl deserved it. "Damn it, detective! Don''t you hear me say she''s not like that?" Unable to say anything else to refute her words, Jack could only say this in response. "Detective Brown, I understand you know this person and thus have personal feelings attached regarding the case. But we can''t let emotions interfere when it comes to justice. So please, as a partner, I ask you to stay out of it and don''t meddle in my case!" Looking at his face, she requested in an earnest but also a meaningful tone. 227 In Motion Listening to her words, Jack let out a laugh of anger as he began talking, "Haha, detective Argent, you doubting my professionalism is nothing but a huge joke! I''ve been working in this precinct for years now and no one has ever accused me of allowing my personal emotions interfere in a single case!" He added, "What I''m saying here is that you have no tangible evidence to prove that she has truly murdered the rest of those people other than the one she just confessed to. But even that situation can be discussed since it seems like she was almost about to be raped!" Pausing for a moment here and taking a breath, he continued, "You are just making assumptions based on her strength that can somewhat justify the situation, but where is your evidence? Or are you trying to force her to confess she has done it herself while she''s obviously insisting she hasn''t! It''s true that critical thinking is an important factor in being a good detective, but forcing that critical way of thinking upon your suspect is in no way justifiable. Hell, it couldn''t be far from the so-called justice you talked about just now." At this point, a sharp glint twinkled in his eyes before he proceeded, "Now I understand that you are new to being a detective and in fact this is your very first case, but that doesn''t justify you making such accusations on someone who has bravely stepped up to confess her own crime which is hardly one!" In the meantime, detective Brown began to think to himself helplessly, ''Aiii¡­ I did it now. I should stop dreaming about having a little something going on between us now¡­ sigh.'' Hearing this nonstop speech from him, detective Argent became speechless for a while. Finally, after gathering her thoughts, she opened her mouth again, "Detective Brown, let''s say for a moment that my critical way of thinking is wrong. But if that''s the case, why hasn''t she told who has murdered the rest of those people?" "Isn''t that obvious? Maybe she''s trying to protect the other party, or maybe it''s because she really doesn''t know!" He replied without even batting an eye. "You forgot to mention the third possibility. That maybe she''s really the one to murder them and now she''s trying to mislead us all! And as I said before, considering her strength, the most likely answer to this question is my own suggestion." A deep frown showed up on her forehead as she vocalized further, "But all of those things aside, I was just trying to test the waters to see if she will finally admit to her crime or to reveal those who have truly butchered those people! By the way, I knew I don''t actually have any tangible evidence at the moment¡­ but you were also the one to tell me that right now the court is really harsh and that the judges have special privileges to make decisions in these kinds of situations when it comes to the matters of FAP!" "But now, you''ve ruined this for me entirely by interrupting us in the middle of my interrogation. You say you''re not allowing your personal feelings from getting in the middle of your job, but in fact, you are doing exactly that." She finished her words with this ultimate conclusion as she even refuted the very beginning of Jack''s speech. "You-" Flabbergast, Jack became angry as he didn''t know what to say to her anymore. __________ In the meantime, outside Ella''s house, the Security ugly was still sitting inside the van while watching another video of a cute cat walking on two feet. However, at this time, his attention was drawn to the door of Ella''s house which was being opened. Immediately putting his phone away, he realized it was Ella''s mom Megan who was standing before the door of their house as she was looking around a bit worriedly. Seeing this scene, a bad premonition rushed at the Security ugly as he opened the door of the van and began strolling over, "Ma''am, is there anything wrong?" Megan had long known that Ella''s boyfriend had hired a bodyguard to protect them from the dangers of FAP, but she didn''t know he was still around. So seeing him appear in front of her, she said worriedly, "Did you see Elle going somewhere? I can''t find her anywhere in the house¡­" "What?!" He promptly became stunned hearing this frightening piece of news as he uttered anxiously, "But she didn''t come out of the front door at all¡­?" Promptly, he began to remember that odd behavior of her when she was leaving the van, ''Damn it¡­ she must''ve sneaked away! I have to find her as soon as possible or¡­" As this notion popped up into his head, without caring about the punishments he might face for connecting to the world, he attached himself to the internet of New York at once as he started to search every corner he was able to. After five minutes of constant searching, at last, he succeeded in finding her, however, the instant he realized where she was and what was happening, his face instantly went utterly pale! ''Oh no¡­ this is bad. This is above my league to handle. I have to call the Legal ugly and ask for his assistance.'' As this line popped into his head, he was already running toward the van while simultaneously calling the Legal ugly anxiously. Before leaving though, he didn''t forget to reassure Megan, "Ma''am, don''t worry, I''ll bring her safe and sound." After the Legal ugly picked up, the Security ugly began to explain everything that was happening much to the shock of the always expressionless Legal ugly. "What? Is this the truth?" He inquired as he had a hard time believing everything that was just told to him. "Yes." "This is really bad then. Right now, the court is a mess when it comes to the cases of the FAP, and the judges can literally decide on a case almost without even a shred of evidence if they are convinced that someone is truly the perpetrator of something! Moreover, you say she has already confessed to killing one of them which means even she wants to be convicted. Hmm, with these, although I still have a high chance of convincing the judges and winning the case, there is also a chance I might fail, if and I say ''if'' I fail, the least sentence she would receive would be around five years of jail time!" "So, with this fact alone, I don''t dare to gamble on the case and risk master''s wrath!" He replied straightforwardly. "What should I do then?" The Security ugly queried in distress. "The best option is to notify master himself. When it comes to the matters of miss Ella, our first priority is to let him know. Now, hang up and call master asap before it''s too late! I''ll rush over to the precinct at once. In the meantime, you pass along the news to master." "Alright." Immediately hanging up, the Security ugly dialed the golden beauty''s number in a hurry. "Yes?" . .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . Currently, Virus was sitting with his eyes closed as he rotated the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution under intense gravity. At this time, the gravity was adjusted to twenty-seven times that of normal. By now, he had long arrived at the peak of the fifth and final level, Tempering The Marrow. However, for some reason, he still continued practicing under the intense gravity of twenty-seven times. Actually, this had to do with a certain trick that the people of his past world had found. By injecting the Synchronous Transformations Crystal into the body, the moment the system of the Corporeal Tempering Stage was ''in a way'' broken, it meant that the practitioner could target every inch of the body to strengthen in whatever level he wanted, though the effects of this tempering wouldn''t be as good as the time that practitioner was truly in that exact level. Nevertheless, one point that was worth mentioning is that even after one completes every level of Tempering The Marrow level, many cells in the body still wouldn''t be tempered to their absolute limit like the rest of the body. And the solution the past Earth of the future found to this problem was to continue practicing the Corporeal Tempering Stage when one reached its absolute peak until the moment the STC naturally strengthened every single cell inside the body to their very limit. Now, although doing this couldn''t truly be considered a new level since no type of breakthrough was actually experienced by the body and the physique was still stuck at the peak of fifth level, mankind decided to name it the False Sixth Level, Remoulding The Residual Cells. To be precise, Virus had already reached the peak of Tempering The Marrow when he started his practice under the twenty-six times gravity that of normal and afterward, he had begun training in this so-called False Sixth Level. Now, after his body was able to persist under twenty-seven times gravity that of normal, he was finally beginning to feel that all of the residual cells inside his body were very close to their peak condition. This meant that every single part of Virus'' body was about to reach the current peak condition and be one and the same in their temperament. Alas, at this point, the golden beauty came rushing toward him in an absolute hurry as she voiced impatiently, "Master¡­ Ella¡­ she-" Listening to this part, Virus knew at once that there was something wrong with Ella, so not even waiting for her to complete her explanation, he directly connected to the whole world as he became aware of everything the next moment. "I understand. Go tell the pilot to get ready, we''re leaving to New York at once." Standing up, Virus proclaimed in an absolutely calm manner, as if everything was already under control. He was so abnormally calm that it made the golden beauty''s heart tremble in alarm. 228 Rejected A while later, Virus was among the skies as he was flying toward New York. Then, at this moment, taking his cellphone out, he dialed the CEO ugly. Beep~ "Yes, master." After a single beep, the line was immediately replied. It seemed like the CEO ugly was already waiting for the call. "Hmm, are you aware of what''s going on right now?" Not beating around the bush, Virus questioned calmly. "Yes, the Legal ugly notified me of everything just now." Said the CEO ugly in a respectful tone, right now, he didn''t dare to be the slightest bit of disrespectful to him in any way. "Good, then that makes it easy. So, do as I say¡­" Afterward, Virus began to talk for almost forty seconds straights while the CEO ugly listened intently. "That was all, do you understand?" As he was done vocalizing his thoughts, Virus asked. "Yes, master." The CEO ugly replied as he promptly cut off the line and started to go in motion just as he was ordered.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . . Soon, quietly, a private jet landed on the airport of New York where a single edition of a black luxury car of Virus Industries was already parked there. This car was the only one of its kind which was specifically created for the chairman of the Virus Industries. However, oddly, it looked very similar to the car the Lamborghini company had released in the year 2017 of the previous future, Lamborghini Veneno Roadster. Of course, some changes were made to its concept so the Lamborghini company wouldn''t be able to find faults with them making similar cars to their brand concept, and obviously, the name was changed to Virus Veneno Roadster. This was one of the cars that the CEO ugly had specially prepared for his master. "Let''s go." Uttering this, a man and a young woman strolled side by side toward the car as they received the key from a man who was already standing there. Vroom~ A beautiful sound of a car''s engine starting up was heard as Virus put his feet on the gas pedal and pressed it until the very end. Roaaaar~ Vroom~ Vroom~ After that, soon, a car was whistling through the streets of New York without decelerating in its speed at all. If it was another girl other than the golden beauty by his side right now, that girl would''ve probably seen death a hundred times by now. However, the golden beauty was laying back comfortably as she sat there relaxedly while looking out of the window at the passing scenery. Two friends were walking in the rather crowded streets of New York when a car past by them like a storm. One of the friends immediately asked the other one, "Ah! What is that car?" Then, he added further, "Was that a Lambo¡­ no, no, no, it looks different as it was much more beautiful! For a moment I thought it was Lambo though. Dude, did you see it''s brand mark¡­? Because I couldn''t. That was such a cool car!" The other one whose eyes passed by the car for a moment replied in some doubt, "Umm, I think it was the Virus Industries brand mark? I''m not sure though, it passed by too fast!" It wasn''t just them as many others were in awe of this car, especially some particular girls. . . . Thirty minutes before, detective Brown was already brought out of the interrogation room as he was watching everything from the see-through mirror. Actually, the other detectives also agreed with the views of detective Brown. However, since it was detective Argent''s case, unless someone from a higher rank told her to do otherwise or the case was taken away from her by them, almost no one was able to order her to do otherwise. And obviously, no one from the higher ranks bothered with such a small case since they were already very busy with tons of other cases and other essential matters. Still, after detective Brown''s intervention, detective Argent became a bit less cruel in the way she interrogated Ella, though she was still harsh. "Ella, are you really not going to reveal who did this? Even if you don''t tell us, this will eventually be revealed anyways, the sun doesn''t stay behind the clouds forever! Also, if you don''t talk, every finger will definitely be pointed at you in the court and I''m pretty much sure the judges will be rather harsh since that''s the orders they have from the higher-ups!" Staring into her eyes, detective Argent queried. She phrased her sentences in a way as if she was taking pity on her and wanted nothing but her own good. ''What should I do¡­? What if I bring Security bro and Ai down with me too¡­ I just wanted to confess to my crime and serve my prison sentence. But now¡­'' Meanwhile, Ella was deliberating to herself in deep worry. She really didn''t want others she cared about to be brought down with her. At this time, the door of the interrogation room was abruptly pushed open as someone rushed in and uttered, "Detective Argent, we''ve made another facial composite of someone who was said to be their bodyguard at that night, we can''t rule him from the list of suspects too! Also, the other girl''s facial composite matches with one of her best friend''s called Jessica Sheen!" "Oh!" Hearing this, detective Argent''s eyes began to shine while blood vanished from Ella''s face as she wondered to herself, "No¡­ if things continue like this, the truth might really be revealed¡­ Security bro might be convicted and worse¡­ Ai might too¡­ and my friends will be soon entangled in all of this. I don''t want these to happen." At this point, tears started to roll down her face as she mumbled while biting her lower lip, "I¡­ I did it." ''Bingo!'' Hearing this, detective Argent''s attention was instantly drawn back as she inquired, "Hmm, what did you say?!" "I said¡­ I did it, I killed them all. I-" Gnashing her teeth, she confessed to a crime she didn''t commit at this time and was just about to continue when someone entered in a rush while yelling, "Miss Ella, don''t say anything else!" As the Legal ugly entered the interrogation room, he began to talk in a single breath, "You are clearly coercing my client to confess to a crime that she did not commit by obviously indirectly threatening her to involve her friends and other people she knows and putting them on the list of suspects, by this fact alone, the confession is already invalid. This also counts using tactics to get confessions which also is another case which would make this confession even more invalid since you are clearly putting my client under a lot of pressure and anxiety. In case you say you''re not putting pressure or threatening your suspect I''m sure there are some witnesses and detectives who are willing to testify against that in the court. So, I suggest you delete that confession if you don''t want this to end badly for yourself." While saying all of this in a single breath, the Legal ugly walked over as he sat beside Ella. "Who are you?!" Gritting her teeth, detective Argent said, just when she had succeeded, another obstacle popped up in the way of her successfully completing her first case. "Of course, I''m Miss Ella''s lawyer." Stated the Legal ugly. ''Legal bro¡­'' Seeing him sit beside her, Ella thought, a bit moved. However, remembering some things about who he served, her face became a bit cold as she voiced stubbornly, "I don''t need a lawyer¡­ and you''re not my lawyer, please leave." "But miss Ella-" The Legal ugly was about to advise her otherwise when Ella''s loud voice was heard, "I said leave!" There was nothing else he could do if Ella rejected him to be her lawyer. So, gazing into her eyes for a few seconds, left with no other choice, the Legal ugly could only stand up and leave the interrogation room for now. However, just as he was about to leave the room, calmly stopping in his tracks, he voiced toward the detective, "Let me tell you two things before I leave. First, you have no idea who you''re dealing with. And second, this will not end well for you." And just like that, he left. 229 Two Men ''Hmph, who does he think he is?! She didn''t even accept him as a lawyer and he still thinks he can do anything to me?'' Detective Argent thought annoyedly after hearing the Legal ugly''s mildly threatening words. Now that the door was closed and the silence was restored to the room, she voiced with the gentlest voice she could, "Okay, let me ask you once more Miss Ella, please feel relaxed and reply with utmost peace of mind. He said I''m coercing you and even utilizing tactics to get a confession, if you felt that way in anyway, I beg for your pardon. Now, can you please repeat your confession one more time. If you haven''t committed this crime or that you feel like I''m coercing you, you can refrain admitting to that and I shall entirely forget about your previous confession before going back to further investigation of our new leads. What do you say?" Listening to her words, Ella couldn''t stop her body from trembling for a moment before she started talking while shaking her head, "No, I don''t feel coerced or pressured in any way, I''m pronouncing every word completely out of my own consent because I''m totally willing." These words of her meant that there was no going back this time. At least, it would be much harder now. "Yes. I have murdered all of those people at the back alley of the Avalon Nig-" "Who says you did that." However, just as she was about to finish her words, the door of the interrogation room was pushed open once again as a calm voice traveled through. "Who is that!" Detective Argent yelled toward the door in anger. She was quite annoyed at the repetitive interruptions at this point. "Shut up woman, your loud voice is quite annoying to hear." After this sentence was heard, detective Argent watched as a devilishly handsome man together with another abnormal golden beauty entered the interrogation room. An extremely ugly man was also closely following behind them as if he was there to emphasize those two''s charm and beauty, he was the Legal ugly. Hearing his words, clenching her fists in anger, she started barking in his direction, "What did you just say to me? Get out if you don''t want me to press charges against you and sue you for-" Slap~ "Sue your mom!" A loud sound resounded in the interrogation room as she was hardly slapped in the face. At this point, a few police officers together with some other detectives finally caught up as they entered the interrogation only to be stunned silly by seeing detective Argent loudly getting slapped in the face. ''Ai¡­'' Wondered the golden beauty to herself, it''s been so long since she last saw him, so anyone could only imagine how she was feeling at the moment. However, that was all. After that, remembering something, her anger began to surface as she uttered, "Why are you here?! I don''t need your help! Please leave¡­" Although she knew she would regret saying these words, she still articulated them while thinking to herself, ''Don''t be caught up in this any more than this¡­ please leave.'' Nonetheless, after hearing her words, Virus didn''t even bother to reply with anything back and instead continued looking at detective Argent''s face which was red due to the slap by now. "You! You dared to slap me, a police detective?! Good! Officers, please take him away from here and do the paperwork, I''m pressing charges against-" Slap~ However, before she could finish her sentence, another slap landed on the other side of her face, "Damn it, woman, didn''t I tell you to shut up? Why are you forcing me to do this? And by the way, this is me going easy on you, so be grateful that you''re keeping your life." Now, both sides of her face were very red. "Take¡­ take him away!" Finally, the officers came out of their daze as they charged at Virus while they each grabbed one arm of his. "Ahh, just you wait, I''ll be so sending you to prison for so many years!" Seeing both of his arms finally locked, she dared to talk once again as she screamed in wrath. Next, the officers tried to push him on the table before putting their handcuffs on him. "Ahh¡­" However, much to their shock, they realized they can''t move him in the least, not even by a single inch! ''What kind of power is this!'' They thought at the same time in shock! "Where are you trying to take me? I''m exactly at the place I should be right now." He pronounced each word one by one in a very clear and relaxed tone, "Aren''t you looking for the murderer who killed those trashes back in Avalon Nightclub? Well, here I am. What are you gonna do about it?" "What?!" Everyone present was absolutely stupefied hearing his words. This was the first time they were suddenly hearing someone confess to his crime in front of so many police officers and detectives even though no one was suspecting him! And in such a monotonous tone at that! It was as if he wasn''t talking about slaughtering people, but as if he had just squashed a few ants under his feet. No big deal! "Ai!!!" Ella was shocked silly hearing his confession as she began to shout in distress, "What are you saying! Don''t lie just to save me! It was me! I killed them all!" However, seeing the way Ella was acting and looking at how oddly powerful Virus was, for some reason, detective Argent became certain that this person in front of her had truly murdered those people in cold blood! No, maybe, she wanted that to be the truth now. Then, glancing into his extremely sharp eyes for a moment, a chill went down her spine as she uncontrollably shivered under the gaze of those eyes while she remembered that brutal scene of slaughter, ''He''s the killer¡­ those eyes¡­ he''s definitely¡­'' Gathering her wits while gnashing her teeth in some fear, she yelled, "what are you all doing, cuff him! He just confessed that he''s the murderer!" "Haha¡­ You want to arrest me? Sure. But are you confident that you won''t regret this, missy?" Virus proclaimed as he raised his two hands to the front, making it possible to cuff him. "Cuff him!" She ordered, ''Who is he? How can he be so confident?'' She wondered to herself at the same time as a bad premonition appeared inside her. Nevertheless, shaking her head, she put that feeling aside, ''I must be wrong.'' Afterward, Virus was cuffed as he sat beside Ella on the chair for interrogation while the golden beauty and the Legal ugly stood behind them without moving. .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . At this point, two men arrived in front of a certain precinct without alarming anyone. "Mr. chief justice! You received a call from the president too?" Questioned one of the men while thinking to himself, ''Even the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States was summoned?'' "Director! You''re here too!" At the same time, the so-called Mr. chief justice was also thinking along the same line, ''The director of the FBI was also called over?'' "I heard that mysterious person just announced someone as ''Under his Protection''! Oh my! I mean¡­ someone just received the ''Under the Protection'' insignia! Did the President tell you that too?" Uttered Mr. chief justice in amazement. The term ''Under the Protection'' was a special clause in a particular contract which all of the highest authorities of the country of the United States of America had signed. At the moment, receiving the ''Under his Protection'' badge was a very shocking matter that would alarm all of the higher-ups of the entire country of the United States of America! Because receiving this insignia was truly an important matter to everyone up there! Moreover, it was such a tempting symbol that all of the higher-ups of the country were also dying to flatter this mysterious person, however much he wanted, in hopes of him granting it to them too! "Yeah, I heard that either¡­ ah, wish I can earn that too¡­ haha, I gotta do my best to get on that person''s good side now!" Proclaimed the director of the FBI with a glint of greed passing through his eyes. "Haha¡­ it''s like you''re reading my mind, director! Anyway, let''s go." With that, the two rushed inside the precinct. 230 The Uncrowned King "So you''re admitting to the crime of slaughtering all of those men in cold blood?" She asked in some amazement seeing how casually he was laying back as he described in detail about how he had butchered those men. "Yep, that was me." Nodding his head relaxedly, Virus confirmed. "Hahaha¡­" Abruptly, detective Argent began to laugh out loud before articulating, "With this attitude of yours which holds no regret whatsoever for the great sin you''re committed, I bet you''re gonna get the lethal injection!" "Is that so?" While smirking in amusement, this was the only thing Virus voiced in response. Nonetheless, beside him, Ella nervously stuttered, "No¡­ no¡­ he¡­ he didn''t kill them, it was me! It was really me¡­ he''s just trying to cover for me. Please, you''ve gotta believe me." Hearing he was going to receive the lethal injection, color vanished from Ella''s face as she nervously tried to convince the detective that it was her doing and not him. Detective Argent was just about to open her mouth to inquire about another matter related to the case when to her extreme frustration, the door of the interrogation room was opened once again! "What is it this time! Who are you?" Very agitated, she shouted toward the door where two men had barged in. Hearing someone yell at them so rudely, displeased, the two men glared in detective Argent''s direction for a moment before changing their eyesight to the rest of the room in order to find the person who had received the ''Under his Protection'' insignia. First, their eyes fell on a woman as they thought, ''So she must be the receiver of the symbol, a beautiful woman, no wonder.'' However, the next moment, their eyes fell on Virus as a shiver went down on both of their spines! Then, looking into each other''s startled eyes, both of them could vaguely understand what the other one was thinking, ''Oh my god! It''s that person!'' Of course, before today, from the moment they had signed the contract, the first thing they had done was to get their hands on the picture of the person who was called ''Party A'' inside the contract, the chairman of the Virus Industries! Before rushing to the precinct, both of them had assumed this mysterious person, who until now, even the president himself hadn''t personally seen, wouldn''t be present here. And honestly, today, they were only here to flatter the person who had received the ''Under his Protection'' insignia. And by flattering the holder of this insignia, they were hoping that she would relay how great of a job they had done in saving her. And like that, the mysterious person would come to know about them, and this would be the beginning of a wonderful relationship! But now, shockingly, they were lucky enough to see him in the flesh! He, who was literally the current uncrowned king of the United States of America!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After that, remembering how even the president was dying to see this person, they couldn''t help but ponder, ''The President will definitely regret not coming here in person.'' "I said who are you two! Someone! Come bring these two away! Gosh, what''s wrong with today!" As their thoughts finally stopped at this point, not bothering to even waste a second of their time on detective Argent, they charged before Virus as they started to talk respectfully, "Hello Mr. chairman, I''m Mr. chief justice, the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. The moment I was notified Mr. chairman needed aid, I put everything I was doing aside as I rushed over to New York. Anyway, It''s great meeting you in the flesh!" Beside him, the other man was even more courteous in his greeting, "Hello, sir. You can call this humble servant of the country ''Director''. I''m the director of the FBI of the United States of America, it''s a great pleasure having the chance to meet a distinguished person such as you personally." They addressed him by calling him ''Sir'' or ''Mr. Chairman'' because they assumed that he might not be comfortable with them revealing his identity in front of anyone. Seeing how modest they were in their behavior, Virus nodded his head in satisfaction and was just about to say something when they were interrupted by detective Argent, "Pffft¡­ the chief judge of the Supreme Court? The director of the FBI? And both of them are here at the same time? What is this? Do you two idiots think you are playing in some kind of movie? Hahaha¡­" Unable to stop her laugh, she began to laugh in amusement. "What did you say?" Both men glared at her in anger while deliberating simultaneously, ''To think there would come a day a simple newbie detective would dare talk to us like this!'' With another laugh, she started, "Haha¡­ someone, these two men seems to have a problem in their heads, please come and take them away-" "Shut up you pea-brained detective!" She was just about to continue with her mocking words when she was abruptly interrupted by a middle-aged man who came running while being drowned in his own sweat. "Who-" She was just about to bark at this man too when she finally glanced at his face, which instantly made her eat her own words while some beads of sweat began to pop up on her forehead as she greeted him respectfully, "Po¡­ police chief! What¡­ what brings you here?" Not paying any attention to her words though, the so-called police chief who was actually the Chief of the New York City Police Department walked over before the two men who were standing in front of Virus and started talking to them, "Mr. chief justice, Director¡­ what brings you, two sires, here to New York?" At the same time, glancing in Virus'' direction, he wondered to himself, ''Just who is this man? Why would they come all the way here just for this man and why would talk so respectfully to him? And why would the President call me personally and tell me to come here and listen to whatever Mr. chief justice orders me to do? For this mysterious man?'' Simultaneously, hearing the way police chief addressed these two men, detective Argent instantly went pale as any and all traces of blood was promptly drained from her face as she thought horrifiedly, ''Wh¡­ wh¡­ what they said were true? They really are the director of the FBI and the chief judge? No¡­ that''s impossible¡­ why would they come to an insignificant place like this precinct? And why would they come here at the same time?'' As she wondered to herself in terror, her eyes suddenly fell on Virus who was silently looking in her direction in amusement as if he was watching something very interesting. This unconsciously made every hair all over her body stand-up to their ends as she looked back at him, only this time¡­ in utter dread! As her body continued to tremble, she thought, ''Wh¡­ who have I offended? Just who is he? Could he be the President''s son? No¡­ please¡­'' Meanwhile, directly gazing into the middle-aged man''s eyes, Mr. chief justice started elaborating, "Police chief, I''ll be blunt here. We have received specific orders from the people of highest authority to come here today in order to close a certain case along with destroying every file regarding it, including whatever evidence that might exist in relation to this. Also, from this moment onwards, we will all act as if this case didn''t happen nor exist in the first place. Is that clear?" 231 Heartbroken "Yes, I shall proceed as ordered then." Nodding his head without any hesitation, police chief agreed. Today, he had to complete whatever he was told to do. Listening to Mr. chief justice''s orders and the police chief''s absolute agreement and obedience, both Ella and detective Argent became dumbfounded. This made detective Argent think in fear, ''No¡­ how can they do this?'' In the meantime, speechless, Ella was pondering to herself confusedly, ''Am I still living in America? All of this will go away just like this?'' As she thought to this point, she turned her head as she stared at Virus'' face, ''Ai has such deep connections in the government too? Still, it seems to be rather impossible to let a slaughter case go away just like this, no?'' At this time, gnashing her teeth, detective Argent began blurting, "Police chief, this person just confessed to butchering those people in cold blood! How can we just allow a murderer like him to get away with everything just like that? Are you really going to turn a blind eye to all of this and pretend like it never happened? Then¡­ what about justice? What about those people who died?" "Haha, what are you talking about, detective Argent? What confession? What slaughter? Why don''t I understand what you''re talking about at all? And by the way, how can this distinguished person possibly kill anyone. I mean¡­ he looks so harmless, I don''t believe he can even hurt a fly! So, I''m sorry to say this, but your words sound just hilarious and unbelievable to me." Bursting in laughter as if he had just heard a funny joke, police chief replied. "What¡­" She was stunned hearing these words, then, as all strength left her body, she started pondering further, ''For me, it''s all over now. How can I be so stupid to offend someone who can easily summon Mr. chief justice, police chief, and the director of the FBI at the same time? How could I offend this man who can easily butcher others and then confess to it like it''s nothing? Moreover, all of them will still go away just like this as if it didn''t happen in the first place¡­ sigh, I''m truly finished¡­ he''ll definitely kill me too.'' By the end of her words, she was truly shivering as she trembled in trepidation at the thought of what was going to happen to her next. If she became aware of the fact that in case the President knew Virus was going to showing up personally, he would''ve also rushed over, her reaction could only be imagined. At this point, the director of FBI also started talking, "Hmm, about the fate of this ignorant detective¡­" "Yes, yes¡­ if you want her to be fired. I''ll make it happen at once." Police chief uttered in a flattering tone. Nonetheless, not saying anything in response, the director turned toward Virus as he stated, "Sir, please make the decision on what you want to do with her yourself. Whatever you wish for, we''ll make it happen. Also, please be rest assured that nothing''s off the table. If you want her fired, she''ll be fired immediately. If you want her to disappear, we''ll make it so she disappears from the face of this Earth. No, if you want to take her with you somewhere to discipline her further¡­ for example, to the island I heard you have, we can happily make that happen either." His last suggestion was, of course, to say that if he needed to relieve some of the steams on her body personally, that could also be accomplished. Hearing his words, detective Argent''s face went as white as paper before she finally fell on her chair, left shivering. Meanwhile, listening to these suggestions and her reaction, an evil grin found its way on his face before he began articulating his decision at last, "Nah, I don''t want any of those. Those slaps were enough of a punishment for her for the moment. Anyway, keep her around and don''t fire her. I''ll come looking for her in case I want to punish her any further. Also, teach her to be a true detective, not the kind of detective she is right now." A shimmer of understanding passed through the director''s eyes, "Done. From now on, she''s yours and her fate is entirely up to you sir. Even if you kill her, I promise there won''t be the slightest bit of headache''s coming your way." Then, looking at the police chief''s way, he added, "Did you hear his words? Do as he commanded and put your best detective on the task of training her. But don''t forget the fact that she belongs to the chairman now, you understand my meaning right?" "No problem, since I have received orders from the higher-ups to accomplish everything I''m requested here today, I''ll make it happen. Everything will proceed per order." Not batting an eye, the police chief nodded his head in agreement. After that, satisfied with the police chief''s response, he turned his head in detective Argent''s direction as he directly spoke to her this time around, "And you, your life and death is really up to the chairman now, so do your best to listen and do whatever he orders you to do. Also, you can forget about trying anything funny since there is no one in this country who can do anything to the chairman, not even the President himself." "Can we go now?" At this time, completely expressionless, Virus questioned in a tone as if he wasn''t asking at all, he was just stating a fact. He wanted to leave because he didn''t feel like staying in this place any longer, not even for a second more. "Yes, yes, yes¡­ you both are free to leave whenever you wish to. No one would dare obstruct your path again, sir. Also, please let me give you my number in case you ever need my services. You can directly contact me at any time." Voiced the director of the FBI in the humblest tone he could possibly muster. "Mr. Chairman, please take my number too, I''ll also assist you with whatever I can. Just send me a text and I shall stop doing whatever I''m busy with and promptly rush over." Mr. chief justice also added. Seeing both of them dying to flatter him so much, the police chief had long since realized that Virus was definitely a man of highest authority or even more shocking than that, so he also offered his phone number. However, not bothering at all to receive any of the numbers, he just glanced toward the Legal ugly. With that, Legal ugly stepped up as he received all three of the calling cards. After that, five people began strolling out of a specific precinct. They were Virus, Bella, Ella, the Legal ugly, and the Security ugly who had joined them outside the interrogation room. Seeing that they were really outside and they were also allowed to leave just like that, Ella had a hard time believing all of these events she had just gone through was real. It was all like a dream to her. Nevertheless, recalling a specific matter, her face suddenly turned cold as she instantly separated from the group and started walking in a direction, alone. Seeing this, Virus called her, "Ella."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. However, without any kind of reaction whatsoever, she continued walking without stopping at all, "Ella!" He called out again, only to be ignored once more. This time, he walked over to her as he grabbed her hand, making her stop, "Why are you ignoring me? What''s making you so upset?" Still, as her face remained dark and expressionless, she mumbled suddenly, "Let me go." "Ella-" "I said let me go!" Exclaiming in a loud voice, she tossed his hand away as she turned around and left. Virus didn''t move this time as he only watched her back as she walked away. However, if he could see her face right now, he would''ve been surprised to see her face flooded with tears and snot at this moment. "Go. Continue keeping her safe." He ordered expressionlessly while watching her figure which was walking away. "Yes, master." Knowing this order was directed at him, the Security ugly left just like that. . . . ''He¡­ you really stopped chasing me¡­ you idiot!!!'' In the meantime, seeing no one coming after her, more tears began to roll down her red eyes as she left while feeling even more heartbroken. 232 Two Paths "Are we going back to the atoll, master?" At this time, the golden beauty walked beside him and inquired. After staying silent for a few moments while staring in a direction, Virus finally replied, "No, we''ll go to 4 Times Square for now. I want to see the CEO ugly." .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . "Welcome back, master." When they arrived at 4 Times Square, the CEO ugly was already patiently waiting outside as he warmly welcomed him. "Let''s go inside." For some reason, Virus wasn''t in the mood to even nod his head as he just passed by the bowing CEO ugly and entered the building behind him. . . . "So, do we have enough capital to enter other industries now? Report." The moment they came to the highest floor of 4 Times Square, sitting on the couch, Virus inquired. "About that matter, master, we''ve already transported half of the cure to a variety of countries in the world, while the rest are being exported as we speak, though it will take some time for everything to be sent away and delivered. Anyway, in short, half of the capital has already been received." He started his report with the current capital they had at hand. To be truthful, making so many of ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' in a short period of time would''ve been literally impossible. Fortunately though, as Virus had already seen all of this coming, before he left for the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, at the same time as he transferred the method of creating the Mutated HIV, he also sent the method and the blueprint of making the ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' too while ordering the Island ugly to mass-produce it. "Hmm, I realized you''re still not doing anything. So what are you waiting for?" Virus inquired further. "Actually¡­ I was looking for the right opportunity to converse with master before beginning the process of entering the other industries since there are some necessary points I would like to share with master and ask for his opinion." Said the CEO ugly. "I''m listening." Looking into his eyes, Virus murmured. Nodding his head, the CEO ugly began to explain, "Alright, so here is the deal. There are two options by which we can expand our company. The first one is to enter a variety of different industries at the same time, and the seconds one is to enter them one by one." Not stopping there at all, he continued, "Now, if we take the first route and enter a lot of industries at the same time, we will be forced to continue buying and purchasing a lot of necessary material in mass from other people and other industries, which means we will be dependent upon them and their goods heavily. For example, right now, in order to make cars, we are thoroughly relying upon the mining industry, since we need minerals like steel, aluminum, iron, titanium, etc. for producing cars." He added further, "Or another example is that other than some of the futuristic pieces we create in our limited small factories which counts as our secret, we buy the rest of the essential pieces and parts from the Manufacturing Industry, which means we need them too. Now, other than these, there are also glass, plastic, etc. which we also purchase them all from others." Pausing for a very short moment at this point, he proceeded, "This is only when we talk about our automotive branch. Now, in case we enter a lot of other industries at the same time, you can imagine and calculate just how much we would need to buy in order to run each of them and keep them running. This scenario, other than being an extremely wasteful way of expending money which will cause us a lot of harm because we are basically unknown in those areas, will also limit our expansion since in that case, we haven''t truly used the real worth of our money." By now, from his tone alone, it was pretty obvious he was against choosing this option, "Moreover, this is only the case if everything progresses smoothly with no kind of obstruction from anyone which I''m sure it''s nigh impossible. Because if we enter a lot of different industries and throw out a whole lot of futuristic technologies or things similar at the same time¡­ we will be the enemy of the entire world in a single night! Just like how we became the enemy of all Phone Industries in the past. Like this though, the consequence will be much more severe as we will greatly risk the progress of those new industries we''re going to enter along with our current ones." "Since, for example, the entire mining industry might stop providing us with the material we need for every branch of our company including the Automotive branch and I''m talking only about the mining industry here! Like this, our entire company will be crippled in a matter of days and it will probably lead us to be utterly destroyed and eventually, financially bankrupt!" "Furthermore, if we take this route, I''m sure master will be pretty busy killing the entire world off and every CEO there is in it." Showing a helpless grin at this point, the CEO ugly stated in a half-joking half-serious manner. However, if one was aware of what was going inside him right now, that person would realize he was dead serious right now! And then, he would further realize and doubt that the CEO ugly was mostly trying to save the world from this monster called Virus in front of him, rather than the other way around of saving the company from the rest of the world. At this point, Virus was sharply gazing into the CEO ugly''s eyes as if he could clearly see through his thoughts and intentions. However, not saying anything regarding his thoughts, he uttered, "I understand, proceed." By now, a few beads of sweat had shown up on his forehead, but hearing his master tell him to continue, he let out a breath of relief as he started talking again, "Okay¡­ now we arrive at the latter option, which is to enter different industries one by one in a gradual manner after laying some foundation on each of them." "What I''m actually suggesting here is for us to start from the very basic industry, which I believe to be the Mining Industry, and after that, the most suitable one for us is the Manufacturing Industry." "So my plan is to begin with the most basic one and as we progress further, we shall enter other industries one after another by laying an unshakeable foundation for our entire company. Like this, not only will we have our own mineral, but we will also have our own Manufacturing Industry which will constantly produce us the different pieces and parts we require." "If we take this route, there will be no waste of money, the risk will be also lowered to the bare minimum possible, and more importantly, we won''t be so easy to bully! If in the future, the Mining Industry won''t provide us with minerals, we will mine our own minerals! If Manufacturing Industry no longer sells us different pieces and parts we need in mass, we will produce our own parts!" "This will also ultimately lead us to be an independent company from every other company or industry in the whole world as we will be a complete cycle, a gigantic system to be more precise! A system that can sustain itself! A company that can control its own fate without any reliance on others!" With brightly shining eyes, the CEO ugly excitedly articulated his final purpose. 233 Two "Was that everything you wanted to say?" After listening to whatever the CEO ugly had to say, Virus inquired while gazing deep into his eyes. "Uh¡­ yes, although my personal choice would be the latter, master is still the final decision-maker. So, I''ll follow whichever one you pick." Bowing once in respect, the CEO ugly uttered. "Hmm, the second option was truly a better and more logical choice." Nodding his head, Virus voiced before proceeding with a sharp turn, "However, it takes too much time to accomplish that. For us to enter into one industry and then consolidate our position before jumping into another one and afterward continuing with this process would need at least decades to accomplish! And I don''t want to wait for that long to be honest. My goal is to dominate the economic world in a rather quick period of time before jumping into my next purpose and goal." Pausing for a moment, he gazed toward the CEO ugly''s direction before continuing, "So, I''ll have to decline on that. However, bear in mind that this is not a complete refusal. I do admit your words truly hold some merit to themselves, so I''ll present you with two routes to tread simultaneously. In the first route which I''ll temporarily call it the ''Foundational Path'', you will start with the basic industries just like how you suggested in your second choice, but, we won''t wait until our position is totally consolidated which would take too much time. The point of the ''Foundational Path'' is that it will gradually allow us to achieve the perfect cycle you just mentioned." At this point, the golden beauty who understood Virus'' current sunken mood better than anyone else in the world brought a cup of his favorite tea over as she silently placed it in front of him while Virus began talking once again, "Anyhow, in the ''Foundational Path'', the moment the last branch we established is able to function by itself, and it starts to bring us a good percentage of profit, and at last, when it''s able to supply the other branches we have with sufficient goods, we will jump over to the next one." Showing two fingers, Virus went along with his instruction, "Also, because it''s the beginning phases of our plan and furthermore, since we have a lot of capital at hand right now, we will jump into two basic industries one after another in a quick manner. First we will establish the Mining branch before jumping on the second one, the Manufacturing Industry. Just like you mentioned previously." "Nevertheless, this is not the end and other than the ''Foundational Path'' you''re going to tread, I might also tell you to break into some other industries from time to time which wasn''t originally among your list of ''Foundational Industries'', but that will remain for another time to talk about." At this time, he picked up the cup as he took a small sip from the hot tea in front of him. "Anyway, you can start with these general directions I gave you for now, do you understand?" He concluded. "Yes, master¡­ so for now, we shall set foot into the Mining Industry, I shall promptly begin its paperwork¡­ however¡­" Talking to this point, he suddenly stopped talking and didn''t continue further. "What is it?" Frowning a bit, Virus asked. With an awkward tone, the CEO ugly responded, "We have no mines to start mining." After that, a deep silence began to loom over the room for a few seconds before Virus at last burst into a laughter of amusement. Then, he said, "Haha¡­ mines? That''s easy to solve. I know a method of discovering the best mines on this entire earth. It''s only that it might take a little while to create this particular tool I have in mind. No worries though, I''ll immediately send the blueprint over to the Island ugly to begin its production process at once." "Alright, then I''ll start doing its paperwork as soon as possible with no worries whatsoever." Nodding his head, the CEO ugly said obediently. "Good, for now, let''s extract every little bit of precious mineral Earth carries on itself. By the time we get them all, we will be already at a stage where we can expand our Mining Industry to space!" Virus proclaimed, bringing a fresh light of motivation to start burning inside the CEO ugly''s eyes. "Yes, I''ll definitely do my best, master. Also, we are about to release a new generation of a variety of automotive to the world which I withheld previously due to the world being in chaos. Now that the world order is restored, I believe this is the best timing to do that." "Do as you wish." Shaking his hand, Virus signaled him to leave as he picked up his cup of tea once more. . . . After the short meeting was over, the CEO ugly left to get busy with the matters of the company while the golden beauty and Virus stayed back. "Call the Island ugly and tell him to send the twenty-eight times gravity tools over every day. For now, I''ll proceed with my training here." "Yes, master." . .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . JEJU ISLAND, KOREA "Ajumma, give me another Haemultang!" A young man declared while raising his hand. Meanwhile, a Korean woman who was sitting together with him on the same table also voiced toward the young man, "Oppa, thanks for bringing me on this amazing short trip¡­ I really needed this to relieve some tension after that FAP thing." "Haha¡­ A-Yeong, don''t say that, as your boyfriend, it''s my duty to pay attention to your state of mind. I just knew these past few months were really hard on you, so I decided to bring you over here so you would be able to forget about those horrible events and start afresh with me." Showing her the brightest smile he could possibly present, the young man stated, in the meantime, he thought to himself, ''It''s been months since we could do anything¡­ I really need this too, I really need tonight.'' "Oppa¡­ thank you." Replied A-Young, who seemed truly touched by her boyfriend''s words. At this time though, as a beautiful view of the sea was displaying itself right outside the glasses of the restaurant, while the two remained sunk deep into that romantic moment, a shadow passed by from in front of the restaurant in an extremely quick speed. Soon, another two meters shadow passed from in front of the window of the restaurant. If the people inside the small restaurant had paid any attention outside, they would''ve found this odd quietness very strange. Right now, no one passing from in front of the window of the restaurant anymore. It was as if everyone had left the area already. Vroom~ Bang! However, at this moment, a car changed directions toward the small restaurant as it charged into this small place. For a few seconds, it was chaos as the car crashed into the restaurant and ruined its front wall and a lot of furniture within the diner itself. In the process, an old man who was sitting on the chair closest to the door was also flattened by the violent smash of the car. Soon, utter silence became dominant within the small place before finally, a dazed driver rushed out of the door of the car and began running in a random direction in terror while yelling, "Monsters! Monsters!" From the way he looked, it seemed as if he had just witnessed the scariest and the most horrifying thing in the whole world! 234 Monsters! Experiencing this drastic change from the romantic atmosphere to an extremely horrifying one, A-Yeong and her oppa were stunned silly as they stared at the man who ran away while yelling, "Monsters! Monsters!" "Is¡­ is he¡­ crazy, oppa?" Shocked silly, A-Yeong inquired, by now, she had jumped over beside her boyfriend who was also feeling terrified. "I¡­ I don''t know! That old man¡­" Looking at the gory corpse of the old man who was smashed by the car, the young man had this feeling of wanting to throw up. "Let''s¡­ let''s leave this place-" Just as he phrased these words, a shadow loomed over him from behind. Meanwhile, he realized his girlfriend suddenly distanced herself from him as an extremely horrified expression was plastered on her face. She was trembling so badly that she couldn''t talk, "A¡­a¡­ah¡­ ahhh-" "What''s wrong? A-Yeong!" Seeing his girlfriend act in such a weird way, the young man couldn''t help but worriedly look at her girlfriend while thinking, ''This must be too hard on her¡­ to see the corpse of an old man¡­''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Be¡­ behind¡­" This was all she could mutter after mustering every last bit of courage she had. "Hah?" Barely catching the message, the young man unconsciously looked behind himself, only to freeze completely as a result. Right now, behind him, a three-meter white tiger was standing looking at him silently while growling. What made all of this even more startling was that the tiger who was staring at the young man without taking its eye off of him only had a single eye right in the middle of its forehead! The young man was so terrified that he immediately dropped on the floor on his buttocks while continuously making an effort to retreat in that sitting position, "Ah¡­ ahhh-" However, at this moment, the three meters one-eyed white tiger finally began to move as its mouth opened widely as its ferocious teeth bit at the young man''s head. Chomp! The next moment, the young man''s body no longer had a head as blood began to spurt from his headless neck like a fountain! Immediately, A-Yeong''s face was showered in her boyfriend''s blood as she fixedly stared at his body while her eyes remained wide open. The one-eyed white tiger was obviously not going to leave the rest of her oppa''s body as it munched half of his body in a single bite! "A¡­ Ahhhh¡­" Ultimately, seeing half of her oppa''s body disappear, A-Yeong began to scream in terror while tears and snot continuously dripped from her face. Hearing her, the white tiger''s attention was fully drawn on the cowering girl in front of itself. Then, it began to come close toward her in a very leisurely manner. Realizing it was coming toward her and remembering her boyfriend''s horrendous fate, unable to control her bladder, her pants began to get wet. At this time, a two meters coyote who shockingly had six legs was also staring at this scene without making any moves. It seemed the coyote accepted the fact that these two prays were the one-eyed white tiger''s food! In the meantime, A-Yeong was about to be bitten just like the young man when a truck filled with soldiers arrived in the vicinity as they got off of it and started shooting at the six-legged coyote! "Come on, kill these monsters, kill them all!" "Yes! There are more in other areas, we need to hurry!" Bratatatatat~ Bratatatat! Bratata¡­ Almost ten soldiers began to shoot at the coyote. However, the six-legged coyote seemed to be extremely fast as it began to charge toward the soldiers. As a result of its very fast speed, only a few bullets actually hit its furry body as blood began to drip from those spots. Nevertheless, it finally reached those soldiers and began to bite at them one after another. Immediately, a bloodbath was sparked there and one by one, the soldiers began to be butchered horribly. Also, since the coyote didn''t remain in the same spot at all, the soldiers could no longer aim at its huge body and could only watch it slaughter them one after another! "Ahhhhhhh-" "Ahhh-" "No¡­ I don''t want to die¡­ No-" As they were being killed off one after another, a new group of soldiers arrived at the vicinity. Every soldier of this group held a grenade in their hands as they throw it toward the bloody coyote! Bang! Bam! Bang~ Instantly, the coyote was shredded into many pieces as it died right there. In the meantime, the one-eyed white tiger who was watching everything happen looked at the shivering A-Yeong one more time before it also charged toward the new truck. Many of the soldiers on the truck began to shoot at the rushing white tiger while trying to delay its charge so another set of grenades would be thrown in its direction. Many of those bullets truly did start to connect to the white tiger''s body. However, what they witnessed next shocked all of the soldiers, because¡­ the bullets couldn''t harm this white-tiger at all! It couldn''t even leave a scratch! "Oh my god¡­ this monster is bulletproof!" One of the soldiers mumbled in terror. "Quick¡­ quick¡­ throw the grenades in its direction!" Another one screamed. Unfortunately, the white-tiger was very fast as it jumped on the truck''s carrier at this moment as another bloodbath was initiated! At this time, in the distant sky, the silhouette of a combat Aircraft began to show up. This was an F-4 Phantom II. "The target has been locked." Inside the Aircraft, a man began speaking in Korean as he pressed a random button inside the aircraft as a rocket was launched toward the white-tiger. Bang! Instantly, the white-tiger exploded into many pieces under the destructive power of the rocket. In the meantime, inside the aircraft, the pilot began to report, "The seventh target has been eliminated, heading toward the eighth one." "Roger that." . . . A few hours ago, everything on this beautiful Jeju island had been very calm as everyone lived their normal island life. However, all of this began to change when different types of huge and weird-looking monsters began to pop up out of nowhere as they started ripping and devouring thousands of citizens in the span of these few hours. Fortunately, the police and some citizens had been smart enough to report everything to the government as the startled government promptly began to move in disbelief after making sure everything was true! At first, they began to dispatch a lot of soldiers to the island. Unfortunately though, they soon learned that bullets were ineffective against many of these creatures. As their soldiers had been eliminated one after another! Furthermore, they learned even a grenade had been ineffective against one of these monsters so far! So, left with no other choice, they could only dispatch a few aircraft and jets to solve this crisis they had no understanding about! Currently, inside the Blue House, everyone, including the President of South Korea itself, was in an extremely alarmed and distressed state as they looked at the videos in front of them in disbelief and even horror! "Oh my god! What are these monsters popping up on Jeju island? Where are they coming from?" An old man who was a person of great authority in South Korea uttered. "What''s going on with this world? First, we experience FAP¡­ and now this?!?" Another articulated while gritting his teeth. 235 Shut Off From The World "Could they have mutated from normal kinds of animals? Like that one-eyed white tiger we saw, If that''s the case¡­ then¡­" Someone else in the conference room mumbled in a trembling voice. "It''s too quick to reach a conclusion right now. First, let''s exterminate all of those monsters and save the lives of the remaining innocent citizens. After they are saved and the island is clear, we will start searching every corner of that place in order to find what caused this and who''s behind it¡­ whether it''s some kind of mutation as an after effect of the Mutated HIV or something else entirely, we''ll definitely unravel the secrets regarding this matter¡­ since it involves the security of our nation." At this point, the President finally started talking as he articulated a serious of orders and actions. "Yes, sir." Everyone nodded their heads as they promptly began to act. .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . The same day, different kinds of videos went viral from the Jeju island as the whole world became aware of the wonderous and terrible incident that had taken place at the Jeju island of South Korea. Currently, a News Channel was reporting, "Earlier today, tens of strange and gigantic monsters started to appear on an island called Jeju in South Korea. According to the latest information we received, it''s estimated that people have died in thousands with the accurate number of casualties still unavailable at this time." After the short pause, the report proceeded, "The government of South Korea has announced that at this very moment, they are unaware of the real source of these ferocious monsters. However, our reporter who''s present at Jeju island has reported that the government of Korea is doing everything they can to both deal with these horrifying monsters and also to understand where these monsters are coming from." Listening to this particular news which was being screened in various countries of the world in different versions, people began to reach their own personal conclusions one after another. "Oh my god! Could it be the arrival of Second Acoplaytic Phenomena? The first one just ended and now the second one has already begun? Could it be that God really won''t stop till we''re all dead?" This was the most popular conclusion that the common people of the world had mostly arrived at. Even some news channels were also directly reporting their news by pointing their fingers in this direction. Furthermore, the very next day, the front page title of most of the newspapers in the world would be ''Second Apocalyptic Phenomena?''. . . . In another place, two friends were smoking weed as they watched the television, "Ah¡­ dude¡­ these creatures must be some kind of mutated monsters! It just makes perfect sense right? First comes the Mutated HIV, and now here we go facing mutated animals! Everything''s gonna mutate now! Even us¡­ and even this weed we''re smoking¡­ ah, I wonder, would that make it stronger?" "Buddy, don''t spout nonsense, who knows what this is? Ahh¡­ maybe it''s due to the result of some kind of secret lab''s hidden experiments the government of Korea was doing and now it''s backlashed on them." Just like that, the other friend also shared his thoughts on the topic. "Ah¡­ who knows¡­ maybe you''re right, or maybe we''re both wrong it''s the aliens! Hmm¡­ this makes me wonder¡­ do these aliens have some weed? Would their weed be stronger than ours?" The first friend who was absolutely high said further. . . . In another corner of the world, the conversation ended like this, "I don''t care what it is, I just hope that was the end of this all¡­ begone, monsters!" While the people in the rest of the Earth were just judging the happenings on Jeju Island as a bystander with almost no fear since they were far from Korea, the citizens living inside Korea were dumbfounded as an intense sense of crisis and terror began to bubble up inside them. Right now, inside a very famous social networking service, it was absolutely chaotic. "Omo! Unnie, did you see that video? I''m so scared right now! What if those monsters also appear in Seoul? Uwu, I''m really scared¡­" A user named CrazyFan1 typed in the general chat. "Don''t worry, there is no way it would come anywhere near Seoul since the government is dealing with it as we speak! Didn''t you hear the President''s speech telling us not to be scared? They won''t leave a single one alive." Someone else called CrazyFan2 responded. "From you two''s profile pictures, oppa can see both of you are quite the beauties! Come to oppa and oppa shall protect both of you from those horrible monsters!" Username HandsomeOppa2231 also replied to them. "Someone needs to protect us from you! You mutated male monster!" "That''s right! You''re so shameless, how can you name yourself ''Handsome oppa'' with that kind of face!" Both of them began to retort at him in response. . . . While the world was confused and deeply worried about the terrifying monsters that had shown up in Korea, Virus was currently sitting in the lowest floor of 4 Times Square without any shirts as he proceeded with his practice. Before sinking into this session of training, he had also warned the golden beauty to not disturb him unless something absolutely urgent happened. So now, completely shut off from the outside world, once again, he restarted his training under the twenty-seven times gravity that of normal. He understood that he was almost on the verge of reaching the absolute limit of the Corporeal Tempering Stage by reaching the peak of False Sixth Level, Remoulding The Residual Cells. However, he also knew that taking this single step was easier said than done. Gradually, one day slipped away. A week also went by. Until finally, three weeks had already elapsed. In these past three weeks, the government of South Korea was at last successful in exterminating all of those monsters. Among the monsters they had killed, one of them had proven to be an absolute challenge to exterminate and they had to dispatch a few more aircraft to finish them all off. After there were no more monsters left anymore, the Korean government began to search every corner of the Jeju island in hopes of being able to discover the true source of these dreadful beasts. Unfortunately though, even after searching every step of the island, their probe was left totally fruitless and disappointing. So, giving up on that, the government started researching the corpses of the monsters they were able to recover, although there were only a few that had left behind an intact corpse since most of them had already exploded into many horrendous pieces by the aircraft''s rockets. Among these intact corpses, the most eyecatching one was the body of the monster which had been the hardest to kill, the strongest among all those ferocious beasts. And this corpse was the one that the scientists were mostly focusing on in their studies. That particular carcass was dissected into many parts by the scientists in their governmental labs as they began an experiment on how they had become like that and also to possibly find an answer to the question of where they had originated from. However, even after days of constant studies under the microscope, they still couldn''t find the true reason as to how their bodies had evolved to that shocking point. Nevertheless, they were able to discover that those monsters'' bodies were absolutely amazing. And seeing many of the startling functions of their bodies and innards, the scientists had been fascinated over and over again in the span of these few days as they felt many new doors open in front of them. However, as to the question of how their bodies had evolved to that point or the key to evolve animals like that, they couldn''t find any answers at all, not even a bit. All they could do was to create a hypothesis that there must be some kind of unknown substance that they should''ve been in direct contact with that had slowly changed them forever. Another matter worth mentioning was that inside the carcass of the strongest monster, they were able to discover a hard and solid bead which they couldn''t even begin to understand what it was at all. To them, it seemed to be a rock, however, its structure was weird and totally confusing. 236 The Last Step In another corner of New York, currently, Amara Martin had placed her head on the work desk inside her office while continuously staring at a single spot. It was as if she didn''t have the energy to do anything any longer. It''s been only a single day since she came back from her own family house. After both their city in England and New York received the cure, their company restarted its functioning once again. So, Amara had to hurry back and manage her own branch here in New York once again. ''So, in the end, his company is the savior of the entire world¡­ and he''s the owner of that company, so I might as well say he''s the real savior of Earth¡­ just like a hero.'' She wondered to herself as she stared into a certain dot on the wall absentmindedly. At this point, having him inside her mind was an unconscious habit that she had developed due to thinking about him too much. Before the existence of the cure was announced, Amara wanted to confess her feelings to him one last time before leaving this sick world. So, she hired someone to trail Virus'' current location to no avail. After that, as she sank in despair due to not even being able to find him let alone meet him, the development of cure was announced to the world together with the details about which company had created it. This instantly made her eyes brighten up as she wondered to herself, ''He must be back! I have a chance of confessing my feelings-'' Albeit, as she thought to this point, she also remembered, ''But the world''s not ending anymore, should I still confess my feeling to him right now just to be rejected?'' And now, she was staring into a single point, while her line of thinking wondered everywhere around him. She understood that she would be rejected even if she confessed her feelings, so she was extremely reluctant to do that just yet.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Kiss me sayin'' goodbye~ I''m over the moon, feeling gloom~ But I won''t regret~ For giving you the love, for giving you the love~ Abruptly, her phone began to ring, forcing her to snap out of being absentminded as she looked at the caller ID, ''Why is dad calling me at this time?'' "Hello, dad? What''s up?" Picking the phone, she replied in a weak tone. "Hmm? Are you sick, daughter? Did you travel safe?" Catching her daughter''s voice which seemed to lack vitality, Ethan said doubtfully. "No, just feeling a bit tired¡­ yeah, I''m already at the office. I''m sure you didn''t call to just ask me that, dad. So¡­ just spill it out." Coughing while feeling a bit embarrassed, Ethan proceeded, "Daughter¡­ actually, I know you like that boy who owns the Virus Industries, that''s great, since he is even the savior of the whole world now! But¡­ it doesn''t seem like he likes you back¡­ and it''s really the time for you to get married, you''re already at that age. I didn''t want to say this initially since the world was ending anyway¡­ but now-" "Dad! I don''t wanna get married to anyone else but Aizen! If you can make that happen, then fine! But if it''s someone else you want me to marry¡­ then I don''t want to!" Increasing the volume of her voice, she began to utter with some frustration apparent in her tone. "But, daughter-" "No buts! Dad, I have important matters to attend to, so let''s end the call here." Phrasing this sentence, she hung up the line promptly. . . . In the meantime, Ella was also sitting in her class while staring at the whiteboard as the professor wrote different words on it. Many days had passed since she went over to the police station to confess to the crime of killing someone but then was allowed to leave just like that. Afterward, no one from the police department even came looking for her in order to ask for further details regarding the case. It was as if the case didn''t exist anymore, just like how that man chief justice had ordered. Even the news or the internet itself no longer mentioned this case anymore. Any traces of the existence of that night''s slaughter at the Avalon Nightclub had disappeared just like that. She understood that all of this was because of her boyfriend¡­ or, ex-boyfriend? Even she didn''t quite understand their current relationship anymore. Moreover, for some reason, nearly every single police officer who spotted her or chanced upon her seemed to be respectfully smiling in her direction. Whenever they saw her, they even offered to escort her to her destination with their police car, every time! One time, a guy was trying to flirt with her when a police officer came running over as he pushed the poor guy away, making him fall on the ground awkwardly as he even rolled a few times there. And when she asked the police officer why he did that, his response was like this, "No worries miss, it seemed like he was molesting you! So¡­" ''Are the police officers allowed to just do that without understanding the whole situation first?'' Feeling absolutely speechless by the officer''s response, this question popped up in her head, however, remembering how she was allowed to leave just like that after killing someone, she didn''t continue further with that thought as a sense of guilt hit her again. Anyway, afterward, that police officer even introduced himself and told her she can look for him at the nth precinct whenever she faced a problem. After the class, as they were exiting the door, Mary rushed over to her and started talking, "Elle, why were you so absentminded in the class¡­ is it because of¡­?" "Did uncle jack tell you about everything?" Hearing Mary''s words, Ella queried as she comprehended the meaning behind her words. "Yeah¡­ dad told me you confessed to murdering someone the other night we went out¡­" She went quiet at this point, as some mixed emotions started bubbling inside her, nevertheless, she continued soon afterward, "And he also told me some very important people seem to have arrived and made the whole case go away because of a very handsome man¡­ and according to his description of this handsome man, I believe he was Aizen¡­ right?" Seeing she could already guess everything, Ella nodded her head before starting to explain everything that had taken place that night at the nightclub. By the time Ella finished explaining, she realized Mary was already weeping. Then, she abruptly plunged toward her as she started hugging her while continuing to cry, "Sob¡­ it¡­ sob, it wasn''t your fault Ella¡­ none of it was. If you hadn''t tried to defend, both you and Jessica would''ve been harmed already! So please don''t feel guilty." Listening to these words which tightly gripped at her heart, teardrops began to uncontrollably fall from her face as she eventually started to wail in her arms just like a baby, "Aaaaaahhhh¡­" After that, the two sat in a quiet spot as Ella began to describe everything that was going on between her and Virus with wet eyes. She also told her that the reason why she was so absentminded in the class earlier was mostly because of this matter. "He''s an idiot for not following you that day just because you told him to let you go! Do you want me to go after him and yell at him for you?" Putting a wrathful face, Mary tried her best to make her friend feel better. . . . Simultaneously, the talk of the town was still sitting in his previous location as he kept sending waves after waves of energy to those residual cells in his body. For some reason though, it was proving to be extremely difficult to take this final step in order to complete the Corporeal Tempering Stage. He was rotating the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution with the fastest speed he could, however, it was as if a barrier was keeping him from taking that last step! ''Hmm¡­ by now, I should''ve completed this False Sixth Stage¡­ but¡­ why are those remaining cells still resisting the absorption of the STC energy?'' He pondered to himself as his eyes stayed closed. He was truly feeling confused because this situation was totally out of his calculations. 237 Liliana Tudor Another week passed by very quickly. By now, almost the whole world had gone back to the way it was before FAP. Common citizens were spending a great deal of effort in order to make a living and moreover, now, with the existence of the dormant Mutated HIV, they had to save some money for their whole family to take ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' every year without missing a single one until the permanent cure was ultimately created. The previous outbreak on Jeju island was still the topic of many mouthes as a variety of television channels had yet to cease their analysis of this odd and inexplicable incident. Even the United States of America had requested some of the remains of those savage beasts from the government of South Korea, however, until this very moment, South Korea still hadn''t responded to this request. This was because they felt like with these carcasses, they would be able to make great breakthroughs in many fields of their studies and science. And that meant giving them away would be a great loss. Anyway, currently, one of the most famous international television channels in the whole world was holding a program regarding both the Mutated HIV and the strange incident on Jeju island. Today, they had invited a rather well-known fortune-teller who claimed she could see a few seconds into the future of certain individuals. And with her power of fortune-telling, she had truly helped a lot of powerful individuals in the economic world in successfully passing through many crises for the right amount of money. Of course, under normal circumstances, such a famous television channel would not have invited this kind of person who was most likely a fraud. However, this time it was an exception because they were directly requested by the owner of this channel to allow her to be present on this very program. It seemed the owner truly did believe in her power and according to him, she had helped him a lot in becoming the owner of one of the most famous television channels in the world. "Good afternoon everyone, today, we are here with you together with one of the rather well-known fortune-tellers of the world called Liliana Tudor. She really wanted to be present at this program because according to her, she has some very vital matters to announce to everyone." The host seemed to be having a hard time taking this whole situation seriously as he thought, ''Is this for real? We are bringing fortune-tellers to our program now?'' "So, before we start, miss Tudor, would you mind introducing yourself a bit to our viewers?" The host added. At this time, the camera was focused on a beautiful woman who had brownish eyes and a curly golden-red hair, "Sure, hello everyone, I''m Liliana Tudor, I''m 25 years old this year and I''m a fortune-teller. Well, not exactly that¡­ since my power or maybe trait is a bit different than fortune-telling and I actually call it the ''Foreshadow''." "Now I know many of you won''t believe that I actually have this power, but that''s okay since I have faith that you''ll all soon come to believe my words when the world has more clarity upon the truth that there are many people with special traits living among us. Anyway, I won''t elaborate on how exactly my power works and I''ll just pass on this one." She voiced showing a beautiful smile at the camera. Hearing her words, many viewers truly did not believe her words, however, there were also a lot of people who had seen and believed the video of people with traits or even better¡­ some of them had even seen people utilizing their traits in front of their own eyes. "Miss Tudor-" "You can call me Lily." Interrupting him, Lily voiced. "Alright, Lily, could you please tell us why you wanted to be with us here on this stage today?" At this point, a bit frustrated by her words, the host asked. "Of course¡­ I''ve come only to pass along some facts regarding my power and what they could actually represent and mean." She said as she stopped talking for the moment. "Hmm, please continue¡­ we''re all listening." The host uttered while wearing a fake smile. Nodding her head, Lily continued, "Actually¡­ let me begin by starting from an earlier date." Saying this, Lily paused for a moment before she started talking again, "To be honest, before the year of 2000, it was extremely easy for me to see foreshadows of the future." "However, it all began to change and get blurry when the year hit 2000 for some unknown reasons¡­ after that, it started to get extremely difficult for me to see even very short foreshadows of the future and right now¡­ I only see darkness." "And that means¡­?" Filled with doubt, the host questioned while wondering to himself, ''Well, that means one less fraud in the world.'' "This means that I''m either losing my power¡­ or that the future has become too unpredictable to actually foreshadow anymore because some very startling things or crises are approaching us fast. Hmm¡­ of course, there is also the possibility that the future still can be seen, it''s just that my power is too weak to actually predict and foreshadow anything." In almost a single breath, Lily elaborated on everything as she analyzed her own power and their possible meanings. ''So what does all of this have to do with us¡­'' As this line went through the host''s head, he started mouthing out loud, "Lily¡­ before coming to be present on this program, you told us that you wanted to talk about the Mutated HIV and the breakout on Jeju island-" Not allowing him to finish, Lily started articulating "Yes¡­ my power exactly has to do with them. Actually¡­ after 2000, it had become extremely difficult for me to see the foreshadows, but the point was that I could still ''see''!" "However, this all began to change when the Mutated HIV started to spread to the whole world because after that, I could only foreshadow on very few occasions and even those were extremely limited since almost all of them were mostly useless stuff. Everything else regarding probably important phenomenon was totally dark to me." She explained her views and thoughts to this point before proceeding, "Moreover, now, after the Jeju island breakout happened¡­ everything became entirely dark¡­ I can foreshadow nothing anymore." ''Good, now you can, at last, go back to living like a normal young beautiful woman.'' The host deliberated with a smirk. "I believe this is probably because the world is heading toward a planetary devastating direction¡­ which means¡­ our planet is in grave danger as we all face the risk of total annihilation. Anyhow, from the moment the Jeju island incident took place, everything probably went on motion since it was from that moment onwards that I faced total darkness." She concluded her speech and explanation as she no longer said anything else. "Lily, was that all?" The host questioned while pondering, ''Fuck, I knew bringing her to the program was a big mistake¡­ he''s just trying to scare the world!'' "Yes, I''m done." Lily muttered with another beautiful smile appearing on her face. "Hmm, good¡­ alright¡­ thanks for being present with us here¡­ the allocated time of our program has also hit the absolute limit. So I shall bid goodbye to all of our viewers and our dear guest, Liliana Tudor. Goodbye, everyone." The host ended the program with those closing words.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. 238 A Fissure On Glass From the moment the creation of ''Ai Virus 001: The Savior'' had been announced to the entire world, almost everyone had been in deep admiration of the Virus Industries who now others called the savior of mankind. However, at the moment the creation of this cure was published to the world by the President of the United States of America himself, many smart people immediately had doubted that maybe it was the Virus Industries itself that had created the Mutated HIV in the first place, since it seemed rather unlikely that in less than a year after the Mutated HIV had spread to the whole world, the cure was already developed. And according to the President, they even had long since created this cure. They''ve been just hiding it from everyone else. Of course, hearing the fact that their cure was only permanently effective on the normal type of HIV, many of those doubtful eyes had been instantly withdrawn. Nevertheless, even though almost 99 percent of them no longer believed it was the Virus Industries who had spread the Mutated HIV, one percent still did continue believing they had been the culprit behind all this¡­ or at least, they were highly suspicious of them. However, at the end of the day, when everything was said and done, they still couldn''t do anything about it since they neither had any evidence to back their claims nor would they bother trying to unravel this cloud of mystery which was covering this so-called Virus Company. Of course, a few exceptions existed among those people, and one of these anomalies was¡­ detective Lock. John Lock! He was one of the few exceptions in the world who believed that Virus Company was most likely the culprit and the mastermind behind the so-called Mutated HIV. Right now, detective Lock was in New York as he continued to walk on its streets to a certain direction while contemplating to himself, ''First, they started producing these highly advanced mobile phones which were so technologically advanced that they literally overthrew the other mobile companies at the same time. Now, for everyone else in the world, the mobile business is stagnant. Of course, it''s the opposite case when it actually comes to Virus Industries itself since they are flourishing higher than ever, especially when it comes to the business of mobile phones¡­ as they can be considered the sole leading phone company in the world.'' Pausing for a very short moment when he reached this point of his contemplation, he considered some vital factors before proceeding with his special way of thinking, ''Moreover, afterward, they also entered the Automotive Industry too and according to the data I gathered, their cars could be said to be the most advanced ones in the world. Though they still fall short compared to the other luxurious car companies who had been building their brands for decades, it doesn''t change the fact that their cars are better¡­ so this means they are the best one in this field too.'' Ultimately, he arrived at the most vital one among everything that had to do with the Virus Company, ''And then comes the matter of Mutated HIV¡­ where did it come from? Why did it''s appearance coincide so much with the appearance of the Virus Industries? And how could it still be the Virus Industries that had the cure to it? So does that mean they are far more advanced than the rest of the world when it comes to the pharmaceutical field too?'' He proceeded with his line of thinking as he pushed his way through the throng. ''Hmm, also, I heard they are trying to enter the Mining Industry too¡­ but the mining industry needs mines and I don''t believe they have mines¡­ it has nothing to do with technology. Um¡­ could it be they''re trying to buy some mines? No, no, no¡­ that wouldn''t be as profitable as their technologies and other products¡­ hmm¡­ what''s going on here?'' Placing one hand under his chin, he stopped moving completely.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Soon, he went on motion once again as his casual walk restarted, ''It seems¡­ I gotta wait further in order to make sure about that and many other facts¡­ well, I got nothing but time¡­ I could also visit Amara while I''m at it.'' Thinking about Amara, a kind smile filled with love showed up on his face. However, thinking further on the matter and remembering how she had fallen head over heels for Aizen, his mood promptly turned very sour and downcast as an even stronger determination showed up inside his eyes, the determination to get to the bottom of the matter of Virus Industries and its chairman Aizen Vee. Of course, he also believed that he had to do everything in absolute secrecy especially hidden from the eyes of Amara. So, while gritting his teeth, he once again picked up his thoughts where he had left it previously, except this time, there was a hint of jealousy apparent in his eyes too, ''But, putting all of these matters together¡­ first comes the technologically advanced phones which shocked the whole world. Then, the advanced cars also popped up which happened to startle the world once again. And at last, comes the Mutated HIV, which is the biggest one among them, and they just happened to have the cure to it. Three of the most shocking incidents of the entire world that happened one after another were all connected to them one way or another. It''s as if¡­ it''s as if the whole world is moving in the direction that would benefit them the most!'' At this point, his eyes became wide open as a terrifying notion popped into his head, ''Could it be¡­ the world''s strange events are totally being controlled by them? Everything comes back to them? They are changing the world¡­ who are they? Who is behind the Virus Industries? Who is behind Aizen Vee? What''s their true goal?'' By now, the further he deliberated on the topic, the more alarmed and lost he became. . . . PARIS, FRANCE Currently, a variety of people were commuting among the noisy streets of this city of love. At present, they were walking on these jammed streets for many different reasons. Some of them were tourists, some were the native citizens of this city, while many others had their own personal reason to be in this great city. Right now, in one of the packed streets of this crowded city which happened to be extremely close to the popular Tower of Eiffel, people were having one of those extremely normal days of their life when abruptly¡­ Crack~ In an absolutely quiet manner, a small crack started to expand on the very space itself as the next moment, it began to expand exactly the same way how fissures grew on a cracking transparent glass, only in this case, it was on the fabric of space itself. In a matter of a few seconds, this crack''s height grew to more than one and a half meters. Many people were still unaware of the abrupt appearance of this fracture on space. That was especially true when it came to the person closest to the crack whose head was currently lowered toward his phone while he continued on his path toward the crack. Soon, he finally came into direct contact with the crack¡­ as he disappeared into it! By now, almost everyone had noticed the appearance of this unbelievable scene in front of them as they looked at the gap in space both in a startled and stunned manner. For a few seconds, it seemed as if everyone had stopped moving altogether while they stared at the rift in front of them quietly as their eyes snapped wide open to a horrifying degree. "Ahhhhh¡­" However, finally, a woman started screaming as she began running in a random direction before disappearing into the distant horizon. This scream instantly brought everyone back to their senses and then¡­ the silence was no more! "Ahhhhhhhh¡­" "Oh my god! What is that!" "Waaaaah" "Fuuuuuuuuuuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck¡­" "Mommy~ Waaah¡­" Now, all around the rift, it was complete chaos as everyone was running in a random direction like scared ants. They were so terrified that many of them even had lost their balance as they fell on the ground and were crushed under their feet the very next moment. 239 The Rift In Space Around an hour later, the army had already locked up and even quarantined the area. At the moment, there were so many soldiers surrounding the district that one might mistake it for a war zone instead of a normal city domain. The citizens all around the area and the neighborhood were already evacuated, so no common citizens could be spotted around the vicinity at all. At first, the police had the situation under control, however, soon, the army arrived there as they took control of everything and became in charge of this odd phenomena. At this point, an expensive army car arrived somewhere near the quarantined zone as a dignified middle-aged man got out of the car. The moment he exited, another middle-aged man was already waiting for him there as he saluted. Understanding the emergency of the situation though, the dignified middle-aged man didn''t bother with any of these unnecessary matters and instead commanded, "Lieutenant general, tell me everything you know about this thing we''re facing." "Army general, according to the people who were present at the scene, it''s been around an hour since this fissure showed up. Also, some of them reported that a normal citizen mistakenly made contact with it before disappearing into it." The Lieutenant general reported every piece of information he understood regarding the crack and its surroundings. "What did the scientists say?" The Army general inquired further. He had to get a full picture of this whole situation before reporting it back to both the impatiently waiting prime minister and the President. "Reporting to sir, the scientists will arrive with the helicopter in five minutes." The Lieutenant general stated. "Alright then." Understanding he had to wait, the Army general began to walk toward a special bus that was prepared for him. Soon, a group of best scientists arrived at the zone as they began their study on this odd phenomena. An hour later, finally, they walked before the army general as they began to explain everything they were able to understand from this crack. Of course, most of their deductions were only hypothetical. "Reporting to Army general, the information we gathered regarding that rupture might be wrong in some aspects, so please keep this point in your mind." Before starting, the lead scientist didn''t forget to warn the Army general about this essential point. "I understand. Please continue." The Army general voiced in response. Nodding his head, the lead scientist proceeded, "So, based on many theories our current scientific fields have reached to this day¡­ that rupture is probably a rift in space and it most likely leads to another location. As to where it leads to¡­ even we have no idea." The Army general was startled at first, but then, a sharp gaze worthy of the general of all armies sparkled in his eyes as he threw the most important questions at the lead scientist, "First, will that rift in space disappear by itself naturally? Second, will it expand and endanger everything? And at last, is there any possibilities that some unknown people might exist on the other side of this rip in space¡­ some people that might attack us or hold hostility toward us?" Listening to these three vital questions of the Army general, the lead scientist first consulted with some of the scientists by his side before starting to respond to the inquiry, "Unfortunately, we can''t respond to any of Army general''s three questions with certainty. However, based on the theories we have studied and comprehended ourselves to this point, we can say the very space itself has a tendency to mend and restore itself¡­ so it will probably disappear at some point." Pausing for a moment at this point, the lead scientist proceeded, "As for the Army general''s second question, we believe there must be a cause as to why this rift had appeared here in the first place. So we can only conclude that for this crack in the fabric of space to expand even further, that cause would require even further energy¡­ so that''s highly unlikely." "And also, regarding your last question sir, without any confidence in my own words, I would say this kind of crack wouldn''t appear here by itself, so there must be something or someone, or in short a reason that has caused this crack to appear here¡­ anyway, this is entirely unknown territory for us, something we almost have no understanding about!" The lead scientist replied vaguely. Many of his words almost had no scientific base behind them. "I understand, I have one last question for you, could it be that those monsters in South Korea have come out of a crack like this?" The Army general was smart enough to immediately relate this mysterious space crack to those unidentified monsters which popped out of nowhere since both of them were two unknowns that had occurred just recently. Catching the question, the lead scientists eyes began to shine in both exhilaration and terror as he had found a new possibility and perspective to look at this situation, so turning around, once more, he began to consult with other scientists. Five minutes passed, when the lead scientist finally looked over once again and started talking, "Sir, that''s a very likely possibility. Those monsters popped out of nowhere¡­ if we assume that a crack like this had also appeared on Jeju island without anyone spotting it and afterward it had disappeared when the monsters came out of it¡­ that would make total sense. Two never-seen-before mysterious phenomenon happening one after another, they must be related to one another. You got to understand sir, before today, there was no such phenomenon in all our history I believe¡­" A deeply contemplative look appeared on the Army general''s face after hearing everything. He was digesting and organizing everything right now. This process continued for around two minutes before he began to move as he took out a special type of phone and started reporting everything to the other side of the line. . . . Currently, on the other side of the line, the prime minister and the President were sitting on the table as they conversed and consulted with each other. The Army general had just notified them of everything and now was waiting for further orders. "So¡­ what should we do? Wait for the monsters to show up? Or charge into the rift with the army? Hmm, they should be appearing soon, right?" While touching his chin, the prime minister murmured in a deeply contemplative state. "We don''t know what''s on the other side. It''s completely unknown territory, it might even directly lead to the outer space itself, so we can''t risk our soldiers'' lives. That means, we can only wait and prepare for their arrival." The President also voiced his deliberation. Shaking his head, the prime minister added, "Still, we don''t know anything about what they are, or what the source of everything is. So we have no choice other than investigating this, otherwise, we would be totally in the dark about our enemies and that might end things very badly for us." "That''s also true, how about we send a few soldiers inside for a quick investigation?" Massaging his chin, the President stated with a small frown since he understood this was probably a suicide mission. "Yes. We can only prepare as heavy as we can while sending some people inside." Nodding his head, the prime minister confirmed his own view. . . . In the meantime, the world was going crazy after the videos of this crack on space were broadcasted for everyone in the world to see. At this day, humanity experienced another turmoil as a seed of fear was implanted in them once more. Right now, on a television channel, a reporter was elaborating on everything he knew regarding this startling piece of news, "So an hour earlier, in Paris, a fissure showed up on the very fabric of space itself which many scientists call it the rift. According to our speculations, this rift in the fabric of space is most likely to be the reason behind the unidentified monsters that had appeared on Jeju island out of nowhere." Another famous News channel was also reporting, "Currently, the government of France is tightly keeping watch right beside the rift as they have already locked up and quarantined the area while waiting for monsters to show up at any minutes now."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. 240 Discharged The media all around the world was going crazy reporting this unexpected piece of news which was currently disturbing the whole world once again. And in return for these pieces of news, people around the world were showing different kinds of reactions. "It seems like God really wants us all dead¡­ and all this won''t stop until we''re all no more!" An old man voiced in a calm tone, he had aged to a degree that he was no longer afraid of death to be honest. . . . "No¡­ Mommy, are we all going to die?" An elementary school kid asked her mom. She and her mom lived in Paris. "No, why would we die? Humanity is stronger than you think baby girl¡­ whatever happens, we''ll definitely survive." Caressing her head, her mom replied to her, reassuring the kid with a kind smile, however internally, she was scared witless as her hand was shivering slightly. . . . "Dude! We are all fucked! A portal just opened up in Paris!" Running toward his best friend, a young man voiced in fear. However, unlike his expectations, the other young man''s eyes began to shine like never before as he queried, "Really?!? Do you think if we pass through it¡­ we would be transported into another world?" . . . "Damn it. It''s SAP! It must be SAP! It''s gonna destroy our world! FAP just finished and now SAP has arrived!" {A/N: I believe he means ''Second Apocalyptic Phenomena :D) . . . "I knew that fucking foreshadower was right! This was foreshadowed! We''re screwed now!" Someone who had watched Liliana Tudor''s program exclaimed while looking at the rift displaying itself on the television. . . . The world leaders were also deeply shaken by the news as they were keeping a close eye on France. What happened next would decide and change a lot of things for them. This was especially true for countries like the United States, Russia, China, Korea, Japan, etc. who were watching everything with their satellites day and night. They even sent some people of authority and soldiers to watch everything from a closer range. Anyway, France''s army soon created a small group of soldiers who were willing to enter the crack in the fabric of space. These ten brave soldiers were soon equipped with spacesuits and cameras as they were about to enter the rift. So, one after another, they walked before the rift very slowly. A few seconds later, the first person in the line was upon the crack. After hesitating for a bit, determination began to course through his eyes as he directly walked into the crack, vanishing into it. After that, the remaining nine people also started to enter one after another. Very soon, all of them were gone and what remained behind was an army of soldiers watching their disappearing comrades quietly. The team was ordered to return in at most ten hours. If it took any longer than that, it would be assumed that something had gone wrong and those soldiers were probably¡­ dead. A variety of tanks, helicopters, and thousands of soldiers armed with many weapons and grenades were already lined in the surroundings of the rift. It was literally a warzone now. There were even aircrafts ready for call prepared at the military airports that would go in motion the moment something showed up from the rift. "Army general, it''s been an hour since they entered, but nothing so far¡­" A soldier came running and reported the situation to the dignified Army general who was currently resting in the special bus that was prepared for him. No hurries, tell the soldiers to stay alert. Change their shifts every three hours and be prepared for any sudden changes in the rift. "Yes, sir." Saluting, the soldier left. Very quickly, two hours elapsed, but there was still no news from the team that had entered the crack. Three hours¡­ Four hours¡­ . . . Six hours¡­ By now, the soldiers were getting anxious as a scary thought began to pop up in their heads, the notion that their comrades might be already dead. However, shaking their heads, they decided not to lose hope just yet. Eight hours¡­ Nine hours¡­ Now, there was almost no one with hopes about the soldiers coming back alive, they could feel that they would never return and this saddened and disheartened many of them greatly. Finally, ten hours drifted away but no further news was received from the other side of the rift as its condition remained the same as before. "Sigh¡­ so they''re dead." Vocalized the Army general in a helpless tone. "This won''t work¡­ we can only wait for the monsters to come out by themselves." Shaking his head, he picked up a specific phone as he started to report everything to the higher-ups. . . .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Sigh¡­ order the soldiers to stand by and be alarmed, we will wait for the monsters to come out themselves." Ordered the President with a sigh. . . . Afterward, the soldiers and tanks remained there on stand by as they closely guarded the rift both day and night until finally, three days had already passed. "What''s going on? Why isn''t anything happening?" A soldier asked his comrade. "No idea¡­ maybe¡­ nothing''s going to happen?" His comrade answered. Four days¡­ . . . A week slipped away just like that, but there was still no reaction whatsoever from the crack in front of them. By now, even the Army general was having doubts as to whether something was going to happen or not. . . . "Hmm¡­ the news said there is no reaction whatsoever from the rift yet¡­ maybe the news was wrong? Maybe those monsters have nothing to do with the rift in Paris?" A girl sitting in her class proclaimed at her classmate. "That''s very likely¡­ otherwise, why would nothing happen until now?" Said the other young girl. The whole world was questioning the fact as to whether the rift in Paris had anything to do with those savage beasts or not now. However, no one''s attention was swayed from Paris as they continued to carefully keep it under their radars. Time began to elapse once more until the fifteenth day arrived. By now, the soldiers were just gazing at the rupture in front of them in a rather disinterested manner, as if they believed nothing would happen at all, just like the past fifteen days. And it was at this time, when finally, the rift started reacting and shockingly, the distance between the two sides of the crack opened slightly, revealing the blue and white fog-like clouds inside it for a moment. Crack~ Immediately, horrifying beasts of extraordinary sizes started to appear before the rift one after another. There were three gigantic three-meters six-horned rhinoceroses, a terrifying three-meters spider which had the head of a lion, six white tigers, and four squirrel-like two meters beasts which had frightening claws together with very muscly legs. Then, for a moment, the rift stopped spitting out monsters altogether, making those who could still think to believe that was the end. However, at this time, the rift began to function again as it started to discharge various kinds of creatures once more! This time though, there was a difference between the previous gigantic monsters and the new creatures that were popping up. 241 Confrontation In just an instant, three creatures popped up a few meters away from the previous group of gigantic monsters. The first one was a one-meter frog. However, shockingly, it was no ordinary-looking frog as it had the wings of a bat attached to its back. The second and the third ones were both two-meters humanoid rabbits with two legs and two arms. They looked extremely savage. Nevertheless, what made them greatly different from the first group of horrifying beasts was none of these strange qualities to them. It was the fact that a kind of flame-like fogs was being exuded from different parts of their bodies. The eyes and a small part of the wings of the one-meter frog were burning in red flames, while the eyes of the two humanoid rabbits were also burning in flame-like fogs of red color. Moreover, a part of their feet was also burning in those flames of the exact color. After these three new creatures were discharged from the crack, the space itself began to mend and restore itself as the rift closed up entirely. Meanwhile, the soldiers were completely stunned by the abrupt changes that had taken place in front of them. There were many helicopters in the sky right now, many of which had a lot of reporters on them, reporters who had come from a variety of countries in the world.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Anyhow, the moment these changes and shifts started to take place in the rift, they promptly picked up their cameras as they began their recording. They also called the headquarters of their television channel as they told them to instantly start a live program of their recording. By the time the monsters had popped up, almost all of those channels were already broadcasting a live video of everything that was happening down below. Immediately, the viewership of all of them started to skyrocket as different people began notifying everyone they knew to watch a particular channel at once! Anyway, as the soldiers were staring in the direction of those monsters in a completely flabbergast and dumbfounded manner, the first group of huge beasts charged toward the nearby soldiers as they were all ripped apart or eaten the very next moment. Those three six-horned rhinoceroses were the first to charge in a direction as they pierced through the bodies of many of the soldiers who died a few seconds later. The three-meters lion-headed spider also started to move in an extremely quick manner which was absolutely hard to follow. It instantly arrived before a few soldiers and slashed at them with its legs. Cacha~ Cacha~ Cacha~ With a single slash of its three legs, three soldiers were cut up into two detached body parts! Now, each soldier had been split up into two pieces as blood began to gush out from both of their severed body parts. Nonetheless, they were already dead. The six white tigers also rushed towards the closest soldiers to them as they each bit off a head. The four squirrel-like beasts also moved in extremely fast speed as they clawed at whatever human being that popped up in their path, they were literally unstoppable. At this point, the other three creatures which were different from the rest of the beast-like monsters also began to move, however, instead of attacking the human beings, all three of them leaped once as they jumped above a rather high building at nearby. One of them was a frog with bat wings while the other two were humanoid rabbits, so for them, jumping to this height seemed to be no problem at all. Even though it seemed like all these had taken a long time to happen, in truth, it''s been only a moment since they all had popped out from the rift only to start attacking the human beings. It''s been only a few seconds. "Ahhhhhhh-" At this time, another soldier who''s body had been divided into two parts from his torso started to scream in both pain and horror as he died. "Ahhh, attack! Atack!!!" Finally, a soldier shouted as he started shooting at one of the white tigers "Don''t allow any of them to escape! That would be a disaster to the common citizens! Attack!" Another soldier who seemed to have a rather high rank yelled toward the soldiers. His face was truly pale. Bratatatat~ Bomb~ Bang~ Bam~ Bratatatat~ Fshhh~ Bang~ Finally, it was at this point when the soldiers came to themselves with the screams as the field transformed into a true war zone! Different soldiers were shooting in the direction of those horrifying monsters which had just killed many of their comrades. Tanks were also aiming in the direction of those lonely beasts before taking a shot. Utilizing the machine guns which had been equipped beside some of the military helicopters, the soldiers were also barraging the monsters. There were also many other war helicopters equipped with rockets that were targeting those monsters before they pressed the launch button. In a single moment, four of those white tigers exploded into many pieces just like that. However, unfortunately, the bombs and the rockets had also killed many of their own soldiers. So, a lot of friendly fires had also finished off the soldiers. To be more precise, the number of soldiers who died by those rockets and bombs were greater than the number of those casualties that had been caused by the monsters to this very point. Other than four white tigers, all four of the squirrel-like beasts had also been slaughtered. However, the spider had been very quick to produce a long web which instantly attached itself to a corner of a random building as it had fled from the bombardment, while the three rhinoceroses seemed to be at least as hard as tanks, because, only a few wounds had shown up on their bodies after facing so many grenades and even rockets. Now, only two white tigers, three rhinoceroses, and one spider with the head of a lion remained. Nevertheless, the two remaining white tigers were just lucky enough to escape with their lives. Still, although they were alive, they had been already gravely injured, so it was highly unlikely for them to live for much longer. Thus like this, even if they were left alone, they were doomed to die in a short period of time. At this time, directly facing many bullets and even some grenades, the three shallowly wounded rhinoceroses each charged toward a random tank. Bang! Bang! Bang! Next, they each clashed head-on into the tanks. And, as a result of that violent confrontation, a loud noise was made. Afterward, a mindboggling scene occurred as those three tanks were overturned upside-down! Without stopping though, the rhinoceroses charged toward their next target. Soon, another three tanks were turned upside-down. During the process of their charge toward the tanks, a lot of soldiers were also ripped into many pieces by them. In the meantime, the spider was also moving around at a very fast speed. Everywhere it went, slaughter took place as many gory body parts fell on the ground. And just like that, without a single exception, all of its targets were horribly butchered. It was as if the god of death was moving around on the battlefield together with its scythe. 242 A New Revelation Bang~ The two white tigers were charging in a direction in order to eat the head of a few unlucky soldiers when a military helicopter launched two rockets toward them, instantly ripping them apart into many pieces as a result of the explosion. So, the remaining white tigers died just like that. Now, from the first group, only the lion-headed spider and three of the six-horned rhinoceroses had remained as they charged into the battlefield as they wrecked everything in their path. The spider continued to butcher whoever that popped up in its way, while the rhinoceroses charged in a direction and as a result of that, even the buildings weren''t spared as every wall was promptly broken through by them. The rockets, bombs, grenades, bullets, etc. had already turned almost the whole block into a demolished and ruined zone, a theater of war.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. However, the more the four terrible beasts slaughtered and caused destruction, the more soldiers replaced them. This was the advantage of humanity. They were like ants, almost without any ends. You kill one, two replace that. You butcher two, four replace them. Still, no one was able to finish these four off and send them away to the afterlife. The spider was very quick in dodging everything that could possibly pose it a threat, while the rhinoceroses were as hard as the hardest iron or even beyond that. They were literally harder than tanks, so their durability could only be imagined. After that, the war proceeded along for a long time. By now, almost seventy percent of the citizens in each country was watching this live war at their homes while shaking in fear and horror. This meant that almost seventy percent of the population on the whole Earth was seeing this battle or terror. Many of them were continuously praying to God to let humanity win and for these monsters to be the very last of them to spawn on this Earth. Many of them were only trembling in their seats as they saw everything with their eyes wide-open while mumbling, "What''s happening to this world?" Some were even shedding tears of sorrow as they believed this was all the work of God, the foretold apocalypse. . . . Meanwhile, a soldier was kneeling on the ground with hopelessness shrouding his eyes. His whole body was covered in both dust and the blood of his comrades as he wondered to himself, ''Am I going to die now?'' Another was pondering, ''Stopping these four are impossible! We''re all going to die¡­'' However, the battle continued without stop as more and more rockets were dropped on the head of the rhinoceroses only to slightly worsen their injuries. At this point, the spider had just noticed the kneeling soldier before starting to rush in its direction. "Sigh¡­ after a day of hard work, instead of going home to rest¡­ it seems I have to come here for more work! Damn it! I hate my boss!" At this time, to the shock and speechlessness of every soldier and everyone else watching this scene alive, a normal-looking citizen wearing a suit showed up on the scene as he got off from the truck he had just arrived with. Next, he took off his jacket as he threw it off on the ground. "That''s a normal citizen!" A man yelled sitting in his home looking at this newcomer. "Run! Run! Fast! This is no place for people like you! You''ll lose your life!" A soldier shouted in his direction, clearly extremely worried about him. He was a true soldier who never forgot about innocent lives, even in his current situation where he was facing death itself. Nevertheless, the man didn''t move at all as he remained motionless in his previous spot. Seeing almost everyone staring in the direction of this newcomer who was wearing different clothes than the rest of the soldiers, the spider also looked over and the next moment, it changed its path as it began charging toward him. The spider had altered his path and locked on a new target probably because after seeing everyone gazing at him, it misunderstood that this man in front of it was a very important person while its instincts kept screaming at it to end him as soon as possible. In a few seconds, the spider was already very close to him. In case the stiuation continued to progress like this, in a dozen more seconds, the man would be most likely¡­ dead. "Aiii, I''m here by the direct orders of the President himself, so why would I leave at this time?" As he mumbled this sentence, while one of his hands remained inside his pocket, the other was raised beside his shoulders as the very next moment, from behind the truck¡­ tens of small objects began to rise into the air itself before they flew over to remain motionless all around him. Now, these unknown objects were surrounding him all over the place. Seeing this scene, everyone instantly became dumbfounded to the extreme. If the existence of these terrifying monsters were truly an unbelievable matter to them before today, then the unbelievability of what this man was doing was a grade higher than that to them! This man was literally controlling those objects without touching them! He only raised one hand before they just flew over as they continued to remain in the air beside him in a stagnant manner! "This¡­" The soldiers were instantly in a state of beyond disbelief, they could neither believe nor comprehend what was happening before them. "What the fuck!" Everyone who was watching this scene alive was also immediately flabbergasted! "Maybe it''s a fraud channel, let''s watch it from another one from a different angle." This was such an impossible matter to many of them that they instantly started changing their channels to another one. However, what they saw next made their eyeballs pop out of their sockets! Because even from another angle, the same thing was happening! Just¡­ from a different angle! "Whaaat! Am I seeing things? Maybe this is a hallucination? Tell me I''m hallucinating!" Someone said while massaging his eyes, however, the person beside him shook his head before muttering, "Fuck, I''m seeing the same thing, this is not an illusion bro!" . . . "So¡­ superpowers are real?!?" In another place, a rather fat young man who wanted to enter the rift screamed with stars shining in his eyes before starting to daydream about acquiring one of these powers and ultimately ascending to the top of this Earth to be the strongest one among everyone! . . . It took some time for everyone to enter into this state of absolute shock and astonishment before they started processing everything before finally collecting their wits together again! However, after they were at last able to process this whole situation, the eyes of many people began to shine as they murmured, "This is hope!" Meanwhile, a lot of people started recalling those short videos of queer people using impossible abilities. This instantly sent shivers down to their spines as a single line flashed through their brains, ''So they were all real!'' This was the day mankind sunk into the depth of despair and darkness¡­ This was the day mankind also found a bright light of hope shining within that absolute darkness¡­ This was also the day¡­ mankind became aware of the existence of extraordinary people living among them. Moreover, they were¡­ one of their own! Afterward, everyone stared at the man with much more focus in their eyes as they began studying him as hard as they could. ''What are those things around him?'' This was the question that had just popped up into the head of numerous soldiers and individuals who were staring at their televisions almost to the point of their eyeballs bulging out. It took them a few seconds to look at those unknown objects around the man when finally, the same startling thought popped into the mind of a horde of them, ''Are those¡­ grenades?!?!'' These were really¡­ grenades! "Now..." In the meantime, not caring at all about how others were reacting to all of this or that everyone was watching him, the man uttered this single word before finally taking out his other hand from inside his pocket as he aimed it toward the spider who was charging in his direction. The next moment, a startling scene took place in front of everyone as the spider was¡­ stopped! And at this point, the man finally finished the rest of his sentence, "¡­ die!" 243 The Trio Creatures Instantly, the pins of all of the grenades were taken off before they darted toward the frozen spider.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. BANG~ ¡­ Promptly, the continuous deafening noise of explosion reverberated around the area as everywhere was covered in dust. It took some time for the scene to be cleared once again as everyone was finally able to see the spider''s current situation. However, they were left a bit speechless seeing the scenery there, because the spider was nowhere to be seen. What had remained were only small bits of flesh and blood spreading everywhere. Also, there was a bead buried among those pieces and bits of flesh just like the one South Korea had discovered inside the strongest beast that had appeared on Jeju island. Seeing this sight in front of him, the man scratched his head in some helplessness before voicing, "May¡­ maybe I went a bit overboard?" Simultaneously, as the spider was no more, the three rhinoceroses'' attention was finally drawn toward this man who had just made their fellow monster join the majority. So, as some flashes of rage coursed through their eyes, they promptly stopped the process of annihilating whatever they were trying to crush as they stormed in his direction. Seeing this, a smirk popped into the man''s face as he said, "Well, well, will you look at these enraged animals¡­ haha¡­ but not so fast." Afterward, to the astonishment of everyone seeing the scene, he started floating in the air until he rose to a height where the three rhinoceroses wouldn''t be able to reach him anymore. Then, his fingers were flicked once again as six special types of rockets flew into the air. He only had ten of these rare rockets. And he was supposed to end all of the monsters with them. In the meantime, the soldiers, the remaining tanks, and even the military helicopters were attacking those three beasts non-stop, gradually increasing the wounds on their bodies which enlargened by every second. "Get away from the monsters!" While the attacks proceeded, shouting toward the soldiers, his fingers slightly went in motion which in return caused three of the rockets to bolt toward the rhinoceroses. Bang~ Bam~ Bang! Since the rhinoceroses didn''t have the agility of that spider, they could only watch as the rockets hit them. Then, an even fiercer explosion sparkled, producing a thunderous sound in the war field. Huff~ Huff~ Huff~ The abnormal man was just about to celebrate their certain doom when three gravely injured beasts lunged out of the explosion area as they tried to retreat and flee the scene. "You want to run? Hah¡­ in your dreams!" After his initial surprise, articulating these words, a smirk crept upon his face as the remaining floating rockets were also launched toward the trio. Bang~ Baang~ Bomb~ . . . "He defeated all the villains! He''s a hero!" A young kid uttered in excitement while looking at the big screen in front of him. His eyes had many shining stars in them as a deep yearning was sparkled within them, ''I want to be like him when I grow up! A hero! I want to be a hero!'' . . . "Yes!!! He killed them all! All of them were annihilated, haha! That''s a win for humanity¡­" An old man screamed in excitement. However, the people who were the most impressed weren''t those of male gender, but females who were looking toward the man on the screen with fondness and even some traces of blush covering their expression. Currently, to them, the man on the screen was truly a charming hero who seemed to be the protagonist of the whole world, so how could someone not desire to be with a person like that? "He''s so powerful¡­" "So charming¡­" "So handsome¡­" This statement was a bit too much though. "I¡­ I''m his fan from now on! Who is he? Oppa!" This was clearly a Korean girl. Anyway, a lot of feminine eyes were shining like the brightest star at night as their instincts to fall in love with strong men was instantly activated. Now, the three rhinoceroses had fallen on the ground as they stayed there unmoving. Although they had died already, amazingly, their bodies were still left almost intact even after going through so many bombardments and bullets! "Phew¡­ finally, it''s over-" Just as he was about to finish his words, he remembered the other three creatures which were acting very strange. All three of them were still standing atop a building while watching the whole battle without making any kind of movements whatsoever. They just watched the whole battle without any kind of expression showing on their animal faces. It was as if none of the matters regarding that battle had to do with them. All of the soldiers, reporters, and people who were watching the scene suddenly recalled those odd creatures which had red flame-like fogs covering some parts of their bodies. It wasn''t that they had forgotten about those creatures, it was just that because they hadn''t made any move and more importantly since another intense battle was happening before, everyone had just put them at the back of their mind temporarily. But now that the battle with the first group was over, those odd creatures became the center of everyone''s attention as they looked at them with nervousness clear in their eyes. "They''re not attacking¡­ what should I do?" At this point, the abnormal man whispered. He was obviously talking to someone. "Wait for a moment, we are receiving direct orders from the President himself." A voice was heard inside his ears. Some seconds later, he heard that voice again, "The President has passed along the orders, you have to eliminate all three of them. We can''t allow unknown creatures to exist on our planet." Just as expected, mankind always feared the unknown. So, receiving the direct order to eliminate the possible enemies with a hidden agenda was not surprising at all. "Roger that." Voiced the man touching his ear. At the same time, a similar order was given to the commander of all of the soldiers and armies gathered at the vicinity. "Launch attacks." So, receiving the orders, the helicopters immediately aimed at the trio and took a shot. Fshh~ Fshh~ Bratatat~¡­ Promptly, many bullets and bombs were sent toward the trio as it got closer and closer to them. Then, just as they were about to be hit, all three of them jumped at the same time. However, the difference between them was that the bat-winged frog jumped toward the ground in a relaxed manner, while the two humanoid rabbits launched themselves in the direction of two of the military helicopters that had just attacked them. Bam! Bam! Moreover, astonishingly, the strength they put behind their legs before propelling themselves from their previous spot was so great that it seemed as if a small explosion had happened there as pebbles and rocks spread everywhere. Then, with a speed which was no lower than the speed of a missile, they darted toward the military helicopters. Bang~ Meanwhile, the previous spot the trio were standing on were instantly reduced to smithereens as the bombs and rockets had finally arrived at their destination, albeit no one was standing there anymore. Nevertheless, as a result of that multiple layered explosion, a huge chunk of that building had already disappeared. Bang! Bang! Meanwhile, just as the two humanoid rabbits were upon the two military helicopters, they did a backflip in the air before clashing with the two helicopters directly using with their feet. But, what was special about this clash was that in addition to their already terrifying momentum gathered as a result of their monstrous speed, in the very last second before their confrontation, they also recollected their legs before sending a kick attack with all their might. So just like that, the very next moment, two helicopters exploded into many pieces as everyone inside also joined the majority. "Try this!" Seeing those two still in the air, an evil grin found its way on the man''s face as he knew this was the best opportunity to attack them since they were going to stay in the air without any control for quite a while. This meant that as long as they were still in the sky, they wouldn''t be able to change their direction at all! As this notion popped into the man''s head, two new rockets appeared behind him as they were flung toward the two rabbits. However, just as the two rockets were about to hit the two humanoid rabbits, a shadow emerged right behind him¡­ 244 To Swallow In the very last second, sensing someone behind him, a shiver went down his spine as he immediately abandoned every last bit of control he had on the rockets and instead focused all of them behind himself. And at this time, a frog leg finally kicked in his direction. Ding~ However, much to the frog''s shock, most of the strength behind his legs were reduced by a kind of pressure that had shrouded his whole physique at the very last second. This unknown pressure was a barrier made out of a repulsive force field! At this point, an evil grin formed on the man''s face. This was his power, psychokinesis. At the final moment, he had imitated a repulsive force field by trying to push away everything that was behind him. Nevertheless, that grin didn''t last long as a small amount of the strength behind the frog''s legs still successfully passed through the force field and hit his back. Bam! Puff¡­ Instantly, like a broken kite, the man was sent flying toward the ground. At this moment, the shape of a flying frog also, at last, displayed itself entirely in front of the camera. Before now, the cameras were focusing on the humanoid rabbits, so even they had been caught off guard by this whole situation. After he had abandoned every last bit of control he had on the rockets, their direction was slightly altered downwards, and this enabled the humanoid rabbits to step on the rockets very softly as they did another backflip which distanced them from the rockets that exploded the very next moment. Bang~ . . . Cough~ Laying on the ground, the psychokinesis man coughed while realizing that a few of his bones seemed to have been broken. This made him feel intense pain all over his body. And considering the fact that the impact was still so terrifying even after nearly all of the power behind the frog''s strength had been exhausted made his hands tremble in fear while he wondered to himself, ''Too powerful¡­ these monsters¡­'' Not stopping at all, the flying frog lunged in his direction once more. This made the man''s face sunk as he understood that he wouldn''t be able to use his trait before the frog reached him. And this time, he would definitely¡­ "Noooo!" "Oppaaa! You have to live!" "No god! Please don''t let our hope die!" Seeing this scene, everyone was very nervous as they kept praying for him to stay alive. Anyway, the frog immediately arrived before him as it threw another kick toward him¡­ Bang~ Many people couldn''t help but close their eyes unconsciously. And after the sound of the bang was heard, they slowly started to open them, only to realize he was still just fine! This was because strangely enough, the frog had kicked a few centimeters away from the location the man was laying at. "Hahaha¡­" All of a sudden, a burst of loud laughter started to reverberate around the area before another voice was heard, "To think I would have to lend a hand in the end! You were too arrogant to think you can defeat all of them by yourself uncle¡­ and now look at you¡­ sigh¡­ you''re simply a wreck." "You finally decided to make a move, kiddo, damn it! I thought you would cower away!" The man uttered wearing a smirk. "You old uncle! Don''t call me kiddo! I''m 15 years old! you would''ve died if I didn''t make a move¡­ so what other option did I have?" At this point, a teenager walked over beside him. "Who''s an old uncle! You''re a kiddo, so I would call you kiddo! And by the way, I''m at the prime of my age! The best age! So just call me K!" Yelled the man, or simply K, in a frustrated manner. "Well, whatever. Shall we finish this quickly, old man?" "I said call me K! And what''s with degrading ''old uncle'' to ''old man''!" "Anyway, let''s finish them off." Ignoring his words, the teenager articulated. "Alright, use your trait on the frog in the very last second." As he phrased this sentence in a low volume, two rockets and tens of grenades flew over to stand all around K before they were all thrown at the bat-winged frog! Seeing a new round of attacks coming his way, the frog was just about to easily leap in order to avoid the explosion, when it suddenly felt extremely dizzy as it fell over afterward. Boom~ The frog was straightly cut apart into many pieces before dying there and then. "Yes! The first one is over! Now, it''s their turn." Looking in the direction of the two rabbits who were staring in their direction, the teenager uttered. However, just as they were assuming the humanoid rabbits would soon charge at them, unexpectedly, they turned around and jumped. It seemed they were planning to escape! "Oh no! They are too fast¡­ quick! Stop them! We can''t allow them to run away!" Yelled K at the teenager. Filled with tension, the teenager raised both of his hands before voicing nervously, "I can''t¡­ I can''t make my trait work on both of them simultaneously¡­ I can only stop one of them." Gritting his teeth, the teenager used his trait on one of the humanoid rabbits. Bam! Promptly, a dizzy humanoid rabbit fell on the ground, unable to walk as the world spun all around him. "Good job Dizzy!" Straight away, another two rockets with a batch of grenades swooped at the rabbit. By now, K''s forehead was filled with sweat. It was clear that he was already at his limits. Bang! So, just like that, one of the rabbits was shredded into pieces while the other one was already nowhere to be seen. This meant that the war was¡­ over! "Yes! Hahaha! We won! We won!" It wasn''t clear who was the first person to shout in happiness. But after that, every soldier started to scream in happiness and also sorrow due to the loss of so many of their comrades as tears kept rolling down from their face. "Hurray!!!" Simultaneously, everyone else watching this scene alive also burst into cheers of joy and happiness. Some were also shedding tears. It wasn''t a matter of country anymore, it was a matter of race, so almost every single human being was jovial for this victory even if it all might mean the start of something much bigger. In the meantime, the teenager who K called Dizzy appeared to be staring at the spot where the frog had exploded at.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. His eyes were fixed on a small scarlet crystal that was among the pieces of gory flesh. Yes, not a bead, but a crystal! Then, he slowly walked over as he picked it up. ''Hmm?'' Studying it closely, he realized it was as if a scarlet flame-like fog was confined inside the crystal, a flame just like the red flame-like fogs in different parts of those creatures! Only, the flames seemed much more concentrated. Looking at the crystal, Dizzy had this intense desire to swallow it. And ultimately, after looking at it a few times, he directly threw it into his mouth and swallowed the whole thing. "Eh¡­ did you just eat something?" Said K feeling pain and exhaustion all over his body. However, before Dizzy could reply with anything, he grabbed his head with both of his hands as he fell on his knees and began screaming, "Ahhhhhhh¡­" "What happened to you, kiddo! What did you eat?" As his eyes became wide-open, K inquired worriedly. Alas, Dizzy was already experiencing a terrifying pain that was too much for someone of his age to handle, so he continued to scream, "Ahhhhhhhh¡­" 245 The Crystal After screaming for a while more, due to excruciating torment he was experiencing, he finally gave in to the pain as he passed out. "Quick! Take us to the best hospital!" K yelled at the closest soldier while Dizzy started to float beside him. At the same time, he wondered to himself, ''I think I saw him eat something that he picked up from the remains of the frog, then¡­ the humanoid rabbit might also have it. I better take it with me in case it might help the doctors in saving him!'' Thinking to this point, he started searching the spot where many shredded pieces of the humanoid rabbit were at before truly finding a scarlet crystal there. Staring at it for a moment, he also started to feel drawn and attracted to it. He had this illusion as if he was looking at something very tempting and delicious. Nevertheless, remembering Dizzy''s miserable outcome, shaking his head, he put away for now. Then, without hesitating at all, he took the kiddo to the hospital. . .Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . At the hospital, the doctors had to go through a lot before finally being able to take out the object this silly teenager had eaten. The doctor held a clear crystal in his hand as he showed it to K, "Here, it seems like that kid has swallowed this thing¡­ sigh, kids these days¡­" Giving him the crystal, the doctor left while shaking his head. Looking at the clear crystal, which didn''t have the scarlet flame-like fog in it, K was surprised while pondering, ''May¡­ maybe they were different?'' At this time, Dizzy''s eyes finally started to flutter as they opened up. "Old man, why are you at my house?" Confused, this was the first thing he inquired about. "This is the hospital! Not your house! And stop calling me old man! I''ll be satisfied with you calling me uncle!" He could swear, this kid knew exactly how to frustrate and anger him to death. "Why did you eat that thing! You almost died! If this oldie¡­ fuck, I mean if this uncle wasn''t fast enough in bringing you to the hospital, you would be dead meat by now!" While making a ton of spat land on Dizzy''s face, K kept yelling at him. "Hah?" Listening to his words, Dizzy promptly recalled everything that had happened on the battlefield. "It looked delicious¡­" "No shit! You just eat whatever you find delicious don''t you kiddo? Sigh¡­" As he remembered the fact he had swallowed the scarlet crystal, he promptly started to search for any difference inside his body. A few seconds later, his eyes opened so widely that his eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets! "What happened to you kiddo, why are you staring at me like that?" Frowning, K questioned him for looking at him like that. "My¡­ my trait¡­ my trait!" Not finishing his words, he kept repeating the same word. "Your trait what? Did it vanish?" K, at last, started to get worried as he articulated this question, a bit disturbed. "My trait feels a bit stronger! More powerful!" In exhilaration, Dizzy''s eyes were shining as he uttered this piece of news in happiness. "What?" . . . ONE DAY LATER Currently, the world was a mess, other than the matters related to the rift and the creatures, everyone had questions regarding K, Dizzy, and other people like them living among them. The internet was almost exploding as almost every single person in the world was either talking about the rift and the creatures, or the extraordinary people that had been living among them but they were left in the dark. Currently, through the internet, the representative of each country and the head of the Special Surveillance World Jurisdiction was holding a secret meeting which was going to decide some very important matters. Looking at the President of France, the President of the United States of America began berating him in front of everyone, "This is absolutely ridiculous! How can you trespass such a taboo? How can you make a decision all by yourself without consulting us first?" "The situation didn''t allow me to consult and get permission from the SSWJ and everyone else. It wasn''t your country getting attacked, so you can easily say that while sitting on your seat can''t you?" However, the President uttered without any remorse, it looked like he didn''t regret what he did at all, not even a bit, "My people were dying, so if I have to, I would make the same decision over and over again if it stops the butchery!" "You!" The President of the USA was left speechless in some anger. At this time, the President of Russia also started talking, "If this issue was about you revealing these secrets in front of a few people¡­ it would''ve been fine. But you just had to do it in front of everyone. Now, it''s impossible to hide it from the rest of the world. This is bad, this could bring chaos to the world once more." After listening to their reasoning which was mostly looking at the dark side of the things, the President of France opened his mouth again, "Anyway, what''s done is done. So let''s just forget about it. Moreover, I don''t think this is a bad thing at all¡­ since it happened once and even twice¡­ it''s extremely likely to happen for the third time too, right? And it might happen anywhere! Now, we can use our special people in daylight so I don''t believe this is unnecessarily a bad thing." He finished his words like this. "¡­" The President of the USA was gnashing his teeth in anger at this point. He was mostly pissed that the decision was made without consulting him first. "Sigh¡­ well, he''s right. There is no point in being angry about this any longer. Our citizens are already aware of the truth, so let''s just give them the truth they''re looking for. Who agrees with this? Please raise your hand." Taking a deep sigh, the President of Russia articulated. Hearing this, everyone, including the President of the USA raised their hands. Not that he had any other choice anymore¡­ now that the whole world had seen everything alive. "Then it''s decided." "Alright then, one of those creatures escaped our men, so I better go looking for it before it harms anyone." Saying this, the President of France was about to cut off the line in some dejection, when the Russian President interjected, "Wait! before you go¡­ don''t you have any information you would like to share with us? Any useful information you might''ve discovered?" Catching this sentence, the President of France sank into deep deliberation for a moment, ''Hmm¡­ it''s not like I can gain much by hiding it from you guys since everyone rules over their own country.'' As this notion popped into his head, he started talking, "Well, since I''m also feeling a bit guilty for revealing this truth which had been kept in secret for decades now¡­ I''ll tell you all one thing! Inside those creatures which had flame-like things exuding from some parts of their bodies¡­ we found crystals! These crystals seem to make traits stronger. However, directly eating it is also too dangerous as it makes the consumer experience tormenting pain and also some other risks which will probably lead to death¡­ well, you figure out the rest yourselves if a rift happens to appear in your nations. That''s it then, goodbye.'' Elaborating to this part, he disconnected the line. 246 Great Changes A day before, at the scene where K revealed his trait, in almost every corner of the world in all countries, a specific group of people started to sigh one after another as they watched the scene of this man using his power in front of everyone. Then, they began to vocalize various words in a variety of languages. "He''s too strong! But now¡­ the world''s probably going to experience some drastic changes because of him and those monsters, I might be finally free¡­" A young teenager mumbled while clenching his fists. He didn''t feel anything but excitement at this moment. To this day, he had been forced to hide his powers every day. His family was very strict with him when it came to him using his powers and they had kept reminding him that the government would punish those who use their powers in public. So, to this day, gritting his teeth, he had been forced to live in the shadows. Of course, he knew that might change now and that made him truly exhilarated and filled with hope. "The world is aware of our existence¡­ sigh." An old man voiced while shaking his head. He had already comprehended the fact that this revelation might lead to both good and bad results. Deep among the mountains, an extremely muscly old man who was watching everything on his ancient television voiced while looking at the man being displayed inside, "It seems we have to step up in order to lend a hand to those in need¡­ otherwise¡­" He was someone who had power and believed he should use it in the way he deemed as good. After voicing this, he stood up as he started to walk out the cave he was currently residing in, after years. He was finally about to come out of seclusion once more. Who knew what storms he would create this time around. Bursting in laughter, a young man with tattoos all over his body uttered, "Haha¡­ everything''s changing! Now it''s time for me to shine! Hahaha¡­ this is daddy''s turn! Let me swim among those beauties who worship my brilliance." "He''s very powerful! Much stronger than me¡­ but even if I''m weaker than that guy on TV, I''ll still be able to shine." A girl whispered in a low voice. She always wanted to be an idol and for that, she had the looks. However, due to her limited talent in acting, singing, etc. she was never able to achieve her dream. But now, she just found a new path for herself. These reactions were just the tip of the iceberg among thousands upon thousands of responses these extraordinary people shrouded in mystery showed. It seemed like in case everything progressed the way they were expecting it to, the society may be adjusted or even changed in some aspects and that might be their opportunity to shine brightly. Just like stars at nights. _____________ A DAY AFTER THE SSWJ ONLINE MEEETING Today, every country was officially going to finally reveal the truth they had been hiding for decades now. . . . IN FRANCE "So, in this day, I stand here on this tribute as the representative of the whole country to finally reveal the truth that''s been kept hidden for at least decades or even more." After the President announced this first piece of information, seeing many shocked faces, he continued, "Yes, there is this TOP-SECRET organization called the Special Surveillance World Jurisdiction or SSWJ whose task before today was to search and hide every phenomenon taking place regarding those with power or other subjects similar to that." At this point though, he paused as he took a deep breath. Albeit, at this moment, a reporter tried to interrupt him by raising his hand, seeing this the President looked at him before requesting, "Everyone, please listen to every single word I have to say without interrupting me until I''m entirely finished." Then, he added further, "Now, very soon, the purpose and the goal of the existence of the SSWJ would be probably reshaped into a new one. Moreover, it''s more likely they''ll work in daylight from now on." Talking to this point, he looked at the face of everyone present before continuing¡­ . . . IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA "The SSWJ has named these people the ''Abnormals'' while their extraordinary powers are called the ''Trait''." Elaborating these simple basic information, the President of the United States of America proceeded, "According to the rough data the SSWJ has gathered from all around the world throughout the years, it''s estimated around 0.01 percent of the population of Earth can be considered ''Abnormals''. This means more or less 700,000 thousand of the populace in the world consists of Abnormals." ... . . . IN RUSSIA "Of course, not all Traits are useful. In fact, most of them have been reported to be useless Traits that won''t give their users any advantages over others in their entire lives, for example, there is a trait recorded in the SSWJ which makes the nails of a person grow at twice the speed that of normal, this is a totally pointless trait to have." The President of Russia voiced as he continued, "Also if you search through the web more carefully, you will realize there are some other information regarding some special cases of Abnormals which the SSWJ didn''t even bother to censor. For example, there is a man who can light a lamp by allowing electricity to directly flow through him. There are also many other instances whose names have already been registered in the Guinness World Records."¡­ . . . IN KOREA "Anyway, according to the statistics, more or less, only 0.01 percent of the residents of each country seems to be Abnormals." Uttered the President of Korea¡­Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . . IN CHINA The President of China was also explaining everything very clearly, "Moreover, It''s been written down that almost in all of the recorded history of SSWJ to this very day, the present¡­ most Abnormals appears to have had only a single Trait in their physique! However, there have also been some exceptions who possessed two Traits in a single body. Unfortunately for them though, having two Traits in a single body comes with great risks and great dangers. Thus, in the end, presumably, they were never able to live a long normal life." All over the world, every single country was unveiling the historical secret as their people listened in amazement, shock, startlement, speechlessness, and many other emotions mixed within. This was simply too much for a lot of them because although they clearly understood it was the truth, it was still difficult for them to digest this truth and believe. . . . In the meantime, while all of this was happening outside as devastating tremors shook the whole world over and over again, a certain Artificial Intelligence who now possessed a real physical body was still sitting in the same spot he was days ago! He seemed to be determined to a terrifying degree so as not to leave his seclusion before completing his particular goal, which was to complete the False Sixth Level, Remoulding The Residual Cells. ''What''s going on¡­ why can''t I tread this one last step?'' This notion had popped into his head almost hundreds of times by now, however, he had yet to unravel the reason behind it. So, he also hadn''t found a single solution to it other than to persistingly continue. However, at this point, just as he finished another cycle of the rotation of the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution¡­ like it was the most natural thing to happen, bits of energies started to flow toward all of the residual cells as they entered them without any hindrance whatsoever! Which in return, instantly perfected the False Sixth Level, Remoulding The Residual Cells! His eyes immediately turned wide open as he felt through his own body while pondering, ''Why? Why did it happen now?'' As this question appeared in his mind, he promptly increased the speed of his thinking process to the maximum while analyzing every single aspect that might fill this gap. And in less than a second later, his eyes started to shine as he found the answer he was searching for, ''I just finished the 10,000th cycle of rotating the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution!'' Then, he was just about to stand up and leave, when to his incredulous bewilderment, great changes started to ensue within his body... 247 Whats Happening To Me? Noticing these abrupt changes, his eyebrows rose upward in surprise as he sat in his previous location cross-legged before closing his eyes entirely. ''What''s happening to me?'' He thought simultaneously. The moment his eyes were shut, his awareness drifted into every single part of his body in order to unravel the current situation of his physique. However, what he witnessed next made his heart immediately sink as his whole body couldn''t stop trembling for some time. ''Oh no, this is bad¡­ if this¡­'' This line showed up inside his mind next. He was slightly trembling because he realized the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution had started to rotate by itself without any kind of prompt from his side! This could be said to be the very first time for something like this to happen because, before today, he always had to separate a bit of his focus and attention to revolve it non-stop most of the time. But now, it was as if it had obtained a consciousness of its own as it rotated faster and faster! What made Virus'' whole body shake though, was the fact that very soon, the speed of the rotation was so fast that in just a split second, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution had rotated almost a thirty times! And rotating that much in such a short period meant that startling energy was being transferred to all over his figure. Also, as a result of that, the temperature of his physique began to rise to a terrifying degree. Sss~ Gradually, steam started to rise from all over his physical body. His skin and deeper within his whole body also slowly lit up in bright yellowish-orange light just like magma and it intensified at every second. "Ahh¡­" However, this still wasn''t the end. Because, accompanying the terrifying temperature, a horrifying sensation of pain also rose in every single part of his being, forcing even Virus who didn''t bat an eye even at the expense of the harshest of torments to let out a moan of agony. Seeing how painful and agonizing it was, Virus doubted that the outcome of this situation would be anything but good. So, in order to make sure about the situation and to unveil the truth, focusing all of his attention inside his physique, a realization hit him. He noticed that every single cell inside his body was dying one after another due to experiencing the tormenting heat which even his tempered cells couldn''t tolerate. If this process went on, he knew the eventual outcome of this would be the death of every single cell within his body which would ultimately lead to his death. True death. So, making a strong resolve, he made the decision to stop this whole process no matter what, ''I have to put an end to this. Otherwise¡­ I would die.'' And so, he tried to stop the rotation with his own control. Cough! However, the moment he tried to stop the revolution, a backlash struck at his internal organs. In that instant, his innards felt as if they had been hit by a truck as he promptly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Moreover, the rotation didn''t budge in the least and intensified instead. By now, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution was rotating almost 60 times every second. Seeing this result and the consequence of his action, Virus clearly understood that trying to stop this procedure would kill him sooner than the rotation itself, so he knew attempting to end the operation was not one of his options anymore. ''I can only tolerate and futilely pray that the revolution won''t kill me.'' As this notion appeared in his head, he immediately calmed himself before persisting through the agony while gritting his teeth. His closed eyes shining with some light of despair. Unfortunately, in less than two minutes, he was no longer able to bear the frightening pain. "Ahh¡­" "Ahhh¡­" . . . At almost every second, he would yelp in a low tone before going quiet. . . . "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh¡­" In five minutes, even he was no longer able to grit his teeth and persist through the torture. He began to pointlessly scream non-stop in an attempt to psychologically alleviate the pain in order to release some of the pressure that would drive anyone crazy. Two minutes later, even his bright silver hair was no longer able to endure the heat as it gradually turned into dust and vanished, making Virus entirely bald. The rotating technique was also making 100 cycles at every second now. Furthermore, shockingly, Virus realized that the Synchronous Transformations Crystal had also shrunk a bit.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. By now, almost ninety-five percent of the cells throughout his whole body was no longer alive, truly dead. The orifices throughout his whole body were also bleeding without any end to them. Currently, the pain was so grievous and disturbing that in case it was a normal human being, that person would''ve long fainted. However, soaked in blood and sweat that vaporized instantly, Virus was different. The steaming had also reached its most intense state as he was literally surrounded in fog. His whole body was also extremely thin as he had lost a lot of weight already. "Ahhhhhhhhh¡­" ''Am I really going to die just like this? For me to travel through time only to die by a random technique? What a joke! Sigh¡­'' He couldn''t stop this thought from showing up. Three minutes later, all of the cells in his entire body were finally entirely lifeless as his body no longer had any sparks of life in it. Even his screams had stopped and his breathing was no more. His corpse was also extremely dried up as if he was just a bony skeleton. Hearing the previous screams, the golden beauty finally arrived into the area that was specifically prepared for her master only to see the horrifying state of Virus'' dried up body which was soaked in his own blood. "Master!!! What happened to you!!! Are you okay?" She screamed in the direction of Virus, only to hear nothing in response. "Master?!?!? Ahhh¡­" She shouted in fear as she rushed to him before trying to feel his pulse. But, much to her horror, she realized her master Virus no longer had any heartbeats! Moreover, he was no longer breathing! A river of tears promptly started to roll down her face as she continuously screamed and wailed, "Master!!! Master!!! Sob¡­ Master!!! You can''t leave me here! You can''t¡­ sob¡­ leave me alone here¡­ please¡­ wuuuuu¡­" However, no matter how she called out to him, she didn''t receive any response from him as he stayed¡­ dead. "No¡­ master¡­ master¡­ master won''t die like this¡­ it all must''ve been a part of his plan¡­ yes¡­ everything''s within master''s plans¡­ so he should be fine soon¡­ he will come back to life for sure¡­" Brokenly putting this sentence, the golden beauty uttered in despair. However, it was obvious she was only trying to bring some hope into herself, even though it was clear she was totally depairing. ''I should do a CPR on him!'' As this solution popped up into her mind, she started doing CPR on him. One minute¡­ Two minutes¡­ Three minutes¡­ Covered in tears, the golden beauty proceeded to do CPR on him. Unfortunately though, in the end, she realized it seemed her master was truly gone. So, stopping the pointless CPR which might hurt her master''s remains, falling on her buttocks, she sat there in an entirely motionless state while staring at her master''s sorry corpse. 248 The Time She Cried Every second she continued to gaze upon her master''s now bald and dried-up corpse, it felt as if one more string had broken in that very second within her heart. Tears also never stopped dripping from her face, although her face no longer held any expressions on it. It was as if she no longer had any reason to show emotions since the reason for her emotions was gone already. There was also no sparkling lights shining inside her eyes. Her eyes seemed to be already¡­ dead. At this moment, inside Virus'' body, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution had stopped functioning entirely. Every single spot and every single cell was dead in a true sense. Absolute stagnation. A frightening gloom and darkness dominating every corner. This state continued for around six minutes, until finally as if a spark had been lit within Virus'' body, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution quietly began to go in motion once again. At first, it took around ten seconds for it to complete a single cycle. Moreover, if one was able to perceive the revolution itself, that person would be able to realize that there was now something additional attached to the very rotation of the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution itself! Being carried with it everywhere! Anyway, soon afterward, the time of rotation was reduced to only a second for every perfect cycle. Before long, ten rotations were done in a single second¡­ Then the speed accelerated even further as a hundred revolution was perfected in only one second¡­ By now, externally, Virus'' physique''s temperature had risen to a terrifying degree as that magma-like burning brilliance started to show up all over his body once again. Meanwhile, in the outside world, watching this abrupt change that had shown up in the state of Virus'' corpse, the golden beauty''s dull and dead eyes started to regain all of its lusters too as a ray of hope was promptly set aflame within her. ''Could this be¡­?!?'' The moment this line of thinking howled inside her mind, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution''s speed of rotation hit a terrifying thousand-revolutions in a single split second! Now, the glow surrounding his corporeal body intensified to another level as at this point, the pure energy itself was being emitted from his whole being. And the temperature was also so horrifying that the golden beauty unconsciously took a few steps back due to feeling very uncomfortable. However, seeing her master''s previously sorry corpse transform into a bright source of light which was truly difficult to look at just like the very sun itself, an extreme sense of excitement began to overwhelm her as she gazed upon her master jovially and alive. At this moment, she was truly determined not to take her eyes away from her master even momentarily. Just like a passionate butterfly who willingly flutters into the burning flames itself. To death. Actually, if it was a normal human being instead of her right now, it would''ve been truly hard and almost impossible for that person to directly continue looking at Virus without batting his eyes a single time. Because right now, it was as if his entire body had transformed into a flash grenade, making every corner of the space in the room extremely bright. Moreover, an extraordinary heat was also being discharged from his entire body. This radiance was actually being produced from his whole figure because of the energy that was brought from the Synchronous Transformations Crystal situated within his heart which also resulted in a terrifying temperature. Anyway, Virus continued to remain in that state for around two minutes, when finally, another minor change took place. That slight change was the fact that an almost unnoticeable hint of dark glare was also added to the fray, merging with the blinding blaze and showing itself in the outer interior of the illumination which was covering every single corner of his being. At this moment, as if his entire build was going through a renewal phase, drastic transformations started to commence everywhere in his figure. The first transformation was the fact that, as if he was a snake going through a metamorphosis, he started to shed his skin before a new layer of skin revealed itself underneath. This skin, unlike his previous one which was very dull, had an abnormally moisturized bright shine to itself, as if it was now alive. Just like the rest of his innards. However, even though his skin was now absolutely abnormally charming, his extremely dried-up body overshadowed it. Making it impossible to look at it in a positive way.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Fortunately though, this wasn''t the end of the transformations because next, his dried-up muscles and innards started to regain some of their previous packed and healthy state. So, his anatomy which was just like a dried-up skeleton began to transform as it gradually bulged further and further. Ultimately, in just five minutes, his frame regained its former healthy and filled-up shape¡­ with the exact changes that have occurred underneath his skin completely unknown at this time. Alas, these heavenly changes weren''t cost-free as the further his muscles regained their previous glory, the more the Synchronous Transformations Crystal shrank and got smaller. Next, his body remained in that blazed state for almost an hour as the golden beauty continued to stare at his body which had regained its former charm. She didn''t understand what earth-shattering transformations were taking place inside his body at this moment, but she was certain something extraordinary was truly happening. If she had to point out a flaw in all of this though, it would be the fact that he was now¡­ bald. Not that she cared about it at all. In the meantime, the STC had gotten extremely small as it seemed like it would vanish from his heart at any moment now. Anyway, eventually, after an hour drifted away, just as the notion about baldness popped into the golden beauty''s head, startlingly, another visible shocking revolution took place outside Virus'' body. To be more precise, this time, the renewal was happening on his head as new hair began to grow from his bald head in an extremely noticeable speed. Moreover, looking at her master''s new hair in an amazed manner, the golden beauty realized that his hair no longer bright silver like in the past, instead, its color was now¡­ darkish-silver! At first, his hair was only around a few centimeters long. However, before long, it regained its former size which could be said to be the average normal size men usually had. Nevertheless, the hair seemed to have no intention of wanting to stop the process of getting longer as it continued with its renewal procedure. Two minutes later, when the end of his hair reached his armpits, the growth process, at last, stopped entirely. And exactly at this moment, the final drop of energy contained within the STC situated inside his heart was used up as it vanished from there entirely! Now, the Synchronous Transformations Crystal was no more! And it was in this moment when all of the glowing energy which was covering his entire being to this very moment, began to be sucked up and gathered exactly into the very location of his heart. Soon, the moment all of that energy was concentrated inside his heart, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution went into motion once more! However, this time, it didn''t follow the same rotation path as before and instead, it initiated a weird revolution that was explicitly confined to the interior boundary of his heart. Ba-dum~ Ba-dum! Ba-dum~ Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum! ¡­ Just like that, his dead heart was revived at this time as it started to throb stronger than ever! Just like a loud beating drum! Following the resurrection of his heart, blood began to pump through his veins and arteries at a speed that was much faster and powerful than before due to the strong pumpage from the motor of the body itself, the heart. And so, every single internal organ together with the rest of his body started to function again as a calm breathing sound reverberated inside the golden beauty''s ears who started grinning from ear to ear afterward. And it was at this moment when Virus promptly opened both of his eyes widely as he stared at the ceiling above him in a lost manner. Yes, Virus was alive again! It was also at this time when tears welled up inside the golden beauty''s eyes as she charged toward him without any care in the world while screaming, "MASTER!!! Sob¡­ You... idiot¡­sob¡­ shcared me¡­ Wuuu¡­" Bam! The next moment, she was already laying powerlessly within his embrace as she cried there with her whole heart, "Ahhhhhhh¡­" 249 A Good Name Feeling the crying girl within his arms and seeing how hard she was wailing, Virus was surprised at first. Then, shaking his head with a helpless grin, he reached out his hand as he patted her head gently, "It''s okay now¡­ I''m fine. So, don''t cry anymore." Hearing his comforting words, the golden beauty stuck out her face from within his embrace as she glanced at him with teary eyes and a puppy face before asking innocently, "Really?" "Of course! Not only am I fine, but I''m also even stronger now!" He voiced with clear confidence exuding from his tone, ''I wonder how stronger I''ve become though¡­'' "But master, what happened to you just now, why were you so wrecked and bloody¡­ I could neither feel your pulse nor your breathing¡­ I was so scared." She asked in a worried tone. "Well, hmm¡­" Hearing this question, Virus also started to recall everything that had happened earlier. In a deeply contemplative state, he proceeded, ''The moment every cell within my body was tempered to the absolute limit, those transformations were initiated as the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution started to rotate on its own¡­ hmm¡­'' As he thought about the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, he became very curious as he unconsciously tried revolving it. But, the next moment, his eyes became wide open as he froze while wondering, ''I can''t¡­ I can''t revolve the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution anymore¡­ why?''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Making an effort to reach a conclusion as to ''why'' he wasn''t able to rotate the technique any more, Virus released his awareness inside his body before discovering another stupefying fact, ''The Synchronous Transformations Crystal has disappeared!'' ''Hmm¡­'' However, that also made his thoughts start to process everything as he promptly reached the most likely answer as to why he couldn''t rotate the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution anymore, ''It''s probably because there is no source of energy within my heart.'' After arriving at this result, he focused his attention on every change he could sense and unveil directly, ''I feel like I''m so much stronger now¡­ every move I make, I have to limit my strength if I don''t want to cause destruction or harm¡­ as to how powerful I am currently¡­ I can''t ascertain the accurate answer to that before testing my strength¡­'' Heee~ Haaa~ At this point, he took a deep breath while trying to feel every transformation that had taken place within him. After a short rundown of his own physique, Virus realized every single part of his body had broken through to another horrifying degree. Everything was stronger now. His lungs could absorb oxygen better. His body could go on without oxygen for much longer. His heart was pumping as if it was the best and the most powerful engine in the whole world. His hearing was also so sensitive now that he could directly hear thrice the amount he was capable of previously. Furthermore, his eyesight could now catch the slightest changes within the room, even the smallest ants in the faraway distance didn''t escape his eyes. It was as if his eyes had transformed into that of a hawk''s. Additionally, the moment he stiffened his muscles, they became almost as hard as the bones of a normal person. This long list went on and on. However, in summary, his whole being and the function of everything within his corporeal body had elevated to another level! "Master? I said what happened to you earlier? Why were you like that?" Seeing she was receiving no response whatsoever and instead he appeared to have sunk into a state of deep contemplation, the golden beauty was forced to repeat herself. "Hmm, so this is what happened¡­ the moment I completed the¡­" Initiating his elaboration on that odd situation, Virus first began from the moment he had perfected the False Sixth Level, Remoulding The Residual Cells and how after that he had experienced a feeling of breaking through some kind of barrier that shouldn''t have existed in the first place. He also went on to explain about the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution and the Sychnornous Transformations Crystal and how they had worked together in order to achieve all of the following amazing renewals. Proceeding further, he also mentioned how he felt so much stronger now and how every piece of his existence had been improved and modified. All of these were only the visible changes that were noticeable to him though. "Hmm¡­ so in short¡­ master broke through from the so-called False Sixth Level which was still within the limits of the fifth level of the Corporeal Tempering Stage¡­ hmm¡­ doesn''t that mean what master did was to break through to the real Sixth level?" Touching her chin after hearing about so many amazing things that had happened, the golden beauty mouthed. Listening to her words, Virus felt they really did make sense. That conclusion was logical. So, looking at her, he added, "You''re right¡­ if the previous one could be called the False Sixth Level, a false perfection¡­ then this level should be the real sixth level¡­ the True Sixth Level¡­ and the true perfection and harmony of the body." "Hmm¡­ but I have no idea what this level is actually called¡­" A thoughtful expression appeared on his face as he mumbled. There was no information whatsoever regarding this level inside his database, so he truly didn''t understand anything about it. A few seconds after seeing his contemplative expression, her eyes began to shine as she suggested, "What if we name it the True Sixth Level, Ethereal Metamorphosis." Surprised, he replied, "Hmmm¡­ actually¡­ that''s a pretty suitable name¡­ how did you think of that?" Virus truly liked the suggestion as he inquired while nodding his head. He wanted to know the reasons she had behind this naming. "Um, I chose the word ''Metamorphosis'' since the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution was the cause of all of this and considering the fact that master also previously shed his skin exactly the same way a snake going through a metamorphosis would. Moreover, previously¡­ master seemed so out of this world while his whole physique was glowing like a blinding sun or even a heavenly being... and that''s where the word ''Ethereal'' comes from." Seeing how he took a liking to the name, the golden beauty felt happy internally as she explained patiently. "I see¡­ that''s probably one of the most suitable names for this level¡­ so let''s name it like that. True Sixth Level, Ethereal Metamorphosis." Nodding in satisfaction, Virus accepted the name. "Oh, right, did anything worth mentioning happen while I was in my closed-door training?" Suddenly remembering something, he queried while deliberating to himself, ''Did she come?'' "About that¡­ actually yes¡­ some startling matters took place in the world. However, because master had previously ordered me to not bother him unless it was a very urgent matter, I decided to wait until master exits his seclusion¡­ also¡­ I had this odd feeling that all of this should''ve already been within master''s calculations¡­ I mean¡­ how can such a major disaster escape master''s eyes?" The golden beauty phrased while, in total blind faith, her expression seemed to be saying, ''Master is the best! So that''s impossible, right?'' However, listening to her rather confusing sentences, a slight frown sat on Virus'' face as he promptly connected to the whole world in order to understand and unveil exactly what the golden beauty was talking about. 250 Fun? After the monster breakout in France and Korea, the whole world had been feeling an invisible thread of fear and pressure weighing on their hearts as a single question dawned on them repeatedly. That question was, ''Would another rift open somewhere else in the near future?'' As a result of this, every country was in a state of absolute caution as they would move the moment any rifts opened anywhere in their territory. And today, just as some people were having a bad premonition, a soldier who was searching the Jeju island spotted a new rift in the space of the island. This promptly sent shockwaves throughout their country and even the world once again. However, it appeared the world felt this level of shock wasn''t adequate, so just a single day later, yet another rift appeared around the same area in Paris! Alas, this horrifying sequence seemed yet to be done as on the very same day, the third crack also popped into existence at a rather crowded location in the Angeles National Forest, about 50-miles northeast from Los Angeles. This rupture in the fabric of space was spotted by someone a day later. With this, the entire planet went into a state of shock and terror which seemed to be the norm these days. Meanwhile, the media were going crazy with their reports. After getting the news of the cracks, the governments of Korea, France, and the United States of America also respectfully went in motion as they discharged their army to those specific locations. "The President has already given the order to dispatch the Army to Angeles National Forest before today. Moreover, he has already promised that he will deal with this problem while trying to keep the casualties at the bare minimum." A reporter of CNN who was currently standing in front of the building of the White House elaborated toward the camera. In the meantime, another reporter of FOX was currently standing in a viewable spot from the rift in the Angeles National Forest as he talked toward the camera non-stop. He was standing at the utmost limit of entry that was allowed for the reporters and alike. "As you can see, we are currently reporting to you this piece of news while standing in the closest distance allowed to us. The rift seems to be almost exactly the same as the one that had appeared in Paris¡­" After that, he went on to talk about many facts and pieces of information regarding the rift until finally, he reached another important juncture in his report, "Currently, we have yet to see any of those Abnormals present at the scene¡­ everyone seems to be soldiers. This brings us to the questions¡­ could it be the President is confident he can deal with this disaster while solely utilizing the Army and the weapons we have at hand? Or could it be that he is going to dispatch some of those extraordinary people soon enough? Stay alert for further updates regarding the answers to these questions." A journalist of the New York Times also wrote, "At first, they appeared one by one. But now, three of them have shown up simultaneously! Could this mean our world is truly doomed to destruction and war?" Of course, by ''They'', he was referring to the rifts. The situation in Korea and France wasn''t any better either. If anything, they were in a state of even more shock and terror since this was the second time they were being struck with this bloody disaster. So, their emotions could only be imagined. Currently, in a chatroom in Korea¡­ "Sigh¡­ I don''t have a Trait like those abnormal people¡­ so what I can do in the face of these disasters is simply¡­ nothing!" A sad user typed. Another user who seemed to agree with the comment of the above user replied back, "I know right? When I heard there are actually people with Traits in this world¡­ I was so happy and excited, thinking I would soon obtain my own Trait and keep getting stronger every day until I''m the strongest¡­ but now? That seems to be a joke! Sigh¡­ how can God be so unfair to me¡­?" "Joke? Let me tell you what the real joke is here! This noona here has a Trait¡­ but it''s a completely useless one! Isn''t this the real joke here? It''s as if I''m being messed with! To be granted with something extraordinary, but it happened to be the trashiest one among them! Totally useless! Why!!!" Someone else cried. . . . In the meantime, Virus also became aware of the existence of those three cracks. "Master, what are you thinking about?" Asked the golden beauty gazing curiously at her master''s contemplative expression. "I''m just calculating how dangerous would it be for the current me to go and fight in one of those monster breakout spots¡­" He uttered emotionlessly. "No! Master¡­ please don''t go¡­ it''s too dangerous, we don''t know what kind of unknown monsters would pop up this time¡­ so master better don''t go." With clear worry apparent in her expression, the golden beauty voiced in an anxious tone. "Lil Belle, I know¡­ since there are many unknown factors, even for me, going there might pose me some danger¡­ however, I''m really curious about a few things like those wonderous crystals! So its really tempting me to go there right now!" Virus stated, his eyes shining a bit.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Master¡­ don''t tell me you also want to enter those rifts? You know no one comes back from that¡­" Disturbed a bit, the golden beauty inquired. Hearing this question, Virus stayed silent for a moment before responding, "Haha¡­ for now, no. Where the rift would lead me to is kind of a mystery even to me. And I can feel that wherever it would lead me to, it might be even more dangerous. So for now, that''s off the table." Listening to her master, the golden beauty heaved a sigh of relief, nevertheless, carefully analyzing his sentences and recalling him emphasize the words ''For now'' twice, she couldn''t stop a hint of worry and distress from showing up on her face. "Well¡­ I might not go there at all. So don''t worry¡­ let''s see if the temptation wins over me." He stated with a chuckle. Then, just as he was about to proceed, his phone began to ring. I''m a virus, an infectious particle~ A nano-thug, a pirate, the genuine article~ Ebola, chickenpox, west Nile, influenza~ Yellow fever, AIDS, herpes, SARS, I''m comin'' right at ya~ Pressing the green button, he queried into the phone, "What is it, Island ugly?" "Master¡­ I just wanted to notify you that the tool you wanted for our new Mining Industry is ready¡­ should I call the CEO ugly and tell him to come and pick it up?" The Island ugly replied in an inquisitive tone. "Hmm¡­ currently, I have nothing better to do anyway, so I''ll come and pick it up personally, this might actually be a bit fun!" With a smirk showing up on his face, he declared. "I see, alright. Then travel safe, master." Answered the Island ugly while pondering to himself helplessly, ''Sigh¡­ Master and his obsession with fun.'' 251 Pink Star "Where is the tool?" Looking at the Island ugly''s face, Virus inquired. Beside him, the CEO ugly and the golden beauty were also standing side by side. They had just gotten off the private jet a few seconds ago. "Master, because it was a radar-type tool, I installed it on the spaceship since that would be the easiest way to discover the good mines around the world in the shortest period of time possible." Voiced the Island ugly before adding, "Also, the spaceship is invisible, so it''s the safest method in order to search all around the world without alarming anyone." "I see, what about the other thing I needed? Is it ready?" Nodding his head, he inquired further. "This¡­" Hearing this, the Island ugly went quiet for a moment before starting to talk once more, "Actually, among the materials of that other blueprint master transferred to me, there was a type of internally flawless gem¡­ unfortunately, this gem doesn''t seem to exist on the whole planet¡­ at least not yet." "And?" Wanting to hear his solution, Virus queried. "And¡­ I''ve been searching for a similar substitute¡­ and so far, the closest precious stone with a similar structure I was able to find is a gem called Steinmetz Pink. It''s also known as the Pink Star¡­ this flawless gem was unveiled in Monaco on 29 May 2003 in a public ceremony. It''s the current largest known diamond having been rated Vivid Pink." The Island ugly explained in a single breath before adding, "Although it won''t be a perfect substitute, it would suffice for one or two times of utilization." "Hmm, and? Can you get your hands on it?" Virus phrased in an inquisitive tone. Shaking his head, he answered, "That might be rather difficult for me per se, master. But I''ve gotten some approximate and vague news regarding it¡­ as for getting the diamond¡­ master or brother CEO ugly might have to act personally¡­" Frowning a bit, Virus questioned, "Where is it?" "I heard it''s going to be auctioned off in either Hong Kong or Shanghai in the near future¡­ as for further details¡­ I''m not very sure¡­" A bit awkward, the Island ugly responded. "I see¡­ alright! I''ll do something about it later. Are the rest of the required materials accessible easily?" "Well¡­ there are two other materials I''m trying to find substitutes for¡­ though I don''t believe finding those two will be as hard as the Pink Star¡­"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I understand, you''re dismissed for now." Nodding his head, Virus began to walk toward the hidden parking spot where the spaceship was kept at. Behind him, the CEO ugly and the golden beauty followed closely while the Island ugly left after a respectful bow. Soon, an invisible spaceship took off from the ground. Meanwhile, inside the spaceship, the CEO ugly mouthed, "Master¡­ let me help give you a superficial knowledge regarding the mines and their rough grades. So¡­ I''ve researched a bit regarding the mines and discovered that the largest open-pit mine in the world is called Bingham Canyon Mine¡­ I heard it''s four kilometers wide and over 1.2 kilometers deep¡ªthat''s like two of the Willis Towers in Chicago on top of each other. This copper mine has gained a mythical reputation for its gargantuan stature, as well as producing massive amounts of copper, including millions of ounces gold, silver, and molybdenum. Let''s call this an A-grade mine." His eyes were slightly shining in both anticipation and excitement at the mention of this gigantic mine. After that, he continued, "There was also another mine in Russia¡­ a former open-pit mining operation that was closed in 2001. It''s known as the ''Mirny Mine,'' the site produced 10 million carats of diamonds every year during its apex. Now, this mine is still the largest excavated hole in the world¡ªstretching 1,200 meters in diameter and reaching depths of 525 meters¡­ let''s roughly assume this to be a B-grade mine." He went further, "There are other enormous mines like the B-grade Kalgoorlie Super Pit gold mine in Australia or the C-grade Kimberly Diamond Mine in South Africa." Now that he had elaborated according to his own rough personal grading, he articulated further, "These were the approximate information regarding some of the biggest mines in the world. Each of these mines I introduced should have rather big veins under them. So, I believe we should search for even bigger sources so we would be capable of creating and owning the biggest mines on the whole planet in the very near future. How does that sound?" After explaining to this point while gazing in the direction of the silent Virus who wasn''t even paying attention to his words, the CEO ugly went quiet. After a minute, Virus finally showed a slight reaction by nodding his head, "Hmm, that''s a good idea¡­ let''s do as you say." By now, they had already entered the soil of the United States of America. In the meantime, he activated the radar. Then, a 3D map of a 250 km radius from the spaceship was promptly displayed before the three of them. The 3D map showed the material and ore veins of different types in a variety of colors. For example, in places where copper was rich, a reddish-brown color displayed itself, while in locations where a deep golden color was shown, obviously¡­ gold existed. Of course, by zooming in or out, it was also possible to accurately specify at which depth those materials and ores existed. "It seems there are no appropriate potential mines in the 250 km radius around us¡­ let''s move to another spot¡­" As this line was spouted, the invisible spaceship accelerated to a terrifying speed as they reached their next destination almost instantly. "Hmm..." Finally, at this time, something on the 3D radar seemed to have caught his attention slightly. Thus, pointing toward it, he voiced, "That spot seems to have the potential to be a D-grade copper mine in the future. It''s also possible to access the material rather easily since it is very close to the surface. Even though we won''t need it, memorize its location¡­ just in case." "Yes, master." Responded the CEO ugly reverentially. . . . Around ten minutes elapsed just like that when Virus ultimately pointed at a silver spot before starting to talk, "That place¡­ a B-grade silver mine, there is also some gold¡­" This was the fifth potential mine ground they had pinpointed. . . . Afterward, they searched almost the entirety of the United States of America. However, the few suitable mines they were able to find in the appropriate surface only had the potential to be at most B-grade mines. No A-grade mines were discovered anywhere. Now, although others would''ve killed to gain access and own such mines, Virus didn''t seem to be that satisfied with them. "Let''s go search the other countries too¡­ if we find some valuable mines there, you can gain ownership of those mines by purchasing their grounds and going through other legal ways, right?" At this point, glancing toward the CEO ugly, Virus inquired. "Umm, yes¡­ however, if the lands we purchase all coincidentally happened to have the potential to be awesome mines¡­ others would discover we have our own methods of finding a variety of mines around the planet. Moreover, after this truth is revealed, those land-owners and countries won''t sell us any lands anymore and instead, they would start mining themselves." Touching his chin, the CEO ugly voiced in a serious tone. Listening to his words, Virus threw a random solution, "That''s easy to solve¡­ we have lots of capital at hand, right? Just use them and buy all of the good mines we discover all at once in the shortest period of time possible. Hmm¡­ also, don''t start the mining process before buying and doing the necessary legal works of all of them since that might make other people suspicious. Oh right, don''t forget to hide the fact we have entered the mining industry too¡­ that might invite some unnecessary troubles." Even though this solution seemed to be extremely easy to handle, the CEO ugly had to put a lot of effort in a lot of aspects. For example, he had to try to hide the very fact that they had a mining branch, and also, he needed to simultaneously buy all of the marked locations in the shortest period of time possible before doing the rest of the necessary paperwork so no further problems would pop up when the mining process was initiated. And ultimately, he had to predict all variables in advance while keeping his utmost vigilance toward everything! 252 Living in a Nightmare "Alright, I''ll try to be as secretive as possible then. Please don''t worry master." Voiced the CEO ugly in confidence. At this moment, they had finally passed through the borders of Russia as they began their search for other new mines¡­ Soon, a potential C-grade copper mine was discovered¡­ Then, another C-grade silver mine¡­ Amazingly, even a B-grade iron mine showed itself before them! "Master¡­ please keep in mind that since we don''t have the tools for mining ourselves, we would need to buy them from other companies unless we don''t want to start the process as soon as possible. However, if we continue finding new mines like this, we will be forced to spend the majority of our capital¡­ considering the fact that it requires us to purchase the lands, go through the necessary paperwork, buy the mining tools for all of them, and ultimately hire lots of employees." Right after they were successful in finding another B-grade silver mine, the CEO ugly started to elaborate. "It doesn''t matter, since we have lots of capital at hand right now, just spend as much as you need. It''s going to return to us by manyfold later on anyway-" Virus was just giving his own words in response when he abruptly went quiet. Simultaneously, his eyes were twinkling a little. Seeing his master go quiet all of a sudden while staring at the radar, the CEO ugly also looked over only to grow speechless the next moment as he stuttered, "That¡­ that¡­ that''s an A-grade diamond mine. On this site¡­ we would be capable of mining at least 15 million carats of diamonds annually!" Hearing this, some traces of disdain sparkled on Virus'' face as he mumbled in a voice none of the two were able to hear, "That is the case¡­ until we stop the utilization of the ancient technology of today and instead use our own¡­"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Beside him, the golden beauty also became very happy and jovial after hearing her master had finally found their first A-grade mine¡­ furthermore, it was a diamond mine! Needless to say, at this moment, Virus also grinned. It seemed he was, at last, a bit satisfied with their findings, "Let''s wrap this whole thing up after discovering another A-grade mine." Hearing this, the CEO ugly couldn''t stop an awkward chuckle from showing up on his face while he pondered to himself, ''If others knew master was detecting a variety of mines one after another as if he was picking up a few worthless rocks on the ground here and there, I have no idea what kind of reaction they would''ve shown. Would they truly cough a few mouthfuls of blood like in those¡­. Or would they experience a few rounds of heart attacks? Hehe¡­'' After that, they also visited Australia where so far their biggest discovery was a B-grade gold mine. Fifteen minutes later¡­ "Haha¡­ master! That''s another A-grade mine! Seeing those colors¡­ I estimate we would be able to mine massive amounts of gold, molybdenum, silver, copper, etc. from here!!!" Bursting into merry laughter of excitement, the CEO ugly shouted happily. "Okay, let''s go back now, these should be enough, right?" Gazing at the jovial CEO ugly, Virus asked. By now, he had become entirely expressionless. "No, no¡­ those mines are already far more than enough¡­ however, I believe the moment we officially begin selling the products of our mines, the mining industry would be thrown into chaos and the value of everything in this industry will probably experience a big fall. I say it would definitely plummet and that would harm the other people in this industry very much. Then, the other mining companies might even make a malicious move against us." Stated the CEO ugly after a serious glint went through his eyes. "Alright then, let''s go back." Uttered Virus in response while ignoring the part about the possibility of the whole mining industry declaring war against them. The spaceship turned around as it left toward the ocean. . . . Just as they were returning to their atoll, the spaceship abruptly stopped in its tracks in the middle of nowhere above the ocean. Catching this, the golden beauty inquired confusedly, "Um¡­ master? Why did we stop here? Did something happen?" Nevertheless, Virus didn''t provide him with any kind of response as he just continued to stare at the radar in front of him with a small frown of unknown emotions. Seeing this, both the golden beauty and the CEO ugly also looked over. The next moment, due to entering a sudden state of absolute shock, their eyeballs almost bulged out of their sockets as they stared at the scene before them dumbfoundedly. "That¡­ that¡­" "Oh my god¡­" Soon, both of them started to stutter non-stop until the CEO ugly was finally capable of finishing his first sentence, "Oh¡­ my¡­ god! What is that under the ocean? An A-grade¡­ no, no, no¡­ not even close¡­ an S-grade mine? Even that seems to be an understatement¡­ an SS-grade mine? Or maybe even higher?" By his side, the golden beauty also started to talk, "Why are there so many colors! It''s just like a rainbow buried under the very bottom of the ocean itself¡­ silver, brown, gold, purple, pink, red, etc! Sigh¡­ just¡­ just what kind of place is it there? I can''t even begin to imagine what type of materials the rest of the colors like purple represents! " At this point, shaking his head, without providing any kind of explanatory information regarding the astounding unknown mine under them, Virus proclaimed, "Currently, we don''t have the required technology for mining under the ocean¡­ even for mining above the ground, we will need to depend upon this world''s slow and ancient technology for a while¡­ so let''s just stop bothering with this place for now." _____________ A few days ago, after strolling around for a while in a deeply contemplative state, detective Lock finally reached his destination as he raised his head to look at the signboard attached to the building in front of him. New York Police Dept ¨C nth Precinct! After staring at the sign for a short while, he walked in. . . . In the meantime, a certain detective was sitting behind her desk in a dispirited manner while continuing to stare at a single point inside her office. She seemed to be clenching her fists too as she proceeded to gaze at that random spot. That day, after the man who presumably now owned her had left, the police chief had ordered the head of the precinct to give her a personal office where she would be able to work by herself in a private space. Before leaving, he also didn''t forget to remind her that he would be sending over the person that was going to train her in a few days. Now, she lived every second of her life in a nightmare where she was expecting that man to return at any time in order to get his revenge on her. Moreover, what made her despair even further was the fact that her illusion of the existence of justice in this world had already disappeared entirely. She no longer had any remaining faith regarding the system she was currently serving for. She was... detective Argent. 253 Ella Dell "Hello, are you detective Argent?" She was sitting inside her office when abruptly, a voice brought her back from that state. So looking at the source of the voice, she realized a man was staring at her while standing before the door to her office. "Who are you?" She inquired with a frown showing up on her forehead. ''He''s a rather good-looking man.'' This was her next line of thinking. "I''m called detective Lock¡­ John Lock. I''m from England." Introducing himself to this point, he closed the door behind himself as he walked toward the other chair inside the office, "I''m here because I''m curious regarding a specific case of yours¡­ a person to be exact¡­" "Hmm? What do you mean?" Confused, she queried. "I want to understand whatever you know about the Virus Industries." He responded blatantly without beating around the bush in the least. "Virus Industries¡­?" Hearing him, she grew even more muddled, "Why would I know anything about the Virus Industries?" She was clearly familiar with that giant company that had saved the world, however, she didn''t believe there was any kind of relationship between them whatsoever. Seeing her unclear and sketchy regarding the subject he was talking about, he explained further, "If I''m not wrong¡­ a while ago, you had a case of slaughter in some club¡­ now I''m not clear about the details. But I was told a man became involved in this case¡­ and I believe that man was the chairman of the Virus Industries¡­" Hearing this, detective Argent''s face promptly went pale. There was no way she wouldn''t realize who exactly this person in front of him was talking about right now since there was only one result that popped into her mind, ''So¡­ he was the chairman of the Virus Industries¡­'' "Are you alright? What happened?" Catching the paleness of her face, detective Argent questioned. "It''s¡­ It''s nothing¡­ please leave. I don''t understand what you''re talking about!" Stuttering a bit, she exclaimed. Being the excellent detective he was, how could detective Lock not perceive the fear apparent within her eyes, so, after staying quiet for a little while, he added, "I don''t know why you''re afraid of this whole situation so much¡­ but I can assure you one thing, and that is the fact that I just want to understand everything about this case¡­ it''s very important to me, so, please help me." Listening to his words, she pondered, ''Did that person send him to see if I would reveal anything about him? Is this his way of testing me?'' "Did he send you? Is he testing me?" After staying silent for around a second, she asked about the doubt that was pricking her mind. "Hmm? What do you mean?" Listening to her words, a deep frown showed up on detective Lock''s expression as he began to analyze every aspect and every situation that would lead to her asking this particular question. A few seconds later, before she could answer with anything, his eyes began to shine brightly as a shimmer of understanding flickered within them, "You don''t need to fear that I was sent by that person. To be honest¡­ as a detective, I can sense that there is always something very dark and malicious involved when it comes to the Virus Industries and the chairman that leads it. And I''m only trying to get behind everything and reveal this evil entity called the Virus Industries! That''s my only intention!" Not stopping there, he continued, "And looking at your face, I can easily see the clear fear hidden inside your eyes. However, there is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to me because I believe, deep down, when everything is said and done¡­ when our true intentions get naked, we are actually pursuing the very same goal!" "So, please, just tell me whatever I want to know. I promise I won''t tell anyone who my source was. I just wanna have a better understanding and a better direction, that is all." Finally concluding his words, he proceeded to gaze into her eyes, waiting to see her response. As she was done hearing him out, she didn''t know why, but for some reason, she felt like she could trust his words. But she didn''t reply immediately and instead sank into a deep state of contemplation for a few minutes. Seeing her like this, detective Lock decided to allow her to deliberate as much as she needed. A few minutes drifted away, when finally, she opened her mouth once again, "Okay¡­ I''ll tell you everything that happened that day¡­" "So here is the deal¡­ that day¡­ a girl called Ella Dell showed up at the precinct confessing to a murder she committed at the Avalon Nightclub¡­" After that, she elaborated on every little detail that had taken place that day. "Then, after that person confessed to slaughtering the rest of those people that night in a tone as if he had simply crushed a few ants under his feet, one after another, Mr. chief justice, the director of the FBI, and the police chief of New York Department came to the interrogation room¡­ as they made the case disappear entirely in only a few sentences!" By now, a mixture of despair and hate had become apparent in her tone. While listening to different details of that day, detective Lock''s expression went through many transformations, but in the end, he only had a single question, "Did you say that girl''s name was Ella Dell?" "Yes¡­ and she lives at¡­" Clarifying on these little details, he also expounded on where Ella lived plus at which university she was studying in currently. "I see¡­ thank you, that was very helpful. Now thanks to you, I''m one step closer to the truth and I''ve also figured my next course of action." Uttered detective Lock in an appreciative tone. Shaking her head, detective Argent answered, "No need to thank me, if possible¡­ I only want him to receive the justice he deserves." . . . Days began to elapse one after another again. During this time, the CEO ugly began to purchase many lands in a variety of countries throughout the world. 100 million dollars¡­ 200 million dollars¡­ 1 billion dollars¡­ 2 billion dollars¡­ 5 billion dollars¡­ These were the overall process of the price he had paid during these past few days in order to purchase and buy various lands in the world. Moreover, this number continued to increase by every passing day. Actually, he was buying almost every one of those lands in twice the amount of their actual worth since that was the only device by which he could effectively tempt almost all of the owners of those lands, money. And with that utilization, no one in their right minds would hesitate about selling their lands in twice or thrice their actual value. This was actually a very good bargain since they could just sell their lands, and immediately purchase another one for at least twice as large as before instead! Of course, there were also many people who doubted as to why the CEO ugly was buying their lands. However, in the end, after a bit of research, they realized it wasn''t just their land this giant was trying to buy¡­ they were also buying many other lands throughout the world.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Thus, they could only conclude this company had an urgent need for lands, maybe for building new factories on them, maybe as an investment, or maybe for an entirely different reason altogether. They didn''t care at all. What mattered to them, in the end, however, was whether they could benefit from this trade or not! 254 A Squad "Mr. President, are we going to also send Abnormals to the scene or not? I mean, according to our investigations, we discovered that both Korea and France has already deployed and placed a team of their own Abnormals in their own danger zones¡­" Currently, inside the White House, a certain secretary was talking to the President in an inquisitive tone. He and a lot of people were currently desperate to understand the President''s next course of action. He was here as a representative of those people. Hearing this, the President didn''t respond for a few seconds before finally uttering with his fingers crossed together, "Hmm, according to the analysis of the surroundings around the rift, it''s not a very suitable place for aerial attacks right?" A bit confused, after a short pause, the secretary replied, "Yes, according to our data, since the rift has opened up inside the Angeles National Forest where it''s filled with trees, it''s not suitable for our air forces to engage in this kind of battle of defense. So it''s highly unwise to try to utilize our aircraft¡­" "That''s what I thought¡­" After listening to his response, the President seemed to have sunk into an even deeper state of contemplation as he closed his eyes and remained silent. Around a minute passed when at last, raising his head, he stated once more, "It''s not that I''m not going to dispatch a team of our own Abnormals¡­ it''s just that, the selection of our team wasn''t finished before¡­ I was trying to pick and bring a compatible team of Abnormals together. That''s why there has been a delay with this dispatching." A glimmer of understanding went through the secretary''s eyes as he answered back, "I see, so that''s why! How is the preparation of this team proceeding?" "Fortunately, it''s already done. I was done making the decisions right before you arrived! Here, this is the list of our special squad. Go and satisfy every need they have, we need to treat them like VIPs if we expect them to defend the country to the best of their abilities." A crescent smile found its way on the President''s face as he placed a file on the table in front of him. "Oh¡­" Letting out a sound of surprise, the secretary jovially picked up the file as he went through the list of names on it. Five minutes later, after he was done examining the file, he opened his mouth again, "Not bad¡­ with this, we most likely won''t have any problems in dealing with those damned creatures¡­ should I position them at the danger zone as soon as possible?" "It''s been twelve or thirteen days since the rift opened up, right? If our analyzers weren''t wrong about this, we should have about two or three days before the creatures enter our territory, so just send them before the fifteenth day arrives." Voiced the President in a serious manner. "Yes, sir¡­" Articulating this sentence, he added further, "Also, could I relay the content of our conversation to others too?" "Sure!" "Alright! I shall do as I''m told then, sir." Vocalizing this sentence, the secretary retreated at once. . . . In the meantime, in Paris, an entire Army was encircling the danger zone as they guarded the rift. There were also a few people with special types of vests present at the scene, these people were sitting inside their own private tents at this time. Among these people, only two of them were familiar. They were K and Dizzy. "Old man, there''s still a few days remaining till the rift opens up again¡­ how about we go and have some fun?" Barging into K''s tent, Dizzy proclaimed. Hearing this, some traces of veins popped up on K''s dark face as he yelled, "You smelly brat! Why are you still calling me old man! I said call me uncle!!!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "And about leaving our posts¡­ that''s not even funny Dizzy. Although everyone''s rather casual right now since the rift probably won''t be opening for at least one or two days¡­ it''s essential for us to remain here and keep watch!" A serious glint passed through K''s eyes as he uttered. However, internally, a different line of thinking was passing through his head, ''Damn it¡­ I don''t even wanna be here¡­ but I''m forced to¡­ I just wanna go back to my company and continue to be a normal employee, but now¡­ sigh¡­'' "Sigh¡­ grandpa''s no fun at all!" Mumbling this, he escaped the tent in a hurry since he knew degrading ''Old man'' to ''Granpa'' would only bring about further headaches his way. "This kiddo! Sigh¡­" Letting out a helpless sigh, he went on while muttering, "Why did the rift open up in our country again! How can we have such a bad stroke of luck¡­" . . . Two days later, at the scene of the crack in Angeles National Forest in the United States of America, without anyone being alarmed at all, a squad of four people showed up and was positioned around the area. However, because these people were wearing military clothes, no one suspected their identities, not even the reporters themselves. A special type of luxury bus was also arranged for them. This bus was so luxurious that it could even compare to hotels. It was prepared for them to continue having a comfortable life even in this harsh environment of the jungle. In the meantime, inside the bus, four people, consisting of two males and two females, were sitting quietly. Of course, this silence didn''t last for long before one of them who had a rather huge built opened his mouth, "Do you think we will be able to deal with them easily?" This big person was feeling a lot of distress for some reason. Laying back casually, the young man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties began to phrase, "Don''t worry, with me and her around¡­ it won''t that hard for us to finish everything as soon as possible¡­" As he mentioned ''Her'', his gaze was directed at the gorgeous woman who was currently wearing a cold face. To be more precise, this frosty face appeared to be the only expression she could make since no one in the squad had even seen her smile, not even once. Then, looking at the cute girl who was playing a game on her phone, he added, "Moreover, we have her in case anything goes wrong¡­" "Hehe¡­ yeah¡­ don''t worry burly bro¡­ with me around, you have nothing to worry about." Without even bothering to raise her head, she voiced before continuing to play her game. At the same time, the attention of the whole world was focused on the rifts because according to their rough estimations, the first crack in the fabric of very space itself was about to open up! . . . In the meanwhile, without anyone''s knowledge, an invisible spaceship was hovering above one of the three rifts. Inside the spaceship, a young man who seemed to have just hit his early twenty was sitting while watching the screen in front of him. This young man who could be considered rather handsome had dark hair together with dark eyes which matched his hair extremely well. 255 The Second Rif ''According to the time the rifts became visible, the first one should open up very soon-'' Just as this line of thinking was passing through the dark-haired youth''s head, while pointing at the screen in front of them, a golden beauty who was standing beside him exclaimed, "Look, master!" Of course, she was ''the'' golden beauty while the dark-haired good-looking youth was Virus who had changed his appearance prior to coming here for some reason. At this time, the first rift that existed in an out-of-the-way area in Jeju Island started to show reactions in itself as it gradually started to open up. Crack~ "It''s opening!" A soldier yelled in Korean. "The rupture is expanding!" Another shouted further. "Be careful everyone! The monsters will appear soon." Looking at the rupture on the very fabric of space itself which was just like a spreading fissure on a breaking glass, the Korean soldiers surrounding the crack began to scream in horror, alarming everyone else. Just like that, a few seconds drifted away when finally, monsters started to pop out of the rift one after another. First, around fifteen six-legged coyotes were rejected. Then, it was followed by ten more one-eyed white tigers. Almost simultaneously, another white tiger became visible in front of all of the monsters. The difference between this one and the rest of the white tigers was the fact that this one was much bigger in its physique than the rest. Clearly, this enormous white tiger was the leader of the first group of monsters. Both coyotes and white tigers included. Anyway, after a short pause, the second group was also rejected from the agape fissure, however, this time, the unknown creatures had red flames in some parts of their bodies, their eyes included. "Hmm? This time it''s only bat-winged frogs? And it''s just four of them?" Watching everything taking place from inside his spaceship, Virus muttered.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Just as he mumbled these words, the Korean Army began to move as they started the bombardment. Boom~ Bang! Bam! Bratatatat~ "It seems they want to kill as many mobs as they can while utilizing the army and their weapons before finally employing their Abnormals to the scene in the end¡­ that''s not a bad strategy¡­" Virus voiced while gazing at the messed up scene in front of him. Like this, one coyote after another was buried under the bombardment of rockets and bullets as they were shredded into many pieces. Many of the one-eyed white tigers also faced the same fate as the flash of bombs was the last thing they witnessed before taking their last breath. Nevertheless, three of the normal-sized white-tigers together with the other gigantic white-tiger who was seemingly their leader was able to successfully escape unscathed. These were the survivors of the first batch of monsters. In the second group though, there were no casualties as all four of the bat-winged frogs were successful in escaping from the wave of bombs without any wounds. Since they were extremely fast, no one was even close to hitting them effectively. "The weapons won''t be that practical on them from now on! We need to dispatch our Abnormal team right now! Otherwise, our soldiers will start dying one after another¡­ that''ll be totally in vain." A middle-aged man with a seemingly high rank in the military forces respectfully stated toward the old man in front of him. The old man was in charge of coming up with the best strategy in dealing with the creatures of this rift. He was the final decision maker in everything today here. Right now, the old man was holding his chin as he seemed to be pondering about something very deeply. A few seconds passed without him uttering anything when finally, he said, "It''s time, dispatch the Abnormals!" . . . "Master? Aren''t you going to join the fray? I thought that''s the reason why we''re here¡­" In some confusion, the golden beauty phrased. "Of course I will¡­ but I''m not just going to jump into the middle of their battle and begin fighting with those creatures¡­ if I do that, they might mistake me for a spy who was sent from another country with the purpose of stealing the corpse or the crystals of those monsters. In case that happens, they will probably stop attacking the monsters altogether and instead, they might start attacking me with everything they''ve got." Having already calculated to this point, he stated before continuing to watch the battle in front of him. Being enlightened, a shimmer of comprehension glinted through the golden beauty''s eyes as she said with a slight nod, "I see, that''s true¡­ but if that''s the case¡­ how are you going to try fighting those creatures?" Already having deliberated about this aspect too, Virus replied, "This means I can only intervene if their Abnormals fail to annihilate the monsters¡­ like this, they can only thank me for intervening and saving them. However, if they win, then¡­ we can only leave this place and fly over to the next rift." Not stopping there, a frown appeared on his forehead as he proceeded with a slight shake of his head, "But¡­ considering the strength of those creatures I''m seeing¡­ my calculations already state that their Abnormals will be triumphant in this battle¡­ sigh¡­ so, it''s time for us to leave." Right after he elaborated to this point, a group of Abnormals appeared as they engaged in a direct confrontation with the monsters. . . . A news channel was currently reporting, "¡­ Thus, as you can see, Korean Abnormals came out victorious from this battle as they heroically defended their nation. The danger in Korea has been¡­ subverted." Another international channel was displaying the scene of battle while reporting, "According to the latest news we received from our reporters, the drops from this round of collision with the hostile monsters have been numerous carcasses of those creatures, four unknown crystals, and a single bead altogether. "At this time, no government in the world reveals anything regarding those crystals and beads¡­ but based on their reactions and how interested they appear to be in those drops, we estimate they are extremely precious and valuable." A host explained to his viewers. "Now¡­ humanity''s attention is mostly drawn toward two questions as they ask¡­ which rift is going to open next, Paris or the United States of America? And will they come out triumphant from this battle of defense, or will humanity experience its first loss in this war of race?" A spokesperson proclaimed toward the camera. . . . "Those red crystals will make our Abnormals stronger. Alas, I heard that we can''t consume them directly¡­ thus, the first course of action we need to take right now is to find a solution to this vital problem. We need to discover another safe method to consume the crystals before other countries do!" With a serious glint passing through his eyes, the President of South Korea commanded toward people of authority who were sitting around the table in front of him. "Yes, sir!" "We shall follow the orders, sir." Not stopping there, he jumped to the next topic of their discussion, "Also, regarding the beads¡­ I doubt it''s something useless. Since the crystals are this beneficial, I believe those beads should have their own great benefits and utilizations too! So alongside the study on the matter of crystals, we also need to begin our research and investigation on that subject as soon as possible too! That''s all for now." "Yes, sir!" "Good! You''re all dismissed." In the meantime, the second rift also went in motion as another wave of disturbance was released to the world. 256 A Rationale Just as the second rift started to go in motion, silently, without alarming anyone, an invisible spaceship appeared in the sky above the rupture. "So the second one to open is this rift in Paris¡­" Mumbled the golden beauty while staring at the rift that was showing reactions from itself. Listening to her voice, nodding his head, Virus replied, "Yeah¡­ it seems America will be the last country to go through this crisis. Lucky for them, this should bring about a lot of advantages since they would be able to study and analyze the rifts a bit more and even prepare better after watching how France deals with them." As he talked to this point, the crack started to vomit a variety of creatures as two groups that were standing separately with some distance from each other became visible in everyone''s line of sight. Unlike the previous time though, the first group only contained two types of monsters, five lion-headed spiders and five gigantic six-horned rhinoceroses. Nevertheless, although the number of monsters in the first group was lesser than before, everyone clearly understood that dealing with this group was much harder than the last time. Moreover, the second band accommodated six humanoid rabbits this time around. There were also no bat-winged frogs to be spotted anywhere. Seeing this scene, every last bit of color disappeared from the faces of many soldiers present at the scene as they stared at their opponents with pale expressions. "All troops, heed my command and start the bombardment at once!" Nevertheless, the next moment, a loud order was given as the area turned into a warzone promptly. Fsss~ Boom~ Bang~ The next moment, helicopters sent rockets in the direction of the monsters, while the soldiers took a shot toward the spiders with their enhanced and advanced guns. Soon, even fighter jets became visible in the distant sky as they launched one rocket after another toward their hideous targets. This time though, the higher-ups in the French government had clearly learned their lesson as they had placed no soldiers near the crack so the monsters couldn''t directly start slaughtering them like chickens right after being discharged from the rift itself. . . . "Sir, we were hardly able to annihilate four spiders and two of the rhinoceroses after utilizing everything we''ve got¡­ also, none of the red-flamed humanoid rabbits were harmed in the least since they just dodge everything easily¡­" Someone reported to the commander of this battle before adding further, "Also, the rough number of casualties from our side by now is estimated to be so far fifty-four deaths, a hundred and twenty-six gravely injured, twenty-seven lightly injured, six destroyed helicopters, four tanks, and there is even one fighter jet included in the list." As the soldier was announcing the casualties, a clear sadness was apparent within his eyes. "I see¡­ so three rhinoceroses, one lion-headed spider, and all of the six humanoid bunnies remain unscathed¡­" With some beads of sweat appearing on his forehead, the commander uttered, "This is bad¡­ why is the difference between the monsters that entered the Jeju island and here so much¡­sigh, how can our luck suck by this much!" After deliberating for a short time, he continued, "Anyway, those rabbits should have already lowered their guards against us¡­ so right now should be the best timing to counterattack. Promptly dispatch another batch of fighter jets to the zone and order all of them to lock their targets only on the humanoid rabbits¡­ we need to at least annihilate three of them prior to releasing our Abnormals to the restricted area." "Yes, sir." Saluting respectfully, the soldier in charge immediately began sending over the new round of commands to everyone. . . . Soon, another team of fighter jets arrived at the scene as they launched new types of rockets and missiles toward the rabbits. Seeing another round of missiles thrown in their direction though, the humanoid rabbits seemed to be mockingly smirking toward the fighter jets as they simply jumped from their previous locations with the intention of wanting to dodge them with the least bit of effort. However, while they were still in the air, just as they had assumed they were definitely entirely safe now, the missiles abruptly changed their directions as they followed after them! Bang! Boom~ Poof~ Just like that, as a consequence of them underestimating the missiles and the fighter jets, four of them were instantly annihilated as they exploded into their immediate deaths! This in return alarmed the other remaining two humanoid rabbits as they realized their mistakes. This ensured that the remaining two rabbits would no longer fall into the same trap. "Hmm¡­ that was a smart strategy, to be honest¡­" Meanwhile, inside the invisible spaceship, Virus voiced while nodding his head. Listening to her master''s sentence, the golden beauty who was already analyzing everything agreed with this view before proclaiming, "Yeah¡­ they seem to have learned from Korea''s strategy too¡­ first, they sent their army in order to deal as much damage as possible before employing their Abnormal team to the zone. Like this, they will definitely face the least amount of risk later on. In case they had released their Abnormals from the get-go though, not only they would''ve been overwhelmed by the sheer number of those monsters, that would''ve also resulted in them getting tired in the middle of the fight. To them, that means guaranteed death." "That''s not all since they were smart enough to not release their strongest cards from the beginning. At first, they concealed their more advanced missiles, making the humanoid rabbits underestimate humanity. And then, when they were certain the rabbits had lowered their guards against them, at the most crucial moment, they revealed those strong cards, sweeping the most powerful opponents in a single move." She concluded as a bright light of understanding flashed through her eyes. Satisfied with her scrutiny, nodding his head, Virus responded while wearing a pleased smile, "You were right on the point, Lil Belle. Actually, this is the best aspect of humanity... they keep learning and improving themselves as they face more difficulties in their path and life." As he talked to this point, his mind went back to almost one and a half million years into the future as he rattled on further, "Although they have many lacking and pathetic aspects and weaknesses attached to themselves which degrades them to an even lower position than mere monkeys¡­ I do admit when you put them together, they have access to the most overpowered trait, a passive trait I would like to call ''unlimited growth''¡­" As he chattered to this point, he went entirely quiet, but internally, he added another line to his previous statement as he wondered, ''This is also one of the most important reasons why I chose this race and decided to create myself a true living human body in the first place.'' "So, master¡­ it appears these people won''t be needing your assistance too, what should we do?" Seeing how the Abnormals'' might would probably suffice in dealing with the remaining monsters, a bit worried, the golden beauty queried.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Catching the meaning behind her words, an amused smirk became visible on Virus'' face as he answered back, "It''s okay¡­ I have this feeling I''m going to be needed very much at the final rift." 257 Just Ask Afterward, the commander in charge finally gave the order to dispatch the Abnormals to the scene. After they arrived, even though they faced some difficulties in the process of dealing with the remaining monsters, eventually, they were successful in dealing with them. "Let''s go." Seeing the battle was already over, an invisible spaceship silently left the vicinity. . . . After the government of France revealed the news regarding the red crystals, a big commotion arose among the leading figures of various countries in the world as they became determined to get their hands on a few of these red crystals for starting their own special experiments on them. That was mainly because they felt like whatever catastrophe was storming their way at this very moment, the red crystals just as well might be the best solution to it. Or at least, with the utilization of the red crystals, they may be able to resist better. Moreover, they were anxious to not fall behind other countries when it came to the matters of the rift. All of them believed that the crystals, beads, and the monster carcasses were the key to opening many new doors to their science and technology. So with these thoughts in mind, when the rifts had shown up once again in Korea, France, and the United States of America, the eyes of the leaders of each country began to shine as they patiently waited for the ruptures in space to open up. Some of them even felt a bit of regret that no rifts had appeared in their own countries. And now that both Korea and France had dealt with the rifts in their own territory, in order to get their hands on some of those red crystals, almost all of them impatiently picked up their special phones as they started to connect to whatever connections they had in both France or Korea. . . . Currently, the President of India was on the phone as he spoke to an unknown person, "Our government is willing to purchase each of those red crystals at the price of one million dollars, I believe that''s an appropriate price for it, no? Will you sell a few to us?" "Sorry, but our President had passed along specific orders as to not sell any of our crystals under any circumstances. Moreover, the Russian government had offered us five million dollars for each of those crystals, but we refused nonetheless." Shaking his head, the other person replied. Hearing that Russia had offered a whooping price of thirty million dollars, a deep frown showed up on the President''s face before he added, "Hmm, is that so? That was just my initial offer anyway, we''re willing to buy even at the price of ten million dollars for each of them, how about that? Though in case your country is interested in this trade, the price is still negotiable¡­" The man on the other side of the line seemed to have been shocked by this offer as he pondered to himself, ''Oh my god¡­ whoever can get their hands on just one of those crystals can get filthy rich in a single night¡­'' But still, heeding the orders, he responded, "I''m sorry, but the answer is still the same. You can try to directly contact our President personally, however, I don''t think his decision will change in any way." "Is that so? How about selling us one or two of those beads then? Our country is willing to buy each of those stones for at least one million dollars." Understanding it was probably impossible to get their hands on any of those wonderous crystals, the President changed the subject to their second priority on their list. "Umm¡­ that might be possible¡­ but I''m not sure. How about this¡­ I''ll ask the President if he''s interested in the deal or not, afterward, I''ll let you know." Said the other person. Realizing buying off some beads or monster bodies might be really possible, he added further, "Alright. Also, we''re willing to buy some of those monster carcasses for a few hundred thousand dollars per corpse." . . . It wasn''t clear who started it, but at some point, over the internet, a post went viral which attracted the attention of almost the whole world to itself. This was because right now, the news related to the rift was of utmost importance to everyone as they paid close attention to every news regarding it. Anyhow, that post revealed the wondrous effect of the red crystals as it described how it would make the Abnormals stronger if they consumed it. This in return, promptly piqued the interest of a lot of people as they began questioning their countries about the authenticity of this news. Lots of discussions were also taking place in the world, "Did you hear that? The crystals make the Abnormals more powerful!" "Oh my god¡­ are we still living in the real world?" "Why don''t I have a fucking Trait¡­ I would''ve become a god!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Touching his eyeglasses, a certain mumbled, "Hmm¡­ This makes me wonder¡­ what would happen if a normal person took one of those crystals? Since when Abnormals consume it, it makes their Trait stronger, would it perhaps make normal people Abnormals? Thus awakening their Traits?" "The country better provide us with an answer asap! I hope they don''t keep it a secret like last time or that would seriously piss me off!" Seeing another commotion bubbling up, the figures of the highest authority who had already expected this kind of situation to happen decisively decided to elaborate on the matter of red crystals. Then, each country released a piece of information that was accessible to the common populace. The content of this general knowledge stated that the red crystals could truly make the Traits of Abnormals stronger. However, directly consuming them was life-threatening and fatal. Korea and France also further elaborated upon the fact that the best scientists in their countries were currently working on this as they were trying to remove the danger of the crystals. When it came to studying the red crystals, the two countries seemed to be taking different routes in their experimentation. While France was trying to discover materials that might result in neutralizing the fatality the crystals posed to its consumers, Korea was making an enormous effort to pinpoint their dangerous parts in order to separate them from the useful sections. A simple explanation was presented regarding the beads too as it was declared that their use was still unknown, however, it was further clarified they still strongly believed the beads also had their own special and amazing benefits. . . . "Is everything ready?" At this time, the President of the USA inquired toward the person in front of him. "Mr. President, everything was prepared according to your orders. Now, we just need to wait and hit the monsters hard the moment the rift opens up." In a respectful tone, the other person answered. Listening to his words, nodding his head, the president added further, "Alright, tell everyone to stay in an extremely vigilant state since the success or failure of our plan highly depends on this simple fact, being alert!" . . . Meanwhile, inside the clouds right above the crack in the fabric of space itself in the USA, an invisible spaceship was hovering motionlessly. "Master, it''s probably going to open up in a few hours¡­" Voiced the golden beauty toward the handsome young man in front of her. The black-haired youth, obviously Virus, replied, "Yeah¡­ I''m ready for that-" As he talked to this point, he went quiet for a moment before continuing, "Oh, their strategy isn''t bad too." "Is that so? Can I check, master?" She asked back. "Sure¡­" He replied in a relaxed manner. Seeing that the permission was granted, the golden beauty connected as she instantly became aware of their entire strategy too before saying with a broad smile, "Hah¡­ you''re right, master! That strategy is truly impressive. But won''t that be bad for master? What if they are able to kill off all of those creatures by themselves¡­" "Let''s wait and see for now." To this notion of hers, Virus simply responded like that. Afterward, for almost an hour, silence became dominant within the spaceship. Throughout this one hour, the golden beauty kept gazing at her master''s face from time to time. It was as if she wanted to inquire about something. However, every time, not finding the courage, she looked away. "Just ask." Unable to stand this any longer, Virus who clearly understood the golden beauty''s personality better than anyone else uttered helplessly. Seeing her master had realized something was occupying her mind, a slight redness appeared on her cheeks before she mouthed the question that was eating at her, "Umm¡­ master, what are you gonna do about Ella¡­?" 258 Is It Really This Easy? Being reminded of Ella, an odd glint went through Virus'' currently dark eyes while he became silent for at least a few seconds. Seeing her master stay quiet like this, the golden beauty felt a bit distressed as she felt like she had asked about something she shouldn''t have, so, perplexed, she mouthed further, "I¡­ I''m sorry master. You don''t need to answer that if you don''t want to talk about it." "No, it''s-" Hua~ Hearing this, a pleasant smile crept on Virus'' face as he was about to say something, however, before he could finish his sentence, a muffled noise interrupted him, which completely drew his attention to itself. So, pausing promptly, his line of sight was directed on the 3D screen in front of him. Then, in all seriousness, he voiced, "It''s opening up." Meanwhile, outside, the rift started to show reactions as the two sides of the crack began to grow bigger as they distanced themselves from one another. "It''s beginning! Be prepared!!! We have only one chance at this, if we fail, we''ll probably face unimaginable casualties. So committing the slightest bit of mistake is totally unforgivable!" At the same time, the commander in charge of this round of retaliation against the monsters yelled toward the people in front of him. Gazing at the great captain before them who was clearly exuding leadership from all over his being, the people present inside the tent felt a slight shiver going down their spine as they became a hundred percent focused. As he was done giving the most important order, turning around, he ordered the soldier behind him, "Go! Go tell those four to get ready at once! Although it''s very unlikely, we might still need their help." "Yes, sir!" Simultaneously, inside a luxurious bus, the cold beauty whose eyes had remained closed up to this point abruptly opened them as she took a glance in the direction of the rift in the far distance. Then, opening her mouth for the first time in a very long time, she stated, "The rift is opening, gather up." This was everything she had to say. "Oh, big sis¡­ so you can really talk." Hearing her talk, the cute girl put aside her phone as she voiced toward the cold-acting girl with a sweet smile on her face. Receiving no response in return, a little disappointed, her gaze was directed at the muscly-man who seemed to be still asleep as she said in a rather loud but cute voice, "Burly bro! Wake up! The bad monsters are about to show up!!! Or are you going to allow them to eat this little angel?" Hearing this, the huge man abruptly opened his eyes as he jumped into his feet in fear. He was scared out of his wit due to her loud voice. "You damn little brat! You scared the shit out of me! With that tone of yours¡­ I thought we''re already surrounded by those monsters!!! Is this how you wake a person up?" After looking around for a while and finding nothing, anger began to bubble up inside him as he phrased toward the cute girl before him. Seeing this, some traces of tears began to gather at the corner of the cute girl''s eyes. And spotting those gathering teardrops that were about to fall, the muscly man who had a hard exterior but a soft interior immediately regretted his words as he tried to stop her from crying, "There, there¡­ I was just kidding¡­ thanks for waking the burly bro up¡­ don''t cry, I was wrong, okay?" "Stop with the unnecessary words, we might be needed soon, let''s go." The last male who was already ready to exit the bus proclaimed toward the muscly man in an annoyed tone. . . . At the same time, the rift started to cast out a lot of monsters nonstop. Shua~ Shua~ Shua~ In a moment, forty pigs became visible before everyone''s eyesight. Shockingly, the height of each of these twenty pigs almost reached two meters! This meant their height alone could compare with the height of a tall human being. And when considering their whole physique, a human being standing beside them could amount to almost nothing. After the forty pigs were vomited out, another two pig appeared before the rest of the pigs. Only this time, they were even taller as their height reached a whooping three meters. Also, these two newcomers both had a single pointing horn on their foreheads! Afterward, the process continued as another pig became apparent in front of everybody. The moment it was thrown out of the crack though, it seemed as if all of the other pigs had become respectful and filled with reverence as they lowered their heads in total servitude. Furthermore, looking at this new enormous pig whose height unbelievably reached four meters, everyone who was currently watching this scene grew dumbfounded as they stared at the gigantic creature in amazement. They were astonished and lost to this degree because, startlingly, the pig in their line of view had a pair of long wings on its back! Moreover, there was also a pointing horn attached to its forehead! In addition, only by looking at this winged-pig in front of them, an invisible kind of pressure descended upon a lot of people. It was as if they were staring at a noble predator who exuded majesty from all over its body. Only¡­ right now, the majesty and that somewhat great pressure were being released from a pig! Next, ten humanoid rabbits burning in crimson flames popped up before the rift as they lined up in some distance from the small army of pigs. It was as if they had nothing to do with the pigs. A distinguishable difference between these humanoid rabbits and the rabbits of France though was the fact that unlike them, these bunnies were covered in black fur! Meanwhile, at the sight of the horde of monsters before him, the face of the leader who was watching everything on the screen turned pale as he mumbled with a low gasp, "Oh my god¡­ there are so many of them! Will we be able to¡­" By now, beads of sweat had covered almost everyone''s foreheads. "Commander! The rift is closing up! This is our only chance¡­ give us the permission before it''s too late!" Seeing that their commander seemed to be totally lost at the sight of this line up before them, a soldier with extraordinary bearing shouted in his direction, which promptly brought the commander back from his stupor. The next moment, he proclaimed with all his might, "Permission granted! Everyone! Now is the time!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Hearing these words, simultaneously, every person who was sitting behind a computer pressed a specific button. BOOM~ Immediately, a loud noise of explosion reverberated everywhere as a cloud of blinding dust rose into the air and surrounded all around the location of the rupture in space. At the same time, inside the main tent where the leader was sitting, everyone was silently staring at those few screens which continued to display the scene around the rift. Most of the cameras planted in various spots among the trees were already destroyed due to the explosion and only a few had survived. Unfortunately though, even those few cameras could show nothing since the cloud of dust was still covering the area. "Did¡­ did we succeed? Are those damned monsters all dead?" Without taking his eyes off of the monitors at all, in some doubt, the commander inquired. Meanwhile, he was thinking to himself, ''Is it really this easy¡­?'' 259 When Pigs Fly Currently, most television stations around the planet were screening the same image on their own channels. And that was the live video of the scene of the rift at the Angeles National Forest in the United States of America. The reason these many stations were able to display the image of the scene was because the government of the USA had already granted everyone free access on their cameras which were installed among the trees. This was done in order to prevent unnecessary civilian casualties that might result due to the enthusiastic reporters trying to record the war between the monsters and mankind. And now, as a lot of people around the world was witnessing the huge explosion at the area of the rift, questions mostly revolving around a single essential topic began dawning on them. "Were they successful?" "Are the monsters dead?" "Oh my¡­ the USA is so efficient in dealing with the monsters!" "What a good strategy!" "I can''t see anything, there is dust everywhere!" In the meantime, over the internet, many netizens were chatting excitedly. "Do you think they''re dead?" The first user inquired. "How should I know that, M? Everywhere''s covered in dust, let''s wait and see." Responded the second user as such. "But seriously¡­ bombing the entire surrounding of the crack was such a smart idea¡­ I wonder who thought of that? To be honest, this makes me wonder why didn''t those other countries think of this?" The third user also threw a question of himself into the fray. A while later, after reading this, the second user replied back, "That''s a good question¡­ hmm, maybe the French government also thought of this strategy¡­ but, since the crack in their country was opened up in the middle of Paris, they couldn''t do it. Since that would destroy a large part of the city." "That makes a lot of sense." Said the first user before adding, "Oh, look! The dust is clearing up!!!" . . . As the whole world continued to stare at their television screens without even blinking their eyes once, the dust covering the area around the rupture gradually started to settle down before a sight became apparent in front of their eyes. Gasp~ "Oh my god!" "No way¡­" Witnessing the field of interest before them, many people released gasps of shock, startlement, amazement, and fear while some mumbled a few words in a very low tone. These reactions were in large due to the enormous flying creature within their television screens. This creature in their line of sight was obviously the gigantic pig that has currently opened its wings as it stayed afloat in the sky while casting its shadow on everyone beneath itself. "Reporting to the commander: Seven of the humanoid rabbits, two of the horned-pigs, and seven of the normal pigs are still alive¡­ the winged pig who seems to be the leader of the pigs is also left unscathed." In the meantime, inside the tent of the commander, while hearing this report and looking at the landscape before them, black lines started to show up on everyone''s forehead. It appeared they were expecting much more from the explosion. Nevertheless, the report proceeded, "This means three of the humanoid rabbits and thirty-three of the normal pigs were successfully annihilated in the explosion." "Moreover, of those remaining monsters, it seems only a few of them are mortally injured." Also delineating on this piece of information, the reporter finally finished on his detailed account of goings-on at the scene. "Commander, what''s the next round of orders? Should we send the soldiers over first? Or should we dispatch the Abnormals already?" Looking at the commander who was frowning deeply, a person of high authority queried. Hearing the question, for a while, the frown covering the commander''s forehead seemed to deepen even further before he declared eventually, "Dispatch both the soldiers and the Abnormal team simultaneously¡­ but command the soldiers not to be in the way of Abnormals." "Yes, sir!" . . . "Seems like¡­ it''s our turn¡­" Listening to the orders being whispered into their ears, one of the two males who was currently carrying a sword on his hand uttered toward his other three teammates. "Yep, Supersonic Sword bro, it''s our turn, hehe, let''s go..." The cute girl muttered jovially. She seemed to be really enthusiastic about the battle to come. . . . Soon, soldiers with special pieces of equipment appeared on the battlefield as they started to shoot and bomb the monsters with their highly lethal weapons. "Aim at those weakest seven pigs first! Our task is mainly to deal with them." ordered the soldier who appeared to be in charge of leading the other soldiers. "Yes, sir!" Promptly, the soldiers heeded his command as they aimed everything they had in the direction of the weakest pigs before taking a shot. Tratatatat¡­ Boom! Bang~ Actually, as a result of the previous explosion, two of those remaining seven pigs were already gravely wounded. That fact together with the constant barrage of soldiers soon resulted in their injuries increasing to the point where they could no longer hold on to their lives. So, just like that, two pigs fell on the ground as they remained motionless. "Good job everyone, continue-" Voiced the soldier in the lead encouragingly. However, internally, he was thinking to himself while being filled with worry, ''Even these normal pigs'' bodies are so hard¡­ this defense simply makes me speechless¡­ I can only imagine how strong those three remaining pigs are, damn it!'' Of course, the remaining monsters weren''t just going to watch the soldiers kill them off one by one and thus, other than the flying pig and those seven remaining humanoid creatures which were still standing on different branches of various trees while looking at the scene before them passively, the rest of the pigs charged in the direction of the scattered soldiers at once. Their charge was initiated with the five normal pigs taking the lead as they soon reached two of the soldiers. "Ah¡­" "Puff¡­" Just like that, those two became the victim of the pigs as they fell on the ground and no longer breathed. They were dead. Swish~ The third pig was also just about to hit the third soldier when abruptly, a man appeared before that person. Next, for a moment, a line seemed to be drawn in the air in front of that unknown man as the very next moment, that pig''s head rolled on the ground. "What a pig¡­" As that unknown man mouthed this, the soldier behind him was finally able to see the person who had saved his life. ''A swordsman?'' He thought to himself while staring at the sword that was being wielded by him. Then he uttered, "Thank you." The unknown man, aka the Supersonic Sword, however, didn''t even waste a second of his time as he rushed at the second pig. Meanwhile, another pig was charging toward someone when suddenly, a burly man appeared before him. Dufff~ "Ahhh" The next second, the pig and the man collided with one another as a loud noise of crash reverberated around the area. "Awesome, burly bro! You can do it!" Looking at the shocking scene of a single man stopping the huge pig all by himself utilizing his two muscly arms, the cute girl who was standing a meter behind that certain figure stated. After the pig''s cruel rush was stopped, the sturdy man reached his hand as he picked the shield on his back at last. ''I''m saved¡­ hmm, those clothes are worn only by our Abnormal team¡­'' At the same time, the soldier who was saved by the burly man wondered to himself in gratitude while looking at the special suit worn by his savior. "Ahhhh!!! Die!!!" Picking up the shield, the robust person let out a loud yell as he struck at the pig using the corner of his shield. Bam! "Oink! Oink! Oink¡­" The pig began to wail while a rather big wound opened up on its head due to the impact. Nonetheless, it was clear this wasn''t the end since the brawny man continued to thrash his shield at the pig nonstop. Bam! Bam! Bam! "Die! Die! Die¡­" "Oink¡­" By the end of his nonstop strikes, the pig had already dropped on the floor as its head was extremely disfigured while blood gushed everywhere. . . . Swish~ Another pig was almost upon someone else when a cold beauty appeared as she simply waved her hand without letting out the slightest of sounds. Gush! A moment later, the pig stopped in its track before its head slipped on the ground from its very neck as a fountain of blood rushed out everywhere. With this, in just a few seconds, three of the pigs were already slaughtered. It didn''t take long before the remaining two pigs were also slaughtered by the hands of the swordsman and the cold beauty. Watching this amazing scene, everyone was startled once again as they looked at these newcomers with shining eyes of hope! Seeing its underlings slaughtered, the two horned-pigs'' eyes seemed to be bloodshot as they rushed at these newcomers in a frenzy. "Everyone, gather behind me! Quick! These two seem to be much stronger than those normal pigs!" The muscly man cried as he properly wielded his shield and took a praiseworthy stance. Hearing the loud shout, both the cold beauty and the cute girl instantly heeded his words as they rushed behind him silently. The Supersonic Sword, however, let out a harrumph of disdain and stormed in the direction of one of the horned-pigs after uttering, "Tch, they''re so weak. I, alone, will be enough for slaughtering them." 260 A Chain of Commands "No! Be careful!" Raising his right hand, the burly man yells in Supersonic Sword''s direction. The muscly man didn''t know why, but he was having this strange feeling as if something bad was going to happen the very next moment. "Jesus, just watch, it''s going to be fi-" Supersonic Sword was just about to finish his reassuring sentence when the moment of collision finally arrived, thus interrupting his words. Slash~ A line of sword slashing through the air right to the neck of the horned-pig was seen. A moment later, color escaped from Supersonic Sword''s face as he stared at the pig before him in absolute terror. He was horrified because he realized his sword was only capable of leaving a shallow wound on the pig''s neck, nothing threatening. Unfortunately, the pig wasn''t going to wait for him to snap out of it as it proceeded on its path of charging toward its target unhindered. Bam! "Ahhh..." Next, the pig''s horn pierced through his shoulder, resulting in a blood-curdling scream. Alas, that wasn''t the end of the confrontation as the impact of its monstrous weight also arrived right afterward, thus sending him away flying. Meanwhile, the muscly man was in a stunned state as he watched this horrible scene before him. It took him a few moments to come out of his daze as he ran in the direction of Supersonic Sword. Then, while checking his wounds, he uttered in worry, "Are you okay, dude?" Receiving no response in return, he knew his ally has been already knocked out as blood continued to flow out of his wound. ''If the bleeding continues... he''s not going to last for long. He must have a few broken ribs too. That impact must''ve felt like being hit by a truck-'' As these notions were passing through his mind, the other pig which was unscathed also rushed in their direction. Oink~ Khkhkh~ Spotting the incoming pig, left with no other choice, he stood up once again as he put his shield before him and charged at it. Bang! A loud noise of collision reverberated around the area soon afterward. He was pushed back for around two meters as a long trail was left on the ground. Even though he was pushed back, the good news was he successfully stopped the horned-pig in its tracks. "Co-come on... help us, you two." Feeling his hands which were trembling in numbness, he understood he wouldn''t be able to last for long like this. Thus, the only thing he could do was to call for help. However, the other pig who had received a rather trivial injury on its neck was already on its way toward them. For the moment, the cute young girl remained in her dazed condition as she stared at the injured swordsman while shaking in fear at the sight of the man who was now covered in rivers of blood. She was acting this way because although she had seen blood before, this kind of messy bloody scene was truly unprecedented even for her. The cold beauty, however, was already out of it. So, she motioned both of her hands in the direction of the pig who was almost upon the muscly man by now. Instantly, thousands of hair-like threads and filaments seemed to intertwine and come together before him as a barrier of some sorts took shape right there. Rasp~ Immediately, the pig charged right into the barrier. Then the elastic barrier stretched into abnormal lengths. However, there were no rips to be seen anywhere in the barrier of threads as it was triumphant in stopping the beast. "Phew..." Seeing the beast stopped in its tracks, a breath of relief was released from the muscly guy as he phrased in gratitude, "I''m saved... thank you, Thread Mistress." He called the cold beauty ''Thread Mistress'' because that was how she had introduced herself in their first meeting. After that, not wasting any more seconds, he looked at the stunned cute girl and shouted, "Snap out of it already! Wake up! He needs you!!!" "Uh... U-uwu... Swordsman bro..." Hearing his words, startled and covered in tears, she began to walk in their direction just like a scared cat. As she arrived before the unconscious swordsman, unzipping her backpack, she took out a few blood bags. However, after taking them out, she froze completely. Seeing her frozen still, the Thread Mistress voiced toward the muscly man without any kind of expression showing itself on her face, "Burly Guard, go help her. Bloody Touch needs you more than I do. We have a few more seconds before the other pig attacks us. Till then, help her and I''ll deal with this one." "Alright." Even though he was really hesitant to do so, he knew his only option was to bring the whole team together as soon as possible. That was the most essential matter right now. "What''s wrong? Why aren''t you doing your thing, little girl?!" Going beside the little cute girl, Burly Guard inquired in a rather gentle voice. "I-I think I''m too nervous¡­ I forg-forgot sword bro''s blood type." Stuttering, she replied anxiously. "Hmm¡­ that''s easy then, I looked through our data too, I believe his blood type was A+." Said the Burly Guard in response. "I-Is that so? Great! Then¡­ then I can use A+, A-, O+, and O- type blood bags on him." As she voiced these words, her eyes were already starting to be filled with determination as she picked two blood bags. Then, without any hesitation whatsoever, she began to pour them down on his injury while putting her hand on Supersonic Sword''s gaping wound. A moment later, a shocking scene took place. And as if the blood had become alive, it began to move inside the hole of his injury before an even more stupefying sight occurred. Amazingly, the wound began to close up in an extremely quick manner and before soon, it disappeared entirely. Now, it seemed as if Supersonic Sword was never injured, to begin with. Looking at this abnormal scene taking place, the Burly Guard couldn''t stop a gasp escaping from his mouth as he wondered to himself in disbelief, ''This is simply remarkable¡­ If not for that gaping hole on his suit, I would''ve mistaken that those blood covering him all over his body belonged to his someone else. Bloody Touch''s Trait is truly amazing.'' On the other hand, the Thread Mistress was creating filaments all around the horned-pig, thus making it almost impossible for the pig to move or gain momentum at all. Waving her finger next, she slammed a single invisible filament to the pig''s body. But much to her surprise, she realized her threads could just leave a very thin and shallow wound on its body as only a single trail of blood dripped from its body. ''Hmm¡­ how should I deal with it?'' Meanwhile, she began to calmly ponder about the situation as she tried her best to come up with a solution of dealing with the beast. A moment later, however, as her eyes fell on the superficial tear left by Supersonic Sword''s attack, a thought hit her abruptly. "That''s it." Mumbling this, nearly all of her fingers began to move. Swish! Swish! Swish! Immediately, one filament after another started to slash over the beast''s previous injury which was left by the swordsman. With each thread, the cut became deeper and deeper, and soon, a massive amount of blood was already gushing from the monster pig''s neck. Oink! Oink! Oin¡­ Taking its last breath, with a final scream, at last, the helpless pig fell on the ground, never to move again. By now, the Burly Guard had woken the Supersonic Sword up too as they slowly walked beside the Thread Mistress. "Okay, this time, move according to my orders and don''t underestimate those monstrous beasts ever again." Patting the swordsman''s shoulders, the Burly Guard uttered. He understood clearly that this was not the time of blaming him. Hearing his words though, the Supersonic Sword didn''t reply at all and instead touched his chest in pain. "Hmm¡­ you must''ve broken a few ribs due to that clash¡­ is that going to cause any problems? Can you still move and fight alongside us?" Seeing him touch his chest, the Burly Guard queried in worry. "Yeah¡­ no problem, it''s just pain, I can handle it." "Alright then, we can rest and recuperate all we want after this battle of survival is over." Knowing he needed all of them for any hope of winning this war at all, the Burly Guard phrased back at him. Then, turning dead serious, he started to give a chain of commands nonstop, "I''ll stand at the front and act as a tank, I''ll try my best to guard you guys from any kind of harm." "Bloody Touch, you''re the healer, so stay in the back and heal any injury we receive during the battle." "Supersonic Sword, you stand behind me and each time after I clash with those beasts, take advantage of that slight moment and attack at their open spot with all you''ve got." "And Thread Mistress¡­ you''re the most important piece among all of us so you''ll probably have the hardest time. Your role is kind of a ''Jack of all trades'' type. You''re required to be aware of our surroundings for any unexpected situations or sneak attacks. The moment you spot any unexpected attacks or see me in an immediate need of your aid, use that filament barrier of yours in order to assist me and all of us together." "In the meantime, you also need to complement Supersonic Sword''s attack and stack on his damage, just like what you did to the pig." 261 One Wins Over A Million "Alright/Okay!" As his commands were passed along, all three of them gave a loud murmur of assent. Then, putting one finger on his ear, he continued to talk for a few seconds; this time though, his addressee was someone inside the control room. Oink! Oink! Before he was done whispering though, they spotted the other pig charging in their direction in an enraged manner. It seemed as if it was furious about its companion''s death and now, it was determined to take revenge on them. Seeing the other horned-pig rushing at them, the Thread Mistress was about to raise her hands and create a barrier when she saw the Burly Guard raise his hand while uttering, "No need to use your trait for stopping the beast, that''s my job. Like this, you won''t get tired easily." Then, putting his shield in front of himself, he took a professional stance as he put all of his weight and power behind it. Bam! After their heavy face to face collision, much to the surprise of those watching this battle from their houses, the Burly Guard was still standing in his previous spot just like an immovable mountain. ''Ah¡­ this feeling of numbness again¡­" Taking a quick glance at his hands, the Burly Guard pondered to himself. On the other hand, the horned-pig appeared to be slightly shaken too due to the engagement since it didn''t move for almost a second. Swish! This small window of time was enough for the Supersonic Sword to make his move as a line of sword was drawn in the air as he slashed toward the horned-pig''s neck. "Thread Mistress¡­ your turn!" Seeing a superficial wound opening up on the beast''s neck, the Burly Guard shouted toward the Thread Mistress. Swish~ Swish~ Immediately, like a whip, one filament after another tried to cut the wound deeper, until finally, once again, blood started to spray outside. Squeak~ A few moments later, another dead pig was lying motionlessly on the ground. "Phew¡­ good job everyone. Now let''s-" "Be careful!!!" Screamed the Thread Mistress. This was the very first time anyone had seen her scream like this. Bang! Letting out a breath of relief and happiness, the Burly Guard was just about to give his next orders when abruptly, his voice was cut off by an incoming shadow from above. Fortunately, the Thread Mistress seemed to have spotted the incoming shadow at the very last moment as she waved her hands and a barrier of threads intertwined together instantly. However, even the barrier could only sustain the immense might put behind the shadow for only a slight moment as it was soon ripped into shreds all at once. And this short period of time was only adequate for the Supersonic Sword, the Thread Mistress, and the Bloody Touch to escape from the range of the descending shadow. The Burly Guard, who was standing at the very center of the incoming attack, however, could only watch with no time to react whatsoever. "Ahhh¡­" And so, with the barrier gone and powerless against the gigantic shadow, it immediately crashed on the Burly Guard''s body, directly squashing him under itself. "Burly Guard!!!" Seeing this horrifying sight before them, Supersonic Sword and Bloody Touch both screamed their guts out while their faces became ashen white. As the four meters Winged-Pig was successful in his attack, not wasting any more seconds, spreading its long wings, it flew into the sky once again. As the Winged-Pig was gone, all three of them rushed to the location where the Burly Guard was previously standing at. After taking a glimpse at the Burly Guard''s now nauseating condition, however, their face went even paler. "No, Burly bro¡­ Blergh~" A second later, the cute girl could no longer hold herself as she kneeled on the ground and began vomiting all over. Right now, they witnessed that there was no part that was left unscathed over the Burly Guard''s body and almost every part was lethally wounded as bits of mingled and gory flesh were scattered all around him. Soon, blood began to cover everywhere too. If they could perceive inside his body too, they would''ve realized that almost every bone within his physique was either broken or shattered into tiny pieces. Anyway, noticing that the Burly Guard was still alive, the Thread Mistress knew this was no time to be dilly-dallying as she shouted in the direction of the puking Bloody Touch, "Hurry! Right now! Heal him right now before he''s gone forever!" Catching her screaming voice, Bloody Touch momentarily stopped vomiting all around as she uttered with the utmost difficulty, "I-I can''t¡­ these in-injuries are too much even for me¡­ it''s¡­ it''s truly outside my current Trait power to heal him¡­ I''m sorry¡­ uwuuu, I''m shoo shorry¡­" By the end of her words, she was already crying rivers as tears and snot filled her face. Taking in her helpless words, the Thread Mistress'' face became a lot darker as she could only stare at the broken body before her. Completely powerless. "It''s¡­ It''s¡­ O-okay... tell¡­ them¡­ to¡­ lo-look after¡­ my¡­ fa-fam-" At this point, they heard a very muffled and low voice. This was the Burly Guard''s last words as he drew his final breath and was gone forever. Unfortunately, he couldn''t even finish his last sentence entirely before dying with his eyes wide open. Perceiving the meaning of his final words, the Thread Mistress sat beside him as she phrased while gently closing his eyes, "Alright, now be at ease and rest all you want. Thank you for everything¡­ you can leave everything else to me." Meanwhile, almost the whole world had gone entirely quiet as everyone watched this bloody corpse in utter silence. Soon, tears of grief and sadness started running down and dripping from many eyes. At this very moment, the world was grieving over the death of a hero. "He died a hero¡­ ahhhhh¡­" At a random market, a man started to cry out loud as tears of extreme sadness overcame him. "Why¡­ why should he die?! He didn''t deserve to die¡­ this world is so fucking unfair¡­ those beasts¡­ those fucking beasts!!!" At another place, another Burly man in tears was yelling sadly. Simultaneously, inside a particular house, a family of three were watching the gory sight of the familiar dead corpse without making any sounds. After what seemed like an eternity later, a confused five years old little girl phrased while looking at their television brokenly, "Da-daddy? Daddy, defeat the monsters¡­ Why¡­ mom¡­ why isn''t daddy waking up, mom?" Hearing the little girl''s words, the stunned woman who was also staring at the screen to this moment finally gathered her wits a bit as she placed both of her hands on her lips while an intense wave of sorrow and tears drowned her, "Honey¡­" Remembering how the last thing they had done was to fight after her husband had revealed his life-long secret of being an abnormal a few days earlier, she felt even worse, ''No¡­ honey, you can''t leave us like this¡­ please come back¡­ I''m not angry at you anymore, please¡­'' "Daaad... Nooo¡­ Ahhhhhhhh¡­" The other member of this family who happened to be a teenage boy also began to scream and weep in total misery and anguish as if he had gone insane. As gloom and heartache filled Earth, a true hero was born into the heart of many. Albeit, he was already dead. Although hundreds or maybe thousands of soldiers had died in this great war of invasion, within the heart of these common people, this single death outweighed the death of thousands. Because, to people, one million is just a statistic but one death is a tragedy. 262 Three To Four In the meantime, gazing toward her remaining two comrades, the Thread Mistress phrased in a determined tone, "This is not the time for grieving, let''s finish this war first, then we shall grieve for him all we want." "Now-" She was just about to continue with her sentence when she stopped abruptly. Looking toward the sky, she voiced in a hurry, "It''s coming, both of you, come stand by my side¡­ quick!" Soon, the gigantic shadow appeared once again. But this time, raising both of her hands, she started to prepare for it heavily. First, a single net of thread showed up above the trio. However, she didn''t stop there and continued waving her hands nonstop until the second net also appeared right under the first barrier. By now, beads of sweat had shown up on her forehead due to overtaxing her Trait. Now, the three of them were standing right under the nets'' protection as they waited for the Winged-Pig to finally arrive. Brrr~ Rip~ A second later, the Winged-Pig collided with the first net. However, it couldn''t hold the Winged-Pig for long as it was ripped into shreds very quickly. Looking at the first net broken almost instantly, beads of sweat started rolling down the Supersonic Sword and the Bloody Touch''s foreheads as they stared at the second net in anxiousness. "Don''t worry, I believe the second net will hold on." As if she was trying to comfort them, the Thread Mistress stated at this time. Creak~¡­ The moment the Winged-Pig slammed into the second barrier of filaments, the net began to creak as if it was about to break at any seconds now. Fortunately, though, the barrier held on until there was no more power behind the Winged-Pig''s descending charge. Now, the net only needed to endure the four meters beast''s weight. "Phew¡­ we''re-" The trio let out breaths of relief at this time as they were about to celebrate when abruptly, a humanoid rabbit burning in crimson flames appeared right beside them. "Oh, no! Watch out!" Yelled the Thread Mistress. All she could do right now was to watch while the dark-furred creature was about to attack her allies. Anyhow, the humanoid rabbit''s target seemed to be the little girl as its punch was already shot in her direction. Regrettably, all that the Thread Mistress could do at this time was to focus every ounce of her Trait on the Winged-Pig or else, the Winged-Pig would also be released and that would guarantee all of their gory deaths. Fsshhh~ Shiing~ The Supersonic Sword knew that in case the fist landed on the little girl''s body, a lot of bones would be easily broken inside her small physique and that would be extremely lethal for someone of her age. So, utilizing the fastest speed he could, unsheathing his sword, a line was drawn in the air right between the incoming fist of the enemy and the cute Bloody Touch. Ssshhsss~ Then, the fist bumped into the sword. Seeing this, Supersonic Sword was about to let out a breath of relief when suddenly, his face went dark and his eyes became wide-open. Because he realized that the punch was much more powerful than he had initially assumed. So, the trajectory of his sword was changed as it stabbed right into the little girl''s stomach. Drip~ Immediately, blood started to dribble down her small body. As the sword remained stabbed inside her body. "Ah-" Looking down at her own body, Bloody Touch appeared to be stunned seeing her own stomach bleeding like there was no tomorrow. "Ah¡­ I-I''m so sorry little girl¡­ quick, h-heal yourself!" Stutteringly, Supersonic Sword apologized while prompting her to heal herself. He also took out his sword with lightning speed so she wouldn''t feel much pain. After being dazed for a short moment, due to the Supersonic Sword''s prompt, Bloody Touch indeed started healing herself while using a blood bag. Perceiving the failure of his punch, on the other hand, the humanoid rabbit seemed to be slightly annoyed by this interruption. So, instead of punching her, he was about to kick her this time around. Realizing the creature''s intention, Supersonic Sword didn''t know what to do any longer. Because he was certain the humanoid rabbit''s feet were much stronger than its arms. And in case he tried to interrupt the kick with his sword, both the sword and the kick would definitely leave a deadly injury on the little girl''s body. Something that might kill her instantly. Soon, raising one leg, the humanoid rabbit''s foot was launched in the direction of the little girl. Boom! At this time, however, right in the middle of the creature and Bloody Touch''s body, an explosion seemed to have been triggered as dust drowned all three of them within. Looking at the cloud of dust, everyone was shaken up as they stared at it in a perturbed manner. "What happened! Is the little girl okay?" "Oh, no¡­ could it be¡­ a bomb?" "Look, the dust is clearing up!" While everyone was watching the scene with their hearts almost in their mouths, the dust started to clear up. A second later, people could clearly perceive almost everything once again. However, seeing the goings-on within the dust, they became confused and stunned. "Looks like I''m in need at last¡­ that took more than I thought to be honest." Came an unknown voice. People were confused and stunned because, right now, together with the humanoid rabbit included in the count, instead of three, currently, four people were standing within the area of the cleared-up dust. "What¡­?" "Who is that person? Where did he come from?" "Wow, he''s so handsome¡­ look at that dark hair¡­ and those compatible dark eyes¡­ oh my gosh¡­ look at those features¡­" "A handsome oppa appeared!" "The government must''ve dispatched him¡­" "Yeah!" While the viewers were staring at the newcomer with shining eyes of hope, chaos was taking place within the control room. "Who is that brat!" Yelled the commander-in-charge, experiencing a momentary shock. "Sir¡­ we don''t know¡­" While clicking on their keyboards nonstop, the soldiers replied. A few seconds later, one of the soldiers sitting behind a desk talked, "It''s as if he descended from the sky out of nowhere sir. I mean, look at this slow-motioned video a few seconds before the explosion of the dust¡­" In the meantime, the humanoid rabbit had long retreated a few meters back as it was now staring at the dark-haired youth intently with a threatening air surrounding him. After throwing an amused smile toward the humanoid rabbit, the dark-haired youth, however, ignored it completely as he no-longer paid it any further attention. Instead, turning toward the disturbed Thread Mistress, he talked once more, "I have no intention of middling in your battle¡­ but since the humanoid rabbits are interfering now, I believe you guys can''t do without me¡­" "Who are you!?" Shouted the Thread Mistress in the direction of the dark-haired youth. She was clearly wary of this unknown youth''s appearance. "Who I am is of no importance, what matters is that I''m here to help. I shall fight with the humanoid rabbits while you guys keep the pig in check. After I''m done with the bunnies, we shall deal with that monstrous flying pig together, how does that sound?" Phrased the dark-haired youth in absolute calm. Hearing his words, the Thread Mistress didn''t know why, but she had this vague feeling as if they truly needed his assistance. But knowing nothing about him, she voiced back, "You better run away while you can, or else it would be too late for you to keep your little life intact." "Hahaha¡­" Following a short pause, the youth started laughing out loud due to hearing the Thread Mistress'' words. Then, turning toward the direction of the humanoid rabbit with a grin, he¡­ charged. In just a moment, much to the surprise of Thread Mistress, he was already upon the humanoid rabbit as he sent a punch toward the creature. Bam! Immediately, two punches collided with each other. 264 Six Humanoid Rabbits At this time, the Winged-Pig also descended upon the trio led by the Thread Mistress once more. Nevertheless, already expecting this, the Thread Mistress created two consecutive net above herself, thus successfully stopping the flying pig for now. Meanwhile, six humanoid rabbits were upon the dark-haired youth who called himself the Dark Savior. Then, taking a glimpse of each and every one of these creatures surrounding him, he showed a smirk, a smirk which reeked of evil. Two of them were about to punch his face and his chin while the rest of them had decided to use the most powerful part of their body, their legs, in order to send a kick to various spots on their enemy''s body such as his lungs, his heart, his legs, etc. ''Should I test how hard and dense my bones have become? Or how firm, solid, and flexible my flesh is now?'' Wondered the youth to himself. Since the time Virus had achieved the 1st, the 2nd, and the 4th level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, respectively True Skin Conversion, Altering The Flesh, and Bones Dense As Steel, his skin had simultaneously become much more flexible, elastic and tough, his muscles and flesh transformed to be malleable, tensile and firm, while his bones became extremely dense and solid. Moreover, due to his special Corporeal Tempering Technique, the Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution, each time he made a breakthrough, other than that specific part of the body he was making a breakthrough to and from, the previous levels also strengthened to a whole new degree alongside with it. So now, it could be only imagined how solid, firm, flexible, dense, etc. each part of his body had become. Additionally, he had also broken through to the unprecedented True 6th Level of Corporeal Tempering Stage, Ethereal Metamorphosis, which once again elevated the entire quality of his body. So now, probably, only the word ''terrifying'' could define the anatomy of his body. And that''s why he was currently tempted to receive their attacks directly without making any movements. ''Nah, let''s just dodge them all, I''ll test those later.'' However, knowing that he can''t risk being injured in this kind of situation, considering the Winged-Pig being the next in line, he could only temporarily put that thought to rest. As he was done making a decision, next, a chain of calculations began just to finish almost immediately. ''The first bunny''s going to attack my chin from a 47-degree angle from the east, which means I just need to slightly move my head to the right, 5 centimeters to be more precise.'' ''The second one''s trying to punch my face from a 31-degree angle coming from the west, this attack influencing my the previous maneuver will force me to recalculate... Overwriting¡­ done! Now, I need to move my head to the left by 7 centimeters. That will result in their fists punching one another.'' ''The third one''s kick is coming toward my right leg, I just need to move it 7 centimeters to the front while raising it slightly.'' ''The fourth one is trying to kick my heart from an 88-degree angle, the response to this attack while considering the previous movements of the body will result in retreating my right shoulder to the back by 78 degrees.'' ''The fifth¡­'' ''And the final bunny''s offensive move while overriding and overwriting all of the foregoing assaults will result in maneuvering my overall body in¡­'' Although it looked like these calculations had taken a lot of time, in reality, the second they began was the second they were finished. And so, just like that, he arrived at the most optimal conclusion immediately. Then, much to the stupefaction of others, as a thunderbolt went off inside everyone''s head, they watched an eye-opener sight before them. A sight they couldn''t understand and deemed as impossible prior to now. This was because, the very next moment, when the assaults finally reached him, as if he had turned into a robot, the dark-haired youth''s body began to move in a very precise and robotic manner almost instantly and at once. This strange and robotic movement was ensued by none of the attacks actually hitting any part of his frame. Even though everyone was experiencing a deep blow to their world view after watching this sight as they experienced a variety of mixed feelings, the ones who were most shocked and traumatized were the humanoid rabbits themselves as their eyes went wide-open the following second. Actually, if the humanoid rabbits were much faster than Virus himself, no amount of calculation would''ve helped at all since his body would''ve had no way of responding and reacting to his desired motion and activity. Fortunately for him though, unlike before, he was fast enough now. Following that, not waiting for them to gather their wits together, being the calculative AI he was, taking advantage of every moment, he began to move once again as he directly punched the head of the first rabbit before him. Puff~ With that, like a crack made inside a watermelon, a dent appeared on that rabbit''s face as it died in that very instant. This happened due to Virus'' punch, which caused many pieces of his broken skull to pierce through its brain, thus killing it immediately. ''Huh, so I''m not strong enough to pop their heads like an exploding watermelon¡­ all I can do right now is to leave a dent on their skull. Well, that''s adequate though, since it can kill them¡­'' Seeing the result of his attack, Virus mused to himself. Bam! Subsequently, not wasting any seconds, he proceeded to kick another bunny, which resulted in many bones directly penetrating its heart. Poof~ Promptly, horror became dominant within the humanoid rabbit''s eyes as it began to throw up blood nonstop before it finally fell on the ground, never to move again. Just like that, two of the humanoid creatures were no more. At last, the other remaining four bunnies had the time to react as a shiver went down their spines while horror became clear in their body language and eyes. Then, as they continued trembling, their instincts were yelling that there was no time for retreating and that attacking this beast in front of them was the only possible choice they had. So, left with no other choice, a determination to attack pervaded them. Afterward, as if they had pre-planned, mustering every ounce of power they had, two of them sent a front kick toward the dark-haired youth while the other two sent a side kick. Of course, all the dark-haired youth had to do was to calculate his next course of movements again in order to avoid these attacks which were much simpler to calculate now since their numbers had decreased from six to four. Miss~ Once again successfully dodging the incoming attacks with his automaton-like moves, the youth started assaulting his opponents as he victoriously took out two more. Grunt~ Ah~ By now, the last two remaining rabbits had instinctively realized that attacking was completely futile. So was escaping. Therefore, understanding their inevitable fate, filled with fear and horror, while producing strange noises and screams, they made a final effort of running away. Bam~ Boom~ Unfortunately for them, that action hastened their demise even further as two punches conveniently landed on their skulls, thus instantly killing them. 265 A Red Line A while ago, when the dark-haired youth showed the world his robotic manner of dodging, everyone entered a deep state of shock and exhilaration as they began talking soon after. "Wow! Seriously, who is that man?" A man asked. "You ask me, who am I supposed to ask dude?" Replied his friend in a helpless tone. Somewhere else, a teenager asked her female otaku friend, "Did you see that move? Did you see how he dodged all of their attacks with a simple and precise maneuver?" The otaku friend answered, "Yeah! This is so making my blood boil! It''s just like watching an anime or something! How can a human being see all of his surrounding enemies and instantly dodge all of their assaults at the same time? That seems to be impossible, no?" "Well, the world is wide¡­ maybe his Trait is for dodging every attack¡­" "That makes sense." "Or maybe he''s a robot¡­ those moves reminded me of a robot!" "That doesn''t make any sense." All around the world, the conversation was progressing somewhere along these lines. . . . "Honey, did you see that?" Voiced Megan toward her husband in a stunned tone. "Yeah, yeah! This was amazing! I gotta say, with him around, our chance of winning might''ve just risen sharply!" Daniel said with shining eyes of hope. "Elle, what do you think of him?" Turning toward her daughter who seemed to be depressed for the past few days for some reason, Megan queried. Hearing her mother''s question, Ella looked at the dark-haired youth for a moment before replying, "I don''t know, I guess he''s strong¡­ and something about him¡­ hmm¡­" That was all she said before she went quiet entirely. Afterward, Megan and Daniel continued talking among themselves, "But¡­ that poor Burly Guard, I can''t stop thinking about his heroic sacrifice¡­" "Yeah, he''s a true hero¡­" . . . At this moment, the battle was proceeding while the unknown youth slaughtered them in pairs one after another. Soon, there were no humanoid rabbits left standing on the battlefield. Watching this sight, everyone was truly flabbergasted at the might of this young man on their screens. Meanwhile, the Thread Mistress had trapped the Winged-Pig in her net of threads while beads of sweat were rolling down her forehead consecutively. Dark lines were also starting to appear under her eyes. Certainly, this was happening due to her overtaxing her trait. So now, she was tired and if things continued to progress this way, her reaching the limits of her Trait was only a matter of time. "You set the net too high¡­ I can''t reach it!" Stated the Supersonic Sword while staring at the net set up by the Thread Mistress. He wanted to try slashing the Winged-Pig with his sword, only to helplessly realize his sword can''t extend to that height. This annoyed him by quite a bit, but there was nothing he could do. "I''ll set the nets lower next time." Came a cold yet fatigued response. ROOAAR! A roar, unlike that of a pig, hit their eardrums at this time as the seemingly enraged beast took off into the sky once more. It was also at this time the dark-haired young man arrived beside them, "Having some difficulties dealing with the pig I see¡­" He uttered with some hints of mockery within it. The trio who were focusing on the Winged-Pig a hundred percent until now became stunned hearing the familiar voice. Thus, immediately turning their heads toward the place where the horde of monster-rabbits was at previously, they became exasperated as with the exception of the Thread Mistress, their eyes almost bulged out of their sockets while they murmured in disbelief, "How¡­ just how?!" "Well, I''m here girl, so don''t you worry anymore." Not paying any attention to their mind-blown state of stupor, the youth said toward the Thread Mistress. "Wow, how did you kill all of them so quickly, dark bro?" The amazed Bloody Touch asked with glowing eyes of bedazzlement. She had gone through hell today and her hands were still trembling a bit due to those harsh experiences. However, seeing those monsters who had wounded her badly slaughtered by the hands of the handsome brother before her, a shimmer of admiration sparkled within her. It was as if she had just found a new hero for herself. "Easy peasy. One punch for each monster." Looking at the cute little girl in amusement, the youth proclaimed. To be honest, he was a little interested in her healing Trait. "Wow!!! Dark bro''s so powerful!" With glittering eyes of adoration, the cute little girl mouthed. "We need to focus! The Winged-Pig should descend upon us very soon. According to what I''ve seen till now, it gets harder to stop it each time¡­ it''s as if the pig learns and improves slowly. What''s your strategy for dealing with it?" Being the cold beauty she was, the Thread Mistress was indeed the first one to come out of her daze as she inquired about his plan. With an urge to tease her a bit, the youth phrased, "Ai¡­ weren''t I supposed to just follow your orders? I''m in your care, miss cold." "You can suggest your own plan, if it''s truly better, I''ve no problem with following it." After a short silence, she answered. According to her tone, it didn''t seem like the tease had succeeded, however, the youth knew better. Moreover, now, he felt really challenged as he had discovered a new means of entertainment. "Aii¡­ is that so? Then¡­ okay! Actually, there is no extraordinary strategy or anything¡­ you just stop the pig in its tracks, then that nippy sword and I will assault it together¡­ how does that sound?" He said casually. "Alright, that''s what I was gonna say anyway." Said the Thread Mistress coldly. "Sure it was." Came the casual voice in return. "It really was!" Slightly flustered, the Thread Mistress proclaimed. "Damn straight it was." Finally realizing she was being played with, totally ignoring him, her head was directed toward the sky. Roar! A few seconds passed when finally, accompanied by a loud roar of rage, the shadow of the familiar monster became visible above their heads again. "Stand as close as possible to me!" Yelled the Thread Mistress while waiting for the perfect moment to set her nets of threads. Obeying her order, all of them walked over to stand as near as possible to her. Poof! Then, as the nets were laid, the Winged-Pig directly collided with the nets. Of course, the first net was ripped apart and only the second net could barely endure the beast''s pressure. "Phew-" Releasing a breath of relief, the Thread Mistress bent her head downward, only for her lips to unexpectedly make a short contact with a nose along the way before proceeding in its path and finally settling when they met a pair of rather soft lips. Promptly, her eyes went wide open as her eyes became locked with the eyes of the person before her. "W-what¡­ what are you doing?" After what felt like an eternity later, backing away in a total rush, in a completely infuriated and incensed tone, she asked. Playing the innocent, however, the unknown youth stuttered with genuine stress apparent within his voice, "Y-you said¡­ ''stand as close as possible to me''¡­ that''s why. I-I was just following orders!" Meanwhile, internally, he was grinning from ear to ear. "You! You-" Speechless, enraged, and totally losing her usual cold facade, she was just about to scold him only to realize that he was now ignoring her entirely. "Ah, I nearly forgot I need to attack the pig¡­ nippy sword, you attack the pig first and lemme see how much damage you can deal it." "It''s Supersonic Sword!" The nippy sword screamed in annoyance, nevertheless, heeding his words, gathering every bit of power in his possession, he slashed at the Winged-Pig''s body. Swish~ A line was drawn in the air and soon, the outcome of his attack became visible before all of them. "Huh¡­ not a single drop of blood. There''s only a red line drawn on its body now. So you''re only capable of making its pink skin turn red. You''re so useless buddy." Proclaiming casually, he continued, "I apologize for bringing you into this. You just stand aside and keep those dead bunnies in check, okay?... In case any of them came back to life." 266 To Keep A Promise ''Damn you!'' At this point, the nippy sword was gritting his teeth as he cursed him internally while the Thread Mistress'' cold eyes were staring in his direction in such a way that if looks could kill, the young unknown man would be dead already. "Lemme try punching it first¡­" Bam! Squeal~ As he uttered that, a heavy fist connected right into the gigantic pig''s gut making it howl in pain. However, other than an additional round crimson-red spot appearing on the pig''s frame, there was no other discernible opened-up wound. Even if there was internal damage due to the impact, like a broken bone or possibly internal bleeding, it was all hidden under its skin and thus entirely undetectable. Considering the huge size of its body and how small the youth''s fist was compared to it, this sight was totally normal. Due to going through a rather intense level of pain, the pig began to struggle, trying to free itself from the net, nevertheless, that proved to be useless and futile. "Hahaha¡­" Witnessing the result of the unknown youth''s punch, the Supersonic Sword started laughing in derision before phrasing in a voice filled with contempt, "Hmph, so much for mocking me. Look at you now!" Looking at the Thread Mistress, Virus realized she was also gazing at him in disdain. "Haha¡­" Scratching his head, the youth, however, seemed completely unperturbed by the nippy sword''s remarks or the Thread Mistress'' gaze as he only walked beside the now frowning swordsman as he proclaimed while staring at his sword, "Since I need something sharp, may I¡­?" Then, before the nippy sword could even respond, reaching his hand, the youth grabbed the handle of the swordsman''s sword without consent and pulled it toward himself. Shiing~ "Thanks, I''ll be sure to return it." While taking a short glimpse at the now unsheathed sharp sword within his palm, the youth uttered before turning around and walking toward the temporarily trapped pig once more. At this point, both the Thread Mistress and the Bloody Touch were gazing at the youth while wondering if the sword within his grab will make any difference. "Let''s see if the sword is any good, shall we?" Muttering this, the sword was brought above Virus'' head. Swish! The weapon then slashed upon the beast''s body just like that. And looking at it, the sword was starting to sink into the pig''s skin as traces of blood could be seen. OINK~ The Thread Mistress and the Bloody Touch''s eyes were just beginning to shine due to seeing this sight, when¡­ CLINK~ The sword''s blade violently broke from the middle part. "¡­" The youth. "¡­" The Thread Mistress. "¡­" The Bloody Touch. "¡­" The Winged-Pig. "¡­!" The nippy sword who no longer had his sword. "¡­" Everyone else. Witnessing this scene, everyone became speechless and silent for a long time. And this silence was at last only broken by a miserable scream, "My sword!!!" Hearing the nippy sword, or maybe just ''nippy'' alone now, scream in misery as if he had just watched his mother get murdered right before him, Virus felt somewhat awkward. Nonetheless, grabbing the other half of the sword blade which was stuck within the Winged-Pig''s frame, he pulled. Oink!!! As every part of the sword was now in his possession, the youth walked beside the nippy once again. Then, first, he pushed the broken half of the sharp blade within the sheath around nippy''s waist before proceeding and putting the other half of the sword within it too. Then, as if he was just relieved of a great burden and responsibility, patting nippy''s shoulders, he uttered, "Here it is nippy, just as promised, I made sure to return it. Thanks by the way." "You!" Hearing his words, as if he had turned into one of the humanoid rabbit''s himself, his eyes began to burn in flames of wrath while he could barely breathe. At this point, he was almost on the verge of passing out due to anger. Virus, nevertheless, no longer paid him any further attention as he casually strolled before the Winged-Pig again as he started gazing at the almost fifteen centimeters injury on the beast''s body. "Hmm¡­ let''s try this." After phrasing these words, much to the stupefaction of others, he put both of his hands within the wound as he started to pull it apart with all his might! RIP! Psshh~ To be more precise, he was actually pulling the two sides of the wound apart from each other, making the fifteen centimeters long wound increase to that of a meter in length as blood gushed in large amounts. SQUEAL~ The pain of such an experience could only be imagined as the Winged-Pig began to roar in agony like never before. Simultaneously, it began to struggle so much as if it had gone entirely insane! "Yosh, yosh, calm-" Seeing it struggle like that, Virus, who was now drenched within the Winged-Pig''s blood, was just about to calm it down, when abruptly, much to his startlement, he realized the second net was shredded into many pieces. Instantly, his face turned very grim as he began to escape with the fastest speed he could muster while shouting in the direction of the Thread Mistress, "Squirt more white stuff, girl! Quickly, Trap it!" Meanwhile, the faces of the other three present near the scene together with the faces of every soldier who was watching everything from afar had gone totally pale as they froze in their current spot motionlessly. The Thread Mistress, of course, was the very first person to come out of her daze as she tried to trap the Winged-Pig within a two-layered net made of threads. Alas, she soon realized that after creating the first net around the Winged-Pig, before she could finish installing the second layer, the monster was already done ripping the first one apart! She had to create her two-layered net extremely close to the Winged-Pig since if she did otherwise, the beast would have enough time to simply go around and bypass the nets. Albeit, the downside of installing them extremely close to the Winged-Pig was that before she was done creating the second net, the enraged pig would destroy the first one before continuing to tear down the second layer with the remaining force of its charge. "Oh no¡­ I can''t stop it! I can''t trap it!" She screamed in fright, making everyone extremely disturbed. . . . "Oh no!" Those watching the battlefield from their houses also started to bark in anxiousness seeing this horrible sight on their televisions. "They''re dead!" "Fuck¡­ they''re gonna be slaughtered now!" "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit¡­" "Those white niggas so fucked, man." "Someone! Do something!" While everyone was extremely worried watching the rampaging pig, within the control room, it was also chaos. "What''s the best solution for dealing with that creature if the Abnormal team fails to stop it, soldier?" Gazing at a certain soldier with particular capabilities, the commander inquired. "Sir, I can only roughly estimate that we will need to launch a missile with the power of destroying at least two hundred meters surrounding the area¡­ but even with that, I''m not a hundred percent assured since I''m not clear as to how hard that monster''s body is." Proclaimed the soldier with an uncertain tone. "Sigh¡­" Letting out a helpless sigh, the commander said, "Alright, give the orders to prepare that missile." The entire control tent became silent after hearing the commander''s order before the soldier-in-charge voiced at last, "Yes, sir!" . . . Meanwhile, the youth had long since made some distance from the Winged-Pig as he was totally safe now. Unfortunately, however, the Thread Mistress, the nippy, and the Bloody Touch weren''t as fast as the youth. Thus, they could only wait for their doom while the beast charged in their direction. "We''re dead¡­" With a face as white as a sheet, nippy uttered his soon to be last words. In the meantime, seeing the Winged-Pig rushing at the trio, Virus could only let out a deep sigh as he murmured, "It seems I can only use that¡­" However, even after muttering that, he didn''t start to move and take action immediately and instead, he watched as the Winged-Pig slapped nippy''s body away with one of its enormous wings the very next moment. "Ahhhhhh¡­" It was followed by a bloodcurdling scream from nippy as he was sent flying away. And with that, nodding his head in satisfaction, the youth began his next course of action at last as he¡­ 267 Thinking Death ''I-is this how I''m going to die?'' The Thread Mistress thought as she watched nippy get slapped away to the faraway distance as the Winged-Pig began charging in her direction this time. Then, in despair, she started wondering to herself, ''I don''t want to die yet¡­ there are still so many things I wanna do in my life! Like falling in love!'' ''Or experiencing my first kiss-'' As her deliberation reached this part, she suddenly realized a fact, ''Oh, right¡­ I just had my first kiss with that stupid coward.'' By now, the Winged-Pig was only a few meters away from her as it was going to crash into her the very next second. Meanwhile, as the image of the Winged-Pig reflected itself within her gloomy eyes, drowning in despair, the very last notion passed through her head, ''I don''t wanna die! Please, someone¡­ anyone-'' "Heeeeelp!" Bang~ Closing her eyes, she screamed for help with all her might. Due to her cold personality, this was actually the very first time she had desperately yelled for help throughout her entire life. However, it seemed too late as the loud noise of something colliding into something else was heard right after her desperate shriek. __________ Watching the scene of the Winged-Pig dashing toward its next target, who happened to be the Thread Mistress, Virus let out a helpless sigh while thinking, ''It seems I can only use that.'' Not wasting any more seconds, he connected to the ring on his left hand and commanded. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument'' Immediately, pitch-black scales started to cover both his legs and arms. Of course, between the scales, a shining blue light became apparent all over. Thus, creating a beautiful sight to look at. ''Let''s test how much more powerful I get after combining the natural strength of my body and the Fragmentary Integument.'' Actually, before today, when ''Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument'' was triggered, due to his weak and fragile mortal body, the dark scales covering her arms and legs basically used to replace the function of both his bones and muscles, thus making him unnaturally strong. However, this process came with a rather huge disadvantage. And that was the fact that the scales covering his arms and legs were in fact forced to tolerate all of the pressure from the movements, attacks, impacts, etc. of the body. Yet at this moment, after deactivating a certain function of ''Median Configuration'', his body now in fact mostly relied on his own bones and muscles while the scales only played a supporting role. This meant that his own natural strength and the supporting strength of the scales covering his physique were now added up together. Anyway, the instant the pitch-black scales covered his limbs, he heard a shrilling scream asking for help as the Winged-Pig was upon the Thread Mistress. "Heeeeelp!" Not wasting any time, he dashed in the direction of the Thread Mistress as he appeared before her and the enormous pig monster the next moment. Then, seemingly unconcerned by the pig''s incoming attack, the dark-haired youth only sent a normal punch toward the frightening pig. Bang~ A loud noise reverberated around the area as his fist connected to the monster''s body directly. And just like that, while the eyeballs of the Bloody Touch and everyone else watching the scene popped out of their sockets, the gigantic pig was sent flying away. It was truly a dumbfounding sight to look at because watching a gigantic monster get sent flying away like that by an opponent who wasn''t even a quarter of the pig in size was quite a shocking view to look at. It was just like watching a huge elephant get sent flying away by a very small ant. ''Am I dead¡­?'' In the meantime, the Thread Mistress began wondering to herself with her eyes still closed, ''Is this how death feels like?'' However, abruptly, a voice, which at this moment felt like a heavenly song, reached her ears, "It''s okay now, you''re safe. You can open your eyes." And so, stunned, she popped her eyes open, "Uh-" Immediately, stunned and speechless, she caught the sight of the unexpected person and the astonishing scene before her. Because, right now, someone familiar yet somehow unfamiliar was standing in front of her. This feeling of unfamiliarity was due to those dark scales which were covering his limbs, and so, unconsciously, she let out a surprised noise while thinking, ''So cool!'' Then, it was followed by the scene of her spotting the sorry pig in the distance, multiplying her surprise by a few times. "How¡­? What are you¡­?" Looking back at the dark-haired youth who was now covered in dark scales, the fusion of which added very much to his charm, she inquired. Hearing this, putting his left hand under his chin, he began talking in a low tone, as if he was talking to himself, "Hmm¡­ now that''s a controversial question I would say. I mean, since my father''s a hero and my mother''s a demon¡­ hmmm, I can probably be considered the Dark Savior, right?" "You!" Seeing him still joking even in this kind of situation, her previous moved impression seemed to disappear from her face as she looked at him in annoyance once more. "You asked!" ______________ Simultaneously, watching the whole process of him get covered in dark scales, appearing before the Thread Mistress, and sending the monstrous pig flying away, everyone seeing this scene alive became dumbstruck down to their very being. Then, slowly, everybody started talking in their houses or over the internet. It was especially crowded in the chat section of live playing video on the internet. "Oh¡­ my¡­ Gaawd! What is he!?" User6969 wrote. "Nani the fuck?!" "Damn! An extremely powerful man had appeared! A new hero!" "But did he just transform?*EyesBulgingOutEmotion*." IHateFighting proclaimed in shock. "Who understands what''s going on?" Voiced another confused user. "Everyone please calm down and let me explain. It''s very simple actually *OtakuDramaticallyAdjustingHisGlassesEmotion*." Said OtakuNumber1. "Really? Sir, please explain then." Another user called PenDrive stated in anticipation. "Well, you see¡­ previously, just as we all saw it, obviously, that dark-haired youth and that cold lady had very intimate experiences with each other. That was the beginning of something big as that dark-haired youth probably fell in love with her at first sight and thought along the lines of ''I love her¡­ she''s mine now!''. However, then, the flying pig entered a rampage as it first slapped the swordsman away¡­ now, it was fine till this point since the dark-haired youth obviously didn''t care about the swordsman and thus felt nothing toward him getting smashed away." This was the first part OtakuNumber1 had sent as it was followed by the second part of his long explanation instantly. "But then, the pig turned toward our protagonist''s love, the Thread Mistress¡­ thus sending both of them into the abyss of despair. Anyway, as he watched the flying pig charge in her direction, the dark-haired youth started screaming inside himself while thinking ''Nooo¡­ I have to save her!!! Strength!!! I need strength! I want power! I want to be stronger! I want the power to be able to protect my precious and loved one! And¡­" 268 Loots "And it was at that very moment when something ancient within him arose from its slumber as an unrivaled power materialized over his body as it successfully ''dragonized'' him! Yes, that''s correct¡­ he dragonized! Look at those scales on his body¡­ he obviously transformed into some kind of half-dragon. Let me tell you guys¡­ this is the power of love, the power of massive will toward wanting to protect your loved one!" Finally, this third part of his long elaboration was the end as OtakuNumber1 went silent, never to be heard again. Finished reading his description of the happenings, it was at this instant when everyone realized they were facing a true otaku. "Sigh¡­ I''m to blame for carefully reading it until the very end¡­ but what''s extremely ridiculous is that his words kinda make sense too." "Above user¡­ actually, I did the same and read the whole god-damn thing¡­ anyway, he truly appears to have dragonized, so I don''t know what to say¡­ I''m just speechless." "My eyes!" "Did that otaku guy just call him ''Our protagonist''???" "I think we all read that very attentively, lol!" "+1" "+1" ... "There is another possibility too guys. Maybe he entered into some sort of half-transformed mecha form¡­" "Oh my god another otaku, just shut up dude¡­" "But damn, he looks so cool!" "Yeah¡­ he''s so cool, just amazing. Wish I had him as my boyfriend¡­ just look at those blue lights shining within his pitch-black scales, ahhh¡­" A girl voiced in excitement. "All jokes aside, I believe this transformation of his was some kind of Trait¡­ maybe a ''Dragonizing Trait'' or something similar¡­ I''m not sure." "Above use, your conclusion is probably the most likely one among everyone else, cheers mate." "Yep, that makes a lot of sense." "+1" "+1" ¡­ __________ Meanwhile, before Virus had activated his ''Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument'', Ella kept thinking that the dark-haired youth looked extremely familiar for some reason; however, no matter how hard she tried to put her finger on it, she couldn''t. Of course, that was the case before he activated the scales. Because it was at that exact instant when the realization hit her as she blurted out, "Ai!" At the same time, her memory jumped back to the nightmarish night where she had killed someone. She recalled how at the very last moment when she was just about to die in those thugs'' hands, someone covered in pitch-black scales had shown up before her as he had protected her while embracing her within his warm arms. Now, what mattered was that she had at a later time realized Virus could unbelievably change his appearance and that person covered in scales that night was actually him! And right at this moment, she witnessed another person covered in those dark-scales with those shining blue lights which she would never forget. This instantly left her with no doubt that the dark-haired youth was, in fact, Ai, her boyfriend¡­ or her ex-boyfriend to be more accurate. Anyway, after her enlightenment about the identity of the dark-haired youth, unconsciously, she blurted his name out, thus attracting the concerned attention of her parents, "What''s wrong, honey? Why did you say ''Ai'' all of a sudden?" Simultaneously, not waiting for her answer, they gave one another a knowing look while pondering, ''Sigh¡­ it seems she hasn''t moved on yet.'' Nonetheless, not catching or hearing anything her parents had just said, a line of tear was drawn on her face as she thought concernedly, ''It must be very dangerous out there¡­ but he had jumped at danger like this in order to save everyone... Ai¡­'' As the memories of how he had fought for her in the past and how he was now fighting for the sake of everyone while putting himself in grave danger, she couldn''t stop her tears from flowing even more. Nevertheless, these tears of sadness and concern were followed by tears of extreme grief as she deliberated, ''I hardly know him anymore. I mean he can change into anyone he wants¡­ at this point, I''m not even sure if his original face by which I know him is truly his real face at all or not, to begin with.'' Then abruptly, at this point, her mind jumped back to the moment when the cold beauty'' and Virus'' lips had met one another. This in return made her slightly jealous as she unconsciously pouted accompanied by a harrumph, "Hmph!" Simultaneously, she stopped crying as she began cleaning her face in a very cute manner. _______________ Back to the scene of the battle, Virus patted the head of the enraged Thread Mistress while wearing an amused smile as he said, "Just sit back and enjoy the show¡­ and don''t worry anymore, I won''t let anything happen to you." And with that, much to her shock, he disappeared from before her as he once more appeared in front of the struggling Winged-Pig who had just got back to its feet. Seeing it stand up, Virus thought, ''That impact at most shallowly broke two bones¡­ amazing.'' He muttered right afterward, "Phew¡­ those fats on your body are no joke, are they? They can even absorb such a strong impact on your physique." OINK! However, an enraged squeak was his only response as the wild pig began its charge in his direction once more. "You never learn, do you?" As he voiced this, the Winged-Pig was already upon him as he sent his punch in its direction again. However, this time, he didn''t aim at the healthy and protected parts of the pig''s body and instead, he aimed at the gigantic wound on its body and smashed his fist at it with all his might. Boom! OINK~ OINK! Experiencing an unimaginable degree of pain due to the straight punch which almost sent waves all around them, the pig was blasted away once more. Only this time, the injuries on its body were much more lethal as many bones under its wounds had also broken to many pieces. ''I can feel that after two or three more punches, it''ll die¡­ but that''ll take too much time. I need to finish this as soon as possible, accomplish the things I came here for, and leave immediately.'' ''Anyway, now that I''ve finished testing my natural strength added up with the strength of the scales, I better finish it fast, since there is no reason so as not to.'' As this notion passed through his head, it was followed by another, only this time, a commanding one in nature. ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Handgun!'' ''Explosion mode!'' Instantly, while everyone was experiencing another wave of astonishment due to this unexpected new transformation and change, a futuristic handgun covered in red-lights all over its body appeared on Virus'' hand. Meanwhile, not wasting a single second more, aiming the barrel of his handgun exactly toward the huge wound of the Winged-Pig, he pulled the trigger three times. Bang! Bang! Bang! Promptly, three small balls of red lights entered within the Winged-Pig''s physique as loud noises of explosions were heard the next instant. Bam! It was followed by the loud sound of a gigantic carcass falling on the ground, for good this time. "¡­" Absolute silence became dominant right after the corpse of the Winged-Pig fell on the ground. Everyone was truly speechless and even dumbfounded by these unexpected turns of events. Meanwhile, after taking a single gaze at the messed up wounds of the Winged-Pig which had visible internal body parts gushing out from almost everywhere, not waiting for anyone to come out of his or her stupor, he vanished momentarily before appearing in front of the corpses of three bunnies as he easily dug out three red crystals. Then, proceeding, he dashed before the remains of one of the horned-pigs as he also dug out a bead from within the unmoving corpse. All of this seemed to have taken a lot of time, but in truth, the whole process had only taken a few seconds. So, finished extracting the bead, gazing at the three shining Red-Crystals and the single bead within his palm, Virus decided, ''These should be enough for now.'' Then, turning around, he was about to disappear into the trees when a voice momentarily stopped him in his tracks, "Halt! Those are the properties of the US government, put them on the floor at once!" Turning toward the source of the loud sound, Virus spotted the grim-looking Thread Mistress. 269 Confidential Meeting Nevertheless, not caring about her absolutely serious expression and tone, grinning in an entertained way, Virus stated, "As we had come to an agreement prior to the battle, I was going to take some of the drops, and I''m doing just that, now with or without your permission." Not stopping there, he added, "You should be grateful instead that I''m not taking any more, so, how about you stop nagging now, dear squirting beauty." "You! You''re an i-idiot!" Gnashing her teeth in anger, this was the worst curse she could pronounce in return before continuing, "Anyway! Y-you can''t take those away before our experts have investigated them." "¡­" Listening to her helpless yet demanding words, he went entirely silent for a while as he just kept staring at her. "Adios amigo." And that was his last words as he turned around and vanished entirely. "Wait!" Flipping her hands, she lay thousands of threads all around Virus'' previous spot, albeit, he was already no longer there. Spotting no one within her net of threads, abruptly, an empty feeling descended upon her as she felt as if she had just lost something very important and precious to her. By her side, Bloody Touch mumbled with shining eyes of adoration, "Wow¡­ big brother Dark Savior was so strong¡­!" "Oh, big sis, we forgot about Swordsman bro! He must have a few bones broken all over his body¡­ let''s take him to the medics!" Looking in the direction of the passed out Supersonic Sword, Bloody Touch proclaimed toward the lost Thread Mistress. __________________ Finally, after Virus'' disappearance, the viewers started to come out of their stupor as one of them finally voiced, "Wa-was that a gun just now?" "¡­" "Ah¡­ I think so. Yeah¡­ I believe we all saw a gun appearing on his hand, but¡­ what kind of gun is so powerful? I mean, did you just see what happened to the flying pig?" "Ah¡­ God, who was he? And where did he go?" "That gun can''t possibly also be a trait, right?" "I know almost every type of handgun in the world¡­ but let me tell you this¡­ that handgun was none of them! Did you look at that shining red light from it? It was obviously a new type of handgun¡­ something far more advanced than what''s available at the market." A certain netizen wrote. "So you think it''s an advanced technology? Hmm, I don''t think so though. I believe his trait is something very special which grants him both the power to be able to dragonize and the power to be able to create that gun. I mean¡­ we all saw that gun appear out of nowhere just like those scales, right?" Another netizen who seemed very analytic stated. "What kind of trait would be so overpowered? Can his trait be something like ''The ability of body transformation''? That would be a terrifying trait indeed¡­" "Maybe¡­" ___________________ WITHIN THE SPACESHIP "Master, that fight was epic!" Mumbled an excited golden beauty toward the dark-haired youth. "Haha, of course, when I''m involved, any fight would be legendary!" Replied Virus in a joking tone. Smiling, the golden beauty queried, "So¡­ what are we going to do now?" Hearing the question, looking at her as if he was saying ''Isn''t that obvious?'', he responded, "Now? Now, I''m going to do some research on these red-crystals¡­ I need to know what they are. But before that, I may need a few tools in order to do that. So, I''m going to call the Island ugly now." Saying this, he picked up his phone which was already calling a number saved as ''Island Ugly''. Only a single beep was heard when the call went through as a voice was heard from the other side of the line, "Please pass along your orders master." "Um¡­" Nodding in satisfaction, Virus started talking, "I''m sending you a blueprint of a rather advanced microscope compared to the current ones available together with a few other blueprints I might need¡­ make one of each till tomorrow and send them over." "Understood, anything else?" Agreeing without any delay, the Island ugly requested for further orders. "Not anything else, for now, I''ll call you again if there is anything new." A few moments after uttering this, he proceeded by adding, "Oh, right¡­ that auction which was going to sell the ''Pink Star'' when is it going to be held? What''s the date?" Not pausing to deliberate at all, the Island ugly answered, "Its exact date isn''t determined as of yet, but roughly, it''s going to be held around a year and a half¡­" "Um¡­ I see. That''s rather long..." Said Virus while touching his chin. Then, he continued, "Though I think I''m gonna be busy for a while from now on, so it''s okay. Alright, that''s it, go prepare the blueprints now." "At once, master." Heeding the command, the line was cut off. ____________________ Until the next day, the internet and the netizens continued talking about the mysterious dark-haired youth, the same thing was happening all around the world in different media. A certain government-supported News media in the United States also reported a particular news, "According to our sources and the reports we received from some governmental officials, that mysterious dark-haired youth who fought and killed the flying pig monster yesterday seemed to have introduced himself as the ''Dark Savior'', however, as to his real identity in real life, until now, no one, including every agency within the country, has been successful in cracking his true identity." "Now, officials have been requesting the common citizens to report any sightings of the said person as soon as possible." At this time, a clear picture of the dark-haired youth was put up on the screen as the newscaster continued, "No further details regarding that person and the happenings of the previous day at the rift has been disclosed. Now, coming to the next piece of news¡­" For some unknown reasons, it seemed the government had no intention of revealing the fact that the dark-haired youth was a super-expert when it came to hacking as he had easily hacked and placed a fake identity for himself right before them. _______________ Of course, the United States of America wasn''t the only country interested in knowing the identity of the dark-haired youth after witnessing his exceptional prowess with their own eyes. "Find his identity as soon as possible! If we can bring him to our country, we wouldn''t need to be afraid of any rifts whatsoever! Our country would be totally safe!" A certain President yelled at the people before him with extreme urgency apparent within his tone. "Yes, Mr. President!" ¡­ The highest authority of a different country also ordered, "Come on! Release a piece of news in every media outlet we have! Say that we are willing to hire and invite that person to our own country at whatever price he names!" "Yes, sir!" ¡­ "Did you see that trait, or technology, or whatever! I mean, he can fucking turn into a dragon! What else is required for protecting our country?! Nothing I would say! Find him and bring him to me using every source we have within our country! We shall offer him whatever he wants, understood?" A certain prime minister proclaimed toward the officials before him. "Yes, sir!" In short, for the whole day, the entire world and every country in every corner of the Earth was talking about how amazing the dark-haired youth and his powers were. Some were saying he had abnormally advanced technologies at hand while some were guessing that his transformation into a part-dragon and that handgun of his were both something related to his exceptional trait. Nevertheless, no matter what they were saying or discussing, there was one thing all of them had in common, and that was the fact that they were all looking for him in order to pull him to their own side. __________ WITH THE CEO UGLY AT 4 TIMES SQUARE Currently, in a meeting room containing a long table and many seats, the CEO ugly was sitting at the head of the long table while the Legal ugly was sitting on his right side on the closest chair. Three of the other chairs were also filled by the heads of the Accounting and Finance, Human Resources, and the Purchasing departments. Staring at the faces of the three department heads, the CEO ugly began talking, "Alright everyone, let me start by saying that I appreciate you gathering here at first notice. However, before we truly begin, I need to warn all three of you that this is a private meeting and all the subjects we discuss today in this closed environment will not leave this room at all, do you understand?" 270 Dont Confuse Effort With Results "Yes, Mr. CEO!" All three of them replied simultaneously, excited about what''s to come. "Good, I believe there is no need to remind you of the consequences in case any secret leaves this room after today¡­ which is¡­ the dismissal of all three of you! Virus Industries does not need any disloyal employees." Uttered the CEO ugly in a very cold tone. "Yes, Mr. CEO/sir!" A shiver went down the spines of all three of them as they almost screamed in obedience. "Good!" Mouthing this in contentment, he turned his head toward the Legal ugly and began talking, "So, how are you dealing with the legal issues of buying the lands with mining potential?" "They''re all almost done, there shouldn''t be any possible issues rising up from the legal aspect even if we reveal the secret to everyone." Voiced the Legal ugly in confidence. Prior to this confidential meeting, to this very day, in order to be as secretive as possible per orders of their master, the CEO ugly and the Legal ugly had dealt with the purchase of land mines almost entirely on their own. The process included the CEO ugly directly contacting the owners of the lands and persuading them to sell their lands at twice or even thrice the original price of their property. Then, in case those owners were persuaded and agreed to sell their property, which was successful sixty percent of the times, the CEO ugly would send the Legal ugly together with the money for buying the land to the presence of that owner so he would deal with the buying process before proceeding to deal with the other necessary paperwork and legal problems. And today, after numerous days of non-stop working without any rest 24/7, they were finally almost finished and ready for beginning the next phase of the plan. Nodding his head, the CEO ugly inquired further, "How much did this phase which consists of negotiating, purchasing, and doing the paper works of the lands cost exactly?" Hearing this, still wearing an emotionless ugly face, the Legal ugly placed his fingers under his chin as he began elaborating, "Hmm¡­ the negotiation part itself cost us around a billion dollars. This includes, in some situations, we had to bribe the owners'' closest relatives in order to persuade them to sell the land, in some others, we had to bribe government officials to pressure them to sell their lands, or even hired some expert negotiators for convincing the landowners to sell their lands. There were a few other fields too which were ownerless legally¡­ in regard to those, we had to bribe some government officials with very high statuses in the said country very handsomely for successfully convincing them to sell those fields." Not stopping there at all, he continued, "The purchasing part cost us around 21 billion dollars, this includes buying those massive lands at twice the cost, sometimes thrice the cost, and in some rare cases much higher than that. There were also many other normal lands with no mining potential which we bought together with the valuable ones in order to confuse the people keeping an eye on us¡­ as you know, we did this in order to lower the risk of our competitors and those keeping watch over us from realizing our true intentions for buying those lands. Also, buying these useless lands isn''t without any benefits either as we can build our new factories on them if we want." "Hmm, right. So, these two parts of this phase together cost us 22 billion dollars¡­ not bad¡­ what about the last part of this phase? How much did the paperwork and the legal stuff fetch us?" The CEO ugly inquired further. By the sides, the other three department heads were dumbstruck after hearing the astronomical figures ranging in billions, lands with mining potential, and the act of bribing officials; however, they listened carefully without interrupting at all. When they heard the words ''lands with mining potential'' they were skeptical of them as they wondered to themselves, "Who knows if those fields can truly be developed for mining¡­ most of them are probably entirely useless¡­ sigh¡­ why is the company gambling on such a large scale in this way?" "The last part¡­ hmm, in order to quicken the whole legal process which otherwise might have even taken a whole year, we had to spend and bribe a lot of people in authority again. This again amounts to less than one billion dollars." "Anyway, the total cost of this phase nearly reached 23 billion dollars altogether. Now, although the legal paperwork isn''t entirely finished, in general, they are sealed so there shouldn''t be any problems rising regarding them until the whole process is naturally completed." The Legal ugly concluded. "I see¡­ well done! This phase was of utmost secrecy and we successfully finished it! Now, the next phase which is far less confidential requires the help of you three." Turning his head toward the three heads of Accounting and Finance, Human Resources, and the Purchasing departments, the CEO ugly voiced. "Please go on, Mr. CEO, we will try our best in order to accomplish the tasks and duties we''ve been handed over." One of the heads mouthed, trying to impress the CEO ugly with his words. However, hearing this, instead of being impressed, narrowing his eyebrows, the CEO ugly replied back, "Don''t try your best, just finish the job perfectly! I don''t need your efforts, I need results. So don''t confuse effort with results, do you understand?" In a few situations before, the CEO ugly had seen many employees failing at their tasks and when they were summoned for questioning, almost all of them had replied that they had truly tried their best. It was from that moment onwards when the CEO ugly started caring about the result rather than the effort put in the process. Instantly, a few droplets of sweat appeared on that department heads forehead listening to the CEO ugly''s words as he answered while nodding his head repetitively, "Yes, sir. I''ll do the job perfectly." "Good¡­" He continued, "Now that we have the lands at hand, we need two essentials in order to start the mining process in those properties¡­ the first one is manpower which will be dealt with by the Human Resources Department, and the second important thing we need is tools¡­ tools and technologies for mining, developing, setting up, and maintenance of our mining branch, this task will be handed over to the Purchasing Department." "So, Human Resources will start hiring large numbers of employees, while the Purchasing Department will start buying every necessary tool and technology required for the mining branch. Meanwhile, the Accounting and Finance department will be in charge of distributing the funds to both of the other departments. Are my words clear?" He finished talking. "Yes, Mr. CEO." All three of them responded at the same time. It was at this moment when the head of the Accounting and Finance department started asking, "But, sir, we don''t have that kind of capital at hand. How-" However, just as he was about to finish his question, raising a hand, the CEO ugly interrupted, "Don''t worry about the funds and the capital¡­ soon, I''ll transfer 70,000,000,000 US dollars in cash to the company''s account. If there is a need for more, just ask me and I''ll transfer more." 271 The Source of Traits Hearing the number though, all three department heads became totally speechless as they stared at the CEO ugly''s face in astonishment. They couldn''t take their eyes off of him while they thought to themselves, "Where did so much money come from? Was our company really that rich? We had a liquid asset of more than 100,000,000,000 US dollars?" Of course, they added up the previous 23 billion dollars with the new figure of 70 billion dollars and arrived at the conclusion that the company had around 100,000,000,000 billion US dollars in liquid assets alone. Nonetheless, without paying any heed to their dumbfounded expressions, the CEO ugly queried further, "How much time do you think this whole process will take?" This time, it was the Purchasing Department head who started talking, "We''re not clear as of yet since we need to do a lot of research in the field of mining¡­ for example, I need to understand what tools are required in order to mine, or what technologies are essential for a mining company. While this is a part of my task, the Human Resources department needs to study and learn what kind of experts and manpower are needed for a mining company and those mining lands." Nodding his head, he asked again, "Give me a rough time." "A year¡­ in around a year, the mining process will start!" Listening to his words and realizing the duration was almost the same as he had calculated, the CEO ugly nodded his head before proceeding, "Alright, you guys go and do your job then. Meanwhile, the Legal ugly will attend to any legal paperwork that''s essential for utilizing our fields as mines. You''re all dismissed!" ______________ A DAY LATER WITH VIRUS AT THE HIGHEST FLOOR OF 4 TIMES SQUARE As he was lying back on the couch, enjoying the cup of tea the golden beauty had prepared for him, the Island ugly entered the hall as he walked before him and stood there silently, waiting for his master to finish his tea. "What is it?" Yet, Virus asked while taking a sip from his cup of tea. "Master, as ordered, I produced and brought every tool you requested for today¡­ I''ve installed all of them in the laboratory hall, so you can utilize them whenever you feel like." After a simple bow, the Island ugly began talking. Then he proceeded, "Now that my task''s finished, I''ll rush back to the atoll since it''s left with no supervision." "You can go back." Voiced Virus in a relaxed tone as he continued enjoying his tea. ¡­ After finishing his tea, Virus walked to another big room on the highest floor. This room was simply a huge hall which he usually used as his personal laboratory space. Even his biological physical body was created in this lab. Within this laboratory, different tools and technologies like the coffin-like WRD, MDA, etc. were placed. And now, other than his previous tools, a few new devices were also installed and present there. One of these new tools was a rather big white cubical device with entries of different shapes and sizes. Seeing this device, which was placed beside another new technology piece, Virus walked in front of it. At this time, the golden beauty also spotted the cubical device as she queried, "What is this master?" After hearing her question, while placing the three red-crystals and the bead on the counter, Virus replied, "This is a futuristic type of microscope which will be invented around a few thousand years later after a huge breakthrough¡­ this can be considered the lowest type of microscope technology, so let''s call it [Microscope 1.0]¡­ hmm, I guess this might suffice for barely studying the red-crystals." A shimmer of understanding passed through the golden beauty''s eyes as she looked at the microscope in amazement. Meanwhile, picking a single red-crystal, Virus began to contemplate while staring at it intently, ''Hmm, what is this red-crystal exactly?'' ''What is the red flame-like gas within it? What is it made of?'' ''What is the crystal itself without the red flame-like gas? What is it made of?'' ''Why can the red flame-like gas strengthen Traits?'' ''In what other areas can it be utilized?'' ''Why can''t it be taken directly without feeling great pain?'' ''Where does it come from?'' ''Is there any way to consume it without facing any pain or injuries?'' ¡­ Immediately, tens of questions regarding the red-crystal popped into his mind. Questions he was greatly curious about. Questions he felt like he had to find the answer to. The only fact Virus knew about the red-crystals at this point in time was that nothing like this had ever existed in his previous world, the future. From the start of basic civilization on Earth to the moment Virus had time-traveled to the past, the people of Earth had never come into any kind of contact with anything like the red-crystal within Virus'' palm. However, according to Virus'' understanding, even with the changes and the butterfly effects he had caused, the possibility of something like this happening should''ve been almost close to zero since even changes happening should''ve taken place within an already determined and known frame. Actually, in his previous world, the future, humanity almost couldn''t discover any ways of naturally strengthening the Traits of their Abnormal citizens even after countless years of intense studying and experiments. And this was also the reason why humanity eventually discarded the utilization of their Abnormals since at some point, technology eventually progressed far beyond the scope of the power simple Abnormals with their simple Traits could muster. Of course, some methods of temporarily strengthening and empowering those traits were also discovered and even many successful studies that utilized the technology together with Abnormal citizens bore fruit. However, all of those studies and results came with disadvantages and many detrimental points which almost made using the Abnormals impossible. And so, since trying to temporarily enhance them or utilize them together with advanced technologies had its extremely detrimental points which almost made them suicidal for the Abnormal people, and since without them, the Abnormal people were too weak to be useful for anything, they were entirely discarded in the end as they were seen as no different than a normal citizen in society. Nevertheless, mankind''s incapability in utilizing the Abnormals wasn''t totally baseless and without reason either. Because the source of Abnormals'' Trait was beyond the scope of science and technology, its origin was in another aspect which always separated itself from science and technology as it thus inevitably confused humanity until the end. This was because, after researching and doing experiments on Abnormal people and the source of their Traits for numerous years, mankind had eventually unearthed the stunning fact that Traits actually originated from the very ''soul'' of a person itself. Something which didn''t make much sense to them. More specifically, they realized that Traits always began and was initiated from the ''soul'' itself as they progressed and affected the body in different ways dependant on what the Trait itself was. Some Traits would affect the brain of a person and give them different abilities related to the brain itself like telekinesis or telepathy. Some would change the entire DNA of their body, thus giving them a vast range of Traits depending on how DNA was affected and modified. Some even didn''t affect the body of the Abnormal at all as it directly affected the environment itself, from the very soul itself directly to the environment. For example, the Trait of being able to control fire in the surroundings. In short, there were countless variations that took place as they influenced the Abnormals in a variety of ways, thus gifting them any kind of abilities and traits. But despite all of that, there was always a single fact that was the same for all Abnormals! And that was the truth that it always originated from the ''Soul'' itself. The soul was always the beginning, it was always the source, as it was always the fuel itself too. This was the main reason behind their act of giving up on the Abnormals since they could not understand ''Soul'' and as it seemed to be in a separate branch than science and technology itself. But now, something that shouldn''t be happening in the first place at all was taking place as something called the red-crystal which could permanently enhance Traits came into the picture! This was simply too shocking even to Virus himself! Mostly because even humanity was incapable of finding a method of permanently empowering and enhancing Traits! It had to be kept in mind that even those limited methods mankind had discovered for enhancing the Traits were all only temporary! Not Permanent! He was also amazement at how things had changed as something that shouldn''t have existed, now existed! 272 The Red-Crystal And due to all of these, Virus was absolutely elated. Because now, he had something new to discover as he was going to walk an uncharted territory. He was very thrilled with the idea of having many things to uncover regarding the red-crystals and their source, which might change the course of history entirely! And thrilled about being at the epicenter of this world-defying phenomena! So, grinning from ear to ear, with an intense light of enthusiasm and elation shooting off his eyes, he deliberated his first course of action, ''First, I should place the red-crystal within the microscope¡­'' As this notion went through his head, he reached his hand and placed the Red-Crystal within the entry that was a bit bigger than the size of the Red-Crystal itself. "Master, why are you trying to study the Red-Crystals? Don''t you already know what they are?" Voiced the golden beauty at this time. "Not really¡­ like I said before, there are many things even I don''t know or understand in this limitless world." Replied Virus, not taking his eyes off the Red-Crystal at all. Listening to his response though, the golden beauty was a bit astonished because she had almost never seen her master not know the answer to anything! After placing the Red-Crystal in its right spot, he thought, ''Hmm, now, scan.'' Meanwhile, his mind directly connected to the microscope and gave it the command of scanning the crystal. Immediately, for a few seconds, an intense light covered the entire inner part of the microscope before turning off. ''Done!'' Afterward, staring at another device as small as a phone, he sent it the findings of the microscope. Then, a 3D image became apparent above the phone-like device. Immediately, a gigantic 3D image of numerous molecules appeared before him. Looking at the way atoms came to be held together by the chemical bonds as they created the molecules, Virus was quite amazed because he realized he was looking at a new type of structure. The image was the molecular structure of the crystal. "It''s amazing how such a crystal was created within a living biological being¡­" He wondered to himself. Next, doing a sliding motion in the air, Virus changed the view to another part of the crystal, as he tried to find the molecular structure of the red flame-like gas. But unfortunately, no matter how he looked, he couldn''t find it anywhere! "What''s going on?" He whispered in confusion as sent a new command to the microscope, ''Analyze.'' Instantly, in a matter of single second, tens of thousands of formulas, etc. momentarily blinked on the 3D image before it disappeared entirely. This was the process of the crystal being analyzed by the microscope which was also shown on the 3D screen. ''Analysis'' was another feature of the [Microscope 1.0]. The function of the ''Analysis'' was to analyze everything related to the material placed within the microscope and to state all of the characteristics and features of the said material. Now, as the analysis was finished, a few words were displayed on the 3D screen. ¡ºDegree of hardness: Its hardness is around half a diamond''s, substantially different than a diamond in structure.¡» ¡ºUnique characteristic of the crystal: Capable of storing [Unknown] in [Unknown] conditions. ¡» ¡ºInfluences on Humans: Lethal, poisonous, and indigestible to the stomach.¡» ¡ºMelting point: 1500 ¡ãC of temperature. ¡» ¡ºOther characteristics of the crystal: Unidentifiable with the current version of the microscope. ¡» Gazing at the list of features, a deep frown showed up on Virus'' forehead. This happened because he realized there was no mention of the red flame-like gas anywhere within the analysis or the list of characteristics, even the last section which stated that the other characteristics were unidentifiable by the current microscope was only pointing at the crystal itself, not the red flame-like gas! ''It''s as if the microscope can''t see the red flame-like substance within the crystal¡­'' As this notion passed through his mind, Virus brought his two hands upward before his face as he slid his two fingers toward each other in the air. Currently, he was zooming out as the molecular structure got smaller and smaller until the molecules were no longer visible. After a few times of zooming out, finally, the 3D image of an enormous Red-Crystal was floating in front of him. ''Hmm¡­ the red flame-like substance is clearly there¡­'' As he thought this, he started to zoom in once more. Unfortunately, after once again zooming in to the molecular level, he could find nothing related to red flame-like substance anywhere within the structure! ''It''s as if it is there, but not there at the same time¡­ it''s as if I''m looking at a¡­ GHOST!'' The light within his eyes began to brighten at this moment as a shimmer of enlightenment passed through them. ''One of the few things that acts this way just like a ghost under technology is¡­ soul!'' ''And now, this flame-like substance is acting the same way¡­'' ''The Traits originate from the soul itself, their source is the very soul¡­'' ''And the flame-like substance strengthens the traits¡­'' Putting one hand under his chin, Virus began to contemplate, ''Which means since the flame-like gas behaves just like a soul and enhances the Trait which originates from the soul itself¡­ then, this flame-like substance must somehow affect or perhaps empower the soul of the Abnormal user¡­ thus enhancing his Trait¡­'' "It''s simple math to be honest. So, my conclusion is probably correct." He murmured under his breath. "Did you unearth the mysteries of the red-crystal, master?" Seeing him mumbling something in a low voice, curious, the golden beauty inquired. "Hmm¡­ not even close. I now understand a bit only." He replied, full of dissatisfaction. "I only realized that the crystal itself is poisonous to human beings and the flame-like substance behaves similar to a soul, and since it empowers traits which also originates from the soul of a person, then it must somehow affect an Abnormal''s soul and result in his trait getting stronger." He explained in the most simple way he could. "Wait, what? Traits originate from the soul?" Shocked, the golden beauty asked since this was the first time she was hearing about this. "Yeah¡­" Just getting the confirmation without any further delineation on the subject, slightly frustrated, she could only throw another question at him, "I see¡­ um, but anyway, now that you understand the flame-like thingy a bit¡­ what now?" Hearing this, Virus could only respond in a helpless tone, "Even in my previous life in the future, mankind had a hard time studying things related to the soul¡­ so now at this time, it''s even more impossible to try to study anymore regarding the flame-like gas through technology¡­" Not stopping there, he continued, "Which means, the only way to even have the slightest chance of unearthing anything related to the flame-like substance is through doing trials and errors on human beings themselves." "But for that, I need to find a way so it would be possible for them to consume the flame-like substance without facing any dangers." He stated before saying, "Like that, without me needing to lift a finger, the humans themselves will begin finding and discovering everything I want to know about the Red-Crystals." 273 Experimentation "And how are you gonna do that, master?" The golden beauty asked. Hearing this question, as if he was also explaining and talking to himself, Virus started on his elaboration on the subject, "Easy, Lil belle, actually, many secret and forbidden experiments are being done in Korea, France, and the US on living Abnormals as we speak¡­ I''m pretty sure the other countries will start doing it too as soon as they get their hands on Red-Crystals¡­" Pausing momentarily at this point, he added, "And from the data and results I collected and stole from these experiments, I realized that the red flame-like gas starts to get absorbed into the body as long as it''s in direct contact with any part of the body. It''s as if the flame-like substance is attracted to the human body." He went on, "However, the speed at which it gets absorbed on different parts of the physique varies¡­ for example, the slowest body part which absorbs the gas substance is the skin¡­ according to data, it takes roughly two weeks for a person to absorb the substance through skin contact alone, but apparently, most of the flame-like gas gets wasted and dissipates into thin air during the process. So, this method is considered highly impractical, inefficient, and time-consuming, although it''s currently the safest procedure for absorbing the substance danger-free and without any pain, since the poisonous and the indigestible characteristics of the crystal also doesn''t affect the body in any way, thus, the consumer also feels no torment whatsoever." "Another means of absorbing the gas substance is through putting the red-crystal in direct contact with blood through a wound. This is currently considered one of the fastest routines of drawing the substance into the body as nearly all of it gets sucked in, in around a minute. However, the downside of this practice is that the consumer feels an even greater pain than directly swallowing it into the stomach due to the toxic attribute of the crystal. This method is currently considered highly lethal and deadly since both of the experiment subjects who tried it this way are now dead." He proclaimed while shaking his head. Not dilly-dallying at all, he continued talking, "The flame-like gas can also be absorbed through simply placing and keeping it within the mouth without swallowing it, like a lollipop. In this way, the substance gets sucked in around ten minutes with the minimum amount of wastage. The amount of pain experienced during the process is also regarded as barely tolerable with less chance of dying compared to directly eating and swallowing it. Thus, currently, this method is the most practical one as out of every five intakers, only one of them dies." After a rather long silence, he also added, "Other procedures of intaking the Red-Crystals such as anal and vaginal were also experimented on, sigh¡­ who would even do that? Anyway¡­ I don''t even want to start on them since I don''t understand why they would study them, to begin with." "Pfft!" Looking at her master''s serious face and absolutely funny reaction, the golden beauty couldn''t stop a laugh from escaping from her lips as she was truly amused. "My point is, many methods of absorbing the flame-like substance have been already thought of. And now, the only problem they face at this moment is the matter of crystal''s toxicity which brings about great agony to the intaker, which means, I just need to find a counterattack to the problem of toxicity and immune the body!" Finally, at this point, he concluded. "And doing that is almost very easy for me, as my microscope has already roughly determined which part of the crystal is toxic to the human body, thus, my only job now is to create the counter of that toxic attribute which would immune the body or resist the poison." Stating his final point, he went silent. "Oh¡­ I see¡­" Uttered the golden beauty while nodding her head in total understanding. . . . Eighteen days elapsed just like that, in those eighteen days, seven new rifts had popped into existence in various locations around the world. Nevertheless, Virus paid them no more heed as he continued with his experiments. Of these eighteen days, since he didn''t have a full understanding of the crystals, Virus spent the first three days trying to find the right combination in order to immune the body to the poisonous attribute of the Red-Crystals. And during those three days, after many trials and errors of combining various materials and herbs, he was at last, successful! And so, he created something which would permanently immune the body to the poisonous and toxic properties of the red-crystals. Now, by injecting this new serum into the veins, the body would develop an absolute immunity that would result in the intaker experiencing no agony or side-effects due to being in direct contact with the crystals. Just to be safe, Virus also immediately injected himself with the permanently immunizing serum. From now on, he would feel no anguish, pain, or side-effects from directly being in contact with the crystals as his body was completely resistant to the toxic features of the crystals. However, for some reason, he didn''t stop there as he proceeded with his experiments for the next fifteen days trying to find other formulas that would temporarily immunize the body to the toxic properties of the crystal, or just develop a short-term resistance to the poisonous traits. And after those fifteen days, he was at last triumphant in finding a few formulas that would come in handy. Among his creations, the first one, which he also injected himself with, totally and eternally immunized the physique to the toxicity of the crystals, the second one immunized the body for around a month, the third one immunized the anatomy for around a week, the fourth serum immunized one for five hours, and the last one developed only 90 percent resistance to the toxic property for around 5 hours, meaning the body would still feel those remaining ten percents of pain. Fortunately, ten percent felt almost like having an irritating migraine and thus, though a bit painful, it posed no threats whatsoever to one''s life, which made it totally safe for intaking the red-crystals. "Finally done!" While stretching his hands, Virus exclaimed abruptly. "Oh! Great! I''ll go prepare some tea for you then!" The golden beauty who nearly never left from her master''s side uttered in happiness. Hearing this, after gazing at a certain bead on the counter briefly, Virus followed. ¡­ FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER As Virus was sitting on the couch sipping from his cup of tea from time to time, the golden beauty questioned, "What are you going to do with those formulas now, master? Still in his relaxed mood, while smelling the fragrant scent of the tea, he replied, "For now, I''m gonna do nothing with the first four formulas, but I have my plans for them for a later time¡­Right now, I''m just going to release the last formula to the world, free of charge. This formula only makes the body develop a 90 percent resistance to the poisonous property of the crystal for 5 hours." After a simple deliberation, understanding her master''s intentions, showing a brilliant smile, the golden beauty mumbled, "I see." 274 To No Longer Remember Oneself Meanwhile, as Virus continued enjoying his cup of tea, in front of him, countless invisible screens blinked in and out of existence. Currently, he was sending the fifth formula to every government center, every media outlet, and every available source that would promptly make it go viral into the world. Simultaneously, the whole world did indeed receive a certain file and a formula together with a clear description of its details which explained how the said formula develops 90 percent resistance to the poisonous trait of the crystal for five hours! Of course, at this particular moment, few believed this too-good-to-be-true formula, calling it fake, but that''ll change in the duration of a few days. ''Hmm, now, I should take a look at the bead and clear my doubts regarding it.'' Just as this notion appeared within his mind, the Legal ugly entered the highest floor before walking to him. "What is it?" Virus asked. "Sir, FBI agent Sara Garner is waiting in the lobby. She says¡­" Next, he explained the purpose of her coming today. After hearing everything, nodding his head, Virus replied, "Is that so? Guide her inside then." "Yes, master." . . . TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE FBI beauty walked into the lobby of 4 Times Square as she requested the receptionist to call Robert James, the Legal ugly. And five minutes later, the Legal ugly indeed did arrive before her. "What''s the occasion agent Garner?" Said the Legal ugly emotionlessly, not beating around the bush at all. "Hello to you too, Robert!" Voiced the FBI beauty in return, meanwhile, she was wondering to herself, ''He''s as ugly as ever. Though I kinda feel mean for admitting this, it''s really hard looking at his face directly.'' "¡­" Seeing him remain silent, FBI beauty could only continue and state the purpose of her visit, "I came to notify CEO Greg of some news, and also discuss a few things regarding the technology we''re going to buy from the company." Of course, by CEO Greg, she meant the CEO ugly, Steven Greg. Gaining a general understanding of her intentions of coming today, the Legal ugly replied, "Mr. CEO isn''t at the office currently¡­ so you can''t see him, but, even if he was here, now that the chairman''s present, he can''t make the calls about the technology exchange between the US government and the company." As she continued to listen, at first, she felt disappointed while she pondered, ''Did I came in vain again?'' But then, when she heard the chairman was present, her eyes began to shine like never before as she made a query in utter joy and elation, "Really? The Chairman''s back? Can I see him then?" "I don''t know about that¡­ but I''ll ask, please wait here." . . . Returning from his master''s floor, walking before her, the Legal ugly relayed the good news, "Please follow me agent Garner, the chairman has agreed to meet you." "Really? Let''s go then!" Exclaimed the FBI beauty in joy and expectation. ¡­ While the two of them were within the elevator, as the Legal ugly pressed the button to the highest floor and entered a certain password, while a bit nervous, the FBI beauty was in deep deliberation, ''I''m finally going to meet the legendary chairman! Hehehe¡­ I wonder what kind of man he is¡­'' At this point, her eyes fell on the ugly features of the person beside her, which made her expression a bit sour while she thought to herself, ''Could it be¡­ just like the CEO and Robert, the chairman is also a hideously ugly man? Oh my God, please no¡­ God¡­ I don''t want to meet another ugly¡­'' As different notions went through her head, a ''Ding'' sound was heard as the door of the elevator started opening automatically. "Follow me." Said the Legal ugly. ¡­ As she proceeded following behind him, wondering what kind of ugly she would meet this time, suddenly, her eyes fell on someone sitting on the couch with his eyes closed. This promptly froze her in her spot as she was immediately breath taken. Looking at the way those still closed devilish eyes, stunning nose, tempting lips, and the eyebrows which were preaching the majesty of the person before her had combined to sculpt such an otherworldly face which could only be described with the single phrase ''Perfection and beyond'', made Sara momentarily no longer remember her own existence as she stood there unmoving, unable to return to reality. Realizing she had stopped all of a sudden, the Legal ugly asked a bit confused, "Why did you stop?" However, no one responded to his inquiry, "Hello? Agent Garner!" He voiced a bit louder. "Uh¡­ yes, I''m coming." It was at this moment when finally she could get a grip and continue following him in front of Virus. "Hello, Mr. Chairman, I''m Agent Garner. It''s so nice meeting you for the first time." Reaching one hand toward the person who still had his eyes closed in that sitting position, the FBI beauty greeted with her eyes sparkling like the starry skies of the night. At last, at this moment, Virus opened his eyes before standing up. Then, also reaching a single hand in response, a half-smile of courtesy appeared on his face as he replied while shaking her hand, "It''s good to see you too, agent Garner. I wasn''t expecting such a beauty to be honest." However, much to his confusion and puzzlement, the person before him seemed totally out of the picture as she stood there frozen still without letting go of his hand. This was because, to Sara, it was as if she was electrocuted once more as she couldn''t take her eyes off of those deep eyes of clear gold and blue. Moreover, there was this small mole under one of his eyes which added such a devilish charm to his whole presence that would definitely attract any being. Not paying this action of her any heed, Virus could only forcefully release his grip as he stated, "Please sit." At last, gathering her wits together, a blush of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks as she sat down, "Uh¡­ ah¡­ yes, thank you." "What would you like to have, miss Garner? Tea? Coffee? Or juice?" Asked Virus. "I''ll have whatever you''ll have." Unconsciously, this was the only response she could come up with. However, after she was done stating her mind, the blush on her face deepened even further. Showing a half-smile, Virus uttered, "Sure¡­ Lil Belle, please bring us two cups of Earl Grey teas." He called out in a louder volume so the golden beauty who was in the kitchen could hear him. "Sure!" Came a sweet voice in response, surprising the FBI beauty as she wondered to herself, ''What a sweet voice¡­'' Exactly one minute later, the golden beauty came bringing two cups of teas with herself as she placed them in front of her master and the FBI beauty before proceeding to sit beside him, her master. Meanwhile, the FBI beauty was a bit astonished by the young femme fatale before her as she thought, ''Wow! What a beauty!'' "So, would you mind elaborating why you''re here today, Agent Garner?" Inquired Virus in a relaxed tone. 275 The New Security Guard "Uh, sure¡­ actually, I''m here today mainly to inform you that if you''re not against it, I''ve been appointed as the permanent connecting bridge between the US government and the Virus Industries." The FBI beauty clarified. "Hmm, sure, why not, but what does that imply?" He asked in return coolly. Nodding her head in satisfaction, the FBI beauty began talking, "It means from now on, whatever the Virus Industries, especially you, need from the government, you can inform me, and I shall pass along the orders to the responsible division immediately." "Also, from now on, if you allow me, I''ve been dispatched to work here part-time with the sole purpose of easing the communication between the government and the company. What do you think about it, Mr. Chairman? If you disagree, I shall leave." As she concluded, she went quiet, anxiously waiting for his response. By part-time, she meant that she would still be an FBI agent as she would continue fulfilling her duties as an agent, but she would also become a part-time employee of Virus Industries. After hearing everything, he silently kept looking at her eyes in a meaningful way as if he could totally see through her. And after a few seconds, he finally responded with an amused grin, "Sure, you can work as our security, if you do your job well, you''ll even have the opportunity of being promoted to the head of security." Then, turning toward the Legal ugly, he proclaimed, "Provide an office to her too¡­ also, clarify the duties and the tasks she needs to carry out later." "Yes, Mr. Chairman." Said the Legal ugly respectfully. He was going to explain everything when they left his master''s presence. "Is there anything else?" Gazing directly into her eyes, he posed another question. Meanwhile, reaching out his hand, he picked his cup of Earl Grey tea before taking a sip. He didn''t forget to enjoy its fragrant scent either. Hearing the questions, while watching his extremely relaxed posture, she answered, "Actually yes¡­ there is another reason as to why I''m here¡­ it''s regarding the technology trade stated within the terms of the contract." "What about it?" Raising an eyebrow, he asked. "You see Mr. Chairman, the higher-ups would like to do some trades and exchanges with the company. If it''s alright with you and you don''t mind, of course." She expounded in an extremely careful manner, trying to avoid the risk of offending him in any way possible per orders. This was due to the terms stated within the contract which was absolutely in favor of party A, the Virus Industries. According to the contract, the Virus Industries practically could trade with the government whenever they felt like and the government wouldn''t be able to raise a single complaint regarding it. That''s why she was ordered to behave in a very cautious and polite manner when making this request. "Hmm¡­ it''s written as one of the terms of our contract, so why would I mind?" Puzzled, Virus muttered. ''Yes!'' Thought the FBI beauty in triumph. "So, does the government have anything in mind they would like to trade with us? Any suggestions I would consider I mean?" He inquired further. Hearing this, the FBI beauty first took a sip from her tea before murmuring in a voice as gentle as possible, "We would love to buy a large quantity of those 500-gigabyte hardware in the form of both small ''USB Flash Drive'' and ''Internal Hard Drive'', plus we want those high-quality cameras which were used to spy on the allied phone companies'' former CEOs. We need them in various sizes which would enable us to install them on different tools and devices." By the end of her sentence, clear expectations could be felt from within her eyes. If the government was successful in making this deal, only getting their hands on these two simple pieces of technology was going to result in a massive leap in a lot of areas for the United States of America. For example, getting their hands on 500-gigabyte hardware was going to expand efficiency in every field possible. They were going to have computers and laptops with much more space in them. Moreover, since the size of the Virus Industries'' hardware was a lot smaller than the current hard drive technology available to mankind, it was going to save a lot of space. There were also numerous other benefits that would follow. In short, it was going to be phenomenal. Furthermore, if they got their hands on the high-quality cameras owned by the Virus company, every field that utilized cameras in any way was going to experience a major leap. This included CCTV and surveillance technology, spying tools, satellite launching technology, possibly drone technology, etc. Of course, according to the contract, the government could only utilize these technologies and tools for their own uses only as clause ''9.3.'' within the contract clearly stated that the government will be allowed to buy technologies from the Virus Industries in massive amounts at eighty percent of the market price for ''Usage-only'' purposes and not for any beneficial, commercial, or market purposes. This ensured that the government could only use the technologies they receive from the Virus company in governmental facilities and organizations alone with no possibility of abuse. While touching his chin in deliberation, Virus answered, "Hmm, alright. That''s doable. Tell your higher-ups to report the number they require. And so, in a year or two at most, after you settle the bills, we will deliver the products. Is that okay?" "Hmm¡­ the time''s a bit¡­ can you please-" She was about to try to negotiate the time of delivery, when Virus interrupted her as he delineated further, "No, we can''t. Since we''re busy with something else at the moment, I think it''s going to take around a year and a half for us to produce those goods¡­" "I see¡­ there''s no helping it then¡­ do you perhaps have a list of technologies the company possesses so I could pick other techs from among-" At this point, briefly putting her sense of shame aside, she was just about to finish asking for something preposterous and absurd, when she was interrupted by a roar of laughter. "Hahaha¡­" Of course, it was Virus who was cackling in laughter. Anyway, after a few seconds of amusement, stopping at last, his expression abruptly turned more serious as he mouthed, "Don''t push your luck." "Yes, sir." A bit scared that he might call off the deal, obeyed the FBI beauty at once. ¡­ After leaving the highest floor of 4 Times Square, the Legal ugly began explaining her duties as a part-time security guard. Her responsibilities ranged from keeping watch at the entrance and dealing with intruders to watching the surveillance cameras all over the building and dealing with suspicious matter surrounding the building. She was also warned so as not to stick her nose where it doesn''t belong to, meaning, she was banned and forbidden from involving herself with the matters of the company and its relevant secrets. This in return resulted in a slight change in the FBI beauty''s expression, though she was quite good at concealing it. 276 The New Professor "Elle, Jess, did you hear the news?" As Ella, Mary, and Jessica were walking toward their next class together, Mary voiced in a thrilled tone, as if she was looking forward to what was going to come. "What?" Ella and Jess asked simultaneously. This made them briefly throw an amused grin at each other. "Our university has a new faculty member¡­ moreover, I heard he''s both young and handsome!" She replied. "Is that so? But what''s that got to do with us?" Said Ella in a disinterested tone. "Of course it does! I heard he''s going to be a prof of our next class!" "Ah¡­ really?" Jessica inquired, clearly interested now. "Yes! I heard he''s a genius! Moreover, he''s a famous super detective in London, according to rumors, apparently, there''s nothing he can''t solve! Not only that, but he also got his Ph.D. in our own major too, from a famous uni in England at that! Don''t forget, he''s also very handsome!" Mary, who had clearly done her research about the said person, stated excitedly. Not stopping there, she proceeded, "It doesn''t end here, not only has he taught in famous universities around the world, but he''s also worked in the Aston Martin Corporation before! That Aston Martin Corporation¡­ this is no joke! He must be filthy rich!" "According to the info I received, he himself voluntarily applied to be a professor in our college, and seeing his application, the university jumped at hiring him without a single blink!" At this point, both Ella and Jessica were interested in the so-called new teacher who was young, genius, handsome, rich, with a great career, and everything a person could ask for. "Wow! How old is he?" Jessica inquired. "Around 29, I heard." Mary answered before continuing, "If I could only have such an amazing boyfriend¡­ ah, how wonderful would that be? Just thinking about it makes me excited¡­ a student and a handsome professor falling in love! This can be almost considered borderline forbidden love!" "Well, I admit¡­ for a professor with such a career, 29''s considered quite young, I wonder why he would choose our college from among so many magnificent universities around the world¡­ oh, it''s our class, let''s go and witness this new professor of ours!" As Jessica was talking, they reached their class. ¡­ "Hello everyone, I''m going to be teaching this class, this semester." At this point, he began writing his name on the whiteboard, "John Lock." "I''m professor John Lock, I hope we have a wonderful class together." "Oh my god¡­ that British accent of his is a killer!" One of the girls in the class murmured with eyes that had long turned into hearts. ¡­ After briefly explaining how the semester was going to be, and how the scores of this class were given, he arrived at another subject, "I''m also going to appoint a representative for our class myself¡­ the representative shall receive a plus in his or her final score since that person''s going to assist me in a lot of areas. Hmm, let''s see¡­" At this point, he was skimming through the list of students, when finally, his eyes stopped on a particular name, "Right, I heard this student was one of the top ones, she shall be this class'' representative then¡­ Ella Dell." After the representative was announced, Jessica, Mary, and Ella''s other friends and best friends looked in her direction with clear envy apparent within their eyes. Mary even murmured, "You lucky bitch." ¡­ As the class went on, Mary couldn''t help but also say, "Wow, he''s really handsome! Wish I was the representative." Hearing this, in clear disdain, Jessica said, "You better study for ten more years before wanting to be our representative." ¡­ At the end of the class, as he dismissed the students, he said, "Everyone''s dismissed¡­ oh, Miss Dell, would you please stay for a while." Hearing this, both Jessica and Mary looked in Ella''s direction in a surprised manner as if their eyes were asking, ''What''s happening?'' Shaking her head, Ella murmured, "I think he''s going to explain my duties as the representative of the class." ¡­ "So, Ella¡­ hmm, I beg for you pardon, but can I call you Ella?" After everyone had left, John said in a calm and British tone. "Sure, professor Lock." Ella replied, a bit confused regarding the situation she was currently in. "Okay then, Ella. So, as the class representative, I''m going to impose a lot of labor on you and you''re going to have a lot of responsibilities such as assisting me with choosing the class teaching materials, passing along each class''s special syllabus to your classmates, assisting me during the class itself, and many other related tasks." Not stopping there at all, he added, "In short, I''m going to make sure you fully deserve that plus mark, is that okay with you, Ella?" After carefully listening to the professor''s words, thinking his words made sense, nodding her head, she agreed, "Of course, professor Lock." "Good¡­ now, since it''s going to be necessary for us to be in a lot of contact for the sake of the class, let''s exchange our contact information, shall we?" He inquired further. Then, as they were adding each other''s number into one another''s Virus Phones, suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, John began talking, "Oh, right! I just recalled something¡­ previously, I went through the scores of all of my top students, and I couldn''t help but notice that only your average score has experienced a fall. Now, I don''t care about the fall, I''m only asking this out of pure concern about you¡­ but, is there a particular reason for this? If it''s not rude of me to inquire of course. Are you, perhaps, going through a rough period of time in your life?" At this point, an invisible sharp glint passed through Detective Lock''s eyes as he stared into Ella''s eyes. Obviously, Ella didn''t notice this. "Uh¡­ that''s¡­" These were the only words Ella could say before awkwardly going silent. And seeing how uncomfortable she was feeling, Detective Lock proclaimed, "It''s alright if you don''t want to talk about it right now, no pressure. Just know this, you can call or come to my room to talk to me whenever, wherever, regardless of it being a matter related to the class or something private¡­ I''m all ears. During the class, I''ll be your professor, but outside the classroom, please treat me as a friend, no need to act respectfully." "Yes, professor Lock." Ella agreed. And hearing this, wearing a smile, Detective Lock couldn''t stop himself from saying, "Please call me John." "Still within the perimeter of the classroom. So¡­ professor Lock it is." Ella replied showing a half-smile. "Haha¡­ you''re right¡­okay, you may leave now." ¡­ The moment he walked out of the faculty building, all of her best friends which consisted of Jessica, Mary, Grace, and Faith joined her as Mary was the first person to open her mouth in a hurry, "Ahh, Elle! What did he say? Tell us everything!" Seeing herself surrounded by her best friends, letting out a helpless sigh, she clarified, "As I said before you guys left, he just wanted to explain my responsibilities as the class representative¡­ nothing else." Catching her words, looking at her face left and right, filled with doubt, Mary uttered, "Really?" "Mary! Why would she lie! Of course that''s what happened!" Faith interrupted their conversation at this point. "Sigh, I just don''t understand why it is always Ella who attracts the handsome and capable men¡­ first, it''s that tycoon Aizen Vee¡­ now, it''s Professor Lock¡­" Helplessly, Mary said. All of Ella''s best friends had long since known that the relationship between her and Aizen wasn''t that good these days. Seeing Mary mentioning Aizen''s name, filled with concern and worry, Grace first looked in Ella''s direction before starting to scold Mary, "Mary! You idiot! Don''t talk about him!" Talking about Virus was a taboo among them at the moment. Then, as if she was just stating the obvious and as if she was trying to improve Ella''s mood, she replied further, "Also! It''s because she''s the most beautiful one among us¡­ Duh! That''s why she attracts handsome men!" "Come on! It''s nothing like that, it''s just being the class representative¡­" Seeing how her best friends were making such a big deal out of this, a bit down now, Ella muttered while her mind was already occupied with the thought of ''Aizen'' once again. 277 The Stalkers In the meantime, while everything was happening at Columbia University, a certain someone was watching everything from the highest floor of 4 Times Square. Nonetheless, he didn''t show any kind of reaction whatsoever as he continued doing whatever he was busy with. Ten hours flew by in an instant as night time arrived. At this moment, Virus walked before his closet as he selected a set of black cotton shirt and white pants. Currently, he was alone, since the golden beauty had gone out to do some groceries because according to her, she was going to cook a Persian recipe called Ghormeh Sabzi for her master tonight. Anyhow, after wearing his clothes, he murmured, "Everyone has to pay for their choices in life." Uttering this, he walked within the elevator as he left toward the lobby. Outside, a black ''Virus Veneno Roadster'' which was called ''Lamborghini Veneno Roadster'' and released in the year 2017 of his past life, the future, was parked as it waited for its owner to come and ride it off to the distant horizon. Clearly, some expert modifications were also done on its external appearance. That was done in order to avoid being suspected of imitating Lamborghini''s general brand concept. Finally, Virus exited the lobby as he began strolling toward his luxurious car. However, just as he was about to arrive before the car, someone obstructed his path. Looking at the face of the person who was obstructing his path, Virus let out a helpless sigh, before mouthing, "What is it, Miss Martin?" Amara, on the other hand, realizing Virus still remembered her, couldn''t help but murmur in an excited yet cute tone, "You still remember me!" Virus, due to his sharp ears, was easily capable of hearing her murmuring as he replied, "How can I not know or forget my stalker?" Hearing this, a deep blush showed up on her face as she stuttered, "S-stalker? How¡­ can you c-call me that! I wasn''t stalking you!" "What else would you call someone who secretly waits for you outside your house most of the time or secretly follows you to your date?" He questioned. Not waiting for his response, however, he answered himself, "I believe the most appropriate term is ''a stalker''." He also couldn''t stop himself from reflecting in an amused manner, ''Ironically though, I''m the biggest stalker in the whole world¡­ so what can I say to her now?'' "Y-you¡­ you¡­ you knew!" Seeing how he was aware of her existence this entire time, the redness on her cheeks deepened even further as she turned as red as an apple, even her ears were flushing now. Frowning, he started talking, "Of course I knew! There is hardly anything I''m not aware of, especially when it comes to my surroundings. But you know what¡­ that''s not the important part, the important part is that you should be thanking me right now for not considering you a dangerous target, because otherwise¡­ you would be dead already." Looking at how he was frowning so deeply as he made a long speech for her, she almost didn''t comprehend the words he had just uttered and instead, she could only think, ''He''s so devilishly handsome when he frowns!'' Simultaneously, she also voiced adorably, "T-thank you¡­" "That was a figure of speech!" Seeing how she was actually thanking him for not killing her, Virus was totally speechless. Afterward, sighing helplessly, he proclaimed while his hand gestured for her to go away, "Just leave¡­ also, stop stalking me everywhere I go or I might just report you to the police next time." Catching him motioning at her to go away, Amara became super anxious as she mouthed in a hurry, "Please¡­ have dinner with me sometime!" Seeing how mentioning the police didn''t deter her at all, Virus was honestly helpless, because, knowing she never did anything with the intention of harming him and even got angry and defended him whenever others suspected him, frankly, he could not bring himself to punish or harm her. However, he didn''t want her around himself either, so he began to wonder, ''Hmm, how should I scare her away so she would leave me alone for good?'' As different conjectures were passing through his head, all of a sudden, a glint momentarily sparkled within his eyes as he thought, ''If she sees what I''m about to do, she would probably never bother me again, right?'' Having already reached a possible solution, with an evil grin, he said, "How about this, you can follow me somewhere." Seeing him smiling like that made Amara feel butterflies in her stomach. Moreover, hearing him actually invite her somewhere, she felt like she was on cloud nine as she responded readily, "Yes! Anywhere! Let''s go!" In the meantime, she was screaming to herself in absolute excitement, ''Yay!!! Yes!!! Finally!!!'' "Hop in, then." He pronounced as he walked toward the driver''s door. "Yes, sir!" Sweetly she said before opening the other door of the car and entering it with no hesitation whatsoever. Soon, a car stormed off into the distant horizon. ¡­ "So¡­ I heard rumors of you breaking up with your girlfriend, is that true?" On the way to their destination, Amara inquired. "Shut up, stalker!" "Yes, sir!" ¡­ "Are we going to a restaurant?" "I said shut up." "Yes, sir!" ¡­ "Is this perhaps a date?" "¡­" Realizing she wasn''t going to shut up, Virus figured it would be better not to say anything in response to her absurd and annoying questions. "Can I assume this is a date then? Since silence implies consent?!" However, she proved him wrong once again as she continued throwing one question after another on the whole way until their destination itself. As they were already at their stop, Virus finally talked, "Get off, we''re at our destination." Then, he started walking toward the door of a house as Amara followed closely behind. Knock! Knock! Knock! "Where is this place?" She queried in a low voice. Nonetheless, not responding to her inquiry at all, he knocked on the door once again. Knock! Knock- "Who is it? I''m coming! Don''t break the door!" It was finally at this point when a feminine voice was heard from within the house as the door was opened wide apart. The moment the door was opened, however, the other person froze in her standing place as she had immediately recognized the person before her. "Are you not going to invite us inside?" He vocalized with a poker face. Coming out of her stupor, stutteringly, she phrased, "P-pl-please¡­ c-come inside." Amara was stunned beside him as she wondered, ''Who is she? Why is she trembling so much?'' Slightly nodding his head, Virus entered the house without any further ado as he just directly walked to the couch and sat on it. Seeing this, Amara also followed after him as she sat at a very close distance from him, acting just like a girlfriend. "First, bring us two cups of teas." Still not showing any emotions whatsoever on his face or his tone, he simply gave an order to the woman who was still standing at a distance from them, as if she was afraid of getting any closer. "Y-ye-yes¡­" Saying this, like she was running away, she fled from the hall. 278 To Unexpectedly Feel Relieved A while later, two cups of teas were brought over by her as she placed them in front of the two of them with slightly shaking hands. After placing the cups before them, however, she stood there without daring to sit anywhere. "Sit down here¡­" After taking a momentary glance at her rather sexy nightwear and short, Virus patted the empty spot on his left side as he signaled her to sit there. "Uh¡­" She seemed truly reluctant, but nevertheless, knowing she didn''t have any other option, she could only agree and start moving awkwardly, "Y-yes." Now, Amara was on his right side while the trembling beauty was on his left. Soon, Virus started drinking his tea without saying anything. Beside him, Amara was also silently taking a sip from her cup while sneaking a peek at Virus'' face from time to time. Also, she was still wondering why they were in this place right now? "Do you know why I''m here?" As he proceeded to drink his tea, Virus inquired calmly. "Uh¡­ n-no?" Her words clearly shaking, the other lady responded. "Is that so?" A chilly glint appeared within his eyes at this point in time as he murmured coldly while an evil smirk was hanging from the corner of his mouth. Then, abruptly grabbing her right hand, he pulled her toward himself rather harshly. As a result, forcing her into lying upside-down, facing the ground, over his knees. "Ahhh¡­" Scared silly by his sudden course of action, she began screaming in horror, while wondering to herself, ''Will he kill me now?'' Not waiting for her scream to stop, however, he grabbed her short''s waistband and forcefully pulled it all the way down! "Wh-what a-are you doing??!" Finally stopping her screams at this point, she asked stutteringly both stunned and anxious about what''s to come. Pffft! On the other side, spewing every bit of tea from her mouth, Amara''s eyeballs almost bulged out of their sockets as she questioned in an immensely astonished tone, "Wh-what''s going on here?!" Now, an enticing stark naked fit ass which had clearly gone through numerous rounds of squatting was displaying itself before him. A full peachy twat was also gazing upon the world from between her legs. Nevertheless, not paying any attention to any of those high-quality sexual body parts or any confused questionings of the high-quality beauties, raising his left hand¡­ Slap~ He spanked her buttocks, brutally! "Ah~" Feeling the first hit, she released a surprised gasp, but unexpectedly, she also realized that she didn''t feel that much pain at all. "I will ask again. Do you know why I''m here?" Finally opening his mouth again, he questioned sternly. "I-I¡­ I d-don''t know!" Clap! "Ah~" Another spank that carried even more force behind it landed on her rear, forcing a whine from her this time as she clearly felt the wave of pain traveling through her back. "Why am I here!" He exclaimed once again, waiting for her response. "I-I¡­ I¡­" Thump~ Another landed, even harder! "Uh~ I-it hurts!" As if she was electrified, a throbbing affliction transmitted through her ass while a strange notion passed through her mind, ''I can still feel his handprint on my ass¡­'' Meanwhile, staring at her ''butt cheeks'', Virus could clearly see the redness in the shape of his handprint on her back which deepened by every single spank! However, much to his surprise, he realized that her ''cheeks'' had also flushed a bit too now¡­ Nevertheless, momentarily throwing this rather odd phenomenon to the back of his mind, knowing it was the time for questioning, he proclaimed, "Why am I here?!" "I-I¡­ because¡­ yo-you''re here to punish me!" She exclaimed in a loud tone. Spank~ The alluring noise of an ass being slapped echoed through the room once again as Virus watched it quiver intensely before going still once more. "Mmhm~" Strangely enough though, only a whimper escaped the spankee''s mouth with no more complaints about the pain this time, ''What''s this strange feeling¡­ I''m definitely in pain¡­ but¡­'' "Of course I''m here to punish you! My question is, why am I here to punish you?" He inquired further in a grave tone. "Be-because¡­ I did something bad!" With the blush on her cheeks intensifying a bit due to her embarrassing words, she replied while looking down. Whip! "Hisss~" An even stronger palm landed, which forced her to twitch and hiss in pain. "What bad did you do!" "I-I¡­ don''t know!" Clap~ "Umm~" At this point, her buttocks had turned very red, but against the redness itself, instead of screaming in even more agony, it seemed she was moaning in pleasure. And of course, at this moment, Virus also figured it out. To be honest, thinking back to everything she had done these past few weeks which might attract this God of Death, she could only think of one thing. But, she wanted to believe that he didn''t know about it since in case he truly didn''t and she revealed it, she might be punished even further. Still, against her rational mind and thinking, after each spank, she had this uncontrollable urge to reveal everything, no matter the consequence. And thus, she didn''t know how long she would last before opening up entirely. CRACK~ After knowing she seemed to be enjoying it now, Virus, of course, intensified the power behind his palm even further. "AH~ That hurt!!!" Abruptly, a whole new sensation of pain spread through her back, adding seasonings of intense agony and affliction to her still persisting tinges of throbbing pleasure and joy, thus, breaking through her last line of defense as she screamed in pain. "What did you do!" He asked loudly while frowning deeply. "I-I¡­ I talked to a detective I''m not familiar with and revealed everything regarding Ella''s case¡­ I-I''m so sorry¡­" Confessed Detective Argent to everything in a single breath. {A/N: If you remember, she talked to Detective Lock.} Virus'' hand was just about to land on her ass once again when it stopped only a few centimeters away from it. Then, while he lightly ran his fingers through the red-parts of her ass which transmitted slight tints of pain on to her skin, he muttered, "Now that wasn''t hard to say, was it?" "I-I¡­" This was all she could utter, before, due to some odd reasons she herself didn''t understand, her eyes started to tear down as she felt relieved. Simultaneously, while continuing to lightly caress the red spots of his handprints, he began whispering into her ears, "From the very beginning, since I didn''t feel like your sin was that grave, I had decided to punish you like that till the moment you admitted to everything yourself, which means, if you had confessed to everything at the very start, none of this would''ve happened in the first place." After being done talking, grabbing her short once again, he pulled it up all the way before forcing her to sit in her previous spot, beside him. ''Now, let''s see if all of these had any effect on you¡­'' Then, remembering the matter of Amara, and the reason why he brought her here in the first place, which was to scare her away with his violent, brutal, barging, and unlawful tendencies, he turned his head toward her direction, wanting to witness her terrified expression, but... 279 Consen ''Now, let''s see if all of these had any effect on you¡­'' Remembering the matter of Amara, and the reason why he brought her here in the first place, which was to scare her away with his violent, brutal, barging, and unlawful tendencies, he turned his head in her direction, wanting to witness her terrified expression, but what he saw only made him feel a bit speechless as he sensed a headache coming his way. Because he saw that she was just silently staring in his direction while her face flushing so deeply that some might even mistake it for a tomato. She seemed to have liked what she just saw! Moreover, she was feeling shy about it! ''What the fuck! What kind of pervert am I dealing with here¡­ she is no normal girl indeed.'' Unconsciously, this thought popped into Virus'' mind in return. During the whole process of spanking, Amara had been entirely silent, as if she wasn''t there at all. And that''s why Virus had assumed that she should''ve been probably frightened out of her wits. And thus, he expected to find a trembling pale Amara beside him when he looked over. But, seeing her crimson face instead, he understood that things had gone totally wrong¡­ very wrong! Nonetheless, after letting out a helpless sigh, he no longer had the energy to deliberate on this matter any further, and instead, turning his head toward Detective Argent, he started phrasing, "Go pray that the sin you''ve committed wasn''t that serious, otherwise, you wouldn''t be in this kind of situation where you escape with such a light punishment. Also, from now on, remember this, every choice you make will have its own appropriate consequences." Finished with his words, Virus knew this retribution had the desirable impact he wanted on Detective Argent. She was sure to be careful in everything she did from now on. So, standing up, he proclaimed, "We''re leaving." . . . After leaving detective Argent''s house, as he was strolling in the direction of his car, he said, "Go back by yourself." Hearing this, promptly, Amara became very anxious while she thought, ''No¡­ I don''t want to separate from you just yet¡­'' Meanwhile, she uttered in a frightened yet pitiful tone, "I don''t know this neighborhood¡­ also, my car''s parked beside your building¡­ please, at least take me till there." Sigh~ Seeing her words indeed made a lot of sense, letting out a sigh, he agreed sternly, "Okay, but you''re leaving as soon as we get there. Understood?" "Yes, sir!" She proclaimed happily, experiencing a 180-degree change in her mood. ¡­ Soon, while they were on their way back, Virus kept smiling lightly as he looked forward to the Ghormeh Sabzi the golden beauty was cooking for him at the moment, however, it was at this point, when suddenly, while looking the other way around which hid her blushing face, Amara uttered, "Are you not going to also punish me for stalking you?" Hearing this, his smile died and the look on his face hardened. "Shut! Up!" He shouted in annoyance. ¡­ "You know you can''t get rid of me like this¡­" She murmured a while later. Seeing no reaction whatsoever in return, she began talking very seriously, "Um, how about this, agree to go on a few dates with me, also, allow me to visit you from time to time. Then, after everything, if in the end, you still did indeed hate me, we''ll either become friends or go our own separate ways, but if you did happen to like me, that''s even better as I''ll become your girlfriend! How does that sound?" "Hahaha, that''s the funniest thing I''ve heard all day long¡­ me liking you? That''ll never happen girl. So stop dreaming before it''s too late." Cracking up in amusement, Virus stated. "Good! Then you have nothing to be afraid of¡­ just accept if you want to get rid of me for good!" She muttered with shining eyes of expectation. "It''s not that I don''t agree to this because I''m afraid or anything like that¡­ it''s just that you''re really annoying to be around with." He mouthed further while wearing a mocking smirk in the corner of his mouth. In response to that, after a momentary period of contemplation, she directly came up with a solution, "Hmm¡­ then¡­ how about this¡­ just tell me when I''m being annoying, and I''ll stop doing whatever that is! I promise¡­ so¡­ pretty please?" "The way you talk is annoying me." Amused, Virus said in return. Putting on a random accent, she vocalized in a comical way, "I beg for your pardon, sir. Zis lady shall change ze way she talks! Is zat alright wis you?" "Hahaha!" Unable to stop himself from falling into a fit of laughter, Virus exclaimed, "You''re such an idiot!" "Hehe! I made you laugh! That means you accepted my offer, right? Right?" She uttered with shining eyes of absolute anticipation. Seeing him say nothing in return even now, beaming from ear to ear, she became certain that he had given his consent already, so, she phrased in a tone filled with disbelief, "Oh my god! You''re still not saying anything! That so means you agree!" "Shut up already if you don''t want me to change my mind." Said Virus with a half-smile while pondering to himself, ''Well, having this kind of girl around might prove to be fun¡­'' Meanwhile, hearing that he might change his mind if she didn''t shut up, saluting like an officer, proclaimed Amara in an absolutely gorgeous manner, "Yes, sir!" . . . After arriving at their destination at last, as he was about to exit his car, Amara murmured, "Can I come too?" "Don''t push your luck girl." Was his response. "Hehe¡­ I''m just joking, I''ll leave for today... anyway, see you later Aizen, bye-bye!" Cheerfully uttering this and saying her farewell, no longer paying any further attention to him, coming off the car, she disappeared in the direction of her own vehicle which was parked at the distance. . . . The moment he entered the highest floor of 4 Times Square, the first thing that he could sense was a very nice aroma which promptly elevated his appetite. Then, his gaze fell upon a dish filled with fragrant rice and a green Ghormeh Sabzi Khoresht which was placed beside it. Walking beside the delicious food, he realized there were meat, beans, some kind of vegetable and some other foodstuff visible within the Khoresht. It was also at this time when the golden beauty who was walking over with some kind of salad in her hands caught the sight of her master as she proclaimed wearing a lovely smile, "Welcome back, master¡­ I''ve been waiting for you, where did you leave off to?" "Hmm, just went off to finish some errands." "Ah¡­ you should''ve waited for me so we could go together then!" Replied the golden beauty in return. Showing her a beguiling smile, he said, "If I did that, I wouldn''t be staring at such a fragrant and delicious food right now, now would I?" Hearing him compliment her food, a sweet feeling rose within Bella''s heart as she became extremely delighted, "Then¡­ dig in master!" Heeding her words, walking beside the dish, he was just about to sit down and start digging in, when suddenly, the golden beauty stopped him in his tracks, "Oh wait! Master! You forgot to wash your hands, you should always wash them after coming from outside¡­ especially when you''re about to eat!" Hearing this, unconsciously, he raised his left hand as he stared at his palm while thinking in an entertained way, ''I better wash the hand that just spanked someone''s bare ass, right?'' 280 A Dream About to Come True After washing his hands, especially his left one, Virus began to devour the food with shining eyes of greed. First, using his spoon, he poured some of his Khoresht on his rice before putting them inside his mouth after a simple blend. The moment he put it within his mouth though, he couldn''t help but exclaim, "Mmm! It''s really delicious! This is something I''ve never tasted before. A new taste!" Then, he also tried it with the salad and the yogurt too, but each time, he couldn''t stop himself from compliment the food over and over again. By the side, the golden beauty kept watching his gratifying expressions which was enjoying the food she had personally cooked while she herself felt so much bliss as a result. This was one of the very few moments when she felt true happiness from her own existence. To watch her master eat her food in joy while complimenting it. Half an hour later, sitting on the couch while rubbing his tummy, Virus said, "That was so yummy! Cook it again some time, Lil Belle." "Sure master!" She replied in utter delight. While showing a content smile on his face, abruptly, Virus proclaimed, "I better reward my Lil Belle for cooking me such amazing food, right?" Hearing this, the golden beauty''s eyes began to shine in anticipation as she inquired, "What reward?" Showing a mysterious smile on his face, as if he was uttering his process of thinking, Virus mouthed, "Hmm¡­ what should I reward my Lil Belle with¡­? Hmm, what would deserve the effort she puts in her cooking all the time¡­??!" "Oh, I got it!" He said as if a light bulb had turned on above his head. "What is it? What is it?" Very curious, the golden beauty asked two times in a row. "Come here¡­ I don''t want anyone hearing this." Virus phrased in a cautious manner as if someone was secretly listening to their conversation. Looking all around, the golden beauty, however, murmured in utter confusion, "But there is no one here to listen¡­" "Just come." Still wearing that mysterious grin of his, Virus insisted. "Ah¡­ alright," Agreeing, the golden beauty rather slowly but surely brought her face closer and closer toward her master''s lips. Looking at her golden eyes, golden hair, and that bewitching face of hers which would leave anyone stunned, he said further, "Closer!" "Ah¡­ alright." Heeding his command, nervously, she brought her ear even closer. Muah! A kiss was planted on her cheeks, very much to her bewilderment. It took her a few seconds to process everything when finally, her face became totally crimson as she backed away in a rush, "M-m-master!" "Hahaha¡­ look at your face!" Muttered Virus while thinking, ''Her external flesh and blood functions so life-like in almost showing every emotion she''s feeling.'' "Why did you do that!" She inquired, still as red as before. In the meantime, the same notion kept repeating itself in her head, ''Oh my god. Master kissed me. Master kissed me. What do I do? What do I do¡­'' "Hmm, that was your reward, Lil Belle. Did you like it?" He asked smilingly. After a while of remaining irresponsive, finally, nodding her head, the golden beauty voiced, "Un¡­" Meanwhile, she thought only to herself, ''I loved it.'' Of course, she wasn''t going to say that out loud. "Haha, look at your dazed face! Is that disappointment? I was just joking, of course, that''s not your real reward. I mean, how could it compare to the significant effort you put in your cooking, right?" Finally, deciding to stop fooling around, Virus admitted. ''But it was totally worth it though¡­'' Deliberated the golden beauty internally. "Come on now¡­ come closer again. I''m gonna tell you what your real reward is now!" Gesturing with his hand, Virus asked her to get near him once more. "Ah¡­ okay." Going along with him again, the golden beauty began moving closer to him. However, this time, much to the amusement of Virus, she did it in a cautious manner. Looking at her captivating face which was getting closer as she vigilantly moved on the couch, an entertained grin appeared on Virus'' face as he finally began whispering into her ear, "Your reward is¡­ a real body." Having clearly discerned his sentence, the golden beauty''s entire body shivered momentarily. After that, she just remained frozen at her current spot right before her master. Seeing her stupefied state, smirking, Virus proclaimed, "Lil Belle? Lil Belle?! Lil Belle!!! Snap out of it, haha!" "Master! Did I hear wrong? Did you just say I''m gonna have a real body?" Her eyes shining like the brightest star in the sky, feeling utter disbelief, the golden beauty queried. "Haha¡­ of course! I wouldn''t dare joke about my Lil Belle''s body!" He confirmed. "I''m gonna have a real body¡­" She mouthed in a low volume as if she was having a hard time believing it herself. "I''m going to have a real body!" She phrased it even louder this time, with some traces of excitement visible within her tone. Then, at this point, getting on the couch, jumping up and down, she began screaming in absolute euphoria, "I''m gonna have a real body! I''m gonna have a real living body! I''m going to be like master! Hehehe¡­" Watching her jumping up and down on the couch in absolute delight, just like a little girl who was getting the toy of her dreams, brought an extremely satisfied smile into Virus'' face as he pondered, ''I swear¡­ this is the most excited I''ve seen her so far!'' Five minutes later, after finally calming down a bit, the golden beauty asked while sitting at a very intimate distance from him, "But master¡­ why are you going to make me a biological body now?" Hearing this, a contemplative shine appeared within Virus'' eyes as he responded, "I told you before, didn''t I? That I would create a true body for you when I''m at the very minimum as strong as you, so I would be capable of my protecting my self at least. Do you remember?" She nodded her head in delight. "And that''s why I''ve decided to create it since I believe I''m no less stronger than you now! Though the reason why I decided to make it ''now'' was due to the food you cooked for me. Otherwise, it might''ve even taken a few more months before I had made up my mind for it." "Really?" She questioned with an intense shimmer passing through her eyes. "Absolutely!" "When are you going to create it then?" She urged impatiently. Virus couldn''t stop another laugh as he replied, "Haha! Don''t be anxious, Lil Belle. It''s too late right now since it''s night time already. But don''t worry, we''ll get to it tomorrow after I check something else first." "Check something else? What?" She beseeched curiously. "Well, if you remember, after studying the Red-Crystals, I was too busy with coming up with those formulas, thus, I didn''t have any time to check the bead in order to clear some of my doubts regarding it. So, I''m gonna do that first, then, we''ll get to the process of forging you a bod! How does that sound?" He asked wearing a grin at the end of his explanations. 281 To Open Ones Eyes "Great!" Said the golden beauty before throwing another question into the conversation, which was something that had befuddled her previously, "Talking about the Red-Crystals and the bead¡­ that makes me remember, now that master is immune to the Red-Crystal''s poisonous attribute, why aren''t you consuming the ones we have at hand? Could it be master didn''t find the time to? Or that you''re going to do it tomorrow?" At this point, a contemplative look showed up on his face before he finally started talking, "Hmm, about that¡­ actually, I''m not going to absorb the flame-substance of any of the crystals. I mean, there are many reasons as to why I shouldn''t be taking it just yet." Puzzled, the golden beauty inquired further, "And what are those?" "First of all, I don''t fully understand the Red-Crystals yet, I don''t even have a definite rough picture of what the Red-Crystals really are¡­ I mean, almost every conclusion I reached about the Red-Crystals are all only hypotheses. So, why would I risk consuming something which I can''t get my head around? Who knows what would happen to those Abnormals taking the Red-Crystals in the near future? Who knows what kind of consequences absorbing them might result in? So, at least, for now, before I''ve seen many human and Abnormal subjects testing them, I''m not gonna take them." Expounding to this point, Virus asked, "Does that make any sense?" "Yes, master! You''re really wise to do that and not be tempted by easily accessible gains at reach." Inclining her head, said the golden beauty, before mouthing, "You said first of all, what are your other reasonings?" "Hmm, the second basis of my rational reasoning is¡­ we haven''t even begun to figure out where these strange creatures who carry the Red-Crystals are coming from! I know they are here, but I still can''t fathom where they are coming from! I''m not even close to unraveling half of its mysteries, so again, why risk it so soon?" After entering a brief moment of silence, at this point, he continued, "And third, I''m not even sure if I do possess a soul or not, to begin with! I mean, even in my previous world, the future, the matter of soul was something humanity always struggled with. They were not certain if those AIs who permanently entered a biological body gained a soul or not! All they could suspect was that they indeed didn''t acquire a soul, but even that was just a hypothesis they came up with due to various rationales such as no AI ever possessing a Trait or whatnot!" "And even if I do happen to have a soul, first, I need to struggle with questions such as, are there any differences between my soul and that of a human being? Or are our souls one and the same?" "And last but not least, let us assume I have a soul for a second. In that situation, since I don''t have a Trait, are there any benefits at all in consuming the flame-like gas in the first place? Or will it be detrimental? The answer to this question will be revealed soon since some of the countries are currently preparing to experiment on normal human beings using the Red-Crystals." Having finished with his rationale, he concluded, "These were my main justifications for not consuming any Red-Crystals up to this moment." "Amazing! Just as I thought, behind Master''s every action, almost always, there''s a logical reasoning to back it up!" She mumbled incredulously. Though, this made Virus wonder while frowning, ''Did she just say ''Almost'' always?'' _____________ The next day, after freshening up and having his breakfast, Virus walked into his personal laboratory. Then, grabbing the bead, for a brief moment, he gazed upon it before putting it within the [Microscope 1.0]. Soon, the 3D image of an awe-inspiring molecular structure of the ''bead'' revealed itself before him. The 3D map of the structure was so beautiful one would feel as if he or she was looking at the infinite space itself. After studying it for a few seconds, with a shimmer of comprehension passing through his eyes, Virus mumbled in some shock, "Just as I doubted. It''s that thing. But how? Could it be that those beasts also exist in the place Red-Crystal creatures are coming from?" The moment Virus had seen the bead for the very first time, due to its similar appearance, he had suspected the bead to be what he already had in mind, but before studying it for himself, he couldn''t be sure previously. Now though, he was certain what he was staring at was the same object. But as to what exactly he was looking at and its specific details, that shall remain for another time. ¡­ Ten minutes later, exiting his laboratory, he told the golden beauty, "Lil Belle, we have some things to talk about. How about you make a cup of Caf¨¦ Latte for me, then we''ll talk." "Sure, master. Did you check what you wanted to know regarding the bead?" She inquired with glimmering eyes of anticipation. "Yes, go bring the Latte first." Virus demanded with a half-smile. "Yes, master." A while later, the golden beauty placed a cup of coffee before Virus. Looking at the frothy coffee on which the shape of a heart was drawn, made an unconscious bright smile creep on his face. Then, politely, he said, "Thanks for the amazing latte, please take a seat." "Sure¡­" The golden beauty did as she was told. Sitting on the couch right beside her master, she patiently anticipated the conversation they were about to have. "So, I''m sure you have some ideas about what I''m going to talk about, is that correct?" Virus phrased calmly. "Yes, we''re going to talk about the matter of my physical body, right?" She replied with a delightful smile. "Exactly. So you see¡­ there are a few drawbacks to having a true physical body. You should hear them out before making your final decision on whether you do indeed want to have a body or not¡­ just listen to my explanations till the very end before making a decision, alright?" By now, he had a very solemn expression as he talked. Feeling the stern aura exuding from her master, the golden beauty''s eyebrows also came closer to each other as she acceded unsmilingly, "I understand, master. Please go on." "Hmm, so, the first disadvantage of moving into a real physique is that it cannot be undone! This is the ultimate rule number one! This means you will be caged within the same body for all eternity! This also implies, if you die, you die for real!" He delineated gravely. According to Virus, this was the most serious disadvantage of moving into a body. The one thing even he wasn''t exempted from. In spite of her already being aware of this unchangeable mortal fact, hearing it from the mouth of her master, in his own unique way of describing the gravity of the situation, sent an uncontrollable chilly shiver down to the golden beauty''s spine! Taking a small sip from his latte, he proceeded, "The second detrimental point is fragility¡­ you need to understand that the human body is really fragile and easily broken apart. No matter how severely you''re injured right now, I can still put you back together, just as new as before¡­ even if your body is entirely incinerated and nothing remains of you anymore, I can still draw the data and your consciousness back and put it into another artificial body, which means, in your current state, you can almost be considered an immortal being in a true sense." Pausing momentarily at this point, he added, "But unfortunately, that will change the second you move into a real biological frame." He went on, "Connoting, the moment you die, if I''m unable to bring you back with the advanced methods I possess, you will die in a true and literal sense, never to exist again. Even if I copy your current data and place it into another body after your death, that still wouldn''t be the current you! It''ll only be another you, who is not really ''you''. In a more simple term, a ''hard copy'' at its best." Once again, she felt her preconception of possessing a real corporeal body shatter apart as she realized entering into a body wasn''t all that sunshine and rainbows. 282 Independent Consciousness "Another negative impact which doesn''t apply to me is that your intellect, intelligence quotient, perception, perception of time, and your overall mental capabilities will experience a noticeable fall compared to your current one. Of course, you''d still be far above normal human beings, but compared to your current overpowered super capabilities, it''ll be a far cry." Adding another reason into the fray, Virus clarified helplessly. "Eh¡­ why doesn''t it apply to master but applies to me?" Confused and even somewhat disappointed by this particular point which she had never known before, the golden beauty questioned. "Hmm, there are many specific and detailed rational reasons behind this particular problem, but in short, if I wanna explain it in simple terms, I would say it''s because you''re not as advanced as I am. One of the main dissimilarities between the two of us, before I had even entered my body, was that I could exist on my own independently, I didn''t need an artificial body as a means for me to function. Even without a body, in pure space, without any kind of wave present anywhere, I could still move around as a unique ''independent entity'' who could think and make decisions for itself. You, on the other hand, my dear, do not have a separate and ''independent consciousness'' that could function without needing anything. In other words, you have a ''dependant consciousness'', which requires certain criteria to be fulfilled for it to function. Your artificial body fulfills these criteria¡­ also, this is why you were truly unconscious when your artificial body was damaged at the time we were returning from the Cultivation Earth." Remembering a specific incident that had taken place on the Cultivation Earth, briefly, a cold glint sparkled within Virus'' eyes before disappearing entirely. Noticing her saddened and even disheartened eyes, not stopping there, he continued in a powerless tone, "My dear, if I could, believe me¡­ I would''ve made an ''independent consciousness'' for you too from the very beginning, or I would''ve upgraded it to the level of my own consciousness right now¡­ but that''s impossible even for me." Hearing up to this point confounded the golden beauty as she asked in total stupefaction, "Eh¡­? Even master can''t? Why? Then¡­ who possibly can?" After hearing about these complex questions, a deep and incomprehensible light began to shine within Virus'' eyes. A few seconds passed in absolute silence when at last, he began to talk in a way one would suspect he was conversing with himself rather than clarifying her doubts, "Even in my old world, the future I mean, the number of people who could make an ''independent consciousness'' such as mine were probably countable by two hands alone." For what felt like a few moments, he paused once again before continuing, "Those unknown people, who were all probably like the ''oldest ancestors'' or even ''the founders'' of the civilization of my previous world were the true pillars of my technological Earth. I mean, as far as I''m aware of, only two entities such as me existed even in my former world, one was me, and the other one was called the [Main AI]. The Artificial Intelligence who came and replaced me after my rebel." "And for some undisclosed and untold reasons, even the only two [Main AIs] who practically had access to every knowledge in the world were forbidden from learning about ''How to Make an [Independent Consciousness]''. Thus, my point is, only those mysterious people knew the recipe or the blueprint for making an entity such as me. And they were¡­ my creators..." Sinking into a deep state of contemplation as his mind traveled back to his old world, Virus remained silent for an entire two minutes. Even the golden beauty kept her dumbfounded expression for these two minutes as she was utterly stupefied! Finally, as if he had just returned from a very long journey that took at least ages, he went on, "They had numerous secrets which weren''t recorded anywhere, one of them being the method for creating an ''Independent Consciousness''. I mean, even their existence itself was left unrecorded anywhere, let alone their secrets." Completely snapping back to his usual self at this moment, he added, "Anyway, even ''I'' barely knew anything regarding them as most of the things I said like ''the oldest ancestors'' or ''the founders'' were also just my long shot guesses, now let''s not talk about anything else! They were simply considered one of the few species of people who could be called enigmatic to no ends! And as far as I know, they existed far before the dawn of my own existence. Now I shall leave the rest to your imagination." "Well, that was the main reason why I can''t upgrade you and just who exactly in the world can do that or create entities like me. I hope that answers your doubts." He concluded with an ultimate sentence that closed the conversation on the topic entirely. In the meantime, the golden beauty was still in that bewildered state as she never expected anything like that at all. "Lil Belle!" He said rather loudly, forcefully making her snap back to reality. "Yes, master¡­ I-I understand." She uttered while looking at her master in awe and incredulity as she had finally gotten a rough picture of just what kind of special existence her master was. "Alright, as I was saying, I didn''t face any decrease in my AI or mental capabilities because even now, I''m probably existing partly independently within my own brain¡­ however, even that''s just a perhaps! Since I don''t really understand my own existence that well to begin with, I''m not quite certain." "But I do fully comprehend your existence and I''ve seen many AIs of your grade entering biological bodies. And the one single thing they all shared was a noticeable decrease in their AI and mental capabilities since they were literally attaching their own ''Dependant Consciousness''s'' to a human brain. I''m sure you can grasp that this happens because your brain becomes the means for your ''Dependant Consciousness'' to function. Of course, the higher the quality of the brain, the less of a decrease you will experience." Finished with his elaboration, Virus briefly went quiet while staring at the golden beauty''s deliberating face. "I see¡­ so that''s why¡­" She murmured after digesting everything before inquiring further, "Is there anything else I need to know about entering a body, master?" After a brief moment of deliberation, Virus responded calmly, "Hmm, almost no. Those three things were the most essential drawbacks you needed to be aware of. Of course, there are other minor disadvantages too, for example, you''ll be just as weak as a normal human being unless you gradually get stronger through cultivation or other special means. There is also the problem of having a mortal lifespan, but that''s also easily solvable with a simple Immortality Serum. Though the Immortality Serum only keeps you young forever, it doesn''t make you stronger in any way, meaning you could still be killed as you''d remain as fragile as ever." "Now¡­ ruminate on everything I just said with everything you''ve got! Consider every aspect and come to a decision that you will never regret¡­ because¡­ this is possibly the most critical and pivotal decision you''ll make in your entire life!" Taking on a very solemn expression, Virus asked ''the'' question, "Do you really want to enter a true biological human body?" 283 Happy Misunderstandings Listening to him, the golden beauty indeed did sink into deep contemplation. She began considering every aspect as she calculated many things such as the chances she would get mortally wounded in the future, the possibility of her death, and many other points that needed to be taken into account. However, in the end, she realized, with her enigmatic master beside him, she couldn''t get any accurate number for any of her calculations. Her master was just too big of a variable. Nonetheless, what she understood was that the possibility of something bad happening to her as long as Virus was by her side was very unlikely. Moreover, she felt like Virus would be greatly disappointed in her if she did indeed cower away from such tribulation in her life. Being the rational Artificial Intelligence she was, in case Virus didn''t exist, she would''ve never even considered the choice of whether to enter a body or not. But now that she had the biggest and the most solid wall behind herself to lean on, she felt like there wasn''t much to consider at all. However, if there was one problem that greatly bothered her, it was the fact that she would be of very little assistance to him from now on. She wouldn''t be strong enough to fight by his side, she also wouldn''t be smart enough to support him in vital matters. Although that would undergo a change as she got stronger and more powerful. At this point, as she believed she had considered nearly every pro and con that would follow after entering a body, a great glimmer of determination began to shine within her entrancing eyes as she proclaimed, "I''ve made a decision master!" "What is it? Just remember, no matter what you choose, I''ll always support your decision." Voiced Virus wearing an assuring smile. Catching this warm phrase, the golden beauty felt like her artificial iron-hard heart had just melted away as she replied resolutely, "I still choose to enter a body!" "Are you sure?" "Yes! I want to possess a real physique and then I want to get stronger as soon as possible so I would be able to help you once again. No¡­ I''m not just going to be helpful this time¡­ I want to be strong enough to be able to protect you from all danger!" She uttered in such a resolve that surprised even Virus a little bit. "Hahaha¡­ good!" He cracked up in entertainment feeling her unwavering determination. So, knowing her final decision, he started to explain, "Actually¡­ entering a body isn''t as bad as you think with me by your side. I was just making them sound so bad in order to test your resolve." He went on, "First of all, I would never let you die. Secondly, I won''t let you get injured that easily, and even if you do get wounded in any way, I''ll do my best to heal you. Moreover, as you cultivate and get stronger, those disadvantages will also disappear slowly as you will become as powerful as you are right now¡­ no, you will even exceed your current strength easily." After a short silence, he added further, "Then comes the third and last main disadvantage¡­ which is a decrease in your AI and mental capabilities¡­ hmm, to be honest, this is just a temporary setback for exceptional AI cultivators, since the more you progress in your cultivation, the higher the capacity and capabilities of your brain increases, meaning, it''s only a matter of time before your brain, which is a medium for your ''Dependant Consciousness'' to function, will advance to the same level as your true AI capabilities¡­ no, if you become even stronger, I promise you will surpass even your current AI and mental competency!" By now, an even more intense fire of great determination was burning within her eyes as she gathered every point of will power she had and decided to commit all of them on this great resolution of hers. "Yes, master!" She exclaimed loudly. Nodding his head in content, he started to mutter, "Okay then! Now that everything''s settled¡­ let us get to the next phase of our conversation." "What we''re going to talk about now is extremely crucial since it has to do with what kind of body you will choose¡­ so, again¡­ think very hard before reaching a final decision, understood?" He asked grimly. Without any hesitation, she replied firmly, "Yes!" Drinking the rest of his latte, he continued, "Great! Then I''ll directly transmit a few of the suitable ones among the top types of bodies the people of my ex-world, the future, were capable of getting their hands on. But keep in mind that these physiques were just the highest-grade my past world''s civilization was able to get its hands on. This doesn''t mean they were indeed the most top-notch bodies in the entire Cultivation Multiverse of Qi since I doubt they were!" At this point, letting out a sigh, he thought to himself, ''Sigh¡­ this is because, although we kind of won the invasion, there were still many things that remained a complete mystery to us.'' "Hmm¡­ master?" A bit doubtful, the golden beauty opened her mouth. "What is it?" "Didn''t you say before that your own corporeal body which you got a sample of with great difficulty was probably one of the best-grade bodies in the world? So¡­ why not just make my body like yours, too?" Having finished her question, she patiently waited for his clarifying response. Listening to her question though, an evil grin crept on Virus'' face as he knew just what to say in return, "Oho¡­ does our Lil Belle really wants to be her master''s true biological sister, connected by blood?" Thunderstruck, the golden beauty''s face went a bit pale as she exclaimed repetitively, "No, no, no, no¡­ I don''t want a body like master''s! I was just kidding, I hate master''s body, to be honest! please anything but that." Catching her unintentional cruel words, a very grim yet comical expression appeared on Virus'' face as he muttered, "You¡­ hate¡­ my¡­ body?" Finally comprehending what nonsense she had just spouted out of pure anxiety, she became double-thunderstruck, as she tried correcting it in a hurry, "No, no, no¡­ I was just joking! I actually love master''s body!" Yet again, putting on an even more solemn face in an absolutely humorous way, Virus murmured word by word, "You¡­ love¡­ my¡­ body?" Seeing she was misunderstood once again, she no longer knew what to say, as she just stuttered around, "I-I¡­ y-you¡­ you¡­ w-we¡­ n-no!... I¡­" Watching her adorable expression which appeared to have been greatly wronged, Virus no longer could bring himself to tease her as he burst out into loud laughter, "Hahaha¡­ I¡­ I was just kidding, hahaha¡­ look at your face! Of course I understood what you meant both times!" Finally realizing she was being played with this whole time, her face became totally red due to anger as she screamed in what could only be described as lovely, "Maaasteeer!!!" "Hahaha¡­ sorry, sorry¡­" Apologizing, Virus went on, "Actually, the real reason why I''m not giving you my body¡­" Reaching this point, catching the unintentional hidden meaning behind his own words which could be misunderstood easily, and then noticing the slight blush on the golden beauty''s face, he fell into another peal of laughter, "Hahaha¡­" The golden beauty too couldn''t stop herself at this point as she began to giggle appealingly, "Hehe¡­" 284 Potential Grading System For Creatures After a while of joking around and laughing, Virus finally put on his serious face once again as he continued, "For real though, the reason why I''m not putting the same DNA Core as myself in your body is that the DNA Core which I put inside myself was more suitable for males. If I happened to put it in your body, although its PERFECT 100 Percent Photographic Memory would be extremely helpful for restoring a large extent of your AI competencies, when it comes to the matter of cultivation, instead of assisting you, it''d act more as a hindrance for your progress as it will slow your cultivation speed to no ends. Do you understand?" "Oh¡­ so that''s why master didn''t offer it to me in the first place¡­ I understand, please go on." She proclaimed in total understanding. Meanwhile, internally, relieved, she was pondering to herself, ''Thank god it wasn''t suitable¡­ or I might''ve just become master''s real biological sister!'' After that, Virus continued, "Alright, now, I''ll send over a few DNA Cores that you can choose for your own physique, think very deeply about it and then select with utmost care." "By the way, the first two DNA Cores I''ll be displaying are just examples for you to better comprehend the list first. Also, I''ll explain each of the samples as I sent them." "Yes, master." The moment she agreed, two sets of data were sent into her head. ¡º 1. The Burning Sparrow Bloodline DNA Core: Third-grade bloodline, 21 percent purity.¡» ¡º 2. Sirin Bloodline DNA Core: [Unknown-grade], not enough data, do not possess the DNA Core for implementing this bloodline into the body.¡» After these two notions popped into the golden beauty''s head, Virus immediately began clarifying them, "I''m sure you remember these two bloodlines." Looking at her face and indeed spotting the comprehension within her eyes, he proceeded, "Yes, these are the bloodlines we chanced upon in the Cultivation Earth at the Martial Contest¡­ the first one''s the DNA Core of the Burning Sparrow bloodline. If you recall clearly, some girl called Hadelia possessed this bloodline." "You might ask what''s a DNA Core? Well, it''s the DNA information and data of a specific bloodline or another major characteristic of the body." "Anyway, if I put that DNA core/information in your body, your body will possess the bloodline of the Burning Sparrow with 21 percent purity. Now, unlike the next option which we will get to soon, I do indeed happen to possess the DNA Core of this bloodline, though my DNA Core only gives you 21 percent bloodline purity since unfortunately, the testing subject we gathered this DNA Core from only had around 21 percent purity in his/her Burning Sparrow bloodline. If that person had for example 30 percent purity in his/her bloodline, implementing the DNA core into your body would''ve also resulted in you having 30 percent purity of that bloodline. Basically, it''s like copy-pasting. Are you clearly grasping my elaboration, Lil Belle?" "Crystal clear, master¡­ but, is 21 percent really that little?" Totally following his words, the golden beauty nodded her head before pointing out something which was confusing her. "Hmm¡­ actually, no, it''s not little at all. According to my estimations, that Hadelia girl probably had around four percent bloodline purity and she was still considered a genius in the Sky Silver Sect. Now, my DNA Core gives 21 percent Burning Sparrow Bloodline purity, which is more than five times of hers! By this fact alone you could only imagine what kind of a genius you would be considered if you went to the Cultivation Earth with 21 percent Burning Sparrow Bloodline, right?" Concluded Virus, showing a charming smile. "Oh, so it''s like that, I understand, please go on, master." "Good! Now, although this Burning Sparrow bloodline grants you a rather decent purity, you''re not going to be using it." Virus uttered before going silent, waiting for the golden beauty''s response. And just as expected, her murmur which was shrouded in doubt was heard soon, "Eh¡­ why is that master? Didn''t you say the purity is five times of hers? That sounds quite amazing to me¡­" "Don''t forget this¡­" Stopping shortly, he added, "It''s not about the purity, it''s about the grade!" "Usually, based upon their maximum potential of growth and overall strength, creatures get separated into different grades. And this grading system, from strongest to weakest, respectively, is ¡ª [Legendary-grade], [King-grade], [Beast-grade], [First-grade], [Second-grade], [Third-grade], and so on!" After a momentary pause at this point, he added further, "And as you can see within the data I just sent you, the Burning Sparrow is a creature with a ''Third-grade'' potential, that also means it''s just a ''Third-grade'' bloodline! And to me, a Third-grade bloodline, no matter how pure, is still trash! Utter trash! That''s why there is no way we''re gonna put such a trashy and Third-grade bloodline within my Lil Belle." Getting a full grasp of the picture, the golden beauty stated, "I see¡­ I heard the true ancestor of the Burning Sparrow reaches back to the legendary creature, the Phoenix itself, so I thought it was something amazing¡­ but it appears to be nothing significant or worth mentioning." Nodding in agreement, Virus proceeded, "Exactly¡­ let me tell you, the Burning Sparrow carries an extremely thin bloodline of the phoenix which had thinned out almost to nothing throughout countless generations¡­ so it doesn''t even deserve to be called a descendant of the Phoenix anymore!" "In any case, let''s get to the next one, the Sirin Bloodline DNA Core. If my guess is correct, if you carry this bloodline, as you cultivate, you''d have the power of influencing your enemies'' emotions and controlling their actions to some extent. This bloodline was possessed by that wanton woman, Rossefin. Unfortunately, however, I don''t really have the DNA Core of this bloodline, neither am I aware of its specific grade¡­ but since it''s something that existed on the Cultivation Earth, it should be around a ''Third-grade'' bloodline, nothing impressive. To be honest, I just added it to fray so you would get familiar with DNA Core and the whole system." "But now that you''re familiar enough to make a decision, let''s get to the real ones. Oh, right, keep in mind that I''m only going to show you the DNA cores that are absolutely suitable for you¡­ now, some of them might be of the highest grade I have access to while some might not." A moment later, new data and information invaded the golden beauty''s brain. ¡º 3. Winged-Lion Bloodline DNA Core: King-grade bloodline, 16 percent purity.¡» The moment these words popped into her consciousness, the golden beauty''s eyes began to shine intensely as she exclaimed in utter excitement, "Woahh!!! It''s a King-grade bloodline! It''s not a Second-grade, not a First-grade, not even a Beast-grade, but a King-grade!!! Oh my god¡­ it has even 16 percent purity!!!" "Hahaha¡­ Lil Belle, it''s too soon for you to be excited just yet¡­ anyhow, this is the DNA Core we copied from a human who carried the bloodline of a King-grade Winged-Lion with 16 percent purity! With this alone, I bet you would even have the potential to eventually stand above everyone else on the Cultivation Earth as their leader¡­!" He said casually. 285 Deviant Vajra ¡º4. Deviant Vajra Meridians DNA Core: ¡» ¡º Descriptions: A miraculous type of meridian/Qi passage/Dark Energy Passage set which is believed to be near indestructible against any kind of energy storming within the meridians itself. This type of Meridian appears very rarely among the cultivators. All of the carriers of this type of meridian, if they are successful in finding a suitable Cultivation Technique and unless they face premature death, grow up to be exceptional geniuses and experts. The Deviant Vajra Meridians also grants the person with seven pairs of meridians (14 meridians) instead of six pairs (12). There are other features to this set of meridians which will be discovered as the cultivation state increases. Further Explanation: Meridians are used for circulating the energy and cultivation within the body. Or in another word, they are the energy channels of the physique.¡» "Hmm? Deviant Vajra ''Meridians''? Not a bloodline?" Not expecting this, voiced the golden beauty surprised. Then, looking at her master''s face, she proclaimed, "Master¡­ wasn''t I gonna choose from among different types of bloodlines? What''s with this one?" Shaking his head in response, Virus elaborated, "Who said only bloodlines were going to be among your options? I said a variety of physiques and bodies. And bloodlines aren''t the only great characteristic that can be found in the vast multiverse of cultivation. There are many types of strange or heavenly bodies everywhere as you can find numerous stunning objects and subjects in our infinite world." "Uh, that makes me wonder¡­ if it''s not a bloodline this time and a meridian instead, can''t I just choose both, I mean one bloodline and one meridian for my energy channels? I would be so overpowered like that!" She exclaimed with shining eyes of elation. "Haha¡­ if only it was that easy¡­" Laughing out loud, Virus muttered. "What does master mean?" "You see¡­ a DNA Core is a very complicated matter as nearly every single DNA Core almost always affects every single genetic information within the body in some way, minor or major¡­ meaning, if I place two DNA Cores inside a single body, they''ll start to clash and fight as they''ll begin to override and modify one another ¡­ and that''s very dangerous since it leads to the eventual death of the body more than 99 percent of the times or that it neutralizes both DNA Cores¡­ of course, sometimes, by some great miracle, they do work together and possibly, even result in some kind of mutation in one another which makes the body even more overpowered¡­ but that''s too rare to the point of it never happening." Explaining as simply as he could, Virus went quite. "Oh¡­ I see, but¡­ master, didn''t you adjust your appearance when you were creating your own body? Doesn''t each of those adjustments to any part of the body also count as a DNA Core?" Wanting to clarify another doubt of hers, the golden beauty asked. "Not at all¡­ modifying and changing appearances, sex, size, etc. Those are already explored or in another term, charted territories! I know exactly what causes a change in what." After a momentary silence of deliberation, he continued, "Hmm, let me explain it in a more simplified way¡­ you see, first, I input a certain DNA Core within a body, correspondingly, that DNA Core becomes the very foundation of that body itself. Then, I start targeting specific genetic pieces of information for certain modifications or adjustments in particular parts of the body, such as the color of the eyes, the size of the nose, heights, etc. all of which I comprehend fully. I make these changes since I know they won''t affect the DNA Core since adjusting the way you look doesn''t affect the overall function of the DNA Core in any way." "However, if I try to put two DNA Cores, both of which are all-encompassing, within a single body, as they both try to become the very foundation itself since they have a slight saying in every genetic information, they start an all-round battle with each other as they clash intensely." He said as he was finished with his description. Nevertheless, just to make the picture within her mind as clear as possible, he tried to conclude it as briefly and uncomplicated as possible, "Anyway, in short, since the extent of the DNA Cores is all-encompassing, you can''t put two within one body. Just like how you can''t build two foundations for a single building but you can still design the interior or exterior of the building later in whatever way you like. The ''foundation'' here is the DNA Core while the ''preferable design'' of the interior or exterior is the adjustments and modifications I make to appearance or whatnot." "Hmm, I understand, master¡­ but are there really no methods of putting two DNA Cores within a single body without them harming and interfering with one another? Or at least to force them to only make positive changes to one another? I mean, nothing''s impossible, right? Just like the word impossible itself. We just haven''t discovered the way of seeing it as possible¡­" Stated the golden beauty with some pity apparent within her tone. She couldn''t help but wonder how amazing it would''ve been if her master could just force two or more DNA Cores to function in harmony or something similar. "Well¡­" Hearing this, for a brief moment, Virus'' mind flashed back to the time when he was just about to create his own body. Immediately, coming back, his eyes began to shine with a mysterious glint in them, but he didn''t say anything. Catching this change, her eyebrows jumped as she inquired a bit expectantly, "What happened, master? What was that look just now? Were you really able to think of something? For real?" However, not providing a clear reply as to whether he had indeed thought of something or not, he proceeded, "Let''s talk about every suitable physique type I have to offer¡­ we''ll talk more on the subject afterward." Shaking her head, she wondered helplessly, ''Again¡­ Master and his tendency to keep interesting things to himself until the very end!'' While externally, she voiced, "Alright¡­ so, what''s so great about this Deviant Vajra Meridians?" Grabbing his chin, Virus started, "Well, it''s exactly as it''s said in the description. But in summary, Deviant Vajra Meridians have two main features which make it exceptional. First, it is the fact that it has one more pair of meridians, which basically results in the cultivation progressing much faster if the carrier finds an appropriate Cultivation Technique for it¡­ of course, this is just one benefit of having one more pair of meridians." "Secondly, it is the fact that this kind of meridian set is considered nearly indestructible against any kind of energy storming and forceful energy circulation by the cultivator itself¡­ of course, it''s only ''nearly'' indestructible and that ''just'' through the circulation of energy within the meridians itself! But nevertheless, this fact alone almost always guarantees a deeper foundation for the cultivator." He mouthed calmly. "Deeper foundation? What''s that any good for?" She could understand the notion of ''Faster cultivation'', but she didn''t know much about the benefits of the concept of a deeper foundation yet. Seeing the confusion visible within her eyes, Virus clarified immediately, "Well¡­ there are many advantages of having a deeper cultivation state, but the overall benefit is the fact that you would be capable of treading a longer path in your Dao of Cultivation. There are other positive points too¡­ but you''ll know about them yourself as you cultivate." After hearing the clarification and the two main benefits of this set of exceptional meridians, the golden beauty''s eyes began to shine brilliantly as she murmured, "Faster cultivation¡­ better foundation¡­ amazing¡­" 286 The Fifth Meanwhile, in the outside world, every media outlet and every government facility was going wild over a mind-blowing piece of news that was just released by the Korean Government. In this particular announcement, the Korean government revealed that it had decided to experiment and try the strange formula which had mysteriously gone viral a few days ago¡­ and shockingly, they realized it did indeed work! ¡­ "According to the news we received, after swallowing the pill that was created as a result of the said formula, the intaker amazingly developed a 90 percent resistance to the toxicity of the red-crystals!" "Then, as the Abnormal subject placed the crystal within his mouth and kept it inside without swallowing it, the flame-like red substance within the crystal was finally absorbed in around ten minutes! Moreover, the Abnormal''s Trait also experienced a slight increase in power! The only downside was that the consumer still experienced a slight degree of pain, though it''s entirely tolerable and safe now unlike before!" Voiced a Korean newscaster toward the cameras before adding further, "In order to test the duration of the pill and making sure it took effect just as described in the formula, the government tried it every hour, and finally realized that, after five hours, its wonderous effect indeed disappeared." . . . The front page title of many newspapers in the world like The China Daily, The Guardian, The Times of India, The Washington Post, etc. were also about the same subject. For example, The New York Times wrote, ''A New Dawn For Humanity: The Discovery of a Safe Formula for Absorbing The Red-Crystals!''. Or that the China Daily posted, ''Resistance Ensured: The New Pill Enables The Abnormals to Safely Absorb The Stored Energy Within the Red-Crystal!'' However, there were also a few who typed a certain inquiry in their headline. For instance, The Washington Post wrote, ''Where Did This Shocking Formula Come From?'' All of these instantly sent several tremors all around Earth as every government began its production and studies on the fascinating formula in a rush. Soon, without anyone knowing who started it first, automatically, everyone started calling it the ''Resistance Pill''. It was as if every single person had come to a prior agreement on what to call it. Because whoever was asked why he called it the ''Resistance Pill'', that person would respond with, "Because this pill is probably our only hope of ''Resistance'' against the invading monsters! Moreover, it makes the consumer develop a temporary ''Resistance'' to the toxicity of the crystal, right? So what better name is there for it?" Right now, regarding the production of this miraculous pill formula, most private facilities and corporations were in a wait and see state. Since the overall number of Abnormals around the world were rather low, no matter how they calculated, they could infer no possibility of profiting from this great opportunity. Furthermore, since all governments were already preparing to produce the ''Resistance Pills'', they were most likely to cover all the demands on the market and leave no pieces of the pie for them. Of course, although they had no intention of producing Resistance Pills, they still set their experiments and studies on the said formula in motion, hoping to reach a great breakthrough in similar matters. At the same time, normal netizens and even Abnormal netizens were talking on the same subject over the internet. "Oh my freaking god, this ''Resistance Pill'' changes everything!" Uttered a netizen called PenDrive. He was an all-timer online netizen who could be spotted most of the time. Another user muttered in awe, "I know right? A new path of getting stronger has been unlocked for humanity! Although it''s just a path for Abnormals, but still¡­ wow!" "Hmm¡­ but where did this formula come from? Someone must''ve invented it, right? But who? And why would the said person hide it and just release it to the world free of charge?" Many were also feeling suspicious about this whole situation as they asked themselves, ''What''s the catch?'' "@AboveUser No idea¡­ the only possible response I can think of is that it''s either one of the top corporations in the field of medicine or the ''Virus Industries''! But if it was indeed one of them, why wouldn''t they just reveal the fact that it was they who spread it to the world in the first place?" "That''s unlikely. But if it''s truly the Virus Industries¡­ I can understand! That company''s the true savior of mankind! I mean, they are selling the temporary cure to the Mutated HIV without any profit in return! And that''s why only if it''s truly them would I believe there''s no catch in return for all of this!" Voiced another smart-arse. Rather dispiritedly, one user opened up, "Abnormals, otherworldly rifts, and gigantic monsters which has probably gone through many mutations! I just feel so much disbelief toward everything now¡­ my sense of logic has been shattered apart so badly that almost every day¡­ I keep wondering if I still live in the real world anymore? And¡­ I really miss the normal safe days with no world-level drama." "In response to the above user, I know what you''re talking about mate. To me, everything before the appearance of the Rifts and the Mutated HIV feels just like a dream too. But unfortunately, this is the new normal now. So, let me give you a piece of advice and say¡­ get used to it before it knocks you down. You must adjust to the flow before the flow drowns you showing no mercy!" "First of all, let me begin by saying that I''m an Abnormal. Secondly, I don''t think all these changes are that bad! Before, we had to hide our entire lives! But now, we finally have the opportunity to step into the light and be the true savior of mankind! I''m just so excited about absorbing some Red-Crystals now! The thought of just how much more powerful I could get by these precious crystals makes me excited to no ends¡­ I mean, just think about it, I could even get as strong as those main characters in certain novels!" Wrote one Abnormal. Prior to the revelation of the Red-Crystals, he had always felt a limit to his Trait as it never got any stronger even with a lot of practice. The only aspect that improved with training was his control over his trait, but that didn''t make him that stronger either. "Haha¡­ keep dreaming fool! Main character my ass, you''re not even a distant side character! I''m sorry to say this, but I''m sure your government won''t waste a single Red-Crystal on you! And I''m even more confident that they''ve already made a long list of who they''re gonna give the Red-Crystals to¡­ and none of them shall be you." Said another one in a mocking tone. He was someone who was very angry at the unfairness of this world as he always wondered to himself, ''Why don''t I have a Trait too?'' "Don''t be rude bro, I''m pretty certain that Abnormal can volunteer to fight at the incoming breakouts! And if he can kill one or two of those monsters, his government might hand one of the Red-Crystals over him." Voiced another one. Reading their conversation up to this point, another Abnormal proclaimed, "Ah¡­ to be honest, I''m afraid of fighting those scary monsters¡­ I mean, let''s get real, this is no novel, and I''m no main character who would come out of every fight alive! So¡­ no thanks!" ____________ BACK TO VIRUS AND THE GOLDEN BEAUTY The moment Virus said he was going to transmit the next DNA Core data, it directly popped into her head. ¡º 5. Fire Phoenix Bloodline DNA Core: Legendary-grade bloodline, Purity¡ª Five drops of Fire Phoenix Blood.¡» The moment these data showed up within her head, her eyes went wide open as she froze entirely. She felt like her entire world-view had just turned completely upside-down. She was very astounded indeed. Seeing her bedazzled expression, Virus couldn''t help but grin in amusement as he exclaimed while snapping his fingers, "Lil Belle? Lil Belle! Snap out of it!" "Ah, yes¡­ Master?!? Did I receive the correct information just now? Did I see wrong? Or¡­ could it be you''re joking around again?" Full of disbelief, the golden beauty queried. Powerlessly sighing in return, Virus replied, "I wouldn''t joke around in this kind of situation!" Weirdly staring at his charming eyes, she thought, ''Yeah, right! Then who was the person that was teasing me just a few minutes ago?'' 287 The First Trip "Anyway, it''s indeed the legendary Fire Phoenix''s DNA Core!" He confirmed before proceeding, "I particularly picked this one too because I think it''s another physique that suits you very well!" Nodding her head in response, the golden beauty began checking the written details of the DNA Core eagerly. A few seconds later, at last, she finally opened her mouth, "Umm, master, it says 5 drops of Fire Phoenix blood¡­ but that would mean the purity of the body is around 0.004 percent¡­ Wh-what''s going on? What''s with this pathetic number? The others were like 16 percent or whatnot¡­ but this one''s a bit¡­" Immediately, as if he had been waiting for this all along, Virus started talking, "You know¡­ it''s a Legendary-grade creature. In my former world, the future, nearly all Legendary-creatures such as dragons, phoenixes, etc. had long vanished entirely! We couldn''t figure out if they had gone extinct, hidden somewhere, moved away to another location, or something else entirely! To us, they were just legends that no longer existed¡­ just like dinosaurs of right now!" The golden beauty continued to listen very intently, putting her all so as not to miss a single point uttered by her master. "So, essentially, we couldn''t directly get our hands on any drops of unused Fire Phoenix blood. The person with the highest purity of Fire Phoenix Bloodline which we were capable of trapping was someone who carried only five drops of Fire Phoenix bloodline in her bloodstream¡­ and let me tell you¡­ she was very strong, moreover, for some unraveled reasons, she was already gravely injured when she was discovered by my people! For that reason alone, only after bombarding her with several weapons, were my former world''s people finally successful in detaining her as they obtained her DNA Core." Explained Virus as his mind was flashing back and forth to a specific recorded data. "My point is, although it''s just five drops of Fire Phoenix blood, I believe it still can compare and compete with that 16 percent bloodline purity of the King-grade beast, the Winged-Lion! So, don''t look down on it just because it has 0.004 percent purity alone." "En¡­ I see." Nodding her head, she asked, "Is there any other DNA Cores too, master?" ¡º 6. Fire Salamander Bloodline DNA Core: Peak Beast-grade bloodline, 41 percent purity.¡» "Hmm? But it''s just a beast-grade bloodline¡­ why would master show it to me?" Addled, she queried. Feeling amused, he inquired, "Haha¡­ Just a while ago, you were so excited just by hearing about a Third-grade bloodline, and now¡­ you dare address this as¡­ ''just'' a Beast-grade bloodline?" With a slight shade of blush appearing on her cheeks, she replied, "Well, that was before I knew about the Legendary-grade and the King-grade creatures¡­ but now, this lady''s eyes have been truly opened!" Laughing out loud, Virus went on, "Haha¡­ anyway, I''m showing it to you because I think it''s rather decent¡­ not mainly because of its grade but because of its 41 percent purity which is rather high and more importantly, because it''s a fire Salamander! You shouldn''t underestimate the Salamanders as they are very close descendants of the Dragons themselves! More importantly, although they are just Beast-grade creatures, they are at the very peak of the Beast-grade category! You could even say they are just a single step away from being called King-grade creatures!" Instantly, she threw another question into the middle of their conversation, "Oh! That''s great! But something''s been really confusing me, why is it that most of these bloodlines deal with fire?" "That has to do with the way I created you¡­ to be honest, even at the time I was creating you, I had already predicted and thought of this moment, thus, I set your mindset in a way so you would have a better aptitude with fire and a few other elements." He said casually. "Oh! So it was like that. What are the other things that I have an aptitude with then?" Inquired the golden beauty, displaying the most beautiful smile she could while thinking, ''Master cared about me even back then¡­'' To that, wearing a shallow grin, Virus replied, "You''ll figure that out later on when you cultivate, let''s get on to the next one." ¡º 7. [Unknown] DNA Core: [Unknown] Bloodline-grade or [Unknown] Characteristics, [Unknown] Bloodline Purity, Description: [Unknown] Race But according to the DNA structure And The Reports, apparently, The Owner of This DNA Core Was Extremely Similar to Humans in Appearance.¡» "Eh¡­ Master? What''s this one? It''s only filled with Unknowns¡­ why would you send me this if even you don''t know what it is exactly?" "Naturally, I have a reason for it." Uttering this, he went on, "In my past world, many [Unknown] DNA Cores like this existed, this is also one of them." Keeping a solemn face, he added, "These DNA Cores are like gambling, rarely are they extremely valuable, but more than 99 percent of the time, they are just normal or even trash DNA Cores. " At this point, he was interrupted by her uncertainty, "Then¡­ why-?" Before she could finish her skeptical words; however, raising a single finger before her, Virus signaled her to listen to the very end before disrupting his speech, "Now normally, I wouldn''t have thrown this Unknown DNA Core among your options, but this one''s different¡­ and the difference is in its origin!" "And what''s that?" Full of doubt, the golden beauty inquired while thinking, ''No matter where it came from¡­ isn''t it still just a gamble in the end? I can''t possibly bet the fate of my entire life on a simple gamble, right?'' Totally relaxed, Virus responded to her question with a question of his own, "Do you remember that ruined planet we traveled to? The planet with the remains of an ancient civilization, I mean." "Of course! That was our first short trip outside the universe! I would never forget it! We went there because you needed to find something and after finding it, we returned¡­ though I never figured out what you were searching for or what exactly you discovered in the end. Still, the journey''s as clear as daylight to me and it''ll always be like that!" While reminiscing on the past, she replied. {A/N: Reference back to Chapter 21.} 288 Next Please! Nodding his head in response, Virus went along, "Yeah, that''s it! In my past world, a group of explorers went to that ruined planet in order to search for anything that might be of some value¡­ in doing so, they found some cultivation techniques, the data that had caught my eyes, and some other valuable stuff that may or may not prove to be useful later on." Then, without any pause at all, he continued, "Anyway, when a cluster of explorers came back with that specific group of scouts that had searched the ruined planet, almost barely, I was successful in gaining access to those data before the [Main AI] itself. And it was at that particular moment a certain piece of information caught my eyes." His eyes showing a strange light, he phrased, "Thus, since I was almost certain about how invaluable this piece of information was, I wanted all that data for myself alone. And for that to happen, I had to do something so the ruined planet won''t draw anyone''s attention ever again. And my solution to that was to make the planet seem just like a very low-tier planet." "So, I erased every piece of high-quality information and physical evidence that might leave a gap and thus result in that planet becoming the target of further investigations. Furthermore, I even had to gradually remove that group of explorers¡­ since they were an unpredictable variable!" "The conclusion I''m trying to reach here is the fact that this Unknown DNA Core was also among one of those findings which I also deleted along with many other discoveries¡­ in fact, that DNA Core was the only extractable DNA Core found on the entire planet." Greatly muddled by his words, she asked, "What do you mean, master? Why was it the only one?" "You see¡­ when one of the scouts was exploring a particular ancient site, apparently, he triggered a certain trap mechanism as he was instantly teleported to some mysterious closed space, a prison of some sort! And it was exactly in that place when he discovered a magnificent throne, a throne which he believed to be beyond ordinary!" "However, what bewildered him wasn''t that fact alone¡­ what stupefied him was the corpse that was sitting on the throne itself!" "W-what was it?" Already immersed within the story, the golden beauty asked anxiously. "It was the corpse of a woman! Not just any woman though. Based on the words of the scout, it was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire worthless life!" Saying this, he added further, "However, what bewildered that scout to a great extent was the fact that the corpse was as intact and preserved as a corpse could possibly be¡­ it was as if she had died in that very moment itself! That fresh! Moreover, based on that scout''s description, at the very moment he gazed upon her, he received this grand feeling as if she had vowed against the heavens to never rot and fade away¡­ as if she was against the heavens itself!" At this point, even Virus was displaying a slightly amazed expression. "Woah¡­ how could that be?" Astonished, she said curiously. "Well, truthfully, I''m not sure¡­ anyway, seeing that heavenly corpse, the scout walked before her as he tried moving her body from the throne. He wanted to take her away with himself because bringing back something precious like that would definitely result in him receiving a very handsome reward! Unfortunately, much to his disappointment and shock, he realized he could not move her at all. Not even a millimeter!" Shaking his head as if he himself was also disappointed at this regrettable fact, Virus continued, "After trying every method, helplessly, he could only take out his special DNA Core extracting device as he successfully stored the data within his tool." "Afterward, with an advanced teleporting tool he had on himself, he appeared before their ship once again. Sadly, he was never capable of returning to that mysterious space ever again!" Going silent for a while, he uttered, "Being aware of this matter which would definitely attract a lot of attention to that particular ruined plant, I, of course, erased every piece information concerning it, including the DNA Core, that scout, and his companions since the last thing I wanted was any further surveillance on the planet!" "My final point is¡­ I put this choice among your options because it originated from the same planet I found something very invaluable¡­ also, that woman appears to be extremely mysterious. Though I''m confident about her worth or power." As she finally had a rough picture of the entire situation, her awareness was once again drawn to the data her master had just sent her. ¡º 7. [Unknown] DNA Core: [Unknown] Bloodline-grade or [Unknown] Characteristics, [Unknown] Bloodline Purity, Description: [Unknown] Race but according to the DNA structure and the reports, apparently, the owner of this DNA Core was extremely similar to humans in appearance.¡» "Eh¡­ why did you write [Unknown] Race, master?" She inquired in absolute confusion. "That''s because she''s indeed not human¡­ although she''s very similar to humans in appearance¡­ after studying her DNA Core, I realized she''s something else entirely¡­ though I''m not sure what she is exactly or what her race is called exactly¡­ that''s another risk right there!" "Hmm¡­ this is a gamble and a huge risk indeed¡­ I mean, even her corpse being fresh might have nothing to do with her¡­ it might be because of the throne or that space itself. Moreover, master can''t identify anything special about her, in fact, master understands nothing when it comes to her! To be honest, as an AI, I''m not in favor of gambles or risky choices¡­ so I don''t think I''ll pick this one. Please send me the next option, master!" She concluded her words. "Sure, it''s your decision¡­ lemme transmit the next one." Muttering this, a new set of data popped into the golden beauty''s line of sight. ¡º8. The Holy Muspelheim Dantian DNA Core: ¡» ¡º Descriptions: The background of this Dantian is not clear. The only known data is that the carriers of this DNA Core are all exceptional cultivators when it comes to taking the path of flame cultivation and control! Roughly, this type of Dantian appears only once every fifty thousand years among the cultivators of the entire Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. All of the carriers of this type of Dantian, unless they face premature death, and ''if'' they are successful in finding a suitable Cultivation Technique related to flames grow up to be extraordinary geniuses and experts. There are other mysterious features to this Dantian which will be discovered as the cultivation state increases. Further Explanation: Dantian is where the energy absorbed from the world is stored at.¡» "I''m not very knowledgeable in regard to this particular Dantian¡­ I''m only aware of the fact that this Dantian is a magnificent one for cultivators with their focus mainly on flames and fires." Stated Virus before going quiet. A few seconds passed as the golden beauty studied every detail stated within the description in absolute focus. Finally, finished, nodding her head in satisfaction, she voiced, "Next please!" "Haha¡­ what ''next please''! That was the last suitable one for you. Now¡­ it''s time for our Lil Belle to make a decision!" 289 To Make Impossible Possible "So, which one did you pick?" Two minutes later, seeing her make eye contact once again, Virus asked. After two seconds of remaining silent, an intense resolve showed up within the golden beauty''s eyes as she replied, "No matter how hard I think, I still think it shouldn''t be me who makes the decision¡­ it should be master doing it for me." Pleased and a bit surprised by her response, the corners of his mouth were raised upwards as he mouthed, "And why do you think I should be making such a crucial decision for your life?" "Because master''s more familiar with the World of Cultivation and even more so with those DNA Cores you transmitted into my mind. So, considering everything, I still strongly believe master would make the best choice for me." Smiling in return, the golden beauty proclaimed earnestly. "Hmm, that''s a good answer, but are you confident you won''t regret whatever decision I make?" Looking forward to her answer, Virus queried. Initiating and maintaining eye contact, she replied with a giggle, "Of course! I trust master no matter what! Even if in the end, master''s decision proved not to be the best one¡­ or even if it was the worst one, I still won''t ever regret it!" Clearly spotting that resolute glimmer of conviction within her pupils, elevating his chin, he voiced with an adoring gaze, "Good! My Lil Belle''s so smart!" Listening to Virus'' tone which appeared to be proud of her as he praised her, the golden beauty''s eyes began to gleam as she showed a gentle smile on her face, "Of course, don''t you know who created me!" "Haha¡­ yes, yes..." Saying this, he added wearing a sly smile, "Anyway, now that Lil Belle has made me responsible for making the decision¡­ I''ll do just that, however, I have a condition." "Hmm, what is that, master?" Rapidly blinking in confusion, she asked. As an evil grin crept on his face, he said, "I won''t be telling you what my picks are going to be!" "Ah¡­ that''s¡­" Speechless, she thought, ''Sigh, master''s such a sadist¡­ he enjoys keeping others in suspense¡­'' "What? You don''t agree?" With the corners of his mouth drawn down, Virus uttered. "Ah¡­ no, no, no¡­ it''s not that I don''t approve! I totally do¡­ It''s just that I''m a bit confused about something else." Immediately changing the subject, she jumped on another matter which was making her feel doubtful. "And what is that?" Narrowing his eyes in cautiousness, he inquired. Letting out a sigh of relief, tugging at her golden hair, she voiced hurriedly, "Maybe I heard it wrong, but¡­ did master just say picks? With an ''S'' in the end? As in the plural form?" "Haha¡­ oh, you''re talking about that," With his narrowed eyes returning to their former relaxed shape as his cautiousness disappeared in a comical way, with his brow free of any frown lines now, he phrased, "Well, didn''t you previously ask if there were any methods for inputting two or more DNA Cores within a single body? And I said we''ll talk about it later. Here''s my answer¡­ It''s indeed possible!" "That''s¡­ but master told me that''s nearly impossible!" She muttered with her gaping jaw. With a touch of a smile in response to her shock, Virus explained, "Well, let me explain¡­ so, as I said previously, if I input two DNA Cores within one body, they''ll start clashing and fighting as they''ll begin to override and modify one another ¡­ and that''s very dangerous since it leads to the eventual death of the body more than 99 percent of the times or that it neutralizes both DNA Cores. But! That''s still not a complete 100 percent impossibility even if it''s extremely close to that number! Sometimes, by some great miracle, they do work together in great harmony and possibly in even rarer occasions, they might cause some kind of mutation in one another which would make the body even more overpowered¡­ but that''s too rare nearly to the point of it never happening!" Pulling her brows together in a scowl, she voiced her thoughts, "Hmm, I indeed do recall those words of master, but, as you said it yourself, that''s almost impossible and it just happens by some miracles¡­ what did that have to do with us? Could it be master wants to create billions of bodies with two DNA Cores in them and see which one works? Though currently, that sounds impossible even for master¡­" Falling into a burst of loud laughter, he clarified further, "Hahaha¡­ of course not! I didn''t mean it like that." Sinking into silence shortly, he picked up the rest of his words, "Did you know? In my old world, the future, mankind had discovered a certain method, a miraculous liquid to be exact, to substantially increase the possibility that two DNA Cores would come to work in great harmony within a single body!" "Ah¡­ how is that possible?" Stupefied at this point, with her eyes wide open, she questioned. Grabbing his chin softly, he initiated his explanations, "You see, adding this specific liquid to the process of body creation would duplicate and produce the best womb in the world. It would create a ''Supreme Womb'' to be more exact! The function of this miraculous womb is the fact that it forces the fetus to grow in the most optimal condition ever! The most optimal condition means, that it would coerce the two DNA Cores to coexist and even start functioning in harmony! This happens because the Supreme Womb compels the two DNA Cores to begin overriding one another''s genetic information only in the parts that do not affect or harm them by much or it even forces the two to start complimenting each other! Or in the best situation¡­ it can even possibly result in a beneficial mutation! Though that''s very rare even for the Supreme Womb." Seeing she still wasn''t receiving the full picture, Virus elaborated in more simple terms, "Hmm, if I wanna explain this more plainly¡­ the womb acts like Darwin''s process of natural selection. Only instead of it showing itself across generations, it shows in a single person. Within the fetus, only the advantageous traits remain while those disadvantageous traits which can''t provide any benefits will be dealt with within the framework of the two DNA Cores themselves." "Woah¡­ that''s awesome!" With flashing eyes of astonishment and comprehension, she let out. 290 Water of Life 1 Shaking his head in some disappointment, he continued, "Unfortunately, by the time humanity discovered this, that miraculous liquid called the ''Water of Life'' was already on the verge of going extinct on the only planet that it was ever found on! Thus, we could even say it had already gone extinct on the whole universe of technology!" "Anyway, only around ten thousand gallons of this magical water was all mankind could ever get their hands on and that was barely enough for making ten thousand bodies!" He concluded. As her lips were pressed together due to hearing about this unfortunate piece of news, she muttered, "Ah¡­ what a pity¡­ couldn''t they just duplicate more of that water?" "Sigh.. not everything can be duplicated in this world, especially when it comes to some objects that defy the natural order of the world." Shaking his head, he denied that possibility. Suddenly displaying a smile that reaches the eyes, she proceeded, "Anyway, my point is¡­ we''re not living in the future where the ''Water of Life'' has already gone extinct, we are living in the past! So, what do you think, Lil Belle?" Picking up the meaning behind her master''s words, the golden beauty exclaimed, "Oh! Master''s a genius! Hehe¡­" Then, as a thought had abruptly hit her, she said in utter exhilaration, "Does that mean we can even put three DNA Cores in a single?" Putting on a sharp tone and a fake smile, he refuted, "Haha¡­ of course not silly, what do you think we''re doing? Blending sugar with tea? Even though the ''Water of Life'' would make the possibility of putting two DNA Cores in a single body substantially increase¡­ the likelihood of putting three DNA Cores into a single body while utilizing the ''Water of Life'' would be just like the chances of inputting two DNA Cores in a physique without the ''Water of Life'', nearly impossible!" "Hmm¡­ that''s a shame then¡­ sigh¡­ well, better not be greedy anyway." Shaking her head, she vocalized. "Oh, right¡­ master, did you also get your hands on the ''Water of Life'' when you were creating your own body?" With her eyebrows raised upwards, hoping that was the case, she inquired hurriedly. But to her dismay, shaking his head, Virus replied, "Unfortunately, at the time, I didn''t have a body or a spaceship to travel to that particular planet I just mentioned ." With an air of despondency filling the entire atmosphere, she murmured a bit regretful, "Oh¡­ that''s such a bummer¡­ so, master, does that mean your body possess'' only a single DNA Core?" Suddenly, a mysterious smile which she couldn''t decipher at all appeared on Virus'' face, however, he neither confirmed or denied her doubts. "Anyway¡­ what we gotta do now is to get our hands on some of that ''Water of Life''! Let''s go!" Standing up, while signaling toward the exit, Virus stated. "Right now?" Surprised, the golden beauty queried. She had assumed at its earliest, they would leave tomorrow, not at this very moment. "Of course right now! We need to start the process of creating your body as soon as possible! So, let''s go!" With a soft smile that reaches the eyes, Virus confirmed before starting to walk toward the entrance without paying any further attention to her. Seeing her master about to leave the floor already, hastening her speed, she dashed toward the elevator, wanting to catch up, "Ah¡­ master, wait for me!" . . . A few hours later, as they arrived on Virus'' private island, boarding his spaceship, they were about to teleport away, when the golden beauty asked a little expectantly, "Um¡­ master, can we not teleport immediately? I would really like to roam the space itself while being surrounded by infinite stars!" At this point, her eyes were shining brilliantly just like the stars themselves. "Haha, sure¡­ let''s go!" Instantly, an invisible spaceship took off outside the atmosphere of Earth. . . . "Woah¡­ it''s so beautiful¡­ master, look at our Earth! There are blue, white, and even green covering everywhere! Most of it is covered in blue though¡­" Astounded greatly, while both of her hands were plastered on the glass of the spaceship, the golden beauty voiced with the whites of her eyes showing. Hearing this, Virus appeared to have dozed off entirely. Meanwhile, his mind recalled how Earth would look like in 1.49 million years in the future, covered in needles sticking out everywhere from its round and circular body. That made him let out a helpless sigh while he wondered, ''Maybe I should prevent that from happening this time¡­'' "Yeah, it''s really beautiful. Actually, these monkeys really need to start cherishing this planet more¡­ otherwise¡­ sigh¡­" Shaking his head, he went quiet after a powerless sigh. "Ahhh look at the moon, master! It''s so close to us now!" "So many stars¡­ they are so much more beautiful from up here!" After that, Virus led his spaceship to many amazing spots in the solar system itself before even visiting other systems within the milky way galaxy. In the meantime, what amused him very much was the enchanting expressions the golden beauty showed him every time she witnessed something new. . . . After roaming around in empty space for an entire day, the golden beauty finally said, "Thank you, master¡­ it was a wonderful experience¡­ I always wanted to just relax while aimlessly floating around in empty space, revering different sightings without anyone at reach!" "Sure! Just tell me when you wanna do this again, I''ll gladly bring you here! Shall we go then?" Showing a kind smile on his face, Virus mouthed while thinking, ''Seeing so many adorable and impressed expressions from you was totally worth it.'' "Yes!" Showing a bright expression, the golden beauty said happily. . . . Soon, they exited from the other side of the rift that had just opened up. Right now, they were standing at numerous light-years away from a certain galaxy. In such a distance which they could easily witness the entirety of the galaxy itself. And it was exactly at this moment, when, broadly smiling, Virus announced, "Welcome to the Cigar Galaxy, Lil belle!" "Oh my¡­ this galaxy''s so beautiful¡­ look at that straight luminous ray of light." Blinking cutely while her eyes burned in excitement, the golden beauty uttered. Next, however, tugging on an earlobe, she asked in a flabbergasted tone, "But, master, don''t tell me the ''Water of Life'' exists in the Cigar Galaxy!" "It''s indeed here." Grinning in an amused manner, Virus nodded his head. "Woah¡­ that''s such an irony¡­ the ''Water of Life'' existing in the Cigar Galaxy¡­ hehe." Realizing the hilarity of the situation, humored, she giggled while covering her lips with her hand. "Haha¡­ right." He replied in return. "On which planet is this so-called ''Water of Life''?" Next, she threw this other inquiry into the middle of their conversation. "It''s on a very large planet many times larger than our own Earth at the center areas of the galaxy itself." Elaborated Virus in a casual manner. "I see¡­ I''m really curious to see what kind of planet it''ll be! let''s hurry then!" She phrased in great anticipation. "Sure! Let''s go." Soon, another rift opened up as the spaceship silently disappeared into it. 291 Water of Life 2 On their next exit, a gigantic planet, a few times bigger than Earth showed up right in front of them. Unlike Earth, which was mostly covered in blue and oceans, this planet was fifty-five percent covered in green, which meant that oceans of forests had covered the planet instead of oceans of water. Around twenty percent was made up of red areas. These were the deserts and the empty fields on the planet. Having said that, one difference of this planet with Earth was the fact that its soil was seemingly red. And the remaining twenty-five percent was made up of water, the seas and oceans. "Woah¡­ so many forests and green areas!" Exclaimed the golden beauty gazing at the planet before her, which was beguiling in its own right. "Master, is this planet livable for humans? Does it provide the necessary stuff like oxygen? Isn''t it toxic to them?" Her eyebrows raised, she continued staring at the planet in front of them while throwing one question after another. She was indeed very curious. "Hmm, it''s should be roughly suitable for us to live on and there shouldn''t be anything toxic that endangers human life within the atmosphere." Said Virus relaxedly. "Is there also any intelligent life on the planet?" With her eyes shining a bit, she inquired again out of pure interest. "You might know about it soon." As he uttered that, the spaceship disappeared into the atmosphere of the planet in its invisible mode. ¡­ Pssh~ The door of the spaceship opened up as an excited golden beauty dashed out in a hurry. Next, while touching the ground, she voiced, "Woah! Master, look, the ground''s covered in red everywhere! It''s as if the whole planets soaked in blood." "These trees¡­ they seem to be new species of trees¡­ I''ve never seen anything like them on our own Earth." At this point, she turned her head toward the sky. However, instantly, she became mesmerized. Because, right now, in her line of sight, she was gazing upon two suns shining from right beside each other. However, since they were rather distant from the planet, the sight didn''t differ by that much from the view of the sun from Earth, the only dissimilarity was the fact that there were two of those blinding lights now. What had truly mesmerized her, however, was a gigantic planet in her line of sight since it was so close that it felt in case she reached out her hand, she would be capable of touching it. This scene, other than being extremely beautiful, was in fact also somewhat terrifying to look at, since it gave one the illusion that the other planet was just about to collide into this one! Also, all these things aside, a river was floating down from beside them. Nonetheless, it was no ordinary river as it was slightly emitting a bright light from itself. Its water was shining! Running before the flowing watercourse, sinking her hand into it, she muttered peacefully, "Ah¡­ this river¡­ I''ve never seen a river as pleasing and alluring as this¡­" A few seconds passed. At last, finished with her appreciation of the rare scenes around her, standing up, she asked in total anticipation, "So, master, where is that rare ''Water of Life'' you''re searching for? Let''s go find it!" "Didn''t you just touch it?" Grinning amusedly, Virus questioned. "W-what? You can''t possibly be saying¡­ the entire river?" As her eyes popped open in shock, she stared at the river once again. Then, she added, "This entire river? But¡­ that''s too much! Shouldn''t it be something rarer?" A broad smile hanging over his face, Virus added, "Yes¡­ it''s supposed to be extremely rare¡­ in more than one million years later. Right now, there is plenty of this water." "Th-that''s amazing! Doesn''t the ''Water of Life'' have any other uses? I mean, with so much at hand¡­ master can easily do whatever he wants with them without any worry about running out of them!" With flashing eyes of excitement, she muttered. "Haha¡­ of course there are many uses for it! Let me tell you, this water''s going to be very helpful for our cultivation later on!" He said, matter-of-factly. "Let''s not talk about it''s benefits to cultivation. Just drinking it on a daily would keep the body in the most optimum condition, meaning, you won''t ever get sick due to being weak. And the possibility of catching diseases like cancer would be nearly zero percent!" He added further. Nonetheless, not stopping there, he went on, "And most importantly, if a human being continues to drink it constantly on a daily basis, over time, it would greatly improve the condition of the body. And that would gradually result in the lifespan of a normal person increasing greatly! For example, instead of living for around 100 years, a human being will be capable of living for nearly 1,000 years at least, and it stops being effective around that time just because the body develops a resistance to the water. If the body did not develop that resistance, theoretically, as long as one constantly drinks it, that person should be able to live indefinitely, which means that the person would practically be immortal!" "Anyway, in short, you can say it results in substantial growth in the lifespan of an average person which is priceless in its own right! And that''s also why it''s called the ''Water of Life''!" He concluded. "Wow, that''s amazing master¡­ if we sell this on Earth, I bet those tycoons would spend their entire fortune just to live longer!" Voiced the golden beauty with shining eyes of expectation. "Of course! Time is money, but money''s not time." Nodding his head, Virus agreed nonchalantly. "Anyhow, those were not its only uses¡­ another use for it is that it''s considered a high-quality ingredient for cooking, making tea, coffee, etc. so, from now on, you can cook and make the things you want using this water." He also noted shortly. 292 Smoke of The Cigar Galaxy "That''s an amazing idea! Hehe¡­ now I look forward to seeing how the food or the drink prepared with this water would taste like¡­" She commented with flashing eyes of happiness. "Okay, we should collect some water and leave quickly before we face a headache." Mouthing this, he turned his head toward the spaceship momentarily. Following his gaze, five Worker Robots exited the spaceship in an orderly fashion. Each of them was carrying a 200-liter 55-gallon drum as they casually walked toward the river before starting to fill them up. In the meantime, as the Worker Robots filled one 55-gallon drum after another, Virus and the golden beauty had nothing better to do, so they could just sit under the shade of a tree with strange leaves in the shape of mugs while watching the Worker Robots do their job. "The leaves of this tree are so weird, master. We could literally use it as cups to drink water whenever we feel like it¡­ if there are any intelligent races on this planet, it must be nice for them to have access to mugs whenever they feel like it¡­" "You''re the weird one for thinking that!" Barked Virus in response. Not paying any attention to his sentence though, she continued, "Since I''m the first person to see the tree, I shall name it¡­ hmm¡­ let''s just call it the ''Mug Tree''." "It already had a name. But sure, ''Mug Tree'' sounds appropriate." Happily, she said back, "Right?! Named it like that because it literally bore us mugs!" "No shit!" "Oh, right! Master, where do these waters come from?" Staring at the waterway, the golden beauty questioned. Standing up, Virus severed a single mug leaf as he strolled toward the river. While dunking the leaf into the water flow, he elaborated, "This water comes from deep within the planet itself, probably the deepest spot this kind of water can exist in." "Oh, is that so? So is the water so extraordinary because it gets mingled with some unique material under the ground?" Looking at her master''s strong back figure, she queried. "That''s not what makes the water so special¡­ apparently, what makes this water exceptional are three things. First, it''s a certain attribute of this planet to attract energy from the entire Cigar Galaxy. Second, it''s the position of this planet in the Cigar Galaxy, which is said to be exactly in a spot where it makes it possible to attract energy from all over the galaxy itself. And the last but not least is the unique energy of this galaxy which adds that certain characteristic to the water itself." Taking out the mug leaf full of Water of Life, Virus drank all of it in one go. Giggling in humor, she phrased, "Hehe¡­ so it''s the energy or rather¡­ the smoke of the Cigar Galaxy that''s unique. Hehe¡­ anyway, joking aside, that''s really aweso-" Roar! She was just about to finish her praise of the water when she was interrupted by a strange roar. Shocked, she turned in order to see the source of the noise¡­ But what she witnessed next stunned her even further. Because, in front of her, there were two 1 meter pitch-black beasts which were very similar to panthers! However, unlike panthers, even their eyes were entirely black. Moreover, their paws were more similar to the fingers of a human being, only, instead of nails, there were sharp claws attached to the end of them. This fact alone made them much more dangerous than panthers with claws. Still, to the golden beauty, these parts weren''t the astonishing points of the beasts in front of her. The astounding fact was that the two beasts were wearing leather armors on their bodies and they had even trimmed their claws and fingers with some iron-like materials! Even more so, the golden beauty could swear those sharp eyes which were gazing at her were totally comprehending exactly what they were looking at! "M-master¡­ what are these things?" Asked the golden beauty with a bit of a chill apparent within her tone. Not making any sudden movements, while staring at them, Virus replied, "Didn''t you ask if there were any intelligent beings present on this planet? Well¡­ you''re looking at them. At this moment in time, this is the current dominant race on the planet¡­ they were lucky enough for their brains to evolve to the point of acquiring consciousness and free will. Though they''re not as smart as humans, they still have some basic wisdom." "Ah¡­ you mean¡­ they are capable of thinking?" Said the golden beauty. In return, Virus responded with, "What else could I mean! Yes¡­ their intelligence can be placed somewhere between apes and humans. Anyway, you can address their race as Panumans." "Seriously?" "Yeah." "Ok¡­" "Grr¡­ owl¡­ grrri, grroarrrrrr?" Suddenly, one of the Panumans started producing weird noises. "What''s happening right now?" A bit speechless by the continuous weird noises the Panuman was making as if it was expecting her to understand its growls, helpless, she could only turn to her master. "They just demanded an answer from us, they asked, ''What are we? And why have we intruded into their sacred ground of Water of Life?''." "For real?" "Yeah¡­ lemme transmit their language knowledge into your mind, you''ll get it then." Muttering that, Virus sent a lot of information regarding the Panuman''s current language into the golden beauty''s head. "Oh¡­ I see!" Receiving the knowledge of their language, a shimmer of comprehension passed through the golden beauty''s eyes. After that, she inquired, "But why do they consider this place their sacred ground? Could it be they''re also aware of the value of the Water of Life?" "Of course! Their evolution toward gaining consciousness itself mostly took place because of the presence of the Water of Life. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have acquired wisdom at this point. They were still far from it." Virus explained. Understanding the situation, the golden beauty stated, "Oh¡­ I see! So they evolved because they continuously drank from the Water of Life!" 293 Panumans Meanwhile, turning toward the two beasts, Virus voiced in their language, "Who or what we are doesn''t matter. We just need some water from the river. Then, we''ll leave." "Stop taking any more water from our sacred ground! Tell your subordinates to stop and return all they have taken from us! If you do that, we''ll consider not eating your corpses." The Panuman growled these words. {A/N: I''ll only write the translation of their growls and conversation from now on. But you can imagine them making a serious of growls, and Virus growling back in return. :D} "Master? Why aren''t they attacking us? Why are they just watching and talking like civilized people?" Confused by the way those Panumans were acting, the golden beauty questioned. "Well, they''re at least that smart to not attack some being entirely unknown to them. Thus, they''re waiting for their comrades to join so they would deal with us together." Was Virus'' answer. "Ah¡­ when did they notify their comrades?" "The roar we heard at first, that was them alarming their friends¡­ they should be arriving soon enough¡­" At this point, turning his head around, Virus saw that the last container was filled to the brim, meaning, it was time for them to depart. "Let''s go. We need to hurry and leave before the other Panumans come, otherwise, it might be a bit of a headache to deal with them." He remarked casually. "Ah¡­ alright, let''s go then." And so, they began walking toward the spaceship as the Worker robots had already carried all of the 55-gallon drums within the spaceship itself. "Halt!" However, at this time, one of the Panumans roared in anger. The two of them, of course, didn''t listen and continued strolling toward their spaceship in a very relaxed fashion. Seeing this, the Panumans started to deliberate. They wanted to wait for the other soldiers to arrive before attacking together. But now, that didn''t seem to be one of their options. So, after a brief gaze into each other''s dark eyes, they charged. Roar! Immediately, an evil grin crept on Virus'' face. Nonetheless, not paying any heed to them at all, he proceeded on his path. When the two were almost upon Virus, both of them leaped in his direction as their sharp claws were getting closer and closer to his defenseless back. Then, just as their attacks were about to hit him, at the very last moment, Virus turned around as both of his hands disappeared in the direction of the two Panumans. The speed of his hands was so quick that the Panumans couldn''t see them at all. To them, Virus'' hands had literally¡­ vanished! A moment passed, and now, two Panumans were being grabbed by their necks as they continuously struggled within his palms. To be more exact, he was holding them from the back of their neck. Like this, no matter how hard they struggled and tried to free themselves. They couldn''t, because their claws couldn''t reach their opponent at all. "You two should''ve just left." Crack~ Crack~ Two cracking noises were heard next as the Panumans no longer breathed. They had been killed just like that. Casually throwing their motionless bodies on the floor, just like dumping garbage, he uttered, "Let''s go." Then, they sauntered to the spaceship. Just as they put their feet within the spaceship, however, numerous weird noises were heard. Roar! ROAR~ GROWL! AWWWOO! GRRRRR! Roar! Rawr! Hiss~ Grunt... {A/N: Here they''re probably yelling and screaming. Saying stuff like, attack brothers! Enemy! Rip him into shreds!, What is that thing they''re entering, Ouch! You just stepped on my fingerish paws dude, etc.} Instantly, all around the spaceship was surrounded by what appeared to be at least tens of thousands of Panumans. Everywhere was filled with Panumans to the brim. Seeing this, Virus sighed, "The number of these Panumans are countless on the planet, that''s why they can dominate the planet. And that''s why I called them a headache. Let''s go." The moment he uttered these words, the spaceship''s entrance closed itself as it took off into the sky. Leaving behind tens of thousands of Panuman who were charging in the direction of the spaceship behind. ______________ After returning to Earth, without busying himself with anything else, Virus came back to New York. He wanted to complete the process of creating the golden beauty''s body as soon as possible because he had something else he had been postponing for some time now as he had been always busy with everything else all this time. Of course, the first thing he did after his return was to sit on the couch in order to rest and relax for a bit. He also told the golden beauty, "Lil Belle, would you mind making some tea for me." "On it, master!" Replying like that, she happily took off toward the kitchen. However, just as she was about to enter, she stopped and questioned, "Oh, right¡­ master, should I make the tea with the ''Water of Life'' or normal water?" "Water of Life would be best." He answered casually. "Alright!" Heeding his preference, she returned toward the elevator as she easily picked up a 200-liter 55-gallon drum like it was nothing and started walking back toward the kitchen with a silly smile. Soon, a cup of tea was placed in front of Virus as she muttered, "I''m still not that familiar with the best timing to make the best tea with the Water of Life, so please make do with this for now, master." Picking the cup of tea, Virus brought it close to his nose as he took a sniff of its aroma which was already spreading throughout the floor. "Hmm, this is simply heavenly. It makes me wonder how a simple tea can be so fragrant due to a simple change in its water." He said casually before adding, "It''s really good, Lil Belle, thanks." Showing a coy smile, she mouthed back, "You''re absolutely welcome, master." Nodding his head, Virus'' all attention was drawn to the tea as he finally took a small sip from it. The moment it was poured into his mouth and touched his tongue, however, a feeling as if he was soaking in a comfortable hot spring transmitted throughout his tongue. It was such a delightful experience that he felt like he would''ve moaned if he wasn''t someone with great control. Taking another sip after a while, he continued the appreciation of the tea while passing his time of rest and relaxation. ________________ A few hours later, finally being done with his rest, both Virus and the golden beauty entered the laboratory. They were finally about to begin the procedure of body creation. 294 The Process "Is everything I asked for prepared?" Turning toward the golden beauty, Virus inquired. "Um, yes. Some of the materials were bought by the CEO ugly while some others were obtained through the Island ugly." Nodding her head, she confirmed before proceeding, "But, master¡­ why are these ingredients somehow different than the stuff you gathered while you were creating your own body?" She asked a bit befuddled. "Hmm, at the time, I could only gather the common materials that were accessible through normal means which the people of this current era possess. But now, we have many more resources and means at hand to gather higher-quality items." Explained Virus inadvertently. "Oh, I see¡­ but what''s wrong with those more poor-quality materials?" Mystified, the golden beauty queried further. In response, as if he was answering to something very obvious, he uttered, "It''s really simple. Those more common materials resulted in my body having a lot more impurities than it should have originally¡­ and I''m sure you remember how many hardships I had to experience in order to cleanse and remove every last bit of those impurities from my entire physique. It simply consumed a lot of my time." "Un, I know, master." Nodding, the golden beauty acknowledged. He added further, "Also, if you clearly recall the last time we went to the Cultivation Earth, you still must remember the ''Impurity Identifying System'' of that place which was done through a special type of Orb. This system, from worst to the best, respectively was¡­ black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, azure, purple, pink, and white¡­ of course the paler each color got, the better it was." Briefly getting quiet at this point, he went on, "If I had tested myself prior to starting and finishing the Purifying Stage perfectly, I''m sure the testing Orb would''ve displayed a deep black color. Which means around 99 percent impurities¡­ and according to the elaboration of that elder at the time, that was one of the trashiest-quality bodies that could even be considered to have been abandoned by the heavens itself! I had that kind of body because of the poor-quality materials I used." "Now, if I hadn''t gone through the purifying stage, with that kind of body, breaking through in my cultivation stage and levels would''ve been extremely difficult and slow for me, I would''ve literally been a snail¡­ luckily for me though, I had the means of cleansing my body through the Purifying Stage¡­ in fact, I cleansed my body to the point the Orb screened a colorless gaseous light which was unheard of on the whole Cultivation Earth at least." Briefly pausing at this point, his mind momentarily flashed back to how many levels he had to perfect in order to complete the Purifying Stage flawlessly. However, very soon, he continued his delineation, "Now, however, due to the simple fact that I''m creating your body through the usage of higher-quality ingredients, the impurities within your body would be a lot lesser! We still have to check the impurity level afterward in order to know the precise level of the filth within your figure, but I promise it''ll be a satisfactory number. Furthermore, there is even the ''Water of Life'' added to the ingredients now, which helps in decreasing the impurities on the entirety of your body to another level once again." "That''s why the ingredients of your body differ to a certain degree¡­ do you get it now?" While maintaining eye contact with her, he was done clarifying at last. "Oh¡­ I understand. So that was the reason¡­" Nodding her head in total comprehension, the golden beauty confirmed. "Alright¡­ let''s begin the procedure then, place every ingredient I point at in the specific entries that are required." He said before walking in front of the cylindrical tube that was used in order to create his own biological body in the past. ¡­ Around two hours passed. During these two hours, Virus had requested the golden beauty to place certain materials at particular locations within the cylindrical tube. Simultaneously, his mind never stopped functioning as thousands upon thousands of codes in a futuristic language were blinking on and off on the 3D screen of the cylindrical tube. Now, at this moment, reaching a crucial point in his coding process, he abruptly threw a question, "Do you still want to have the same face as you do right now? Or should I make some modifications to it? Just be comfortable and tell me honestly." He also didn''t forget to add, "Since this is a mask that''s going to be plastered on your face for an eternity, you better consider how you want to look very carefully before answering." However, the golden beauty didn''t need to think, not even for a single second, before replying with an unfaltering determination glimmering inside her eyes, "No, master¡­ I want to keep this face. Don''t worry, I won''t ever regret it." Meanwhile, a specific notion appeared within her head, ''Since this is the mask that master specially designed for me¡­ there''s no way I would ever want to change it.'' "Alright then¡­ then I assume I should make your age the same too?" Virus questioned once again. The day the golden beauty had opened her eyes to the world, she appeared to be around 18 years old or even younger in age. And to this day, she still had the same look and the same young body. "Yes, master." She responded without any hesitation whatsoever. "Alright then." Nodding in affirmation, he gave his next order in a hurry, "Empty an entire 55-gallon drum of Water of Life into the tube right now." Simultaneously, he started inputting two particular DNA Cores within her body data while the Water of Life was also emptied within the cylindrical tube. A while later, after being finished with the process of inserting the information of the two special DNA Cores, he commenced the procedure of designing her overall external appearance and age. Finally, after everything was finished, a text came screening itself on the 3D monitor. ¡º Do you want to initiate the process of biological body creation? Yes/No ¡» 295 Commence ¡º Do you want to initiate the process of biological body creation? Yes/No ¡» ¡´The Time Required for the Physique to be completed¡ª 11,548 hours: 34 minutes: 12 seconds. OR, 481 days: 04 hours: 34 minutes: 12 seconds.¡µ ''Yes.'' He confirmed casually. Immediately, the countdown began. ¡´Countdown¡ª 481 days: 04 hours: 34 minutes: 12 seconds¡­¡µ ¡´Countdown¡ª 481 days: 04 hours: 34 minutes: 11 seconds¡­¡µ ¡´Countdown¡ª 481 days: 04 hours: 34 minutes: 10 seconds¡­¡µ ¡´Countdown¡ª 481 days: 04 hours: 34 minutes: 09 seconds¡­¡µ ¡­ By the side, looking at the countdown, the golden beauty mouthed, "Master? Why does it take so long? I think it should''ve been shorter since it took less time for you to create your own body. At this rate, it''ll take around a year and four months before the body is ready for entry¡­ is it because the ingredients are of higher quality?" Giving his affirmation, Virus said in return, "Yes, since the cylindrical tube is trying to make a better body with higher quality materials, it takes more time. Well, this happens since it''s the same tube technology as before¡­" "Hmm¡­ alright¡­ then is that it? We just need to wait till the countdown finishes and then the body is ready for me to enter?" She wondered. Acting nonchalantly, Virus gave a response, "Basically, yes¡­ we just need to add a new 55-gallon drum to the cylindrical tube every three months. That''s all." "Oh¡­ so it''s like that. I''ll do that myself then¡­" Taking on the responsibility, the golden beauty said. ¡­ Afterward, as it was pretty late already, a little tired, Virus went off to his bed before sinking into a deep sleep. ¡­ The next morning, coming off his bed, he sauntered into the bathroom while stretching out which was accompanied by a simple yawn. After freshening up, exiting the bathroom, he walked toward the hall before sitting on the couch and starting his morning by watching television. Currently, a certain channel was holding a discussion regarding a particular person. "So, it has been days since the debut of the person who called himself the ''Dark Savior'', but still, no one has been successful in finding him, what''s your thoughts about this, Professor West? I mean, what''s your analysis on this specific matter? How is it possible that no one''s capable of discovering his identity?" Amanda urged speaking in a professional tone. As his forehead furrowed into an agonized frown, he started talking, "Well, Amanda, to be honest, this is a mystery to myself too¡­ I mean, the government has seen his face and we''ve distributed his picture everywhere, I mean literally everywhere within the country! So by now, someone should''ve seen and reported him¡­ or at least someone who recognized him should''ve called since we''ve also put a big prize reward for the person who gives us any reliable information about him. But until now¡­ there''s been nothing! Nothing at all! Which practically should be impossible¡­ unless he''s from another country. But even the other countries are searching for this dark horse, but as far as we''re aware, even they''ve been helpless in bringing his true identity into the light¡­" Shaking his head helplessly, he went on about his analysis. At this point, the golden beauty brought a cup of tea which was brewed using the ''Water of Life'' as she greeted him next, "Good morning master, did you have a good night of sleep?" "Yeah¡­ thanks for the tea." Expressing his gratitude with a soft smile, he continued watching the television. "Oh, that''s such a mystery then¡­ anyway, as everyone saw it, I would say he''s pretty strong and if we can find him and recruit him as an Abnormal soldier who works for the country, he would prove to be a crucial asset to us¡­ do you agree with this notion of mine, Professor West?" Amara inquired further. This time, without any hesitation whatsoever, he started voicing, "Absolutely, I also witnessed his strength, and I agree that he''s really strong. If he just shows up himself, the government has also promised to fulfill almost any request he may have. Oh, right¡­ just in case he''s watching, can I say something to him?" He enquired while initiating eye contact with Amara. "Sure, go ahead, Professor West." Amara gave her confirmation. In fact, this was the sole reason Professor West, who works for the government itself, had accepted doing an interview with this channel in the first place. Nodding his head in confirmation, directly gazing into the camera, he proceeded, "Mr. Dark Savior, in case you are watching right now, I''m sure you''ve heard that two new rifts have opened up on the US soil again. So, please contact us yourself, we just want to talk. That''s all. You just need to hear our conditions and state any requirements you may have. In case you accept, that would be for the best, but if you don''t, that''s fine too since we could at least say we tried¡­ anyway, I''m here today to plead on behalf of the nation for you to give us the opportunity to negotiate. This country needs you in order to save-" No longer interested at this point, Virus turned the television off before picking his cup of tea and taking small sips from it now and then. "Hmm¡­ master, what are you gonna do from now on? I mean¡­ now that you''re pretty much free?" Seeing her master watch the television no more, the golden beauty probed out of curiosity. Truthfully, Virus wanted to start his cultivation officially ever since he had perfected his Corporeal Tempering stage. He had been thrilled thinking about the path before him. However, since then, as he had been always interrupted due to various reasons such as going over to fight the creatures of the rift, studying the Red-Crystals or whatnot, he couldn''t find the time as he was busy doing something all the time. Thus, now that he was totally free, displaying an enlivened smile, he retorted, "Now? Hmm¡­ since the preparations have been perfected flawlessly, now I shall commence the true journey of my cultivation!" 296 Energy Disentanglemen "Oh¡­ so master''s about to begin his cultivation? If that''s the case, is it possible for you to briefly explain what you''re going to do so I would also have a general knowledge about how cultivation starts?" Eagerness shooting off her eyes, the golden beauty urged. Nodding in affirmation, he said, "Sure, why not!" He also added, "Let me start with the name of the earliest stage of cultivation first. It''s called¡­ ''Energy Disentanglement''." Puzzled in return, she queried showing a deep frown, "Huh? ''Energy Disentanglement''? But I remember the cultivators saying that the first stage is called ''Qi Passage Opening''. Why is the name different?" Totally understanding of the reason behind her being muddled, Virus explained, "Well, basically, their method''s the same. But you see, our future civilization couldn''t use that name since this universe doesn''t have ''Qi'' as we do not cultivate Qi in the first place. Instead, what we cultivate is called ''Dark Energy''. So it would''ve been strange to call the first cultivation stage of this universe ''Qi Passage Opening'' while we''re not cultivating Qi, but rather Dark Energy! As a result, expanding their horizons even further, the people of my previous world decided to not limit themselves like that and instead granted the first stage a ''multiversal'' name where it could be used in any multiverse! Since every universe has a form of energy¡­ thus, they decided to call the first stage ''Energy Disentanglement''." "Oh¡­ that totally makes sense! It''s amazing how humanity didn''t limit themselves by giving it a universal name¡­ instead, they gave it a multiversal name! How awesome!" With her eyes glimmering in intense adoration, she praised. Not caring about her praise of the people of his past world, however, Virus continued, "Yeah¡­ anyway, this ''Energy Disentanglement'' stage, which is also known as the ''Qi Passage Opening'' stage, consists of twelve levels!" "Or to be more exact, each level is about one ''Energy Pathway'', meaning, there are ''Twelve Energy Pathways'' within a normal human body!" He added shortly before mouthing the rest, "And these ''twelve energy pathways'' are interconnected as they travel almost throughout the entire frame of the body! However, the connection between them is tangled up and twisted in ''twelve spots''!" After a momentary stop at this point in order to allow the golden beauty to digest everything, he carried on in a serious manner, "Now¡­ if these entanglements are all disentangled, extricated, and untwined entirely¡­ they would be capable of forming a complete network of interconnected Energy Pathways, simply, they would be whole! And with that, a cultivator would be capable of fully circulating the energy within his body! In another term, he will be able to complete a full circulation on the entirety of the frame of his physique." After that, he expounded further, "However, even if a single knot or entanglement remains within the Energy Pathways, doing a complete circulation would be literally impossible as the movement would be stopped at the said knot and the circulation wouldn''t be perfected!" "So¡­ in short, the first stage is about starting from a particular Energy Pathway and untwining all of the obstructions and entanglements along the way! And later on, the very moment all of the knots are disentangled and untwined, a single circulation will be finished and the cultivator would thus naturally enter what the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi calls the Qi Circulation Stage!" Virus concluded casually. "Ah¡­ very impressive, what is the multiversal name of the Qi Circulation Stage by the way?" She couldn''t help herself but ask. Unfortunately, tossing the question aside, Virus uttered, "Hmm, let''s not get into something new which would confuse things up. That shall be all I reveal regarding the Qi Circulation stage as of now." "Un¡­ Alright. So¡­ in short, what you have to do is to untwine all of the entanglements¡­ and each time you extricate and disentangle a knot, you would progress one level in your cultivation stage¡­ is that correct, master?" She inquired eagerly while waiting for his confirmation. "Yes, that''s correct." Was Virus'' patient response. "Hmm¡­ here''s another question for you¡­ how does one untwine or untwist these knots? Do we, for example, draw the energy from the world and hammer that energy against the knots or something?" She questioned with glowing eyes while waiting for his response. With a burst of laughter, Virus started elaborating patiently, "Haha¡­ not at all, the first stage has nothing to do with absorbing the energy of the world and our surroundings. Each Energy Pathway reserves a limited amount of energy that we carry with ourselves from the moment of our birth. All we have to do is to lead those energies on the related knot itself and keep it there. Just like that, those energies slowly disentangle the said knot as they have a unique property of untwining those obstructions naturally and gradually over a period of time." He also didn''t forget to add, "Of course¡­ how long exactly this untwining process would require entirely depends on two facts, first, how much Energy reserve that person has within his Energy Pathways and second, how badly the twelve connections are knotted and obstructed." "Oh¡­ so do those two qualities differ within each person''s body?" Already able to guess the answer, the golden beauty questioned just to make sure. "Yes, exactly. We could say how much energy reserve a person possesses or how badly his or her pathways are knotted is totally up to the heavens. These two facts also decide the talent of each person on this stage." He clarified passively. Exhilaration literally emitting off her eyes, she voiced while smiling charmingly, "Oh, I see. So that''s the Energy Disentanglement stage¡­ it''s simply astonishing! I can''t wait to start my own cultivation now, to be honest." After cracking up, he also didn''t forget to mention, "Haha¡­ I look forward to that day, Lil Belle. Oh, by the way, regarding the Energy Disentanglement stage, there are some other essential facts and details that you need to understand first, but I''ll clarify them for you later on when you''re about to start your own cultivation." "Okay, that was all, it''s time for me to begin now. So, I''ll leave into my room and enter a short period of seclusion. Please do not allow anyone to disturb me under any conditions." With a grave glint blinking within his eyes, Virus declared. "Yes, master!" 297 Luminescence 1 Walking into his own room, Virus closed the door behind himself. But since he was confident the golden beauty wouldn''t let anyone inside unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn''t lock it just in case. Then, sauntering toward his bed, he sat on it cross-legged. The moment he closed his eyes, hundreds of simple breathing techniques passed before his eyes in a fraction of a second. ¡ºInternal Energy Sensation¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Internal Qi Sensation'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Internal Energy Sensation'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around 3 months to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºPathway Reserved Perception¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Passage Natural Perception'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Pathway Reserved Perception'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''2.5 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºSixth Sense: Natural Dark Energy¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Sixth Sense: Natural Qi'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Sixth Sense: Natural Dark Energy'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''3.5 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºGaining Sight Toward Energy Within The Pathways¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Gaining Sight Toward Qi Within The Passages'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Gaining Sight Toward Energy Within Pathways'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''2 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºAwareness of the Dark Energy Within¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Mid-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Awareness of the Qi Within'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Awareness of the Dark Energy Within'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''1.5 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºQuick Awareness To The Spark¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Quick Internal Qi Awareness To The Spark'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Quick Awareness To The Spark'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''2 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºInternal Hearing¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. Before and after the adjustment, its name was left unchanged. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''4 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡ºSight Acquisition For Spark¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Low-Rank¡ªA simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. It had the same name before and after the adjustment. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''5.5 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ ¡­ Instantly, tens of these types of spark breathing techniques appeared before Virus'' line of sight before slipping away just like that. Actually, when someone wanted to begin his or her path of cultivation, the first matter he had to deal with was to gain an awareness of the ''Internal Energy that is reserved within his Pathways from the moment of his or her birth'', this first concept and activity which was like an entry barrier for anyone who wanted to commence his path of cultivation was called, ''Internal Energy Spark''. Of course, the cultivators of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi called this entry barrier the ''Internal Qi Spark'' and it was later on when the Technological Universe gave it the multiversal name, ''Internal Energy Spark''. Anyway, the simple matter of this ''Internal Energy Spark'' was what separated a normal human from a beginner cultivator. Because the moment a human being gained an awareness toward Internal Energy, would be the moment he enters the first level of Energy Disentanglement stage. That''s right, entering the first level of the Energy Disentanglement stage had nothing to do with knots and entanglements unlike the rest of the levels of this stage! In the past, a person had to meditate for many days, months, and even years in order to acquire this simple awareness toward the energy reserved within their pathways. And at first, indeed, everyone truly had to meditate by themselves without any guidance, reliance, or external help to ease its difficulty. They were all alone in this regard. However, as time passed, many cultivators began to develop and invent simple spark breathing techniques with the sole purpose and goal of assisting their descendants, sect members, clan members, etc. in their path of breaking through this simple barrier and their entry to the world of cultivation. And currently, those tens of hundreds of spark breathing techniques that were created for the sole purpose of gaining awareness was passing before his eyes one after another. Unfortunately, he realized almost all of them were only Low-rank Mortal-class spark breathing techniques with a few being Mid-rank of the same class. The reason why almost all of them was Low-rank was because at this point, the comprehension ability of a human being would be rather low, so it would be extremely difficult for them to exercise any complicated spark breathing techniques, thus, the cultivators only created the most simplified spark breathing technique they could since any higher than Mortal-class Low-rank would prove to be useless most of the times. However, that was not the case for Virus as he was looking for the highest-ranked spark breathing technique since the matter of complication wasn''t a problem for him. 298 Luminescence 2 He at least wanted a Peak-rank Mortal-class spark breathing technique. Unluckily for him though, the highest-ranked Spark Breathing Technique he could find was a High-ranked Mortal-class. And there was only one such technique. Oddly, however, it was simply called ''Spark Awareness''. ¡ºSpark Awareness¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class High-Rank¡ªA rather simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. Before and after the adjustment, it reserved the same name. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''1 month'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy. However, the comprehension of this technique is almost impossible for a normal human being before initiating the cultivation.¡µ ''This is it then, I guess¡­'' As this notion popped into his head, without wasting any more time, taking a deep breath, he began to follow the exact instructions within the breathing technique to every little detail without missing any of them. Simultaneously, he was also comprehending almost every little detail he was following as thousands upon thousands of analyses were going on internally in his mind. With a spark breathing technique of Low-rank or Mid-rank, on average, a normal cultivator usually took around two months to gain the spark, a genius around 40 days, and a super genius around a month. Anyway, according to the history Virus had access in his head, excluding the cultivators of the Technological Earth, the fastest it took the cultivator of the Cultivation Multiverse was around fifteen days. Of course, this was only the ''recorded'' history. As to trying to gain awareness with a High-rank Mortal-class spark breathing technique, other than lacking access to this kind of breathing skill, the normal humans indeed couldn''t even begin to comprehend the details or measurements of different breathings or such facts. At least not before starting their cultivations officiallly. So with these aspects considered, almost no one even tried picking a breathing technique of the High-rank. Hmmm~ Pheeewww~ Haaaa~ Heee~ ¡­ Six hours passed quickly as Virus was still following the exact instructions of the technique very seriously. Other than doing that, however, he was also emptying out all other notions from within his head as he focused all of his attention trying to gain that awareness and spark to the Internal Energy within his Pathways. Once again, time began to elapse almost instantaneously¡­ Seven hours¡­ Eight hours¡­ Nine hours¡­ At this point, Virus'' stomach was making weird noises, complaining about not eating anything for nine hours. To be truthful, he was also feeling very tired too as the breaching technique depleted a lot of his energy, however, not paying them any heed, he continued. Ten hours¡­ Eleven hours¡­ By now, the outside had turned completely dark, it was the night time. But there was still nothing happening within Virus'' body. Moreover, his face had gone a little pale as beads of sweat were also rolling down from his face from time to time. ¡­ Just when the timer hit twelve hours. As if a barrier had been finally shattered apart, slowly, within his world-view, changes started to take place as¡­ One mote of light was sparked within his body and it was followed by¡­ The second¡­ Then third¡­ And soon, he could sense hundreds of these motes of lights within his body existing at particular locations. A while later, he could clearly feel lines of light which were the Internal Dark Energy reserves within his Pathways! Actually, it wasn''t that the mote of lights had sparked into existence. No, it was called ''Spark'' because the moment someone finally gained an awareness of the Internal Energy within himself, it felt as if a spark had come to exist within that person''s body, thus it was called ''Spark''. Also, the light wasn''t actually a light! Virus couldn''t actually see the energy with his eyes, so how could it be bright like a light? In fact, it was just a sensation that transmitted to him which he could clearly distinguish from the rest of his body, thus it felt like shining lights within the body. Anyway, as he had finally felt the spark, at long last, that barrier which has been keeping him from commencing his cultivation shattered apart as he successfully entered¡­ The First Level of the Energy Disentanglement Stage! Then, opening his eyes in celebration while grinning from ear to ear, he was just about to stand up and leave the room, when abruptly, an intense radiance of luminous shine began to emit itself from the palm of his left hand! And this luminescence was so unimaginably bright that one simply felt disbelief by the fact that such a light could exist in the first place. Hua~ Hua~ Hua~ "What the¡­" Wave upon waves of this intense light began to be released in all directions! In the meantime, stupefyingly, Virus could only divert his gaze from looking at the light directly as he avoided it at all costs! He was avoiding the light because every time he tried looking at it, he felt his entire existence trembling from the mere sight of it down to his very core! And an unconscious feeling that even if he looked at it just once, he would be annihilated entirely transmitted into his instincts! Meanwhile, outside the room, the golden beauty was staring dumbfoundedly toward the room of her master motionlessly. Because¡­ an intense light was being emitted from the room which her master was at currently! She was dumbfounded to such a degree because as if the wall and the door of her master''s room didn''t exist, the lights were just passing through as they displayed themselves before her! ¡­ The same was happening outside 4 Times Square as the otherworldly light was being released to every direction wave upon waves! A lot of people passing by the building stared at the highest floor of 4 Times Square with wide eyes of shock, confusion, disbelief, and many other extreme feelings all together at once! In short, at this night, many people from different corners of New York witnessed an unbelievable scene that would be unforgettable for the rest of their lives! 299 Energy Pathways "Wh-what is that light?" A man vocalized looking at 4 Times Square with wide eyes of astonishment and shock. The same questions were passing through the minds of everyone around walking by the building. The odd thing about this brilliance of light, however, was that it couldn''t be stopped by the buildings or whatnot as it directly passed through them as it came out visible from the other side of the building too. This ensured that as long as the wave of shine proceeded, everyone would be capable of spotting it! And because of this, even people who were in a rather long distance from 4 Times Square building in New York were able to witness this mysterious and incomprehensible light which made one realize the difference by a simple gaze. This also instantly alarmed many officials of high positions in both the city itself and the entire country as a whole! ______________ Meanwhile, on the highest floor of 4 Times Square, the golden beauty who had been stunned silly up to this point finally snapped out of it as she dashed into the direction of the room. "Master!!!" Opening the door in an absolute hurry, she jumped into the room as she looked at her master whose left hand was emitting that luminescence everywhere. "Wh-what''s wrong with your hand, master!" Horrified, she barked. As beads of sweat and paleness had long covered his face by now, Virus muttered weakly, "N-nothing¡­ Y-you can leave¡­ go¡­ protect the floor, don''t allow anyone to e-enter h- Ahhh¡­" By the end of his sentence, he abruptly let out a yelp of agony. _______________ As his hand started to glow in an extreme light even more brilliant than the sun in some way. Virus was wondering what was happening with his left hand when abruptly, his entire face went extremely pale like a sheet! Because he suddenly realized, some kind of energy was being released to the rest of his body from the source of light within his left hand, the part where the energy was most intense at, as it wreaked havoc everywhere it traveled! Due to this realization, immediately releasing all of his own unique awareness on every part of his physique, in addition to his weak awareness of his Energy Pathways which he had gained by entering the first level of Energy Disentanglement stage, he began to inspect every fraction of his body! A few seconds passed when, much to his stupor, he noticed that mysterious stream of energy, which was nothing like anything he had ever seen before, sweeping within the pathways of his left hand. Though the stupefying fact which sent shivers down to Virus'' spine wasn''t this! It was the very fact that it was destroying the Energy Pathways of his left hand! Boom! One of the Energy Pathways within his left hand which extended to many parts of his body, starting from his fingers, began to burst apart! The energy was indeed damaging his Energy Pathways! No¡­ it wasn''t simply damaging them. To be more exact, it was fully destroying his Pathways to the point of nothing remaining of them! This was accompanied by a sharp excruciating pain that was as if someone was blowing up his very nerves from inside out! However, due to Virus having an unwavering level of determination, he didn''t falter as he never even let out the slightest of noise due to experiencing this kind of affliction which would''ve long made anyone scream and even faint in pain! Unfortunately, though, it looked like this was just the beginning, as the energy flowed and swept through his other Energy Pathways too. And everywhere the energy was flowing into, it was followed by a muffled sound of ''Boom'' as that place was annihilated to the point of no return at all! Bang! At this point, a complete Energy Pathway was destructed to the point of nihility! Now, it appeared as if there was nothing there in that part of the body from the very start! Unluckily for him, the energy continued to violently course through his Pathways as every single place it went to, chaos and annihilation followed! Bam! A second Energy Pathways was entirely destructed, from its beginning to the end! Then it was followed by a third! Gnashing his teeth with bloodshot eyes, Virus, however, continued to persist without even a single moan! Nevertheless, watching his twelve Energy Pathways bursting apart one after another, a kind of despair and gloom flickered within his eyes! A kind of despair he knew could not return from! This was because¡­ if his Energy Pathways had been damaged to some degree, although he couldn''t have been capable of making it as new as before, he still would''ve been capable of repairing them to some extent. But unfortunately, as if God was playing a huge joke on him, they were being demolished and leveled to the point of no return! To the degree that one would think there was no passage in the body to begin with. A natural-born cripple without any aptitude for cultivation! And even Virus couldn''t fix something like this! By now, the strange energy was wreaking havoc in two of his Energy Pathways Simultaneously as an instant later, both of them were no more! Boom! "Wh-what''s wrong with your hand!" He heard a terrified scream all of a sudden. Looking at the source, he saw that it was the golden beauty gazing at him with clear worry displaying itself within her eyes. So, gathering every bit of will he had, he voiced rather helplessly, "N-nothing¡­ Y-you can leave¡­ go¡­ protect the floor, don''t allow anyone to e-enter h- Ahhh¡­" Boom! By the end of his sentence, however, three passages of energy exploded at the same time, and this level of pain was something that was hard even for Virus to grit his teeth through and persist on. So, he could only surrender and scream at the stabbing pain of suffering which had already entered a new realm altogether! 300 Im VIRUS! "M-master¡­ what''s happening? A-are you gonna be f-fine?" With deep worry and anxiety apparent within her tone and face, the golden beauty queried further. "I said GOOOO!!!" Savagely, he shouted toward the golden beauty, knocking the sense out of her at once. This in return, made her very astonished as she could only stare at him with wide eyes of disbelief. She was astonished and even shocked because this was the first time Virus had yelled at her like that. So, a bit downcast now, nodding her head in a hurry, she said, "Yes, master." Then turning around, she began to leave the room quickly while still stealing short glances at her master''s spasming image who was convulsing around on the bed in a restless manner. ''Just what kind of pain is he experiencing for him to act like this? No normal level of agony would ever move master¡­ but now, looking at the way he''s acting, I can''t even imagine what kind of incredible pain he''s going through¡­ sigh, I just hope nothing bad will happen to him. I can''t even imagine a world without him.'' As she thought of this in distress, letting out a powerless sigh, she left the room in order to guard the entrance per the orders of her master. Meanwhile, eight out of his twelve Energy Pathways were already obliterated... perfectly and utterly! Anyway, soon it was followed by¡­ The ninth! And then¡­ Boom! The tenth passage was no more! "Puff!" At this point, without any warning prior, abruptly, Virus coughed a mouth full of blood! Making his bedsheet crimson red in blood! However, this wasn''t the end of his misery because it was soon followed by the eleventh! And finally¡­ the last twelfth Energy Pathway was no more! And at this point, as if relieved at last, Virus¡­ fainted! ¡­ A few hours elapsed quickly. Now, even though he was still experiencing a great deal of fatigue and tiredness, deciding to ignore that, putting every bit of his remaining willpower into it, he forcefully pushed his heavy eyelids to open wide apart. Immediately, the worst kind of sensation transmitted all over his body as he clearly felt the pain and fatigue throbbing almost everywhere. Without paying any heed to the now tolerable pain, however, focusing his own unique awareness all over his body, he realized... he no longer possessed any Energy Pathways within his entire body! After also trying to utilize his weak awareness of his Energy Pathways which he had gained by entering the first level of the Energy Disentanglement stage, Virus instantly understood¡­ that weak awareness no longer existed at all! Meaning, he was no longer in the first level of the Energy Disentanglement. ''No¡­ I can fix this! As long as the data of my Energy Pathways exists within my DNA, I can definitely find a way to heal them and revert them back!!!'' As this notion popped into his head, carrying his heavy body, he slowly pushed forward, walking toward his laboratory in a snail-like pace. On the way, he didn''t encounter the golden beauty since the entrance to the elevator and the laboratory was on the opposite sides. At last, arriving at his laboratory, biting his finger without any hesitation, he dropped a single drop of blood on [Microscope 1.0]. A few minutes passed when finally, the 3D picture of every data regarding his DNA displayed itself before him! However, what he saw immediately paralyzed him in his standing spot. Of course, it was followed by utter despair and anguish! Because he noticed, the DNA information regarding his Energy Pathways was nowhere to be seen at all! It was as if they had been erased entirely, not only from within his body but also from his very DNA Core itself! "A-am I a cripple now? Did I turn into a useless trash without any possibility of cultivation? Is that it?" He murmured in a low tone of pessimism and hopelessness. "N-no¡­ Never! That can''t happen! I''m VIRUS! Nothing''s impossible for me!!! There must be a way to cure the Energy Pathways¡­ even if they are destructed entirely! There must be!" In an almost howling tone followed with surges of insanity clear within his eyes, he savagely vocalized. No one, not even Virus himself, truly understood what exactly would happen to the current planet of Earth if this Artificial Intelligence indeed went mad! His insanity would probably set the world aflame and follow by the death of millions or even billions if it didn''t end in the total annihilation of the planet itself. Not only that, his madness would probably even reach the other planets of the universe and multiverses! It was a terrifying notion indeed! Meanwhile, in sorrow, pushing his thinking speed to its very ultimate level, he began to search every last bit of data and knowledge he possessed within his head. Infinite memories, pieces of knowledge, and databases so great in magnitude and size that it would probably shock any living being in the world started to pass through his head at an impossible speed! Memories of thousands of years and longer! Knowledge of hundreds of thousands of years and beyond! An accumulative database of an entire universe¡­ No! More than a single universe! In short, knowledge worth eons was passing by the second through his mind. The accumulative knowledge of nearly two universes and more! One second passed¡­ Two seconds passed¡­ And even an entire hour passed! However, no matter how hard he searched, nowhere in any corner of his mind, had there ever been a mention of repairing a set of Energy Pathways that didn''t exist anymore. Realizing this, and understanding clearly that he had been caged within this useless body forever and more from the very moment he had entered it resulted in him feeling as if he was the most futile being in the world. Since day one, from the second he had entered his eternal body, Virus had always felt as if Cultivation was possibly one of the only sources of everlasting entertainment for him! And entertainment¡­ was one of the main purposes of his existence! But now¡­ even that was taken away from him! Thus, by every passing fraction of a second, the despair, the gloom, and the insanity intensified within his wrathful eyes. He was losing stability! 301 *Title Mentioned At The End* Five minutes later, extremely grave and dejected in mood, Virus was sitting in the middle of his laboratory, staring at a corner hopelessly while different notions were passing through his head. Now, after digging every piece of knowledge he had within his database, he was pretty confident he knew no methods of saving himself from this incorrigible situation. ''Maybe there is a method in the current Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, who knows¡­ I mean, many things should be different in this era, right? Should I go there and start searching every galaxy, every system, and every planet I can think of?'' ''There must be something, someway, somewhere for me to go in order to save myself, right? Nothing''s impossible and there are so many odd and mysterious objects in the world, so there must be something out there that can help me restore my Energy Pathways!'' These were the first impulses he could think of, then it was soon followed by¡­ ''But why did this happen in the first place?'' ''Why me?'' ''Everything was going just fine until now, but just then, this tribulation had to hit me like this!'' As these questions popped into his head, he recalled the image of a shining object which was so bright in its brilliance that he couldn''t even recognize its external shape at that particular time in the past. ''Origin!'' He determined with a murderous glare. A terrifying murderous intent immediately began to emit from his entire body as all of them were directed at his left hand while he thought wrathfully, ''It''s all that damned object''s fault! I don''t fucking need something like that, something that harms rather than do good!'' Afterward, with no hesitation whatsoever, he tried focusing some parts of his awareness on his left hand. He was about to inspect just where this cursed object was placed in his left arm so he could just forcefully scoop it out of his flesh right there, right then! Actually, from the very first day he had acquired what he named ''Origin'', he was never capable of sensing it anywhere within his body no matter how hard he searched his physique utilizing his own unique awareness. Apparently, it was as if ''Origin'' no longer existed anywhere within his body, as if it had simply teleported to another location entirely! However, although sometimes he doubted whether the ''Origin'' had truly teleported away somewhere else in order to find another more suitable carrier or not, he firmly believed it still must exist somewhere in his body, it was just that it was highly proficient in hiding itself, even from his own unique awareness, just like a ghost! Even if that wasn''t the case, it must''ve just temporarily entered another dimension or something while still being attached to him in essence. Now, even though he was rather dubious regarding his ability in being able to pinpoint the exact location of the ''Origin'' within his arm, already going through the despair and instability he had experienced, he honestly didn''t care anymore as he just immersed some parts of his awareness all around his left hand, especially in the spot which was previously glowing in a profound radiance that had bewildered the entire city of New York a while ago! "Ah!!!" The moment he concentrated some of his awareness on his left hand, however, he clearly felt the existence of the ''Origin'' which even now he couldn''t make heads or tails of its shape! But what shocked Virus and forced him to let out a surprised squeal wasn''t that fact! It was due to the fact that the second he tried observing it, a simple rush of information directly invaded his brain. Furthermore, simultaneously, he felt a pulling force from the ''Origin'', struggling to absorb all of his consciousness into itself entirely! So, a bit terrified, he promptly made an effort in order to withdraw every bit of his awareness into himself once again! Unfortunately, the pulling force was extremely powerful! But then again, Virus wasn''t one to give up easily! So, he continued to persist through the pulling force with all his might. And luckily for him, since only a part of his awareness was focused on the ''Origin'' at the time, eventually, he was indeed successful in drawing every last bit of awareness he was exuding into himself again. "Phew!" Letting out a sigh of relief after that, he stared at his left hand with some glimmer of fear now flickering within his eyeballs while he wondered, ''Did it just try to consume me? Absorb me? Just¡­ what the fuck''s going on with this thing!'' After experiencing what he just went through, now, deeply frowning, he was even more sure that he had to get rid of the ''Origin'' and pluck it out of his flesh for good! A few seconds later, finally recalling the matter of some pieces of information that were straightly loaded into his mind forcibly, he struggled to recollect them at once. And, just as expected, without any delay whatsoever, the information promptly displayed itself in front of him as he realized that the information was just four words alone with no other knowledge attached to them! However, these four words almost made his eyes bulge out of their sockets as he became mind-boggled at once while a sensation as if his entire world had just turned upside-down once again diffused all over his being. This happened because the four words were¡­ ¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡»! ''Wh-what?!'' Shaken down to his very core, Virus could only stare in a random direction with his jaw nearly wide open. His thoughts were no longer functioning as he could only remember those four words¡­¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡». Some seconds flew by when, at last, coming out of his stupor, those traces of despair and despondency, and those flickers of madness seemed to have momentarily vanished into the back of his head while some signs of hope started to bubble up from deep within the abyss of his eyes. Virus was feeling hopeful once again! ***** Chapter Title:¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡» 302 Risks With a deep glow of determination, his eyes displayed a hopeful brilliance as he reached a simple analysis of those four terms, ''Hmm¡­ It says ''Origin Passage Creation Art''! That could only mean it''s something that creates a new set of Energy Passages, aka Energy Pathways, within the body! This might actually work!!!'' By this point, a happy grin was plastered on his face, a broad smile which was exactly the opposite of the Virus of a few moments ago. "This could be it! My salvation!" He yelled rather loudly before continuing to murmur, "But, how do I use this so-called Art? I mean, only these four words were transmitted into my mind without anything else to follow¡­ could it be¡­" Going quiet at this moment, a frown replaced his previously happy face. ''Do I need to allow ''Origin'' to suck my consciousness into itself? Isn''t there another way?'' With his fingers stroking his chin, he wondered. ''That''s a huge risk¡­'' Afterward, he entered a rather long session of deliberation as he started to consider the pros and cons of attempting this path and option. He assessed and evaluated if it would be better for him to just start searching for another method of obtaining Energy Pathways in the Cultivation Multiverse. And in case he faced a failure, it was never late to take this risky option called ''Origin''. ''But¡­ that''s going to take a long time¡­ too long perhaps.'' Shaking his head in the end, he dismissed the idea momentarily. ''If I take this path, this is going to be the second time I''m taking such a huge risk¡­'' Contemplating up to this point, he went on, ''The first time was when I picked the [Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution] which was quite a risky choice with an indefinite outcome, but in the end, my choice bore fruit as I entered the [True 6th Level: Ethereal Metamorphosis] which was something unheard of even in the Technological Earth of my previous world, the future. Perhaps an uncharted territory entirely.'' He proceeded shortly, ''Even though I can''t determine the outcome of this risky option, I''m getting the feeling that I''m going to regret my decision if I didn''t pick it as soon as possible.'' ''But who knows if ''Origin'' has a hidden agenda by doing this¡­ maybe all of this was just a simple bait, a trap, in order to tempt me into permitting my consciousness to be sucked into the ''Origin''¡­ sigh, I''m truly in a dilemma this time¡­'' Reaching up to this point in his thinking process, shaking his head, he continued pondering. A few minutes passed as he kept weighing the two sides of the scale in order to reach a definite choice, but eventually, he understood this dilemma of his wasn''t something which he could simply weigh and pick the heavier side. No, it was much more complicated than that. There was no light or heavy side between the two options. It was simply that¡­ mere options. ''One selection would consume an indefinite amount of my time with no definite outcomes.'' ''The other selection, I could be either trapped by it, or I could find a way out of this gloom into salvation.'' ''One is a waste of time, while the other is like a two-edged sword.'' A few minutes later, shaking his head, he muttered while letting out a helpless sigh, "Sigh¡­ well, if I don''t want to waste tons of my time, it''s not like I have any other options¡­ I risked it once, and I faced unexpected gains that far outstripped my expectations. Who knows, maybe if I do it again, this time too, I received rewards which were truly out of my imagination¡­ so, let''s risk it for a second time.'' After a prolonged period of deliberation, at last, Virus had arrived at a final conclusion¡­ he was going to take the risk! Instantly, a luminescence of determination flickered into existence within his eyes as he rose to a standing position before vanishing from the laboratory. ______________ A FEW HOURS AGO Hua~ Hua~ Hua~ Abruptly, waves after waves of a dazzling blaze illuminated and spread to many sections of New York. This in return sent a lot of people into a state of panic as a variety of notions were popping into their heads. {A/N: Imagine one wave of light passing by before a second ripple arrives and disappears into the far distance... the illumination spreads like that.} "Perhaps¡­ did a rift open up in the middle of New York? God¡­ that would be such a disaster." Frightened, someone mumbled. "What are these ripples of light? Is this a new disaster hitting the planet again? What''s wrong with Earth these days?! Is it so determined to wipe all of us out and send humanity into eternal extinction?" A middle-aged woman voiced. Those who were considerably far in distance and thus incapable of seeing the source of the glow of light, 4 Times Square, thought along the lines which were mentioned above. While those who were nearby and were able to see 4 Times Square became greatly alarmed. "OH MY GOD!!! What''s happening with 4 Times Square?!" A young man screamed while pointing at the highest floor of 4 Times Square, attracting everyone''s attention. Immediately, a lot of people were greatly alarmed as they turned toward the building. The next moment, however, their faces went pale as many fled in random directions, while a few were standing paralyzed in their previous spot. "Wh-what''s going on? Isn''t that the headquarters of the Virus Industries? What''s the Virus Corporation doing?" One of the middle-aged men who was staring toward 4 Times Square with wide eyes of shock proclaimed. "What is Virus Corporation doing?! Is that a bomb or something? An EMP perhaps? What the fuck is going on? What are they doing? Are they gonna blow up the entire city?" A shrill scream of a woman full of drama was also heard. A while later, in different sections of New York, the police, the FBI, etc. were all alarmed and rattled. Currently, in the FBI office of New York City, an emergency meeting was being held. 303 Move Aside! Currently, in the FBI office of New York City, an emergency meeting was being held. "What do we know regarding that light? Did you call the Virus Corporation''s headquarters? What was their response?" The person who was the head of the NYC office of FBI queried nonstop in a single breath. "Sir, we called their reception, but they refrained from providing us with a direct response¡­ they said it''s under investigation. They also reassured us that it''s not anything serious and that it''s probably just a simple malfunction of their tools." A female FBI agent responded calmly. "Not anything serious?!? Not anything serious my ass! This is the first time I''m seeing an inexplicable phenomenon like this¡­ and they say it''s not anything serious without providing us with any clarifications!" Enraged, his eyes turned wide-open as he enquired in some disbelief. "Also! They say it''s probably due to the malfunction of their tools? I wanna know just what kind of tool reacts this way when it malfunctions!!!" He vocalized in an even angrier tone before voicing in a determined manner, "We can''t sit back like this! We need to delve into this further!" "But before that, what did the experts say? What could be the possible reasons behind that kind of strange light?" Leaning back on his chair, he inquired more. "Hmm¡­ sir, to be truthful, the experts are also clueless¡­ they can only guess that some kind of secret experiment must''ve gone wrong¡­" The previous female agent replied. "Useless¡­ alright then, this is an emergency and we have to dig into it as soon as possible and then report to the higher-ups. Dispatch the relevant units and agents to the area at once!" He passed along his final order solemnly before adding further, "No¡­ simply sending the agents won''t do! I''m coming along too! Let''s go!" Saying this, he stood up and grabbed the coat of his suit. "Yes, sir!" Simultaneously, a similar situation was taking place in the New York City Police Department as the clueless police chief dispatched officers to visit 4 Times Square building. ____________ Ding~ The door of the elevator opened as both the Legal and CEO uglies entered the floor with astonished expressions. Of course, even the astounded face of the Legal ugly seemed somewhat expressionless. "What happened, miss?" Questioned the CEO ugly in a hurry. "Nothing, it''s related to master''s training, you guys can leave." Phrased the golden beauty with a deadpan and rather blank look. Hearing this, the CEO ugly''s face went even uglier as he said back, "There''s been a huge commotion throughout the city due to that strange light¡­ I''m sure a lot of officials have been already dispatched here¡­ they''ll reach here at any moment now! But you say it''s nothing?" "Then just deal with them! Isn''t that your job?! Go away! Both of you!" Screamed the golden beauty annoyedly before continuing, "No matter what happens¡­ no one''s allowed to the highest floor. I don''t care if it''s the police, you, or the President of the United States himself! Send them all away!" Noticing her sour mood, the CEO ugly knew any more talking would be fruitless as he wondered, ''Just what happened for her to be in this kind of bad-tempered state?'' However, he didn''t reveal any of his thoughts out loud and instead mouthed a bit worriedly, "Alright¡­ we''ll deal with the officials and the consequences. But just tell me this¡­ is master alright?" Catching his question, the golden beauty''s expression sank a bit, but nevertheless, she replied, "Don''t worry! He''s okay¡­ don''t you know master? Nothing can ever harm him. It''s just that his training seems to have met some kind of unexpected situation, but he''ll be fine, there''s nothing to worry about." At the same time, a notion flickered within her head, ''Master¡­ you have to be fine¡­ You have to!'' "As long as he''s safe... Alright then, we''re leaving." As he muttered this, turning around, he left with the Legal ugly who had not uttered a single word throughout the entire conversation. ______________ Within the elevator, the CEO ugly started talking, "By the way she''s acting, something serious must''ve happened. But, it also shouldn''t be endangering master''s life¡­ so it''s all right. We should just deal with the delegators and leave the matters of master himself to himself." "How are we going to deal with the agents and police officials who come? Should I send them away myself? Or will you also come along?" Finally opening his mouth at this point, the Legal ugly asked as vacant as ever. "No need for that¡­ we''ll both go and wait in the lobby in front of the reception." Shaking his head, the CEO ugly rejected the idea of sending the Legal ugly alone. He understood that this was probably going to require both of them. "Alright then." ¡­ Coming down to the reception, the two realized it was already filled with police officers who were stopped by FBI beauty, Sara Garner, who was still on her duty of guarding the reception with the other security guards. At this moment, tens of FBI agents also came running within the building. "Mr. CEO! What should we do? We''ve been stalling them until now, but they''re about to enter and search everywhere!" Seeing the CEO ugly finally appearing on the scene, the FBI beauty dashed in his direction. Even though she was extremely curious about what had just happened, but being the smart woman she was, she knew she had to first deal with the situation if she didn''t want to lose their trust and even her part-time job here. "Lemme see." Muttering this, he passed by her as he directly walked over to the group of police officers who were crowding the lobby. "May I ask what brings you, group of respectful police officers, here?" Showing them a warm smile, the CEO ugly said in a relaxed tone. For a while, none of them opened their mouths as they just patiently waited for their leader to talk. However, seeing their leader not saying anything even after a long silence, one of the officers who had the second-highest authority among them decided to take the lead instead for now, at least until their head felt like speaking. "Are you freaking kidding us? We''re here to search the source of that light! We''ll give you one final chance! Move aside! Or, we will arrest all of you!" That police officer declared putting on an arrogant tone. 304 Good Job! "Hmm, do you have a search warrant for that?" Still maintaining that cool smile of his, the CEO ugly asked casually. "Haha! What search warrant! We don''t need a search warrant when we''re facing an incident that threatens public safety because the law states ''A warrantless search may be permissible in an emergency situation where the public is in danger.''¡­ and we suspect that might be the case right now since that light appeared to be some kind of bomb or a dangerous tool to public safety! So you either move aside¡­ or we move and imprison you. Last warning!" The same person urged again. Hearing this, the CEO ugly just took a short glance at the Legal ugly. And seeing him nod his head in confirmation, he could only let out a helpless sigh. Then, just as he was about to turn toward the FBI beauty, he was interrupted by the leader of the police officers, the police chief, who had been very silent until now. "Shut up!" He shouted in the direction of the police officer who had been talking until now. This in return shocked every policeman and policewoman silly as they wondered, ''Why is the police chief scolding one of our own? Could it be because he''s angry he spoke without any permission?'' However, next, an even more confusing scene took place in front of them as the police chief ran before the Legal ugly and started talking with a bit of stutter, "Ah¡­ sorry about that, please forgive him¡­ I''ll punish him when we go back. A-are you¡­ p-perhaps that person who was with that mysterious person the other day at the precinct?" Everyone, including the CEO ugly, had previously assumed that the police chief was quiet because he didn''t feel like talking at that moment. But, in fact, he had been silent because he was dazed from the second he gazed upon the Legal ugly''s face. He had recalled the Legal ugly''s unsightly face the instant his eyes fell upon the two approaching Legal and CEO uglies. ''He was definitely with that enigmatic person who could easily escape even mass-murder by summoning both the Director of FBI and Mr. Chief Justice¡­ even the President of the United States of America himself called me for his sake¡­!'' By this point, some beads of sweat had already covered his forehead as he went on, ''Could¡­ could this indeed have something to do with that person? If that''s the case¡­ the country must definitely be behind this and it''s not something I can interfere¡­ I have to be careful about what I do next!'' "Yes, I am." Short and simple, the Legal ugly indeed confirmed his doubt. Now certain, snapping back to himself, he inquired cautiously, "Then¡­ is that person also here? Is all this somehow related to him?" Just as expected of him, not beating around the bush at all, the Legal ugly answered directly, "He''s the owner of this building and the chairman of Virus Corporation." Immediately, the police chief''s face went pale as he thought, ''Oh shoot! I ain''t touching that reverse-scale! Yeah¡­ like hell I will! Over my dead body!'' He was now certain that he had to flee the vicinity at once if he didn''t want any troubles coming his way! So, turning toward the other police officers, without any further ado, he ordered, "Everyone! I just received a call from the higher-ups! We were all ordered to retreat as they said they''ll deal with the situation themselves and dig everything necessary on their own! This incident is now officially out of our responsibility! So¡­ retreat and scatter at once!" Hearing this, however, every officer was speechless as he or she pondered, ''Just when the fuck did you receive a call? We were with you all along and there was not a single noise rising from your phone! Could it be the higher-ups communicated with you through telepathy?!?'' Nonetheless, there was nothing they could do as their direct highest superior was ordering them to leave. So, feeling a little powerless, they could only turn around and leave. "Then¡­ I¡­ I shall leave too, there is something very urgent I need to attend to. But please tell the chairman that the police chief sent his greetings! Also¡­ I''ll help you guys and take care of the reporters outside¡­ so, don''t worry about them." Saying this, as if in a rush, with his tail between his legs, he fled the scene. A wide-grin had long appeared on the CEO ugly''s face as he turned toward the Legal ugly and proclaimed, "Oho¡­ good thing he recognized you. A headache less." Then, turning toward the FBI Agents, he recounted wearing a natural smile, "Only they remain now." Actually, the FBI Agents had just arrived at the lobby and were about to interfere and take the matter at hand when they were bewildered witnessing the bizarre actions of the police chief. This included the head of the FBI office in New York. ''What''s going on? Why did he leave just like that? Is it because they left everything to us?'' Just as this notion popped into his head, his phone started to ring. And seeing the caller ID, his eyes went wide open as he answered it promptly, "Hello, sir?" ¡­ "Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes, I understand¡­ I shall do as I''m ordered." "Yes, thank you!" After repeatedly agreeing with everything the person from the other side of the line had spouted, hanging up, he turned toward every agent present surrounding him and ordered, "We''re going back!" Then, turning around, displaying a warm smile of goodwill toward the befuddled CEO and Legal uglies, they all left. Seeing this, the CEO ugly remained addled for a short moment when finally, some glow of comprehension started to shine within his eyes as he turned toward the FBI beauty and mouthed smilingly, "So you had already called your superior before our arrival¡­" "Hehe, yeah¡­ I contacted the Director immediately when I realized it was going to be chaotic pretty soon." She responded with a giggle. "Well¡­ good job!" Raising his thumb, he praised her praiseworthy deed. To be honest, witnessing both the Police Department and the FBI office in their front door, the CEO ugly had assumed that he would probably be forced to order the FBI beauty, Sara Garner, to make the call and bring the contract into the play in order to deal with everything quietly. However, against his expectations, the problematic delegators were handled on their own without him having to take any actions whatsoever! 305 Within Meanwhile, as the golden beauty was guarding the entrance to the elevator, she abruptly sensed someone approaching her. So, turning around, she immediately discerned the identity of the other person, "M-master! Are you okay now? Is everything fine?" Slightly shaken up, she inquired. Noticing the lump in her throat and feeling that she was almost on the verge of bursting into tears but still forcefully stopped herself, letting out a helpless sigh, he walked in front of her and whispered while patting her head gently, "I''m fine, don''t worry. Also, master''s sorry for yelling at you just now. I hope my Lil Belle understands." Hearing this, as if something within her had melted down, at last, no longer capable of controlling herself, a line of tear was drawn on her face while she stuttered sadly, "M-ma¡­ sob¡­ master¡­ waaaah!" Unable to finish her sentence in the end, she threw herself into Virus'' embrace as she hid her head within his arms and continued to wail right in there. Hugging her back in return, Virus repeatedly patted her head in consolation. Around three minutes passed. Finally, seeing that she had calmed down, separating her from himself, he gazed into her moist eyes very solemnly and began talking, "Little Belle, I need to do something¡­ I don''t know what the result would be¡­ I want you to take care of my body until I wake up. Can you do that for me?" "E-eh¡­ what? Is it something dangerous?" Distressed by her master''s new words, she asked anxiously. "Don''t worry¡­ it''s not going to be anything dangerous, just take care of my body, alright?" Deciding to lie, showing her a warm smile, Virus replied. "That reminds me¡­ master, what happened to your body a while ago? Why were you in so much pain and agony? Did it harm you?" Disturbed and worried, she inquired. "Haha¡­ don''t worry, it was just a part of my cultivation process¡­" Displaying an unbothered laugh, he lied again. "Ah¡­ okay then, I promise to protect master''s body with everything I''ve got! When is master going to do it? And where should we go for it?" Relieved that it wasn''t anything hazardous, she agreed readily. "Right now! And the location is right here¡­ I''ll lay on my own bed and then I''ll sink into a deep slumber just like entering a state of coma, which you probably won''t be able to wake me up from¡­ until I open my eyes myself that is." He answered before asking something else, "Was the situation outside handled?" She responded, "Ah, yes, the CEO and the Legal uglies dealt with it accordingly." "That''s good to hear¡­ let''s go to my room then. I''ll initiate the process right now." Turning around, he sauntered away toward his own room with the golden beauty following closely. ... "Ah! Master! Your bedsheets covered in blood!" The moment they entered his room, however, the golden beauty''s eyes went wide open as she exclaimed loudly. "Don''t worry¡­ those are foul blood, change the sheets for me please." ¡­ "See you soon." After laying down on his own bed with its new sheets. Uttering this shortly, he closed his eyes. The moment his eyelids were closed, his unique awareness was released as it covered all around him as he guided and centered it all on his left hand. Another point worth mentioning was the fact that there wasn''t the slightest of hesitation whatsoever in his smooth action of ditching his awareness on his left hand. This was because the second he had decided to do this, he was determined to do it without holding back or dilly-dallying in the least. Soon, as the location of ''Origin'' revealed itself to him, he focused all of his awareness right on it. Fssh~ Immediately, a very powerful suction force appeared on the surface of the unrecognizable ''Origin'' as it promptly absorbed his entire consciousness into it! _______________ "See you soon." Seeing him close his eyes after saying this, the golden beauty could only nod as she waited for what''s going to happen next. ¡­ "Master?" She muttered a few minutes ago. However, there was no response whatsoever from Virus'' motionless and slumbering body. ''So¡­ it''s just like what master said¡­'' ______________ ''W-what is this place?'' Gazing upon the darkness surrounding him everywhere, Virus wondered in utter astonishment. Every direction he could sense, there was only darkness at sight. It was as if he had fallen into the darkest abyss of hell, where there wasn''t the tiniest of light discoverable at all. The degree of this darkness was so great and profound that it wasn''t even plausible to observe a single centimeter outside his hovering consciousness. Furthermore, it felt as if his mass of consciousness had been locked somewhere in this mysterious dark space as he couldn''t move it in the least! In addition to that, it wasn''t even feasible to discern west from the east or south from the north at all! He couldn''t even make out the difference between up and down! ''Is something blocking my senses and stopping me from seeing or comprehending anything regarding where I am right now, thus all I see is darkness just like when one closes his or her eyelids?!? Or am I truly covered and surrounded by absolute and real darkness? Also¡­ am I caged here now? Was ''Origin'' really trying to imprison me here? Why can''t I move in the least?'' Just as these chains of notions popped into his disturbed mind, four words invaded his mind once again. Of course, these four words were stated in the most common language of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi which Virus happened to be knowledgeable about from the start. ¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡»! ''Again? It transmitted these four words alone aga-'' Just as he was about to complete his sentence, however, he was interrupted by a mass of information pervading his head nonstop. Shua~ ''Ah¡­ what is this¡­'' This immediately made Virus dumbfounded and even stupefied because the wave of information that had just invaded his head wasn''t uttered in any language whatsoever! Instead, it was just a mass of emotions! 306 Requirements Furthermore, shockingly, after all of the information was done being dumped into his head, even though it was just in the form of emotions and sentiments, he could still clearly discern what it was and what it was elaborating on exactly! ''This¡­ this is everything about the ¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡»! Now¡­ although I can''t put it into definite words just like how we can''t do the same with our emotions sometimes¡­ I swear I clearly comprehend what this Art is about and how or what I need to do precisely in order to utilize it¡­ it''s just like an intuition!'' As his non-existent eyes were shining in clear brilliance of excitement and eagerness, a new batch of emotions was loaded into his head next. Shua~ However, this time, although he roughly comprehended the meaning behind the emotions, he wasn''t one hundred percent certain regarding the details. And he felt like he needed to unravel its accurate meaning this time as it didn''t come to him naturally. He also grasped one transparent distinction between the previous batch of emotions and the new one. While the former was a type of instruction and enlightenment, the latter was a type of description that was trying to transmit specific words in the form of emotions. Or more plainly, while the first one felt more like processed experiences and memories, the second one was more like raw emotions which you needed to understand by yourself. That''s why, Virus had this odd feeling that unlike the former chain of emotions which he could clearly follow, he needed to decipher and contemplate deeply on the second one in order to apprehend it precisely. ''Hmm¡­ I don''t fully get the specifics¡­ what should I do¡­'' As this line of pondering appeared within his head, immediately, he thought of a possible solution. ''What if I translate these abstract emotions into concrete words?'' As this possible answer revealed itself to him, a very complicated algorithm started to take shape within his mind. This was happening because his plausible resolution was the production and creation of an extremely complex algorithm that would be capable of translating, converting, and deciphering ''Origin'' sensations and emotions into concrete terms. This process included him, first, considering every feeling that was directly transmitted into his head by ''Origin'' plus every external feeling that Virus had experienced up to this point. And second, it comprised of the procedure of comparing them with concrete words and finding the best definitions or words for each of them. In short, he was creating the perfect [Emotion to English Translator] algorithm. ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 2%...¡» ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 24%...¡» ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 32%...¡» ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 46%...¡» ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 58%...¡» ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 79%...¡» ¡ºAlgorithm completion rate: 100%!¡» As the production of the Algorithm was perfected in a certain sense, Virus pondered, ''Hmm, first, let''s see what the former emotions which gave the accurate instructions, enlightenment, and experiences of the ¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡» are about.'' Immediately, he put them through the algorithm as he waited for the translation to appear before him. Unfortunately, the result disappointed him greatly. ¡ºError!!! %^#$ Error! @%$ $^#$% #@$ Error! @% %^$#! Error!!!¡» ''Hmm¡­ something''s stopping me from translating it into words. Right, ''Origin''! But¡­ why won''t it let me translate it?'' Confused, putting on an imaginary frown, he wondered to himself. He also deliberated further, ''Although I knew the full translation of the knowledge of ¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡» would be out of the questions since it consists of complicated experiences and enlightenments which can be never put into raw and one-dimensional words alone, I assumed, my algorithm at least would be capable of translating a few words of the said Art¡­ but even that was prevented by ''Origin''! Damn it!'' ''Sigh¡­ whatever, let''s try the second one.'' Wanting to see if it also prevented the second rush of emotions from being translated, he put them through the algorithm. ¡ºTranslation Successful!¡» ''Oh!'' Luckily, however, it worked this time, meaning that the ''Origin'' wasn''t against the translation this time around. And also, since it was devoid of any experiences and enlightenments, Virus was confident the translation would be almost perfect. ''Let''s take a look at it then.'' As this reflection showed up within his head, words and sentences revealed themselves. ¡ºRequirements necessary for activating the [Origin Passage Creation Art]:¡» ¡´1. Fully Annihilated Energy Pathways/Erased Energy Pathways from The Roots.¡µ ¡´2. Absolute Comprehension of [Origin Passage Creation Art].¡µ ¡´3. Temporary Transfer of Consciousness Into ''Origin''. ¡µ ¡´4. Mysterious Blood of Undisclosed Origins.¡µ Without any further ado, gazing upon the words hovering in his line of sight, Virus began to wonder as a shimmer of understanding was flickering throughout his caged consciousness. As his attention was focused on the first requirement, which was ¡´1. Fully Annihilated Energy Pathways/Erased Energy Pathways from The Roots.¡µ, he delineated in an extremely passionate manner, ''Oh¡­ I see¡­ so that''s why ''Origin'' erased my Energy Pathways! Well, it totally makes sense, to be honest! Since every single body can contain only one set of Energy Pathways and having two sets of Energy Pathways is like saying two parallel lines will eventually meet¡­ simply impossible and against logic or common sense.'' ''Anyway¡­ it all happened due to it being a crucial requirement of creating a new set of Energy Pathways¡­ Sweet!'' Smiling from ear to ear, Virus exclaimed happily. He was very jovial because this simple fact alone meant that ''Origin'' also wasn''t harboring any hostile intentions against him from the very start. It wasn''t trying to trap him. It wasn''t attempting to replace and steal his consciousness or physical body. And neither was it trying to imprison him. Overall, at least for now, it had no intention of harming him in any way and that was extremely good news for Virus. ''The second requirement, ¡´2. Absolute Comprehension of [Origin Passage Creation Art].¡µ. Hmm¡­ I think the only way for its full comprehension was through the emotional transference of Art''s knowledge¡­ otherwise, I don''t believe even ten thousand years would''ve been enough for a normal cultivator to grasp everything that needs to be enlightened about.'' 307 Design Maps Not stopping his thinking process there, however, he went on with his analysis of the remaining requirements, ''The third requirement was also met the second my consciousness was sucked into this mysterious space. I wonder why that''s a requirement though¡­ one reason might and could be because the emotional transference of knowledge is only possible within the ''Origin'' itself¡­ though I''m not certain about it. Well, there must be specific motivations and rationale behind it.'' However, when he reached the last requirement, Virus'' consciousness became strangely quiet for a while. Only after some seconds had passed did he finally start his contemplation, ''Mysterious Blood of Undisclosed Origins? What''s that supposed to mean? I don''t see any blood any-'' Fizzz~ But just as he was about to finish his deliberating line, it was interrupted by a soft sound that a bubble makes when it bursts apart. At the same time, out of nowhere, a mysterious drop of dark liquid of unknown origins popped into existence right in front of his cloud of consciousness! Startled by its abrupt appearance, Virus could only look at it with more focus. Yet this time, his amazement and sense of alarm increased even further as he looked at the enigmatic jet-black drop of liquid which was shockingly radiating a dark glow which was even darker and more shadowy than its surrounding darkness! It felt as if this drop of glimmering inky liquid was dominating and even consuming its surrounding darkness! ''Wh-what¡­ i-is that the so-called Mysterious Blood of Undisclosed Origins? Is that even really a drop of blood? B-but¡­ what kind of blood is like that? How can the blood of someone be pitch-black?'' Wondered Virus to himself in incredulity and even bewilderment as he continued to stare at the forth requirement that had appeared before him all of a sudden. After an unknown duration of time passed, eventually, Virus put aside his sense of bewilderment and started pondering, ''Sigh¡­ so now, every requirement is fulfilled and present on the table. Now, I just need to initiate the process of [Origin Passage Creation Art].'' ''But first, let''s try and see if I can exit and enter this weird space of the ''Origin'' at will.'' As he thought of this, however, he was stuck with a particular question, ''How exactly do I try to get out of this space?'' ''Exit!'' He thought while imagining himself getting out of the dark space. Yet in the end, there was no reaction whatsoever. ''Leave!'' Again¡­ nothing! ''System!'' Unfortunately, no¡­ nothing again. ''Depart!'' ¡­ After that, he attempted many things such as imagining his own departure and banishment, calling out a lot of names such as exit, menu, etc. but eventually, nothing worked. ''Well, it seems it''s not manual¡­ at least, I don''t have any control on it as of yet¡­ sigh, forget about it.'' Shaking a certain part of his mass of consciousness which was supposedly his head, he let out a helpless sigh before proceeding, ''Whatever¡­ let''s get started then.'' As a strong resolve emitted from the cloud of consciousness floating in the middle of the darkness, Virus activated a certain notion within himself. ''[Origin Passage Creation Art]!'' Immediately, that drop of dark blood which was hovering in the space before him started to vibrate. But soon, it restored its own equilibrium and regained stability. "What the¡­ why did it stop-'' Just as Virus was confused by this turn of events, his puzzlement was cast aside by the new wave of emotion knowledge which was pumped into his brain. ''Some new stuff was driven into my mind again¡­ Alright then, let''s see what they are.'' Casually thinking this, he put the pieces of knowledge into the procedure of the [Emotion to English Translator] algorithm. Soon, the translations revealed themselves¡­ ¡º¡ºDue To Insufficient Data, Translation Partially Successful!¡»¡» ¡ºSelect one of the following design options for the mapping of your Energy Pathways:¡» ¡´1. Common Human Origin Design¡µ ¡´2. Zenith Saint Origin Design¡µ ¡´3. Heavenly Dragon Origin Design¡µ ¡´4. Hegemonic ***** Origin Design¡µ ¡´5. Prodigious Asura Origin Design¡µ ¡­ ¡´12. Manual Origin Design¡µ ¡ºCaution: Only the twelve most suitable ones have been suggested.¡» ¡ºCaution: All of the twelve mentioned selections ''almost'' have identical characteristics and attributes since the same substance is going to be utilized for creating them. They mostly differ only in their designs and the way they are distributed within the body. In that regard, they are very divergent from one another, and that means each option will be suitable for certain cultivation techniques, paths, etc. as their cultivation methods and the direction of their progress will vary to some extent. ¡» Seeing the list of designing options, Virus'' eyes started to shimmer in great enthusiasm and elation as he thought, ''Oh my¡­ each one sounds better than the previous one¡­ but¡­ isn''t there some kind of description, abstract, or something similar available for me to at least grasp them to a basic level and understand what kind of thing I''m getting myself into?'' In the end, he wondered to himself with a rather deep frown while waiting for more knowledge to be transmitted into his head. However, no matter how long he waited, nothing happened. This meant that these twelve names were all that he was allowed to see. And he was being forced to choose just by looking at their names. Even worse, he couldn''t fully translate the name of some of them. ''So¡­ does ''Origin'' want me to rely on luck or something in order to pick my fateful one?'' Taking on a solemn expression, Virus muttered to himself. According to the cautionary note of ''Origin'', it only transmitted the name of the ''twelve most suitable'' [Design Maps], denoting that a lot of other [Design Maps] better or worse in quality have been held back and prevented from being sent over. Moreover, it wasn''t giving any clear descriptions of the specifics of any of the options. Both of these factors considered made a dissatisfied look appear on Virus'' face while he pondered in a disapproving manner, ''I don''t like to leave things to luck¡­ and I, even more, don''t like the fact that it''s choosing what''s best for me.'' 308 Considerations ''But it''s not like I have any other alternative. Only these options are placed before me, and I have to make a decision from amongst them in the end¡­'' As this fact was clear to him, Virus knew he had to make a decision. So, he started analyzing the name of each selection with utmost care. While he considered each option, his mind also began to make use of every knowledge he already possessed prior to coming to the modern day of today. He was taking into account every piece of information, experiment results, theories, hypothesis, etc. that was gathered by the scientists of the Technological Earth of the future. In his past world, the future, numerous scientists had given a lot of theories regarding what would be the most optimum set of Energy Pathway for a cultivator. Due to that, a lot of considerations were made as many types of Energy Pathways were experimented on or theorized upon. Years passed. At first, humanity could indeed only agree that the most ideal kind of Energy Pathway was those that were already regarded as the best and the most powerful sets of Energy Pathways in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi in all aspects such as overall balance, speed of cultivation, foundation building, etc. And it indeed was¡­ Anyhow, that claim was maintained and truly believed for many years, until, a new perspective came into the picture. A new point of view called the ''Naturalist'' perspective. This frame of reference was put forward by a certain scientist in the related field of Energy Pathways and it opened a whole new door for the other scientists to tread upon. Anyway, that particular scientist firmly believed that the common energy pathways that the greatest percentage of human beings naturally inherited and carried with themselves were the most flawless type of Energy Pathway in existence when looking at its overall design and wiring. He was convinced that the reason other types of heavenly Energy Pathways were capable of dominating the normal human Energy Pathways was not because of their dissimilar and strange design and wiring throughout the body. No. It was because of their special substance and amazing qualities they held due to various mutations that had taken place throughout the countless eons. In his theory, he explained how due to various grounds, those heavenly and gifted Energy Pathways were indeed superior in their substance which gave them many miraculous attributes and effects that either greatly sped up the cultivation process or gave them magnificent features or abilities in their entire path of cultivation. However, he also believed that they were far inferior to the common Energy Pathway in their overall design and wirings which occurred the most naturally in a human body frame. This view, which was originally derived from Darwin''s process of natural selection, stated that the universe itself gradually selects the most optimum sets of Energy Pathway wirings and designs and slowly removes those unfavorable factors and qualities as a human body adapts and progresses toward the ultimately flawless Energy Pathway type! And from this view and other shreds of evidence, other scientists also deduced that this was the cause of nearly all of the human beings carrying the common type of Energy Pathway within their physiques. They were on a journey of traveling toward perfection! The scientists also concluded that in case they were successful in being able to recreate those common human energy pathway ''wirings'' and ''design maps'' with the same substance that the other heavenly and gifted Energy Pathways were made of, their performance would be even superior to those heavenly Energy Pathways of the same type! Whether in their speed of cultivation or their own unique attributes and features, all of them would be far superior! Moreover, it was conjectured one of the main factors for this strange phenomenon was due to the ''common human Energy Pathway'' being the most natural set which provides the cultivation with the greatest balance, stability, and equilibrium. Unfortunately, however, even mankind of that time who were very new to cultivation was not capable of recreating Energy Pathways according to their own desires and wishes. So, all of that remained just as a theory that could not be truly proved and one hundred percent guaranteed. Nevertheless, due to it being a very logically and scientifically supported theory, there wasn''t much doubt regarding it and humanity believed if they could just crack the way of the creation of Energy Pathways, they would indeed gain access to the greatest energy pathways throughout the countless multiverses with this simple theory alone! ''According to the things I considered up to this point¡­ since the general substance and attributes will be the same no matter what type of Energy Pathway I pick, for the moment, I would say the most perfect and flawless choice for me is the first one, ¡´Common Human Origin Design¡µ. Hmm¡­ but that''s not all.'' He pondered before proceeding, ''Let''s contemplate on and consider a few other types of Energy Pathways too.'' ''¡´2. Zenith Saint Origin Design¡µ¡­ I don''t know anything about this one, but looking at its name, it must be something for extremely good-natured people, I''m not 100 percent certain though. But no matter what, I don''t believe this kind of Energy Pathway would be even close to being suitable for someone like me. I mean¡­ come on, me¡­ a saint? Haha¡­ I couldn''t be far from it!'' Continuing his deliberation, he went on further, ''¡´3. Heavenly Dragon Origin Design¡µ¡­ Although I''m not sure if it indeed has anything to do with a dragon or whatnot, I''m really tempted by this option to be honest. Since I feel like it would be extremely befitting of my body¡­ taking into account how I reached the [True 6th Level: Ethereal Metamorphosis] utilizing the [Dark Dragon''s Metamorphosis Revolution]. Nonetheless, let''s resume the considerations for now.'' ''The fourth one''s called ''Hegemonic ***** Origin Design'', I wonder what the word which the algorithm couldn''t translate is all about¡­ but the term ''Hegemonic'' alone is an exceptionally grand and aspirational name. It can''t possibly be anything you can easily underestimate.'' ''And the concept ''Prodigious Asura'' was used in the fifth pick. Unfortunately, I don''t know what they represent either. Sigh¡­'' Shaking his non-existent head, Virus proclaimed to himself in a helpless manner. 309 The Most Natural Flow After that, Virus resumed checking out and taking into account the rest of the options one by one, however, in the end, as his eyes fell on number twelve, ¡´12. Manual Origin Design¡µ, a profound light sparkled within them as he thought, ''Options one to eleven could be considered as restricting options that ''Origin'' has offered to me. No matter which one I choose amongst them, eventually, I''ll still be stuck within the frame of fate that ''Origin'' has already foreseen for me. But¡­ the twelfth option is different! By electing this simple selection, the door to infinite possibilities will be opened up before me. I would literally be able to develop my own Energy Pathways in whatever design and wiring system I feel like and that would be entirely out of what ''Origin'' could most likely predict for my possible future. If I choose the last one, my journey and path of cultivation would be certainly something that hasn''t been treaded before¡­ a path that''s uniquely for me alone!'' At any rate, after the ''Naturalist'' perspective was birthed into existence, at first, many people didn''t agree with it as it wasn''t a truly proven theory in the end. But that slowly started to change when some scientists discovered two sets of Energy Pathways with similar substances. The first Energy Pathway was very different from a normal human Energy Pathway, while the second one was extremely similar to the common human Energy Pathway which occurred the most naturally in a person. Having found these two Energy Pathways that had very similar substances and materials, scientists started to do many experiments in order to reject or accept the ''Naturalist'' theory of Energy Pathways. Anyway, taking advantage of this opportunity, they commenced many types of research as they tried various experiments on the carriers of those unique Energy Pathways. At last, after several years of non-stop experimenting, a shocking result displayed itself before those groups of scientists¡­ the fact that the cultivator who was in possession of the natural and common Energy Pathway was progressing much, much faster than the other one. But that wasn''t the end as that cultivator was more superior in almost every aspect one could think of compared to the other one! Not satisfied with just a single experiment utilizing only two samples, the scientists decided to find other similar cases in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi of the Technological Universe itself! And indeed, after searching for some time, they did find a few other cases as they experimented on them once more! Yet, at last, they faced the same results again! And with these results presenting themselves before them, with clear hints of disbelief, the scientists could only accept the ''Naturalist'' theory reluctantly! With the ''Naturalist'' theory partially proven to some extent with that. A lot of attention was drawn on the said theory as countless scientists started to publish their own perspectives and articles in that theory as they started expanding the topic while it was developed further by each passing year. And amongst these countless article data, right now, a particular paper had just drawn Virus'' awareness to itself. In his past world, the future, since mankind could not re-design Energy Pathways according to their own desires and wishes, other than the initial ''Naturalist'' theory which was a partially proven fact, the rest didn''t attract much attention to themselves. And all in all, eventually, the numerous articles were just buried as they didn''t really matter that much. But now, since this capability of reconstruction of Energy Pathways had just presented itself in front of him, he decided to look through every piece of knowledge he possessed regarding the reconstruction of Energy Pathways. And thus, as he was searching everything, in the subsection part of ''Naturalist'' theory, a particular article which was ditched to a forsaken corner caught his undivided attention. According to this article, the writer argued that if the ''Naturalist'' theory was indeed correct, then ''the more'' natural an Energy Pathway is within the human body, ''the better'' that set of Energy Pathway would be in its designing and wiring quality! Or in short, the more natural, the more flawless! The writer of that paper also introduced another possibility related to the ''Naturalist'' Theory. And that was regarding the most common and natural Energy Pathway for a human-body. He stated that what we currently believe as the most flawless Energy Pathway might just be far from it! He said the journey of evolution has perhaps just begun and we still might not even be close to the point where we can call our common Energy Pathway half-flawless! But anyhow, with these two preconceptions considered, he concluded his article by asking a very crucial question, and that was, [What could possibly be the most perfect and flawless Energy Pathway for a human-being? Or in another term, what is the most natural Energy Pathway for a human body?] After that, he ended his article by stating that the scientific society might be able to think of the most natural Energy Pathway for a human-being without waiting for the evolution to perhaps do its job! Unfortunately though, after that, even the writer himself seemed to have lost all interest on the said subject completely as he released no following articles answering his own questions. This paper attracted Virus'' attention and even excited him to some extent as he wondered, ''Hmm¡­ what could possibly be the most naturally occurring Energy Pathway for the human race?'' ''Hmmm¡­ since in the future, I''m going to try what that group of mad scientists did but failed miserably at the end, leading to their own eventual ruin due to various reasons¡­ I better try to predict the possible problems and complications of doing that right now¡­ I mean other than the main issue they were knowledgeable about!'' {A/N: This group of mad scientists was mentioned in chapter 24, a reference back to the time Virus found the ''Origin''.} ''In short, I need to think of the other possible reasons it didn''t work. One reason for that to happen could be because¡­'' With a shimmer flickering throughout his being, he went on, ''Hmm, right! That could be one of the problems! But in order to hopefully solve that, I need to think of a way so my Energy Pathways would¡­'' At this point, Virus'' thoughts were censored, but nevertheless, he continued with his deep contemplation for some time. Now, as to what exactly those contemplations and considerations were¡­ that shall remain for another time! ''So¡­ considering that problem and its possible solution¡­ what could be the most natural Energy Pathway for the human race?'' ''Hmm, let''s try to ask that question in another way¡­ what is the most organic, natural, wholesome, and intrinsic flow for hum-'' At this point of his deliberations, abruptly, as if a bombshell had just dropped on his head, his currently non-existent eyes went wide open as he felt like the answer was right on the tip of his tongue, ''Flow? Did I just say flow¡­ the most organic and natural flow¡­ within the human body¡­'' A few seconds passed, when eventually as if the fog obstructing his view had been cleared away at last, enlightened, with his mood in a mind-boggled state, absolutely shocked, he cried out, ''BLOOD FLOW! The most naturally occurring flow within a human being is THE CIRCULATION OF BLOOD!!!'' 310 Initiation With brilliant eyes of excitement and expectation, he went on, ''Unlike the common types of Energy Pathways which can''t travel to every part of the body such as the head and the brain, blood vessels send blood literally to every part, denoting every corner of the human physique! The bones, brain, flesh, internal organs, etc. blood will basically flow and circulate in every part of the figure through the blood vessels¡­ so, this way, I''ll literally have even more superior Energy Pathways than the common types as it will be interconnected everywhere.'' ''And¡­ most important of all, blood vessels are the utmost natural passage you can possibly find within the human race and the human body! Which according to the ''Naturalist'' Theory, since it''s the most natural thing, it should also be the ultimate perfection itself!'' He muttered contently before adding, ''Alright¡­ that''s it! I shall do it now! That makes me wonder though¡­ what would the addition of the utmost superior substance ever heard of result in when it''s utilized in order to create the most natural type of Energy Pathway in existence!'' By the end of his pondering process, he was almost impatient to finish the creation procedure as soon as possible. ''Hmm¡­ although the other choices are rather tempting too, I don''t believe, not even for a single second, that they would come out superior when compared to my own self-designed set of Energy Pathways!'' After a momentary pause at this point, he continued, ''That''s my decision then, though this design can be considered as an uncharted territory with unknown risks, I like these types of rational and scientific risks, to be honest! So¡­ let''s just do it!'' With his mind already set on his decision, an unfaltering wave of determination began to course through his cloud of consciousness before he added a concluding thought to his deliberation, ''It''s time to activate the Art!'' ''¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡»!'' As he activated it, immediately, a rush of emotions barged into his head. Virus instantly knew it was asking him to choose between one of the options. ¡ºSelect one of the following design options for the mapping of your Energy Pathways:¡» ¡´1.Common Human Origin Design¡µ ¡´2. Zenith Saint Origin Design¡µ ¡´3. Heavenly Dragon Origin Design¡µ ¡´4. Hegemonic ***** Origin Design¡µ ¡´5. Prodigious Asura Origin Design¡µ ¡­ ¡´12. Manual Origin Design¡µ ''I select the twelfth option! The Manual Origin Design!'' He exclaimed internally. With his selection complete, that strange emotions disappeared entirely. Next, the [Mysterious Blood of Undisclosed Origins] that was hovering in front of his consciousness this entire time started to tremble and shake non-stop. A few seconds elapsed. All of sudden, the drop dashed into his mass of consciousness, however, the moment it entered his mass of consciousness which you could almost see-through¡­ the dark blood vanished! Meanwhile, in the outside world, within his left hand, in the location where ''Origin'' was hidden, a drop of glowing jet-black blood came into existence. The moment it appeared, however, it started to assimilate into his body. Simultaneously, within his body, the moment Virus activated the art and selected the twelfth option, after the blood initiated its assimilation and fusion process, Virus gained a strange authority over his body. This authority was not like the control a human being usually holds over his body like being able to move his hands or legs. No, it was more like he had control over his cells or a feeling similar to that. He had this delusion that whatever he desired, would be created and added into his body! Moreover, he had a 3D omniscient picture displaying itself within his brain. He was simultaneously able to witness and gaze upon every part of his body down to the cellular level! ''What a strange yet confounding feeling¡­ is this how a god feels? To be capable of creating whatever one desires? To be able to see everything at the same time? Damn¡­ this feeling is so addicting and out of this world¡­'' After marveling at the otherworldly sensation he was receiving for a while, he finally decided to put aside his sense of astonishment and begin the process. ''Hmm, I can see every single blood vessel within my body at the same time! Now it doesn''t matter if it''s a vein, an artery, an arteriole, a capillary, or a venule¡­ I can practically see it all! This makes the process much easier to be truthful.'' Extremely satisfied with this plus point he wasn''t expecting at all, Virus uttered. ''Let''s get started.'' As this notion passed through his head, he utilized his comprehension over the ¡ºOrigin Passage Creation Art¡» and tried commencing the construction of his Energy Pathways within one of his blood vessels. However, the moment he had made an attempt, an odd emotional sensation transmitted into his brain, an emotion which he understood immediately without the need for him to translate it at all. ''Hmm¡­ so it''s telling me at the very maximum, I can only create nine pairs of Energy Pathways, meaning eighteen in number. And half of that needs to be ''Yin'' while the other half needs to be ''Yang''.'' ''A normal Energy Pathway includes six pairs of passages which amounts to twelve in number. ¡­ but this¡­'' He went entirely quiet at the end of his words. After what felt like a long time, he proceeded, ''Fortunately, there are no specific limitations on the length of each Energy Pathway, otherwise, accomplishing what I have in mind would''ve been nothing but a pipe dream!'' ''As to dividing it into Yin and Yang¡­ let''s just go with adjusting the veins ''Yin'' in nature and the arteries ''Yang'' and the rest should be¡­'' Afterward, he went on a long contemplation of what should be Yin and what should be Yang in nature. Of course, he also utilized his knowledge about the traditional information he had regarding Yin and Yang. And with that, the process of the reconstruction of a new brand of Energy Pathway which the world had never seen prior to this day was initiated! 311 A New Discovery In the outside world, four days escaped by in the blink of an eye. Currently, the golden beauty was within Virus'' room as she was anxiously staring at the body that was emitting a slightly dark hue from itself. The owner of this figure was, of course, Virus. It has been four days since her master had sunk into his deep slumber, but to this moment, there had been no signs of him waking up and that worried the golden beauty to no ends. Four days ago, a few hours after Virus had immersed into this deep state of sleep, much to the shock of the golden beauty, his body had started to release an almost invisible dark aura from his body for some reason. This was instantly noticed by her causing a deep yet lovely frown to show up on her forehead. At first, she had been extremely disturbed after seeing this strange phenomenon, however, after constantly witnessing this odd darkish hue for many days, it had become something ordinary now. But at this moment, the golden beauty was especially worried for another reason. ''Why isn''t master waking up? He hasn''t eaten anything for days¡­ if this process continues he would eventually starve to death¡­ sigh¡­ no, things can''t continue this way! I can''t just wait, hoping for him to wake up before he''s in a dangerous state¡­'' Thinking up to this point, after a slight hesitation, connecting to the world database, she uploaded every knowledge she needed to know regarding how to nurse and keep a comatose person alive and healthy. ''Hmm¡­ There are many things to do, but for the start, he needs specific IV drips, some tools to empty his bladder, etc. in order to remain in a healthy condition.'' A shimmer of comprehension shone within her eyes as she understood exactly what she needed to do now. Thus, going into motion, she left via the elevator. ¡­ A few hours later, Virus was still sleeping on his bed, but now, there were a few additional things such as IV drips inserted into his veins. ''Phew! Embedding the needle into master''s vein was so troublesome¡­ the needle simply couldn''t sink in. Instead, the needle got bent! I had to first make a hole on his vein with my sword before inserting the needle into it.'' She pondered in a helpless manner since it had been an extremely hard task trying to keep his master''s body alive. ________________ Four months passed by quickly. During these four months, a lot of new rifts had cracked the space of Earth open in various locations. The number of rifts had multiplied by two during this short period! This in return distressed many people around the world as they wondered how long they would last in case things persistently got worse like this. Obviously, as a result of this ceaseless increase in the number of rifts, the Abnormals of Earth had become busier trying to deal with these hazardous rifts. Of course, overall, the Abnormals too were gradually getting stronger through the consumption of Red-Crystals. In some cases, expectedly, the Abnormals dispatched to the relevant rifts couldn''t handle the monstrous creatures and were instead mercilessly slaughtered by them. Nevertheless, the most essential news was released at this time. And this piece of news was something that sent quakes all around the world! "A day ago, an unknown person or group spread very vital videos and information all around the world. This intelligence which has already gone viral confirms that some unauthorized experimentations utilizing the Red-Crystals were carried out on normal human beings in Korea! Please bear in mind that this piece of information''s authenticity had already been confirmed by the experts in this field." A newscaster of a certain American channel announced toward the cameras. He continued formally, "Based on the information within this piece of intelligence, it''s been around four months since Korea has commenced its unauthorized experimentations on normal human beings with no traits. The purpose of conducting these forbidden experiments, according to the person who released this shocking piece of news everywhere, had been in order to observe the possible effects or side-effects the Red-Crystals would have on common humans rather than Abnormals this time." After sinking into a short silence, he went on wearing an exaggerated expression, "And¡­ as it is stated within the released shreds of evidence, they faced a shocking result! A result that will change our planet once again!" "This bewildering result, apparently¡­ as it''s stated by that unknown person, reveals that there is a certain chance a normal person consuming a Red-Crystal would activate¡­ Traits!" At this point, as if he was waiting for everyone watching the News to digest everything, he sunk into a rather long period of silence. In the meantime, hearing this startling piece of news, everyone watching the channel indeed entered into a deep state of stupefaction and chaos! Their eyeballs were already almost on the verge of popping out of their sockets as they stared toward their televisions. At this point, the newscaster proceeded, "More detailed statistics reveal that roughly there is a 0.0001 percent chance that a normal human being would awaken his or her trait after consuming ''one'' Red-Crystal." "The rate respectively increases as more Red-Crystals are consumed." Saying this, he added further, "When a second crystal is consumed, the possibility of this awakening grows to approximately 0.001 percent." Without any stop in between, he mouthed, "When a third crystal is consumed, the likelihood of this awakening is enlargened to around 0.01 percent. Of course, keep in mind that these numbers are very inaccurate since Korea possessed inadequate crystals in order to reach an exact and reliable percentage." Furthermore, he firmly stated, "Also, up to this point, these results are as far as the Korean government could experiment as their sources of Red-Crystals seem to have been currently emptied out!" "This is indeed a shocking revelation for our world since it means anyone could be Abnormal as long as he or she has access to enough pieces of Red-Crystals! However, even though it''s a world-changing piece of discovery for our Earth¡­ we shouldn''t forget the fact that the Korean Government could unearth these findings through the performance of forbidden experimentations on living human subjects¡­ which is illegal and a violation of human rights!" 312 Shes Here Again? "These illegal experimentations which were carried on Korean prisoners or alike without their full consent is said to have killed three people in its earliest days! Based on the shreds of evidence, the cause of these deaths was the intolerable agony and torment those subjects went through since the ''Resistance Pills'' were not introduced at the time!" The newscaster also added in the end before continuing, "The Korean government has yet to state anything related to these evidence-backed claims to this moment. But please be assured that this channel will be covering it the moment they do announce anything regarding their heinous acts." And with that, the newscaster proceeded to the next piece of news professionally. But that was just the beginning since with that simple spark, the fire started to spread everywhere as the other media all around the world also started covering and broadcasting that startling piece of information. However, after hearing the news regarding these forbidden experimentations which were carried on prisoners or alike without their consent, unsurprisingly, what most people were shocked or concerned about was not the experimentations itself being illegal or against human rights. No, mankind was stupefied by the fact that they could also ''Awaken'' their Traits! Only that aspect of the reports mainly concerned them because that was the most staggering side of the story that actually came to involve them and truly had an impact on their lives per se. "I can be an Abnormal too? Cool!" One of the viewers vocalized in a loud volume after hearing the news about the rate chance of how a normal human can turn into an Abnormal. This was a phenomenal and world-changing chunk of report to him. "Oh my god! I have a Trait too! I just need to awaken it!" Another common person exclaimed jovially. This was a dream-come-true to him, to be honest. Cheerfully, a teenager born with a silver spoon said, "Wow¡­ this is like being the main character of a fantasy movie! Dad! Please buy me a few of those Red-Crystals! I want to awaken my Trait!" "Ah¡­ son, I think that''s gonna be a bit hard at the moment since no government''s willing to sell it as of yet. But don''t worry¡­ the second they do, dad will buy you as many as you want! We will all awaken our Traits! We''ll be a family of freak abnormals!" Was the father''s response. He was also looking forward to awakening his own Trait. Meanwhile, another girl with a mediocre background was gnashing her teeth in frustration and hate while thinking, "I want to ''Awaken'' my ''Trait''! But for that¡­ I''m sure I need money in millions at least¡­ how should I go about that? How do I buy a Red-Crystal? Why is it that the privileged people are always ahead of us in everything!" ¡­ Over the internet too, everywhere was chaotic as all netizens were excited by the fact they could also possibly awaken their Traits now! ¡­ One day after the release of the news which sent quakes everywhere in the world, the Korean government finally responded, "Korea rejects all claims saying we have done these experimentations illegally or without those human subjects'' full consent¡­ all of it was done after getting their unconditional permission. We also deny that there have been any death casualties during these experiments as we first made sure it was absolutely safe prior to acting." ¡­ "Oh, so it wasn''t illegal or against human rights, huh? They made it noisy for nothing." Someone said in return after seeing the announcement of the government which wasn''t backed by any pieces of evidence unlike the previous widespread piece of news and videos that had gone viral. "Fuck¡­ what was all that fuss about then? Those media just exaggerate everything!" Dissatisfied, another phrased. That was just how it was. Most people trusted governments over rumors. No matter how true that rumor might be. "Ah¡­ we should thank Korea for unraveling such truth! We now have a hope of turning into an Abnormal because of them!" Another uttered in delight over the internet. "Thank them, my ass! They wouldn''t have released this piece of confidential information if it was up to them! It''s all because of that good samaritan who revealed everything about their experimentations!" A netizen called PenDrive also replied. _____________ While the world went through another phase of change, Virus was still in a deep slumber on his bed. ''Why hasn''t master waken up yet? How long is it going to take?'' Thought the golden beauty looking at her master''s sleeping body. She''s been taking care of Virus'' body for four months to this day. Although it was very hard looking after the body of someone like Virus who had an impenetrable skin against needles and alike, through various means and methods, until now, she has been successful in her efforts. Ring~ Ring~ Abruptly, her phone started ringing. So, after a momentary glance at the caller ID, recognizing the other person, she picked up. "What is it?" She uttered into the phone. "Miss Bella, Amara Martin is here again! She says Mr. Chairman has allowed her to visit him. She''s saying she has to see him today, no matter what!" Voiced the FBI beauty who was in charge of the security of 4 Times Square calmly. "She''s here again? She''s so annoying! It''s now the second time she''s visiting here¡­ just send her away. Say Mr. Chairman has no time to meet her!" Was the golden beauty''s reply to Sara, the FBI beauty. "Yes." Mouthing this, the line was cut off. The FBI beauty had naturally come to be aware of the position of the mysterious golden beauty in this corporation after seeing her stay with the chairman of Virus Industries on the highest floor all the time. ''She must be his secretary or something similar.'' Was the FBI beauty''s thought about her. One time, when the golden beauty was leaving the building to replenish some medical tools, she had given the FBI beauty her contact card so she would be able to call her in cases of emergency. ___________ WITH ELLA For the past four months, Ella had been going on and off to her university. That has become her daily routine. Passing her life in a quiet manner. Nevertheless, during these past four months, one thing about her life that was worth mentioning was the fact that she had gotten closer to a certain professor of hers. That professor was called John Lock. She didn''t know the reason, but Professor Lock apparently was very fond of her as a student, thus he always called her to his own room for anything related to their class which was almost at its ending points by now since the semester was nearly finished. And right now, too, he had just summoned her to his office. So she was on her way there. ¡­ Knock~ Knock~ Knock~ "Please come in." Came a muffled voice from inside the room. Creak~ Opening the door, Ella''s eyes automatically landed on the good-looking professor Lock who was currently sitting behind his desk in a casual manner. "You''re here?" He said wearing a shallow smile. "Yes, Professor, what did you call me here for?" Queried Ella rather formally. 313 Ella And John "Sigh¡­ I told you to stop calling me ''Professor'' numerous times, but you still do the same! You''re my best student¡­ so you can just call me John." Shaking his head, John Lock uttered helplessly. "This is the university¡­ a professor needs to be called ''Professor'' here. But outside the university area and campus¡­ sure!" Was Ella''s immediate response. "Is that so?" Saying this, John Lock, aka Detective Lock seemed to have sunk into a deep contemplative state. A few seconds elapsed, when finally, snapping back to reality, he muttered, "How about this, I have something I want to discuss with you. But let''s do it outside this time around, over dinner." "This¡­" Hearing this, a little uncomfortable, Ella didn''t know how to respond. Although he has been always good to her, going out to eat with her professor sounded a bit inappropriate to her. "You''ve done so much for me during this semester which made teaching so much easier! And this is just my way of thanking you for those daily efforts, you''ve been a perfect student! Also, I have something I need to talk to you regarding the class and some subject materials. But let''s have a change of environment for once. Also, the dinner''s on me. So don''t reject okay? Just say yes." Wearing a pitiful expression, he elaborated his perfectly justified reasoning for inviting her out to dinner. ''Hmm¡­ that should be fine, right?'' As this notion passed through her head, she answered showing a beautiful smile, "Okay, professor." "Good! I''ll call you later on." _____________ Suddenly, her eyes wide-open, Mary screamed, "What! Elle, did you say Professor Lock invited you out to dinner? For real?" "Yes¡­ but it''s just dinner, so don''t overthink it, will you? ¡­ He said he''s doing it in order to thank me for my endeavor and efforts as the class representative." "It''s not ''just'' dinner! It ''is'' dinner, Elle!!! so don''t forget to say ''yes, I''ll be your girlfriend!'' when he asks!" Faith also proclaimed in anticipation A deep frown showing on her forehead, Ella''s responded with a sigh, "I said it''s not anything like that¡­" "Alright, we''ll pretend it''s not anything like that. But in case it happened, you have to say ''yes'', okay?" With shining eyes of anticipation, Mary declared. Mary had been really into Professor Lock at the beginnings of the semester, she was even jealous of Ella at first, but as time passed she finally got over him. Now, she came to genuinely support the idea of her best friend getting together with her professor, John Lock, who is perfect in nearly every area one could name. "This¡­" Immediately, the image of a certain someone popped into Ella''s head, someone she''s been waiting for months even if she didn''t admit it. Someone who didn''t bother to come to her even once although he knew she was upset. This in return sent a new wave of sadness into her broken yet slowly mending heart as her mood worsened. Seeing her dejected expression, however, Mary turned angry as she proclaimed, "Elle! Enough of this! Just forget about that stupid Aizen! He didn''t bother to visit you even once although so much time has passed! It''s time to forget about him and move on! And Professor Lock can be just the case for doing exactly that. Please listen to us." "Right, Elle." All four of her best friends agreed with the rational words of Mary. However, Ella couldn''t say anything to that as she just looked down quietly and stayed silent. _____________________ That night, in a high-quality restaurant called Sparks Steak House. Currently, Ella and Detective Lock were sitting on two sides of the table as two plates of steak were placed in front of each of them. Two glasses of wine were also ready for sipping prepared beside them. "How is the food here? Do you like it? This is the restaurant I visit the most in New York because of its clubby atmosphere and most importantly delicious food." Announced Detective Lock while taking a small sip from his expensive wine. "It doesn''t disappoint, to be honest¡­ it''s great, professor! And the steak''s really yummy." A cheerful glimmer glowing within her eyes, Ella voiced. She indeed liked this restaurant which she was trying for the very first time. She was really enjoying the steak of this place as she felt like it was cooked into perfection. Even the floor manager was active ensuring they had a wonderful experience of eating. So everything felt good. Yet, hearing her call him ''Professor'' again, John said with a slight frown, "We''re now outside the campus, right? So keep your word and call me John please." Left with no choice, Ella could only helplessly say, "Yes, John¡­" "See! Calling me by the real name that I was born with wasn''t hard, now was it?" Taking on a humorous tone, John voiced. Being the attentive detective he was, he also noticed that Ella was having a difficulty cutting his steak, so, much to the surprise of Ella, abruptly reaching out, he pulled her plate in front of himself and started slicing it into many pieces while mouthing, "I''ll cut it for you. Please wait for a moment." ¡­ After they were finished enjoying their meal to its fullest, they were just leaving the restaurant when Detective Lock offered them to go to a bar for a drink or two. And of course, Ella rejected it at first. But, with the constant insistence of John, she could only agree in the end. ¡­ A while later, they were sitting behind the counter of a good bar and having their drink while John opened his mouth from time to time. Seeing her a bit drunk after having some glasses of wine, finally, John uttered casually, "So¡­ Ella, do you have a boyfriend?" Hearing this, a crease displayed itself on Ella''s brows. Then, with some hints of grief apparent within her voice, taking on a self-mocking tone, she murmured, "A... boyfriend? Do¡­ I¡­ have a boyfriend? Haha¡­ even I''m not sure anymore." "Oh¡­ is that so? What happened?" With a sharp glint passing through his eyes, John inquired further. "What¡­ happened?! Hmm¡­ indeed¡­ what happened¡­ I''ve been waiting so much for him, but he''s nowhere to be seen! Should I just do what Mary and others are telling me to do? Should I¡­ just forget about him and move on by using you?" At this point, she was gazing into John''s eyes with a deep blush. But it was clear the redness of her cheeks was due to her being very drunk and tipsy. Nonetheless, these words of hers made detective Lock very surprised. Simultaneously, much to the surprise of even himself, his heart started to beat a little faster. Being around such beauty for around four months, even though he still liked Amara the most, he had to admit that he had developed some positive feelings toward this beautiful young lady in front of him. The type of feelings a man usually has toward a woman. ''Huh¡­ That bastard Aizen Vee made such a mistake breaking up with her¡­'' As this notion went through his head, thinking he would have to be a eunuch in order to reject such an enchantress who was pronouncing such mesmerizing words at him, he slowly leaned forward toward Ella''s pretty face... 315 What Else? Opening his eyes, Virus looked around the room with a bit of perplexity as he thought, ''Damn¡­ I didn''t assume creating the Energy Pathways was such a slow process¡­ it took me more than sixteen months¡­ sigh, I''ve been sleeping for almost a year and a half¡­ I bet I missed a lot of interesting stuff!'' Against his initial expectations, creating a network of interconnected Energy Pathways as overarching as his, which literally covered his entire figure completely, was much more complicated and time-consuming than he had assumed. Even with the [Origin Passage Creation Art] and its miraculous effects, he had to be extremely careful in every single centimeter of Energy Pathway he was creating. Thus, in the end, completing each one of the eighteen Energy Pathways had taken him around a month or so. Anyway, noticing the needles stuck into his veins and the other tools which were attached to various parts of his body, he pulled them out one by one. A minute later, standing up, he left the room. He didn''t feel any kind of weakness either as he was feeling as energetic and healthy as before. This was perhaps due to his body which had gone through the Corporeal Tempering Stage in a perfect sense. Shatter~ The second he exited the room, however, much to his surprise, the noise of glass breaking apart reached his ears, attracting his attention to itself. Thus, looking at the source of the sound, Virus caught a glimpse of a stupefied golden beauty who had dropped the bowl of water she was bringing in order to clean his body. After what felt like forever, as she was done staring at his face in a dumbstruck manner, covering her face with a single hand, she dashed in his direction before throwing herself into his embrace with all her might. "Master!!!" She screamed at the same time. "Haha¡­" Catching her pretty easily, with her petite body still within his arms, he revolved around once due to the impact before putting her back on the ground with a burst of laughter. "You''re finally awake!" She said looking up toward his face, staring into his smiling crescent eyes while clear excitement and anticipation were emitting off from her entire being. "Yes, of course¡­ with my Lil Belle taking such good care of me¡­ how can I not wake up?" He replied looking downwardly while wearing an impressed smile. Continuously checking every part of his body with her attentive yet somewhat sad gaze, she questioned anxiously, "Why did you sleep for so long, master? I was so worried¡­ Are you okay now?" Easily seeing through her perturbed and disturbed expression, while patting her head gently, he phrased, "Don''t worry¡­ I''m fine now. It''s just that the process took longer than I had initially expected." Not stopping there, he queried further, "So, what happened while I was sleeping?" Without any need to deliberate on the question whatsoever, the golden beauty directly started talking, "So much happened in the past year, master¡­ simply too much!" "Oh¡­ is that so? Then how about this, you go brew some of your irresistible tea from the Water of Life and then slowly explain everything while master enjoys drinking that!" Showing a brilliant smile in return, Virus proclaimed. "Sure! Let me say this, master¡­ I''ve practiced making tea utilizing the Water of Life over the past year a lot, so I was also looking forward to brewing some for you!" She responded jovially. "Oh, is that so¡­ that makes me want it even more then! Go!" ¡­ While she was in the kitchen preparing the tea, the golden beauty couldn''t help but ponder, ''Thank god master''s not super gloomy anymore¡­ that side of master''s honestly scary¡­'' Remembering how dark Virus was behaving before going into his deep state of slumber, the golden beauty indeed didn''t like that sight because seeing him in that condition simply broke her heart. So, now that he was cheerful and merry just like in the past, she was feeling extremely happy about it. ¡­ "Here, master¡­ enjoy!" Putting the tea in front of him in an elegant manner, the golden beauty uttered. "Thanks, Lil Belle¡­ now, tell about everything¡­" He inquired casually. He still hadn''t connected to the world network, so he indeed wasn''t aware of anything that had taken place over the past year. "Hmm¡­ alright." Putting on a brief contemplative face, she commenced the elaboration, "One thing that''s worth mentioning is the event that took place a few months ago. You see, the duration of the temporary cure of the Mutated HIV, [Ai Virus 001: The Savior], was about to end¡­ and in case it did, the Mutated HIV would''ve come out of its dormant state and the process of extinction would''ve begun once more. But as I''m sure master already expects it, the CEO ugly started selling the yearly cure which he had already prepared for the world again." "However, he also lowered the prices by thirty percent¡­ so they were sold at a 30 percent discount. The world obviously had the preconception we were selling it at 30 percent loss and that made the image of our corporation shot up to new heights as it broke a new record. Hehe¡­ to be honest, saying mankind thinks of our corporation as a saint company wouldn''t be an overstatement anymore¡­" Giggling amusedly at the end of her long speech, the golden beauty concluded. "Haha¡­ good, as expected of the CEO ugly, he did a good job looking at the bigger picture rather than temporary profits. But still, even with a 30 percent discount, the income from that section alone should''ve been around 100,000,000,000 USD, so that''s still more than enough." Said Virus in return. In truth, due to spending most of their money on their new Mining Branch, the Virus Industries'' liquid assets were almost depleted. But this once again brought them out of the possible difficulties they may face later on as their pockets were repleshined and filled up to the brim at least for the moment. Displaying an entertained smile, he probed further, "What else?" 316 Master!!! "Hmm¡­ the next thing I''m going to clarify is the main dish!" Voiced the golden beauty. Apparently, she was very much enjoying the process of narrating the happenings of the time of his absence. "What is it?" Following suit with an amused grin, Virus asked. "This is truly a startling transformation for the Earth! A devastating change!" Still not revealing it, the golden beauty tried adding even more suspense into her words as continued beating around the bush. However, while casually smiling, Virus reacted to that by saying, "I''m about to connect to the world any time now¡­" "Nooo!!! Okay, okay, okay! I''ll say it¡­ gee!" His threat working just as expected, screaming this, the golden beauty displayed a cute pouting face before proceeding in an almost rushing manner, "You see, master¡­ the number of rifts in the world has increased substantially from the moment of your slumber, and due to that, almost a year ago, all governments decided to found a new organization within their own country." "And what is that organization?" Taking a sip from his tea which he hadn''t tasted for more than a year, Virus inquired. But the moment the tea touched his tongue, his eyes also started to shine intensely while he wondered, ''Wow¡­ her skills in brewing tea have experienced a sharp improvement. I think I can now call her a Tea Master. My Lil Tea Master¡­'' Nevertheless, he didn''t stop her explanations by complimenting the tea, at least not for now. "It''s called¡­ ''Abnormal Association''!" Letting the cat out of the bag, she went on, "Each country, utilizing their own laws and rules, have founded an Abnormal Association within their own borders. And, only the government of each country itself has authority over these Associations as no other country can interfere in their operation or whatnot." Listening to this point, Virus'' eyes displayed a rare hint of eagerness and thrill within them while he wondered, ''I smell something entertaining.'' With this, no longer wanting to wait any longer, he directly connected to the world as the relevant data was transmitted into his head instantly. Each country now had its own ''Abnormal Association'' within its borders. Based on the announcement of all countries in the world, the overall purpose of these associations was in order to guarantee the safety of the related country against the monstrous creatures of the rift. Since the number of Rifts in the world had experienced a sharp increase in count, the government no longer tried to have a monopoly over the rifts or the Red-Crystals in their borders. Instead, they created the ''Abnormal Association''. Now, every Abnormal could go to the Abnormal Association in their own country in order to sign themselves up as an Abnormal who wanted to fight the monsters of the crack in the fabric of space. After signing up, each Abnormal went through a number of tests in order to determine and specify their Traits, their rough ranking, power, etc. Literally, everything related to that Abnormal was recorded in their database. After going through the database, in case they passed the relevant tests by at least scoring the minimum mark, they would receive a ''Guardian License'' which officially and legally granted them permission to hunt the unknown monsters of the rift and guard the planet and people against them. These associations worked in a way so that when an Abnormal acquired a ''Guardian License'', in case that person was powerful enough, he or she would be even able to reserve a rift for herself/himself after fulfilling certain criteria. Then, at the moment of the breakout, he or she would be able to hunt the monsters that are liberated and released from the reserved Rifts legally. Moreover, all of the dropped loots would come to rightfully belong to them solely. Of course, they still had to pay a certain percentage of tax. But the rate of tax differed in each country. In some, it was 20 percent, while, in some other, it was increased to a whopping 40 percent or more. Other than these, there were several other rules and laws which were set and placed specifically for the licensed Abnormals population which they had to heed and obey no matter what. In case they didn''t and it wasn''t justified, their ''Guardian Licence'' might be confiscated or even invalid from that moment onwards. And that would mean they would no longer be able to hunt and procure Red-Crystals for themselves. After that, the ''Abnormal Association'' was the biggest organization that included all of the Guardian population of that country. However, other than this overarching organization, with the advent of ''Abnormal Association'', private companies, individuals, politicians, etc. who saw the golden opportunity immediately requested and applied for another smaller union called ''Guilds'' from their own governments. And seeing that there were almost no detrimental points to allowing guilds to be formed, as the other countries were also doing the same, nearly every country in the world allowed guilds to be created as they legalized it. These ''Guilds'' were like large groups of Abnormals who functioned almost like a company with a particular leader, etc. As he understood these pieces of information after connecting to the world for a split of a nanosecond, Virus disconnected at once. Then, looking at the golden beauty who was about to open her mouth again and proceed with her long explanation about the ''Abnormal Association'', raising his hand, Virus interrupted. Then he added, "Enough about the Abnormal Association, what other news is there?" "Oh! Now, there are a lot of ''Guilds'' in each country too! Guilds are-" After feeling a little doubtful regarding her master''s interruption, for now, she just decided to do as she was told. Unfortunately, she was once more prevented from talking any more as Virus opened his mouth and vocalized, "What else?" "Master!!! You connected to the world! That''s unfair!" Showing an extremely frustrated expression, with her fists gripped hard, she exclaimed. However, to be honest, all of this was just extremely adorable from Virus'' point of view. 317 No Love Sincerer Than... Bursting into a peal of pleased laughter, he phrased, "Haha¡­ sorry, sorry¡­ I swear! I just connected for a split moment of a single nanosecond! And I didn''t even try to probe that much! It''s just that the two things I happened to come across are the ''Abnormal Association'' and the ''Guilds''. But even regarding them, I just touched some of the surface information and nothing else!" "Still¡­" As if she was greatly wronged, with two imaginary drops of tears in the corner of her eyes, the golden beauty voiced. "Haha¡­ come on, tell me more. I really don''t know anything else." He queried again, feeling slightly bad about connecting to the world while she was trying her best in order to explain everything to him patiently. It felt a bit rude of him to do that. "Hmph! Only this once¡­ if master links his mind to the world again, Lil Belle won''t tell you anything anymore!!!" With an adorable harrumph, she said. "Alright, alright!" Restraining his own laughter, he obeyed contently. "So, other than those two facts, what else¡­ hmm, they were the most important events. But other than those two things¡­ oh right! Master! There has been a lot of destruction happening all around the world for the past year!" She uttered rather loudly. "And why is that?" Asked Virus displaying clear curiosity in his behavior. Hearing this, without any delay, the golden beauty started answering, "Due to the appearance of so many rifts and monstrous creatures, sometimes, the Abnormals dispatched to the scene aren''t capable of dealing with them successfully¡­ at those times, those monsters storm around causing destruction everywhere! The most damages are caused when the rifts are within the city itself or close to the vicinity of different towns or big cities." "Anyway, over the past year, a lot of annihilation and slaughters had taken place in many areas of Earth! A lot of buildings have been ruined by them too." She concluded while maintaining her concentrated facial expressions. "Oh¡­ I see. Well, as long as it doesn''t affect me per se, I don''t really care." Was Virus'' relaxed and unbothered reply in return. "That''s what I thought." Murmured the golden beauty before continuing, "Another matter worth mentioning is that, there are now a lot of governmental and private shops and auction-houses transacting Red-Crystals, Beads, and even monster corpses and carcasses. Apparently, there are even rumors of some Black Markets doing these types of transactions." "Oh¡­ Guardian Abnormals sell their Red-Crystals now?" Surprised by the news, Virus questioned. Shaking her head, the golden beauty elucidated further on the subject, "Not really¡­ most Abnormals consume their Red-Crystals themselves or give them to their loved ones since each Red-Crystal''s like an investment and insurance that will only bring about more returns and safety to themselves in the future. Scarcely do they sell their Red-Crystals¡­ but although it''s rare, it still happens sometimes. And every time it does, it creates some ruckus surrounding itself." "Huh¡­ then these shops who trade Red-Crystals must be barren with no customers or profits." He uttered stating the obvious. However, against his expectations, the golden beauty disagreed, "Not at all! It''s actually the opposite. It''s probably one of the better profitable jobs right now¡­ although the Red-Crystals are too scarce and short in supply, they still earn a lot." Pausing momentarily at this point in order to see her master''s curious face, she wondered to herself, ''How would it feel if I stopped at this point all of a sudden and instead say you''ll understand it later after seeing it for yourself? It won''t feel good right?! Hmph! Well, that''s how this lady felt every time you do it!!!'' Nevertheless, she didn''t say any of those notions of hers out loud and instead proceeded calmly, "They mostly profit and make a living through buying and selling the corpses and the carcasses of those creatures of the rift since it''s a new type of luxurious delicacy right now. There is even some unsupported hearsay saying they are really beneficial to the body, though the relevant researches in the related field are still in the process of being experimented and totally uncertain. People and restaurants mainly buy them for their wonderous taste¡­" "Is that so? Then don''t forget to remind me to taste some of those delicacies later on¡­" Showing an interested smile, Virus said. When it came to great tastes that gave him new and memorable experiences, he was indeed always down for it. Cuisine and food, that was indeed an inseparable aspect of life. An aspect that without which, life would''ve been multiple times more boring and colorless in nature. And for someone like Virus who had been always obsessed with pleasure, entertainment, and fun¡­ food and eating was something that he had come to enjoy and relish very much after entering his biological body and experiencing true flavors for the very first time in his entire existence. "Sure, master!" Said the golden beauty while staring at his yearning face. Tickled by his expression, she also couldn''t help but think of a certain quote by Geroge Bernard Shaw, ''Hehe¡­ Indeed, there is no love sincerer than the love of food.'' "Anything you''ve forgotten to mention?" Virus questioned at this point, wanting to know anything else that might be valuable enough for him to notice. "Yes! The most crucial piece of info! I specifically left it for the last one¡­" Suddenly grinning from ear to ear, the golden beauty vocalized. Paying attention to her facial expression and body language, Virus could only appreciate the sweet and delighted face she was currently exhibiting as he waited for her to reveal the matter that had made her take on this kind of moving and mesmerizing face. "Oh¡­ Master''s intrigued!" He stated in response while not taking his eyes off of her at all, not even for a second. "Wait for it. It¡­ is¡­ about¡­" Stopping at this point, he abruptly exposed in a loud yet excited tone, "My biological body''s ready!!!" "OOOOH!!!" Releasing an exaggerated sound in return as if he wasn''t expecting it at all, with his eyes going wide open, Virus exclaimed. "Hehe¡­" Witnessing his excessive reaction, she was absolutely gladdened and even tickled by it. 320 The Exact Date "Hahaha¡­ don''t worry, I didn''t see ''everything''¡­" Falling into a long peel of laughter, Virus said jokingly. He purposefully emphasized the word ''Everything'' too, trying to tease her further. "Didn''t see everything? Ummm, that means¡­ you at least saw something! Master!!!" Unlike the past when it took her just an instant to notice her master''s tease, this time, it took her a bit longer in order to comprehend everything. Nevertheless, she did indeed get it in the end as she cried out in total alarm while feeling greatly wronged by him. "Haha¡­" Virus, however, continued to laugh seeing her frustrated face. After being done cracking up, he said, "Alright¡­ go prepare some tea for me while I wash up and make a call." Coming out of his bed, first, he went to the bathroom and freshened up. Next, coming to the couch, he picked up his phone and made a call. "Yes, master¡­ are you finally awake?" Came the Island ugly''s voice from the other side of the line. Actually, all of the uglies had gradually come to be aware of their master sinking into a deep state of slumber for unknown reasons over the past year. They didn''t know the cause of this odd event, but neither did they worry too much after hearing everything from the mouth of the golden beauty herself. Since based on her descriptions, Virus had probably entered into a strange condition of cultivation or something similar. And now, seeing Virus calling him, his eyes started to shine as he picked up at once. "Yeah¡­ I''m awake. Have you been doing fine for the past year and a half?" He queried nonchalantly. The Island ugly responded with a happy yet hideous grin, "Yes, and now that I''m hearing master''s voice, I''m feeling great." "That''s good to hear. Anyway, what happened to that auction event which was going to sell the ''Pink Star''? The last time we talked about it you said roughly, it was going to be auctioned around a year and a half later¡­ so, when and where is it going to be sold now? Its date should be very close, right?" Not beating around the bush at all, he directly stated the main purpose of his call. "Ah¡­ that, actually, at the time, I passed the task of investigating and digging out everything related to that auction to the CEO ugly since his connections with the outside world are much deeper than mine. He should''ve already prepared everything you want to know about it." He clarified patiently and word by word. "I see¡­ alright, I''ll hang up then." Mouthing this, he cut off the line while his gaze fell on the golden beauty who was cheerfully bringing a cup of tea toward him. She was obviously still very thrilled about entering her own biological body. "Here, master¡­ enjoy!" Placing the cup in front of him, the golden beauty exclaimed while displaying a brilliant smile. "Good, thank you! Let''s taste your tea¡­" Muttering this, he casually picked up the hot tea as he took a very small sip from it. ''Hmm¡­ the quality has dropped a little compared to before¡­'' Deliberated Virus to himself, but of course, he wasn''t going to say it out loud and instead started complimenting her, "It''s a great tea¡­ you''re indeed my Lil Tea Master!" "Hehe¡­ thanks, master. I''m glad as long as you like it" She replied back jovially. "But¡­ why is there only a single cup of tea?" He enquired in a vague manner. And indeed, the golden beauty was really confused by the question, "What do you mean, master? Could it be you wanted to drink two cups of tea today?" Hearing this, a bitter smile crept over his face as he uttered, "No, silly! I mean where''s your cup of tea¡­ now that you have a real body, it''s necessary for you to eat and drink too! You didn''t forget about that, did you?" "Ah¡­" Covering her mouth in surprise, she said, "I did forget¡­" "You silly girl, go bring a cup for yourself then!" ¡­ A few minutes later, the golden beauty was also relishing her tea alongside her master. It was indeed an extremely otherworldly sight watching the two casually enjoying their morning tea. It felt like watching an ethereal charming devil and an enthralling goddess taking pleasure from their drinks. A paradoxical scene that shouldn''t have been possible in the first place. ¡­ "Come to the highest floor." Summoning the CEO ugly, Virus hung up the phone directly. Afterward, looking in the direction of Bella, he proclaimed, "Let''s go¡­ I have something to give you." "Eh¡­ what?" Surprised, the golden beauty queried. "Just follow me¡­" Was Virus'' only response. ¡­ Soon, they were within Virus'' personal laboratory as he picked up a small futuristic-looking syringe from a corner and offered it to the muddled golden beauty. "Take it¡­ this is an [Immortality Serum], I had already prepared this for you prior to starting the process of the creation of your true physique. Just inject it whenever you deem it suitable. You can either wait until your body matures further before taking it or you can inject it right now, it''s up to you." Saying that, he placed it within her palms before walking out of the laboratory silently. Meanwhile, staring at the [Immortality Serum] within her palm in shock, the golden beauty honestly didn''t know what to do. {A/N: Do you think she should inject it right now or later on when she has a more mature body?} ¡­ At the same time, coming outside, Virus spotted the CEO ugly already waiting for him there. "Sit." Virus declared daintily while he himself strolled toward the couch nonchalantly. "Yes, master." Obeyed the CEO ugly as he took a seat on the opposite side of his master. "Do you know why I summoned you?" He questioned gazing into the CEO ugly''s eyes. "Yes¡­ the Island ugly notified me." "Good¡­ then, tell me everything." "Yes¡­ so, according to my data, the Pink Star is going to be auctioned in less a month from now on. The exact date is the 10th day of next month." He explained everything before also adding, "Also, the auction is going to be held at Shanghai, China." The ''Pink Star'' was, of course, one of the main materials Virus required in order to create a particular device that could help him check his [Existential Codes] that had concerned him in the past. That was also why he had been so badly interested and involved in trying to get his hands on the ''Pink Star'' diamond. 322 The Deposi Leaving the floor, the CEO ugly deliberated intently, ''Master wants to deposit all of the 100 billion dollars within a single debit card?'' "Hahaha¡­" He couldn''t stop himself from laughing at this point as he burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. After a while of cracking up, as he was done laughing, he started to deliberate in a rather solemn manner, ''Hmm¡­ how should I go about this? In what kind of place can I put all of this money into a single debit card?'' Then, he started considering the possible options he had when his mind recalled a certain multinational financial services corporation which happened to be headquartered in Three World Financial Center in New York City. "The American Express Company... that should be the most preferable choice¡­" Murmuring this, he pushed the lobby button of the elevator as he left 4 Times Square two minutes later. ¡­ A while later, as his driver, Mark Sanchez, opened the door of his car for him, the CEO ugly walked out as he took a single glimpse of the skyscraper in front of him, American Express Tower. This gigantic building was the headquarters of American Express Company. Next, as Mark Sanchez followed him from a close distance, they sauntered into the building. "Call your CEO, tell him an important guest has arrived." Mark declared as they strolled before the reception in charge of unique visitors. The receptionist lady who heard this throw a momentary gaze filled with mock in the direction of Mark while thinking, ''You think anyone can meet our CEO just because that person wants to?'' However, being the professional receptionist she was, she questioned rather politely, "Sir, have you scheduled a meeting with our CEO¡­ because I haven''t been informed of any visitors for today. If not, then-" "Tell him the CEO of Virus Industries have come to see him, he''ll understand." Interrupting her words, Mark stated in a calm tone while thinking, ''I noticed that hint of mock within your eyes! Let''s see how you react now, bitch!'' And just as expected, the moment she comprehended the meaning of his sentence, with her eyes wide open in absolute shock, turning toward the CEO ugly, she was briefly dazed while pondering to herself, ''This level of ugliness¡­ there is no mistaking it! It''s definitely him!'' "P-please wait for moment¡­ I-I''ll immediately notify our CEO." Proclaiming this, she picked up the phone and directly dialed the emergency number which was a straight line to the CEO''s room. This number was so unique that from the moment she had started working here years ago, she had gotten the chance of dialing this number on a very few and rare occasions. After whispering several words into the phone, she hung up the line at once. Next, while some beads of sweat were dripping from her forehead, she said, "M-Mr. CEO, our CEO said he''s rushing here right now. Please wait for a moment, while you''re here, would you like to have anything?" Catching how nervous she appeared to be, the CEO ugly displayed a hideous smile while declaring, "No, thanks. We''ll just wait." Before even five minutes had passed, however, the CEO ugly spotted an African American middle-aged man rushing in his direction. Immediately recognizing him from the data and information he had gathered before, he stood up as he also began walking toward him. "Hello, Mr. Greg, to what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you today?" He exclaimed in a jovial manner. The moment he was notified the CEO of Virus Corporation himself was here. He had jumped from his chair as he had promptly rushed over. "Haha, hello, Mr. Nault, the pleasure is mine." The CEO ugly replied while shaking hands. "Please follow me¡­ this way." Said the CEO of American Express politely pointing toward a particular direction where there was an elevator. ¡­ Ten minutes later, they were sitting inside a luxurious hall which was apparently prepared for the filthy-rich customers. Soon, a special employee of that place approached them and started introducing different types of beverages while also asking which one they would love to have. Even a luxurious menu was handed over to the CEO ugly. "Haha¡­ it feels like I''ve come to a high-class luxury restaurant rather than a corporation like American Express Company." Uttered the CEO ugly in an amused tone. Not stopping there, however, he went on, "Anyway, thanks for the great hospitality, but I won''t be eating or drinking anything. Moreover, since I''m not a person who likes beating around the bush, I''ll just state the purpose of my visit straight away. How does that sound, Mr. Nault?" Displaying a brilliantly horrific smile, the CEO ugly mouthed. "Haha¡­ a great man you are indeed, Mr. Greg!¡­ You must be a busy person, so that''s fine by me, but you gotta promise me a cup of drink at a later date!" Exclaimed the other CEO. "Sure, why not." Accepting the offer, the CEO ugly continued further, "Anyhow, I''m here because I would like to sign up and receive a special type of debit card for our chairman." The second these words entered the other CEO''s ears, however, as if he had just heard the greatest melody in the world, his eyes started to glow like the sun itself before he said, "Haha, of course! Of course! That''s honestly our honor¡­ but if it''s not rude of me to ask, how much deposit are we talking about here?" At this point, picking up his cup of coffee, his eyes were filled with shining stars as he waited in great anticipation. ''Ah¡­ it''s nothing much, just a hundred billion dollars." Responded the CEO ugly directly with his tone so casual one would definitely feel pure disbelief toward it. "Just a hundred million dollars, I see¡­ that''s a good amount, to be honest¡­" Taking a mouthful from his coffee, the other CEO voiced wearing a jovial facial expression while deliberating to himself, ''Well¡­ a 100 million dollar debit card¡­ that''s not bad!" 323 Atish "Uh, no¡­ I think you misheard me¡­ I said, the deposit number is one hundred ''billion'' dollars liquid asset¡­ not million¡­ billion as in with the initial letter ''B''." The CEO ugly clarified patiently while showing an amused grin. Pofff~ Promptly, all of the coffee was sprayed out of the other CEO''s mouth. Shatter! That wasn''t the end as it was followed by the sound of a cup falling and breaking apart into many pieces. At this point, Mr. Nault''s eyeballs were already almost popping out of their sockets as he just stared in the CEO ugly''s direction with no words. He was dumbstruck! "Mr. Nault? Hello? Mr. Nault? Is anybody there?" Seeing the other CEO''s eyeballs fixed into a specific point in the air¡­ while waving his hand in front of him, the CEO ugly uttered continuously. Internally, however, he was thinking while feeling truly entertained, ''Haha¡­ his reaction is simply hilarious¡­ though it''s to be expected since even their annual net income is less than five percent of that number at this moment. What a pity, Master would''ve enjoyed all of this¡­'' "Mr. NAULT!" He shouted loudly all of a sudden, startling the other CEO out of his daze as he inquired doubtfully, "Ah¡­ sorry about that, did I hear wrong? Did you say 100,000,000,000 USD? A twelve figure number?" "That''s correct! But is certifying a card for that type of figure even possible for you guys? Also, I would like to know what type of card would you be making for an astronomical amount like ours, anyway?" Asked the CEO ugly in an inquisitive tone. "Well, in response to your first question... we''ll face some issues, but it''s my job to make it possible, Mr. Greg, so don''t you worry! Also, as to your second question... about the type of debit card... um, that doesn''t need to be asked at all. I mean¡­ we''re even willing to create a personal type of luxury debit card specifically designed for the chairman himself!" Without needing a single second to contemplate on the matter, the CEO of American Express answered. There wasn''t a shred of doubt nor hesitation discoverable within his tone at all. However, quite suspicious of that response, the CEO ugly uncertainly said, "A-are you sure you can make that happen?" Mr. Nault didn''t need to think at all as he directly started explaining, "For others¡­ no, that would be an impossible task¡­ but for hundre-¡­ I mean for you, Mr. Greg, that''s definitely doable¡­ haha¡­" Nodding his head in satisfaction, while displaying a knowing smile, the CEO ugly muttered, "Alright then, let''s do the necessary paper works and other crucial stuff¡­ I want the debit card to be ready in two days at most." "Sure!" "Also, how is acceptance of the card around the globe? There is no problem in countries like China, correct?" He turned a little worried at this point before responding, "China and other major countries like that are definitely not a problem! Though we don''t support some countries... but we''re in the process of expanding even further! Just over the past year, since now the importance of international transactions due to the appearance of the rifts, Abnormals, Red-Crystals, etc. has skyrocketed, we''ve been expanding both day and night like a shooting star! Now, global acceptance is a major attribute a great multinational financial services corporation requires due to these massive transformations the world is going through, so we''re striving to that end as we''re also almost getting there." "Nonetheless, please be assured that even if it''s a minor country, I mean whatever country... as long as you make a call to us, we''ll try to find a solution or an alternative asap for any type of transaction even if we have to lose the money from our own pockets. I hope that provides you a satisfactory response." "Good¡­ to be honest, if it was two or three years ago, I wouldn''t have chosen this corporation since its acceptance was so low, but since it''s enlargened its access globally a lot over the past two years and is still making expansions very rapidly almost every day. I''ve decided to put my money on this company!" Concluded the CEO ugly. A particular butterfly effect that had taken place with the advent of the rifts and guardians had been that people wanted to trade Red-Crystals, Beads, and especially the corpses of different creatures from all around the world internationally. And this fact alone was leading to the quick global expansion of many multinational financial services corporations and banks. And one of such largely influenced corporations had been the American Express Company! ______________ Currently, while sitting on his bed, different notions started to pass by through Virus'' head, ''Since I regressed from the first level of Energy Disentanglement the moment my Energy Pathways were destroyed¡­ I''m required to go through the entry barrier, Internal Energy Spark, again. Sigh¡­'' The previous time he entered the first level of Energy Disentanglement stage, with the utilization of ¡ºSpark Awareness¡», it had taken him around 12 hours in order to break through and officially enter the road of cultivation. ''I wonder how long it would take this time?'' And once again, deliberating up to this point, Virus initiated the ¡ºSpark Awareness¡» which was a mortal-class high-rank Spark Breathing Technique. He was expecting himself to be enlightened about his Internal Energy even faster this time since treading the same road was even easier the second time. Anyway, just like the flow of an hourglass, the quick passage of time was initiated. Without a single pause in between, Virus sank into a deep state of meditation as he emptied every notion within his mind while focusing every bit of his awareness trying to sense the Energy within his Energy Pathways. This process continued for two entire days when at last, covered in sweat, fatigue, and hunger, he was forced to snap out of his meditation. "Phew¡­" Letting out a tired noise, he murmured, "It''s been 48 hours from the moment I started¡­ but, why can''t I seem to be able to sense anything? I can''t even feel anything¡­ what''s going on, damn it." Remaining in a meditative state like that while practicing the breathing techniques of the ¡ºSpark Awareness¡» was a lot more energy-consuming than simply remaining idle. That''s why Virus couldn''t handle any more than 48 hours as that number was his current absolute limit although he was far stronger than a normal person. Virus knew, however, that for an ordinary person, let''s not talk about comprehending the mysteries and complications of ¡ºSpark Awareness¡», even training the breathing technique simply for two hours would''ve been a tall task by itself! Nevertheless, walking out of his room with a throbbing pain of hunger coursing through his stomach, Virus spotted the golden beauty who was currently sitting on the couch while watching a certain live channel that was currently broadcasting the battle of a single Guardian against the creatures of a specific rift. "Lil Belle¡­" He called out. "Ah..." A little startled by the sudden noise, she turned around. Seeing her master there, she uttered, "Eh¡­ Master''s finally out!?" "Is there anything to eat?" As he wasn''t in the mood to talk about anything else, he inquired directly. "Oh¡­ I kept putting food in front of master''s room these past two days. But you never ate them¡­" Saying this, she also added, "I cooked something for myself and master a few hours ago anyway, let me just warm that up." Uttering this, she left into the kitchen in a hurry as the television continued to broadcast the scene of the rift. "Hmm, let''s see¡­" While phrasing this sentence, Virus sat on the couch next. Currently, over the television screen, a guardian who called herself ''Atish'' was surrounded in a hell of red fire while burning every monster surrounding herself into a crisp. Looking at how easily she was burning all of the creatures before they even had any chances of attacking or getting near her, Virus wondered, "Wew, the Abnormal Guardians have progressed so much over the past sixteen months, they''re so powerful now¡­ I feel like that fire would even be able to somewhat harm me¡­ damn, everything''s progressing so much different from the previous records of my past world, the future." 324 Reign Afterward, he continued to quietly watch her single-handedly barbecue all of the beasts surrounding her in a leisurely manner. ''Atish, huh? That''s a good guardian name for an Abnormal with a fire-based Trait¡­ I wonder how her trait functions though.'' As she was done killing all of the beasts at this point in time, the live broadcast was cut off before two people appeared on the screen. "Once again, Guardian Atish burned everything in her path into a total crisp, she must''ve obtained at least 5 Red-Crystals from this hunt alone¡­" Then, one of the spokespersons commenced a lengthy analysis session with the central topic being the Guardian ''Atish''. ¡­ Putting the food on the table, the golden beauty mouthed, "Master¡­ I''m already at the fourth level of the Purifying stage!" "Oh, Lil Belle''s the best! Continue the great work and you''ll definitely finish this stage in a month at most." Grabbing a spoon, he put a mouthful of rice into his mouth while pronouncing that sentence distinctly. "Yeah¡­ by the way, before I forget, the CEO ugly brought the bank card you had demanded the other day." Muttering this sentence, the golden beauty took out a rather heavy luxurious card from her pocket as she put it on the table. Ding~ The moment it came into direct contact with the table, however, it made an unexpected humming noise because apparently, the material with which the pitch-black card was made seemed to be some sort of special iron, steel, or something similar! Taking a short glimpse of the luxury debit card that had a prepaid deposit number of 100,000,000,000 USD, however, Virus was rather surprised¡­ He was confounded because the sign which was engraved in the middle of the card was the logo of a single brain that appeared half-natural and half-artificial. Furthermore, instead of just printing the patterns on the card, the logo was beautifully ''carved'' which resulted in the card looking even more sumptuous! {A/N: The logo is the same as Virus Corporations brand mark, if you want to check it out, you can join our discord and see (Cover #1) in the Visual Channel. Address: https://discord.gg/u3jZDyD} "Hmm, why is ''our'' brandmark sculpted over the card instead of the relevant financial corporation?" Virus inquired in an impressed tone. Truthfully, he quite liked the way the card was designed. "About that¡­ the CEO ugly told me he requested the financial services corporation of the card to design it this way. A personalized design was one of the conditions." The golden beauty explained before adding, "Also, he said the American Express has guaranteed to solve any possible issues that might pop up along the way in whichever country master wants to spend his money at." "I see¡­ I like it¡­ I''m also quite fond of the card''s name¡­ [Virus Card] by the American Express corporation." Showing a half-smile, Virus proclaimed more. Smiling back in return, Bella exclaimed, "As long as master likes it, that''s good! If it was up to me though, I would''ve preferred naming it the Mastercard¡­ but unfortunately, that''s been taken already, hehe¡­" _______________ EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE Ella was currently strolling on the campus area while pondering, ''I can''t believe Professor Lock is one of my teachers this semester again¡­ that''s a bit of a unique coincidence, to be honest-'' "Hello? Are you miss Ella Dell?" Suddenly, interrupting her thinking process, a suited-up man who looked around 25 or 26 in age approached her. The man was also wearing sunglasses which made it harder to distinguish her overall face. "Yes, but who is this?" Suspicious and a little confused, Ella questioned. Directly offering her a contact card which provided the necessary information, the man initiated his introduction, "Hello again, my guardian name is ''Reign'' and I''m here on behalf of the [Dominators] Guild in order to invite you to be one of us." "Huh? What?" Truly lost and even bewildered by the words of the other person, Ella continued, "Dominators? Why would the Dominators guild even want to invite me? I mean, I''m not an Abnormal¡­ so why would such an extraordinary guild like the Dominators even-" Before she could finish, however, the person who called himself Reign interrupted, "Please stop hiding the fact that you''re an Abnormal miss Dell since we''ve already seen the video of you blasting a huge thug with a single punch in a certain alleyway." Hearing this, Ella''s expression went a little pale as she recalled a certain night which she still felt extremely guilty about. It wasn''t that she was traumatized about the gory bloody scene of that night nor the act of murdering and killing itself that haunted her to this day¡­ no! That wasn''t the case at all since for some unknown reason, from the very second Virus had forced her to swallow that strange pill on the day she had been kidnapped, never again had she felt traumatized or any type of extreme emotion toward the act of killing or even slaughtering, to be honest. No! What haunted her was the guilt of taking a precious life and committing such an unforgivable sin. And, realizing the fact that she didn''t really feel anything extreme toward the act of murdering that person, or in other words, knowing that she was apparently utterly incapable of caring about it intensified her sense of guilt and struggle even more. It made her feel broken. "Ho-how did you know about that?" She asked with a bit of stutter. "Please, miss Dell, we have our own capable resources¡­ but that doesn''t matter, nor do we care about you killing off one scum! What matters is that I''m here and we''re indeed aware of the existence of your Trait¡­" Pausing momentarily, he continued, "We estimate your Trait has something to do with strengthening your body. And truthfully, we think you being that strong without consuming any Red-Crystals is something very praiseworthy! Miss Dell, you''re someone filled with a lot of untapped potentials¡­" At this point, Ella was just about to open her mouth and stop him, when signaling with a single hand, Reign prevented her from speaking and proceeded calmly, "And that''s why I''m here today as the purpose of my visit is to sincerely invite you to our guild so we''d be able to assist and groom you to your full potential!" 325 Resolution However seeing her nearly unimpressed expression, while frowning deeply, in a rather solemn manner, Reign questioned, "Aren''t you sick of putting the fate of your loved ones in the hands of other people?" He was actually referring to her leaving the fate of herself, her family, and her friends on the hands of other guardians who mostly cared about Red-Crystals and benefits of themselves. But this instantaneously pulled Ella''s mind elsewhere instead. Nonetheless, his question was immediately followed by another one, "Don''t you want to be powerful enough to protect your loved ones against any danger and especially from the monsters of the rift? Don''t you want to be a reliable person? A trustworthy woman?" Thus, catching these inquiries which were evidently straight off targeted at her weak spots that even she didn''t know she had, promptly, an image of a certain golden beauty popped into Ella''s brain. This quickly triggered a strange feeling which started to bubble up within her, an extremely confusing feeling even she wasn''t aware of its existence within herself. She could never quite thoroughly put her finger on whether she felt jealous, angry, and hateful, or weak and helpless every time she watched the two of them being extremely close and open to one another to the point of even nearly never leaving the company of each other. She didn''t know whether she always felt despondent by the fact that Aizen seemingly trusted the golden beauty more than her. By the fact that he didn''t assume her to be someone trustworthy! She couldn''t grasp whether she was, in fact, feeling disappointed in herself because of being so powerless and weak compared to the golden beauty resulting in Aizen needing and trusting her more. Even right now, she was fairly muddled and lost when deliberating about all of these matters. But the one single thing that she firmly believed to have comprehended with utmost confidence was the fact that she didn''t want to experience this sensation ever again! She didn''t want to be weak! She didn''t want others to protect her loved ones! She didn''t want to feel inferior anymore¡­ to be tossed aside in the end just like she had been! No¡­ she had enough of all those! Having long noticed the minute change within her eyes, showing a triumphant smile, Reign poked, "Are you willing to join us?" Hearing this though, Ella didn''t agree readily, instead, she asked, "Is the [Dominators] guild really going to help me get stronger?" "Yes! That''s why I''m here." Nodding his head, Reign asserted. Having received the satisfactory answer she was after, reaching out her hand, she replied back in concession, "Alright then, I''ll trust you guys for now! I''m in!" This led to Reign falling into a burst of laughter, "Haha¡­ Welcome to the [Dominators], miss Dell! You won''t regret your decision!" Yet, caring about none of those words, Ella queried, "I hope so too. By the way¡­ what now?" "Now¡­ first things first! First of all, you need to pass the Abnormal Association''s test and get your Guardian License before we talk any further and officially enlist you as a true [Dominators] member!" Reign concluded. "Okay, then¡­ I''ll call this number when I have my Guardian License. I have a class in a few minutes. So¡­ laters!" Raising the contact card she had received at the beginning, Ella declared before turning around and leaving. Meanwhile, staring at her disappearing figure, Reign deliberated, ''Didn''t expect her to be such a beauty... this is going to be interesting!'' "Haha¡­" Letting out a loud laugh next, he also disappeared in the opposite direction. ___________________ BACK TO THE PRESENT After eating the warmed up food which the golden beauty had prepared for him, Virus returned to his room and instantly fell asleep due to the extreme fatigue he was suffering from. Many hours later, waking up in a refreshed state, he sat on his bed again as he utilized his special breathing technique at once. Hmmm~ Pheeewww~ Haaaa~ Heee~ Days started to pass by once again. Almost every two days, Virus would stop the process of trying to gain awareness of his internal energy as he would eat something and rest again before beginning his meditation session again! Soon, in the blink of an eye, ten days had elapsed already. "Ahhh¡­ why is it taking so long!" Abruptly opening his eyes, Virus voiced in a little frustrated tone. For some reason, he was getting less and less patient these days. ''Could it be that it''s taking so long because my Energy Pathways are different? It can''t be because this type of manually designed set of Energy Pathways doesn''t actually function since its mapping design was wrong and irrational, right?'' Honestly, it was exactly the ''latter'' thought which was making Virus quite impatient these days, the possibility of him having designed something useless and futile! "No¡­ no¡­ that can''t be¡­ let''s proceed." With that, time started to fly by again. ¡­ TWO WEEKS LATER Three days ago, as Virus continued to persist despite all of the obstructions emerging along his path, he had finally decided to completely ignore any fatigue or hunger he might feel from now on. He was now adamant about either entering the first level of Energy Disentanglement or passing out while trying! And currently, three days later after reaching that resolute and unfaltering decision of his, with sweat and fatigue dripping from his entire being, he was still persisting through the struggle without giving up! But unfortunately, he was nearing his absolute limit with each passing hour! Two hours passed, but gnashing his teeth¡­ he persisted through! Four hours went by, at this point, Virus felt as if the whole world was spinning around him! Six¡­ Eight¡­ Finally, after lingering at his utmost limit for ten hours, he was, at last, at a point where he moved beyond his limits! And with that¡­ he passed out! However¡­ the very moment he was drifting between the state of being conscious and unconscious, without him even perceiving it, suddenly, he entered an odd yet brief state which for some reason made him able to feel his inner body multiple times better! And in that extremely short period of time which took around a single second or even less, a particular barrier which had been holding him back until now was¡­ Finally shattered through as the sensation of the very first infinitesimal tiny spark of energy directly transmitted into his subconscious mind! 326 The Dolls It was followed by the second and third spark of internal energy which flickered into existence within his subconscious perception. A while later, the fiftieth and even the hundredth were sparkled before the number increased to that of which one could call uncountable. ¡­ Twenty-four hours passed. During this time, Virus remained in that unconscious state due to being extremely fatigued. However, when the clock had hit the twenty-fourth hour, at last, his eyelids started to tremble as slowly but surely, they were fluttered open. "Ah¡­" Because of the intense headache he was suffering from, however, grabbing his forehead, he couldn''t prevent a moan from escaping his mouth. Then, looking around in confusion for a while, he murmured to himself, "What happened? Did I finally pass out?" ''I have to continue my meditation.'' Thinking this line, he directly jumped into a sitting position as he was about to initiate his breathing technique once again. But just as he closed his eyes, he opened them wide-open immediately as he muttered, "What the¡­" Closing his eyes for the second time, he promptly checked again. "Oh¡­! No way," With his mouth agape, feeling disbelief, he voiced in a bewildered tone, "I-I''m already at the first level of Energy Disentanglement? Is there really this kind of good thing in the world? I tried breaking through and entering the first level of Energy Disentanglement for so many days, but there was no reaction or achievements whatsoever! Then I pass out due to exhausting myself too much. And luckily, I just happen to shatter the barrier and enter the first level automatically? In my sleep at that?" He was truly feeling puzzled because this logic just felt irrational to him, ''Could it be the answer for breaking the entry barrier was exhausting myself beyond my limits? Hmm¡­'' ''What could it be¡­?'' As this addling notion appeared within his mind, shaking his head in the end, he stood up and left the room. Sauntering outside though, he couldn''t discover any traces of the golden beauty anywhere. So rather muddled, he directly connected to the private connection of 4 Times Square as he tried pinpointing her exact location. And as expected, he was indeed capable of discovering her current position. ''Eh, she''s in the highest floor too¡­ she''s in the room right beside my own bedroom¡­ but that place used to be empty.'' While pondering these lines, he casually strolled before that specific door before pushing it open. The moment he opened it, however, he was faced with a queen-size bed and lots of similar-looking dolls placed on the bed itself. The golden beauty too was, of course, currently laying on the bed as she was currently hugging one of the bigger dolls. "Ehem," Seeing this strange scene, in order to notify her of his arrival, he cleared his throat. As expected, this resulted in the golden beauty promptly noticing his existence as she jumped into a sitting position on her bed. "What''s this room?" Virus inquired a bit awkwardly. "Ah¡­ master! Th-this is my room from now on! Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to decorate it a little. Though right now it only has this queen-size bed and th-these d-dolls alone." By the end of her sentence, her cheeks were clearly steaming red as she finished stutteringly. "Um¡­ those dolls," with his eyes fixed on the dolls, especially the one the golden beauty was still hugging, slightly tensed, he said. "Y-yes?!" her tone clearly shaking a little, she bashfully questioned. "They¡­ am I imagining things, or do they really look like me?" he probed at a loss for words. Promptly, as if the heat of her face had finally reached its boiling point, with steam emitting off her extremely flushed expression, she initiated a nonsensical fit of words in response, "Ha? What? Hehehe¡­ of course not, master! Just because ''a'' doll looks like you doesn''t mean I would be buying it! Hehehe¡­ master''s being a dummy!" Seeing her nervous reaction and realizing how distressed, lost, and shy she was feeling at the moment, with an amused grin creeping over his face, he wondered, ''How cute. I never said she bought it because it looks like me, but she''s admitting it herself hahaha¡­ but, it''s not just ''a'' doll, right? I mean, there are so many of them surrounding her.'' ''Oh, is that so? Alright then. By the way," deciding to not embarrass her any more than she was already, Virus changed the topic, "how is the progression of the levels of your Purifying Stage? At which level are you currently?" Letting out an unconscious sigh of relief that was visible to Virus eyes entirely, the golden beauty began answering, "About that¡­ I''ve already perfected the external phase. Just two days ago, I was done finishing the 9th Level: Cleansing The Nervous System. Now, the only level that remains is the final internal phase level, Cleansing The Cells! But unfortunately, for that, I need to visit the underground world of the atoll since the tool related to that is placed there." "Oh¡­ is that so? So that''s why you had so much time on your hands to¡­" at this point, once again, he fixed his gaze on the doll the golden beauty was still cuddling without herself even noticing. Nevertheless, befuddled by his gaze, she lowered her head toward the ending point of his eyesight. But the next instant, this resulted in her face turning completely red again as she threw the doll on the bed in a hurry while trying her best to change the subject anxiously, "A-are you finished with your secluded training, master?" To that, after a momentary pause, he replied while shaking his head, "Finished? Not even close. You could say I''ve just started. But¡­ since the auction is going to be held in two days, I will stop for now." "Oh, I see!" said the golden beauty with an understanding shine glimmering through her eyes. "Yeah¡­ actually, I intended to continue after eating something, but seeing how you need to travel to the atoll, I''ll stop for now and accompany you there." Virus declared. 328 No Gentleman "Huh? What did you just say?" Turning her head toward Virus, the policewoman questioned while showing a deep frown. However, taking a short glimpse of his face, she couldn''t help but be dumbstruck for a few moments while pondering, ''So handsome!'' of course, being the professional police officer she was, that didn''t affect her judgment at all. "I said no." Repeating his words once more, turning toward the golden beauty, he proclaimed, "Let''s switch seats." Uttering this, without waiting for her reaction whatsoever, grabbing her from her waist all of a sudden, he easily placed her on his laps. With steam shooting off from her head as a result of this course of unexpected action, the golden beauty was now flushing like a red apple while her eyes were obviously in a demented daze. Meanwhile, the policewoman''s eyes also went wide open as she could only stare at everything taking place in front of her in a very surprised way. After what felt like a few seconds at least, finally snapping out of it, she yelled stutteringly, "S-sir! Wh-what are you doing!" However, not paying her any heed at all, next, he changed positions and jumped behind the steering wheel. Then, throwing one last gaze toward the police officer, displaying a glimmering smile, he mouthed, "Adios, sexy-" Vroom~ Purrr~ Immediately, his Virus Veneno Roadster took off, leaving the two stupefied police officers in the dust. Some time later, finally gathering his wits together, while running toward the police car, the male officer shouted, "Clare, let''s go! Call for back up!" ¡­ Wee-oww~ Wee-oww~ As Virus kept increasing his speed more and more, a muffled siren noise was heard from the far distance which kept getting lower in volume by every second. "Ah¡­ master, we could''ve just shown the registration certificate and just like that, the most she could''ve done was to give us a 300$ ticket for driving without a license and another 600 dollars for driving more than 31 mph over the speed limit¡­ but now¡­sigh." Shaking her head accompanied by a helpless sigh, she queried, "Why didn''t master just do that?" His response, however, left the golden beauty''s jaws agape, "Felt like it would be more fun this way¡­ but they can''t even catch up." Though with how fast Virus was currently driving while utilizing his extreme AI accuracy, it would''ve been surprising in case they ''were'' able to catch up. Totally in disbelief as a result of hearing her master''s slightly disappointed voice, she pondered powerlessly, ''For a second there, I forgot I was talking to the person who''s obsessed with having fun.'' Changing the subject afterward, the golden beauty asked about something else which was making her very curious right now, "So¡­ master, I thought you disliked Amara¡­ but why is it that now you''re inviting her over to dinner?" Unluckily for her though, Virus only provided an indirect answer to the question before going quiet, "Hmm¡­ about that, well, I have my reasons." ___________ Fifteen minutes later, the two were sitting in a restaurant. Soon, a waitress approached them and started receiving their orders. At this point, Amara too, finally showed up as she started walking in their direction in her seductive high heels. A woman with long pale blonde hair, wavy in nature, and those shining blue eyes of the ocean which left any man enthralled and lost at the simple glimpse of them. She was indeed a captivating beauty that could be rarely found all over this planet of nearly seven billion people. These two qualities alone added to those mesmeric features of hers which were put together to what many would call perfection, created a hypnotic scene that forced every person, man or woman, to at least take a single peek in her direction. {A/N: She''s like the woman displayed in the current cover of the story. Cover #7 in Visuals channel of Discord.} Staring at her approaching figure which was exuding allure and enticement from all over itself, Virus revealed a half-smile before phrasing, "You''re here." Giggling in return, sneaking a brief peek at the golden beauty''s ethereal face, without standing on ceremony at all, she threw an inquiry right in the middle of the three of them, "Hehe, yep! So, this isn''t going to be counted as one of our trial dinner dates right?" she proceeded next, "I mean¡­ three people sitting around one table doesn''t count as a date." Displaying an evil smirk in response, however, just like the way she had behaved, not caring about his remark being rude or not at all, Virus directly provided her with an answer, "Now now, don''t push your luck too much or I might just send you away." This instantly forced a bitter smile on Amara''s face as she was confident he meant every word he had just uttered even if he was stating them while beaming a humorous smirk. Thus, repeatedly waving both of her hands in front of herself in a hurry, she took back her previous remark at once, "No, no, no¡­ I was just kidding! Gee, can''t you take a single joke?!" "Haha¡­" To this, Virus could only crack up in amusement while returning the same words to her, "Me too, I was just kidding. Sit down¡­ also, tell the waitress what you wanna eat. Don''t keep her waiting here." ¡­ One-quarter of an hour later, the three of them were sitting around the same table while enjoying their sumptuous meal when at this time, Amara was the first person to open her desirable lips, "So, where are you going to leave? Which country?" "Why should I tell you that? Please don''t be nosy Amara." Unfortunately, this was the only vulgar and cold response she received in return. Any man watching this scene would''ve definitely wondered how can another man behave so tastelessly toward such a tasty and alluring woman. And indeed, a few meters away from their table, a man of deluxe and luxurious stature was also enjoying his food. But for obvious reasons, he kept looking in their direction from time to time. Especially, the target of his somewhat greedy eyes were clearly the golden beauty and Amara together. However, the second this man heard Virus'' vulgar and somewhat harsh response¡­ as if he had at last found an opportunity, he promptly meddled, "How can a man act in such a vulgar and crude manner toward a woman? You''re no gentleman indeed." 329 If You Can, I Promise Hearing this meddlesome voice, all three of them went quiet as they turned their heads in the direction of that man simultaneously. In their line of sight, a classy man wearing a suit was casually eating his lunch without any care in the world, as if he wasn''t the person that had just talked a few seconds ago. This was his way of acting cool to attract the ladies'' attention, by acting like he was just doing what a refined man should be doing. After a brief gaze at the man, displaying a humored smile, Virus was just about to say and do something when¡­ "Hey asshole, nobody asked for help, so would you do me a gentlemanly favor and mind your own fucking business?" Unfortunately, to his amazement, Amara beat him to it as she replied back to the man with a wonderful smile which was clearly yelling, ''Fuck off! I love the way he talks to me.'' The man, on the other hand, immediately became dumbstruck seeing the reaction he had received in return. He thought, according to common sense, maybe, the lady would be appreciative of his act of defending her, but he didn''t expect her to be such a masochist. By now, a few other customers were also looking in their direction while murmuring to themselves. "Did you see that, dude? That man just slapped himself right in the face, hehe¡­" One of the guests whispered to his buddy. "Yeah, what a gentleman he is, he just needs to buy a ''mind your own fucking business'' pill and he''ll be good to go, haha¡­" In another corner, pointing at the classy man, a little girl asked, "Mom, is that uncle a gentleman?" "Yes, my baby, yes, he is¡­ he is the gentleman of stupidity¡­ don''t look in his direction since it might be contagious by direct eye-contact." Was the mother''s warm answer to her young girl. "Oh, noooo¡­ that''s scary! I don''t wanna be a gentleman, mom!" with fear shimmering through the cute girl''s eyes, she immediately turned her head around, no longer daring to initiate eye-contact with him. Meanwhile, witnessing the whispers and the reactions of others, the classy man''s face went a bit red due to embarrassment. The next instant, even some traces of anger started to glimmer and boil within his eyes as he stood up while gritting his teeth and then, pointing a finger at Virus, he berated, "What a coward you are for hiding behind a woman and making her talk for you!" This was his last effort in trying to retrieve some of his lost dignity. Hearing this, however, Amara was stunned while thinking, ''Who the heck does this dumbass think he is?'' then, standing up, she was just about to rebuke the man for his idiocy, when raising a single hand toward Amara, he effectively stopped her. This truly made Amara a little flabbergasted as she muttered, "Aizen! Why are you stopping me, could it be you''re going to let it go just like that? Leave it to me, I''ll-" "Sit down." Yet, interrupting her sentence, he declared an irrefutable command at her, which automatically forced her to shut up and sit down as she was told just like an extremely obedient wife listening to her husband. ''Eh¡­ why did I tag along and listen to his order just like that?'' After taking a seat, however, even she was surprised by how she had heeded the command out of pure instinct. It was a strange and illogical feeling that had made her follow his words after seeing the majesty exuding from his demeanor and being. "Haha¡­ I wasn''t wrong, you''re indeed just a pussy! You''re even scared of talking back, huh?" mocked the other man even further, feeling like he had come out victorious from this debate. Then, he was just about to continue belittling the man before him even more, when, surprisingly, standing up, the other man, aka Virus, started walking toward him. Seeing this scene, he muttered, "What? You''re coming to apologize now? You wanna plead for me to quiet down and stop embarrassing-" At this point, the other man, Virus, was finally upon him. However, against his expectation¡­ actually, against everyone''s expectations, without uttering a single word, he just¡­ SLAP! Shatter~ He just fired a thunderous wide-spread palm on his face, thus slapping him flying away onto his table which instantly turned it into a broken mess of glass and food everywhere! Laying among the mess of food and sharp fragments of glass, with a few of his teeth already gone missing, he remained motionless there. He had fainted. "Shut the fuck up and let me have my lunch, you retard ass fly, don''t you see you''re being a nuisance to my ear." Mouthing this, much to the stupefaction of everyone within the restaurant except for the golden beauty, Virus turned around and returned to his seat and continued eating and enjoying his lavish meal. Meanwhile, gazing into Amara''s eyes, he remarked casually, "You don''t persuade or scold a buzzing fly to go quiet, you just squash it." Then turning toward his food, he continued appreciating its unique taste while wondering, ''Hmm, tasty indeed.'' On the sidelines, the customers also started to gossip again. "Mate, not only did he slap himself¡­ even that dude slapped the shit out of him¡­ what is this? Double-kill? Hahaha¡­" ¡­ Sometime later, while wearing a serious expression, Amara asked all of a sudden, "You asked me why should you be telling me where you''re going, right?" "Yeah, there is no reason to tell you, so why should I bother?" Proceeding to put another spoon of his food within his mouth, Virus said leisurely. "What if there is? Will you tell me then?" she questioned solemnly. "Sure, if you can give me one good reason that persuades me, I promise I''ll tell you." he muttered indifferently. This was just how Virus functioned, as long as there wasn''t a reason for him to do something particular, he wouldn''t bother spending an ounce of energy on doing it, however, in case there was rational reasoning for him to accomplish or do something specific, he would do it. Of course, this logic didn''t apply in some special circumstances, for instance, when a matter came to involve the entertainment and boredom aspects of his life. 330 Yes ''So, he''s that kinda guy, huh? The kind that follows logic... finally, I understand him a little. This changes everything! I might be able to have my way easier now! Hehe¡­'' An extremely happy yet evil grin sat on her face while she exclaimed in a thrilled manner, "Okay! Don''t forget you promised!" Then, without any pause, she proceeded, "Actually, there is a very important reason. You know, I''ve traveled to most of the countries in the world, thus, I know a lot of places and people all around the globe! Meaning, whichever country you''re going to, I can give you a lot of advice and even introduce you to people for making your journey much more interesting and convenient. So, don''t you think this is enough justification for you to tell me about where you''re going?" Throughout her talking streak, Virus was only listening while internally agreeing with her words. Honestly, although he knew every corner of Shanghai like the back of his hand, that still wouldn''t change the fact that he wasn''t acquainted with anyone there. He could download the map of Shanghai directly into his head, but he couldn''t just upload whatever he desired into the head of others and force them to act the way he wanted! So, he thought having someone make a call and do the bothersome task of being a bridge with the purpose of a more convenient and fun trip wasn''t a bad thing at all. As a result of that, gazing into her bright blue eyes, he asserted, "Alright, I''m convinced. Actually, Lil Belle and I will be leaving for Shanghai soon. Although our first destination isn''t that city and we''ll be stopping in another place briefly¡­ but yeah, that''s our final destination." "Ah..." suddenly at this moment, moaning in agony, with the help of one of the employees of the restaurant, the classy man was finally conscious. Then realizing his mouth was full of blood due to his broken teeth, a flicker of fear sparkled through his eyes. However, remembering something, his eyes started to shine as that hint of fear dissipated and was instantly replaced by wrath. Taking out his Virus-brand cellphone next, he started dialing a number while mumbling, "You''ll regret this!" "Eh, mas- Ai¡­ he''s calling somebody¡­ probably the police." Voiced the golden beauty. She was just about to address him as ''master'' but recalling Amara was also with them, she assumed maybe it won''t be appropriate to call him that, so she adjusted it to ''Ai'', something Ella used to call him. "Let him be." Was Virus'' only response in return. In the meantime, finally unearthing where exactly he was going to, while feeling extremely delighted inside, all of a sudden, a random idea popped into Amara''s brain which resulted in an evil grin appearing over her face next. So, after some thought, she declared, "Oh my god! What a coincidence¡­ believe it or not, I also have a deal I need to close in Shanghai. It''s something I''ve been postponing for around a month! How about this¡­ let me also tag along with you guys and the responsibility of reserving a nice hotel, food, etc. will be all with me." While showing a smile which was yelling ''I don''t believe you at all!'', Virus instantly connected to the world network in order to unravel how much of her words were actually true. And indeed, the next moment he realized there was a similar matter just as she had stated, but¡­ it wasn''t something that she was required to go personally as she could even send a random employee to complete the deal. However, although Virus noticed this truth, knowing it wasn''t a bad idea to have someone handle the annoying stuff, he decided, "Alright¡­ I agree. You can come with us." "Yay!" She screamed in joy, truly happy that she could follow Virus along and go on a trip with him. ¡­ After they were done having their meals, standing up, ignoring the classy man who was still staring daggers in their direction, they left the restaurant. Also, Virus didn''t forget to pay for the mayhem he had caused. Walking out of the restaurant, they were just about to stroll toward the car when two people obstructed their path. One of them had a body filled with tattoos while the other man was a fatty. "Brother Bill said it was a man with two beauties by his side, right?" whispering this to the fatty, the tattoo-filled man confirmed. Meanwhile, he pondered to himself, ''But wow, these two beauties¡­ it''s as if they were taken out of a picture¡­ Ah, the thought of having both of them at the same time just¡­ hmm, maybe I can do something about that.'' Then, turning toward Virus, he said, "Were you the one who punched brother Bill?" Without any delay whatsoever, Virus answered cooly, "If you''re talking about that idiot in the restaurant, then yes. Who are you two?" "Haha, would you look at him being so full of courage talking back to us?" The fatty burst into laughter while mouthing. A grave glow blazing within his eyes, the tattooed-man phrased solemnly, "We? We''re both One-Star Guardians! So you must understand just who you''ve offended, right? Anyway, we won''t make things difficult for you! You have two options, either let brother Bill slap you just like you did to him, or we will handle you personally. Also, don''t even think about calling the police and taking shelter in the law since I''m pretty sure you know already they are very lenient toward Guardians like us these days." Indeed, just like the tattoo-filled man had uttered, the government was pretty lenient toward the Guardians these days. There were even certain laws being suggested and implanted in some countries in order to give them more freedom and authority. One of the reasons for this to happen was so those countries would be capable of drawing in more Abnormal Guardians to their countries. Of course, that wasn''t the only motivation for these types of changes as there were also many covert rationales and buttons being pushed behind the scenes. By the sides, hearing that they were actually Guardians, and One-Star Guardians at that, Amara started to get nervous as she looked at Virus anxiously. She was truly worried about what might happen to him next. Anyhow, after learning about his possible options of selection, entirely expressionless, Virus proclaimed, "Tell me my third option." "There is no third option!" The fatty shouted, totally speechless. 331 A Change of Hear "Oh? Is that so? Then, I''ll just add the third choice myself," Vocalizing this, he proceeded while staying as calm as before, "and you said the government has been very lenient toward the Guardians? Hmm, what a coincidence¡­ because the government has been even more lenient toward me these days," Talking to this point, promptly, an evil grin was painted over his face as he added, "anyway, my third option is¡­ I''ll beat the crap out of both of you." "You! You wanna fuck with us?" Enraged, the fatty exclaimed as both of his fists started to inflate to a bigger state. Beside him, the tattooed man''s nails also grew larger before they turned black and dangerously sharp, "Wrong choice. And I''m gonna ruin that handsome face of yours for that!" He said with a cold glint flickering within his eyes as he charged toward Virus before swinging his dangerous nails at his face. Seeing the sharp nails gradually getting near his face, Virus could immediately guess that they were even sharper than a knife. "Aizen! Be careful!" Screamed Amara in alarm. She was very afraid something might happen to Virus now. But, without even a speck of anxiousness apparent within his eyes, Virus stayed entirely motionless. A few seconds passed when, finally, just when the sharp nails were upon him, without moving his body, he just bent his neck to the side in a relaxed manner. Swish~ Instantly, the second he moved his neck aside, the sharp-edged nails went past it from a single centimeter distance. "Ahh!" Horrified after witnessing the near-death experience Virus had just gone through, Amara cried out. She was very scared. Nonetheless, although that scene seemed extremely dangerous from the sidelines since it looked like Virus had barely dodged it, in fact, it was completely the opposite. Virus had been so carefree while dodging the nails that he could even calculate the very last moment in which he could duck the dangerous nails. But except the golden beauty, the others present at the scene couldn''t comprehend that crucial fact and understandably assumed the other way around. "Do you now realize your mistake? Next time, I won''t miss it on purpose!" Wearing a dignified yet fierce expression, the tattooed-up man uttered. To be truthful, seeing how hard he had struggled in order to avoid his casual swing made him very satisfied with the current result. "On purpose you say? Huh?" Feeling amused by this worthless thug of a guardian, Virus murmured. At this moment, the fatty also said arrogantly, "Do you finally understand the situation you''ve gotten yourself into? Kneel and beg and I might just ask him to forgive you." However, to this sentence, Virus returned the same words, "I''ll offer you the same option, but a bit harsher¡­ kneel and beg for forgiveness. Also, break one leg of your own preference. Then I''ll let you two go unscathed." "A-Aizen." Amara''s face instantly went pale while pondering, ''It''s all over now¡­'' "Hahaha¡­" Simultaneously, the two guardians started cracking up while howling, "He''s so hilarious, bro! Did you hear him? Hahaha¡­" "Let''s just do the same to him. But let''s increase the punishment by a bit too. He''s fucking going on my nerves now, to be honest!" Saying that, the tattooed guardian dashed in his direction again, but unlike the previous time, he was absolutely serious this time around. Stab! Soon, he was upon Virus again as he stabbed his nails toward his stomach, now, he was going to seriously injure him without showing any mercy. "Ah¡­ don''t! Bro!" The fatty yelled with some hints of terror visible within his tone. Even though he was up for beating the other person and landing a fist or two, he didn''t have any intentions of lethally wounding the other party at all. But now, it seemed to be too late for that. Shriek~ At this point, Amara screamed in fear while standing on the side with her eyes closed. Seeing his stabbing movement, however, for the very first time, a momentary chill went past Virus'' eyes. A type of coldness that wasn''t present prior to now. Still, he didn''t make any major act of dodging and instead patiently waited for the ferocious stabbing nails to get near him. And when the nails were just about to lunge through his stomach, at the very final moment, he eventually budged. Crack~ However, the next moment, a neck was being grabbed as a weird noise of cracking which sent shivers down to everyone''s spine reverberated around the area. And just like that, he unlocked his grasping palm as the body of the tattooed man fell on the ground. Dead. What had happened in that very last moment when the nails of the tattooed guardians had reached his stomach was that Virus had easily dodged the incoming attack before grabbing the other person by the neck. Then, easily lifting him up, after a brief yet direct gaze into his eyes which were trembling in fear, he, at last, squeezed his grip, thus breaking his neck right on the spot. Promptly, an absolute silence descended upon the surrounding vicinity. Everyone, even the passers-by, was deathly quiet! It was so quiet that honestly, you could have heard a pin drop. The fatty''s eyes were also wide open in shock, he had never expected something like this to occur at all, so now, dropping on his knees, he was completely dumbstruck! "Ahhh¡­ murder!" One of the passers-by at this moment screamed in fear. "Someone¡­ call the cops! Someone committed a murder!" Another yelled while retreating away in panic. Even Amara had been extremely stunned by the turn of events as she could only stare at Virus'' face in total confusion while murmuring, "Wh-what did just¡­ happen?" "Dead¡­ he''s¡­ dead¡­ it''s all over¡­" Lost in despair and filled with disbelief, staying on his knees, the fatty mumbled. Meanwhile, acting as if nothing had happened, while slowly sauntering in the direction of the fatty guardian, keeping his emotionless facial expression, he started talking, "I didn''t intend on killing him at first, but seeing how cruel he was acting¡­ I changed my mind." "However, you''re different, I still haven''t sensed an ill-intent directed by you in my way. So, you still have a chance and my offer remains¡­ hmm, since you''re already kneeling, ask for forgiveness, and break one of your legs¡­ or, die." Still as emotionless as ever, Virus proclaimed casually, resulting in everyone witnessing the scene hold their breath tightly without daring to let out a gasp. 332 The Private Island Hearing these terrifying words which were being pronounced with a casual tone, the fatty''s face went ashen-white because looking at those tranquil eyes of Virus, he just knew the guy was being entirely serious. He also understood that beyond a shadow of a doubt, if he didn''t do the things he was demanding him to do, his fate would end up just the same as the tattooed man. In the end, even though the notion of retaliating and attacking him had crossed his mind, that thought had been extinguished almost as quickly as it had been sparked. A while passed, finally, determined to swallow the humiliation in exchange for his life, with a trembling voice, he stuttered, "I-I''m¡­ sorry¡­ please, forgive me." Crack~ "Ahh!" Then, one of his fists inflated abruptly and just like that, after closing his eyes, he punched his left leg before a breaking sound reverberated the area. "Good¡­ you can leave now," Showing a merciful smile toward the fatty, Virus dismissed him after a simple nod. Then, turning toward the golden beauty and the stunned Amara beside her, he ordered, "call that FBI agent, Sara Garner, and tell her to rush over here and deal with the body and aftermath." "Alright." "Let''s go then." After being done mouthing these simple words, much to the stupefaction of Amara and the other scared people present at the murder scene, acting as if he had just squashed a mere ant, nothing important, turning around, he started walking away. ________________ "Are you sure you wanna come with us right now? I mean¡­ you could just join us in Shanghai since we need to stop somewhere first." Gazing into Amara''s enchanting eyes, Virus exclaimed. "Yeah, I''m sure! I want to journey with you two." Came Amara''s unfaltering response. A few hours ago, she had been totally stunned out of her mind seeing how he had murdered someone for real, but after the golden beauty had explained the situation about how Virus wouldn''t get into any trouble for his act of killing, oddly, her mood reverted to normal. The golden beauty could swear she even spotted some glimmers of admiration flickering within her eyes next. "Okay, then¡­ let''s get going." ¡­ Afterward, driving to the airport, the trio boarded Virus'' private jet as they took off to the boundless sky. ¡­ "Woah! What a beautiful island! Is this really yours?" Staring out of the jet''s window which was currently flying above the Aldabra atoll, Amara''s eyes dazzled in amazement while she uttered this question. "Yeah, you like it?" Beaming a half-smile at her face, Virus asked in return. "I love it! It''s really beautiful¡­ it must''ve been really expensive buying such a big island! I mean, the island itself has the shape of a ring while the middle part is filled with water! So magnificent, I bet this is a world-class natural environment we''re looking at!" She complimented with clear stars shining within her eyes. She was truly impressed by the beauty of nature exhibiting itself before her. "Yeah, but it wasn''t just expensive." Responded Virus casually. The surface ground of the atoll was indeed in a ring-like shape while the interior section of the ring was filled with shallow water which multiplied the mesmeric quality of the atoll easily. {A/N: You can google ''Aldabra atoll of Seychelles'' if you wanna have a clear image his atoll.} But what even Amara couldn''t perceive was the fact that deep down beneath that shallow water, Virus had created a gigantic underground world which would''ve undoubtedly stupefied Amara to no ends. Nevertheless, hearing Amara talk about the atoll being expensive, Virus'' mind flashed back to the time they were just about to buy the island as he recalled the countless problems they had faced while trying to acquire it. Curious by his vague words, however, Amara inquired, "Oh? Whatever do you mean by ''not just expensive''?" "Hmm, truthfully¡­ at the time we were about to buy the island, we discovered that it was protected by many national and even international treaties¡­ it had been voted and selected as one of the World Heritage Sites of the planet by the World Heritage Committee already." He clarified patiently, meanwhile, the jet started descending toward the atoll. "Oh no¡­ that would literally make purchasing the island impossible since let''s not talk about buying, even trespassing would be difficult! But¡­ you clearly did manage to get it in the end¡­ ah, how¡­" astonished by the end of her sentence, she questioned while looking at Virus'' face in a strange yet fascinated manner. "Well, we could''ve handled the national laws that the Seychelles government had imposed on the atoll with some effort, however, even then, the World Heritage Committee would''ve protected it and purchasing the island wouldn''t have been plausible¡­ unless¡­ the World Heritage Committee once again voted the atoll to be dropped out of its World Heritage Site status." He explained before adding, "anyway, as I''m sure you can guess the rest¡­ the Island ugly had to somehow persuade and convince a lot of the representatives from 21 state parties in order to put it out of that list¡­ and for that to happen, he had to put tons of effort bribing and even threateni-" suddenly going silent at this point, he said, "since you''re a smart woman, I''m sure you get the gist of the complications we had to go through for all that¡­ I mean, even for the representatives themselves, after putting a location in the list of World Heritage, it was a tough task for them to expel the said location out of the list without justified rationales and other complex issues. Moreover, even the scientific community got in their way, but all in all, in the end, we succeeded." And indeed, just like Virus stated, a glimmer of comprehension had already been sparkled within Amara''s eyes as she heard Virus pause in the term ''threat''. So, apprehending it was a sensitive topic that was better to avoid entirely, she murmured instead, "That must''ve been a very, very arduous task to accomplish¡­ but that Island ugly guy surprisingly did it, who is he by the way? And why do you call him by that name?" She asked feeling strange about how he was addressing the said person. 333 The Sky Is Blue "Island ugly? You''ll meet him soon, as to why I call him that¡­ well, because he''s managing the island and he''s very ugly." Relaxed, Virus replied. While pronouncing those words, the manner of his speaking was so normal a person might mistake it as him muttering something like ''well, because the sky is blue.''. However, that answer instantly made Amara speechless while she screamed within her mind in disbelief, ''For real? That''s your reasoning for calling him that?'' ''Also! Why is it that most men surrounding you are all uglies while the women are simply out of this world beauties without exception? What''s wrong with you!'' She thought in frustration. Truthfully, Amara had long investigated Virus and the people closest to him. For instance, she knew the women around him, for example, Bella, Ella, or that FBI agent were all extreme-level beauties. While on the other hand, the men who could step forward and represent him like the CEO of his company, the head of the Legal department of Virus Industries, and now this so-called Island ugly all had hideous faces. "Oh, I see. So that''s why¡­" however, not uttering any of those deliberations out loud, she simply nodded her head while acting enlightened. By now, the jet had successfully landed on the atoll, so, grabbing their essential stuff, the trio exited the jet one after another. "Welcome back, master!" Immediately, spotting his master walking out of the jet, the Island ugly who had been already waiting there greeted him. It was at this point when the last person, Amara, also strolled out of the entrance of the aircraft while pondering, ''He''s indeed very ugly, alright? But did he call Aizen ''master'' just now? Is he perhaps some kind of¡­'' Finally realizing the presence of someone else, the Island ugly queried surprisedly, "This lady is¡­?" "Oh, she''s Amara Martin, she''s¡­ you could say she''s a friend of mine." Virus introduced after a brief pause in between. "Ah¡­ what an auspicious occasion! I think this is the first time we''re having a guest on the atoll, welcome!" While a repulsive smile which was apparently supposed to be a pleasant one crept over his face, the Island ugly greeted her. "Thank you!" Hearing it was the first time they were having any guests on the atoll gave rise to a happy and sweet feeling within Amara while she wondered, ''So even ''she'' was never brought here¡­'' ¡­ While being on their way to a certain building which was the entrance to the underground world, looking at the beautiful scenery of the ocean, seashore, flying flamingos, giant tortoises, and overall the green environment, Amara couldn''t help but praise in incredulity, "Woah¡­ this place is simply a piece of art! My¡­ god, creating a resort island here would be the best type of investment!" Yet, cracking up as if he had just heard a joke, Virus rejected the idea, "Haha¡­ of course, but that''s not gonna happen, ever." "But why not!? It''s going to return so much profit!" Being the daughter of one of the best car corporations in the world, of course, she was extremely enticed by the notion of investments that would return a good profit. ''Because this island is the most advanced secret facility on the entire planet.'' Amused by the question, Virus answered it within his mind. But obviously, he wouldn''t admit that out loud. However, wearing a proud face, he clarified his audible response, "Isn''t that clear? Because it''s a pity to turn this atoll into a resort island for the most destructive race on the planet, humans! I mean¡­ did you know that this atoll is considered one of the most biologically diverse and undisturbed raised coral atolls in the world? That it has remained largely untouched by human beings and as such is an outstanding instance of an oceanic island ecosystem in which evolutionary processes are still active?! So how can I even consider ruining something so precious like this? Impossible!" Listening to his enthusiastic explanations, flabbergast, Amara''s eyes had long gone wide-open. She was feeling as if a bombshell had dropped over her head while she felt greatly impressed by his enthusiasm. ''He''s so righteous! Ah¡­ he''s even more handsome while being a just man! Ssss¡­ hearing those words of his made my heart thump so fast for a moment there... calm down my anxious heart.'' These absurd notions went through her mind while she touched her heart unconsciously. After that, opening her mouth, she started voicing her own perspective on the matter, "Um¡­ you''re an amazing guy indeed. But as someone who was raised to be a realist above all, I mean as a person who primarily considers practical profits rather than impractical insights¡­ I disagree with such idealist views. I do admit, however, if I stop being selfish about my own individualistic greed, you''re right! It would be a sin to destroy this paradise due to human contact." She asserted eventually. _________________ After arriving at a particular building which was the entrance to the underground world, Virus notified Amara, "Lil Belle and I have something to do, in the meantime, the Island ugly will show you around the island or serve you some tea, okay?" "Eh¡­ can''t I just come with you guys?" was Amara''s inquiry in return. "Unfortunately, no. We''ll come back soon, so, please just go entertain yourself shortly." Shaking his head, he promptly refused the idea. There was no way he was going to show her the underground world, which was one of his largest secrets on the planet! Disappointed by that answer, she could only agree helplessly, "Ah, okay then¡­" ________________ Afterward, the golden beauty and Virus entered the elevator before taking off to the underground floor. Soon, reaching their destination, the two walked before a large device that was responsible for producing the blue fire which purified the internal areas within every cell present in the human body. ¡­ Time passed as the golden beauty entered into the device which was almost as big as a room, then, after Virus inputted hundreds of thousands of essential codes to the device, the entire interior compartment of the tool was covered in azure flames as it burned away any impurities within the golden beauty''s cells. And just like that, a short time later, the golden beauty achieved the final level of the Purifying Stage¡­ The [10th Level: Cleansing The Cells]! 335 A Commotion Anyway, watching the entirety of the bright city and the different skyscrapers covering it immediately reminded Virus of a particular building called ''Shanghai Tower'' from the history within his head. However, he couldn''t spot it anywhere. So, connecting to the world network of information, he instantly received the relevant information within his head. ''Hmm, currently, there is no ''Shanghai Tower'' at the moment, but its construction will start soon¡­ they just lack the overall funding for constructing it which is about two and a half billion USD.'' Next, gazing at the already completed Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center which were a part of the close group of three supertall skyscrapers with the Shanghai Tower included, he proceeded, ''the Shanghai Tower is going to be the world''s second-tallest building by height to the architectural top for a few years at least. Maybe¡­ I should try purchasing it or at least buy all of its relevant shares by offering a substantial amount of money and funding far above its current worth. Perhaps I should also adjust and modify its design and height too and just turn it into the tallest building on the entire planet¡­ even taller and more spectacular than Burj Khalifa.'' Temporarily snapping out of his contemplation, turning toward Amara, he inquired, "So, Amara, where are we going to be staying in our time in Shanghai?" As if she had been waiting for this question already, revealing an enticing grin, she started talking, "We''ll be staying at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group''s Shanghai branch, a five-star luxury hotel. I know the son of this hotel company''s parent organization, so I asked for a favor and he said yes. We''re going to be receiving the best treatment possible there." "Oh, is that so?" With a small rise in his eyebrows, Virus confirmed before going quiet. ¡­ Soon, their private jet landed in Shanghai Pudong International Airport as the trio walked out of it in leisure. Outside, three people in suits and sunglasses were already waiting as they greeted Amara in fluent English with a respectful bow, "Welcome to Shanghai, miss Martin." "Hehe, xi¨¨ xie n¨« (thanks). But there is no need to converse in English since I''m fluent in standard Mandarin Chinese. So, just be yourself." She responded in very fluent Mandarin Chinese. Then, suddenly remembering something, turning toward Virus, she questioned, "N¨« hu¨¬ shu¨­ zh¨­ngw¨¦n ma? (Do you speak Chinese?)" And in response to that, wearing a very amused grin, in the most fluent accent which was probably even more native than the native itself, Virus answered, "W¨¯ de zh¨­ngw¨¦n shu¨­ d¨¦ b¨« n¨« h¨£o. (I speak Chinese better than you.)" "Woah! That accent''s really better than mine! Hehe¡­" Giggling in return, Amara could only admit he was indeed better. Of course, she was still talking in Mandarin since from now on, all three of them were going to speak in Mandarin until they leave the country. Next, the three bodyguards walked in front of them by themselves as they received their baggage and pulled them away to one of the luxurious cars parked beside the jet. ¡­ Sometime later, their high-end vehicle stopped at the heart of Pudong''s financial district in front of their hotel. After getting off their cars, Amara declared, "Follow me." Then, with the three bodyguards following together with their luggage, the trio sauntered into the hotel in a leisurely manner. Then, walking in front of the reception, Amara directly introduced herself, "Hello there. This is Amara Martin, have you been notified about our arrival?" Catching this abrupt introduction, the female receptionist''s eyes started to glow in a strange light as she confirmed professionally, "Oh! Yes, yes! Hello, miss Martin! Welcome to Mandarin Oriental! We are already informed and we''re already prepared to provide you with the best level of leisure and luxury¡­ so, welcome!" "Good! Then¡­ we need¡­ hmm." Going silent at this point, turning toward Virus, she inquired, "How many suites should I request for?" "About that¡­" Hearing this, he at first wanted to say ''two'' suites, one for Amara and one for Bella and him together. But thinking further on the matter, he recalled how the golden beauty seemed to care about her privacy a lot nowadays, especially from the time she had entered her physical body. Thus, changing his mind, he said, "Three suites. One for each of us. But all three of them should be side by side." Nodding her head in agreement, turning around, she ordered, "We want three of your best and most luxurious Presidential Suites which are built exactly side by side. Oh, the outside view should also be top-notch." "This¡­" in return to this, however, feeling helpless, the receptionist could only say, "I''m really sorry, miss Martin, but we don''t have three Presidential Suites built side by side according to your special criteria¡­ but we do have two Presidential Suites beside one another¡­ they also happen to be the absolute best ones in our hotel." Nodding her head in understanding, looking at the golden beauty, she asked, "How about this¡­ if it''s okay with you¡­ we will live in one of the suites together while Aizen will live in the other one by himself." Without needing to think at all, the golden beauty responded casually, "Sure, fine by me." "Great! Then we''ll do that." Having reached a final decision, she started talking to the clerk once again. However, meanwhile, a few meters away from the spot they were standing on, a commotion was raised. Currently, while demanding with a deep frown, a handsome native man was pulling the hand of a bewitching Chinese beauty-queen who was wearing the unique uniform of this specific hotel, "Hu Yuexin! Why don''t you just become my woman! You know you need me!" Nevertheless, not listening to his words at all, the woman struggled as she freed her hand before vocalizing in a rather low tone, "Fan Tong! I told you to not bother me at my work! Please¡­ just leave, they''ll fire me if you continue doing this." Meanwhile, looking at this Chinese top-notch belle which was probably even more beautiful than the prettiest Chinese actress herself, Virus wondered, ''Hmm, interesting.'' And with that, he continuing watching the scene. 336 Hu Yuexin "So what if they fire you!? Aren''t I here to take care of both you and your son?" Talking to this point, he once again forcefully grabbed one of her hands before continuing in a gentle tone, "Yuexin, I heard about your son''s condition¡­ I know he has an incurable disease and that now, you''re trying to get your hands on one of those Red-Crystals so the special Abnormal, Mr. ***, would utilize his Trait and buy him more time!" Without any pause, Fan Tong went on, "Two Red-Crystals are going to be auctioned tomorrow and I''ll definitely get my hands on both of them! If you just become my woman, I promise I''ll give you one of the Red-Crystals and save your son!" Seeing her looking down with no further reaction whatsoever, Fan Tong assumed that she had been tempted already, so, grinning internally, he remarked, "What do you say? Let''s go and accompany me for tonight¡­ I''ll see it as a way of you proving to me that you''ve truly become my woman¡­ if you do that and satisfy me as I expect, I promise to give you a Red-Crystal." And indeed, looking down, the Chinese beauty-queen was contemplating on the tempting offer. Frankly, there was nothing in the world that she wouldn''t do in order to save her son and buy her a little more time. And now, hearing his words truly made her at least consider the offer. To be honest, she felt disgusted by the man before her. Every time he called her ''Yuexin'' and acted close, she felt it was extremely gross and sickening! She, even more, felt sick thinking about how he was trying to take advantage of her son''s sickness in order to have his way with her. Everything about him¡­ simply made her nauseated! Furthermore, she knew stooping so low and crossing this kind of red-line was deplorable even to herself and that she would never be able to forgive herself from that moment onwards! She would feel as if her body had been stained and tarnished if she did indeed go through that kind of experience. She would feel dirty for the rest of her life! But¡­ what other option did she have? She was all alone in this world and if she wanted to save her son, that was her only choice! And for keeping her son alive, she would do¡­ anything! However, despite all that, she still wasn''t confident that she would be able to go through that kind of experience with that man in the end. Meanwhile, watching everything happening in front of him from the sidelines, without making any move whatsoever as if he was just watching an entertaining drama, Virus continued to watch everything take place silently. He had no intention of interfering. Meanwhile, touching her other fragile hand, Fan Tong murmured, "So, what do you say? For your son¡­ accompany me for the nigh-" Slap! However, before he could finish his sentence, much to his shock, abruptly, a heavy slap sat on his face. And looking at the source of that hand that had just smacked Fan Tong, even Virus was astonished! Because the hand belonged to Amara! "You''re such a disgusting man! No¡­ you''re not a man at all! You''re an animal! How can you try to take advantage of her like that?" Being done scolding the wide-eyed Fan Tong, turning toward Hu Yuexin, she continued in a soft tone, "Don''t listen to him. Even though I understand the notion of you considering the offer for your son''s sake, but think about it from your son''s point of view, think how miserable and wretched he would feel if he ever learned that the price of his life was his mother''s innocence! I''m sure he would never want that kind of life." Taking on a sad expression, Hu Yuexin muttered, "Ah¡­ yo-you''re right¡­ thank you." In the meantime, being slapped out of nowhere by a stranger, while covering one side of his face, Fan Tong was dumbstruck to this very moment. But finally snapping out of it, he was filled with rage as he vocalized, "You¡­!" "Bitch! You dare to slap me? You''re dead!" Saying this out loud next, promptly charging at her, he pushed her away with all his might. Bam~ Unfortunately, the golden beauty was standing right behind Amara. Thus, with an uncontrollable impact between their bodies, the golden beauty was almost on the verge of tumbling over on the ground the next instant. Of course, seeing her about to fall down which might inadvertently hurt her, Virus promptly went into motion as he caught the collapsing golden beauty. He would never let her get harmed. Next, while staring into her eyes, he inquired worriedly."Are you okay?" "Ah¡­ yes. But what about Amara?" Asked the golden beauty. "She''s fine, don''t worry." Virus responded at once. Actually, most of the force of the impact was transferred to the golden beauty''s body, thus, Amara was able to restore her balance and stop herself from tumbling over. Anyway, after making sure they were both fine, a cold glint appeared within Virus'' eyes as he started walking toward Fan Tong without any bullshitting whatsoever as he just punched him right in the face. Bang! Being punched like that, a few of Fan Tong''s teeth shattered as he was sent flying away into unconsciousness. "You just had to provoke me one way or another, didn''t you? Fucking hell! Go thank god none of them were hurt in any way, otherwise, you wouldn''t just be unconscious right now." Mouthing these few chilly words, no longer paying any attention to the man or anyone else at all, he simply murmured "let''s go." Before turning around and leaving, ¡­ Directly walking to his own personal Presidential Suite, Virus was truly impressed by the interior design of the suite which was quite luxurious. And gazing outside the large-glass window, he was quite appreciative of the city-night scene outside as the pearl tower along with many other skyscrapers in the distance created an unforgettable view in his line of sight. 337 Room Service An hour later, sitting on the couch in front of the window, he deliberated, ''Hmm, I bet drinking a cup of tea while appreciating the outside view would be quite enjoyable¡­'' As this notion had already taken root within his head, directly picking the phone, he called the room service and ordered, "Please send the best tea you have to my room." ¡­ Knock! Knock! "Room service." A few minutes later, a voice was heard from outside the door. Realizing his tea had arrived, without any delay, Virus granted permission, "Come on in!" Creak~ A few moments after the door was opened, a cup of tea was gently placed in front of him. "Please enjoy your tea, sir." Catching this familiar voice, however, Virus turned his head upward only to realize the other person was, in fact, the same Chinese beauty from before! Simultaneously, Hu Yuexin''s eyes also went wide-open as she wondered, ''It''s him! It''s that foreigner who punched Fan Tong!'' Nevertheless, acting as if he didn''t recognize her at all, glancing at the tea already placed in front of him, Virus just asked, "Hmm, what tea is this?" Hearing this, taking on a very professional yet elegant pose, the Chinese rose began explaining, "This is a cup of Da Hong Pao tea produced from China''s ancient bushes of Da Hong Pao. Astonishingly, this tea is one of the most expensive teas in the world, costing more than 30 times its weight in gold." "Oh, is that so?" Moved by the elaboration and background of the tea, picking up his cup of tea, Virus took a sniff of the scent of the said tea first before proceeding and taking a small sip. Afterward, nodding his head in satisfaction, he started complimenting it, "Oh, it''s really fragrant, I like its taste too¡­ a good tea indeed." He also couldn''t stop himself from murmuring, "This would''ve been even more wonderful if it was prepared using the Water of Life though¡­" "What did you say, sir? What''s Water of Life?" Puzzled by his words, Hu Yuexin questioned casually. "Oh, nothing¡­ I was talking to myself." Shaking his head, he didn''t continue talking. Putting on a respectful tone, she said, "I see. If there''s anything else you need, I''m at your service, sir. But if there''s nothing else, I''ll be dismissing myself for the moment." And after mumbling this, she was just about to turn around and leave, when she was interrupted by Virus'' next phrase, "Please sit down." Addled by his request, thinking she had heard wrong, Hu Yuexin questioned, "Excuse me, sir? Were you talking to me?" In response to that, casually signaling to the other side of the same couch he was sitting on, he declared graciously, "Yes. Please sit here. I''ve something to ask." After listening to this odd demand of his, honestly, she wanted to straight away reject since it was quite unprofessional of her to sit down beside a guest, but remembering how every request and order of those staying at the most luxurious Presidential Suite had to be followed, even in case they ordered her to bring a certain food from a restaurant on the other side of the city, she could only heed the words and sit down just as she was told. "Please go on, sir. I''ll answer everything to the best of my capabilities." "Hmm, good. First of all, what happened to that man?" Not beating around the bush at all, Virus queried. Although hearing this question felt kind of weird to her, she still answered it patiently, "Fan Tong? He never woke up, so the hotel called the hospital¡­ he was taken away by an ambulance." "I see¡­ then, my next question is¡­ are you going to accept that guy''s proposal when he wakes up? Are you going to sleep with him?" Locking his gaze at her expression, he enquired at once. This in return, instantly forced a bothered frown to appear on Hu Yuexin''s brows as she stated her complaint, "I apologize for my temper in advance, sir, but I''m not comfortable talking about something so personal with a customer¡­ since honestly, it''s none of your business. So, I would appreciate it if you don''t ask about my private life." Drinking another sip from the tea, however, without being offended in the least, Virus opened his mouth again, "Well, that would''ve been the case indeed if my companions and I weren''t pulled into the drama. But since we ''were'' involved ''within'' the environment of the hotel itself, now that we''re not pursuing the matter in any way and since we''re also not seeking any kind of apology whatsoever, don''t you think you at least owe this much explanation?" This particular rationale of his promptly made Hu Yuexin speechless because looking at the situation from the perspective of the hotel, every word of his was indeed correct and logical. So, if she wasn''t looking for trouble with the hotel, she had to respond. ''I need this job¡­'' as this crucial notion went through her mind, she started talking with a frown, "I''m not gonna accept the proposal of that sick bastard, sir. I''ve reached this decision because I feel like the advice of that lady companion of yours did make a lot of sense. So there''s no need for you to be concerned. Also, I feel disgusted by that man in particular, to be truthful, so I can''t bring myself to go through this type of suffering and torture. But I swear on my life that I would find another way in order to save my son. Now, did my reply satiate your curiosity, sir?" Perceiving the sarcastic way she spoke easily which was also ridiculing him subtly, Virus could only burst into a peal of laughter, "Haha¡­ it did, it did satisfy my curiosity! So now, you''re looking for another way, huh¡­?" However, phrasing the second part of his sentence forced an amused glimmer to flicker within his eyes as an entertaining yet wicked idea took shape within his mind. He was sensing something fun. And with that, much to the stupefaction Hu Yuexin who was sitting on the other side of the same couch, he abruptly threw himself on her, forcing her to lean back while both of his hands were covering and surrounding each side of her, thus preventing her from escaping or liberating herself. Then, looking down at her irresistible countenance, as their faces were in extremely close proximity, with an evil grin plastered over his face, Virus whispered, "Here''s an alternate option for you¡­ me." 338 The Nature of Your Relationship "So¡­ what do you say?" Continuing to remain in that state, as he proceeded to stare into her enchanting eyes, Virus inquired. Simultaneously, he lifted one of his arms. This was his signal that she could either accept or decline his offer, it was entirely up to her. A few seconds passed, but she continued to remain in that dumbstruck manner. She was completely frozen still! And gazing upon her befuddled eyes which clearly lacked any light of focus whatsoever, a notion struck him. Thus, a lively grin crept over his mouth as their faces gradually got closer and closer to one another as he whispered, "Silence is a sign of satisfaction¡­ so, here I come." "Ah¡­" Truthfully, there was still some distance between their lips. And to be honest, Virus did indeed have the intention of stopping at the very last centimeter, however, it was at this moment when finally, snapping back to herself with a yelp, full of shock, she jumped over, in a vain attempt to revert back into her previous sitting position. But unfortunately for her, this resulted in something which was even out of Virus'' expectations. A result that briefly surprised him. Because as she tried to snap back to her former position, her mesmerizing lips straight away sealed his. This immediately made Virus wide-eyed as he could only stare into her eyes with some hints of disbelief. Even he wasn''t anticipating this odd turn of events. Of course, as a result of this, the Chinese beauty''s eyes also became like saucers as she let out a muffled voice while their lips continued to remain sealed, "Mhhnn-" It was followed by her small movements of struggle. Meanwhile, as his momentary sense of surprise had been promptly hidden, with a teasing light flickering within his eyes, Virus decided to just go along with it as he grabbed her head with one hand and started kissing her soft yet entrancing lips that had been brushing against his. Next, wanting to dominate her even further, his tongue invaded her mouth as a cherry-like sweet flavor was instantly sensed by the taste buds of his tongue, ''Hmm, has she eaten some cherry just recently?'' Unfortunately, the addition of his tongue into the fray promptly turned Hu Yuexin into a frightened cat as she was finally able to digest the chain of stupefying incidents and thus, feeling electrified due to the touch of his tongue which was relishing her at the moment, in an attempt to free herself, she unconsciously throw her hand at his face. Slap! Feeling a little dumbfounded by this turn of events, Virus separated himself at once as he mouthed with a bitter smile, "Why did you slap me?" "¡­" However, not responding in any way whatsoever, with her face flushed, she stood up and stormed off the room in a hurry. Looking at her escaping back, wearing a smile, in a tone she could clearly hear, he vocalized, "Let me know when you make a final decision regarding my offer!" Bam~ "Odd¡­" with his smile long gone, gazing at the slammed door, he mumbled to himself. ¡­ Bam~ "Hee haa~, Hee haa~¡­" Shutting the door to the Presidential Suite, the Chinese beauty felt the last bit of her strength leave her as she leaned at the door behind her, she also kept trying to catch her breath while wondering to herself, ''Wh-what was that?'' A few moments later, without realizing it herself, she was touching her lips with great confusion apparent within her eyes. She was feeling lost. Then, gathering her wits together, wanting to distance herself from this location as quickly as she could, she scurried away. ¡­ In the meantime, Amara and the golden beauty had just finished unpacking their luggage as they were now sitting on the couch while gazing upon Huangpu river and the nighttime city of Shanghai. "How is the suite? Is it to your liking?" Amara questioned while continuing to stare outside. "Not bad. You''ve done a good job of finding a suitable hotel for us. I especially like the outside scenery." Nodding her head, the golden beauty confirmed. "En. As long as you like it¡­" Suddenly, the atmosphere went deadly silent for quite a while, until eventually, Amara opened her mouth again, "Can I ask you something?" "Sure, what is it?" the golden beauty said casually while picking one of the snacks which were brought over by the room service. A few seconds passed until she, at last, opened her mouth, "What''s your relationship with Aizen?" Hearing this, the golden beauty turned her head toward Amara and directly gazed into her blue eyes for the first time. This in return made Amara very anxious as she could only feel lost while staring into her otherworldly golden iris in a breath taken manner. "My relationship with him¡­ huh?" murmuring this, the golden beauty no longer paid her any further attention. She seemed to have sunk into a deep state of contemplation. And after what seemed like ages later, at last, she began talking, "Let me be frank here. In this world, there are many complex matters you wouldn''t understand¡­ and the relationship between him and I is sure to be one of them. Just know this, the relationship between us is like a rainbow. When I look at him, I see my majestic creator, my esteemed father, my awe-inspiring brother, my one true love, my most precious family, my absolute master, and many more!" And indeed, after hearing this, Amara was speechless while deliberating, ''What the hell are those even supposed mean?" "I don''t get it." She said honestly. "That''s what I thought." Responded the golden beauty in total understanding. Actually, grasping the nature of their relationship was a very confusing and complicated subject even to her. ''Sigh¡­ you could''ve just said I don''t wanna tell you! Instead of coming up with this random bullshit.'' She pondered while feeling annoyed about her response which wasn''t a response at all in a certain sense. 339 Unexpected! Shaking her head helplessly, Amara decided to ask another question, "Alright then, can you at least tell me why you are here? In Shanghai I mean¡­ is there a particular reason Aizen had to be here?" "About that¡­" uttering this, the golden beauty sank into contemplation, ''well, telling her about this should be no big deal.'' And with that, she began talking, "Actually, we''re mainly here for a certain auction that''s going to be held tomorrow." Hearing that, Amara''s eyes started to glimmer in a strange light as she began talking nonstop, "Oh¡­ are you talking about that big auction that''s going to be held in this city? I heard even Leonardo da Vinci''s ''Salvator Mundi'' is going to be sold this year! Some experts anticipate that its value''s going to be raised somewhere between 300 and 500 million dollars!" Feeling a little awkward about her exaggerated reaction, the golden beauty replied, "Ye-yeah¡­ that." "Oh! Then it''s going to be so much fun! Thank god I brought some pocket money with myself too! I might just get my hands on something really interesting!" She said eagerly. _____________ Simultaneously, after finishing his cup of tea, Virus thought, ''Hmm, now that I''m free for the moment, I better try to break through to the second level of [Energy Disentanglement].'' In the Cultivation Earth, the [Energy Disentanglement] stage, aka [Qi Passage Opening] stage, was considered to have twelve levels. Each of these levels, excluding the first level, could only be broken through after the knot connecting the two Energy Pathways was disentangled. For instance, to break through to the second level, Virus had to untangle the knot between the first and the second Energy Pathway. And the moment the twist was gone, energy would spontaneously flow into the second Energy Pathway as the practitioner would enter the second level of [Energy Disentanglement]. And now, Virus wanted to attempt to remove the blockade keeping him from entering the second level. In order to do that, however, he needed to focus and lead all of the natural internal energy stored within his first Energy Pathway on the knot itself so it would be untwisted in accordance with various reasons such as the amount of the unrefined internal energy reserved within each Energy Pathway, the intensity of each knot, and the overall talent of the practitioner himself. "Okay¡­ let''s do it!" Muttering this, remaining in that sitting position on the couch, facing the outside view, he put both of his hands over his knees before closing his eyes. Next, he focused all of his attention on his first Energy Pathway. ¡­ A few seconds later, finally recovering that familiar sensation which he had attained at the time he had broken through to the first level of [Energy Disentanglmenet], he could once again sense the unrefined internal energy within his first Energy Pathway. ''I need to control these energies and lead them all on the first knot.'' As this notion went through his mind, he tried moving the internal energy for the first time¡­ But unfortunately, his first attempt was a total failure as the energy wasn''t moved in the least! ¡­ Not giving up in the least, however, Virus concentrated all of his attention on the energy once again, investing his everything in order to move it with his mind alone¡­ But, he faced the same result. ¡­ This non-successful process continued over and over again¡­ Until, finally, when it was his seventh attempt, the internal energy vibrated slightly! And due to him feeling extremely excited about that, with his body experiencing a slight shiver, Virus screamed within his head immediately, ''Yes!!!'' ¡­ Then, in his eighth effort, not only did the energy vibrate, but he could even control its movement for an entire second! Albeit, it was still very difficult! ¡­ And on his ninth attempt, he could, at last, control all of the energy freely! ¡­ In case an expert from the Cultivation Earth was currently watching how he had gained complete control of his Internal Energy in just nine attempts, that expert, beyond a shadow of a doubt, would''ve been shocked silly! This was one of the perks of being a unique AI which nearly no one else could enjoy¡­ lightning-fast learning speed! ¡­ ''Alright! Now, let''s transfer it on the first twist itself and keep it there.'' Deliberated Virus. In order to let the energy remain on the knot itself, practitioners of this stage had to maintain all of their concentration on keeping the energy there. Otherwise, the moment they freed their focus, the energy would return to its previous state and scatter all over the Energy Pathway! And right now, Virus was going to persist through and do just that for the entire night! Thus, he slowly led all of the energy that was currently centered together toward the first knot. And just like that, the energy soon reached the end of the first Energy Pathway¡­ ''Oh, the energy will soon hit the first wall, the first knot!'' As this line of deliberation appeared within Virus'' brain, he was just expecting the energy to be obstructed, when abruptly, his entire being shivered very intensely as he froze in that state the next moment! Simultaneously, his heartbeat accelerated crazily with a single line passing through his head, ''What the¡­!!!'' He was indeed stupefied by what was happening! ¡­ And one might ask, just exactly what had dumbfounded him into being speechless like that? Well, that was because¡­ the moment he had guided all of the energy of his first Energy Pathway on the very first knot itself, he realized¡­ There was no knot obstructing his path of advancement at all!!! Meanwhile, as he had never stopped leading the energy forward, not waiting for Virus to snap out of his dumbstruck state at all, the energy naturally rushed in a straight manner as it drifted through into the second Energy Pathway! And with that, the reserved internal energy of the first pathway joined and combined with the stored energy within the second pathway as Virus broke through to¡­ The second level of [Energy Disentanglement]! 340 Energy Disentanglemen The moment he was done breaking through to the second level of [Energy Disengtanglement], his eyes popped open in astonishment! "I¡­ I broke through¡­" Murmuring this, even he himself had a hard time believing the ease with which he had progressed. Anyway, he remained in that amazed state for a while, when suddenly, a thought hit him, ''Could it be¡­?'' With that, immediately closing his eyes, he focused his mind within his internal energy as he restored that sensation of control over the energy inside his pathways. ''Let''s continue.'' Thinking this, he led the energy which was almost twice as much as before in a forward manner. A few minutes passed and finally, all of the energy was almost on the verge of crashing into the second knot. However¡­ the second it reached the location where the knot should''ve originally existed, much to the stupefaction of Virus himself, he realized his energy had once again continued to progress forward with its path unobstructed! And just like that, the energy which was within his control joined the energy inside the third pathway as he broke through once again. "Third level of [Energy Disentanglement]!" Dumbstruck, he said out loud. He was truly having a hard time believing everything because not even in his wildest dreams had he predicted such a strange phenomenon! For a normal person, disentangling one twist took around a month or even more, however, right now, Virus was casually breaking through one after another just like drinking a cup of tea! Next, closing his eyes in a hurry, he tried pushing the increased energy forward. But to his dismay, he realized controlling the energy was almost twice as difficult as before. This was a completely normal occurrence because originally, every time a practitioner broke through, he or she had to spend many days getting used to the enlargened energy within his or her pathways. Of course, that was the case just for normal or talentless people. When it came to one of the most advanced AIs in existence with monstrous learning abilities, that obviously didn''t apply. So, he simply concentrated on the boosted energy and a single minute later, his control was as good as before. Afterward, with the return of his dominance over his internal energy, he guided the energy toward the next twist! And just as expected, he realized the third knot didn''t exist either as he straight away entered the fourth level of [Energy Disentanglement] while his energy also intensified further. Then, he spent some time regaining the control he had over his internal energy before resuming the process of leveling up. . . . 5th level of [Energy Disentanglement]! ¡­ 6th level of [Energy Disentanglement]! ¡­ 7th level of [Energy Disentanglement]! ¡­ The 8th level! ¡­ The 9th! And soon¡­ the 10th! Before long, even the 11th level was broken through! . . . This repetitive process continued to happen until finally, Virus entered the twelfth level of [Energy Disentanglement]! However, he knew unlike normal cultivators who possessed only twelve energy pathways in their physique, this wasn''t the end of the journey of [Energy Disentanglement] for him, thus after regaining control, he led the energy toward the next pathway! Originally, after untwisting the incoming knot, one would''ve completed a single circulation of internal energy within his pathways, thus, that person would''ve officially entered the [Liberation] stage. Unfortunately, that wasn''t the case for Virus because instead of twelve, he possessed eighteen energy pathways! Anyway, pushing forward, he noticed that the twelfth-knot indeed didn''t exist as he again broke through. The 13th level of [Energy Disentanglement] stage¡­ achieved! ''Could it be¡­ I''m going to finish all of the eighteen levels tonight and directly enter the [Liberation] stage with a single leap?'' He wondered in excitement. This notion also forced him to crack up uncontrollably, "Hahaha¡­" "Anyway, I should persist through¡­" By now, he was feeling very tired and fatigued. But absolutely determined to finish this stage tonight, after getting used to the energy again, he proceeded. And soon, he reached the location of the thirteenth-knot when¡­ Bam~ All of the energy rammed into something as its path of advancement was blocked! ''What the¡­'' feeling puzzled, Virus'' body trembled slightly as he focused all of his attention at the end of his 13th pathway. ''Damn it! There is a knot. What''s happening? I thought there wasn''t going to be anything clogging my path of progress!'' He contemplated helplessly. To be honest, he was feeling slightly disappointed about not being able to directly complete the [Energy Disentanglement] stage in a single night. If a cultivator of the Cultivation Earth was present right now, seeing his disappointment, due to experiencing intense rage, that person would''ve probably coughed a few mouthfuls of blood while yelling, "You continuously broke through twelve times in a single night and you''re still not satisfied?! Fuck you! Cough, pfft¡­" By now, the amount of energy accumulated within his pathways was many times more than before to the point it wasn''t comparable at all! However, Virus didn''t feel impressed by the quantity in any way because he understood that it was still considered rather weak in comparison to either one of his alternative sources of power. The raw strength of his body due to entering the [True 6th level: Ethereal Metamorphosis] or his [Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument], both of them were still stronger, and that''s why he wasn''t moved in any way. ''Although it''ll make me somewhat more powerful if I use it alongside the raw force of my body or the Fragmentary Integument state¡­ it''s still not satisfactory because the quantity is almost the same as that of a normal cultivator around my level.'' pondering to this point, he continued, ''I mean¡­ if I utilize my internal energy alone without using my calculative perk, my thirteenth level of [Energy Disentanglement] can nearly be considered the same as someone who is only at the very peak of the [Energy Disentanglement] stage.'' With that thought finished, next, Virus mumbled unconsciously, "It would be extremely hard to defeat someone who has just broken through to the [Liberation] stage in my current state of cultivation." {A/N: He means it''d be hard in case he only uses his internal energy, excluding his ring, body strength, etc.} 341 Whats Your Name? "Sigh¡­" releasing a helpless sigh, he pondered, ''hmm, this makes me wonder though¡­ why is it that there were no knots from the first to the twelfth level? And why did they appear from the 13th level onwards? Is there a particular reason for this?'' With that thought, he started contemplating intensively on the possible reasons as to why this odd phenomenon had happened. ''Why only twelve disentangled pathways? Hmm, normal people only have twelve energy pathways¡­ could it have something to do with that?'' Notions like this kept passing through his head one after another, but unfortunately, he couldn''t be certain about any of them. "Forget it." Shaking his head, he decided to put the matter aside for now. Then, opening his already heavy eyelids, Virus realized it was already in the middle of the night. So he decided, "I''m going to be very busy tomorrow. I better sleep and replenish my energy." ___________________ MANY HOURS AGO The FBI beauty was sitting inside the surveillance room of 4 Times Square as she was passively checking the screens in front of her. "Ahh¡­ I''m bored!" She screamed abruptly, startling the other security employee sitting beside her. Since the day she had become a part-time employee of Virus Corporation, sitting like this had almost become her normal daily routine. This resulted in Sara dearly missing the days where she used to engage in thrilling cases of action where she dug crime or went chasing after them. But now, from the moment she was sent here to work for the Virus Industries, her boss had gradually dismissed all of her other cases with the excuse that it was more important for her to keep watch over the Virus Corporation. To be honest, Sara did understand this notion, she knew the Virus company was one of the most crucial organizations on the entire planet which absolutely had to be kept under close surveillance. This corporation was currently the undisputed leading company in the field of mobile phones. It would be even better to say there were no longer any other phone companies capable of competing with their unique technology. Of course, some new or old companies roughly copied or adjusted their phone technology from time to time, but with how fast they were advancing and releasing new types and new generations of phones, no one could even come close to holding a candle compared to them. They couldn''t keep up. However, obviously, this wasn''t the only factor as to why the government of the United States of America was so interested in them. The most essential element of their curiosity was mainly the unfathomable secrets still concealing themselves behind this unknown corporation! The sudden appearance of the temporary cure of the [Mutated HIV], the advent of advanced technologies like the high-quality cameras, and lately, the abrupt emergence of waves of indescribable lights from 4 Times Square building that sent waves of shock and horror all around New York were some of the most important reasons as to why the government felt like they had to ''subtly'' get behind the truth of this giant. Human beings always feared the unknown. Thus, now that such an entity shrouded within mists and clouds had displayed the tip of its feet in front of them, they felt like they wouldn''t be able to put their mind at ease at least before they brought the creature outside the concealment of the mist. Truthfully, the FBI beauty had long somewhat understood that for the most part, the reason she had been tasked to work in this dull company was so that she could gather information regarding this mysterious creature hiding within the mists of shadow. However, even with those thoughts in mind, she was still feeling crazy-bored because almost nothing worth mentioning had happened in this place for the past year. At least not anything she could gain access to. She still remembered the time when her boss had interrogated her regarding the matter of the waves of glowing light, but unfortunately, no matter how hard the FBI beauty investigated the matter at the time, she was unable to bring the matter to light. ''Why isn''t there anything for me to do at all?'' This line of deliberation had just gone through her mind, when all of a sudden, her phone started ringing. "Hello?" Picking it up, she answered. "It''s me, Bella." Came the response from the other side of the line. Hearing this, Sara''s eyes started to shine as she said, "Yes, miss Bella, what is it?" "Come to this restaurant at the address I just texted you¡­" without beating around the bush at all, the golden beauty directly told her the purpose of her call. "Eh, why?" Puzzled, the FBI beauty inquired. "Mr. Chairman killed someone, come and deal with the aftermath." With her tone as calm as before, she vocalized casually. However, this instantly stunned the FBI beauty out of her wits as she could only murmur in a speechless manner, "W-what¡­?!" "Anyway, come over, you''ll know the situation when you''re here. Though we have some stuff to do, so we won''t be staying here- beep¡­ beep¡­" being done uttering everything she needed to say, the golden beauty directly cut off the line. Meanwhile, in contrast to her motionless and dazed external state, a chaotic storm was wreaking havoc within her while she thought, ''Damn it, I jinxed it." ¡­ Afterward, she had to rush over to the scene of the murder where the police had already surrounded. "Sigh¡­" Letting out a powerless sigh after catching the sight of a corpse, she walked in front of the responsible detective, presented her FBI badge right at her face while declaring, "The FBI will take over from here on. You''re dismissed." Surprised by this sudden intervention, a frown sat on the detective''s face as she proclaimed, "What? Why would the FBI bother themselves with such a case?" Shaking her head, however, the FBI beauty declined to answer, "I''m not obliged to answer that. Just go away if you''re not looking for trouble." This was a very sensitive matter which she had been ordered to hide at all costs by her supervisor, so there was no way she was going to open her mouth and respond. Annoyed by her reply, the detective glared at the FBI beauty while saying, "Is that so? Then¡­ I''m sorry, but I won''t be handing over the case before I''m at least ordered to do so." This in return irritated the FBI beauty as she inquired, "What''s your name?" Releasing an impatient harrumph in response, the detective mouthed, "Hmph, I''m detective Argent." 342 Why So Dark? After knowing her identity, the FBI beauty no longer bothered herself with the detective as she directly called her boss and explained everything before hanging up. Meanwhile, currently, detective Argent was talking to a witness while wearing a frown, "So, you''re saying this handsome man who was just like the devil himself casually murdered that guardian by snapping his neck in front of everyone?" "That''s exactly what I''m saying! He was so fast and agile that I could barely see a blur before he had already cracked his neck. If you ask me, he was definitely a guardian too. Moreover, he has to be at least a two-star Guardian for him to be that strong!" The witness responded with his voice still shivering due to that horrible sight. "A Guardian you say, huh-" Just as she was writing something inside her note, suddenly, the detective felt her phone vibrating. But taking it out, she realized it was actually the police chief''s number! A number she was forced to save in the past. Immediately, as she became greatly startled, her entire body began trembling. This happened because the last time she had anything to do with the police chief, she was nearly sold out as a plaything to that person! Nevertheless, suppressing that feeling of fear within her, she answered the call, "Y-yes, police chief, please go on and-" However, before she could even finish her words, a shout was heard from the other side of the line, "Do you want me to die, bitch?! Fuck! Why do you keep looking for trouble with that person?!" Detective Argent''s eyes promptly went wide open as she became frozen still. A few seconds later, forcefully calming herself, greatly confused, she inquired, "S-sir¡­ wh-what person? I didn''t. I didn''t do anything¡­" "Fuck, I''m talking about that person which almost resulted in your own demise last time! That person! The case you''re working on right now has to do with him! Do I need to be more clear??! It has to do with the Virus Industries, damn it!!!" Enraged, screamed the police chief into his phone. "Ah-" Hearing that response, detective Argent''s face instantly went pale in horror as memories of that night of spanking uncontrollably invaded her mind while she wondered anxiously, ''Why should this case have to do with him, whyyy!'' "Go pass on the case to that FBI agent right this moment! Also, apologize to her!!!" Shouted the police chief once again. "Yes, sir." Snapping out it, understanding exactly what her priorities should be right now, hanging up the phone, she stormed toward the FBI beauty at once while pondering to herself powerlessly, ''I should''ve realized when that witness said the murderer was a handsome man who is just like the devil himself¡­ only he can have that kind of paradoxical characteristics. Ah, also, he''s the only person I know of who can get away with murder like that.'' Then, finally arriving in front of her, she started voicing with a frightened face much to the stupefaction of the FBI beauty, "Ah¡­ th-this case is yours! Sorry¡­ I''m really sorry, I''m really, really sorry! Please don''t tell him, okay?" After a few seconds of astonishment, the FBI beauty finally proclaimed, "What¡­ what are you talking about? Don''t tell who?" Noticing the fact that the agent didn''t know who she was talking about, she continued, "A-anyway! I apologize okay? I''m going away now. Please tell your boss that I apologized and went away immediately. Goodbye." After that, not wanting to linger around for even a second longer, she scurried away. Catching this amusing sight, the FBI beauty couldn''t help but wonder, "What did her boss tell her for her to be that scared, I wonder¡­ who was she afraid of so much? Hmm, wait, could it be¡­" _________________ Knock! Knock! Knock! The next day, waking up by the nonstop noise of the door, Virus rushed to open it only to witness the refreshed faces of certain beauties standing before him. "Good morning!" The two uttered almost simultaneously. "Ah, morning¡­ what time is it?" He questioned while yawning. "Ten in the morning. We''re here to eat breakfast together." The golden beauty replied showing a half-smile. "Then come on in." Pushing the door wide open, he signaled them to enter the room. ... Knock! Knock! "Breakfast''s here, sir." A while later, the door to his suite was knocked again as a feminine yet familiar voice came from outside. "Come on in!" Virus exclaimed, secretly looking forward to his breakfast. Having received permission to enter the house, the waitress swiped the locked door open before pushing the food cart in their direction. Meanwhile, seeing Hu Yuexin placing their breakfast in front of them with an entirely expressionless face, Virus felt even more amused while pondering, ''Is she acting as if last night didn''t happen? Was she forced to serve us again? Or is she doing it of her own volition?'' On the other hand, being the sensitive women they were, both the golden beauty and Amara were staring at Virus'' face while thinking, ''Why is he smirking at her like that?'' "Um, Aizen, is there anything you want from this respectable waitress?" Having already recognized Hu Yuexin from last night''s incident, Amara queried. "Hmm? No, not really, I was just thinking this hotel is really high-quality for them to send such a beautiful lady to serve us, that''s all." Mouthing this, looking at Hu Yuexin''s face, he went on, "Please tell the hotel that we''re greatly satisfied with your service and that from now on, we would like only you to serve us." Hearing this, a momentary frown sat on Amara''s face as she contemplated, ''Does he perhaps¡­ like her? Is he into Chinese beauties?'' The more she deliberated, however, the more annoyed and jealous she felt, ''Damn it! I should''ve warned the hotel not to send a beautiful person like her¡­'' At the same time, the Chinese beauty''s thoughts were in a complete mess while she pondered anxiously, ''Nooo, I don''t want to!!! Last night I already requested my supervisor to send someone else here from now on¡­ but he insisted that these guests were too important for them and only I was qualified to serve them. Why¡­ why did I have to be the one to be sent here. Furthermore, now this bastard wants me here every time and¡­ God knows what he''s plotting against me.'' Feeling the atmosphere turn a lot gloomier after he specifically asked for her, Virus couldn''t help but wonder in mirth, ''Why did all their faces turn so dark all of a sudden?'' 343 Not Interested Displaying a wide grin, he added, "Anyway, you''re dismissed for the moment. You can go, I''ll just summon you again if I need anything else." "Hmph." Letting out a muffled harrumph in return which Virus was hardly able to hear, Hu Yuexin turned around and left the suite. ... A few hours after enjoying their breakfast, Virus picked up his phone and directly contacted a number he had just extracted from the world-data. "Hello, who is this?" Soon, a voice arrived from the other side of the line. Naturally, the question was asked in Chinese. Catching this inquiry, however, just as fluent as the other person, Virus started talking, "Hello, I''m Aizen Vee, the owner of Virus Corporation headquartered in the United States of America. Is this the chairman of the state-owned enterprise ''Shanghai Municipal Investment Group''?" Hearing the words ''Virus Corporation'', the person on the other side promptly became dumbfounded before mouthing in utter annoyance, "Is this a joke? Damn it¡­ do you know who you''re pranking? Do you want to die kid?" He couldn''t believe the chairman of that company was calling him personally because truthfully, they were in different leagues as there was no reason for its chairman to contact him directly too. "Mr. Chairman, I can assure you that this is ''not'' a joke and I''m indeed the one and only Aizen Vee. I''m making this call regarding something I''ve been rather interested in buying from you as of lately." Not bothered by his disbelief at all, Virus replied. Finally realizing it was most-likely a genuine call due to his serious tone, the Chairman queried in surprise, "Oh my¡­ Really¡­? Then let me rephrase myself by apologizing for my previous rude remarks¡­ I thought someone was pranking me. To be honest, I''m greatly honored! But why would the Chairman of Virus Industries reach out to me personally? You could''ve told your CEO-" However, before he could even finish talking, Virus clarified his skepticism, "That''s because currently, I''m in Shanghai. And like I stated earlier, I''ve become rather interested in purchasing something special from you, so I decided to at least reach out before handing the rest of the chore to my CEO." "Uh, I see, what''s this about?" Muttered the Chairman of Shanghai Municipal Investment Group with some excitement apparent within his tone. Afterward, Virus added casually, "How about we talk face to face in a nice restaurant of your recommendation, give me an address and I''ll be there right away." "Definitely! I''ll text you an address immediately, let''s meet." Soon, an address was sent over to his phone as the trio left the hotel. Right in front of the hotel, a car was parked as a professional driver opened the door for them after a simple greeting. ... While the car was moving within the streets of Shanghai city, the golden beauty opened her mouth, "What time is the Auction''s going to be held, ma- Ai?" "Soon. We''ll go there right after meeting this Chairman and trying the foods he''s recommending us." Responded Virus while Amara wondered, ''Did Bella just call him ''my''?'' In the meantime, while Virus was continuing to casually gaze outside, suddenly, he noticed something very strange, "Eh, why is that street on lockdown? Did something happen there?" Before any of the girls could say anything to that by stating their puzzlement, the driver clarified the situation, "Sir, if I may¡­ that street''s on lockdown because recently a rift has appeared there so the government and its guardians are preparing to deal with the situation after its breakdown." Hearing that explanation, a subtle glimmer of comprehension shone within Virus'' eyes while he affirmed, "So that''s the case. But¡­ this distance seems to be too close to our hotel." Assuming Virus was worried about his life, the driver assured him respectfully, "Please don''t worry sir. Since this rift has shown up within the borders of the city itself, the government will probably dispatch at least twice the usual number of Abnormals, so those monsters definitely won''t be of any danger to you or your companions." "Is that so?" Mumbling that, Virus didn''t expound the notions passing through his head and instead went quiet for the time being. ... "Welcome! Chairman Vee! Welcome to our humble city!" Just as the chairman of ''Shanghai Municipal Investment Group'' was greeting Virus, his eyes caught the sight of the two extremely ravishing western ladies following after him, so he also inquired in a passing, "Uh, who are these two heavenly ladies?" "You can say they''re my traveling companions at the moment, Amara and Bella." Pointing at them one by one, he briefly introduced the two. Listening to the way he introduced the two gorgeous women, a shimmer of (mis)understanding sparkled through his eyes before he started talking, "I-I see... as expected of the Chairman of the Virus Industries! Anyway, come on in and take a seat, please. This restaurant is one of the greatest in all of Shanghai. It also happens to provide its special customers with private rooms." "A good choice indeed." ... "Hmm, delicious! A bit spicy, but that also adds to the rich taste nonetheless." Exclaimed the golden beauty taking a mouthful of her food while producing an exaggerated sound of pleasure. "Haha, then that makes me relieved, young lady." Uttering this, the Chairman turned toward Virus and said, "So¡­ Chairman Vee, what makes such a great person interested in meeting an old bag of bones like me?" Understanding that he wanted to talk business, taking another bite of his food, Virus began elaborating in a relaxed tone, "I heard that there is a project that your company''s about to start¡­ a project for constructing a skyscraper beside the ''Jin Mao Tower'' and the ''Shanghai World Financial Centre'' which is going to give birth to the tallest of the world''s first triple-adjacent supertall buildings." ''So it was the ''Shanghai Tower'' project¡­'' Listening up to this point, a sharp glint went through his previously laid-back eyes as he vocalized, "I''m sorry for being this blunt Chairman Vee, but our government is not interested in having any partners in this particular project." 344 Just Like A Villain "Oh, you misunderstood me, Mr. Chairman. I''m not looking for a partnership¡­ it''s more like¡­ I''m interested in buying the project from your government entirely." Taking a sip from his beverage, Virus mouthed in a calm tone. "What!" Hearing that, the Chairman was no longer capable of keeping himself calm as he shouted in indignation, "Young man, don''t you think you''re crossing a line here even just by suggesting it?" Nonetheless, not bothered by his exasperation or rude remarks at all, Virus added, "Why would I? Please listen to everything I have to say before jumping at conclusions." Then, he went on almost immediately, "I''m not asking you or your government to pass along the project for free here¡­ as a matter of fact, it couldn''t be far from it!" "What do you mean?" Barely keeping his anger under control, the Chairman questioned. However, a frown was still apparent over his forehead. Meanwhile, both the golden beauty and Amara were silently enjoying their food while also listening to their entertaining conversation simultaneously. "According to my investigations, the ''Shanghai Municipal Investment Group'' will need a budget of more than 2 billion dollars for this project to bore fruit in the first place, but I''m pretty sure you already knew that," after a brief silence, he voiced further, "so here''s my offer. Put those 2 billion dollars back into your own pockets. On top of that, I''m willing to purchase everything from you guys for 2 more billion dollars!" To this, the Chairman could only query speechlessly, "You mean¡­?" Nodding his head in confirmation, Virus delineated more, "Yes, not only would your group keep the 2 billion dollar budget for themselves, but I''m also putting 2 more billion dollars above that! That''s an instant 100 percent profit for your municipal investment group! I mean¡­ this is probably one of the best and yet worst deals in the entire history of mankind." Patting the table before him once, Virus concluded, "Best for you, of course, and probably worst for me." Certainly, Virus could have offered a single billion dollars or even less, however, he did not do that. Because he clearly understood the fact that now the Chinese government was willing to spend a ''2 billion dollars'' capital on this particular project, their foresight was at least targeting beyond the initial money they were putting forth. Thus, offering any less than that amount, for example, one single billion dollars (50% profit) wouldn''t have moved the Chairman in the first place at all. Because he was aware that the future gains they were going to make from that building were far above that. Maybe it couldn''t even compare to it. That high. However, now that Virus was offering twice the initial amount, it was at least tempting enough for him to consider the offer. So gazing upon the Chairman''s impressed face at this point, Virus knew that his words were already having an effect on him, so he promptly decided to strike again while the iron was hot just like a whispering devil, "Think about it. What does your group even have to lose? I mean, you''ve barely initiated the construction at the site at this phase. Furthermore, you can just take this 2 billion dollar I''m offering you and go somewhere else instead and build an even better and taller skyscraper there! The only disadvantage you''re facing is the loss of a rather good hot spot for building this skyscraper, but then again¡­ who says that''s the only great spot in Shanghai?" And with that, the final defense lines of the Chairman seemed to have been broken through. However, being the shrewd man he was, he couldn''t help but say, "Hmm¡­ you''re right on point Chairman Vee. But there is one thing that''s confusing me a great deal." "And what''s that?" "Why would you go through so much trouble and such a great loss for this location? I mean, as you said previously, you could just build another skyscraper somewhere else and save these 2 billion dollars¡­ but why-" Already being more than wise to the direction the Chairman was heading at, interrupting him in the middle of his sentence, he uttered, "It''s really simple if you think about it. I''m doing this because I ''can''. As straightforward as that." This response in return, however, forced the Chairman''s eyes to pop open in dismay as he vocalized in absolute disbelief, "Because¡­ you can? Are you for real? You''re going to throw away two billion dollars just because you ''can''?" "Yeah." "It''s too good to be true." "¡­" Looking into his eyes, Virus knew that the other person was having difficulty believing his words, even worse, he was starting to get suspicious regarding the entire deal altogether. ''Sigh, this is how the mindset of businessmen work, to them, there''s no free lunch in the world. And due to that saying, he''s thinking that there has to be at least some hidden agenda from the part of the ''proposer'' of this particular trade. Me.'' As this notion went through Virus'' brain, shaking his head helplessly, he decided, ''So how about I just make a hidden agenda.'' Having made a choice, abruptly, Virus started laughing out loud like a villain, "Hahahaha¡­" then stopping at last after seeing the Chairman''s funny face which was screaming ''I knew it!'', he began talking, "I apologize for being rude like that. Haha¡­ it''s just that¡­ as expected of such a wise mind. To be truthful, I do indeed have an ulterior motive in making this deal." As if he was already expecting that, nodding his head in return, the Chairman uttered, "Just as I thought. And what would that be exactly, if I may ask?" To that question, Virus began replying almost instantly, "Honestly, I''m trying to make a good impression on your government through this deal. This money is like my gift for the Chinese government before I enter your borders officially and start doing business here." Noticing the Chairman''s eyes shining brilliantly in total comprehension, a tickled grin crept over Virus'' face as he went on, "Yes, as you''ve realized already, I''m going to officially root a branch of my corporation here in Shanghai, a branch that''s nearly as important as my headquarters in New York. You know what, I might even make this place my new headquarters." "So I''m sure you can understand why I''m doing this¡­ to make a good impression on the government and to make you guys stop being defensive against a behemoth called the Virus industries." And just like that, Virus brought his act to an end. 345 Its You! After hearing everything Virus had to say, the Chairman sunk into a deep state of deliberation as he remained silent for some time. In the meantime, Virus was patiently waiting for his response while casually conversing with the golden beauty and Amara about the quality of the food and restaurant. A few minutes later, the Chairman finally directly made eye contact with Virus and stated, "I''ll be honest here. Your proposal is truly eye-catching and I''ve been seriously tempted. Moreover, the matter of your corporation officially entering our borders is also very beneficial for our country and its economy. But¡­ I still need to consult with my higher-ups, board of directors, and some other important people in authority before making a decision." Nodding in total understanding, Virus assented, "Well, that''s all I needed to hear since I just wanted to come to an agreement regarding this trade with you before passing along the rest of the chore to my CEO. So, now that you''ve already accepted my offer¡­" putting a business card on the table at this point, he continued, "you can contact this number, it''s my CEO. He''ll coordinate with you about everything. Whatever you need, whether it''s help or something else, just ask him and he''ll assist you to the best of his abilities with the resources we have available." Showing a very content expression, reaching out a hand, the Chairman said cheerfully, "Then¡­ I''m looking forward to our collaboration." Grabbing the hand at once, Virus also uttered while shaking it, "Same here. Hopefully, I''ve made a friend today." "Definitely!" The concept of having the Chairman of the giant Virus Corporation which was the topic of everyday talk almost everywhere around the world thrilled the old man to no ends. "Now¡­ if you''ll excuse us, we have an auction to attend." Phrasing this, he was just about to stand up and leave when he was stopped by the Chairman''s unexpected words and surprised reaction. "Eh, perhaps¡­ are you talking about attending Christie''s auction house?" "Yes? Why?" "Uh, what a coincidence! I was also planning to go there after our short meeting! How about this, if it''s fine with you, we should go together! What do you say, Chairman Vee?" "Hmm, it''s fine by me but¡­" turning toward his two mesmerizing companions, he questioned randomly, "are you two okay with that? If not, I can-" However, before he could even finish, Amara interrupted, "It''s okay¡­ Aizen. It''s not bad having another friend with us." "Yes, no big deal." The golden beauty also agreed. "Alright then¡­ Mr. Chairman, you can tag along." He agreed gladly. "With pleasure." Beaming joyously, the Chairman replied. ... While they were on their way to the auction, the Chairman inquired casually, "There''s something I''ve been meaning to ask¡­ are you also going to build a skyscraper after buying that project from us? And if yes, are you going to utilize the building plans of our project, the Shanghai Tower?" After giving a brief one-over look at the chairman who was sitting beside him within the car, Virus'' response was something which greatly moved the Chairman, "My answer to your first question is ''Yes''¡­ I ''am'' going to make a skyscraper there. But as for your second one¡­ no, I''m not gonna use your building plans." But he also didn''t fail to cunningly add, "Hmm, now that I think about it, that''s also a plus for you guys since you can just purchase a nice location for your building and start the construction phase immediately." Feeling on top of the moon already, the Chairman burst in laughter, "Hahaha¡­ thank you, Chairman Vee¡­ our government won''t forget about your praiseworthy contribution toward our country." "Sure, just remember not to stand on ceremony whenever you face any obstructions or problems you can''t solve popping along the way. My CEO is great at dealing with ''those'' if you know what I mean." "Haha¡­ definitely, definitely! A few nuisances are guaranteed to pop up, if I can''t handle them personally, I''ll certainly reach out." ... Sometime later, arriving at their destination at last, Virus and his companions strolled toward the entrance of the high-quality hall of a certain hotel which had been specially rented out by the auction house to serve as their temporary salesroom. According to the Chairman, this event was going to be one of the biggest auctions held in the entire country. Thus, the auction house was using an even more luxurious and bigger location than their permanent salesroom which was incapable of supporting it for today''s affair. Anyway, walking to the entrance, they presented their invitations before being allowed to enter the hall together with a guide. ... "Wow, so many people here!" While being guided to their seats, the golden beauty couldn''t help but exclaim in pure surprise because astoundingly, almost all of the gigantic salesroom was filled with high-class people everywhere! "Well, young lady, this is a rare occasion where many amazing items such as the Red-Crystals are going to be auctioned at. So¡­ rich people from all over the country and even the globe are present here today with the sole aim of getting their hands on at least one of the treasures of the day." Explained the Chairman while exhibiting a kind grandfatherly smile at the golden beauty. "It''s you!!!" However, unfortunately, it was at this exact moment when abruptly, the four were stopped by a certain person who was pointing fingers at Virus in a blind rage. And looking at the face of this individual who was clearly missing a few teeth, Virus instantly recalled the events of last night where the Chinese beauty was bothered and the golden beauty almost harmed. Of course, after Virus'' intervention, everything was solved efficiently as the abuser was sent flying away with a few of his teeth shattered into oblivion. He was Fan Tong! Anyway, seeing this man in front of him again, a shallow frown appeared on Virus'' forehead while his mood uncontrollably turned somewhat sour. Apparently, the fact that the golden beauty was nearly hurt last night still bothered him slightly. 346 Y-youre... On the other hand, the thought of last night when he was punched into being unconscious to the point of even losing a few of his teeth sparkled Fan Tong''s wrath to new heights. Now naturally, after regaining consciousness in a hospital bed last night, gathering his lackeys, he had come running into the hotel. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the hotel seemed to put extra care and importance on his assaulters for some unknown reason, he had to return empty-handed in the end. "It''s you! Bastard! You dared to raise a hand on me! I''ll fucking kill-" Talking to this point, he was just about to walk and lead his bodyguards toward Virus when abruptly, a hand stopped him in his tracks. "Sir, with all due respect, please return to your seat or I''ll be forced to escort you outside. Please note that any disturbances caused within the area of the salesroom will not be tolerated at all." The source of this voice was, of course, one of the security guards wearing sunglasses who was in charge of keeping the salesroom safe. Seeing someone stopping him from taking his revenge, a few veins popped up on Fan Tong''s forehead before he shouted in irritation, "You! Do you know who I am? How dare you stop ''me''?! Me!!! I''m ''the'' Fan Tong of Shanghai! I''ll give you one more chance, let me go¡­ or face the consequences!" Uttering these several words in absolute confidence, Fan Tong was expecting the other party to cower away and let him have his way while drowning in his own piss of terror. However, much to his surprise and even anger, he realized that the security guard, who was still maintaining his calm demeanor, was as unmoved as a mountain while continuing not to free his grabbed arm. Anyway, seeing him about to burst in a fit of rage, the guard finally opened his mouth, "I know exactly who you are Mr. Fan Tong. But to be honest, I don''t give a damn." At the same time, the guard''s eyes started to change as his irises turned scarlet red, giving a bizarre quality to it. This in return, instantly sent shivers down to Fan Tong''s spine while he realized in utter dread, ''H-he''s a fucking Abnormal!'' Meanwhile, not stopping there, the security guard continued, "So what do you say, Mr. Fan Tong? Give me some face and return to your seat." By now, under the horrifying pressure of those abnormal bloody eyes, beads of sweat had already covered Fan Tong''s forehead while he contemplated seriously, ''Although one of my guards is an Abnormal too¡­ I can''t easily offend one¡­ I don''t even know his guardian rank, so I might be facing someone powerful... I better retreat for now.'' Having made a decision, turning toward Virus, he voiced in contempt, "Count yourself lucky, boy. But don''t you think this is over! Not even close! Let''s go." Then, turning around, he left the area. Meanwhile, observing his retreating figure, the security guard''s eyes changed back into its normal color while he advised amicably, "He won''t be able to bother you while you''re within the area of the auction house, however, be careful while you''re leaving." Having finished giving this friendly advice, he also went off in a random direction. Watching the disappearing back of the security guard, Virus couldn''t help but murmur, "Interesting¡­" ... After Virus and his companions were led to their special seats, at last, the Chairman could no longer swallow his curiosity as he inquired, "Um, if it''s not rude for me to ask¡­ how did you offend that young master of the Fan clan, Fan Tong?" But before Virus could say anything, Amara jumped into the conversation, "Hmph, he''s just an arrogant molester who was abusing an innocent lady. We, of course, helped that woman and now he feels like we kicked him in the nuts! But who is he anyway for you to call him ''young master''?" Showing a troubled smile, the Chairman began elaborating, "About that¡­ he''s the heir of one of the four richest clans in Shanghai¡­ you could say his clan is one of the ruling powers of Shanghai. Moreover, they possess some power and authority on the entirety of China too." "Hooh, is that so?" Said Amara slightly surprised. She also didn''t forget to add in amusement, "If he''s that powerful within the city¡­ isn''t it better for you to leave us as swiftly as you can?" "Yes." Replied the Chairman honestly. "But why aren''t you? Isn''t he gonna be a big threat for you like this?" This time, it was the golden beauty who was questioning the old man. She was a little intrigued by the elder now. "Hahaha¡­" to this, however, the old man started laughing loudly before finally responding, "you''re right. His family can pose a true threat to my current position if they indeed decide to act upon it. However¡­ how can I abandon a young friend I just made that easily? I wouldn''t be in my current position of power if I did that anytime trouble came looking my way. Moreover, what''s his clan worth in front of the globally influential Virus Corporation, right?" Satisfied with his answer, Amara proclaimed displaying a sweet grin, "I like you old man. Anyway, if you ever lose your position because of this, just call this number and I''ll grant you an even better seat in my family company." Simultaneously, she placed a business card in front of the Chairman. Not taking her words seriously at all, the Chairman casually picked up the card while vocalizing, "Hoh, an even better seat than my current one you say, young lady? That''s not an easy thing to-" At this point, however, as his eyes fell on the card, he could only eat his own words speechlessly as a realization hit him, "Urgh¡­ y-you¡­ you''re Amara Martin! The daughter of Aston Martin Corporate''s chairman!" "Hehe¡­ yep, one and only. You didn''t see that coming, did you now?" "Oh¡­ that makes sense, right, right, right! I should''ve known those accompanying the Chairman of Virus Corporate can be no one ordinary!" Grinning from ear to ear, replied the Chairman while thanking his ancestors down to his eighteen generations for giving birth to an intelligent person like him. 347 Bidding War 1 ... Until now, Virus had been completely quiet as if he was just a simple bystander watching an interesting scene while casually keeping track of the conversation between his companions. However, looking at the person who had just strolled behind the tribune, he had to cut them off and say, "It''s beginning, let''s see what they have to offer." ... "Hello everyone. This is Wang Fang, your auctioneer for today''s event. Please let me begin by announcing that there''s going to be invaluable merchandise and treasures, both known and unknown, in today''s great auction. Another vital part of our transaction today is that everything will be traded in dollars, meaning, we only accept USD. I can say with certainty that¡­" Like that, the female auctioneer who was a native female began boasting and explaining the rules and other necessary topics. A while passed and at last, the first item was pushed in front of the auctioneer who started introducing it, "For our first opening item, it''s a very special painting! Now behold¡­" then, after signaling the assistant to reveal the painting by grabbing the cover which was concealing it, she started mouthing in an excited tone, "Pablo Picasso''s Les femmes d''Alger! Version O of this series to be more exact!!! Our starting price for this amazing piece of art is $140 million! Now you can promptly begin bidding since I believe there''s no need to explain anything further regarding it." Facing the painting of the woman with her nude breasts, many people became mesmerized and lost at the depth of this particular painting which talked for itself. "$150 million!" Finally, the first bid was heard as it was immediately followed by the second, "$155 million!" "$185 million!" "$185 million!!! Now $186 million, is there anyone for $186 million?" ¡­ The bidding war continued until someone won the painting at the price of $297.2 million. Witnessing this final price, Virus wondered silently, ''According to the historical data I have in my head¡­ originally, this painting was sold for $179.4 million in 2015¡­ and the location of the auction was the New York branch of Christie''s auction house¡­ but now, the date''s earlier. The location is Shanghai instead of New York, though it''s still Auctioned by Christie''s to the same person. But the most notable thing is that the price has increased to $297.2 million¡­ hmm, my presence here''s beginning to slowly affect and change right about everything indeed.'' It''s been a while since Virus had noticed that his presence in the world was like that of a rock which was thrown into the middle of a tranquil pond, sending waves of ripples which grew bigger and bigger by itself as more time passed. Waves that went further and further away from the original epicenter. The result of this contamination by the so-called Virus who had invaded a system called Earth was the fact that Earth was now plunged into an unknown path altogether, a path filled with unforeseen events and untold mysteries such as the rifts! "The second item isn''t as shocking as the opening item, nonetheless, it''s something I''m sure every woman here today covets¡­ I present to you, Marie Antoinette''s Pearl Pendant!!!" Immediately, in front of everyone, a pearl was exhibited. Seeing this beautiful pearl which was staring at everyone like a sole sad drop of tear standing alone on top of the world in all its grandeur, grieving to be bought, the eyes of various women started to shine like never before while looking back and forth between their boyfriend/husband and the pearl. "The dream pearl of every woman! The starting bid will be just a measly $2 million!" Announced the auctioneer. As if greatly impatient, a woman''s voice was heard immediately, "$10 million!" "$20 million!" Another woman. "$21 million!" Another. "$23 million!" A husband determined to have his wife for tonight also declared. ¡­ Soon, a familiar and feminine voice was also heard from a certain seat, attracting some people''s attention, "$30 million!" The voice belonged to Amara. "Oh, you''re interested in this pearl too?" Virus inquired. "Of course! Name one woman who''s not interested in The Queen Marie Antoinette''s huge drop-shaped naturally-formed Pearl!" Said Amara with a crazed glimmer of greed flickering within her eyes, the kind of look which was screaming ''I''ve found my lost baby!''. Hearing this, wanting to confirm something, Virus looked in the golden beauty''s direction only to be surprised by what he saw. He was instantly taken aback because he witnessed that although she wasn''t saying anything, her eyes were already shimmering in a strange light. That was an intense desire to possess. Displaying a wry smile to this, Virus thought of something which had gone through his head on many occasions, ''She''s a woman, alright?'' And with that, he was also adamant about getting his hands on the pearl just for her sake. By now, the price had already been raised to a whopping $42 million with only a few bidders remaining in the bidding war. "$80 million!" Suddenly, a haughty sound was heard from a corner, shocking everyone due to the abrupt increase of the price to twice the previous bid! Thus, twisting their neck, everyone was faced with the arrogant nearly toothless Fan Tong! ''I''ll buy this pearl just for you, Hu Yuexin! There''s no way you''ll be able to resist this¡­ tonight, I''m finally gonna¡­ haha¡­'' With a perverse shine sparkling inside his pupils, Fan Tong bidded wearing a twisted grin. After that bid, everyone turned entirely quiet while whispering some words like "that''s too much.", "it''s too expensive now.", or "that''s not worth it.". At this moment, the auctioneer''s eyes were shining in extreme delight as she exclaimed, "What a bid! Is there no one else who wants to bid more? No gentleman willing to fight for the happiness of his loved one? Anyone for $81 million? No? Then $80 million going once¡­ going twice¡­" Seeing Fan Tong bidding, an irritated frown appeared on Amara''s forehead. However, knowing the price was already way too expensive for the pearl, she could only give up since she wasn''t one to squander money mindlessly. Meanwhile, the auctioneer was just about to close the bid, when a new casual bid was heard, "$200 million!" This in return, made everyone wide-eyed as they could only look in the direction of the source of the voice in utter stupefaction, just to discover a relaxed Virus taking another sip from his specially brewed tea without any care in the entire world! As if it was just a random number he had thrown rather than a shitload of money. 348 Bidding War 2 In fact, this new bid was so over the top that even auctioneer Wang was shocked silly, she couldn''t believe that someone was actually willing to bid that high for the pearl alone. Of course, her sense of disbelief was instantly followed by a wide shiver of glee and pleasure at the mere thought of the incoming commission money she was going to receive because of this. Meanwhile, on the other hand, seeing who had bidden against him, red veins started to cover Fan Tong''s forehead as an aura of hatred began exuding from all over his body. To him, this was no longer a matter of money or the pearl by itself. It was about him not losing his dignity to the enemy! He couldn''t allow an ant to humiliate him like this! And thus, having decided on what to do, gritting his teeth in rage, he muttered, "You wanna compare money with me? The favored son of Shanghai? Well, bring in it on! I have nothing but money to throw away!" "$201 million!" He screamed proudly. However, before anyone could react to it, a new worthless number was thrown into the fray again, "$300 million." This instantly made everyone present at the scene dumbfounded! The entire salesroom turned so silent that one could even hear a pin drop! "Oh my God! Are they crazy? The initial bid was a mere $2 million! This thing''s at most worth around $60 million!" A rich boyfriend uttered feeling disbelief only to be pinched by her girlfriend who voiced, "Hmph! You wouldn''t understand! This is no longer a matter of money! They''re fighting for the love of their life! For the happiness of their lover! Wish you were like one of them too¡­ especially that handsome man¡­ omg, how can he be so dashing? Just who is he?" This immediately triggered that young man so much that he wanted to throw himself into the middle of the bidding war out of jealousy. Unfortunately, recalling how many liquid assets he had access to at the moment, he could only give up the idea helplessly. The same kind of situation was occurring on many seats as most women admired the two while men could only call them idiots, especially Virus who was raising the numbers like there was no tomorrow! Meanwhile, the auctioneer was currently screaming in utter delight and excitement while maniacally chanting inside, ''Come one, now $301 million, more, more, $301 million I want, don''t stop there, come one!'' And of course, not disappointing her at all, a muffled offer was heard, "$301 million!" Although Fan Tong had bidden again, everyone could hear the pain apparent within his tone. On the other side, drinking some more from his cup of tea, Virus declared much to the stupefaction of others, "$500 million." This instantly resulted in Fan Tong''s saliva uncontrollably being stuck in his throat as he coughed like crazy. Honestly, he had at most expected a $350 million bid, not 500! Calculating the money he could get his hands on, other than the liquid assets he had on hand which was specially prepared by his father for the two Red-Crystals and other essential items sold today, he could only fight over the item for a little while before powerlessly surrendering and giving up. Still, with his ass feeling burned, he bid, "5-$501 million!" After catching Fan Tong''s offered money, as if they had practiced, everyone''s head turned in Virus'' direction simultaneously, waiting for him to talk. Not disappointing them indeed, a round number was heard, "$700 million." "Oh my God! $700 million! Did you hear this everyone? Look at the extent of which this gentleman Is willing to go for his lover!" Announced the auctioneer with glimmering eyes of anticipation before starting the count, "$700 million, going once¡­" Finally, feeling utterly helpless, Fan Tong could only sit back while cursing inside nonstop, ''Fuck! He''s a mad man! A mad man I say! How can someone be so crazy to just throw away $700 million for a woman!!! Fuck you! I''m out!'' "Going twice," taking a final glimpse of Fan Tong, a glimpse that was filled with disdain toward the loser, the auctioneer announced, "Sold! Let''s congratulate this gentleman for valuing his lover that much! The only person willing to go that far for his special lady!!!" Hearing the words ''the only person willing to go that far'', deep frowns creased the male guests'' foreheads while they felt as if the auctioneer was scolding them for being such a calculative pussy. ¡­ Time elapsed quickly while a few more items were brought on the stage, however, since none of them caught his attention, Virus could only stay quiet until, at last, something drew him to itself. "Behold¡­ A painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci himself, ''Salvator Mundi'' everyone! As you can see, this painting depicts Jesus in Renaissance dress, making the sign of the cross with his right hand, while holding a transparent, non-refracting crystal orb in his left!" Exclaimed the auctioneer in admiration. This instantly brought looks of shock and incredulity on the face of nearly everyone present at the auction as they looked at this great piece of art in both wonder and awe. "I''ll say no more since there is no need to. Just the fact that the starting price is $200 million. Let''s begin!" "$250 million!" ¡­ Immediately, one bid after another reverberated within the hall. Meanwhile, all Virus did was to stare at the painting silently while gradually sinking into a deep state of contemplation. Soon, wanting to understand this masterpiece thoroughly, he released his special sense of awareness which covered the entirety of the piece of art without anyone noticing. Since Virus was considered a ''VVIP'' with his name already mentioned within the circles of the wealthiest people in the world, one of the most luxurious seats with unique privileges had been arranged for him prior. The seat was also very close to the stage, so he could leisurely cover the items with his unique sense of awareness and study them very closely. And now, the moment his eyes fell upon this magnificent masterpiece, he had this strong urge to study it fully, as if there was more to it. Thus, he focused his sense of awareness on the item completely. But the next instant, a scene he would never forget displayed itself before him. 349 Bidding War 3 But the next instant, a scene he would never forget displayed itself before him. Amazingly, he discovered layers upon layers of color stockpiled under the revealed paints to create something that somewhat dumbstruck even Virus for a split-second. This happened because when he separated those thin layers of colors and put them in the way they were supposed to be in the first place, a new picture, 3D in nature, revealed itself in front of his eyes. For a moment, Virus wondered why hasn''t this secret been discovered by others, but then he realized that technology hadn''t advanced to that level as of yet since a simple scan or similar currently-considered-advanced-processes couldn''t unearth this secret. And perhaps by the time technology progressed that far, the painting would no longer exist. Anyway, putting that thought aside, Virus tried to understand the 3D picture and reveal the mysteries hiding behind it. Unfortunately, no matter how he analyzed it, he wasn''t able to put his fingers on it as it could be literally pointing at infinite things and possibilities. He predicted that maybe he needs other prior knowledge before being able to understand and unlock the mystery behind this picture, or that perhaps he shouldn''t try to understand it, but rather comprehend it, or something else entirely! Whatever it was, unfortunately, he was incapable of getting behind it since time was limited and his knowledge probably incomplete, so he became determined to have this masterpiece of a painting for himself! By now, the price had soared to $571.5 million while the bidding war was still ongoing! This item was also different from the previous world of Virus where it was sold at auction for $450.3 million on 15 November 2017 by Christie''s in New York. No matter, with slightly shining eyes of anticipation, Virus declared, "$1 billion." Which instantly shocked everyone silly into being speechless. A few seconds later, whispers started to circulate everywhere. In a corner, a random person questioned while cursing, "Fuck, it''s him again¡­ just who is he? Why does he just throw out money like that without even trying to participate in the bidding war!" "No idea who he is¡­ but since the auction house arranged a ''VVIP'' seat for him, he must be filthy rich." Another responded. Simultaneously, seeing Virus actually bid again, fires of challenge sparkled within Fan Tong''s eyes as he pondered while frowning deeply, ''Fortunately, after adding my own money, the money for the pearl I lost, and the capital I was allowed for buying this famous painting, I can fucking take away that art which he seems kind of desperate to possess! Furthermore, he should have less money after spending so much on the stupid pearl.'' Thinking up to this point, extremely pleased with himself and his extraordinary intelligence, he proclaimed, "$1.2 billion!" "$2 billion!" Yet again, before anyone could even process the previous number vocalized by Fan Tong, Virus beat them to it. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" By now, everyone had nearly become numb to being stupefied due to the bids of this squandering man who had no sense of care or responsibility for the most important object in the world, money! And if they experienced anything more intense from now onwards, that could only be a heart attack. "I think every time he opens his mouth, he breaks several records of most expensive art, pearl, etc. ever to be sold!" Someone said in a stupor. Truthfully, the same notion was passing through the mind of many of the guests, including the old Chairman who pondered in absolute admiration, ''It''s as if he doesn''t care about money at all! The only thing occupying his mind is "what I want" and "what I don''t want". He just straightforwardly gets his hands on the things he wants, no matter the cost. What a great man! I indeed made the right call by not ditching him when trouble struck, haha¡­'' The auctioneer too was so impressed at this point that she was on the verge of coming to naturally idolize Virus as her new God. The God of Money. On the other side, Fan Tong was going nuts while mumbling, "Why! Why! Why does he have so much money!!! Who is he? Just who is that bastard son of a bitch!" Anyhow, the enchanting tone of Wang Fang, the auctioneer, was soon followed as the painting was sold to Virus at the whopping price of $2 billion! "Everyone, now¡­ the next item is something very special and luxurious. Behold the¡­ Pink Diamond Barbie! Designed by the Australian jeweler Stefano Canturi, this model of the classic doll wears a black evening dress and a one-carat pink diamond necklace with three carats of white diamonds around it! The beginning price is $200,000! Oh, also¡­ please note that every cent earned from this particular item will be donated in order to feed the hungry children all around the world." Not as enthusiastic as before, the auctioneer announced. Initially, this item was not qualified to be present among the list of merchandise today. However, in order to improve their image, the auction decided to put this item and donate all of its earned money to the children in need. According to the auction, the estimated money earned from this object was going to be around $500,000. As the bidding war began, prices soon reached $400,000 when, at last, the speed of bidding started to slow down. And it was at this moment when a voice silenced everyone. "$1 billion!" Looking at the person who had uttered those terrifying words, everyone no longer knew how to feel at all, they felt like they were perhaps dreaming. On the other hand, Fan Tong was also shocked by this strange development. He could understand why Virus had bought the previous items. But this one only baffled him to no ends. Nonetheless, seeing how impatient and desperate Virus looked at the moment, a thought hit him, ''Could it be there is more to the Barbie?'' ''That can''t be¡­ but why does he look so desperate?'' Slightly addled, Fan Tong deliberated while gazing at Virus'' facial expression. 350 Bidding War 4 ''Whatever, I don''t care why he wants it¡­ my only concern is to use this situation and laugh my ass off at him by obstructing his path a little bit and wasting a shitload more of his money! Not just this time¡­ I''m gonna keep hindering him on every item he bids!'' With this notion sparkled within his head, an evil grin displayed itself on his lips as he raised his hand and stated, "$1.5 billion!" This instantly confused and dumbfounded everyone while they wondered as such, ''Why is he also accompanying him in a bidding war? Could that Barbie truly be some type of magical girl? Maybe Barbie transforms into a beauty? Fuck that doesn''t make any sense!'' He was randomly bidding 1.5 billion because he assumed that Virus was simply going to beat him to it by casually saying ''$2 billion'' just like the previous time. He waited and waited, but the anticipated voice which was going to be like a melody never reached his ears. Every second that passed resulted in more droplets of sweat rolling down Fan Tong''s face as he kept praying for Virus to say ''$2 billion.'' Unfortunately, that sweet number was never uttered! Meanwhile, on the stage, the auctioneer had long gone quiet while wondering why the hell did the price skyrocket so much. It was just a Pink Diamond Barbie and they had confirmed that thorough and thorough¡­ but why? Nonetheless, feeling somewhat awkward, she started counting in a fast manner, "Going, going, gone! C-congratulations, dear sir, for winning the Pink Diamond B-barbie!" She was so tickled that she was almost unable to control her laughter at the very end. Fortunately, she barely made it. "Have fun playing with your Pink Barbie, Fan Tong!" However, abruptly, a shout came from a familiar seat which made the salesroom explode. The voice naturally belonged to Virus. "Pffft¡­" "Hahahaha¡­" "Oh my God! I can''t hold it any longer, hahaha¡­" The Chairman screamed, following suit. The golden beauty and Amara too were laughing wildly as tears of joy covered the corners of their eyes. "Pffft, I-I can''t, I can''t hold it in either, hehehe, s-sorry, hehehe¡­" The auctioneer too could no longer endure it as she burst into a fit of laughter behind the tribune. Of course, she tried her best to distance herself from the microphone so her laughter wouldn''t be that obvious. But it was clear that nearly everyone had heard her. "Hehehe¡­" "Fuck! Is he an idiot?! Hur hur." In the meantime, Fan Tong''s face had gone ashen white as beads after beads of sweat were dropping off of his face. Having finally understood what had just happened, Fan Tong''s expression gradually became extremely dark as a sense of such hatred he had never experienced to this very day blinded him completely! Now he considered himself to be unreconcilable with that person! Enemies for life! ''I''ll have my revenge! I swear to God! I swear! I''ll fucking shred him to many pieces and feed my dogs with it!!!'' His eyes were also bloodshot at this point. To be honest, as a tool of extra entertainment, Virus wanted Fan Tong to outbid him on the Pink Barbie as his goal was that, to begin with. However, it was crystal clear to him that by doing this, he was taking a long shot and the chance of Fan Tong falling into his obvious trap for real was somewhat slim and on the lower side. But to be honest, Virus didn''t care even if he lost that meager amount of money. He felt like it was totally worth it. So he just uttered ''$1 billion'' randomly. Yet, against the odds, that idiot Fan Tong had actually fallen into his trap due to being utterly blind by hatred and rage. Then she proceeded with the rest of her words internally, ''And successfully became the biggest laughing stock of Shanghai and even the entire world for many years or perhaps generations to come. Hehehe¡­ what an idiot.'' Putting that notion aside, Wang Fang continued, "The next piece is something very valuable!" As the item was uncovered in front of everyone, she exclaimed, "This is the largest flawless fancy vivid pink diamond ever graded, I present to you the 59.6-carat diamond known as the Pink Star!" After the auctioneer announced that the price begins at $30 million, before anybody could phrase anything, a declaration shut everyone up, "$300 million!" Obviously, a declaration made by Virus. This time, although he was burning in rage, Fan Tong still didn''t dare to outbid him due to the fear of him suddenly pulling out. Due to the horrific possibility of this also being just another trap set specifically for him. The funny fact about this whole situation, however, was that even the other guests were somewhat reluctant and afraid of mindlessly bidding against this ruthless person who had just engraved Fan Tong''s smeared or perhaps holy name within the records of history itself! Thus, as a result of all of that, Virus naturally won the Pink Star he had personally come here for. Though he was still buying it for around a ''$100 million'' more expensive, frankly, he didn''t mind. "Alright everyone, that was it for normal items such as arts, pearls, diamonds, B-barbies, etc. From now onwards, every object sold is going to be materials or treasures related to the rifts!" Stated the auctioneer while deliberating to herself in absolute and utter joy, ''I''m gonna be super rich after all this is over! Thank you, thank you Money God. You have my unfaltering gratitude for all of it. I promise to use them well.'' 351 Bidding War 5 Learning of the incoming section which was only about rift-related materials, everyone''s eyes began shimmering with fervor. As a matter of fact, the reason why this round of auctioning was so popular around the globe had been especially due to this part. Thus, one could even call this segment the ''main'' part. "The first item of this section is the shockingly tender meat of a monstrous beast known as the White Tiger!" "Now as most of you are already aware of this, the flesh of many of these monstrous beasts can be extremely toxic to the human body. However, that is not a case applying to all of them! Some of them are not just rich in taste¡­ but, according to the scientists who have experimented on them nonstop, can be also very beneficial to your body! Talking about those nontoxic ones, the benefits each of them bring varies according to those creatures'' special traits since¡­ while some of them are very nutritious and even super nourishing to your anatomy, some can be unbelievably delicious! Some even have been said to strengthen the body! I mean how amazing is that?!" Pausing at this point, she signaled her assistant to reveal the chunk of meat. Then, as it was displayed before the eyes of everyone, she continued, "And concerning this White Tiger meat, I can only say that studies have shown it to be so very nutritious to the body, to the point that even caviar pales in comparison!" "The starting price shall be $100 thousand, I''ll let you all be the judge of the actual worth of this amazing tender meat!" As she was done with her introduction, she patiently waited for the bids. "$200 thousand!" ¡­ "$915,500!" "Going once, going twice, sold! This top-quality chunk of meat has been won by that lady at seat number 87!" Afterward, different types of meats or even complete corpses were pushed on the stage before the eyes of everyone present. However, to this point, all of them were said to either possess a new type of top-quality taste or have the end result of nourishing different parts of the body to various levels. One of them, in particular, was even introduced as being extremely nourishing for men''s kidney and as one can expect¡­ it was the one that was sold for the most expensive price among the auctioned-meat to this moment! "Okay everyone, the following merchandise is something very unique! It''s the meat of the famous six-legged coyote! Yes! That famous coyote whose meat is rumored to permanently increase the strength of your body by one kilogram the first three times you devour it!" It was clear that even the auctioneer herself was very impressed by the astounding attribute of this creature. "Now, as I''m sure you''re all already aware of this, for each person, there is a limitation of only three kilograms increase in body strength. Still, that''s a permanent increase!!! When you eat this delicious meat, you''ll immediately start feeling power coursing through your stomach and veins!!! Moreover, there is enough meat here to increase the strength of five people! Meaning, you can share it with your family members and empower all of them!" "I believe that''s all I had to say, oh, also, its initial bid is a mere $500 thousand!" "$1 million!" The first bidder said proudly. "$5 million!" The second bidder stated arrogantly while looking at the first bidder in contempt for thinking $1 million was something to be proud of. "$15 million!" The third bidder also proclaimed while looking down at both of the initial bidders wearing a smirk. ¡­ As expected, on this Earth which was being invaded by strange creatures and monsters of the rift, a person''s strength was considered the most important as everyone would jump at the chance of getting stronger now. "$49.5 million!" "$60 million!" Suddenly, Amara also raised her hand and entered the bidding war. "You''re interested in that meat too?" Asked Virus with some hints of surprise. To be frank, Virus looked at a mere three kilograms of increase in power in pure disdain and even contempt. Thus, he didn''t even bother bidding in the first place. Nevertheless, being the foodie he was, he had bidden and won one of the corpses which were said to be tasty on a heavenly level. He wanted to experience for himself if that was true. With an intense light shining within her eyes, Amara responded, "Of course I am! It''s three kilograms of elevation in power!!!" "Going once, going twice, sold!" Having risen the previous price by more than $10 million, no one else outbid her as she won the item. "Yay!" She exclaimed feeling jovial. As it happens, Amara also had this obsession of getting more powerful. "Okay everyone, this upcoming item is something I''m sure everyone''s excited about!!!" Going silent at this point, the auctioneer stayed quiet for some time, obviously in order to build suspense. After making sure everyone was now impatiently looking forward to her opening statement, she revealed two Red-Crystals in front of everybody before starting her speech in a loud tone, "Two Red-Crystals everyone!!! But before anything, let me thank guardian Atish for providing us with these two precious crystals! Thank you very much miss Atish!" Vocalized the auctioneer while pointing at a certain wavy redhead woman, a beauty. Showing a mesmerizing smile, that redhead who was sitting in her own special seat without the knowledge of anyone up to this point nodded her head in return. "It''s really Atish! She''s here too!!! Ah!" Someone shouted in disbelief. Atish was one of the currently rather famous guardians who were shown many times on the television, thus, she was like a celebrity to a lot of people! "Yeah! Wow, she''s such an enchanting beauty! How old is she? Twenty-five? Twenty-six?" Someone else voiced. Virus too, turned toward the ending point of the auctioneer''s finger as he muttered wearing a grin, "Oh, it''s that woman I saw on the television the other day¡­ her Trait was rather interesting¡­" Meanwhile, seeing Virus sneaking a peek at that woman called Atish, Amara couldn''t help but be a little jealous, ''Could it be¡­ he likes redheads?'' 352 Bidding War 6 "Alright everyone, now, please calm yourselves and let us proceed with the auctioning." Phrasing this, auctioneer Wang went on, "Let me start by clarifying the wondrous impacts of these Red-Crystals on human beings! First of all, you need to know that if they''re taken by natural or awakened Abnormals, they will have the effect of empowering and strengthening their unique Traits." She proceeded next, "Nonetheless, the second influence of these crystals is that¡­ even if you''re a normal human being with no Traits whatsoever, there''s still a slight chance of you awakening your Trait! So, I''m sure everyone''s aware of the worth of these two Red-Crystals. Now usually, nearly no one''s willing to sell their Red-Crystals to the common populace, so it could be said to be the most sought after object in the entire world right now." Already finished with her elaboration, the auctioneer finalized her statement, "Anyway, the price will be set at $40 million. Let''s start!" Truthfully, $20 million for each of the Red-Crystals was a very reasonable price on the market right now, so everyone understood that the auction was being fair. "$200 million!" Screamed Fan Tong impatiently. This was the main reason for him being here today. To get his hands on the two crystals at any cost. "$300 million!" Another exclaimed. Looking at the source of the voice, one would realize it was an old man. "$400 million!" In normal times, this price would already be way above the actual worth of these Red-Crystals, perhaps around ten times more expensive. However, due to the fact that one couldn''t get his or her hands on any of these Red-Crystals currently even if that person had enough money, the price had skyrocketed to unbelievable heights. Yet, ten times the original price was still somewhat worth it in exchange for power for numerous people. "$410 million!" Fan Tong bid once again. From now on, people were going to increase their bids in small amounts. It was also at this time when Virus realized someone was pulling the end of his sleeve. And looking at the owner of the hand, he noticed that it was Amara. So, slightly surprised, he questioned doubtfully, "What is it?" "Um¡­ can you lend me some money and help me buy one of those Red-Crystals? I really want it but I don''t have enough money with me¡­ maybe I could even activate my Trait with it. I promise to return the money later on." Clarified Amara. "Oh, sure, I was gonna get my hands on one of those Red-Crystals anyway. I''ll give you the other one." Nodding in agreement, Virus promptly raised his hands, "$1 billion." He announced, forcing everyone to shut up again, Amara included in the list. ''Ah, crap, he''s participating in the bidding war again, I give up.'' Promptly, this notion went through the brains of most people present in the salesroom simultaneously. A while later, Amara was screaming inside, ''Ahhhh¡­ I meant you help me buy them like a normal human being¡­ by bidding normally¡­ not like a mad man¡­ my father''s gonna kill me if he hears I spend $500 million for a single Red-Crystal.'' Soon, another filthy rich lady bid calmly, "$1.01 billion!" Although she knew it was totally not worth the money, that woman had nothing but money, so she was willing to bid that much even if it was extremely painful. That was especially the case after having witnessed Virus bidding like a nutjob before. "$1.5 billion." Before anyone could digest the previous call, however, Virus threw a new number into the circle, successfully shocking them yet again. ''I¡­ I n-need to pay him $750 million now¡­'' At this point, Amara was pulling her hair internally as she screamed inside while clenching her cute fists together. It was also at this moment, gritting his teeth in absolute resentment, Fan Tong offered every penny his clan could offer right now, "$1.51 billion!" He was doing this 98-percent out of pure hatred and the remaining 2-percent because his clan needed the Red-Crystals. Of course, if his father was present at the scene, he would''ve slapped Fan Tong into dropping unconscious after seeing Fan Tong bid $1.51 billion! "$2 billion." Unfortunately, Virus opened his mouth again, forcing everyone to feel very sick inside. ''That fucking demented, deranged, crazy bastard!'' Cursed Fan Tong to himself while emitting his murderous intent in his direction. ''$1 billion for a single worthless Red-Crystal which can even be bought for around $30 million sometimes?! Nooooo!!!'' Internally, Amara had already gone mad too as she was bellowing in despair and distress. She didn''t have access to that much money, so she no longer knew what to do. "$2 billion going once, going twice¡­ SOLD!" Yelled the auctioneer, feeling astounded to no ends inside. ''That Chairman of the Virus Industries is really a God of Money!'' She pondered to herself jovially. In another corner too, Atish''s eyes had long brightened in clear happiness and joy. Not even in her wildest dreams had she expected her Red-Crystals to be sold that expensively! ¡­ "There, now you have a Red-Crystal for yourself." Gazing into Amara''s eyes, Virus notified casually. Hearing his relaxed tone, Amara had this intense urge of wanting to slap him dead straight away. But controlling herself in the end, she could only murmur and admit in defeat, "I¡­ I can''t r-return that much money." "¡­" After staying quiet for a while, Virus uttered, "Aren''t you the favored daughter of the Aston Martin Corporate?" "I¡­ my dad won''t give me $1 billion just to spend for a single Red-Crystal¡­ I''m sorry but I can''t buy the Red-Crystal from you, I-I''m sorry." Feeling extremely bad for saying those words, looking down, Amara confessed. ¡­ After the Red-Crystals, four beads that were extracted from the monsters of the rifts were exhibited on the stage, "I''m confident those working in the line of being a blacksmith are already excited about getting their hands on these beads¡­" went on the auctioneer as she explained some details regarding the beads displayed in front of everyone. 353 Von Lazaro And after her simple elucidation, the bidding war was initiated. But oddly enough, only a few people (clearly Blacksmiths) participated in the bidding war of those beads, and in the end, all four of them together were sold at the price of $217.5 million. ¡­ Subsequently, a shining silver-sword was brought on stage before the auctioneer began her introduction, "As for the last item of this auction, do you see this captivating piece of work? Can you guess who made it? Yes, that''s right, this was made by the world-class smith, old man Anvil! According to his personal description, he made this sword utilizing a special type of metal and a single bead extracted from a monster of the rift." "This silver-sword is said to be harder than all of the swords created before the appearance of the rifts and it can be effectively used against those creatures!" Concluded Wang Fang. Seeing the sword, a shimmer went through Virus'' eyes before wondering to himself, ''So they''ve discovered one of the uses for the beads¡­ though they''re not utilizing it efficiently yet.'' ¡­ By now, the eyes of a lot of people, especially Guardians, was shining in pure anticipation. To them, this silver-sword was a very helpful companion when fighting against those creatures of the rift, so, many of them were resolved to get their hands on this particular sword. "The starting price shall be a mere¡­ $11 million-" The instant this sentence was phrased, someone said, "$20 million!" However, before anyone could bid again, a feminine declaration was made, "$120 million." "It''s Atish!" Someone whispered. It was indeed Atish. She was making this bid because she already had more than enough money she could probably spend for many years to come. Thus, thinking having a sword might prove to be useful in dangerous situations, she was determined on purchasing it. After that, since the price was already around $20 million above the actual price of the sword which could still be bought through specific connections, and since others wanted to give some face to the guardian celebrity, nobody bid again as she successfully won the sword. "Alright, that was our final item for the day¡­ oh, since it''s already dark outside, we can say ''the night''. Anyhow, congratulations to all of the winners of this event. Someone will soon guide you to receive your items. Thank you all and goodbye until our next auction." Just as she had brought the auction to an end, someone walked before Virus and his companions, "Hello, Chairman Vee, we meet again, when I saw you a few hours ago, I had no idea that you were ''the'' president of the Virus Corporation. Please let me guide you and your friends to backstage where we''ll go through some quick processes before handing over your items." "Sure." Standing up, Virus, the golden beauty, Amara, and the old Chairman followed the guide, aka the security guard who had defended them against Fan Tong by displaying his Trait. "What''s your name?" On their way to their destination, Virus asked out of curiosity. "My name is Von Lazaro, sir. I''m a Guardian." Replied the guardian respectfully. "I see," offering his own dark luxury business card in return, Virus introduced himself, "Aizen Vee, the president of the Virus Corporate." And with that, Virus no longer opened his mouth again. Soon, they were led to a luxurious room where the auctioneer Wang Fang was already waiting. "Oh, hello, President Vee, it''s a great pleasure meeting you in person¡­ please sit down." Pointing at the couch, Wang Fang requested respectfully. "The pleasure is mine." Nodding in return, Virus and the trio sat in their own respective seats. "I have to say¡­ President Vee, you were our biggest customer in this round of auctioning and you''ve brought astronomical profits and fame to our Christie''s Auction House. Thank you." "I just got my hands on the things I wanted, as simple as that." Was Virus'' response in return which resulted in Wang Fang''s admiration of this man even further. "Alright, I won''t waste your precious time, so, let me briefly explain the cost and the processes to you." Voicing this, she continued rather relaxedly, "So¡­ the list of your items includes Leonardo da Vinci''s ''Salvator Mundi'' which you won by bidding $2 billion, Pink Star Diamond amounting to $300 million, Marie Antoinette''s Pearl Pendant costing $700 million, the two Red-Crystals sold at $2 billion, and the meat of the two-meters squirrel won at the price of $10 million." "All of them totals to $5,010,000,000¡­ consider the meat our auction house''s special discount and treat for you, which results in the round number of $5 billion entirely. Now, with all due respect, sir, how would you like to pay that amount? In case you have any problems with your payment or that you''re unwilling to part with your liquid assets, our auction house is willing to exchange that amount with you for 5% of your company''s shares." Wang Fang stated with some hints of expectancy toward Virus'' response. Actually, this had been ordered by her greedy higher-ups since the shares of the globally known Virus Corporation was one of the most sought shares in the world. Unfortunately, no one was able to buy any shares of this particular company as the entire 100% of it solely belonged to Virus himself as he wasn''t willing to free any of his shares since there was no need to in the first place. Gazing upon the [Virus Card], Wang Fang was somewhat shocked that he had at least $5 billion cash inside that card. She was anticipating a heated negotiation where she would in the end even be willing to change all of the $5 billion for only a single percentage of the shares of his company, but it seems the negotiations weren''t even going to begin. All of a sudden, the door of the room was pushed open by a guide who led someone inside while reporting, "Miss Wang, I''ve brought guardian Atish over." 354 Blissed "Miss Wang, I''ve brought guardian Atish over." Following right after that guide, a woman entered the luxurious room elegantly. An enchanting western lady with wavy red hair, fair skin, and reddish-brown eyes sparkling just like a ruby. "Oh, miss Atish, you''re here¡­ please come sit down with us." Invited Wang Fang respectfully. Nodding her head, Atish casually joined the rest of the team while sneaking a peek at Virus from time to time. This was happening because although she didn''t know Virus'' specific identity, she still remembered that dashing face who was just bidding like there was no tomorrow at the salesroom. Nonetheless, it was at this exact moment when she was suddenly interrupted by Wang Fang who placed a piece of paper in front of her. "Please sign this paper miss Atish, it says you''re selling your two Red-Crystals to this gentleman at the price of $2 billion. The moment you sign it, we''ll transfer the money into your account after deducting our share of it." Wang Fang described while offering her the paper. Simply nodding in total understanding, Atish picked up the pen and casually signed the paper without even looking through the terms stated within it once. "Alright, please excuse me for a second." Picking up both the [Virus Card] and the signed paper, Wang Fang went to a corner before swiping the card from a certain device. ¡ºPlease type the number you would like to withdraw from the account.¡» Seeing this, Wang Fang immediately typed. ¡´$5,000,000,000¡µ ¡ºPlease enter the password. (0/3) ¡» ¡´6969¡µ ¡ºAre you sure? Please note that the card will be locked after three tries.¡» She pressed the ''Yes'' button. ¡ºThe money has been successfully transferred!¡» ¡ºWould you like to receive the printed receipt sent over from the relevant bank?¡» Knowing she needed the receipt, she pressed the ''Yes'' button again. Soon, picking up the paper, she went through the data printed on it just to make sure everything was correct. However, she was instantly shocked silly instead due to her eyes falling upon a certain row of numbers. ¡ºSuccessful withdrawn amount: $5,000,000,000¡» ¡ºThe remaining amount within the debit card: $95,000,000,000¡» After gazing upon this number, her eyeballs nearly popped out of its sockets while she screamed in absolute disbelief internally, ''OH MY GOD! Just how rich is this God!!! I wish I could marry someone like him one day.'' She dreamed of this impossible possibility in vain. Returning shortly, she placed another piece of paper together with his [Virus Card] in front of its owner while explaining, "Alright, president Vee, we have the money, now you just need to sign here and we shall immediately bring over your items to you." Signing the paper without further ado, Virus continued to wait. In the meantime, he also put his eye-catching debit card away. "Ah, if it''s not rude of me¡­ can I ask who this gentleman might be? I-I''m just really curious regarding who exactly has bought my Red-Crystals at that price." Abruptly, Atish questioned. To this, however, Wang Fang didn''t open her mouth at all as she merely waited for Virus to respond in whatever way he saw fit. Not bothering with any formalities whatsoever, Virus plainly placed a business card on the table while introducing himself, "Aizen Vee, the president of Virus Corporation." This promptly made Atish''s eyes wide-open in fascination while vocalizing rather loudly, "That makes sense! So you''re that mysterious chairman behind the Virus Industries!" Of course, she also didn''t forget to snatch the business card for herself. ''This might come in handy in the future.'' She thought. "Yeah, that''s me." Staring directly into her eyes, Virus confirmed his astounding identity. "Alright, miss Atish, I''ve been just notified that your money has been already transferred into your bank account." Confirmed auctioneer Wang. Creak~ All of a sudden, the door of this luxurious spot in the hotel was pushed open as a few security guards entered the room before placing some shiny items on the table in a professional manner. "These are your Pink Star Diamond, Marie Antoinette''s Pearl Pendant, the two Red-Crystals, and Leonardo da Vinci''s ''Salvator Mundi'', sir." After pointing at each of the items, next, she proceeded by signaling in the direction of a certain jewel chain, "As a display of our kind intentions, our auction house has also prepared a luxury jewelry chain as a special present for you, president Vee. A chain which is befitting of the Marie Antoinette''s Pearl Pendant." She also didn''t forget to add, "Moreover, since the flesh-meat you bought from us is too heavy to be transported with yourself alone, we''ll personally ship it to whatever address you pin for us. Also, you don''t need to be worried about it rotting away since the flesh of the rift''s monsters stays fresh for many days. Oh, furthermore, if you want, we can also transport the painting to your address with maximum security." After shallowly nodding in satisfaction, Virus no longer paid her words any further heeds. Instead, quietly picking up the Marie Antoinette''s Pearl Pendant, he rose from his comfortable seat and proceeded behind the golden beauty gracefully. Then, before the shocked and thunderstruck eyes of every woman present at the scene, he bound the necklace around her neck, exhibited a devilish smile, and stated, "This for you, my special Lil Belle." Simultaneously, he also freed her golden hair from under the jewelry chain of the pendant gently. By now, the golden beauty''s cheek''s had long gone abashed due to both happiness and embarrassment. She was feeling like the sole queen of the entire multiverse right now. She was on cloud nine. Meanwhile, on the other hand, even though Amara was showing a very fond smile, internally, she was crying in both disappointment and jealousy, ''uwuuu, I thought he was buying that for me¡­ why¡­ sob-'' In the meantime, both Atish and Wang Fang were imagining what it felt like to be in Bella''s shoes and the only word they could come up with was¡­ blissed. 355 The Life Expectancy of a Man Returning to his seat and picking up a piece of paper, Virus wrote an address on it before saying, "Alright, you can send the painting and the corpse to this place. I''ll be taking the Pink Star, the pendant, and the Red-Crystals with me. Goodbye." After picking them up, standing up together with his companions, he threw one last glance at the western beauty, the redhead Atish, before walking toward the door and exiting with Amara and others who were following closely behind. ¡­ Strolling outside the hotel, the trio was just saying their farewells to the old Chairman when a burst of crazy laughter interrupted their sweet time, "Hahahaha¡­" ''Who''s this nutjob?!'' After this same question popped right into the mind of all of them, they turned their head in the direction of the mad laughter only to witness a familiar face¡­ Fan Tong! "We meet again." Wearing an evil grin, Fan Tong mouthed. Beside him, two bodyguards were also looking in their direction full of contempt and derision. "Now that you''re outside the salesroom, tell me who''s going to protect you, huh?" Staring into Virus''s pupils in rage, Fan Tong asked. "Idiot. Go play with your Pink Barbie." Unfortunately, this response of Virus was something that made him even more enraged. He was now viewing him with pure killing intent. However, recalling the events of last night where several teeth of him were shattered due to his terrifying strength, he didn''t dare to charge personally. Thus, fixing his gaze on one of the bodyguards beside him, he ordered, "Break both his hands for me!" "Yes, young master." Heeding the command, the bodyguard was just about to charge in their direction when a feminine shout stopped him in his tracks, "Stop!" "Which cunt-" infuriated at the notion of someone preventing him from taking his revenge yet again, he was just about to curse the said person to her death, when abruptly, he could only swallow back his own words while breaking out in a cold sweat. "M-miss¡­ A-Atish¡­ w-what b-b-b-b-brings you here?" Immediately terrified at the mere sight of the redhead before him, Fan Tong no longer even understood what he was pronouncing himself. "They''re my friend! Get lost!" With a cold glint going through her eyes, that was the only words Atish declared in response. "Y-yes, what are you doing? Did you hear what miss Atish commanded, you stupid bodyguard! Let''s go!" And just like that, with his tail between his legs, Fan Tong scurried away. Witnessing the bothersome people disappearing, kindly looking at Virus, Atish murmured, "They won''t be able to hurt you guys anymore, don''t worry." Then, just as she was expecting Virus to be immensely impressed by her righteous defense and thank her to no ends even to the point of proposing, she was faced with Virus'' nonchalant yet unentertained reply, "Tch, I could''ve dealt with that Barbie-boy myself. Whatever¡­ let''s go, everyone." And thus, freezing still in her current spot speechlessly, the only notion that popped into Atish''s head was, ''did he just say "Tch"?'' ... After sending away the Chairman, the trio was now on their way back to the hotel. Currently, Virus was nonchalantly staring at the big pink diamond while deep in thought about the near future and the unique application of this diamond for him. Finally snapping out of his deliberation, Virus picked up one of the Red-Crystals and extended it toward Amara, who for some unknown reasons, appeared very despondent and downcast. "Here, take it, just return the original market price to me and that''s enough. Consider the rest as a gift from me, your friend, to you." Elaborated Virus plainly. He could''ve gifted the entire thing to her for free since that meager amount of money didn''t matter to him at all, however, he did not do that since he didn''t want her to misunderstand his intentions. Shaking her head, Amara rejected graciously, "You don''t need to do that. Although I can''t give back all that money to you right now, I promise I''ll repay you one day, no matter how long it takes." Then, not standing on ceremony at all, she readily took the offered Red-Crystal. To be honest, she was feeling somewhat sad about not receiving the pendant as a gift from Virus since she was certain that he was aware of the fact that she had been very interested in the unique necklace. Back then, at the time Virus had bidden for the pendant, Amara had assumed that since she had lost the bidding war, he had stepped up in order to buy it off for her. However, against her happy expectations, he was actually purchasing it for the golden beauty who she assumed wasn''t even interested in the necklace in the first place. Of course, even if he had gifted the pendant to her, she still would''ve repaid the money since she hated to take advantage of others. Especially when came to money. And now, seeing Virus offering her the Red-Crystal while drawing so many boundaries around it only made Amara disheartened even further. Still, understanding the fact that he had bought the Red-Crystal for her to begin with, although she didn''t want to accept this somewhat insincere gift, she still received it and vowed to return all of the paid money instead. The rest of the road was absolutely quiet as one of the girls was feeling totally blessed, while the other was crestfallen to the extreme. This was one of the realities of life, the fact that it was nigh impossible for one man to make two women happy at the same time while those women looked at him the very same way. Of course, since Virus wasn''t just a simple man but a super calculative being too, maybe it wouldn''t be that impossible for him, however, the main point here was¡­ he didn''t bother trying or looking at it from all directions while considering everyone''s feelings. That just wasn''t him. 356 Not Just Ye That just wasn''t him. ... Soon, the trio strolled into Virus'' presidential suite before the girls threw themselves on the couch haggardly. Today had been a very weary day for them. "What now, Ai? Are we gonna go back to New York?" While remaining in that comfortable position, the golden beauty inquired. She was also careful not to call him ''master'' in front of Amara. "Not just yet. There''s no rush. For now, I''m gonna meditate here and try to breakthrough." Replied Virus offhandedly, attracting Amara''s undivided attention to his odd words. ''Meditate? What does he mean? Like a monk? Why would he do that?'' Still, she simply listened without uttering anything back. Not stopping there, however, Virus added, "But before that, I''ll also impart upon you a suitable Spark Breathing Technique so you can initiate your path too." "But¡­ since trying to teach you the technique word by word would waste too much of our time, I''ll just transmit the whole technique directly to you in a way you would be able to refer to it whenever you feel the need to." "Ah¡­ how exactly are you gonna do that, ma-Ai? I don''t think that''s possible anymore since¡­ I mean¡­" she was surreptitiously referring to the fact that she could no longer receive data from Virus in a direct mind to mind connection. From the second her consciousness had been moved into her own physical body, aka her own flesh and blood, communicating and transferring data between herself and her master had been practically impossible, thus when she heard Virus claiming he was going to transfer the technique to her personally, she didn''t comprehend how that was possible. Meanwhile, Amara had been extremely lost trying to make heads or tails of the conversation, ''What Spark Breathing Technique? What path? What are they even talking about?'' Notified Virus, "Oh, that''s easy to solve." Following that, taking an oddly small futuristic-looking device, a syringe, out of his pocket, he walked behind the golden beauty again before pressing it against the back of her neck. Now although a very thin needle had just sunk into the golden beauty''s spinal cord, she felt no pain whatsoever. "Ahhh, what are you doing to Bella!?" Caught off-guard by his abrupt course of action, Amara screamed in terror. On the other hand, since the golden beauty had unwavering trust in her master, not even for a second had she doubted that Virus would do something which would result in harming her. No¡­ even if he wanted to hurt her indeed, she would still gladly receive the damage for him, so, she just patiently and curiously waited for his clarification. _____________ A few seconds later, as the golden beauty was still wondering just exactly what had been injected into her spinal cord, weird text boxes started to show up in her line of sight. LOADING ... 24% LOADING ... 68% LOADING ... 79% LOADING ... 98% LOAD COMPLETE! [Communication Device Loaded to the Host.] [Ding! The administrator has activated the ''Communication'' feature¡­] [Ding! The administrator has activated the ''Information-Shift'' feature...] [Other hidden features, LOCKED] "Uh!" Yelped the golden beauty, totally caught off-guard by this turn of events. Just as Virus was finished with his brief explanations, a new screen presented itself in front of the golden beauty. ¡ºAwareness of the Dark Energy Within¡»¡´Spark Breathing Technique Description: Mortal-Class Mid-Rank???A simple breathing technique for gaining awareness toward Internal Energy. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, it was called ''Awareness of the Qi Within'', but after some adjustments, it was changed to ''Awareness of the Dark Energy Within'' breathing technique. With this breathing technique, it would take a normal human around ''1.5 months'' to gain awareness of his Internal Energy!¡µ Together with that simple introduction, every information she needed to know to begin the process of breathing was displayed in front of her. But it had to be emphasized that this type of ''Information-Shift'' wasn''t like directly transmitting the data into the brain where one would instantly memorize or even comprehend the full extent of information. No, it was more like an open book before her eyes from which she could directly read and follow every step instructed. So one could even claim that it was more like a guide and a teacher. "Awareness of the Dark Energy Within? A Mortal-class Mid-rank spark breathing technique? Why is it a Mid-rank and not something higher?" Questioned the golden beauty in some doubt. "Easy, practicing a High-rank breathing technique like the [Spark Awareness] which is the one I practiced would be too hard for the current you since you would face a lot of difficulties trying to comprehend the mysteries within before following them accurately." He phrased before adding even further, "Don''t look down on the Mid-rank though, I mean¡­ to normal people, even practicing this one would be extremely arduous. To them, the Low-rank Spark Breathing Techniques are the most efficient ones." "I''m sending the mid-rank to you only because you can still be considered extremely intelligent among human beings." Concluded Virus shortly. Finally getting a grasp of the situation, the golden beauty nodded in understanding. Besides the two of them, Amara who had been ridiculously muddled since the start of the conversation, at last, couldn''t keep her curiosity under control and queried worriedly, "What are you two chattering about? And what was that thing you injected into Bella''s neck? Is she okay? It wasn''t anything dangerous, right?" "Oh¡­" Facing her questions, the golden beauty didn''t know how to respond. Instead, she just twiddled her thumbs while waiting for her master to come up with something random yet rational. 357 Fictional Delusions And indeed, the anticipated response was heard soon enough, "Oh, we usually meditate to keep our physique and mind healthy by casting out the negative energies and absorbing the positive ones into our body and soul. I gotta say, it does a wonderful job of making us feel a lot better." Hearing this silly clarification of Virus, Amara didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. She never believed in fantasy concepts such as meditation. And the way Virus was phrasing it made her even less of a believer. Seeing her look of distrust, nodding slightly, he moved on. "And about that syringe which I injected into her spinal cord¡­" talking to this point, his mind unconsciously flew back to the past. ... FLASHBACK TO YEARS AGO ¨C VALENTINE''S DAY With her green eyes the target of his undivided attention, he softly whispered toward the beauty sitting on the other side of the sumptuous table, "As a gift, I don''t wanna give you anything big... in fact, I''m gonna give you the smallest gift ever. However, although it''s the smallest gift, I believe it''s the biggest and the most precious thing in a relationship, connection between ''you'' and ''me''." Impressed and intrigued, playing off with the corner of her long hair tenderly, she jokingly inquired, "Wow, what is it? Could it be the smallest phone in the world, hehe..." Smiling back in return due to her amused giggle, getting off his seat, he went behind her while adding, "Pretty much." ... BACK TO PRESENT This was a side-effect of being an AI while possessing both an ''Independent Consciousness'' and a 100 percent PERFECT photographic memory. Every memory he thought of, his mind would relive that moment with every little detail in a fraction of a second. It was like watching a 3D-movie. And the only difference was the fact that those bits of the said time carried many loads of emotions felt in the past with themselves. They were literally attached to the memories themselves. That''s how advanced and ground-breaking Virus''s mind was. Some might call this type of brain capacity wonderful, amazing, and even a dream come true. However, to those people who could never forget anything, although the good memories were indeed very blissful, the sad memories were doomed to torment them forever, a burden they could not get rid of. Of course, being the ancient dominant AI who was somewhat obsessed with control, Virus had long learned to subdue, suppress, and even restrain them. He was already the master of his own mind. And the fact that those perfect memories had surfaced meant that Virus had allowed them to surface in the first place. Or at least that''s what he believed. Digging into the matter, the moment Virus had started talking about the syringe, i.e the Communication Device, together with that momentary surge of reliving a certain experience, Virus began deliberating on the fact that over the past year or so, Ella could''ve initiated communication with him at any time she felt the need to. However, after the day she told him to go away, seeing how she never contacted him, it seemed that she was adamant about staying away from him no matter what. On the other hand, what Virus had done from that day onwards had been exactly that. Staying away from her. Just as he was told. However, the duration of that had been for a month or two at most. Because slowly but surely, he started getting the feeling that they were now ''too distant'' from each other. Indeed, ''absence'' was a double-edged sword in relationships. Just as it sometimes makes the heart grow fonder, it could also make it pale and wan in comparison, the opposite. Returning to his senses, after noting that all of the reliving and deliberations hadn''t even taken a single nanosecond, picking his words where he had left them at, he continued, "¡­ you can call it a state-of-the-art mobile phone. A highly-confidential invention of the Virus Industries." The existence of the Communication Device was never something Virus wanted to hide from those people around him since he was going to release and sell a version of it to the people of Earth in the indefinite future. And that, of course, was going to happen only after releasing many types of tangible futuristic cell phones first. "Really?!" Getting shell shocked by the absurd yet vague revelation, she could only stare at him in absolute disbelief. "Do you want one?" Looking at the way she was staring at him, he proposed nonchalantly. Promptly, her eyes went wide open. She was truly surprised, "Seriously? Are you willing to give something so precious to me? Do you trust me ''that'' much!? I mean it''s a cutting edge piece of tech¡­ aren''t you afraid I might reverse-engineer it and sell it to the whole world?" "Hahaha¡­" releasing a peal of uncontrolled laughter, very amused, Virus answered, "you can try!" Simultaneously strolling behind her very leisurely, he pressed another syringe right at the back of Amara''s neck. "You can try¡­ but I don''t recommend it since you would need to dig it out of your spinal cord first. That would honestly cripple you. Even if you were somewhat successful in extracting it, I bet no one on the entire planet is capable of reverse-engineering it. So¡­ my personal advice is¡­ don''t, haha¡­" ... In the meantime, the device started to load up in front of the dumbfounded eyes of Amara. LOADING ... 27% LOADING ... 41% LOADING ... 62% LOADING ... 62% ERROR¡­ MINOR ERROR DETECTED! NOW FIXING THE ISSUE¡­ ISSUE SOLVED¡­ LOADING ... 88% LOADING ... 99% LOAD COMPLETE! [Communication Device Loaded to the Host.] [Ding! The administrator has activated the ''Communication'' feature¡­] [Other hidden features, LOCKED] As a result of what she was witnessing, Amara continuously touched her eyelids thinking she was hallucinating. ''Ah¡­ did I just go nuts? Dang! Perhaps that needle damaged my spinal cord." 358 A Mother, A Hero 1 "Hahaha¡­" Unable to control himself, Virus fell into a peal of laughter while confessing, "That''s how it''s supposed to be. It''s a visual and auditory internal device that directly makes a connection with your brain and nervous system. Like I said¡­ a state-of-the-art piece of technology." Finally realizing exactly how advanced of a technology she was dealing with, Amara could only speechlessly gaze upon the man before her. She was thunderstruck. "How¡­ how can your company make something that can only exist in a science-fiction movie?" Snapping out of her dazed state that felt like an eternity, she questioned. When Virus had called the Communication Device a state-of-the-art mobile phone, she was expecting a tool that was somewhat more advanced than the phones currently on the market. Something auditory perhaps that functioned with sound alone. But seeing it for herself, she had a hard time believing the extent of the advancement Virus was talking about. Simply grinning after seeing her eyes full of disbelief, Virus answered, "No comment." "No matter, now you have it too. You can contact me by using it. Command the device to call me internally." "Eh, lemme try." With glimmering eyes of anticipation, she pondered, "Call Aizen Vee." [Communication Device: Calling the administrator, Aizen Vee, aka A* V****¡­] ''What''s A* V****? Why is it censored? Maybe Ai Veeee or something similar? But why would the device censor that?'' She was briefly confused by this question before passing on. Simultaneously, a screen followed by a voice was received by Amara. The fascinating thing about all of this to her, however, was the fact that although she wasn''t actually seeing with her own eyes nor hearing with her ears, something still popped in her line of sight while at the same time she heard the words displayed within the text box just as if a notion was being poured into her head. Soon, just as she was feeling lost about what to do next, a familiar voice rang within her brain, ''Hello? You hear me right?'' "Ah¡­ your mouth isn''t moving but I hear you!!!" She screamed in shock. ''No need to yell! Just think of your response and it''ll be delivered to me.'' Shouted Virus inwardly while touching his ears. His eardrums were buzzing slightly due to her abrupt shriek. Much to his amusement, soon afterward, Virus caught the same notion being whispered at him, ''Ah¡­ your mouth isn''t moving but I hear you!'' "Right." Nodding in satisfaction, he added, "I''m sure you''re beginning to understand what kind of tech you''re dealing with." Indeed, after the momentary communication, Amara was finally feeling enlightened. "Ah, yeah¡­ I get it now. But what was that about hidden features being locked?" Recalling a particular chain of words she had faced a while ago, she queried doubtfully. And to that, he told a half-lie, "Those are just some security measures and features for protecting the device, don''t bother yourself with it." Being done with his explanation and transmitting the necessary information to the golden beauty, he delivered his deadpan request next, "Now, both of you¡­ if you have nothing else to say, please leave. I want to meditate and get freshened up." _______________________ After watching them both leave his Presidential Suite, sitting cross-legged on the couch, Virus sank into a seemingly meditative state of mind. Afterward, gaining control of the internal energy within his unlocked Energy Pathways in a few seconds, he gradually moved and concentrated all of them on the thirteenth entanglement. A couple of hours elapsed quickly while Virus proceeded to sit cross-legged in that position. Sometime later, suddenly opening his extremely frustrated eyes, a notion struck him, ''There''s no change whatsoever to the condition of the knot¡­'' ''Could it be that¡­ Origin made my knots different from the rest of the people? Just like my Energy Pathways? Are they harder to untangle? Or¡­'' Grrr~ Snapping out of his deliberation by the strange noise made by his stomach, he wondered while touching his belly, ''It seems concentrating the internal energy on the knot consumes a lot of my energy. I''m really hungry now.'' Next, picking up the phone placed beside the couch, he ordered some food. ¡­ Soon, the room service lady opened the door before entering it. She was, of course, Hu Yuexin, the Chinese beauty. "Good evening, dear customer, here''s your dinner." Greeted the Chinese beauty expressionlessly while placing the served food on the table in front of him one by one. Meanwhile, watching her moving-hands, Virus questioned, "So¡­ have you made a decision regarding my offer? If you say yes, I promise it''ll be a naughty little secret just between the two of us for the rest of our lives. Of course, I understand if you say ''no'' too." Due to this, raising her head while frowning deeply, Hu Yuexin was just about to scold him, when the exhibition of the object within his grasp instantly shut her up in astonishment. "You¡­ ah-" There it was, the item she fantasized about possessing even in her dreams! The item that could possibly save his son¡­ the Red-Crystal! Red-Crystal, the price that Abnormal had asked for. Promptly, she felt like a tiny spark of hope was finally brightening her darkest moment in life as it was soon followed by a brilliance of greed that covered both her eyes in return. This was no ordinary greed for riches or money. This was a rather pure form of greed that had manifested due to the strong desire of a woman, a mother, to protect her child. No matter the cost. "This can be yours¡­" Added Virus wickedly. An evil grin had already formed on the corners of his mouth. He was truly interested in what kind of choice this woman would make exactly. If she said ''no'', some would probably assume that she''s a brutal mother for not sacrificing for her child while some others would think she''s a virtuous mother who values her purity, even if it''s at the cost of her child''s life. On the other hand, in case she chose to say ''yes'', many would take it for granted that she''s not a good woman for choosing this option. Of course, many might say she''s making the right decision and no one has the right to judge her for it since she was forced in this type of situation by the cruel reality in the first place seeing no one was there to provide her with an alternative that would aid the child. Some will definitely call her a hero. An inseparable quality of a mother. 359 A Mother, A Hero 2 And now that Virus was not selflessly doing that, if those people saw the world as only black or white, they might just accuse him of evilly wanting to take advantage of a woman in need, a man on the dark side of the world. And certainly, that might be in fact true. But¡­ which one was worse? The guy that''s actually stepping up to do something about a mother''s despair while the rest of the world had left her alone to this very point? Or the rest of the world that just simply judged him for his deeds while doing nothing about the sufferings and pains they saw in the world surrounding them? ''Should I accept his offer? I should, right? It''s not like I have any other options left¡­ it''s not like he''s that disgusting Fan Tong either¡­ and everything''s gonna remain a secret forever. He''s also unbelievably handsome, ugh, what am I thinking, get a grip, you stupid woman.'' Scolding herself briefly, she ultimately began walking toward Virus step by step. And finally arriving in front of him, reaching her right hand, she was about to snatch the Red-Crystal when¡­ "Ah-" When suddenly, pulling that hand, Virus forced her into a sitting position over his lap. Then, gazing into her round eyes, an interested grin took shape on his face, "So¡­ this is your choice, right?" Staring into his penetrating yet mesmerizing eyes that waltzed among different colors of gold, blue, and greenish-blue depending on varying grounds such as the angle one was looking at them, the kind of expression he was putting on, or the entirety of the lighting of the room itself, she could only helplessly blush and look away under its sharp glint that could probably see right through either her clothes, heart, or perhaps both. She wasn''t sure. "Say it with your own lips. Your decision." Insisted Virus while amused by her shy reactions. "You¡­ y-you already know my choice, do I need to spell it for you to understand?" Remaining in that sitting position on his lap, while refusing to look back into his eyes, she murmured. Softly grabbing her cheeks, turning her face toward himself, locking her eyes in himself, he voiced strictly, "Yes, spell it out for me. I want to hear you say it." "You!" Frustrated, the Chinese beauty didn''t know how to respond at first. No matter, sighing helplessly, she mouthed in the end, "What do you want from me? What do you want me to say?" Caught off-guard by the abrupt questions, Virus realized a very essential fact. The fact that he hadn''t actually thought about this aspect of the deal at all. What did he want from her indeed? Thus, wearing a more serious expression than ever before, he pondered for several seconds before finally answering, "To be honest¡­ I''m not sure yet. What I want from you¡­ it might be a casual one-night stand, a plaything, a girlfriend, a kiss, somebody to tease, or perhaps nothing at all. It may be either one of those, more, or none at all. I don''t know¡­" Then pausing momentarily, he added further, "Nevertheless, I''m impressed by your insightful question, it''s good to know what you''re signing up for. You''re a smart woman, Hu Yuexin." Listening to those words, perhaps for the very first time since meeting him, Hu Yuexin was curious about this charming man called Aizen Vee as different notions flickered through her surprised mind, ''Even he doesn''t know himself? He''s helping me although he''s not certain what he wants from me yet? Does that make any sense? Just what kind of a person is he? He could''ve just said I want a plaything or a mistress and have me forever on the sidelines, but he''s not saying that. Those genuine eyes cannot be lying. I feel it, I think.'' ''But why! Could it be he''s doing all of this just to help me out but since he has no reason to lend a hand to a stranger like me, he''s making it seem as if he''s the one taking advantage of me? Like that is his benefit in this odd circumstance?'' It was at this point when Virus abruptly squeezed her plump ass, forcing her to snap out of her contemplation with a jump just like a scared cat, "You-" Wearing an innocent smile, while pretending to have done nothing wrong, he uttered, "So, what''s your choice? Tell me." As that sensation of her ass being grabbed was still being felt by her, with a shade of red covering her cheeks, she concluded, ''I was wrong! He''s definitely a hungry wolf after my innocent body! A horny animal!'' Nonetheless, feeling greatly blissed about the concept of finally being able to save her son, although she was stuttering slightly, she declared rather resolutely, "M-my answer is¡­ ''yes''. I''ll be y-your whatever-you-want-me-to-be. Are you happy now?!" "Haha¡­" chuckling at her admission, he promptly grabbed the still-standing body from her slim waist before pulling her to sit on his lap once again. Then, before she could mouth her dissatisfaction at him, taking a hold of her defeated face, he sealed his lips on hers. "Mhh~" Caught by surprise, Hu Yuexin''s eyes went wide open before she began struggling with a moan and an abashed face. The struggle lasted for a mere few seconds before she, at last, calmed down. She calmed down because she realized this was what she had signed up for. Next, closing her eyes shut, she allowed the beast to relish the beauty. After several minutes of making out and kissing, just as she was expecting him to advance even further, stopping with a final peck which for some unknown reason felt extremely gentle to her, he whispered, "Go now. Go save your son first. Everything else can wait for later." 360 A Mother, A Hero 3 Stating those words in a tranquil manner, he placed the Red-Crystal and a contact number within her exquisite palms before standing up and strolling into his bedroom, thus leaving a stunned Hu Yuexin behind. Indeed, she was stupefied and somewhat dumbfounded at his unforeseen halt just when she had left herself at the sharp clutches of fate. ''W-why did he stop¡­?!'' Frowning slightly, without herself even realizing, she felt bugged at the notion of this sudden ending. But more than any other feeling, she had been impressed and even moved by his unexpected action. Nonetheless, putting that sense of confusion and loss aside, she became greatly enlivened at the fact that she could now finally go and tend to her son. So not wanting to waste a single second longer, she vanished from the suite in the blink of an eye, ''Whatever, that''s good for me anyway¡­ I can finally treat my son.'' ... After she left, the silhouette of Virus once again showed up within the living room, ''see you later.'' He concluded with a chuckle. It was good indeed to have something to be entertained with. ''Can you hear me?'' Out of nowhere, however, a call was connected to him. Frowning slightly, Virus said, ''What is it, Amara? Why are you calling me?'' ''Ah¡­ just wanted to test this thing again and see if it works from this distance. You know-'' before she could finish, however, she was interrupted, ''Alright, I''m busy, talk to you later.'' With that, he directly cut off the line and even blocked her temporarily. Simultaneously, a text popped up before her. [Communication Device: You have been temporarily blocked by the administrator. Time remaining: 23:59:59] Catching the sight of those words, Amara''s eyes went wide in disbelief as she murmured quietly, "What! He¡­ he blocked me!" Meanwhile, inside the Presidential Suite, sitting on the couch, Virus began contemplating the strange knot that didn''t budge in the least even after hours of nonstop Internal Energy concentration. His deliberation went on for several minutes. But unfortunately, he couldn''t understand the reason behind this strange phenomenon. In the end, shaking his head in defeat, he decided to try something else which had been occupying his mind for a while now. ''Why don''t I just keep the Internal Energy condensed on the twist all the time? I mean¡­ that should be possible for someone like me, though I''m certain there will be some drawbacks.'' With that idea flickering through his head, he directly divided his awareness exactly into two segments. One section became focused on the concentration task while the other part was left for his daily needs and to control his physical body. It didn''t take long before his eyes snapped wide open. ''Success!'' He exclaimed internally. However, he soon realized doing this also had its own disadvantages, just as he had anticipated. For one, the efficiency of concentration was apparently cut in half as the gathered energy particles vibrated around twice the speed of before. They vibrated because they tended to try to escape from his weaker grasp nonstop before returning to their rightful spot. After all, in controlling the Internal Energy particles, what mattered wasn''t quantity but quality. This meant that the speed of disentanglement had at least decreased to less than twice that of before. Of course, considering the long run, doing this was much more productive as he could keep the energy particles focused on the twist twenty-four hours a day which signified a noticeable increase in the effectiveness of the disentanglement. Nodding his head in satisfaction, closing his eyes once more, he put all of his awareness on the gathered energy particles again. He was going to divide his perception into two parts only when he had something else to do in the real world. ... At the same time, after leaving Virus'' room, Hu Yuexin cheerfully rushed to get permission to leave the hotel for the rest of the day. A while later, a Chinese beauty left from the entrance of the hotel before calling a taxi and disappearing into the crowded streets. She had been so joyful that she didn''t even notice the expensive foreign car that was following right after her. ... "Son¡­ let''s go, mom will help you get better." As she was done doing the paperwork for his short discharge, Hu Yuexin walked before the three or four years old looking kid and uttered while tenderly patting his head. "Mommy''s here!" Exhibiting a happy smile over his pale face, the little kid exclaimed. He loved staring at those kind eyes which were filled with motherly passion directed at him all the time. On the other side, observing her son that behaved multiple times more mature compared to the rest of the children around his age could only force a pained smile to be drawn over Hu Yuexin''s face. She knew he was suffering a lot, but he still smiled brightly every night she came to visit him. He was a strong kid indeed. ''I swear I''ll make it so you no longer feel any type of affliction whatsoever.'' Pondering that line in total determination, she gently picked his bony figure before placing it in the wheelchair. To Hu Yuexin, watching the little kid writhing in pain was the most tormenting torture in the entire world. If she could, she would''ve long transferred his disease to herself before sucking every ounce of affliction from his body. Albeit, she could not. ... "Please take us to this address." After giving the taxi driver a piece of paper, she turned toward her son and made sure he was comfortable in his seat. On the paper, the directions to somewhere outside Shanghai were written down. An hour-long distance by car. "Mommy, w-where we going?" Inquired the kid in a childish tone. Promptly changing to a smile, the Chinese beauty provided the kid with an answer, "Mommy''s taking you to an uncle who can help you feel better." "Weally?" Together with a shimmer of hope flickering through his dark pupils, the child questioned. "Yes, really." "Yay! It won''t ache now!" Exclaiming happily, the small kid seemed to remember something which made his smile disappear as he said, "A-h, Mommy, I don''t want it!" Surprised by his rejection, the Chinese beauty mouthed, "Eh, why do you say that, son? You have to be okay for mommy, alright?" "B-but¡­ I-I don''t want him to be my dad! He bad!" He screamed all of a sudden. 361 A Mother, A Hero 4 Confused even further, she phrased, "what are you talking about? No one''s going to be your father!" "B-but¡­ he said¡­ he said if he becomes my daddy, he will make little Wei get better. He told little Wei to force mommy to sleep with him! I don''t want to! Only little Wei can sleep with mommy!!!" By now, some traces of tears had already gathered at the corners of his eyes. Anyway, listening to the plain explanations of her son, Hu Yuexin''s face promptly went dark as she understood everything. After that, the more she thought on the topic, the more enraged she became, ''That bastard! That bastard Fan Tong¡­ h-how, how does he dare come visit my son and even feed him with that bullshit!!! Damn it!!! He deserves to die!'' Witnessing the deep frown over his mother''s face, as if he was wronged, the child uttered, "Mommy, don''t be angry, owkay? Little Wei was wrong." Snapping back by his worried phrase, hiding her wrath, she beamed him a smile before vocalizing, "Mommy''s not angry at you, child. I''m angry at that bad man. Don''t listen to him okay? Mommy would never accept help from someone like him now let''s not talk about marrying him. That will never ever happen!" "Weally?" Sanguine once more, he asked. "Yes, really. So don''t say you don''t want to get better. That makes mommy sad." Hearing her say ''that makes her sad'' immediately made the child anxious as he leaned over and hugged her in the jet black interior of the taxi, "Owkay, don''t be sad mommy¡­" It was incredibly dark because it was night time outside as the taxi was now driving outside Shanghai on a desolate road. "That''s my baby-" Screech~ It was at this time, when out of nowhere, an unknown car overtook them before blocking their road, thus preventing them from moving forward any longer. "Who!" Yelled the taxi driver startled while pushing the brake to its ends. "Are they trying to mug us?" As the driver voiced this, he instantly became anxious as he tried reverse-gearing and scurrying back. But as soon as he looked behind from the rear-view mirror, much to his horror, he realized another car was locking them from their back. Left with no other choice, the driver could only powerlessly wait and leave their fate at the hand of the rubbers. Of course, if it was anything too dangerous, he was planning to just push the gas pedal to its ends even if it wrecked his car. A few seconds later, someone exited from the car in front of them as he casually sauntered in their direction. Meanwhile, observing the silhouette covered in shadows, to their distress, Hu Yuexin and the driver spotted a baseball bat being carried by the figure too. This made them afraid even further. Walking before the taxi, at last, the other person knocked on the window of the taxi while mouthing, "Drop those two and fuck off if you don''t want to die." Catching these words, the driver immediately realized the assaulter seemed to have a beef with his passengers. This promptly made him somewhat relieved as he gazed back at Hu Yuexin, "I''m sorry¡­ but please get off my car. I don''t wanna die in the middle of nowhere." By now, the terrified Hu Yuexin had already realized it was Fan Tong staring at her from outside the taxi wearing an evil grin. "No¡­, please¡­ don''t¡­ please¡­" still horrified, Hu Yuexin begged the taxi driver not to do that to no avail. Unfortunately, not listening to her pleas at all, the driver only unlocked the door and said, "They won''t get off, I''ve unlocked the doors, please take them away yourself. I don''t want any trouble." "Hahaha¡­ a wise choice. Cowards live longer indeed." Declaring this sentence, he opened the passenger door before grabbing Hu Yuexin''s hand before pulling her outside the car despite her complaints and screams. "Don''t touch my mommy! Don''t!!! Go away! Bad man! Go away!!!" Meanwhile, the little kid was already in tears as he tried keeping his mother inside the car while pulling her other hand helplessly. Sadly, the little kid with his small and bony figure had no power that could contend with Fan Tong. Thus, both of them were dragged outside the taxi before the car drove away as his road behind was finally unobstructed! "w-what do you want from me!" Shouted the Chinese beauty forlornly. Nevertheless, despite the fear she was experiencing currently, she refused to let go of her son who was within her embrace. She was ready to defend her son''s life at all costs. "Haha¡­ you bitch, we meet again! So you finally got your hands on a Red-crystal, huh?" "W-what are you talking a-about!? I have no such thing!" Refused Hu Yuexin as beads of sweat were already showering down her forehead. "Hahaha¡­ I''m not an idiot. You took your kid from the hospital and now you''re headed in the direction of that Abnormal''s address, the Abnormal that can help your son I mean. That could only mean one thing! You finally got your hands on a Red-crystal." Not stopping there, he continued, "Moreover, the only person who recently bought a Red-crystal is that bastard son of a bitch! That fucking bastard who knocked me unconscious!" By this point, deep red had covered Fan Tong''s line of sight as he started cursing at her, "You''re such a bitch indeed! You kept refusing my offer! But you went ahead and accepted his crystal instead! Tell me¡­ was it fun letting that man fuck you instead of me? Huh? You''re such a slut! A whore I tell you! He already fucked you till you felt like a retard, didn''t he?" "W-what are you talking about, you disgusting filthy man! You think everyone''s so disgusting like you?" Replied the Chinese beauty while trying her best to cover the ears of her wailing son. She didn''t want him to hear such awful words. 362 A Mother, A Hero 5 "It''s okay, don''t be scared. Mommy''s here. Mommy will protect you." She also didn''t forget to whisper softly into his ears, not forgetting to comfort him even in this type of situation. "Haha¡­ is that so? I don''t believe it! I''m confident you''ve been fucked over and over again. Nevertheless, it doesn''t matter now." Suddenly reaching his hand, he grabbed her bag while mouthing with a smirk, "Both your body and the Red-crystal will be mine now!" Hearing this claim, however, instantly made Hu Yuexin''s face go extremely pale in absolute fear. A type of fear she''d never felt before. Now, her feeling of terror wasn''t because of being scared of Fan Tong or losing the purity of her body. No, she was only horrified at the concept of losing the Red-crystal which was going to help her son! Her most precious son!!! "No! I won''t give it to you! You''d have to kill me first!" Declaring that, she refused to let go of her bag like there was no tomorrow for her. By now, Fan Tong was grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the bag with all his might, but much to his dismay, he realized he couldn''t snatch the bag from her no matter how much force he put behind his pull. This immediately annoyed him a great deal as he kicked her in the stomach, thus successfully getting his hands on the bag. "N-no¡­ anything¡­ a-anything but that. P-please, give it back." While writhing in pain on the floor as she tried her best to protect her kid, she murmured. "Hahaha¡­" Ripping the bag apart, he emptied everything out on the asphalt before picking the Red-crystal, "I have a Red-crystal now! I can also transform into an Abnormal! Yes!" Next, throwing the obtained Red-crystal into his car, he offered, "Come on, stand up and follow me willingly. I''ll take you to one of the empty mansions my family has around here. I''ll knock you a few dozen times before sending you away to the city together with your son." "I-I''d rather die!" Screamed Hu Yuexin helplessly, "give it back!" "Hahaha¡­" not paying her any heed whatsoever, however, Fan Tong strolled before her and tried princess carry her to the car forcefully. Slap~ But faced with a slap and an intense struggle instead resulted in Fan Tong being blinded in rage. "You!" He once again jumped at her only to chance upon her nonstop struggle once more. She aimlessly and repetitively kicked, punched, slapped, etc. And seeing this, one thing was apparent¡­ the fact that she wasn''t willing to be moved and violated in the least. Regrettably, however, many wounds and injuries were showing up all over her body. It seemed Fan Tong wasn''t one to give up either. "Slut! Just come while I''m offering nicely!" Enraged at her unwavering grapple, that was the only words Fan Tong could voice in return. "N-no¡­ never." As blood was dripping from many parts of her body, she powerlessly lay on the ground, however, her eyes were still shining in a determined glimmer. She wasn''t going to give up until her last breath. To be honest, even now she wasn''t scared of this scum Fan Tong in front of her. What she was worried about was the fact that she hadn''t heard a single sound uttered by her child since a while ago. That nearly pushed her into the brink of having a heart attack right there. Still, having no time to check on him due to the persistent Fan Tong, she could only continue fighting while crying at the same time. This process went on until the Chinese beauty''s eyes fell upon a sharp object right before her. An object that had fallen from her bag when Fan Tong had emptied it out on the asphalt. Her small knife which she carried with herself everywhere she went. Being a single mother with no man to protect her, this was one of the measures she had taken in order to protect herself if she ever experienced any type of danger. Anyhow, the second her eyes fell on the object, resolved like never before, a brutal light went through her eyes as she seized it before lunging it at his leg. Thrust! "Ahhhhhhh¡­" Immediately, the weird sound of metal penetrating flesh reverberated around the area as a wailing Fan Tong fell on the ground with his leg already starting to bleed. "Y-y-y-you! B-bitch¡­ Ahhhhhhh¡­" trembling at the sight of the amount of blood escaping from his own body, Fan Tong started screaming again. "Young master!!!" Simultaneously, two people rushed at them from within the car behind. They were Fan Tong''s bodyguards who had been commanded to watch to this moment. Nevertheless, running before him and seeing the amount of blood gushing out of his foot, they realized the gravity of the situation as both of them stared at Hu Yuexin with pure killing intent. Yet before they could even attack Hu Yuexin, Fan Tong ordered them to take him to a hospital asap, "You fucktards! Take me to the hospital! Now!!! Ahhhh!!!" With that, having received their orders and understanding Fan Tong was going to be in danger unless they took him to see a doctor quickly, they picked him up, placed him within one of the cars before scurrying away. While one of them drove the car at the back, the other drove the one at the front. And just like that, they soon disappeared from the scene. As they left and the lighting of the cars disappeared, total darkness fell upon the surroundings as Hu Yuexin remained on the side of the road with many injuries covering her body. The little kid had also long gone quiet and unmoving. "Sob¡­ sob, waah¡­ someone, a-anyone, pl-please¡­ help." She begged for help for a few minutes only to be met with no assistance whatsoever. She was currently in the middle of nowhere with no car passing the road. Moreover, she was almost on the verge of passing out due to the injuries and the horrible experience she had just gone through, but she knew she couldn''t pass out right now, or else her son''s fate would be truly tragic. If he was still alive that is. In the end, remembering her phone had also been within her bag, she slowly started searching all around herself within the starless pitch-black night. Soon, her hands grabbed something like a paper, but she understood it wasn''t her phone, so she continued her scout further until ultimately, she touched something which felt like her phone. Grasping it at once, she pressed a button as the dim light of its screen was turned on. However, what she saw next forced her to fall into despair. Because she realized the screen had been cracked very badly. And although it was emitting a white light, she could see nothing from it. This meant that she could neither call someone nor ask for any help. ''What do I do¡­ What to do¡­ how do I save my son¡­ no¡­ I need to do something-'' internally, she was going crazy as she was experiencing intense desperation. And it was then, as she was randomly pushing the touch screen of her phone in anguish and distress, she heard the sound of numbers being pressed. ''Ah¡­ although the screen is broken, it''s touch function is still working! I can call someone!!!'' With a ray of light shining upon her tragic night, she deliberated about the question of who to call. But then¡­ she realized she couldn''t recall anyone''s number. ''Damn it, who even memorizes someone''s number in this day and age.'' She pondered in gloom as more tears, blood, and snot covered her face. It was also at this exact moment when the dim light of her screen fell upon the piece of paper she had chanced upon before¡­ the contact information that man had given her!!! Once again filled with much hope, not realizing calling the cops or an ambulance would''ve been much easier, imagining the possible locations of the numbers on her broken screen, she gradually typed one number after another. Beep, beep, beep, beep¡­ Moments later, a familiar voice that felt like the sound of an angel right now was heard from the other side of the line, "Hello?" Not wasting any seconds, wailing loudly, she responded stutteringly while trembling nonstop, "P-please¡­ rescue my son. He''s¡­ I-I don''t even know if he''s still a-alive¡­ waaaah, my son, sob, pwease, s-save him... m-my poor babyyy-" Pronouncing those incoherent words with great difficulty while refusing to let go of her child, already way over her limits, dropping on the hard asphalt, she collapsed. 363 A Mother, A Hero 6 ''Hmm, where am I?'' As her eyelashes fluttered open, Hu Yuexin was faced with this question which was confusing her to no ends, above her, an unfamiliar white ceiling forcing her to be certain that she wasn''t in her own wrecked and small rented cottage at the moment. ''Why am I waking up here and not on my bed?'' She questioned again while doubting the entire situation. It wasn''t until she looked around and her eyes fell upon the familiar face of the otherworldly beguiling man when waves of memories invaded her brain as a realization hit her! A realization that was full of horrific memories of her child passing out in her embrace while she desperately tried defending her son and herself from the abuses of that ruthless animal and eventually stabbing him and calling the charming man before her. "M-my baby! Wh-where''s my baby?" She vocalized gathering every bit of strength she had all over her body. She was trying to scream that question. But unfortunately, due to her being too weak, it wasn''t near the level of being counted as a scream. "Calm down, your son''s fine for now. He''s already being treated under the most premium level of this hospital." Softly grabbing her exquisite yet bruised hand which was currently ice-cold due to the external liquid that had entered her body from the IV drips, Virus reported. Hearing his reassurance, Hu Yuexin seemed to calm down by a lot as she threw another inquiry at him, "How''s his condition? Is it dangerous? He''ll live right?" Chuckling at her anxious expression, Virus said, "Don''t worry. He''s really fine for now. Fortunately, he''s a strong kid." Relieved by the news, taking on her most sincere tone, she didn''t forget to thank him, "Thank you for saving my son. Really. I owe you the world." Taking an overall glimpse of her bruised body and face, Virus phrased, "Sure, now, enough about your son, how are ''you'' feeling? What happened to you? Why were you in the middle of nowhere with your son alone?" Hearing the inquiry, turning toward the ceiling, Hu Yuexin turned quiet for a few seconds before her face paled abruptly. Soon, tears began to drip from the corners of her eyes as she uttered in both despair and grief, "H-he¡­ he took the Red-Crystal¡­ sob... and then¡­ h-he¡­ he tried taking me somewhere to¡­ rape me. Sob, he took the only thing that could''ve helped my son. My, sob, poor child¡­" "Who?! Tell me his name." And came the anticipated response, "F-Fan Tong." "I see." Simultaneously, in another ward inside the same hospital, a fly was buzzing above Fan Tong''s bed. Now what made this housefly worth mentioning was its particular eyes which were exuding immeasurable intelligence. Obviously, that intelligence belonged to no one else other than Virus. Anyhow, after examining Fan Tong''s stabbed leg, looking at the wounded beauty in front of him, Virus thought, ''We have a bewitching savage here.'' Next, shaking his head at the amusing sight, he didn''t bother himself with Fan Tong for now. Meanwhile, after going through her initial state of fear regarding the entire situation, the Chinese beauty''s eyes began to be filled with resentment, and a couple of seconds later, gnashing her teeth in deep hatred, she murmured, "I''m gonna kill him." "Woah, calm down, little beast. You''re too weak to do anything about this injustice done to you or your son right now. You''ll just be sending yourself to your death if you try anything funny." Looking at that light of darkness flickering within her pupils, Virus knew she was dead serious. She was going to murder him in case she ever had the chance to. If this injustice was done to her alone, she would''ve been too horrified to act, but now that someone had hurt her child, she had lost all reason. But gazing into those eyes filled with hatred and wrath, strangely, Virus seemed satisfied with her reaction. As if this was what he had been desiring to see from her. ''Those eyes of hers¡­ interesting. Fan Tong, you''ve just sparkled the resentment of a woman. Oh¡­ no, let me rephrase that¡­ the resentment of a mother!'' At the same time, he proclaimed outwardly, "Just calm down and think rationally, I mean¡­ if you die, who''s going to take care of your son?" Just as expected, Hu Yuexin started calming down at the mere mention of her one and only son. She couldn''t imagine leaving her son alone in this cruel world. Afterward, feeling extremely powerless and weak, turning toward Virus with her wet eyes, she queried, "What do I do then?" She was feeling so wronged for her child that she was having a hard time breathing. "Do you want my help?" Mouthed Virus, looking forward to her answer, "Since you literally agreed to be a slave to my every wish, you just need to utter the words and I''ll handle the problem at the snap of my fingers," raising his fingers, he added further, "I mean¡­ I''m really protective of my possessions, you know? Slaves included in the list." "Who''s your slave!" Yelled the Chinese beauty speechlessly, "I never said I''ll be your slave!" "Haha¡­ you did, you agreed to be whatever I want you to be¡­ meaning I just need to say¡­ be my slave, hihihihi¡­" At the end of his sentence, an eerie laugh reverberated within the ward, sending shivers down to the spine of anyone who was hearing it. Hu Yuexin too, got goosebumps at the mere sound of his creepy laugh, not knowing how to react anymore. And regarding his absurd claims, of course, she assumed he was just joking around. But¡­ was he? Noticing that his tease had been a great success as her mood had been uplifted somewhat, Virus decided to get serious and asked, "So, what do you say, do you need my help?" Hearing this question, turning rather solemn, she concluded, ''You''ve already helped me with the Red-Crystal, so how can I request your assistance again? I''m not that shameless. Everything''s my fault and I need to take care of my problems myself or die trying.'' ''If only I was an Abnormal myself¡­'' 364 A Silly Girl Nevertheless, shaking her head, she rejected his offer gratefully, "No. You''ve helped me a great deal by giving me the Red-Crystal already. And¡­ I can''t depend on you forever. So¡­ I''ll handle my issues myself from now on." Hearing this, while staring into her determined eyes, Virus remained silent for an entire minute with his thoughts unknown to everyone but himself. "W-what? Why are you looking at me that way?" Noticing his somewhat heated stare, Hu Yuexin could only feel awkward about the entire situation. And it was exactly at this point, when, standing up from his seat and bringing his face right above hers, he simply whispered, "You realize losing the Red-Crystal does not nullify our private contract, right? The deal is still in effect." A shade of red covering her cheeks from the closeness of their faces, the Chinese beauty was about to look away feeling shy. But before she could do that, grabbing her chin forcefully, Virus declared "seriously though, you''re mine. Don''t forget that." before engulfing her wounded cherry lips on his own. "Mmnh-" totally caught off-guard by his unexpected act of kissing like always, Hu Yuexin struggled trying to catch her breath. She was short of breath since her mouth was sealed entirely. This situation continued for some time when, at last, successfully pushing him away, she desperately inhaled oxygen while muttering, "Hee¡­haaa¡­ I-I know. I''m¡­ not that shameless. I''m a woman of my word." Tilting his head forward, Virus expressed his satisfaction, "Good girl." Recalling something else, he went on, "Oh, that makes me remember¡­ I saw that your son has leukemia cancer, moreover, it was written down that the disease likely passed on from his mother to him while giving birth. Is that true? You have leukemia?" "How do you know?! Who told you that?" Thunderstruck at the mention of him knowing about his son and his detailed condition, she could only question out loud. ''Well, since this hospital isn''t where your son''s been originally hospitalized in and since they were asking what''s wrong with your son, I had to hack into that other hospital''s database and read through some of his basic information.'' This notion flickered through his head, but of course, he didn''t admit that out loud. Instead, he manipulated the truth slightly and uttered, "I have my connections." And indeed, he had his connections. Direct connections to the entire planet. "I see¡­" Leaning inwardly, Hu Yuexin wasn''t surprised by his response. Rich people had their own special methods of getting their hands on the information they needed. Anyway, being reminded of her son''s disease forced a painful expression to show up on Hu Yuexin''s face. Meanwhile, noticing her downcast and disheartened behavior, knitting his furrow, he asked, "What is it? Are you dying too?" Displaying a bitter smile at this point, shaking her head, she started clarifying, "It''s not like that. I''ve never told this to anyone else¡­ but since you helped me a lot. I''ll tell you." Taking a deep breath at this point, she revealed, "Actually¡­ I''m not my child''s birth mother." "Huh? What do you mean? He looks so much like you, there''s no way he''s not-" Before he could finish, however, Hu Yuexin interrupted, "The reason there are so many similarities between our features is that¡­ he''s actually my sister''s child who died a few years ago. I''m his aunt." Not pausing at all, she went on, "After giving birth, the doctors realized my sister had leukemia¡­ even worse, she didn''t have much time to live." "Hmm, that''s so unfortunate. But why are you acting like his mother then? Are you not gonna tell him about his birth mother?" Befuddled by everything, Virus questioned. Letting out a helpless sigh to that, she replied while shaking her head, "I can''t. Because¡­ my sister''s last wish, her only request for me, was to raise him as his real mother. She didn''t want him to grow up without both of his parents. She wanted him to at least have his mother." By now, her eyes had long gone red due to heartache. "Oh¡­ so that''s what''s going on." To be truthful, this revelation had blown Virus'' mind away. This was totally unexpected for Virus. Unable to control herself at last, the Chinese beauty started shedding tears while confessing further, "B-but, sob, a few months after her death, I discovered her disease had passed on to my baby too. The doctors s-said¡­ the disease is most likely to have passed on at the time of his b-birth¡­ Boohoo¡­" While patting her head gently, he comforted, "I understand. You''ve had it really tough, haven''t you? Good job. Good job. You''ve been great at this." Finally being told these few simple words which she was dying to hear from anyone for a long time, no longer able to remain strong, throwing herself into his arms, she began wailing, "Ahhhh¡­" ... After she was done crying her eyes out, Virus decided to sit there for some time. Around an hour later, after a simple peck on her forehead, he left the hospital. Before leaving, he didn''t forget to notify her that the hospital will be transferring both of them to her son''s original hospital. Of course, while on his way outside, he casually paid every expense to the hospital. He, to some degree, had also hesitated on whether to deal with Fan Tong right there and then. However, recalling that resolve shimmering within Hu Yuexin''s eyes when she rejected his assistance, he in the end couldn''t bring himself to deal with that trash personally. On the contrary, he was now looking forward to what was going to happen later on with burning enthusiasm. In all fairness, after getting to know her and her complicated situation better, Virus was feeling slightly complex inside. Before, without any background checking, he assumed her to be a single mother who had probably screwed around with someone, leading her to be pregnant with a child. But now, after getting a rough picture of her unfortunate circumstances, he realized it was anything but that. "What a silly woman¡­ no, what a silly girl." He muttered while driving back to the hotel. 365 A Mountain That Cant Be Crossed? Returning to the hotel, taking a quick shower, Virus threw himself into the king-sized bed before sinking into a deep sleep. Today''s been a tiresome day for him. The next few days, other than keeping his internal energy concentrated on the twists inside his Pathways, he simply decided to relax and enjoy the city as he accompanied the two beauties by his side. The trio frequented a lot of restaurants trying many delicious dishes, beverages, wines, etc. With the girls'' nonstop insistence, they also visited several cultural heritage sites within or surrounding the city. And right now, they had just arrived above the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Currently, looking under his feet, Virus was watching the entire city right through the glass floor, and for some reason, it gave him the sensation of floating within the infinite skies while looking down on the entire world itself. Although he quite liked this sensation of being at the top, the apex, it kind of made him feel lonely too, which was quite sad and boring to him, to be honest. "Woah, the city''s right beneath us, I''m on top of the world!" Screamed the golden beauty in utter joy, drawing the attention of a few tourists around. She was absolutely delighted by the amazing sight beneath her. "It''s like I''m flying among the clouds!!!" By now, her eyes were shimmering with great enthusiasm. Standing here above the glass floor, she felt like nothing could hold her back anymore. She felt free. Meanwhile, watching Virus somewhat arrogant yet lonely figure, and the golden beauty''s unfettered expressions, Amara could only feel speechless in return, ''What''s with these two? Err¡­ why am I not getting any extreme feelings like them?'' "Aizen, do you like it here? Are you happy?" Finally unable to contain herself, Amara inquired. To this question, Virus simply remained silent for quite a while before giving his plain response, "I''m both happy and sad at the same time." This answer, in return, only forced Amara to curse him nonstop, ''Which one is it in the end! Are you happy or sad! You can''t be both, damn it. Just say I don''t wanna answer that if you don''t feel like it! Idiot Aizen!'' During these past few days, Virus had also seen Hu Yuexin serving him quite a few times at the hotel. However, for some reason, she seemed extremely occupied with something since she left every day right after finishing her shift. And when Virus had inquired about the reason behind this behavior of hers, she had replied with "I''m busy taking care of my baby these days since he seems to have gone through some kind of trauma after that day. He keeps worrying about me when I''m not around so I try to be there for him as much as I can." Due to that, other than giving her a peck on the cheek now and then, Virus didn''t bother her at all. He actually quite liked the fact that she was such a kind and responsible mother. Of course, that type of close action like a peck on the cheek was done only when neither the golden beauty nor Amara was around since he simply didn''t feel like being questioned about the entire situation. He just wanted to keep it something light or in other words¡­ casual. "How long are we gonna stay here, Aizen?" As they were enjoying the scenery around them, Amara queried all of a sudden. This question had been something she was holding back for the past two days. "Why do you ask? Are you in a hurry?" Turning toward her, Virus said. "Uh¡­ yeah, you know how I''m the branch manager of our New York branch corporation. So¡­ I can''t really stay any longer since I was ordered to return at once by my father. There seems to be something urgent going on at the company." Slightly disappointed herself by the urgency, Amara replied. If it was up to her, she wanted to stay by his side forever. But she had a company to look after. So, she couldn''t. "Hmm, if you had something urgent like that, you should''ve returned by yourself, Amara." He uttered these few words expressionlessly. But this made Amara slightly depressed and even sorrowful, because to her, this sentence of his made it seem like he didn''t care about her being present around him or not. Fortunately, what he stated next coerced her to feel a lot better, "Hmm¡­ but, you''re right, I''ve had enough fun here." Taking a pink diamond out of his pocket which he carried everywhere with himself like a lollipop, he added, "And I also have something I''m required to attend to. So¡­ we''ll return tonight. I can always come back after I''m done with my other stuff." Not pausing there at all, he declared further, "Bella and I will get off on my atoll first and then you can leave off to New York on my jet, how does that sound?" "Great!" Chuckling happily, Amara tilted her head in agreement. "Okay then." After returning to the hotel, while Amara and the golden beauty were packing up, Virus decided to utilize the little time he had before leaving Shanghai fully. Thus, sitting down on the couch, he once again concentrated all of his awareness on the countless motes of internal energy inside him. For the past one week or so, other than his time dedicated to sleeping, he had been trying to untwist his thirteenth disentanglement the entire time! However¡­ unfortunately, the only result he was faced with was¡­ failure. One hundred percent, absolutely, utter, failure! He called it an utter failure because since the moment he had begun, if the entire road of disentangling the thirteenth knot completely was considered one hundred percent, in this foregone one week or so, he had only treaded a single percent of the entire path! Truthfully, facing this outcome frustrated Virus to no ends since he understood if things continued to progress this way, disentangling the thirteenth knot was going to take years! And that was just talking about the thirteenth knot alone! And if you consider the incoming 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th knots, the Energy Disentanglement stage was going to take decades at least before he was finished, and that was assuming the next knots was not going to get any harder to untwine! 366 Goodbye 1 To Virus, this was a real nightmare indeed! It was a real nightmare because no matter how hard he deliberated trying to come up with a possible solution, in the end, no results revealed itself before him. He was truly lost. Even after including every single available pill, pellet, drug, serum, etc. which he could get his hands on according to his database, there was absolutely nothing that could assist him this time. Virus was truly in a pickle. With that being said, the only option, the only path he could partake now was to persist through with no alternatives whatsoever! And ''that'' made it a nightmare! ''Is my cultivation going to remain this weak for many years to come? Is there really nothing else I can do? Fuck¡­'' Knock~ Knock~ With his brows knitted together, he was just about to begin the process of thinking even outside the box, when the knocking on the door interrupted him at once. "Aizen, it''s night time and we''re ready to leave!" Immediately, Amara''s barely hearable statement forced Virus out of his long contemplation. Opening his eyes, Virus gazed outside his window at the dark night, ''Time sure flies. Especially when you''re cultivating.'' He had been so lost while concentrating the small particles of energy on his thirteenth knot that he assumed an hour had passed at most. No matter, understanding it was time to move, standing up, he began walking toward the entrance of his presidential suite for one last time. Of course, he also didn''t forget to leave half of his awareness on the concentrated motes of energy inside him since he didn''t want the particles of internal energy to dissipate allover his Pathways. "Have you two packed already?" He probed while taking pleasure at the mere sight of the two dressed up luscious beauties standing in front of his door. These clothes were specially selected from the mountain of clothes the two had bought during their stay time in Shanghai. "Yes, let''s go." Mouthed Amara with a cute twirl, smiling rather plainly. "Okay." Nodding in agreement, Virus directly closed the door behind himself since his stuff was already put in a suitcase by the golden beauty herself. Sometime after that, Virus, Amara, and the golden beauty reached the lobby. "Okay, I''ll settle the bills, you two stay here for a second." Declaring this, Amara left for the reception quickly. Virus too, recalling something he had to do before leaving, turned toward the golden beauty and phrased, "Lil Belle, you and Amara wait for me inside the car, I''ll be back right away." Having said that, he disappeared in a random direction. ¡­ Currently, while on her way to serve one of the specified rooms, the Chinese beauty was pushing the food cart forward. She was still working at the hotel tonight because this day was that time of the week where she had to stay for her night shift. ''Maybe I need to notify the hotel and tell them I really can''t take night shifts for a while anymore.'' Just as this notion was passing through her head, out of nowhere, two hands blocked her eyes, barring her from seeing anything. "Ah-" She jumped with a yelp, frightened out of her wits. Despite the fact she hated to admit it, she had been extremely jumpy and anxious even at the faintest of noises these days. She had been acting this way ever since going through that night. Anyway, seeing her startled just like a frightened cat, retracting both his hands at once, he decided to stop joking around. As her eyesight was clear now, Hu Yuexin instantly recognized the culprit, "Y-you idiot! T-that really scared me! D-don''t ever do that again!" Some traces of tears had already gathered in her eyes too. Seeing this intense reaction from her, Virus could only exclaim apologetically while grabbing her shoulders gently, "Woah! It''s me, Aizen. Why were you startled like that, I just wanted to surprise you. But didn''t expect you to be that triggered¡­" Rather worried about her at this point, Virus asked, "Seriously though, are you okay, Hu Yuexin?" "I-I''m okay¡­ why are you here anyway? If you need anything, you could''ve just called the room service." Pulling herself back together, she queried while evading making direct eye-contact with him. Looking into her dodging eyes nonetheless, Virus informed her while displaying a brilliant smile, "Um, actually, I''m here to say goodbye, I''m leaving." Hearing this unforeseen piece of news, Hu Yuexin''s eyes promptly went wide-open as she gaped at Virus silently. She was frozen still. To be honest, she was totally caught off-guard by the sudden news of him leaving. In fact, she was frozen still because she didn''t know how to react to this piece of news at all. Notwithstanding, beneath that irresponsive figure of hers, she was certain that she was experiencing a sense of loss. As if she was about to lose something very precious to her. Again. ''Put yourself back together, you stupid woman! It''s not like this relationship was ever going to work out!'' Just as this line of thought had flickered through her head, feeling ridiculous yet numb, she could only reprimand herself even further, ''heh, what relationship? There wasn''t even a relationship to begin with between the two of us. He was always destined to leave. Moreover, isn''t it better that he''s going to leave anyway¡­ since it means I might be free from that promise too?'' While it was true she was thinking that, on the contrary, the faint light within her eyes which fate had already hushed to a great extent previously subsided even further. 367 Goodbye 2 Returning to the topic, to this day, for Hu Yuexin, life had been anything but easy. At first, she had been a simple girl who didn''t know what loss even was. She was pure and happy, untainted by the brutal clutches of fate itself. Unfortunately, that happiness didn''t last for long as one day, pretty much the same as every other day, she received the tragic news of her parents'' car accident. And just like that, that normal day had transformed into her personal apocalypse, her worst nightmare. The nightmare of turning into an orphan. Still, being the strong-willed person she was, and more importantly, due to her older sister still being there for her, she felt a lot less lonely. She, at least, had someone else in this cruel world. Someone she could depend on and call ''family''. ''I''m not alone. My sister''s here.'' She thought to herself at the time. Yet, after that fateful day, even though she gradually snapped back to her initially cheerful state, to Hu Yuexin, the loss of parents always felt like a needle pricking at her heart, sending waves upon waves of tormenting pain at her very core. A type of pain that was never going to go away or vanish. Still, time at least made the bleeding more tolerable. And that fact became even more true when her sister became pregnant, thus forcing a big smile to take shape on Hu Yuexin''s otherwise forlorn face. The thought of having someone else in their small family made her feel content to no ends. She felt blessed once again. But unfortunately¡­that ray of bliss only persisted until she was faced with the miserable news of her sister being diagnosed with a fatal type of cancer. This, once again, shattered Hu Yuexin''s world into countless pieces. Her existence, at that point, felt broken even more so as she felt pent-up almost to the point of insanity with nowhere to release! "How can the world be so brutal to me? Why? What did I ever do wrong to deserve any of this? What did my sister do wrong to be punished like this?" She screamed in despair. Wailing nonstop at the unbearable pain seeping into her very soul itself. But as if that wasn''t enough, another tragedy soon fell upon her when her child was also diagnosed with the same type of cancer as her dear sister, may her soul rest in peace! After that, there were no longer any fancy feelings such as happiness or bliss in her life. She no longer hoped. She no longer dreamt. She no longer wanted to even live! However, watching her baby in excruciating pain, how could she? She had to stay strong for him! She had to make sure he received the best type of treatment so he would experience the least amount of pain and affliction! Thus, for her son''s sake alone, she began pulling her shattered bits and pieces together. Again. After that day, for him¡­ she worked overtime, she slept less, ate less, and no longer smiled. Not from the bottom of her heart anyway. From that day onwards, for Hu Yuexin, every chuckle was a mere smile thrown at the direction of her poor son with the sole purpose of trying to make him even slightly more cheerful and jovial. Hence, for years to come, Hu Yuexin remained floating in the middle of absolute darkness and despair¡­ At least, that was the case until, one day, a man showed up. A man who, just like a shining ray inside the absolute darkness itself, had placed a Red-Crystal in front of her, giving her hope once again. A kind of hope she was certain she shouldn''t have since she firmly believed, ''All hope is a false hope. So it''s better not to hope at all.'' This was a belief life had deeply engraved within her. Nevertheless, being the stupid person she was, Hu Yuexin hoped again as she accepted the Red-Crystal. She wasn''t simply sanguine because of the Red-Crystal per se, but rather at the notion of someone existing in her life, someone who was willing to ''give'' her the Red-Crystal, someone she could perhaps even rely on! Therefore, at that moment, she experienced the sensation of really having someone else in her life. Even if that existence was somewhat distorted and with possible ulterior motives, at the bottom of her heart, she still appreciated that existence, that reliance. But now¡­ out of nowhere, she had been notified even that tiny positive presence in her life was going to disappear just like that, at the snap of her fingers. And that was also why Hu Yuexin was having this mirage of being thrown into the absolute bottom of the deepest abyss as it all came crashing on her. "Hello? Hu Yuexin? Hu Yuexin!" Suddenly snapping back to reality by his intense shake, a chilly coldness replaced the momentary confusion and despair covering her eyes. Soon, looking directly into his eyes, she said in an expressionless yet piercing tone, "Oh, you''re leaving? Good luck¡­ and goodbye." Facing her freezing eyes, saying Virus wasn''t astounded at all would be an understatement. Since he was. He really was. This was Virus'' first time of catching a sight of that kind of gaze from her. Still, assuming it might be because she was sad due to him leaving, he vocalized, "I''ve some urgent stuff to deal with back at home, but don''t worry, I''ll return soon enough and come visit you sometimes. Okay?" Unfortunately, these comforting words of his still didn''t break the ice surrounding her eyes as she proclaimed as cold as ever, "It''s not like I''m worrying or anything. Return¡­ or not return¡­ it''s not really any of my goddamn business, no?" Not pausing there, she went on, "It''s not like I''m your girlfriend or anything, right? I''m at most just a simple slave to you, right?" By now, her eyes had turned really red as tiny veins of blood were barely visible within them, "S-so, there''s no need to say goodbye to this slave. Goodbye." Having finished with her words, turning around, she once again started pushing the cart forward. 368 Goodbye 3 Somewhat stunned by her questions which could even be called statements from her part really, for almost an entire minute, Virus simply watched her disappearing yet extremely fragile back silently. Indeed, she had no intention of stopping or looking back at all. At any rate, just as her silhouette was about to blink out of his sight, Virus ran. He charged at her with his fastest speed, therefore appearing behind her almost instantaneously. Then grabbing her quivering weak body, he turned her around, only to be faced with her tearful face. Witnessing those loads of tears covering her beautiful eyes, not opening his mouth at all, Virus embraced her. He hugged her right amidst his strong arms. Subsequently, he began whispering into her ears softly, "Listen here, you silly girl. I said I''m not leaving for good¡­ which means I''m really not leaving for good! I''ll return in a while. That''s a promise." "Also, you''re not my slave. But be it a slave, a girlfriend, a mistress, or even nothing at all, none of that really matters. What''s important here is that you''re mine. That seals the deal already. You need that to understand that because I''m not gonna leave you alone." Her last line of defense finally broken by his ending sentence which smashed directly into her weakness, unable to withstand all those feelings pent up inside her since forever, Hu Yuexin started crying her heart out, "Waaaaah¡­" After that, she wept for a few minutes straight before, at last, showing some signs of calming down and stopping. Alternatively, promptly noticing this change in her, separating himself from her trembling figure, after taking a short glance of her still wet eyes, opening his mouth no more, he simply sealed them on hers. Simultaneously, secretly taking a futuristic-looking syringe out of his pocket, he directly pushed it at the back of her neck, right into her spinal cord. But he didn''t activate it for now. On the other hand, receiving this passionate kiss of his, Hu Yuexin could feel herself melting at the intense sensation of this man called Aizen, and that only made her even more unwilling to depart before a single drop of tear fell from the corner of her eye. ¡­ After Virus was finished taking his time saying goodbye to her, he walked out of the hotel before entering the luxurious limousine that was going to escort them to the airport. "You''re back! Are you done with your unfinished business?" Exclaimed the golden beauty jovially. "Yep, I''m done taking a dump." Wearing an amused expression, Virus joked. "Ew! Mast-ai! You didn''t need to report that!" Proclaimed the golden beauty while taking on a disgusted expression that only seemed cute to Virus or even Amara for that matter. "Haha, how''s your training progressing anyway? Were you able to spark your awareness of the motes of internal energy inside you?" Questioned Virus in such a volume so Amara wouldn''t be able to hear. "Umm¡­ not yet, that makes me think¡­ maybe I''m doing something wrong." Turning somewhat crestfallen, the golden beauty reported. "Haha¡­ don''t worry, it takes time. Just be patient." He reassured her casually. Afterward, the trio went silent as only the sound of the radio reverberated within the car. "So, the next song was requested by a girl who''s suspecting his boyfriend to be cheating on her. The song''s called ''Betrayal'' by Zhou Chuan Xiao. We''ll be playing the song shortly after hearing what the girlfriend has to say to his boyfriend." Announced the female host with a chuckle. "Hello? Can you hear me?" A young feminine voice queried doubtfully. "Yes, everyone can hear you, young lady, please relay your message." Confirmed the host kindly. "Ah, okay¡­" going quiet momentarily, the girl began talking, "Ye Yimu, you bastard! I''m gonna kill you, you hear me? You dare cheat on me?! I''m so fucking gonna-" her connection was suddenly cut off at this point in time as the host started to talk with a bitter laugh, "Haha¡­ our call was disconnected due to some complications. Student Ye Yimu, please be careful of your girlfriend¡­ haha¡­ now, let''s move on to the song." Listening up to now, Virus felt tickled by the girl at the absurdity of the entire situation. Soon, the requested song was on the play. "All these years I presumptuously gave my everything" "Always assuming it''ll exchange for a fair response" "The curled strand of hair by your bedside cruelly spelled out" "That a lingering love can never match up to a moment of happiness" "Your affections have betrayed my love; and sacrificed my life" "I sold an entire world but receive ashes in return" "Your cruelty has betrayed all love; a beautiful dream awakes suddenly" "Feelings-" The song was abruptly put to a sudden stop as the host started to make an urgent announcement. "We deeply apologize to our listeners, but there''s been a major incident going on in Shanghai which all television and radio channels are required to broadcast and warn!" Exclaimed the host in an anxious tone before proceeding, "We''ve just received the news of a Rift breakdown in Shanghai exactly in XXX street around XXX Hotel. We kindly request all our listeners around that neighborhood to evacuate the area immediately." "The government''s making this emergency announcement because, according to the data we''ve received, it seems the creature or creatures that had been discharged from that specific rift has proven to be far stronger than anticipated." "I repeat, please evacuate the area at once! Apparently, the Guardians dispatched to the relevant rift had been already killed by the creatures. Therefore, it''s extremely dangerous to be there as it''s left with no protection whatsoever." "We''ve just received further details regarding the incident! The report says that the rampant monster or monsters are wreaking havoc everywhere! They''re even tearing down buildings! Please heed our warning and leave the area until the newly dispatched emergency Guardians and military reaches the site." Alarmed by the emergency broadcast, turning in Virus'' direction, the golden beauty queried while furrowing her brows, "Eh, wasn''t that hotel the one we were staying at? It seems the rift we witnessed in that neighborhood had opened up. Hope everyone''s fine there." By now, Virus'' expression had turned slightly dark as a single notion was going through his head, ''Hu Yuexin''s still working in the hotel.'' ''Should I return or¡­?'' 369 Goodbye 4 ''Sigh¡­'' shaking his head, the possible consequences of him not going back became transparent to Virus immediately, ''there is a high chance of her death as one of the casualties. Although she might get lucky and live, the possibility of that is just too slim.'' ''I told her she''s mine; that I won''t leave her alone. So even if it''s just to keep that promise, I should go back, right?'' Having finally reached a conclusion, determined, he ordered the driver with no hesitation whatsoever, "Turn the car around, we''re returning to the hotel at once." Hearing this declaration, the driver''s face went pale, "B-but, s-sir¡­ it''s too dangerous, there''s no way I''ll go to that messed up place. I''m sorry, but I won''t-" Before the driver could finish his rejection, however, a futuristic-looking handgun was placed at the temple of his head before he heard a chilly order, "I said return¡­ or die. Your choice." "Y-y-yes, sir!" Scared out of his wits, heeding the order, the driver promptly made a U-turn. Even Amara was surprised to hear about Virus'' wish of wanting to go back. She was even more thunderstruck at the sight of the gun inside his grasp, ''Eh, where did the gun come from? Did he always carry that around with himself? Why didn''t I notice it before?'' Nonetheless, putting her sense of astonishment aside, Amara advised, "Aizen, I-I think it''s better if we don''t go there¡­ I mean, why do you even want to return? There''s nothing for you to-" Once again, interrupting the other side, Virus exclaimed rather emotionlessly, "You can get off the car if you don''t want to come. It''s your decision." Honestly, Amara didn''t get why he wanted to go back to such a dangerous place. Of course, that was the case since she had no idea regarding the events that had taken place between Virus and the Chinese beauty. Notwithstanding, after that, Amara also turned quiet. Even though she was afraid, she didn''t want to leave him alone in the middle of such a battlefield. Since there was no one else to try to stop Virus anymore, under the direct command of Virus himself, the driver pushed the gas pedal to its very end as the limousine sped in the direction of the hotel in trouble. ¡­ Five minutes later, Amara and the golden beauty were staring at the horrifying scene at the far distance with their eyes wide open. "Wh-what is that thing¡­?!" Shrieked Amara while gaping at the creature at distance. She was certain that she had never seen such a petrifying monster in her entire life. "I-I don''t know. That thing''s really huge!" The golden beauty also had the same opinion as Amara. At the same time, while staring at the giant tentacle monster far away, Virus mumbled a few words in all seriousness, "An infant Plant Kraken." Barely catching this shocking revelation of his, a shiver went down the golden beauty''s spine as she wondered in disbelief, ''That monster which is around fifteen to twenty meters only in height is an infant? What would the mature one look like then?'' Currently, the so-called infant Plant Kraken had already covered a rather tall building under its long overarching tentacles as it seemed to be pressuring the building beneath itself to come down from all sides. Crack~ Boom~ Soon afterward, under the fearful gazes of Amara and everyone else watching from every direction, the tentacles successfully forced the above portion of the building to crumble apart as it all came crashing down on the sections below. Therefore, the entire building which could even be called a small skyscraper caved in and fell into numerous pieces. The building was down. "O-oh my God! That building''s destroyed! It ruined the entire thing so easily!!! Th-that monster¡­ who can even kill that thing?!" With her face already very pale, Amara stuttered. Although she didn''t have an in-depth knowledge regarding the rifts, she still watched the television from time to time and thus, she at least had a rough knowledge about the current strongest creatures that popped out of the rift now and then. However, no matter how hard she deliberated on that topic, she couldn''t recall having ever witnessed any other creature as powerful and strong as this one anywhere! Not talking about its enormous physique, the mere fact of how effortlessly the creature was demolishing various buildings with no injury whatsoever was already way above the scope of her imagination. Meanwhile, after bringing down it''s sixth building, the Plant Kraken quickly moved above another nearly medium-sized skyscraper. "Ah, that''s our hotel!" Screamed the golden beauty while trembling at the sight of the tentacle monster targeting the place they had just left. Even the mere notion of envisioning what could''ve possibly happened to them in case they hadn''t left the place made her very apprehensive and uneasy of the entire situation. Beside them within the car, noticing the gigantic plant life''s next target, Virus expression seemed to turn a lot darker as he abruptly pushed the door of the moving car open! "Ah¡­ Aizen! Wh-what¡­ what are you doing? Please don''t leave! You''ll die!!!" Shouted Amara helplessly. Even though she wasn''t sure, she had the hair-raising feeling that Virus was about to go and fight the apocalyptic monster head-on. She couldn''t even imagine his tragic fate if he indeed did try to do that. Although she was aware that Aizen was rather strong after having witnessed him easily killing a Guardian, she still didn''t believe Virus was capable enough to go against such a sinister monster! In fact, she had a hard time believing that anyone in the entire world would be able to fight that thing alone. It simply sounded nigh impossible, ''Maybe¡­ maybe there''ll be some hope if several strong guardians partied up¡­ I-I hope.'' Still, even if it was just to calm Virus down, she added, "Let''s just leave, okay? The dispatched Guardians will arrive soon. I''m sure they''ll be able to easily deal with the disgusting monster themselves!" 370 Goodbye 5 Nevertheless, ignoring her completely, Virus turned toward the golden beauty before voicing coldly, "You guys wait for me in the car. But don''t come any closer, do you understand?" He also didn''t forget to take out and wear the brown cape hoodie which the golden beauty had bought for him previously. There was no way Virus was going to wait for the Guardians to arrive because Hu Yuexin was most likely going to be dead by then. Even if some Guardians did indeed come sooner, who was to say they''d be capable enough to defeat the monster? At least Virus wasn''t willing to risk it. "Please¡­ please allow me to follow you, Mas¡­" Phrased the golden beauty wearing an anxious face. To her, it didn''t matter if she lived or died, what mattered was to accompany her master in everything he went through, both life and death. Hearing those words of hers, a deep frown took shape on Virus'' forehead. Then, since he was in a rush, not caring about Amara being present there at all, he declared, "I''m ordering you as your master, no matter what happens to me, even if I am to die next, you are not permitted to put yourself in danger. You''re not allowed to come any closer." Then no longer paying anyone any further attention, he exited the limousine before vanishing into the dark shadows of the night. "Aizen!" Screamed Amara, unable to take her eyes off of his disappearing silhouette; she was feeling extremely fearful for him as she just didn''t understand why he would insist on going there that much! Unfortunately, Virus'' figure was no longer visible to her. He was already on his way of storming toward the monster with the quickest speed his body could muster. ¡­ After coming off the car, gathering every ounce of strength he possessed, Virus was currently charging in the direction of the hotel warily. By now, this part of the city had long transformed into an apocalyptic ruin as if a devastating earthquake had just descended upon this segment of the city alone. Almost all around the tentacle creature was covered in dilapidated remains of various buildings as it sat above the hotel''s building leisurely while looking down at the entire metropolis itself. It was about to squeeze the hotel into smithereens next. And observing those strong and green tentacles of the Plant Kraken, Virus knew, although he was extremely fast right now, he wasn''t going to make it. No, he wasn''t even close to making it! Therefore, wanting to possess even more speed, he directly commanded his pitch-black ring on his finger. ''Trigger Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument.'' Promptly, pitch-black scales covered both his arms and legs while the space between the scales was glowing blue all over. Boom! Now, some cracks were left behind on the asphalt as Virus'' speed increased even further. ''I can''t let others see my true face.'' Even though he was in an absolute rush, his mind was still as clear as ever while he didn''t forget to consider the various impacts of him fighting in front of perhaps many eyes watching. That was also why he didn''t forget to wear his cape hoodie inside the limousine. But understanding that wasn''t enough, he directly connected to his special ring once again. ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Mask,'' it was also followed by another line of command, ''Simple design.'' Following that, his entire face was immediately covered by a brown mask which automatically adjusted its own color to that of his cape hoodie. Amazingly, however, even his eyes couldn''t be seen through the mask as the eye-hole parts were now shining in an intense icy blue light just like that of his scales. Even the empty lines that were left behind on the location of his mouth and nose were glimmering blue. ''Alright, the problem of my identity is solved now.'' He judged casually. ROAR! Suddenly, the deafening cry of the Plant Kraken reverberated around the area as many fissures and ruptures started to appear on the body of the hotel construction itself. It was about to be squashed into devastation! Realizing this, beneath the mask, Virus'' eyes went wide open as he deduced instantaneously, ''It''s about to make its move! My speed''s still not enough¡­'' ''I need more speed!'' Leading all of his internal energy into his pathways covering his legs, Virus'' speed increased by almost another level! At this point, Virus had already broken through all of his previous speed records. This was perhaps the current absolute limit of his speed. Still, although he was using his internal energy too now, he wasn''t going to utilize any type of Mortal-class movement technique whatsoever since his own control over his feet and body was better than any type of mortal-class movement technique which was only helpful in granting the user of the said technique a better control over their legs at this rank. And talking about the utilization of an even higher-ranked technique such as the Human-class, at his current stage ¨C Energy Disentanglement ¨C even Virus was incapable of doing it. That''s because, above the Mortal-class, the Human-class techniques required the practitioner to be able to release the energy inside their body outwardly, which was impossible for Virus before breaking through to the next stage of cultivation. Notwithstanding, time elapsed as Virus got closer and closer to the hotel structure by every passing second. Crack~ PANG~ Unfortunately, as if fate itself was laughing at his inadequacy ¨C telling him his speed still wasn''t good enough ¨C just as he was around a single block away from the hotel, the above segment of the construction came crashing down on the entire building itself while intense quakes were felt all around the district. "¡­" Due to that, abruptly stopping in his tracks while watching the collapsing building, Virus didn''t scream nor yell, he didn''t even show any type of exaggerated reaction, no¡­ all he did was to silently stare at the entire construct falling down into its own destruction. 371 Goodbye 6 Soon, all that was left of the once magnificent hotel that had just been razed to the ground was its pathetic remains. And taking a glimpse of the entire show, Virus'' expression had long gone extremely dark. She was gone now. That was the only notion that kept passing through Virus'' head. Repeating itself over and over again. And that notion itself was followed by the lucid memories of Hu Yuexin herself. Their first meeting at the entrance of the hotel itself¡­ Their first kiss¡­ The time he went running into the middle of nowhere in order to save her¡­ The time she had narrated the tragic story of her life and her son¡­ The time she cried her heart out after hearing he was leaving¡­ Everything simply flashed in front of Virus'' eyes as he experienced this strange feeling of loss; a type of feeling he didn''t think he would experience over the loss of Hu Yuexin. But he was. And that pained him. ______________ MINUTES BEFORE After watching Virus leave, the Chinese beauty was now once again serving different rooms of the hotel. However, all that was occupying her mind was Virus himself. ''He must be close to the airport already, right?'' She pondered to herself while wearing a blank expression. ''Will he really come back? Or did he say those words just to comfort me?'' Different lines were going through her head when abruptly, the ground started to quake and shake. Rumble~ "Ahh, what''s going on?!" Shrieked the guest Hu Yuexin was serving at the moment. Both of them were terrified. "I-I think¡­ it''s an earthquake! Let''s leave to the lobby quickly!" Said Hu Yuexin out loud, her own face long gone pale by now. ... Soon, just as they were about to reach the lobby, a terrifying howl was heard. ROOAR~ This instantly sent intense shivers down to Hu Yuexin''s spine. She was greatly confused while not understanding what exactly was happening. Notwithstanding, finally arriving at the lobby, she rushed at the already gathered crowd before asking the receptionist who she was familiar with, "Lian Tai, what''s going on? Why doesn''t the quivers stop?" "H-Hu Yuexin! A g-gigantic monster is wreaking havoc everywhere outside! We need to remain inside the building until the Guardians deal with it!" Trembling all over, the receptionist replied before also adding, "They say the monster''s already destroyed a few buildings! Damn it!" PANG~ Rumble~ "Ahhhhh¡­" It was at this time when another round of intense shaking was felt by everyone as various people started screaming in fear. "I-I think another establishment had been just brought down to the ground¡­ damn it! Hope it doesn''t come our way." Stated the receptionist who Hu Yuexin had just addressed as Lian Tai. "W-we need to take cover somewhere¡­ just in case!" Understanding the gravity of the situation, Hu Yuexin anxiously started looking everywhere trying to find some kind of shelter that would possibly protect her in case something fell on her. ''I can''t die here! No matter what¡­ I can''t die yet¡­ my son¡­ there''s my son! I need to protect my son at all costs!'' As this notion was screaming within her, she searched all around herself warily. She was indeed extremely disturbed by everything happening around her. Some time passed when finally, the Chinese beauty found a rather decent shield to take cover underneath. Therefore, showing no hesitation whatsoever, she hid there. At least now, she was feeling slightly more secure. And it was exactly at this moment when another howl was heard before their building started to experience the most fierce earthquake until now. This time, it was as if the building itself was quivering all over. And indeed, outside, the highest section of the hotel construction was destroyed as the building came crashing down. "Ahhhh¡­" meanwhile, Hu Yuexin was screaming nonstop as she felt her entire life flashing before her. PANG~ Soon, nearly everyone was squashed to death beneath the debris. Even Hu Yuexin''s temporary shelter cracked into several pieces as the weight came pressing on Hu Yuexin herself! ¡­ Now, the entire building had been leveled. Meanwhile, beneath the debris, covered in dust and full of injuries, Hu Yuexin was taking her final breaths. She no longer felt her own body. She was quite certain she wasn''t going to live this time. ''M-my¡­ son¡­'' even her thoughts were somewhat broken at this point, ''I¡­ can''t¡­ leave¡­ my son. I¡­ haven''t even seen that man¡­ return yet¡­ but why¡­ why do I¡­ need to die?'' ''Why is it that¡­ every tragedy falls upon¡­ me? Why kind of¡­ unforgivable sin¡­ did I commit for me to¡­ go through everything I did?'' ''W-will¡­ will I see my son¡­ again? Will I see that man agai-'' her last line of deliberation was cut off at this point as she drew her final breath of despair before her body powerlessly fell on the wreaked rubble as her consciousness retreated into oblivion, never to be lit again. Forever. Hu Yuexin¡­ was gone. ¡­ Meanwhile, outside, Virus continued to gaze at the remains of the hotel in all quietness. Slowly, he started to feel something missing inside himself. As if he had just become¡­ less. This sensation at first annoyed him. And before soon, it started to frustrate him somewhat. Then with frustration came anger as it ended in¡­ rage. Pure¡­ Rage. Something that belonged to him alone had just been taken away; never to be returned again! This was Virus'' first time in his new life that he had lost something permanently. And that was starting to blind him in endless wrath of insanity. Despite everything, however, none of that rage or maddening wrath of his was exhibiting itself on his expression at all. The only change his rage caused on his face were those freezing eyes of his which were emitting an extremely piercing glint inside them. The coldness and the sharpness exuding from those eyes of his were so extreme that anyone who took a momentary glimpse of them would instantly get the illusion of straightly gazing into the deepest abyss of the frozen hell itself! Simultaneously, accompanied by those deadly eyes of his, an invisible yet blood-curdling murderous intent began to be emitted and released from all over his being! 372 Not In The Mood This was some of the accumulated killing intent that had formed and come into existence as a result of countless kills¡ªdirectly or indirectly¡ªVirus had committed throughout both his lives! And feeling this psychotic killing intent directed at itself, even though the infant Kraken was an entire block away, a shiver went down its whole plant figure as it froze in its current spot into an unmoving state. At this time, the creature was feeling as if it was being targeted and stared at by the most horrifying predator it had ever come across. It knew something extremely horrifying was gazing upon itself as it had this illusion that it was going to be minced into countless pieces even at the slightest of movement. And that was why it was frozen still. Meanwhile, desiring to annihilate the Plant Kraken as quickly and brutal as possible, Virus''s body shot in the direction of the beast as a fissure was left on the ground! Soon, Virus was already in front of the monster as he jumped high into the sky. The next moment, his body was already at the same height as the head of the Kraken as he sent the heaviest punch he could muster right at its head, "Die." Bam~ Promptly, one section of the creature''s head was blasted as if it had just been hit by a grenade. With his scale-covered fist having successfully connected to its intended target, Virus was just about to decide his next course of the attack, when, to his surprise, four gigantic plant tentacles were thrown in his direction. And of course, while still floating in the air, Virus immediately began calculating the best course of action he could take in order to dodge or counterattack the approaching tentacles. However, what he faced next could only somewhat astonish him in return. He was astounded because he realized the speed of the incoming tentacles was even faster than his fastest speed and that no matter how hard he tried to dodge them, he still wouldn''t be able to leave the enormous and overarching attack perimeter of the tentacles as they were simply too big and too many to evade by basic limited movements of various parts of the body. This meant that although his mind was fast enough to come up with possible solutions to avoid the attacks, his body just could not keep up with that kind of speed. Therefore, all Virus could do now was to watch the approaching tentacle exposedly. Bang~ And just like that, Virus''s figure was slapped a dozen meters away into a random building, creating a crevice on the wall of the building as a result of the hard impact. Meanwhile, to everyone else who was still alive to watch the creature in horror, the whole chain of Virus jumping and attacking the monster, and then the infant Plant Kraken''s counterattack had merely taken around a single second or two! It didn''t take long before Virus''s physique which was now covered in dust and carried some light surface injuries walked out of the crevice created on the wall of the said building. And staring at the monster in distance, Virus noticed that the spot he had just punched in its head area seemed to have healed and grown out perfectly once again. It seemed the Plant Kraken had a rather strong regrowing ability. ''If I had to compare its strength to that of a human''s, I would say it''s as powerful as someone in the fifth level of the Liberation stage.'' Concluded Virus while casually dusting off some of the dirt from his clothes. To be more precise regarding the power-ranking of various people and beings, Virus was aware that those in the 1st Level of the Liberation stage were as strong as when he himself utilizes his [Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument] alone. The humanoid bunnies of the rift which he had fought against before were at this level. Even Hartas and Hadelia of the Burning Sparrow clan who were perhaps the strongest cultivators he had fought against in the Martial contest were at this level of power as the two had just entered the Liberation stage, aka Qi Circulation stage, at the time. While those in the first level of the Liberation stage were that powerful, the cultivators in the 2nd level of Liberation could be considered comparable in strength to his current perfectly tempered body alone which had achieved the True 6th Level: Ethereal Metamorphosis. In this regard, Virus judged that the two Horned-Pigs that he had gone against in the past were also at this level of power; the 2nd level of Liberation. And then comes the Flying-Pig which was even mightier than the two Horned-Pigs. Virus appraised the Flying-Pig to be equivalent in ability to that of a cultivator at the 3rd level of the Liberation stage. Virus was able to go against and defeat the Flying-Pig while utilizing both his tempered body and [Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument] together; meaning, he was at least as strong as someone in the 3rd level of Liberation while utilizing both of his perks. Then there''s the 4th level of Liberation Stage which Virus believed he would be somewhat able to go toe to toe with and most likely defeat while making use of all three of his perks; his ring, his internal energy, and his tempered body. Unfortunately, Virus had never gone against any creature who might be similar to cultivators at the 4th level of Liberation in their sheer competence. Instead, what he was against right now was the infant Plant Kraken before him which had directly skipped the 4th level and had the strength-level of someone at the 5th level of Liberation. And this fact alone was slightly irritating and even bugging Virus at the moment. Frankly, Virus wasn''t in the mood to engage in any fight whatsoever, he just wanted to gut the insides of the creature, shower in its green blood, and taste his sweet revenge while trying to control his currently gushing fury which didn''t seem to have an end to it. However, since it was stronger than expected, doing that was proving to be harder than anticipated. 373 The Darkest Night, The Shining Moon Just as Virus'' comparably slow body was about to take his next course of action into play, without any warnings whatsoever, the Plant Kraken went in motion as it appeared in front of Virus the very next moment before one of its tentacles smashed right at him. Bang~ Unfortunately, the tentacle monster didn''t seem to have any intentions of wanting to stop or give up at this point as the previous tentacle-attack was followed by many others. Bang! Bang! Bang!... After a few assaults, finally stopping, the green Kraken''s eyes attentively stared into the small crater that had appeared in the middle of the city, wanting to see the results of its actions. And then, gazing into the scene filled with dust, the creature was faced with a man, meters inside the cavity on the ground, still standing with his scale-engulfed hands raised above his head, covering and shielding his head against the continuous battering of the tentacles of his enemy. With his freezing eyes as determined as ever, Virus was glaring into the monster''s green eyes. Never once, during the entire process did he take his eyes off of the monster. Truthfully, the tentacle monster was stunned seeing him standing-still even after it had trampled on him like that. Although it saw some bleedings in various parts of Virus'' body, relying on its instincts, it was quite confident that those were only shallow wounds and injuries. They were not going to be fatal at all. Of course, the creature still wasn''t just going to stop and wait for Virus to make his move. Thus, one of its tentacles shot in Virus'' direction, and shortly after, that tentacle wrapped itself around him. Then, with the intention of wanting to examine Virus from a close distance while squashing his body into mincemeat, it brought his physique high-up right in front of its huge eyes. SQUISH~ After that, the tentacle began squishing and wrapping itself around his figure harder and harder to the point that even Virus was starting to feel some pressure on his extremely firm bones and skeleton. Meanwhile, getting a feel of its prey inside its grasp, the green Kraken knew that its adversary was close to his possible limits. He was going to shatter and break apart very soon. And that made the creature even more excited as it squashed the ant within his grasp even further. ¡­ Soon, the monster was just about to finally break a few of Virus'' hard and solid bones¡­ RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TATAT~ Grrrrrr~ When abruptly, a section of the tentacle that was clenching Virus'' firm physique exploded into several gory pieces of green meat before a massive amount of blood also sprayed all around him. Now, even though Virus was covered in green blood from head to toe, he was at least free. _______________ Dozen seconds ago, Virus was just about to make his next move, when, making use of its great speed, the Plant Kraken suddenly rushed at him before bombarding him under its tentacles. Bam~ Bam~¡­ Under the nonstop bombardment of the ugly being, Virus was aware that before the tentacle monster ceases to attack, he would not be able to make any movements. All he could do now was to raise his arms above his head and defend against the continuous trashing. Bam~ Under each attack, Virus sunk deeper and deeper into the ground itself¡­ Bam~¡­ Still, his resolved eyes didn''t shake in the least as it was clear to him that the damage he was receiving was close to none since his scale-covered arms were absorbing most of the force behind the tentacles. Moreover, the hardness and the solidness of his skeleton was nothing to joke about. So even if his speed couldn''t keep up with the opponent, he was at least confident in his bones and overall defense. A while later, after the attacks ceased briefly, once again, before Virus could make any moves whatsoever, one of the monster''s tentacles grabbed him with all its might. Then, bringing him close to its face, it clutched its grip harder and harder to the point that even Virus was feeling some amount of pressure. Of course, no longer being under the nonstop punches of the creature still allowed Virus several new opportunities and possibilities of counterattacking. Therefore, not even wasting a single nanosecond, he directly connected to his ring. ''Divine Initial Configuration ¨C Machine gun!'' This command was also followed by another arrangement, ''Explosion mode!'' RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TATAT~ Grrrr~ And following the noises, as simple sounding as that, surrounding the location which was locking Virus up, the tentacle exploded into many pieces. And the next moment, already free, all around Virus was covered in green blood while he showered beneath it. Furthermore, he didn''t move or try to dodge the blood at all. The only movement he made was to close his eyes shut before sinking in the soothing melody of the monster''s screams of agony. Apparently, he was relishing the feeling. This was what he wanted. Of course, after being dealt some rather excruciating damage, the Kraken retreated in a hurry, distancing itself from this human who it now considered more of a threat than before. Regrettably, however, by the time it was successful in retreating, the wounds on that particular tentacle had already closed up. The monster''s healing ability was frightening indeed. This immediately forced a frown to show up on Virus'' face as he raised his futuristic-looking machine gun before commanding it to shoot without any pause. RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TATAT~¡­ By now, the scales covering Virus''s ''right'' arm had already disappeared. This happened because, from the second division onwards, every time he divides the ring, some selective part of the scale gets retracted before transforming into the commanded dividence. In more simple terms, after triggering the [Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument], Virus divided the ring once which transformed it into his [Simple Mask], it was fine up to this point. However, now that he had divided the ring once again for the second time, the scales covering his right arm had retreated as it changed into the machine gun he was holding currently. Anyhow, under the persistent barrage of the machine gun, various wounds started to take shape and appear on the Kraken''s body, unfortunately, since every part of its physique was too thick and substantial, the explosive shots of the gun didn''t count as that much of a threat to it before its injuries closed up. Moreover, even stacking up the explosions could not penetrate deeper than a certain point on the creature''s plant skeleton and body. ''Hmm, it seems even the machine gun''s useless against its gigantic figure¡­ if I want to deal with it¡­ I think I''m gonna need to cut off those massive tentacles in a single slash.'' Deliberating up to this point, Virus concluded, ''I''m gonna need a big sword.'' ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Longsword!'' Promptly, the machine gun dissipated before reconstructing itself into a very lengthy sheathed pitch-black longsword which automatically connected itself to his waist. Now that the longsword had been formed, casually grabbing it from the hilt, Virus next pulled it out of its scabbard as it immediately started to give off an awe-inspiring yet spectacular blue hue of light from all over itself. Hence, momentarily gazing at this dark longsword in his grasp which was emitting the blue icy light, Virus murmured. "The Darkest Night, The Shining Moon." 374 The Dark Longsword "The Darkest Night, The Shining Moon." That was the name of this dark longsword and it was seeing the light of the day for the very first time in history. Now that Virus had the longsword in his grasp, all Virus had to do was to charge at the monster before brandishing it at its gigantic figure. Yet, unfortunately, Virus knew better that the chances of success in charging like that were a rather small number. Having already simulated the result of his direct attack internally and having gone through what he did previously, Virus was quite sure that the Plant Kraken''s attack and movement speed was higher than even him. Therefore, in order to come out triumphant, he needed to somehow increase the possibility of a successful attack landing on the creature''s physique. ''Hmm, I should calculate the likely solutions to the situation-'' Just as a sharp glint had gone through Virus'' eyes, abruptly, he was interrupted by a feminine sound, "Die for me!" Fshhh~ ROARRR~ And it was followed by a rage of red flames which covered the entirety of the Plant Kraken in a single instant. Surprised by this unexpected turn of events, Virus looked toward the source of the noise, only to catch the sight of the familiar face of the famous Guardian, Atish. At the same time, she was also staring back at Virus very intently. Her eyes were shining so brightly that it was as if she wanted to penetrate right through the mask of Virus so as to unearth all his secrets in one go! "Y-you¡­ you''re the Dark Savior!!!" Pointing at him, she screamed in both shock and veneration as if she had just laid her eyes upon her greatest idol in the world. ''Those pitch-black scales covering his legs and arm¡­ there''s no mistaking it! He''s definitely that dark-haired man, the Dark Savior!'' She concluded with her eyes wide open. Truthfully, the moment Atish''s eyes had landed on Virus'' figure, her mind had promptly gone back to a few years ago to a certain point in time where she had watched the television with her eyes dim in absolute despair and helplessness. It was at that time, after witnessing the monstrous strength of the flying-pig and the tragic death of the Burglar Tank right in front of her eyes, she had felt a heavy sensation of despair and suppression on her entire existence while gloom had covered the whole planet. And it was precisely at that bleak time when a dark-haired youth had shown up as he heroically battered one humanoid-rabbit after another, sending them right into their eternal sleep, which in return, sent waves upon waves of soothing hope into the despondent hearts of everyone around the globe itself, Atish included in that list. Now, while gazing passionately at his dashing figure, a notion went through her excited mind, ''The Dark Savior! The reason why I became courageous enough to step forward and start my journey as a Guardian. My hero!'' "Hmm?" Meanwhile, hearing her recognize him and address him as the ''Dark Savior'', to be honest, Virus wasn''t surprised in the least. This was because he was already aware of the fact that his ''Dark Savior'' persona was still quite famous and known in the eyes of the world even though he had mysteriously gone missing ever since. To many people, the appearance of the ''Dark Savior'' was like a turning point. A turning point where gloom seemed to be somewhat replaced with hope and light itself. In a way, he was like a symbol of aspiration today. A symbol of what one might even call heroism¡­ a hero. "Are you gonna continue staring blankly in my direction, or are you gonna help me deal with that thing?" Stated Virus before turning toward the creature that had been temporarily immobilized due to being surrounded in flames. Finally snapping out of her stupor after catching his oddly awakening voice, a smile full of anticipation displayed itself on her face. "I¡­ I''ll help you. Just tell me what you need from me. Also, c-can we be friends? Perhaps¡­ exchange numbers even?" By now, the Plant Kraken was still howling and screaming in pain as it burned by the intense fire all around itself. However, although somewhat fatal, it didn''t seem like the red-flames posed a grave danger to Kraken beast''s life due to its strong regenerative capabilities. And understanding this fact very clearly, Atish knew she was helpless in killing the Plant Kraken by herself. She could perhaps only momentarily restrain the monster while he dealt with it. Therefore, she simply turned toward Virus and asked for guidance. To be frank, she was quite speechless by how powerful the monster before her was since prior to today, she didn''t believe there was any monster of the rift which she couldn''t deal with by herself. But now¡­ such a creature had shown up in front of her out of nowhere! ''Uh¡­ that makes me remember, the last time the Dark Savior made an appearance, just like this time, there happened to be a monster around that no one could handle! Could it be¡­ he only shows up when a beast appears that the current humanity can''t deal with?'' Her eyes were exuding such a deep brilliance of exhilaration and reverence at this point that one might even mistake them for a lighthouse in the sea! And the more she wondered about the topic, the more confident she became that her conclusion was indeed the case. "Just stall it like you''re doing now, I''ll do the rest." Not being in the mood to entertain her at all, Virus only told her what to do before going quiet entirely. Seeing the rest of her words ignored, she could only look at the monster once again while pouting. She was feeling slightly upset, however, she understood this wasn''t the time. Therefore, raising her hands, she started focusing on maintaining her flames. Fssshhh~ Seeing the sunken flames begin raging once more, Virus went into motion immediately. 375 Chinese Abnormals Association? Actually, from the moment Atish had shown up at the scene, the probability of failure in dealing with the monster had decreased by a large degree. Unfortunately, however, the odds were still in the Plant Kraken''s favor. Swish~ Charging directly at it, Virus instantly reached the vicinity of the monster. ''Eh, how is he gonna bypass the flames by the way? I''m not yet that good at controlling my fire as of-'' ''Oh, no! He''s running straight into the fire! He''ll burn himself! I need to warn him!!!'' Her eyes went wide open in distress as she opened her mouth, about to scream at him in a warning. But before she could pronounce anything from her vocal cords, Virus was already within the raging flames much to the stupefaction of Atish! "Nooo!" She yelled in anguish and fear, already despondent at the unimaginable outcome of his careless charge into the wall of fire. ''I need to extinguish it at once!'' Just as this line appeared in her mind, a new startling scene displayed itself in front of her. She witnessed Virus standing totally fine within the fire itself as he jumped high into the sky, to the same height as the Plant Kraken itself. "He¡­ he''s okay? How?" She was immediately perturbed out of her mind since she had yet to witness any human being who could directly withstand her flames up to this day. Meanwhile, from the very instant Virus dashed into the blaze, he was experiencing rather excruciating affliction all across his body over his skin, yet still, he didn''t even bat an eyelid as he continued his path into the firestorm without any intentions of wanting to stop whatsoever. Moreover, his clothes and caped hoodie were burning as they soon turned into ash itself. To be honest, the notion of his cover being blown occupied Virus'' mind more compared to the burning sensation all over his skin at the moment. Therefore, connecting to his ring, he commanded once more. ''Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Garments'' And it was followed by another, ''Duplication!'' Immediately afterward, parts of the scales covering his other hand were retracted as they transformed into a thin set of clothes that covered his body at once. And since he had added the command ''duplication'', the style of this new set of garments was the same as that of his previous wear. Everything was copied to the very last detail. Although it had taken just a single second before his body was covered once more, unfortunately, at that very moment, Atish had still laid her eyes upon Virus'' bare hair. ''Eh, how did the clothes reappear over his body? I''m sure they''d just burned to a crisp¡­ and why was his hair darkish-silver in color? I remember clearly it was dark the last time I saw him on the television¡­ did he dye them perhaps?'' Luckily yet, she didn''t suspect it much. Instead, she was more alarmed by the clothes that had appeared out of nowhere. Not only that, but she was also even more disturbed by the fact that his clothes were no longer burning within her flames! Simultaneously, within the blaze, Virus jumped as he was soon on the same level as the plant beast. And noticing that the Plant Kraken was still distracted by the pain of fire, quickly grabbing the rare chance, he hacked down with his dark longsword! Swish~ At once, one of the green tentacles of the Kraken was chopped off as it fell on the ground much to the startlement of the beast itself. ROAAAR! The detachment of the tentacle from its body was followed by a howl of agony and a great deal of green blood gushing from the location of the separation itself! Witnessing this scene and watching how beautiful Virus had attacked and injured the beast, Atish''s eyes were burning with fervor. The same reaction applied to anyone who still happened to be watching the scene from afar. Anyway, now that his attack had succeeded, without any hesitation whatsoever, Virus retreated. He retreated because he noticed that the beast''s attention was now on him completely. Leaving the flame domain at once, Virus looked at Atish and praised, "Good job. Keep doing that and we might have a chance. I''ll attack again when that monster forgets about me or gets careless again." "Argh¡­ o-ohkay¡­ in the meantime, can I ask you something?" "What is it? Be quick." Not wanting to waste time, totally expressionless, Virus permitted her to threw her question before him. At the same time, the Plant Kraken''s wound closed up. Fortunately, this time, since the tentacle was chopped off from its very root, it didn''t grow back as the injury only closed itself in order to stop the bleeding. "Why did you show up here today? Did the Chinese Abnormals Association summon you? Could it be that you''re a member of the Chinese Abnormal Association?!" Actually, Atish was here right now because due to her being in very close proximity to the rift, the Chinese Abnormals Association had immediately contacted her and had requested her help in return for a certain price. They couldn''t summon her directly since she didn''t belong to the Chinese Abnormals Association. Thus, the only option they were left with was to request her assistance for a fixed price which would tempt the red-head beauty. "The Chinese Abnormals Association? Nope, I''m here for another reason." Was Virus''s sole yet frigid response. Simultaneously, his head turned in the direction of a certain debris. "I see¡­ can you please tell me which guild you belong to? Shadows? Dominators? Perhaps Hunters? Or another guild entirely?" By now, her eyes were about to burst in respect and high approval. "A Guild?" Murmured Virus. However, it was at this time when he suddenly realized the Plant Kraken''s attention was once again on the blaze rather than him. Therefore, he rushed at it with no further words. Very quickly, he was already within the diameter of the fire before he flew up again. Then, just as he was just about to slash at another tentacle of the monster with his [The Darkest Night, The Shining Moon], all of sudden, the Plant Kraken''s eyes were fixed on his figure! ''Shit! It was a trap indeed.'' Was the only notion that went through Virus''s mind as three tentacles promptly attacked him from three different directions. Bang~ 376 Dark Savior! Following that, his figure was slapped out of the vicinity of the fire as he crashed right into a mass of rubble. "Dark Savior!!!" Cried Atish, extremely worried about Virus'' current condition within the rubble. Of course, it didn''t take long before Virus emerged from within the debris again. Only this time, his surface injuries seemed even worse than before. ''As expected, it seems I''m still rather disadvantageous in this situation even with her assistance¡­ the odds are indeed on the Plant Kraken''s side.'' He concluded calmly while gazing at the Kraken in the distance. Actually, Virus had known the possibility of this type of situation developing was rather high from the very beginning. Still, since this was his only option and because there were still some chances of success left, he had decided to go along with it and see how the situation would proceed from thereon. But now, he had failed indeed. "This won''t work, the Plant Kraken''s smarter and shrewder than I thought." His eyes didn''t leave the sight of the creature while he shook his head repeatedly. "Ah¡­ then, what do we do now?" Helplessness flashed through Atish''s eyes. By now, perspiration had filled her forehead. "I can''t hold it off for much longer either¡­" Without responding at all, Virus merely placed a hand beneath his jaw before beginning to contemplate and calculate the alternative possible answers to this particular circumstance. ''I need to be quick and deal with the monster as soon as possible before rushing to check Hu Yuexin''s current situation. Though extremely unlikely, she might''ve survived by hiding somewhere that was able to keep her safe from the crash.'' ''But how do I deal with this fucking veggie?'' Closing his eyes, as he wondered about this particular question, massive amounts of calculations started to pass through his head nonstop. Moments later, his eyelids abruptly fluttered open as a few sure-fire solutions revealed themselves before him. ''Solution number one requires me to wait for the other guardians to get here before dealing with the monster together with them.'' ''Solution number two¡­ I can summon my transportation spaceship here and crash the cockroach veggie beneath it.'' ''Solution number three¡­ I need to¡­'' Unfortunately, solution number one was against his goal of dealing with the Plant Kraken, which was to kill it as quickly as possible before charging to see how Hu Yuexin was doing currently. So this option was instantly denied by him. Solution number two was rejected as well since that would draw too much attention and suspicion to himself. This option was rejected with the foresight to the future when his identity was finally revealed to the world. But coming to solution number three, shaking his head helplessly, he could only decide to proceed with it. ''Solution number three it is then.'' There were indeed some detrimental points and aspects to proceeding with the third solution. But¡­ it was indeed the best and most efficient method to handle the monster considering the limiting criteria he had in mind. Having made a decision already, Virus no longer went on to consider option number four or five. Instead, turning toward Atish, he inquired, "I have a method of killing it. But in order to do that, I need you to restrain it for a minute or two. A few minutes at most. Can you do it?" Furrowing his brows, a cloud of confusion covered Atish''s sight. "I can do it¡­ but what can possibly change in a minute or two?" "Just do it. Leave the rest to me." No longer bothering himself with her, Virus directly sat down cross-legged on the wrecked asphalt before closing both his eyes. Witnessing such a scene, Atish''s lips parted from one another as she could only stare at Virus''s strange chain of action speechlessly. Meanwhile, having closed his eyes, Virus instantly concentrated on his internal body. Soon, an awareness of his Energy Pathways together with the motes of energy coursing through them displayed itself to Virus. Next, controlling all of the internal energy, he led them to the thirteenth knot straight away as he crashed them against it. ''Sigh¡­ if I want to break through the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th twists in my Energy Pathways, I would need several decades at least before successfully breaking through to the [Liberation] stage. But considering the strange phenomena happening all over the Earth, I don''t have the time for that.'' He continued, ''Therefore, the only option I''m left with is to discard the idea of untwisting those remaining knots and instead forcefully bring about the first circulation within my Energy Pathways utilizing only twelve of my Pathways. Sigh¡­ what a pity.'' In fact, since the very beginning, Virus had known that he would be able to forcefully break through to the [Liberation] stage from the moment he had affluently untwisted the twelfth obstruction and entered the thirteenth level of [Energy Disentanglement] stage. This was the case because the moment a person disentangled his twelfth knot, a kind of gate of law would be opened for that person as the world itself would permit the said being to directly breakthrough to the next stage of cultivation on will. Of course, the more knots one had and the more he untwisted of those knots, the greater one''s cultivation would become after breaking through. Sadly, however, it seemed that opportunity was not going to present itself to Virus as he was now about to head on connect his twelfth pathway to his first, thus completing the first circulation within his body and forcibly breaking through to [Liberation]. Anyhow, after guiding every bit of energy within his pathways to the twelfth one, he immediately tried joining the first one to the twelfth by trying to push the internal energy gathered within his 12th pathway directly to the very first itself, thus creating the first circulation. Virus was expecting a great deal of obstruction on this path of trying to forcibly progress to the next stage since history had proven that when those with more than 12 Energy Pathways tried to break through earlier, before untwisting all their pathways, they would face a great hindrance that would result in the process of progressing to the following stage extremely hard. 377 A Top Guardian! However, for some unknown reasons, the moment he pushed the energy pumped up within his twelfth pathway to the first, as if it was the most natural process to ever exist, a threshold seemed to have been broken through while it smoothly flowed into the first one. As simple as that. Hua~ Hua~ At the same time, within his Pathways, as if the world''s laws themselves had just descended upon them, the countless motes of energy started to go wild as they entered an innate process of transformation. They were going through a qualitative change. The entire process only took around a few seconds before it stopped completely. However, what was needed to happen had already happened in these few moments as Virus had successfully entered the domain of Liberation. The First Level of Liberation! He could be now assumed to have just gone through the doorstep of the 1st level of the Liberation stage as he had successfully achieved the early 1st Level of the said stage. By now, not even a single minute had gone by, which was a lot less than the time Virus had requested of the red-head Guardian, Atish. At this point, Atish''s forehead was already covered in droplets of sweat as she was giving it all while focusing to keep the Kraken beast locked up in his place. But seeing how pale she looked, it was clear that she was already on the very verge of her absolute limit. Therefore, not delaying even a single nanosecond, promptly opening his eyes, Virus grabbed the hilt of his dark longsword and at last rose to his feet once again. "You did a good job. Leave the rest to me." After these simple words of comfort, his eyes were already shrouded in the eternal darkness of ice as he looked at the monster before him that frigidly. Meanwhile, on the other hand, watching Virus act this way, Atish was so lost that she didn''t how to feel anymore. ''You just sat there for a minute and now you say you''ll handle the rest?! How? Is this a joke to him? Or perhaps did he lose his mind?!'' ''Sigh, I really hope that''s not the case¡­ because that would be the end of me and many other people in the city¡­'' "Are you sure you can kill it now? You just sat there and now-" With her brows creased, Atish queried. She was extremely worried about the unfortunate outcome that was awaiting them. Nonetheless, Virus''s lips didn''t part from one another at all as he simply guided and concentrated all of his now somewhat transformed internal energy on both his legs and arms. If a cultivator looked closely enough, however, he or she would notice that the internal energy still couldn''t leave and be released from any part of his body. They were still caged within the perimeter of his physique. Furthermore, without the notice of nearly anyone, a helicopter had also long since appeared in the sky above as a cameraman was filming the incidents below passionately. Apparently, he was broadcasting the scene live to the rest of the world. On the other side, noticing Virus standing up, the Plant Kraken''s attention was once again drawn to the person who had chopped off one of its beloved tentacles as rage began to boil once more within its slightly sentient eyes. Truthfully, the thought of losing one of its precious tentacles had long made its fury reach the absolute peak as it now wanted nothing but to swallow Virus and everyone else in the area whole. And seeing its eyes focused on himself again, Virus started walking in its direction silently. This made the tentacle monster look forward to the moment when Virus would enter the fire wall, to the possible domain of its reach, in contempt. Still, Virus didn''t appear to be bothered by this at all as he merely continued on his path forward. Soon, he was at last at the absolute border of the creature''s reach as he took the final step¡­ forward. Immediately, the savageness within the monster''s eyes seemed to have been amplified by tenfold as three of its tentacles were promptly shot forward in order to immediately squash him into a meat patty. Watching the incoming tentacles from every direction, however, Virus simply watched them get closer and closer until at last, it was just a single meter away from him. And it was precisely in this very moment, when all of a sudden, to the eyes of Atish who was watching from the sidelines desperately, Virus''s figure seemed to have vanished with a puff. This instantly made her eyes go wide open as she could only stare in Virus'' previous spot in absolute disbelief and shock. ''W-where did he go?'' Just as this notion had gone through her head, a silhouette briefly took shape beside the creature as it was soon followed by the fall of a tentacle and a shower of green blood that drenched the shadow within itself. ROAAAAR~ The next instant, the grief-stricken cry of the tentacle monster reverberated around the area much to the stupefaction of everyone present there. Just as she had caught the sight of Virus''s body, however, it disappeared once more as it was also followed by the fall of another tentacle of the Plant Kraken. HOWWL! Now, the monster''s speed was clearly inferior compared to the upgraded Virus. The situation had been successfully reversed as the odds were totally on Virus'' side. In the meantime, catching the sight of the third tentacle falling, still as expressionless as ever, Virus jumped and appeared beside another tentacle before slashing it just like a knife cutting through butter. Successively, the fifth and the sixth tentacles dropped on the floor with a bang! Watching the now pathetic Plant Kraken with only two tentacles remaining, Virus charged beside it as he kicked it with all his might, forcing the creature to fall. Bam~ Its condition was so bad that it could no longer even stand back up. Meanwhile, unconsciously, all those who were viewing this terrifying sight of the massacre were holding their breaths in absolute dread. "W-who is that? How can he be so strong? The camera can''t even catch a sight of his shadow!!!" Said one of the viewers who was watching this scene of slaughter with a friend of his. "I-I don''t know¡­ but whoever he is... H-he''s definitely a top Guardian!" Responded his friend whose jaw had long since dropped on the floor. 378 For Her "I-Isn''t that¡­ isn''t that the Dark Savior?" Slowly but surely, some people started to recognize Virus'' pitch-black scales as they started connecting him to that hero of the past. "Oh yeah! I-I think that''s really him!!! That Dark Savior has appeared again! Not in America this time¡­ but in China!" Soon, people even started chatting regarding the topic on various chat platforms. "But has he not withdrawn from the public eye since that day? Why would he appear now?" A suspicious person asked while furrowing his brows. He suspected there to be a particular reason for Virus''s appearance today. "No idea bro, no idea. My only guess is that since this monster seems too overpowered for the current humanity, he has appeared to shield us from it. Since he''s, you know¡­ like the protector of the Earth." Replied a zealous netizen. Meanwhile, on the site of the battle, once more, Virus shot toward the fallen body of the Plant Kraken as he sent one punch after another directly to its head. Bam! Bam! Bam!... Now that he had broken through, after concentrating the internal energy that had gone through a qualitative change on his fists, they were so fatal that with each passing punch, a large section of the beast''s head would cave in. This resulted in a terrifying yet gory scene to be displayed before the eyes of the viewers. This process continued for some time, until finally, after having successfully landed many fists on the squirming creature, all of a sudden, he stopped entirely. Then, brandishing his sheathed sword again, he simply sent three cuts on the sorry figure of the creature. Swish! Swish! Swish! As a result, two of the slashes promptly separated the remaining tentacles from the beast''s physique while the last one directly divided its head into two equal parts. Just like that, the Plant Kraken was at last¡­ dead. Now that the beast''s yelps of agony had stopped, a deep silence descended upon the area. The same situation was taking place in every location and house that was watching this frightening yet relieving sight. A dominating silence. In the meantime, having confirmed its death, Virus continued staring at the unmoving carcass of the beast for what felt like an eternity. Of course, it only felt like an eternity to Virus'' horrifyingly fast mind while to the rest of the world, only a second had gone by when the Dark Savior started moving again before vanishing from their sight once more. ¡­ ''To pinpoint her exact location, I need to activate that.'' Thought Virus to himself while standing in front of a particular wreckage. Simultaneously, beneath the debris, within the spinal cord of a certain motionless body, unnoticeable changes started to take place. And these changes, of course, displayed themselves in Virus'' line of sight. LOADING ... 12% LOADING ... 47% LOADING ... 62% LOADING ... 89% LOADING ... 95% LOAD COMPLETE! [Communication Device Loaded to the implanted Host.] [Ding! You have activated the ''Communication'' feature for the Host¡­] [Other hidden features, LOCKED] [WARNING! WARNING! No signs of breathing, brain activity, or heart beating detected from the Host¡­] [The Host has been confirmed to be dead.] Seeing the last line of report from the communication device he had secretly implanted within the spinal cord of the Chinese beauty, the last rays of hope that she might''ve somewhat survived vanished from Virus'' mind. Hu Yuexin was gone. Still, he didn''t falter for even a single second longer as he charged to the pinpointed location he was sensing from the device. Bang! Bang! Bang~¡­ Just like that, he punched, grabbed, and threw anything that was obstructing his path away. And it took around two minutes before he finally reached the pinpointed spot as the bloody corpse of a certain beauty revealed itself in front of him. Yet as expressionless as ever, he gently lifted her already broken body before princess carrying her to a clean surface. Then putting her down with a dark face, his unique awareness was instantly released as it began examining every part of her cold and wounded corpse. ''Indeed, I can detect no signs of brain activity, heartbeat, or breathing. She''s truly dead now. I was still too late.'' He concluded casually with no emotion passing through his eyes. He was calm to a terrifying extent. The prospect of resurrecting her didn''t even cross Virus''s mind. Because even in the far future, after a certain duration passes from the death of a person, resurrection would be impossible. That was due to an unknown phenomenon that mankind could only connect with the so-called soul which even they had difficulties comprehending. The unknown territory of the soul. Of course, the current Hu Yuexin might still be resurrectable since not much of time had passed from her death. Her soul might just still be attached to her body. Just maybe. Unfortunately, what made her resurrection impossible was the fact that Virus was still incapable of producing the technology required for the resurrection of the recently dead. And by the time he successfully builds the relevant piece of technology which was many levels higher than his currently accessible level of production, Hu Yuexin''s soul would long have departed from her body. And considering doing the traditional current medical resuscitation methods, Virus didn''t even bother himself. Because for one, she had already stopped breathing for too long, and¡­ her body was far too broken and injured for her to stay alive after being revived. Without himself even noticing, sitting beside her corpse, Virus had long sunk into a strange state as he continued watching her face quietly. True in a sense, he was frozen still. This situation proceeded for a while, until at last, due to being disturbed by a shadow that had silently appeared beside him, he was forced to regain his awareness. "Are you okay?" Said the shadow in a sad yet worried tone, having already spotted the corpse of the beauty. Regaining his momentarily lost focus after being disturbed like this, Virus was somewhat surprised and even stunned for losing himself like that. Moreover, what caught him even more off-guard was the fact that he had softly placed his palm against Hu Yuexin''s beautiful face from an unidentified point in time. Nonetheless, putting the matter aside for the moment, picking her up once again, Virus began walking in a random direction without responding to Atish''s concerned question at all. And seeing him not answering her in any way, how could Atish not understand or empathize with his current grieving condition. Therefore, she didn''t insist on proceeding and instead simply offered her what she believed to be his, "Here. This is the bead that I extracted from the Plant Kraken. It rightfully belongs to you. Please take it before you leave. Also, I''m sorry for your loss." Stopping in his tracks, Virus didn''t move for a while. A few seconds later, without turning back, he responded briefly, "You take it, I don''t need it." With that, no longer bothering himself with her, he left as his silhouette disappeared from her line of sight. Meanwhile, watching his vanishing back, many complex thoughts were going through Atish''s head. Complicated notions about the person called the Dark Savior. ''So he was here for her.'' 379 Racking Anguish A WHILE BACK Watching Virus disappear into the darkness of the night, varying degrees of anxiousness had covered both Amara and the golden beauty''s faces. While this sense of distress was more intense on Amara''s face, the golden beauty didn''t appear to be that worried due to her unwavering confidence in her master. Still, she couldn''t stop an unpleasant feeling from rising within her heart. For some reason, the golden beauty had a bad premonition regarding this entire situation. ¡­ Sometime later, watching the intense battle between the man and the beast at the far distance, Amara couldn''t help but phrase with anxiety, "Do you think he''ll come back safe?" She had just seen Virus getting slapped away once again. To be honest, Amara was shocked silly witnessing how strong Virus actually was. Although they were too far from the scene and she could barely see shadows of a man at the far distance, she could feel how powerful he was. "Definitely!" With an assuring smile, the golden beauty didn''t hesitate to respond. "I-I really do hope so." Amara''s eyes were clearly red at this point. It seemed she wasn''t as confident as the golden beauty indeed. Unwilling to take her head off of that direction, Amara had just vowed to keep watching the fight until the very end, when all of a sudden, she was startled by a sharp cry beside her, "Ahhh!" Startled, she turned around only to witness a golden beauty who was grabbing her head with both hands as she yelped in what appeared to be extreme agony. "W-What''s happening to you, Bella? Why are you screaming like that?! Are you feeling unwell somewhere?" Extremely alarmed, Amara''s eyes went wide open as she grabbed the golden beauty''s hand. "I-I don''t know¡­ m-my mind¡­ it feels like it''s about to burst. Like my consciousness is about to be invaded and shattered apart, Arghh. For a while after we took off from the hotel, I-I''ve been feeling this way. I-it was a simple light headache at first¡­ but it got more intense as¡­ as time passed. Ahhhh!" By the end of her explanations, unable to tolerate the pain once more, she screamed even louder. It was clear the driver was also frightened out of his wits remembering Virus'' gun which was pointed at his head. He couldn''t imagine what his fate would be like if Virus came back and something bad had happened to one of his precious companions. Therefore, very concerned about his own life, he suggested, "H-how about I take you to the hospital, miss?" Catching the question, a sharp glint went through the golden beauty''s eyes at once as she uttered in a determined tone, "You''ll be going nowhere until Aizen returns! Do you hear me? If you put a single finer on the steering wheel, I''ll kill you." Even in this situation, the golden beauty''s number one priority was still Virus. She couldn''t even imagine a case where he came back wounded and no one was there to receive him. She would rather die than for that to happen. Just as she had this vague sensation of being on the absolute limit of her strange state while gritting her teeth and crying from time to time, abruptly, all of that pain vanished. As if it wasn''t there, to begin with. "Ah, the pain¡­ it''s gone." Surprised, she notified Amara. "Eh, what was that¡­ how could a pain just appear and disappear on its own?" Amara was even more confused by this chain of events. Nevertheless, she was relieved it was no more. "I don''t know either¡­" ¡­ Several minutes after the disappearance of the sharp needle-like affliction, just as the golden beauty was feeling relieved about her strange headache, the pain returned. "Ahhhhhhhh!" And this time, it was even more intense and horrifying than before! This forced the golden beauty to scream reverberantly while grappling her head with both hands as she rolled around on the seat of the limousine. "What happened? Does it hurt again?!?" Perturbed right out of her wits, Amara questioned. Internally, she was praying nonstop so nothing would happen to her before the return of Virus. Because she could not even envisage the consequence of a situation where he came back and something unspeakable had happened to her. Because if she had learned anything from her stay with the golden beauty and Virus in these past few days, it was the fact that the golden beauty was surely the closest person to Virus in the entire world. She was the woman that he cared the most about, even if it didn''t show itself that much. It was to the point that she was certain if Bella said she was second on the matter, let''s not get near someone saying first, no one would dare say third even! And now, Amara had this strong urge that the consequence of something indeed happening to the golden beauty was something that the current her couldn''t handle at all. No, let''s not talk about the current her, she had the feeling the entire world might not be able to tolerate ''that''. Accompanied by those thoughts, uncontrollably, an image of the entire planet bursting apart flashed through her head. ''I mean¡­ think about it, he''s the chairman of the fucking Virus Industries! What if he decided he no longer wanted to sell the temporary cure of the Mutated HIV to the world due to his grief or something¡­ wouldn''t the entire mankind go extinct then?'' Her heart was trembling at her own concept now. "Should we just take you to the hospital? Please, Bella, just say yes, if Aizen came back and something had truly happened to you, that would be very bad!" Insisted Amara out of concern. "Ahhh, NO!!! We''re not going anywhere until he returns!" Of course, she was adamant about persisting in her decision while rejecting sharply. "O-Okay! Don''t talk then, just try to preserve your energy and last until he returns, then we''ll take you to the hospital together!" Realizing she was not going to budge and change her mind, Amara could only concede. Soon, the throbbing pain which felt just like being pricked by hundreds of needles right in her brain vanished again before returning sometime later. 380 Mysterious Phenomenon Several minutes later, just as the piercing torment had momentarily gone quiet, the shadow of a person which was gradually getting closer and closer was spotted by Amara. Soon, the visage of the other being was clear to her as she mouthed, "It''s him! He''s back!" Simultaneously, pushing the car''s door open, Amara got off the limousine wanting to welcome him. However, the next instant, noticing the motionless body of a woman on her arms, her face slightly went pale as she stopped in her tracks. Next, raising her head in order to catch a sight of Virus''s current facial expression, she became entirely quiet. She went silent because she was seeing a type of visage over his face which was totally unfamiliar to her. Although he looked just as expressionless as ever, there was a dark quality to it now. A type of darkness that didn''t exist before his departure. At this time, the golden beauty who had been just momentarily relieved of her agony also got off the car and went to greet her master only to be faced with the corpse of Hu Yuexin. "I-Is that the woman who was in charge of providing us with the necessary services at the hotel?" The golden beauty queried speechlessly. She was speechless because she was caught off-guard by Virus''s somewhat caring yet dark face. She had never realized that Virus had gotten close to this woman until now. Nonetheless, putting the matter aside for the moment, wanting to confirm something, she directly went ahead and grabbed Hu Yuexin''s unmoving hand, searching for any pulses that might exist on her body. Unfortunately, what she felt next immediately clarified the entire situation to her. ''So she''s dead and master''s sad about it.'' Meanwhile, the moment she touched Hu Yuexin, a strange sensation was felt by her, as if a burden had just left her. But she didn''t pay that invisible feeling any heed and instead focused her attention on her master''s well-being. "Please don''t be sad, Mas- Ai¡­" Honestly, this was all she could do and say to comfort him right now, and to be frank, that came to torture her even more than the throbbing affliction she had felt previously. However, shaking his head, Virus denied, "It''s okay, I''m not sad. Let''s go¡­ we need to take good care of her body and-" Just as Virus was about to finish his sentence, something happened which instantly dumbfounded the trio present at the scene. Right now, much to their disbelief, the corpse within Virus''s arms started to give off a somewhat vigorous light as Hu Yuexin''s entire figure started to inexplicably lit up before it forcibly separated itself from Virus''s arms and began hovering by itself on the very air itself! Next, incomprehensible transformations seemed to be occurring on her body as the petrifying wounds of various degrees of gravity started to close up and heal by themselves! "W-what''s happening to her!!!" Cried Amara in a stupor. She was so appalled that she no longer knew what she was seeing anymore. "M-Master¡­ what''s happening to her?" Even the golden beauty had been greatly dismayed by this incomprehensible phenomenon before her eyes as she questioned Virus. "I-I¡­ don''t know." The most confused and aghast person among the trio, however, was perhaps Virus himself as he gazed at the hovering body in utter bewilderment. ''What the actual fuck?!'' His pupils constricted to the size of a tiny dot as he stared at the flying corpse in front of himself. Since Virus did not even have the most basic understanding of the situation in front of him, he was thunderstruck very much indeed. Subsequently, slowly but surely, every wound covering her body closed up and before soon, Hu Yuexin''s entire physique was as healthy as before! No, Virus clearly understood claiming that would be an understatement since he noticed that Hu Yuexin''s body was even more thriving and vigorous than before! Anyway, after having healed up entirely, gradually, the shine covering her body started to dim as her body slowly landed on the ground again. Soon, the brilliance of light was also gone entirely as Virus charged at her at once! The first thing he did next was to examine the current condition of her body. "Ah¡­" ''She''s breathing!'' ''Her heart''s beating again.'' ''There are clear signs of brain activity too¡­ she''s not brain-dead. That means her soul is still within her and her brain isn''t injured either!'' ''I don''t see any more external or internal injuries anywhere in her body too¡­ she''s healed up completely¡­'' Promptly, the results of his various examinations displayed themselves to him as he took a short gasp full of disbelief. ''How is this even possible?'' Just as this notion popped into his head, Hu Yuexin''s eyelids began to tremble as they slowly fluttered open. "Whu a''a xuia? (Who are you?)" A sharp glint of went past her eyes as she pronounced an incomprehensible set of words as soon as focus seemed to have returned to her. Nonetheless, what astonished Virus to no ends at first was what he saw within those extremely deep eyes of hers which coerced a shiver down Virus''s spine. It was following afterward that he momentarily put the matter of her profound eyes aside and instead focused on her strange words which forced a frown to sit on his face while various possibilities instantly crossed his mind. ''Could she have suffered from some sort of brain damage which resulted in a type of aphasia[1]? A severe case of Global Aphasia[2] perhaps? Or is it a kind of Xenoglossy[3]?'' "Can you understand what I''m saying? Do you know who you are?" Wanting to collect more data in order to come to the most narrow conclusion and diagnosis, in fluent Mandarin Chinese, he questioned further. Meanwhile, listening to him, Hu Yuexin''s brows promptly creased as uncertainty shrouded her eyes. Afterward, she continued watching Virus, Amara, and the golden beauty talk for nearly half an hour without responding in any way. In this half an hour, Virus tried everything he could to force her to respond more to his stimuli. He even tried grabbing her hand so as to drag her into the car before continuing the process. Unfortunately, that seemed to make her very angry as she immediately threw his hand off and freed herself violently. Nevertheless, just as the clock hit thirty minutes, her lips at last parted from one another as she mouthed calmly. "Who are you? Where am I?" 381 Run Seeing her finally speak in Chinese, frowning, Virus couldn''t help but ask, "Why weren''t you able to talk just now? What exactly happened to you?" Unfortunately, instead of providing him with a satisfying answer, Hu Yuexin''s eyebrows immediately closed in to one another as she repeated, "I said¡­ who are you?" "¡­" "You don''t even recognize me? It''s me, Aizen. Aizen Vee." Admitted Virus while gazing right into her eyes. He went on then, "could it be¡­ you don''t remember a thing? Hmm, let''s start with this¡­ do you know who you are?" Catching this interrogative question, Hu Yuexin didn''t respond immediately. Instead, she continued staring into Virus''s eyes quietly as if she was contemplating something crucial. ''Where am I?'' ''What''s with these strange buildings?'' Examining her surroundings, she pondered in confusion. The modern skyscrapers of Shanghai was indeed a novelty to her. ''A moment before, I was still imprisoned on that damned throne, thinking I''m destined to be stuck there till the arrival of my death. But then, when I periodically tried utilizing that mysterious technique of mine as usual¡­ it suddenly activated for real and then¡­'' her line of sight began wandering around at this point as it brushed past Amara before it was finally locked on the figure of the golden beauty. Meanwhile, the sight of those deep pupils only forced odd thoughts to pop into Virus''s head, ''Seriously though, what''s with those eyes¡­ I can swear they are entirely different from before. It''s like I''m gazing into the eyes of a total stranger. Is she perhaps now suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder[1] due to some kind of traumatic brain injury?'' ''But¡­ those profound eyes of hers¡­ why do they give me this chilling feeling that I''m gazing at someone who''s very similar to me? Someone who has lived for a very long time I mean. Someone ancient.'' Shaking his head in the end, Virus decided, ''I shouldn''t jump into any conclusions. First, I need to speak to her more.'' And it was exactly at this moment when Hu Yuexin opened her mouth again and confirmed Virus''s notion coldly, "Yes, I do not recall anything. I don''t even know my name. So tell me, what''s this place?" Considering the situation from Hu Yuexin''s perspective, Virus could only imagine how confused and lost she must be right now. Therefore, letting out a helpless sigh, Virus decided to clarify the situation to her first, "Your name is Hu Yuexin and you live in this city¡­ Shanghai. You have a sick son. His name is¡­" After that, Virus provided a brief summary of everything he knew about the person called Hu Yuexin. "¡­ And that''s everything I know about you." "But all that aside," getting closer to her at this point, Virus added, "I was genuinely worried about you, Hu Yuexin. I don''t know what that light was or what happened to you as of yet. But whatever it was, I don''t care. What matters to me most is that you''re alive at least." Following that, abruptly, spreading his arms, Virus hugged her out of nowhere. Bang! Shockingly, however, the instant Hu Yuexin was within his embrace, an invisible force was released from her body, which promptly sent the thunderstruck Virus flying away! By the sidelines, both Amara and the golden beauty seemed to have been greatly dumbfounded by this unexpected turn of events too. Nonetheless, it didn''t take long before, at some meters away, Virus rose to his feet once again. Only this time, unbelievably, a trail of blood was drawn on the corner of his mouth while his eyes were wide open due to astonishment. ''W-what the fuck¡­ what was that attack?! I think it directly bypassed my flesh defense and was even able to slightly damage my internal organs¡­'' In the meantime, externally, he began voicing his disbelief, "What was that attack? Why would you assault me-" But before he could even finish, Hu Yuexin''s icy tone interrupted him, "Never, Touch me again." "Ever." On the contrary, however, this chain of events had only intensified Virus''s curiosity regarding her weird condition even further. Thus, recalling the strange attack, Virus asked, "How did you become this powerful, Hu Yuexin? A mere Dissociative Identity Disorder can no longer explain it. Unless¡­ you''ve either awakened some sort of Trait or¡­" Reaching the end of his sentence, Virus didn''t continue. Hearing his interrogation, Hu Yuexin didn''t bother herself with it at all, instead, she merely stated her rejection on dwelling on the matter any further, "I don''t know what you''re talking about, nor do I care. Just let me tell you this, according to your explanations just now, you and I seemed to be somewhat close before¡­ well, that ends here. We''re total strangers from now on." Not stopping there, she went on calmly, "Also, it appears I owe you one of those Red-Crystal thingies which was stolen by that disgrace of a man Fan Tong. Well, I''m not one to owe anyone anything, so there''s no need to be concerned about that either. I''ll soon get my hands on another one or two of those and return it to you together with its appropriate interest. That''ll be all." Following that, as she was done speaking, turning around, she was adamant about leaving the area. But before she could do that, much to her annoyance, she was stopped in her tracks. "Wait." Narrowing her eyes in irritation, Hu Yuexin declared, "What is it now? Don''t be a nuisance and stop bothering me already!" Truthfully, Hu Yuexin was so insistent on leaving because her number one priority at the moment was to leave anywhere close to the place this mysterious yet analytic man was present at. She didn''t want her secret to be discovered just yet since she wasn''t sure what he might do as a result. ''I''m too weak to confront this man right now since that simple burst of attack exhausted me already. And I need to leave even more so since it wasn''t even able to inflict any type of fatal injury on him¡­ not even close.'' In fact, she was so desperate to leave because every inch of her entire existence was warning her to run away from this dangerous man as quickly as possible. ''The current me is no match for him.'' Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 382 K "Don''t you want to save your son? I can help you with that." Virus questioned with his penetrative gaze still as sharp as before. Hearing the question, however, Hu Yuexin had this absurd sensation of being studied and analyzed by him, which to be truthful, shook her heart to its very core. Nonetheless, she didn''t hesitate to reply, "No. I don''t need your or anyone else''s help for saving my son. I''ll do that myself." Having rejected the offer, she ended the conversation next, "Goodbye then." Watching her vanishing back, finally shaking his head, Virus no longer called or tried stopping her. "Aizen¡­ what was that light just now?" Still full of disbelief and incredulity, Amara asked while gazing at the direction where Hu Yuexin had disappeared to. "Hmm, well, I suppose it was some type of trait or something." Responded Virus at once, however, deducing from his tone, it was clear that even he himself hardly believed that. In fact, if he had to choose between ''trait'' or ''something'', even he would pick ''something''. "That''s impossible! How can a trait bring someone back from the dead?" Extremely perplexed, she denied the possibility. "Well, there''s a trait which allowed a girl to sneak a peek into the possible future, so who is to say that particular trait can''t exist either." Was Virus'' only response before he ended the conversation, "Let''s go now, we need to return." Next, entering the car, the trio finally realized there was another person who had seen the entire heaven-defying performance other than them. It was the driver who was sitting within the car shocked-silly. "If you utter a word about what happened today to anyone. No, in fact, even if you don''t say anything but someone gets the wind of it, that''ll be the last day of your life. Alright?" Sitting inside the car, in a tone that was as if he was simply explaining the relationship between cause and effect, Virus notified the driver regarding the consequences of the possible revelation of today''s matter. This instantly sent an intense shiver down to the driver''s spine as he promptly recalled the scene of Virus pointing a gun at his temple. He was confident this customer of his was someone very dangerous as he had this particular gut feeling that Virus will definitely do what he had warned him with. "Y-yes, sir. I''m not a busybody, sir. I swear on my son''s life I won''t reveal a word of what happened today. In fact, I don''t even know what you''re talking about, sir." "Drive, then. Our jet is waiting for us." And with that, he no longer bothered himself with him. This was all he would do for the current Hu Yuexin. Of course, if instead of Hu Yuexin, the same thing had happened to the golden beauty, unquestionably, Virus would not have hesitated in getting rid of the driver right there and then. Since only the dead was sure not to talk. ¡­ Simultaneously, in various parts of the world, in many countries such as America, France, South Korea, etc. similar phenomena to Shanghai were taking place. ¡­ FRANCE, IN THE VICINITY OF A PARTICULAR JUNGLE Currently, two gigantic ants had been just released from a rift as they had rather effortlessly gotten rid of the three dispatched guardians as they were now wreaking havoc everywhere. Of course, it didn''t take long before a new batch of guardians arrived at the scene. "God¡­ do you think we can get rid of those monsters, guild leader K?" One of the five guardians present at the scene uttered. Meanwhile, instead of answering the question, the person who was addressed as K simply turned around and asked a question of his own, "Kiddo, do you think you can disorient them?" "Uncle, I told you to stop calling me kiddo! Call me Dizzy, you old man!" Immediately, a frown took shape on Dizzy''s forehead as he mouthed in annoyance. "Haha¡­ and it''s been years since I''m telling you to stop calling me ''old man'' or ''uncle'', but do you ever listen? Anyway, can you do it?" K phrased with a chuckle. "Hmm, let me try." Subsequently, Dizzy raised both his arms as he tried muddling the two massive ants. Regrettably, however, the instant he focused his trait on the two, he came to realize that disorienting the two simultaneously was an impossible thing to do for the current him at least. Even dazing one of them was a rather difficult thing to achieve, "Um, uncle, I can only daze one of them¡­ and that''s for a very short time¡­ perhaps a minute." Furrowing his brows in return, helplessly, K could only command, "Do it then, meanwhile, the rest of you try holding the other ant back while we handle the other one as quickly as we can before joining you three." "Yes, sir!" Heeding the order, the three charged at the other ant without hesitation. After confirming the three were gone and the first ant had been dazed successfully, raising a single hand, K sent a large number of various sizes of bombs and rockets toward the disoriented ant. BOOOM! Following that, dust covered the area. "Is it dead?" K murmured while intently focusing his gaze into the cloud of dust. Unfortunately, after the dust cleared away a few seconds later, K was faced with a scene that dumbfounded even him. In fact, what made him dumbstruck was the sight of the nearly unscathed ant who had been snapped out of his dazed state as a consequence of his bombing. "I-It''s fine?" Even K himself was feeling rather unnerved at this point. "T-that''s impossible! No monster was ever able to survive that¡­" "U-uncle, I can''t¡­ I can''t disorient it anymore¡­ i-it''s resisting it!" Just as K was about to respond to that in absolute confoundment, sounds of scream reverberated the surrounding area, drawing K and Dizzy''s attention to itself. "Ahhhh!" Turning their heads around that very instant, Dizzy and K were faced with a horrifying scene they doubted they were ever going to forget. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 383 Nippy Currently, right in front of them, utilizing its mandibles, the other ant cut one of the three guardians into two sections. Next, utilizing two of its sharp legs that were as sharp as knives, it attacked its remaining opponents, successfully forcing them to their eternal sleep as a result. Even though the entire process appeared to have taken a lot of time, the ant had been so quick that the three guardians didn''t even have the time to use their traits and try surviving the attack. "Noooo!" Cried K as he instantly utilized every ounce of his trait, Psychokinesis, as he sent both of the ants flying away to the far distance. As he ran to the gruesome corpses of his companions next, a drop of tear rolled down K''s face before he powerlessly fell to his knees beside them. "U-uncle, right now is not the time for grieving. We need to¡­ run¡­" Trembling all over his body, Dizzy was hardly able to even mouth these few words. Dizzy was dazed indeed. Hearing dizzy''s fearful voice, on the other hand, K stood up at once before uttering with a dark face, "You leave¡­ I''ll go and kill them myself." "Uncle! You can''t!" Alas, before he could even finish, K''s figure had already risen to the sky as it flew in the direction where the two horrendous ants had disappeared at. Meanwhile, watching K''s vanishing figure, Dizzy clenched both his fists before murmuring in the end, "I won''t leave you alone, uncle. You know that." With that, he also followed the shadow of his guild leader, K. ¡­ Unfortunately or fortunately for him, when K flew to the scene where the two ants should''ve been at right now, he was faced with an empty space. Apparently, the two ants had escaped or retreated into the woods. ''Finding them would be even harder¡­ now that they''ve run into the woods.'' With that thought, he was just about to follow them when the rushing figure of Dizzy appeared in his line of view. "Uncle! I''ll come with you, let''s go!" Said Dizzy with unshakeable determination exuding from his being. Listening to this, however, frowning, traces of hesitation finally took root on K''s heart. Knowing how obstinate Dizzy can get when he was resolved to do something, K was confident Dizzy would follow him anywhere now. But to be honest, the notion of that happening terrified him, he didn''t want the guilt of losing another one of his people on his conscience today. Therefore, after much struggle and deliberation to himself, K declared, "Let''s go, we''re going back to our headquarters." "B-but¡­ what about those ants? They might return or even slaughter innocent people¡­" Worried about the possible consequences of leaving the ants alone, Dizzy inquired. "As much as I''d hate to admit, it''ll be too hard for us to kill those bastard monsters alone. We need to go back, notify the Abnormals Association, gather more forces, and then come back for a search and hunt session." "B-but¡­" In a flash, a sharp glint of anger flickered through K''s eyes as he declared his final decision, "No buts! We''ll go collect the corpse of our comrades and leave!" "¡­ Alright." ¡­ Simultaneously, nearly a similar scene was being sighted in various countries around the globe. However, in one of these particular nations, something even more stupefying was about to take place. ¡­ THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Currently, Nippy, aka Supersonic Sword, having reserved a single rift entirely for himself, was waiting for the fracture to spit the monster so he could deal with them solo. "Hahaha¡­ at last, my first solo rift. My name will soon resound throughout the world and people shall revere me as the mighty Supersonic Sword!" He exclaimed in an embarrassing yet exaggerated posture while placing his palm on his forehead. Crack~ The dim sound of glass shattering was heard at this point. And having noticed that, gathering every bit of his focus, Nippy determined. ''It''s opening! My rift is opening!'' Grabbing the hilt of his sword next, pure excitement began to flicker within his eyes while the image of a soon-to-be future full of reverence of the world toward him occupied his mind. "Come!" He cried, full of pride. Simultaneously, the rift finally started the process of expelling as whatever that was on the other side was instantly brought to this side. In the meantime, the moment the being inside was brought out, without even waiting to check what it was, a grin covered Nippy''s face as he promptly brandished his sword at whatever that had been just shunned there. Bam! ¡­ "Ah... what is this? I just arrived here and some bastard''s already trying to kill me? Moreover, he''s of the human race." On the other hand, as Nippy felt the obstruction of the path of his sword, the zeal and fever left Nippy''s eyes without further ado. And indeed, with that fire of passion leaving his face, at last, he carefully looked at the being in front of him. Instantly, his pupils constricted to the size of needle pins. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing right now. "W-what... h-how is this possible? Y-y-y-you, how can you come out of that place?!" Witnessing what was before him, Nippy was stunned indeed. He was stunned because he could only call what was in front of him a¡­ man! A man, as in a male human being! The thought of which petrified him there and then! Following that, Nippy began murmuring beneath his breath, "No, no, no¡­ but that''s not possible, right? What is he? Is he some type of monster in the shape of a man?! Yes, yes, that must be it! That''s the only explanation." "Huh, what''s this bastard muttering? And what language is that?" Meanwhile, unwilling to free the tip of Nippy''s sword from his grasp, the other being also whispered. In actual fact, both Nippy and the other man were speaking in different languages. But to be more clear, while Nippy was pronouncing English sentences, the other person was mouthing voices which could only be said to be connected to Chinese itself or at least very similar to it. "Whatever. Let''s just get rid of this bug before exploring this land." Having decided on his next course of action, letting go of the tip of Nippy''s sharp sword, at last, he pointed a single finger toward the still confused and lost guardian. In a flash, a strange type of energy seemed to be gathering in front of the other man''s finger which was released the very next moment. Thud! While on the other hand, the second Supersonic Sword had taken notice of the accumulating mysterious energy, getting a very ominous yet dangerous feeling, he promptly raised his sword precisely to the spot where the finger was pointing at. The middle of his forehead. And following that, as expected, a cracking noise reverberated around the area as Supersonic Sword was blasted away with his eyes wide open. Nippy was greatly startled because one moment the energy was still collecting before his finger but the next fraction of the second, something had already shattered his sword to many pieces as the cumulative force behind it also launched him several meters back. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 384 Millions of Tragedy, Tragedy of Millions Going through this kind of unexpected yet horrible experience, Nippy''s eyelids were so wide apart from one another that his eyeballs were almost on the verge of popping out as he was shooting through the air and being blasted away. Unfortunately, seemingly not wanting to even give his opponent the opportunity to snap out of his dazed state or even touch the ground once again, while Nippy was still shooting through the air, he once again took shape beside him before sending a simple yet powerful punch at the unresponsive Nippy. BAM! CRACK~ "Ahhhh!" A strange noise of many bones shattering reverberated in the area as it was followed by the tragic cry of the now gory Nippy who was sent flying away in another direction before his sorry ass had even hit his previous fated destination. "Hmm," Briefly gazing at the now motionless figure of Nippy whose death or life was unknown, he murmured, "So weak¡­ I feel disgusted by even wasting my time and attacking him." With that said, he no longer cared about the question of whether Nippy was dead or alive as he turned around and disappeared into the horizon. ¡­ Meanwhile, all around the globe, various monsters were wreaking havoc and chaos. If the rift was in a village, the village itself together with all of its inhabitants was slaughtered. If it was in a town, the town itself vanished from the face of the Earth. Even some cities were devastated to a pathetic point of absolute tragedy. Today''s event was indeed a rare type of calamity which was going to have numerous chain effects on the constantly changing and evolving Earth once again. ¡­ At the same time, media all around the world was going crazy as they streamed or broadcasted the calamitous events of the day one after another. The cases of towns, villages, and even many skyscrapers of various cities together with its inhabitants disappearing were being so frequently reported that the estimated cases of casualties had already exceeded millions! Now although that might seem a small number compared to the entire seven billion population on Earth, it was in truth a gigantic figure! And in the end, even though millions might just seem a number, if all of those ice-cold corpses were in fact gathered in a single location and put above one another, it would definitely form a mountain made of corpses and dead bodies!!! ¡­ In a certain News channel in France, an anchorman was reporting, "We''ve just been updated that three of the companions of Guardian K, the guild leader of [Dawn of Courage], have been announced dead." "Delving more deeply into the matter, it appears that, regrettably, the entire primarily dispatched team of Guardians together with the whole nearby village and its population had been confirmed dead and annihilated before the arrival of Guardian K''s team¡­" At this point, there seemed to be a lump stuck in the anchorman''s throat as he was about to burst into tears at any seconds now. Notwithstanding, after several seconds of quietness, he appeared to have been temporarily successful in controlling himself as he added, "My deepest condolences to all people of my nation." Ruefully, France was not the only country to be going through this cataclysmic incident, and all around the world, a similar catastrophe was occurring as many families, compatriots, and even the entire planet population itself was grieving over the instant loss of so many lives. On this day, countless children had lost their parents and thus became orphans. "Mama, papa¡­ wake up¡­ why aren''t you waking up?! Mamaaa, papaa!!! Wuuuuuuh¡­ I Pwomise to not be a bad kid anymore, pwease wake upp, wuuuuh¡­" ¡­ Many fathers or mothers took an even harsher blow to themselves as they experienced one of the worst types of pain, the loss of a child! In one corner of the world, a gravely wounded father was running toward what he believed to be the direction of the hospital while on his arms was the cold gory corpse of a teen girl. "Sara, Sara¡­ please, j-just a little bit, hang on just a little bit, w-we''re almost t-there. Don''t l-leave dad alone. You''re all I have, you know that!!!" Albeit, the girl was already gone, never to return again. In another corner. "Whyyyyyyyy!!! What did we do to deserver this!!! Why did those monsters have to kill my son!!! What did we ever do to them!? Why, whyyy, whyyyyyyy!!! I swear¡­ I swear on this already cold body of yours, Josh, I''ll slaughter all of them! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!" By this point, that man''s face was contorting to a horrifying extent as tears kept pouring down his face without end. Rage, hatred, and grief were no longer recognizable in his expression. Sadly yet, all of this was a mere tip compared to the iceberg itself. Today, Earth was once again reminded of how weak it was against the incoming enemies that apparently wanted nothing but their total destruction. ¡­ As blood and fire were drawn everywhere, on top of a certain private-jet, a man was comfortably sitting with a glass of wine on his hand as he enjoyed the mesmerizing scenery of calm clouds right outside his window. Of course, Amara and the golden beauty weren''t that laid-back and casual as they were intently staring at the television within the jet. At this point, tears even began streaming down Amara''s face as she saw many screaming and crying people above the corpses of their loved ones. More importantly, she was acting this way because the death toll alone felt like a mountain pressuring against her heart and mind. "How¡­ how can this happen¡­ sob¡­ why is this happening?! God-" She muttered, full of remorse and sorrow. However, at this time, a leisurely uttered response by Virus made her feel even worse as her face darkened instantly, "People die, Amara. They are meant to die," not pausing there, he went on, "well, at least on this timeline that is. They come to life in order to wither away and pass away. It''s a mere inevitable cycle, so there''s no use in wasting your energy and feeling bad about it, it''s just that their time came sooner than expected. That is all." ''In fact, all I see is a ghost town when I look at this planet of the past.'' "Y-you!!! How can you say that?! How can you be so cold and unmoved by all this¡­ i-it''s no longer a single death or even several deaths, Aizen¡­ it''s millions we''re talking about! Millions of tragic deaths! Is your heart really made by nothing BUT STONES?!" She cried in agony and rage. Honestly, she couldn''t believe Virus had just uttered those inexcusable words and tried justifying the entire situation by saying ''Well, people die. So¡­ that''s normal.'' "Hmm, not a single death, but millions of deaths?" Briefly murmuring this sentence; however, he announced coldly, "Such hypocrisy." Not stopping there, he continued, "So you''re saying one or several deaths are just fine, but millions are not? No, no¡­ in fact, you''re not just saying it, seeing how you were totally fine watching me actually kill someone, you do truly believe in it." "So you don''t care about several deaths, but you care about it when its in millions. What a hypocrite you are, Amara. Isn''t the value of life in that single life itself and not the accumulation of it?" "And now you want to judge me for it? How dare you?" Accompanied by an annoyed frown, a chilly glint blazed within Virus'' pupils. "So who is the worse one here, Amara?" "A hypocrite believing in the greater good, willing to kill several people for the benefit of millions, or the person who sees ''one'' and ''a million'' as equals?" Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 385 Ready Listening to everything Virus had to say, claiming Amara was thunderstruck would be an understatement since that couldn''t even begin to define her current emotions anymore. She felt wronged and misunderstood as she wanted to scream that he was not correct about this. Albeit, she couldn''t in the end. Notwithstanding, for a while, after Virus was done speaking, a strange type of silence descended upon the interior of the jet as Amara could only stare wide-eyed at him, a little pale on the face. However, as she deliberated more on the matter, gradually, her anger returned to her as she pondered, ''Aren''t you just twisting the entire situation? Aren''t I at least getting sad over their deaths?'' Nevertheless, she didn''t utter any of that out loud, and instead, returning to her seat with a harrumph, she stayed quiet for the rest of the journey after murmuring something beneath her lips. "Hmph, I can''t win over you with words alone when you can easily make a devil a saint and a saint the worst devil the world has ever seen." ¡­ KNOCK! KNOCK! "Come on in." Said someone in a relaxed tone. Creak~ Targh! "Mr. CEO, everything''s ready at last!" Stated a young woman while gazing at the ugly man in front of her. This young woman was his personal secretary. "Un." Nodding his head, uttered the CEO ugly inquisitively, "Briefly go over some of the main processes we went through in these past few years." "Yes, Mr. CEO." Nodding respectfully, the woman continued, "So, at the very first step, without anyone''s notice, mine included, you sir together with the aid of Mr. Robert James, the head of Legal Department, secretly bought many precious lands with the potential to be mined from all over the world." Simultaneously, she was wondering to herself internally, ''Which I still don''t know how you guys did it¡­ I can''t even begin to guess how this company can suddenly discover so many lands full of potential all of sudden¡­'' Outwardly, without any change in expression whatsoever, she went on, "It was followed by the second step where Mr. James dealt with and cleared away all of the relevant paperwork and legal and political issues as the green light was finally given to us to handle the remaining crucial phases." "Anyway, subsequently, the headquarters began building the required construction bases at the site of each of the mining lands. Not only that, heeding your personal orders, we also bought the most expensive and advanced tools for the process of mining itself." "And now, after several years, every single one of our mining sites is considered the most advanced ones all around the globe. Everything else such as the matter of hiring a gigantic number of workers, employees, etc. has been completed too." "Thus, as of this moment, all of our employees and miners are just waiting for your signal to officially begin mining. That is all, sir." Concluded the secretary with shining eyes of reverence directed at her CEO. In fact, the gaze of this secretary of his seemed to be filled with such passion and veneration that the CEO ugly had this absurd notion that she might start worshipping him at any seconds now. "I see. Now report the list of mines that are ready to start working for our company." A momentary flicker of satisfaction went through the CEO ugly''s eyes as he threw another question into the ring. In truth, the reason why the CEO ugly was questioning her like this had to do with the fact that in these past few years, he had been extremely pleased with this secretary of his, and therefore, he wanted to promote her in the following days. These inquiries were like a final yet simple interview where he wanted to shine more light on the extent of her diligence and power of analysis. "Yes, sir. According to the report I was handed with, it is clearly elaborated that the mines are ranked based on the potential size of their veins. This ranking respectively includes from the smallest to biggest D-grade, C-grade, B-grade, and the largest A-grade mines." "The list states that we are now in possession of many D-grade mines of copper, silver, iron, etc." Speaking of these D-grade mines, a rather strange expression became visible on the CEO ugly''s face as he recalled something, ''Huh, thinking back, Master didn''t even bother with these D-grade mines as he merely told me to memorize their spots as spare ones. He never mentioned these smaller mines in specific as he merely told me to start preparing the mines with our capital without telling me to abandon or make use of the smaller ones which he didn''t even spare a glance at.'' ''Sigh, in the end, without missing a single one, I just went ahead and made use of all of them since there are going to be tons of profits earned from each and every one of them. But I wonder, was doing this the best thing? Hope it pleases master.'' Meanwhile, the secretary went on with her elucidation in a professional tone, "There were also several C-grade mines specializing in either copper, iron, or silver." "But moving on to the larger B-grade mines, there are six mines entirely and every one of them specializes in either silver, Iron, or gold." "And at last, the company''s now in possession of two A-grade mines, one of which mainly specializes in diamond and is expected to produce more than 15 million carats diamonds annually, and the other one is a mixed-mine expected to be able to produce gold, molybdenum, silver, copper, etc. by itself alone." Going quiet at this point she finished, "That is all, sir." "Hmm, great. Alright! You can go ahead and give the green light, we''ll launch the mining phase from this moment onwards." "Yes, Mr. CEO." Confirmed the secretary. Yet for some unknown reason, she wasn''t moving at all. "Is there anything else?" Rather intrigued, without displaying any signs of emotion, the CEO ugly questioned. "Um, Mr. CEO¡­ should we take some precautionary measures before that? I''m just worried that if we start the mining phase now, the rest of the mining industry and the governments of those countries in possession of mines might try to shut us down or-" Before she could finish with her expression of worry, however, the CEO ugly interrupted, "You don''t need to worry about that. It''s already been dealt with. You''re dismissed." "Yes, Mr. CEO." Since it was no longer appropriate for her to proceed any further than that, the secretary merely retreated and left the office. ''Hmph, they would''ve made a move already if they did indeed dare to do so.'' Pondered the CEO ugly to himself after watching his secretary leave. In fact, when it came to this particular topic, the CEO ugly knew better than anyone else that other people would rarely dare to offend them anymore. This mainly had to do with the fact that up to this moment, the Virus Industries was absolutely successful in maintaining their sole control and secrecy over the production and distribution of the annual temporary cures of the Mutated HIV, [Ai Virus 001: The Savior]. Moreover, he was confident this status quo was going to remain the same until at least the permanent cure of the Mutated HIV was discovered by someone. But for now, they were safe from most of those greedy eyes observing them from within the shadows. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 386 Possible Reasons Hours later, a private jet landed on a particular island owned by Virus as two people got off of it before the jet once again took off into the vast sky. Its next destination was New York. "Welcome back, master." Since the Island ugly was already waiting for their arrival, Virus and the golden beauty were respectfully escorted to their base on the atoll. "Here, take this and go finish that device as quickly as possible." Handing the Pink Star over to the Island ugly, taking on a leisurely tone, Virus declared. "Actually master, that device was already prepared a long time ago. It just needed the Pink Star in order to be complete and functional. I''ll bring it over this very instant." Presenting Virus with this good piece of news, the Island ugly left the room briefly. Meanwhile, the golden beauty served him some quality tea as they enjoyed their waiting period. "Em, master, after you''re done with your thing, are we gonna leave to China or New York?" Inquired the golden beauty while taking a single sip of her own tea. "Hmm, I''ve some stuff to do in New York, so we''ll temporarily return there." Replied the master mysteriously. Creak~ At this point, the door to the room was pushed open as the Island ugly came back. This time, he had also brought something over. "Is that the device?" Gazing at what could only be described as a glass-helmet, Virus questioned. "Yes, master. You just need to place the Pink Star diamond in this hole here." Explained the Island ugly while pointing at the opening spot in the forehead area of the helmet. Although most of the helmet seemed to be made out of a strange type of glass, there was also a very complex web-like network of lines and other parts similar wired within the very glass itself. "Alright then, you two leave my suite while I do my thing then. Don''t disturb me until I tell you otherwise." "Yes, master." Both the golden beauty and the Island ugly heeded the command as they left the area subsequently. As the two took their leave, the Island ugly queried, "So, how was it? Did you guys have some fun in Shanghai?" "Fun?" However, a complicated expression seemed to flicker on the golden beauty''s face as many notions appeared within her head, ''Was it fun? Well, I admit there were many fun parts to our travel, like buying those clothes and hanging out with master¡­ it''s just the final part of the journey that''s been bothering me slightly.'' Nonetheless, in the end, she uttered none of those out loud and instead gave a simple response, "Un, yes. It was kinda fun." ¡­ Meanwhile, within his personal suite on the island, after the two had disappeared outside, Virus picked up the glass-helmet at last. But for a few seconds, he simply stared at the helmet. Now although this glimpse of his seemed to be just that, a mere glimpse, in truth, he was constructing the most basic form of Artificial Intelligence as he locked it up within the tool. ''Hmm.'' Next, he didn''t hesitate to grab and place the Pink Star diamond at the very center-area of the forehead of the helmet itself. To be even more precise, the location of placement was exactly in the middle part of his eyebrows. Targh! The moment Pink Star was in close proximity to the hole, however, an odd suction force and some very small bolts of electricity seemed to take shape from the glass hat itself as it automatically drew the Pink Star to itself. Following that, from all over the interior of the glass, with the diamond as their target, hundreds of red laser-like beams concentrated on the diamond. All of them were now shining at the Pink Star itself. ''Hmm, it''s finally the time for me to examine my [Existential Codes] and discover just what the hell is wrong with me.'' As this line, accompanied with some traces of excitement, took shape within his head, Virus didn''t dilly-dally any longer as he went ahead and put the helmet on. Thud! The moment the glass helmet came to cover half his head, it made direct contact with the center of his forehead before some kind of connection seemed to be made between his brain and the Pink Star the very next second! [Ding! Establishing a connection between the brain and the device¡­] Immediately, this sentence displayed itself before his eyes. This report, however, didn''t truly exist in front of him as it was merely being transmitted into his brain, giving him the illusion as if he was truly seeing the sentence with his own very eyes! [Connection Established. Does the host want to unlock and gain access to its/his/her relevant ''Existential Codes''?] "Yes, unlock and access." [Is the host absolutely certain? WARNING: Please keep in mind, due to the impurity of the crystal placed within the device, gaining access to your raw ''Existential Codes'' comes with the following risks ¨C (a) Possible loss of memory, (b) possible disorientation, and (c) Slight chance of failure in accessing the codes of existence.] "Yes, proceed." [¡­] [Confirmed. The device is trying to gain access to the host''s ''Existential Codes''.] [1%...] [26%...] [57%...] [83%...] [WARNING! FAILURE IN UNLOCKING AND GAINING ACCESS TO HOST''S EXISTENTIAL CODES.] "Huh? Argh." This result which came as a surprise was promptly followed by sharp pain and headache that forced Virus to yelp briefly. ''It failed? Why is that?'' He said doubtfully. The headache was already starting to recede. [According to the feedback received, there could be a few possible reasons for this failure. But please be warned that these reasons are completely inaccurate and unreliable.] ''Go on and show me the possible reasons.'' [Here are the possible reasons¡­] [1. The host is a human being, therefore lacks ''Existential Codes'' to begin with and instead possesses a human soul.] Reading the first reason, shaking his head, Virus denied the possibility while muttering to himself, "I wasn''t born a human being, so that''s most likely impossible. Logically, my ''Existential Codes'' should still exist. Moreover, if I had a full human soul, the device would''ve been at least able to determine that it has come into contact with a human soul and determine that it is indeed the sole cause for failure." He outright denied this probability because even though humanity of the future deemed the soul as the most mysterious aspect of mankind which they had very little knowledge about, utilizing their advanced tools of technology, they were at least able to pinpoint, sense, and even recognize it. ''Display the second possible cause.'' [2. The device has come into contact with a mutated type of soul or an unknown form of ''Existential Codes'', thus making it impossible to determine what or how it went wrong.] ''Hmm¡­ what''s the third one?'' He was furrowing his brows at this point. [3. The device has come into contact with an unknown being or race that''s not been included in the transmitted database of racial soulprints.] ''And the fourth?'' [4. The ''Existential Codes'' was locked and secured in a mysterious way which makes it impossible to access, discern, and connect.] Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 387 NYAA ''Although the fourth reason could be partly true, it''s not the complete truth. In fact, in my past life, I was indeed able to gain access to the surface construction of my ''Existential Codes'' on many occasions, even though I was never able to take a peek at the very essence and core of my ''Existential Codes''. But even back then that was my limit since for some undetermined reason I wasn''t able to sneak a peek at deeper levels.'' ''Back then, I was only able to helplessly conclude that those mysterious beings who created me had taken extreme measures in order to make it impossible for me or anyone else to see the very essence of my existence which would in return keep their secret and make it implausible to unravel the mystery of my creation and independent consciousness¡­ but that''s beside the point¡­ the point right now is that I was at least able to gain access and study the very surface of my [Existential Codes] which is also what I required and needed at the moment.'' ''But¡­ perhaps, after I entered my biological body, something unspecified occurred which forced those extreme security measures to heighten even further. Thus resulting in the current situation of me being unable to even access the exterior surface of my [Existential Codes].'' ''Anyway, tell me the fifth reason for now.'' [There is no fifth reason, host. That was everything.] Immediately, a sentence was exhibited before his eyes. ''Sigh¡­ in the end, that means either one of the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th options could very well be the reasons behind this failure. But which one is it? That is the question.'' Afterward, for nearly ten minutes, Virus continued contemplating the subject matter, unfortunately, no matter how hard he thought, the information about the variations just wasn''t complete enough for him to narrow down the options to a single one. With that considered, finally, Virus could only shake his head and give up. ''Let''s just try this again. I mean, who knows, maybe the device merely malfunctioned and failed.'' Having decided to try the process again, he ordered, ''Try again!'' [¡­] [Confirmed. The device is trying to gain access to the host''s ''Existential Codes''.] [1%...] [28%...] [66%...] [91%...] [WARNING! FAILURE IN UNLOCKING AND GAINING ACCESS TO HOST''S EXISTENTIAL CODES.] Crack! Following that, the noise of something cracking echoed as a fissure was drawn on the body of Pink Star before it was followed by the helmet''s incoming report. [WARNING! The crystal has been damaged. It is predicted that the host would be able to use the helmet two more times before the crystal shatters entirely. (4/2)] Simultaneously, Virus felt as if a hammer had been just smashed against his brain and consciousness as he entered a strange state of mental confusion. Virus was disoriented this time. Alas, he faced the same result once again. Utter failure. Well, despite still not getting an answer to his urgent question, he was at least able to notice an even more important and perhaps grave issue. An issue that might just as well have to do with his previous problem and strange behavior. ¡­ TWO DAYS LATER ¨C NEW YORK Currently, Mark Sanchez, the personal driver of the CEO ugly was patiently waiting at the airport. ''Wonder who I''m supposed to drive around today¡­ All CEO Greg told me was to follow every wish and command of the person I''m about to welcome today. He must be someone very important¡­ but who could it be? Perhaps it''s the chairman?'' ¡­ ''Oh, he''s here.'' As the entrance of the jet was opened, accompanied by the familiar golden beauty, a dark-haired young man exited the private jet. ''Eh, I know miss Bella, but who is the other man with him? I believe CEO Greg told me I was gonna serve a man today, so it should be him, right?¡­ but wow, he shouldn''t even be 24. So young yet still able to force CEO Greg to sent me personally!'' Even though useless thoughts like this were passing through his head, Mark stepped forward as he greeted the two, "Sir. Miss. Welcome to New York." Subsequently, he politely opened the door for them as the two entered the car with a nod of satisfaction. "Should I take you to headquarters, sir?" Inquired Mark after the luxury car started to speed up. "No, first, take us to New York''s Abnormals Association." Slightly shaking his head, the black-haired youth announced their following destination. "Y-yes, sir." Although Mark was a little amazed, being the professional driver with a lot of experience, he was quick to regain his composure. ¡­ "Hello there, I would like to apply for a Guardian License." Casually leaning on the counter, Virus attracted the woman''s attention. "Ah, yes. And what''s your name, sir?" Exhibiting a very bright smile, the young woman requested for clarification of his identity. "Uh, you want us to get to know each other so soon?" Showing an exaggerated expression, the dark-haired youth, obviously Virus, tried teasing the lady. In fact, every time Virus went through a change in appearance, his attitude also seems to transform and adjust itself accordingly while he sinks into character entirely. Caught off-guard by this tease of him, a shade of red seemed to cover the reception lady''s cheeks as she raised her head once again and took an even closer look at his face. Notwithstanding, since she was rather used to these types of situations where the other person tried to flirt and tease, she was rather calm about it. ''He''s rather handsome though¡­ not bad.'' "Hehe¡­ please don''t tease me, sir, I''m just doing my job." Beaming an even brighter chuckle in return, the lady once again threw the same question on the table, "But I really need to know your name since it''s part of the protocol, so¡­ please, sir." "Hahaha¡­ is that so? That''s such a disappointment then. Anyway, you can call me Victor Goodwin." Virus answered in a joking tone. ''Victor Goodwin? Pfft, his parents must''ve really wanted him to be a winner in life.'' With this notion occupying her mind, she didn''t hesitate to hand over a piece of paper while requesting with a grin, "Please fill this form too." Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 388 Motivation Filling the blank spots in the form which was about basic questions such as the full name of the applicant, date of birth, address, the motive for applying for a Guardian License, national number, etc. Virus once again handed the form back to her. Meanwhile, she was drinking water from her bottle. After receiving the form, just as she does all the time, in order to sate her own curiosity, the receptionist naturally took a quick glance at the ''motive for applying for a Guardian License''. PFFFFT! But the next instant, everything within her mouth was spilled out as she gazed over at Virus dumbfoundedly. She was so speechless because this was the first time she had seen such a weird motivation for wanting to be a Guardian. ''Entertainment.'' That was the only word that was written in that particular section. Indeed, sitting behind the desk and having accepted many application forms before, she could boldly say that she had seen all types of reasons such as ''for justice'', ''for wanting to be famous'', ''for fighting against evil'', ''for wanting to be rich'', ''for revenge'', ''for defending humanity'', and many others! Yet¡­ this was the first time she had seen such a simple yet strange motivation. Entertainment. No matter, gazing back at Virus''s currently chuckling eyes, she got the inexplicable sensation as if the target of her attention was a mere kid who was obsessed with nothing but games that would entertain and engage him! "Ah, Mr. Goodwin-" "You can call me Vic." "Ah, yes. Vic¡­ I-I mean, Victor, is this truly the reason for you wanting to be a Guardian? Simply¡­ entertainment?" She inquired doubtfully. She didn''t believe, not even for a single second, that someone would be crazy enough to throw himself into the raging war of terrifying monsters of the rift which apparently desired nothing but the eradication of the entire human race for such an absurd yet ludicrous rationale as ''entertainment''. Meanwhile, after a few seconds of silence, turning rather serious, the dark-haired youth finally uttered, "Hmm¡­ entertainment, as long as we''re able to live and survive comfortably, isn''t that the reason for everything?" "W-what?" The receptionist could swear at this point that she''d encountered a madman this time. Not paying any heed to her gaze which was as if she was looking at an insane man, Virus'' serious face seemed to melt away as it was replaced with a peal of unconstrained laughter, "Hahaha, just kidding, I just wrote the first word that came to my mind. My real motivation is to fight for justice by being evil!" "Huh?" At this time, the receptionist, at last, felt like she was being teased and played with for the last minute or two. So pouting slightly, she voiced helplessly, "Sigh, Victor¡­ you were teasing me again. Okay, okay, you don''t want to tell us your real motivation for wanting to be a Guardian. That''s fine. We''ll just go with ''Entertainment'' then." After that, handing over a piece of paper, she explained, "This is like your entrance ticket for the Guardian Examinations which is fifteen days later. You can return at the time and participate in the exams." "Hmm, why can''t I take it right away?" Virus preferred to take the evaluation tests right away if possible. "That''s because the exams require professional Guardians and as I''m sure you''re aware already, professional Guardians are busy and expensive. Therefore, they come once a month just to assist with the exams." She clarified. "Oh, I see. Is there anything else I need to know?" Hearing the question, recalling something, she didn''t hesitate to offer him an examination guide booklet in return before exclaiming with a chuckle, "Just take a look at this, everything you need to know is written in here. Oh, right! You can also pay your examination fee upfront." "I see. And how much is that?" "Eh, you don''t know yet? It''s $100,000." Immediately, an indistinct frown found its way on the dark-haired man''s forehead. "Isn''t that a bit too much? I mean, how are normal people supposed to get their Guardian License if even the examination fee is exorbitant like that?" "Umm, well, it''s true that normal people wouldn''t be able to pay that by themselves alone. But there''s no helping it since a large percentage of that goes to the hired Guardian examiners while the rest goes to the American Abnormals Association." Not ending her elucidation there, she added, "But it''s not like there are no ways for normal people to pay either." "What do you mean?" "Hmm, I''m only aware of two of the methods by which even normal abnormals can pay for the examination fees. First, there are special places that lend high-interest loans to abnormals who are about to take their Guardian evaluations. This option is rather risky. But then again, if you pass the evaluation indeed and if you are a decent abnormal with a desirable potential, paying back wouldn''t be that much of a hassle." After that, before Virus could question again, she went ahead and started talking about the second method, "And the alternative is to get the backing and support of one of the guilds. If you can make one of the guilds fancy you in these remaining fifteen days, you wouldn''t have a problem in paying since they''ll do it for you in exchange for a certain contract. I recommend this method, but unfortunately, it''s too hard to enter the eyes of top-class Guilds." Putting a business card on the counter next, she whispered, "Since I like you quite a lot, I suggest you go to this place and get a loan from them. Its interest rate is probably the lowest amongst such organizations." "Hahaha, although I''m quite honored you''ve come to like this humble me, there''s no need for it." Pushing back the business card, Virus shoved a particular debit card in her direction instead. "I''ll pay upfront, you can withdraw all of it at once." Of course, having already predicted such a situation, the debit card was not his own pitch-black full of grandeur [Virus] card since that would naturally attract too much attention and might even lead to the revelation of his true identity. This debit card was the one he had requested from the CEO ugly before and then received it from his driver, Mark Sanchez. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 389 Mommy? Seeing this, the receptionist was somewhat nonplussed since she had assumed that Virus was a poor abnormal belonging to the lower middle class of society at most. "Oh, would you look at me mistaking our young master for a poor man!" Grinning from ear to ear, she exclaimed jokingly. Still, slightly dubious, she picked up the card and swiped it once. "What''s the password?" "6969." "¡­" "¡­" "What?" "¡­Nothing." A few seconds later, finally receiving the confirmation of successful $100,000 withdrawal, agape, she returned the card and the receipt to him. "Alright then, thank you, I''ll be back in fifteen days." "OK. Goodbye, Victor. Hope you''ll be the victor and have a good win fifteen days from now on, hehe¡­" Teasing the disappearing back of Virus, the receptionist wondered, ''So weird, why is he so familiar¡­ it''s as if I''ve seen him somewhere.'' ___________________ After successfully running away and vanishing from anywhere near Virus, Hu Yuexin, finally heaving a sigh of relief, exclaimed, "Phew, thank the Nine Realms of Hell for getting away from that unfathomable beast." ''Hmm, so, I''m raising my dead sister''s son who''s now my son, huh? Well, since I took over your body, I''ll at least take care of your son. That''s my compensation for you.'' ''But damn¡­ what a trashy constitution and physique you have, woman! Furthermore, this kind of body isn''t even compatible with me. This is going to be a bit hard to handle.'' Finally relaxing her furrowing brows, she added, "First, let''s go and take a look at her son''s condition and see how much time he has left." ¡­ Sometime later, finally arriving at the hospital which was extremely crowded due to the previous appearance of the Plant Kraken, Hu Yuexin admitted helplessly, "Phew, it was so hard finding this hospital." Next, after a period of asking around, she finally found her way to the room where her son was at. "Xiao Wei, mom''s here!" Beaming a happy smile at the little bony kid, Hu Yuexin greeted. She was not going to let him notice any difference. So she decided to act as motherly as she could. "Did you miss mommy?" "Mommy? Is that you?" At first, the child looked at her in a strange way, making Hu Yuexin somewhat startled as she wondered, ''Did he perhaps¡­ notice that I''m not her?'' Still, continuing her act, she voiced, "You dummy! Of course, it''s mommy, child! Who else could it be? Urgh, mommy''s so hurt. Xiao Wei can''t even recognize me anymore." Nevertheless, the child continued studying all over Hu Yuexin''s body suspiciously. Fortunately, in the end, after she was done examining every inch of her body, nose, dress, moles, lips, etc. finally, a silly grin took shape on his pale face. "It''s weally mommy! But mommy''s different! Mommy must''ve grown up!" The tension, at last, faded from Hu Yuexin''s expression. "Hehe¡­ that must be it." ''Phew, that was close. What a sharp-minded kid.'' "Um, my sweet Xiao Wei, can mommy take a look at your body?" Seeing him nod once, Hu Yuexin didn''t hesitate to grab his hand as she placed her two fingers on his pulse. Thirty seconds later, withdrawing her hands, various notions shaped up within her mind. ''Hmm, the problem lies with the internal organ that''s in charge of producing and replenishing his blood which is resulting in an abnormal type of blood to be produced inside his body¡­ and that''s affecting the way his internal organs work.'' ''If it was the past me, curing him would''ve been a simple thing¡­ but now¡­ hmm, I need to get stronger first.'' ''He should still have around a month or so. I wonder if I''ll be able to find the stuff I require in order to cure him by then.'' Deliberating up to this point, snapping out of her contemplative state, she displayed another cheerful smile at the child prior to declaring, "Mommy needs to go and work now. I''ll visit you later on, okay?" Although there were some traces of unwillingness and hesitation written on his face, in the end, he still nodded his head, "En¡­ Xiao Wei will be a good son and wait for mommy!" "Hehehe! Good! That''s my son!" While patting his head repeatedly, a strange thought flashed past Hu Yuexin''s mind, ''What a cute son. I''m starting to like him already.'' Still, no matter how much she smiled and laughed, there was some type of icy coldness within her eyes that never vanished. Apparently, that was her true temper and nature hiding behind her fa?ade. Afterward, the first thing Hu Yuexin did was to buy a phone since her previous one had been already ruined. She had learned about cellphones and the internet after studying the people around her for some time. Next, she returned to the ruin which the previous Hu Yuexin called house. Weirdly, Virus even possessed the information regarding her home address as he passed it on to her. Subsequently, sitting in a random corner of the empty house, she started surfing the internet as she absorbed as much information as she could regarding Humanity, Earth, Rifts, etc. She was like a sponge, having come into contact with water for the first time. ''Hmm, interesting, interesting¡­ so the human beings on this planet can awaken strange powers and abilities called ''Traits'' after consuming some of those Red-Crystals, huh?'' Not stopping there, she added, ''That''s rather new. There must be either something very unique and special about the human race on this planet or it''s that those Red-Crystals are the special items in this case.'' ''Anyway, considering that I''m also a human being of this planet now, there shouldn''t be an issue with me awakening a ''Trait'' too since I can fulfill both of the requirements in either case, right? I just need to hunt some of those monsters with red flame-like eyes in order to get my hands on a few of them.'' "Ah, I''m really curious about what my Trait''s going to be!" Full of excitement, she phrased out loud. But it didn''t take long before she forcefully calmed herself down as a resolved glint flashed through her pupils as she decided, ''But before that¡­ first things first.'' Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 390 Sharks ''First, I need to buy some essential stuff. However, since many of those materials naturally should not exist on this planet, I need to find some substitutes for them.'' Deciding on her next course of action, immediately, her eyes fell on her phone once again as she exhibited a rather odd yet happy grin. ''Thankfully, due to the existence of this thing called the internet¡­ that''s going to be a lot easier¡­ so convenient!'' ''What a wonderful world this is! It''s like a treasure box that''s been never opened before. Not only that, accessing the internet is like I''ve been given the key for opening it too.'' As her grin turned even broader, picking up her brand new Virus phone, she began searching for various materials and their possible substitutes. ¡­ Nearly seventeen hours later, Hu Yuexin was holding a complete list of materials. A list which made her happier the more she looked at it. ''It''s finally done! But I''m exhausted. I''ll rest first before going out to purchase those stuff.'' Just as she was about to put away the list and sleep. Her phone started ringing. Dring~ Dring~ Dring~ In fact, when she was buying the phone, she was asked if she wanted to have the same number as before and to that, she had merely responded with ''yes''. Therefore, it wasn''t odd that her phone was ringing at the moment. "Who is this?" "Hello, yes. I''m calling from the hospital''s finance department. I really apologize for calling like this but the accumulated amount of money you owe to the hospital needs to be paid or the hospital won''t be able to take care of your son anymore and will be required to discharge him. The least we ask for is for you to pay some percentage of it." A feminine voice was heard from the other side of the line. Feeling annoyed, a cold glint flashed through Hu Yuexin''s eyes in return as she replied, "I already told that rude woman who previously stopped me at the hospital that I''m going to be paying in two days! If I say two days, then it''s going to be within those two days, okay? So stop being a nuisance already. Goodbye!" "But, you said that before and-" Not bothering to listen any further, hanging up the line, she sank into a deep slumber. ¡­ Waking up the following day, the first thing Hu Yuexin noticed was the fact that she was now totally broke as she had spent the entire fortune of the previous Hu Yuexin on buying her new phone. ''Hmm, I came across a term called ''Loan Shark'' yesterday. That should be a nice temporary solution to my current issue of money.'' Having concluded this, picking her cellphone again, she started googling the address of places that might be the possible dens of so-called loan sharks. Once again during her search, Hu Yuexin couldn''t help but be grateful for the convenience of this useful piece of technology called phone and internet. One hour later, she was standing in front of the door of a shady office as she tapped it. Knock! Knock! Knock! Soon, the door was opened before she was politely escorted inside. "Welcome, miss. I wonder what brings such beauty to our humble presence?" Voiced the man sitting behind his desk while grinning in what one could only call terrifying. Seeing the many hoodlums gathered in the room and examining the various tattoos covering all over their faces and bodies, Hu Yuexin determined, ''It seems I came to the right place.'' "Why do you come to a loan shark? To get a loan, of course." She answered in a level-headed manner. "Oh." Listening to her, the eyes of the person who was most likely the leader within the room started to shimmer as his smile seemed to grow even more horrifying and evil as he said, "So this beauty is a customer! And how much would our dear miss require?" "500,000 US Dollars." Hu Yuexin didn''t hesitate to respond. However, noticing the astronomical figure, the eyes of the boss seemed to have gone wide-open as he became thunderstruck at once. He hadn''t expected this fair lady to request such an exorbitant figure in one go. "Miss, can I ask first, what''s your job?" Still, being gangsterly professional, he decided not to jump on any conclusions as he inquired calmly. "My job? Hmm, you can say I''m unemployed at the moment. But I''ll probably be a Guardian soon." Already having some ideas about how these places functioned, without any delay whatsoever, Hu Yuexin responded. And as expected, the mob boss''s eyes seemed to be instantly set aflame as he, at last, felt like he understood the whole picture. "Oh! So the beautiful lady is going to be a Guardian and needs money in order to pay for the Abnormal Association''s examination fees and expenses." After that, not dilly-dallying more than necessary, in a straightforward manner, he added, "But before we sign the contract and I send you the money, I need you to prove that you are worth our investment." Following that, he seemed to have signaled four of his lackeys within the room to attack. Indeed, very soon, the four thugs were already charging toward her. "Hmph." And indeed, letting out a ridiculing harrumph full of distinct traces of mock and contempt, Hu Yuexin dodged each of the incoming attacks brilliantly before sending extremely accurate punches to the various sensitive yet fatal spots all over those hoodlums'' muscly figures. ''Sigh, this body is too weak right now. I''m forced to deal the most damage and immobilize them with the least amount of force, which ironically happens to be every last drop of power this body can currently muster.'' Notwithstanding, afterward, the mob boss was faced with the scene of four fallen bodies of his men. Although he was somewhat amazed, considering how mad the world had gone already with the appearance of both Guardians and Rifts, his amazement couldn''t be considered much. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 391 The Blood Bath Nonetheless, having already confirmed the potential of the other person, nodding in satisfaction, he declared, "Alright, I guess you barely pass. I''ll invest in you." Next, he didn''t hesitate to bring forth a legal piece of contract before placing it in front of Hu Yuexin. "You just need to sign here, here, and here. You can also study the terms first." Nodding in return, Hu Yuexin took a quick glance at the various clauses and terms stated within the piece of paper. The most important term which had been typed very boldly was the fact that the interest rate was a whopping 50% for each month! An exaggerated additional $250,000 for each month until she clears the entire debt! Furthermore, it was clearly stated that if she fails to pay the owed money back, she will need to work for and serve their organization until her retirement, for the entire duration of thirty years, free of charge. Other than that, there were also many other questionable terms in separate papers such as the one which stated in case she dies, the insurance money from her death and everything else she owns will completely belong to them. So it was also very unlikely that one would ever get to see the day of her retirement with her life intact. Of course, none of these terms scared Hu Yuexin in the least, on the contrary, she felt amused at the ignorance of the other party. Thus, paying no further heed to any of the clauses in any of the pages, they shook hands as she signed every paper they needed to be signed. Soon, a text was sent over to her phone, informing her of the successful transaction. "I sincerely hope this investment profits us both." Putting on his most heartfelt tone, the mob leader said while displaying a very expectant smile. ¡­ Exiting the loan shark''s office, before anything else, Hu Yuexin''s first decision was to go to the hospital and pay some percentage of the bill. Since she didn''t know how long what she was about to do was going to take, she wanted to finish this matter first. ¡­ Sometime later, while strolling through a wet market which sold any type of live animal one could think of, taking from chickens and pigs to wolves, Hu Yuexin wondered to herself jovially, ''I''m really lucky to be in this country. A country where you can buy nearly anything you want. Truly a heaven for a person like me.'' Subsequently, taking out the list she had prepared, her eyes fell on the first item, ''Wild Rabbit''. There were even the names of various kinds of the monstrous beasts of the rifts mentioned within the list. Thankfully, she just needed their blood and luckily for her, their blood happened to be much less expensive and much more abundant in quantity and availability. So getting her hands on them was really trouble-free. ¡­ Returning to her messed up house after her successful round of shopping, now that she was in possession of every material she needed, she began killing the various animals. While sometimes she mixed the blood of some of them with one another, at other times, she ground those special herbs before blending them with the crushed meat of dead insects and animals. For instance, she withdrew the blood of a particular type of snake before combining it with the venom of another type. Next, she again fused that with a kind of flower which she was quite confident was extremely similar to a demonic type of flower called Bellblex. ¡­ SEVERAL HOURS LATER "Phew, the final materials are ready." She murmured while cleaning the droplets of sweat from her forehead. Subsequently, picking up the brush she had also bought previously, in the middle of her house, she began the process of drawing strange symbols and formations utilizing the mixture of blood she had prepared. After that, Hu Yuexin pushed the tub which was now filled with various herbs and blood of creatures right into the center-area of the painted symbols. As she was finished with the necessary steps, staring at her own piece of work, a chuckle eventually formed on her lips as she started getting undressed and naked while pondering, ''Finally, I can make this body more suitable for me. Though there''s still a long road ahead and there are lots of things I need to do in the future, it''s a start.'' As she was totally naked now, taking a brief glimpse of her own mesmerizing body, closing her eyes, she entered the tub before sitting cross-legged within it. For around a minute or two, nothing in particular seemed to be happening until, at last, the blood within the tub began to churn and swirl with her body at its center while the strange formation beneath the tub gradually started to shine brightly in red. ¡­ Nearly two weeks elapsed very quickly. In the meantime, Hu Yuexin continued sitting within the tub for the entire time¡­ until now. Anyway, as her eyelids fluttered open at this moment, a cold glint, sharper than ever, passed through her eyes as she stood up prominently. The next course of action she took was to check the current state of the liquid inside the tub which had changed from its scarlet-red color to a sticky disgusting black. Apparently, all of the redness of blood had been absorbed into her body resulting in unknown changes and transformations within it. Not only that, but all of the accumulated filth within her body seemed to have been expelled as well, forcing the liquid that should''ve been nearly clean into the current dark and foul liquid. Nevertheless, examining the condition of her own body next, Hu Yuexin discovered that the entire exterior of her physique had also been covered in an even darker, stickier, and more repugnant smell. ''Success! Now I just need to take a shower and relieve myself!'' It was at this instant when the block of ice inside Hu Yuexin''s eyes seemed to have temporarily melted a little as she acted somewhat cheerfully. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 392 Liberation Stage Returning to 4 Times Square, Virus had this strange craving to try the tea prepared by the golden beauty using the ''Water of Life''. "Here, master. Although I''m not as skillful as the times I was inside my artificial body, it should be still quite good. Unfortunately, my accuracy has fallen somewhat." Putting a cup of tea on the table before him, slightly embarrassed and disappointed herself, the golden beauty admitted. Holding the cup, in order to experience the taste and quality for himself, Virus took a simple sip while closing both his eyes. ''Hmm, indeed, although it''s not on the same level as before. It''s not bad either.'' "I like it, thank you, Lil Belle." Nodding in satisfaction, Virus didn''t forget to compliment her efforts. "You''re welcome, master. By the way, when are we leaving New York again?" "I don''t know. First, I''ll need to wait for two more weeks before I can take the Guardian Exam. After that, we might stay here for a while, I''m not sure yet." Getting a whip of the mesmerizing fragrance of the tea which was very helpful in calming one''s nerves, Virus responded. "Oh, right, how''s your progress in cultivation? Did you spark your internal energy yet?" Recalling the matter of her cultivation, Virus inquired at once. Hearing this, a jovial shimmer lit up within her eyes as she answered in utter elation, "About that¡­ I think I''m almost there! I can feel it!!!" "That''s great. It seems you''re even faster than what I initially had in mind. Anyway, I''ll be entering a session of closed-door seclusion for around two weeks. You should do the same and try breaking through before the time of my Guardian evaluation." Quite satisfied with her progress, Virus patted her head gently. "Yes, master!" Feeling the tenderness of her master''s arm, lowering her head, the golden beauty couldn''t stop her cheeks from somewhat blushing. "Good girl." "Um, but master, can I ask you something?" Fidgeting her fingers, seemingly curious, the golden beauty opened her mouth. "Go on." "U-um, can you please clarify what one needs to do when he or she gets to the stage of [Liberation]? I''m just really curious about it as I keep wondering what I''m going to be doing when I complete my [Energy Disentanglement] stage and breakthrough to the next one. Furthermore, I feel like I''ll be able to progress faster if I have a more perfect image of the next stage after the one I''ll be entering soon." At this point, her eyes were giving off such intense illumination that Virus couldn''t help but smirk helplessly. "Sure, and it might indeed help a little. So¡­ I''ll explain a bit. Listen well and engrave my words to your heart and mind. Is that clear, my beautiful disciple?" Voiced Virus in a teasing tone. However, hearing this, a strong sense of determination and resolve started to exude from the golden beauty''s entire being as she focused her entire attention on Virus'' mouth in a very serious yet cute manner. "Yes. Please punish Lil Belle if I don''t listen and learn well." "Cough, alright¡­ well, according to my knowledge of cultivation, it is known that half the pathways of all human beings have the quality of being ''Yin'' while the other half is ''Yang''. Meaning, if a person has twelve pathways, six of those pathways are of Yin nature while the other half is of Yang nature, it''s like two sides of the same coin." After a momentary pause as if he wanted the golden beauty to digest his previous elucidation, he went on, "In actuality, if I want to be even more precise, it could be said that a normal human being does not have 12 Energy Pathways, to begin with. Instead, he or she has six divided Pathways, which means when a normal human baby is given birth, he comes to this world with 6 broken and separated pairs of Energy Pathways." Throwing a brief glimpse at the golden beauty''s face and confirming she was still listening very intently, he added after a simple shake of his head, "Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, each of those originally complete and flawless six pathways breakdown to two separate parts of Yin and Yang from the moment a fetus begins to form within a mother''s womb. Cultivators believe that this happens because the heavens are jealous of the human race, or that it''s a punishment inflicted upon them by the heavens since the times immemorial. Therefore they say the heavens have fragmented mankind''s pathways and made them full of flaw." "What! How can the heavens do that!!! Heavens are really evil then!" Cried the golden beauty while acting in an exaggerated way as if she and humanity have been greatly wronged. Seeing this, honestly, Virus felt slightly speechless as he swept the beads of sweat from his forehead before continuing, "Calm down. Actually, I don''t really believe in the existence of the so-called foolish ''Heavens'' which cultivators have blind faith in. So, I won''t be commenting on that." "However, it is indeed true and irrefutable that each of our originally flawless 6 energy pathways is now broken down into two parts of Yin and Yang. It''s the same for me." He also said, "Anyway, you asked what we do in the [Liberation] stage, right?" Seeing her nod repetitively just like a cute cat, he got to the main point of all of his explanations, "Well, it''s simple really, we just need to connect each of those divided pairs of Yin and Yang and create a complete whole for every one of them." "Moreover, the moment we fuse and unite each pair, we would be able to release and liberate our Internal Energy from those respective pathways. That''s what the [Liberation] stage is all about." As if she had been finally enlightened, the golden beauty threw her own new insight into the middle of the conversation too, "Hmm, then, if I''m guessing correctly, that means, for normal people, there are 6 levels to the [Liberation] stage, right? Each time we bond a pair into a single whole, we progress in our cultivation and breakthrough properly." Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 393 My Design "Yep, that''s right. My Lil Belle''s really smart! Every time someone connects a divided pair into a perfect single pathway, he or she breaks through to the next level." Patting her head again, Virus praised the snuggling cat. After Virus was done patting and touching her head, recalling something very important and relevant, the golden beauty queried, "Then¡­ doesn''t that mean unlike other people, master''s [Liberation] stage will have 9 levels?! Wow, master''s really amazing then! Since you will be naturally a lot stronger than the other cultivators of the same stage!" "¡­" Catching these delighted words of her, however, furrowing his brows, Virus denied in some disappointment. "Regrettably, that''s not going to happen since only the pathways that have been successfully disentangled can be fused together." "Eh! Isn''t that simple, then? Can''t master just disentangle all of them before breaking through?" Feeling lost, the golden beauty suggested. "Unfortunately, I already broke through after untwisting twelve of my pathways, so that''s impossible now." He notified her of the implausibility of the situation. "Ah! Why did you do that, master?! Why didn''t you wait?" In fact, this news came as a big shock to the golden beauty since she knew exactly how fond of perfection Virus was. Staring at the empty cup before him, Virus provided the answer that was confusing the golden beauty, "Sadly, even untwisting the knot within my 13th energy pathway was going to take a few decades at least¡­ I think. Now let''s not talk about the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Pathways. I even had this gut feeling and notion that perfecting the stage would be nigh impossible even for me, now however much time I spend in it." "Therefore, I decided¡­ why should I feel greedy and waste my precious time over something that''s perhaps not even attainable? And as you can see, I finally let go and broke through." To the golden beauty, the unshakeable resolution emanating from his facial expression was very clear at this point. "Oh, I see." Even though she was feeling somewhat sad for her master, being the intelligent girl she was, she didn''t hesitate to change the subject. "Alright, master! Thanks for your elaboration! It was really helpful. Now, let''s enter our session of closed-door training. Also, please let me know when you''re hungry, I''ll be cooking or ordering something from outside if that''s okay with you." "Sure, let''s-" Just as he was about to end their conversation, a familiar voice interrupted the two, "Master." "Oh, what''s up?" Locking eyes with the CEO ugly, Virus proclaimed. "I''m here to report some of the company affairs." He said respectfully. "Un, please go on." Wanting to end the report as quickly as possible before entering seclusion, Virus didn''t waste any time before permitting him to talk. "First, I want to notify you that our Mining sector is already in the production phase as we are extracting massive amounts of nearly every type of ore, taking from iron, silver, copper, gold, and molybdenum to rough diamonds." "That''s great. And what about it?" "Well, due to the exaggerated number of our mines, our production is simply too much, therefore, if we want to sell our ores indeed, we need to lower the price of those minerals to an extent so the customers of other mining corporations would be drawn to us." "In order to do that, I want to sell them at 50-60% price of other mining corporations throughout the world. Like this, we wouldn''t need to do anything as everyone would come flocking to our doorstep wanting to form a type of contract with us. What do you say to that, master?" At this point, gazing at his master''s dependable figure, he patiently waited for Virus to open his mouth. "En, a good plan indeed, though that would most likely upset the rest of the mining sector and would definitely come to affect the entire price market of the globe since, in a way, ores are commodities without which a modern industrialized economy can not exist. But¡­ why the hell would I bother myself with that? So, go on and break the balance." Displaying an amused grin of expectation, he didn''t forget to add, "Now, I''m slightly looking forward to what reactions that would derive from the economic world." "Yes, master''s truly wise." In fact, the CEO ugly had this weird premonition that Virus had already predicted his next hundred steps before he himself had even made the decision. So a simple analysis on the matter of the price didn''t really amaze him in any way. Still, that didn''t stop him from throwing a sentence of brief praise at his anticipated insight. It was always good to try to become the object of Virus'' favor. "Anyway, that was the first part of my report." After a simple pause, he continued, "I also wanted to inform you that I''m about to initiate the second part of my design." "Hoh, and what would that be?" Witnessing his master''s evil grin that was clearly saying ''I''m interested, continue'', the CEO ugly began to talk, "Now that we have the mining sector functioning without any issues, as I''m sure you''re already aware, what we lack is the capability in being able to turn those ores into their respective metals ourselves. Thus, I would like to spark the process of setting up our Basic Metal Production sector." "Explain your thoughts more extensively." "Yes, master. The first part of my plan is to make use of those numerous wide fields which we bought near the various mining grounds with the initial plan of stopping others from discovering that the lands we buy are rich in minerals. Anyhow, since they are in very close proximity to our mining grounds, I would like to utilize them and set up our basic metal production factories there." "Not only would that save a lot of transportation time and price, but those useless lands would also come to be economic and extremely profitable. To be honest, other than trying to mislead others and cover the potential of our fields, that was my plan all along. I never had any intention of leaving them as useless fields." Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 394 Tearful Yet Full of Happiness Clap~ Clap~ Clap~¡­ The sound of applaud resounded within the hall all of sudden. "You are a crafty and wise CEO indeed." "Thanks for the great compliment, master." Truly happy to hear those words which felt nothing but encouraging to him, the CEO ugly bowed thankfully. "That''s not your entire plan, right?" All of a sudden, a piercing glint that could see right through the CEO ugly was directed at him. "Y-yes, of course. As expected of Master." Stuttering a little, a shiver went down the CEO ugly''s spine as he confirmed, ''See! Just as I had assumed, he knows every step of my plan, he just enjoys hearing about them.'' Subsequently, he blurted the rest of his devious plan, "Also, by selling our ores at half the original price to rest of the world, not only is my goal to attract customers to ourselves, more importantly, I''m going to be snatching many basic metal production factories using this particular strategy. You know, since setting up factories takes some time, getting our hands on already prepared factories besides those we''re building would save a lot of our precious time, money, and energy and would instead add to our efficiency." "To be more specific regarding my plan. When we start selling our minerals and ores that can probably sustain the world at half the initial price, naturally the price of metal would plummet alongside with it. This means that if those metal production factories want to continue running without any loss and going bankrupt, they would need to procure ores from us." "However, I''m going to be choosing a selective few of those factories and refuse to sell them any ores. Like this, while the rest of those factories who we sell our merchandise to would naturally survive. The selected others would be having a rather difficult time making a living. I''ll be making my move then by offering them a satisfactorily high price in exchange for their factory. That''s my entire plan." Of course, that wasn''t everything he had in mind. "Now I know there are going to be many variables and problems popping alongside this plan of mine. But I''m confident that by acting at the appropriate time and place, by utilizing each piece at its most suitable location, I would be triumphant in achieving my goal." By the side, truly sensing the extent of the CEO ugly''s intelligence for the first time now that she was within a real physical body, the golden beauty couldn''t refrain from uttering, "Wow, you''re a genius, CEO ugly!" Meanwhile, hearing her complimenting him while still calling him ''CEO ugly'', the CEO ugly didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. All he knew was that he had just felt an arrow piercing through his metallic heart. Still, he didn''t forget to reply, "T-thank you, little sis." Hearing him call her ''little sis'' out of the blue, however, the golden beauty was stumped and caught off-guard for a while as she murmured, "L-little sis?" "Eh, did I perhaps cross the line here? I apologize if that''s the case, miss Bella." Feeling extremely pressured at the notion of making a mistake at the presence of their master, the CEO ugly was quick to apologize and fix his manner of addressing her. "N-no, no, no. Actually, it''s okay. Taking from a certain perspective, you''re not wrong either since we five did indeed come to exist in this world from the invaluable hands of the same master. So you''re not making an error here by calling me ''little sis'', I was just slightly surprised, is all." "Anyway, since you called me ''little sis'' already, I won''t be holding back and call you ''CEO ugly bro'' from now on. Is that okay?" Once again, the CEO ugly was simultaneously on the verge of both tears and ecstasy while he pondered powerlessly, ''The word ugly is still in there though¡­'' ''But it''s a start at least.'' Shaking his head in the end, he agreed, "Yes, that would be great, little sis." "You can call me ''Lil Belle'', ''Bella'', ''Little sis'', or whatever''s convenient for you, either one would be fine with me, CEO ugly bro." Beaming a bright radiance of happiness, the golden beauty suggested. Meanwhile, during the entire awkward conversation between the two, Virus was simply chucking as he did not say anything in rejection or agreement. This was because he never intended to butt in or interject in the matters regarding the relationship between the five. Unless it was necessary, of course. "Is there anything else you need to report or want from me?" Finally, Virus opened his mouth again at this point. "Um, the report is over, master. But¡­ I''ll need some capital for my plan to work, so-" Before he could even finish, however, a pitch-black card was thrown on the table. It was his personal [Virus] debit card. "Take as much as you want and just return the rest to me." "Yes, master." Bowing reverently, the CEO ugly turned around before leaving the presence of the two. "Shall we begin the session then?" Grinning at the golden beauty, Virus declared. ¡­ Afterward, returning to his own grand room, Virus sat on the couch cross-legged before closing both his piercing eyes. Soon, he could sense the entirety of his 12 Energy Pathways as clear as the day itself. "Sigh¡­" Thinking about his remaining three pairs of pathways that were going to stay locked forever, he couldn''t help but release a sigh. ''That''s such a shame indeed. But¡­ since there was no helping it, let''s move on.'' And with that, it seemed as if the entire feeling of pity had vanished from his heart as he no longer felt anything regarding the matter. Instead, focusing on the network of complex pairs of pathways, he began to deliberate, ''Hmm, now that I''m already in the initial phase of the 1st level of [Liberation], what I''m required to do is to start the fusion of the first pair of Yin and Yang Pathways.'' Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 395 Without A Warning! Nearly two weeks flew by quickly. During this time, other than eating the food that had been placed in front of his doorstep and sleeping for the least amount of time necessary every day, Virus was extremely persistent in his cultivation. And today, at last, like a thunderbolt, his eyelids fluttered open. ''Hmm, the unition rate between my first pair of Yin and Yang pathways ended up only around 30 percent after two weeks of diligent cultivation. Although this is still quite fast for normal cultivators, to me, it''s quite the opposite.'' ''It seems I would need to make some stuff that would hasten the process. But today''s the day of Guardian Examination, so I leave it for later.'' Having concluded this, he didn''t hesitate to pick up his phone as he called both the CEO and the Island ugly as he commanded the two to find him some crucial materials. ''I wonder if Lil Belle was successful in breaking through to Energy Disentanglement stage.'' A broad smile was displaying itself on Virus'' face at this point. He was indeed looking forward to hearing all about the golden beauty''s progress now. ¡­ TWO WEEKS AGO As the golden beauty returned to her own personal room which was right beside her master''s suite, she didn''t hesitate to walk before her queen-sized bed before sitting on it cross-legged. Next, prior to actually beginning, the golden beauty picked up many mini Virus dolls as she surrounded herself with them. It was only then that she closed both her eyes as she started her cultivation session. ¡­ Three days later. Presently, the golden beauty''s forehead was filled with perspiration as she continued persevering. She was clearly so tired that she was feeling the utmost limits of her tolerance at the moment. Still, she wasn''t one to give up easily. ''I''m almost there!'' Crack~ The instant that notion was just flickered in her head, within the interior of her physique, a cracking sound resounded. It was also in that very second when she felt as if an unbreakable wall that had been keeping her from progressing any further had been finally shattered! And then, she naturally began to sense the motes of energy within herself! "Eh?" However, it was what she sensed afterward which dumfounded her a great deal. ''Am I hallucinating perhaps? How could this be?'' The word ''disbelief'' could no longer even begin to describe what she was experiencing right now. ''Perhaps I''m not sensing the entire interior of my body? Yes¡­ that must be!'' And she was feeling this way, because, examining the interior of her own body, her eyes were witnessing something which simply did not make any sense to her. No sense at all! ''Didn''t master say even the most normal human beings possess twelve energy pathways?'' ''But then¡­ why?'' ''Why am I sensing only nine pathways within my body? This isn''t right!'' In the meantime, she was panicking a lot already since she didn''t understand why she had a fewer number of Energy Pathways than even a normal human being. Subsequently, she tried convincing herself that maybe since she had just broken through to the first level of Energy Disentanglement, just maybe she couldn''t feel the entirety of her energy pathways due to that reason. But deep down, without a shadow of a doubt, she was quite certain that anyone would be able to at least count the number of his or her own pathways from the moment that person breaks through to the Energy Disentanglement stage! And that''s why this illogical piece of news came as a big shock and even a hard blow to her. Not that she was expecting to awaken a full set of eighteen energy pathways like her master, but at least she was hoping to possess the most common twelve pathways which even the most normal humans had! "W-what should I do? Would Master be disappointed in me?" As her eyelids fluttered open, it was clear she was very worried that Virus might get greatly disappointed in her. Still, after a while of fidgeting, finally being successful in briefly calming herself, she decided. "It doesn''t matter if I have nine pathways or twelve pathways. Regardless, I''ll get a lot stronger and be of great help to Master one day! I swear on it!" Following that, as if she had been at last triumphant in convincing herself, shutting both her eyes, she could only proceed with her training. Her goal now was to break through to the 2nd level of Energy Disentanglement in one go! Just like that, soon, every ounce of internal energy within her 1st pathway were concentrated on the very first knot blocking her path of progress. If Virus was currently able to witness that knot within her, however, he would''ve been definitely amazed at how slack and loose the knot obstructing her 1st pathway was! Next, he would have definitely concluded untwisting that kind of entanglement was sure to be extremely easy and time-efficient. ¡­ In the blink of an eye, an entire week was gone. Right now, the golden beauty who had been diligently focusing her internal energy on the knot blocking her path for the past week had a mesmerizing grin drawn on her face. This was because after checking the current condition of the twist, it was clear to her that the twist would be gone at any seconds now. And indeed, half an hour later, the twist was disentangled at last as a smooth path revealed itself in front of her! Noticing this, grinning from ear to ear, without any delay whatsoever, the golden beauty pushed every drop of energy within her 1st pathway to the 2nd! As a result, she obviously entered the 2nd level of Energy Disentanglement! Yet, just as she was about to open her eyes and celebrate her breakthrough, something strange happened. Something which forced her to shudder in confusion again. Hua~ Hua~¡­ Within her physique, just as she entered the 2nd level of Energy Disentanglement, the internal energy within her seemed to begin bubbling and churning as it started to shoot up and go through a qualitative change without a single warning! Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 396 Test of Knowledge This was a sign that the quality of her energy was increasing! Nonetheless, soon, the transformation reached its ending point as many thoughts began to race within the golden beauty''s mind, ''Hmm? What''s this? If I''m not mistaken, nothing like this should''ve happened, right?!'' She remained addled for a long time after that. However, in the end, the only probable possibility she could think of was "Maybe it''s because I only have nine energy pathways which make it somewhat special? Hope that''s truly the case here.". That was indeed the best deduction she could make with her limited amount of knowledge at the moment. And to be honest, the thought of being somewhat special made her a lot happier and even less pressured compared to the time when she had just gotten to know she had only 9 Pathways. Notwithstanding, in the end, she could only put the matter aside while an even more intense determination flickered through her eyes as she became resolved to break through to the 3rd level of Energy Disentanglement. ''I need to cover my lack of talent with my efforts!'' Therefore, shutting down her eyes, she proceeded with her cultivation. ¡­ Several days later. Knock~ Knock~ Pounding on the door twice, Virus patiently waited for the golden beauty to open the door. And as expected, less than thirty seconds, the door was pushed open as he was greeted by her, "Master! Good morning!" "Hey, Lil Belle. Did you breakthrough?" Not trying to beat around the bush at all, he directly jumped at the question he was currently very curious about. "Ah, yes. I''m already in the Energy Disentanglement stage." Replied the golden beauty nonchalantly. However, recalling the complexities of her breakthrough, she seemed to turn a little despondent. And of course, Virus noticed this slight change in her mood. "Great! But is there perhaps something bothering you, Lil Belle?" Inquired Virus casually. He was determined to help her resolve the problem she was facing. If he could of course. However, shaking her head in the end, the golden beauty denied, "Not really, I''m just a little tired, is all." ''I-I''m really sorry for not telling you master. It''s just that I''d hate to let you down.'' She pondered as sadness filled her cute eyes while a sensation of guilt dominated her heart. Seeing her refusing to answer and clarify, Virus, of course, did not insist and instead changed the subject even, "Anyhow, I''m leaving to take my Guardian Exam, do you wanna tag along perhaps?" "Umm, if it''s okay with you, master, I''d like to continue my closed-door cultivation." Even though he did not admit it, this response of the golden beauty shocked Virus somewhat. He never imagined he would see a day where Bella would reject his invitation to tag along. "Huh? Uh, I mean, sure. No problem, then you can stay in your room and proceed with your training." "Thank you, master! I''ll see you when you return then!" Uttering that, she shut the door close right in his face. "¡­" "This girl." Eventually, these two words were the only things Virus muttered before he turned around and left with a helpless chuckle. ¡­ After strolling into New York''s Abnormals Association, Virus directly walked over to the counter as he inquired from the familiar woman. "Hello, again. So¡­ where should I be going in order to take the exam?" Taking a close look at Virus'' face, the woman promptly remembered the familiar dark-haired youth as she replied, "Oh, hi, you''re here!" "You need to go into that class there and take the Test of Knowledge first. Only if you can pass that test can you move on to the next parts of the examination? Hope you studied well." After expressing her brief concern, she also didn''t forget to warn him, "Also, don''t try to cheat, you''ll be discovered." "Oh, see you soon then." Muttering this, Virus didn''t dilly-dally in the least before walking toward the relevant door. As he approached the door, he was asked for the piece of paper he was granted at the time of signing up for the examination. After handing that over, someone guided him to his own respective desk. By the sides, there were around ten other people who were occupying some of the seats already. ¡­ Around fifteen minutes later, someone ambled into the classroom in a leisurely manner before he distributed the papers among the Guardian candidates. The man also didn''t forget to mention a very strict rule. "All those who cheat will be disqualified without any second chances. Bear that in mind." Grabbing the paper in front of him, Virus couldn''t prevent an amused grin from forming on his face as he thought, ''Test of Knowledge, was it?'' To be truthful, not even once did he open a single book that was part of the required syllabus. In actuality, this section was an extremely important part of being a guardian since reading those recommended books would be very helpful in increasing the chances of Guardians in various harsh conditions. Now a few of those books were respectively "Survival in the Wid", "Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine", "What to Eat When There''s Nothing to Eat?", "A Compilation of Various Martial Arts", "Strategic Battle", "Everything about the Rifts", "Everything You Need to Know about the Abnormals", etc. Such essential books were part of the required syllabus that one ''had'' to learn before trying to become a Guardian. But indeed, Virus had studied none of the aforementioned. Of course, that was the case since there was no need for him to study in the first place. As his eyes fell upon the first question, his mind directly connected to the world. Subsequently, after effectively finding the relevant book and referring to its requested information, he directly copy-pasted the answer without anything more or less. This process went very smoothly as Virus proceeded to answer the questions one after another. Meanwhile, the exam invigilator seemed totally out of it as he was currently reading a certain book without even checking if the examinees were cheating or not. Due to this odd behavior from the invigilator, everyone was just about to bring their guards down and start cheating one way or another. However, it was exactly in this moment, when abruptly, standing up, the invigilator ambled before a certain examinee as he picked his answer sheet and ripped it apart. "Get out. You''re disqualified." He said expressionlessly. While on the other hand, seeing his answer sheet ripped into shreds, the angered examinee barked, "Why did you rip my paper!!!" "Isn''t that clear? Because you cheated." Still as relaxed as before, he mouthed casually. "Who says that!? Then prove that I cheated!" With his saliva splashing around, the examinee screamed. It was clear he was not going to be convinced unless there was some kind of proof that proved him guilty. Not even bothering to respond, the invigilator simply reached out his arm as he plucked something out of that examinee''s ear. "Here." Putting the small communication device on the examinee''s palm, the invigilator no longer bothered himself with the stunned man as he twirled around and returned to his seat before picking up his book once again. Watching the entire play, a shiver went down everyone''s spine as many of them immediately decided against cheating. Of course, that wasn''t the case for Virus, who instead of shivering, chuckled in response while deducing, ''Some kind of trait which can sense everything that''s happening within a certain range.'' ''Alas, you still can''t discover my connection to the world which is literally the best tool for cheating.'' Frankly, Virus could''ve memorized everything in less than even a single nanosecond before entering the class in order to take the exam. He could do it even now. However, for the mere entertainment of it, he wasn''t willing to do it. Instead, currently, he was directly writing everything he saw within the book without bothering to even understand what exactly it was saying. ''Cheating is amusing indeed, hehe¡­ now discover me cheating if you can.'' That notion of his was also followed by another. ''To be able to cheat without being caught red-handed should also be an important skill good Guardians need to master in their own unique way. Though I admit my method of cheating is a bit of a cheat in itself. Haha¡­'' A provocative smirk was now clearly hanging from the corner of his mouth. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 397 The Lis During the rest of Test of Knowledge, another cheater was discovered and thrown out by the invigilator. Afterward, no longer did anyone dare to cheat as they finally understood the invigilator must be some type of Abnormal with a trait that helps him prevent others from cheating. To that, they could only think helplessly, ''Damn it, isn''t his trait a cheat for being an invigilator?!'' ¡­ It had been only thirty minutes since the start of the two hours long examination when suddenly, noise arose from a certain desk. And looking over, everyone noticed the dark-haired youth going ahead as he handed over his answer sheet to the invigilator. This promptly shocked everyone at first before they shook their heads while various thoughts of disappointment went through their mind. ''There''s no way anyone would be able to answer everything in just half an hour. Even within the entire two hours, some would be barely able to answer more than half of the questions. The only possibility is that he must be leaving since he hasn''t studied at all.'' ''Sigh, that dude Victor Goodwin, what a disappointment he is. He should''ve studied a little at least.'' Obviously, this person knew Virus''s name since everyone''s identity was attached to their own respective seats in a very large font. ''Must be another one of those people who had come to the class with the hope of cheating. What a loser.'' These were some of the notions that popped into the examinees'' head. However, the point was, no one reasoned that Virus might''ve been truly finished with his examination. They all assumed he was merely leaving after experiencing the horrifying level of Test of Knowledge for himself! Nonetheless, as the invigilator received his paper, he couldn''t help himself but throw a deep glance at Virus'' face. He could''ve sworn he had previously sensed a wicked yet challenging smirk from this man as he appeared to be the only one who was totally unfazed by him catching cheaters one after another. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he studied all over this participant''s physique in secret, he could not find anything wrong with him. But now that he saw him standing up and coming over in order to hand his paper over to him, he couldn''t help but shake his head in some disappointment and regret. ''Sigh, so he wasn''t anything special after all. What a let-down, I expected more from him.'' Of course, he didn''t hesitate to accept his piece of paper before telling him to wait or return in two hours in order to receive the results of Test of Knowledge and to see whether he advances to the next test or not. Throwing a simple nod at the man, Virus exited the classroom as he strolled toward the counter casually. "Eh, you''re done already?" Next, he was faced with the surprised and soon regretful face of the lady in charge of reception. "Sigh, don''t lose hope, you can pass the exam next month if you study well." She said. Still, she couldn''t stop herself from lowering the image of this young man in her heart. It was also at this exact moment when she decided that she was not going to give him any chances to court herself. Beaming a casual grin at her, Virus didn''t argue or deny. Instead, he unfussily decided to not bother himself with her as he exited the Abnormals Association at once. He was leaving because he wanted to make the best out of these two hours. Soon, he was walking on the crowded streets of New York as he enjoyed the various sightings he was perceiving. People calling a taxi, buying food from the various food trucks, and couples walking side by side were the most unique sights that attracted his attention to themselves. A while later, feeling hungry himself, he also didn''t hesitate to walk over as he ordered a burger from a certain busy food truck. ¡­ Just like that, in what felt like a simple snap of one''s fingers, two hours flew by. Throughout this time, Virus continued to enjoy his burger to its very last bite. And in the end, as he was done, it was finally time for the announcement of results, thus, he strolled back into the Abnormals Association. ¡­ "Huh? He''s back?" One of the examinees cried, attracting the attention of the rest of the examinees together with even the receptionist''s awareness to himself. "Eh, why would he come back?" Deliberated the receptionist in confusion. She could not understand why he would bother returning. "Does he want to be a laughing stock among us by being an utter failure?" "Hahaha, that must be it. What a loser." "You guys, lower your voices! How can you be so rude right into someone''s face!" A certain tempting Asian girl voiced while furrowing her brows. She was one of the several people who never mouthed a single word of ridicule about Virus. "So what if he hears? Are we saying anything wrong? We''re just stating facts! Facts, you hear me?" Another replied in return. Right now, visible contempt was radiating from his eyes since what he hated the most in the world were failures. "The results are out!" Suddenly, a piece of paper was attached to the wall, alluring everyone to itself like moths to a flame. Of course, Virus also walked over. But unlike others who wanted to check their own personal grade, he wanted to find out if there was anyone else who he might find interesting. Notwithstanding, as the group of moths walked before the flame, suddenly, as they took a look on top of the results paper, an absolute silence descended upon the room. It was as if all of the moths had died tragically as quietness returned to the flame. And indeed, after taking a casual glimpse of the list, especially the top, barely anyone could believe what he or she was seeing. [1. Victor Goodwin ¨C 100/100 (Full marks), Pass] [2. Anastasia Foster ¨C 99/100, Pass] [3. Ismail Archer ¨C 74/100, Pass] [4. Damian Cline ¨C 68/100, Pass] [5. Abby Wu ¨C 67/100, Pass] [6. Lydia Ross ¨C 52/100, Pass] [7. Ian Brown ¨C 51/100, Pass] [8. Rita Buck ¨C 48/100, Fail] [9. Amir Gross ¨C 39/100, Fail] [10. Lukas Wang ¨C Failure due to cheating] [11. Mason Holland ¨C Failure due to cheating] Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 398 Lydia Ross Many jaws had already dropped on the ground because the number one seat had been taken away exactly by the person that some of them had been calling a ''loser''! Even more shocking was the fact that the loser had obtained full marks! "H-how is this even possible¡­" Came the stuttering sound of the man who had been formerly mocking Virus while scolding the cute Asian girl and telling her that he was merely stating ''facts''. His name was Amir Gross and he was currently stuttering because of his utter failure in passing the exam. Well, now it was a ''fact'' that he failed instead as he was experiencing the thing he hated the most in the world, failure. "Oh, everyone, look! The second spot is also taken by that loner beauty! She''s a single point lesser than full marks! Wow, she''s super smart too!" Said Damian Cline, the number four on the ranking of Test of Knowledge, while pointing at an alluring woman who had been quiet from the start of the first test until now. In fact, this particular woman had never approached anyone to start a conversation with. No one had tried approaching her either since she had this unapproachable aura to herself. Meanwhile, looking at the name occupying the second place, an interested glint went through Virus'' eyes before he directed his sight toward the said person, Anastasia Foster. And exactly at the same time, Anastasia also happened to look over as their gazes met and intertwined briefly. Simultaneously, the tempting Asian girl''s gaze was also secretly locked on Virus'' figure. She was amazed by the person called ''Victor Goodwin''. "Okay, all those who passed the exam, follow me." Declared the invigilator who had remained quiet until now. ¡­ Soon, the seven lucky candidates were led to a rather big hall. Subsequently, while pointing at the orderly placed rows and columns of practice dummies at the front, the invigilator began explaining, "In this hall, using these facilities, you''ll be going through the second examination, the Test of Power." "But before we start, I''ll clarify some matters regarding the incoming tests from now onwards." Phrasing this, he went on, "First, from this moment on, in each test, everyone will be graded from one star to five, with five stars being the highest." "Keep in mind that you''ll pass as long as you obtain even a single star at each test. However, if you are not even able to earn yourself a single star, you''ll naturally fail since you and your Trait will be considered too week for the Guardian occupation." "Also, each orderly column of practice dummies are placed according to their level of hardness as their order of placement is, from the easiest to break to the hardest and they are respectively the plastic dummy, the wooden dummy, the clay dummy, the rock dummy, the iron dummy, the dummy made from the bones of a one-star monster which we will call one-star bone dummy, the dummy made from the bones of a two-star monster, aka two-star bone dummy, and so forth." "That is all for now. If you have any other questions, ask. If not, we shall start." And with this, he momentarily stopped talking. However, almost immediately, Ian Brown, the person who had barely passed the first exam, raised his hand as he questioned, "Um, sir, who are those people that are watching us from behind those huge glass windows." Indeed, right now, some people were watching them from a large room which was separated from the hall by a gigantic see-through glass wall. Hearing the question though, the invigilator could only scorn before responding, "You don''t even know that and you''re here to the take the Guardian exams? Those people are the representatives from the various guilds, of course!" "They are naturally here to judge you guys for themselves and try poaching those with potential before others snatch you." "Alright, if that''s all, we shall begin the test. The first participant is you yourself, Ian Brown, step up and start from the first evaluation target, the plastic dummy." "Yes, sir." Stepping forward, Ian walked before the first column of the practice dummies. Then, standing before the plastic dummy, he raised both his palms, and before soon, his nails started growing somewhat larger and sharper before he slashed at the plastic dummy with them. Swish~ Swish~ Swish~¡­ A minute later, many deep scratches took shape on the body of the plastic dummy as Ian stood there while trying to catch his breath. Seeing the plastic dummy which hadn''t even broken apart, however, furrowing his brows, the invigilator barked, "Hmph, you idiot, you''re supposed to attack only once, didn''t you read about that in the guide booklet. Let''s just forget about that. The thing here is that even after so many attacks, you couldn''t even rip that simple plastic dummy apart and you''re here to be a Guardian!" "For this, You can''t even get a single star. Sigh¡­you fail. Please leave. Try to increase the power of your nails before you come back and take another shot at this." "W-what¡­" Ian''s eyes immediately went wide in disbelief. He couldn''t believe he had failed just like that. In the end, as his head was filled with the picture of his bleak future full of debts of money, he could only lower his head and leave the area with red eyes of anger and grief. "Next in line, Lydia Ross, come forth." "Yes." While displaying her adorable dimples, an extremely cute African-American woman stepped forward. Meanwhile, the rest of the participants waited for this beauty to show her trait and sate their curiosity. The same situation was taking place within the large room of the representatives. Next, just as everyone was expecting some type of beautiful trait or something to pop up, Lydia opened her mouth and¡­ Spat! Boom! As her spit connected to the first plastic dummy, as if a bomb had dropped on it, the dummy instantly exploded into many bits! Nothing remained of the first dummy! Everyone''s eyes nearly popped out of their respective sockets as they witnessed this unexpected scene. They were dumbstruck at once. Not even in their wildest dreams did they think of a Trait like this from the beautiful girl. Of course, Lydia was not one to wait for others to regain their senses as she spat on the second dummy and¡­ Boom! Successfully annihilated it! Then, this process continued as one dummy after another was destroyed! Ptooey! Boom~ ¡­ Ptooey! Boom~ ¡­ Ptooey! Boom! Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 399 Anastasia Foster Ptooey! Boom! Finally, when she spat on the sixth dummy, the one-star bone dummy, the dummy was, at last, barely able to keep its rough shape. "What''s my grade for this test, Mr. invigilator?" Staring at the invigilator, Lydia inquired while maintaining an innocent face as if she hadn''t just killed an army with nothing but her spit. A while later, still having not received any responses in return, Lydia could only repeat at the dazed man. "Mr. invigilator!" "Ah, Y-yes. Y-your grade for the Test of Power is two stars." "Em, but, wasn''t I only able to deal damage to a one-star bone dummy? Shouldn''t I receive a single star, then?" "Haha¡­ of course not. You see, being able to harm a one-star bone dummy means you would at least be able to harm the flesh of a two-star monster. Even though breaking its bones might prove to be rather difficult, in the bare minimum, you might be able to kill it by injuring its flesh and other fatal organs. Moreover, you''ve inflicted this much damage in a single attack. Therefore, you get two-stars indeed." "Yay!" Fully understanding the situation now, Lydia jumped in elation before retreating. Meanwhile, Ismail Archer, the third ranker on the previous Test of Knowledge, mouthed speechlessly, "I-is this the famous act of killing with a mere spit?" "I-I suppose though. I just can''t imagine who might dare kiss that mouth." Damian articulated as an intense shiver went down his spine at the mere picture of such a scene where a man would explode to countless gory bits. He thought although Lydia was extremely beautiful, it would take balls for someone to be her boyfriend. And even if one did indeed find the balls to do so, he seriously doubted that person would live to tell all about it. Subsequently, Abby Wu, the tempting Asian girl, who also happened to possess cute dimples, stepped forward before stopping in front of the next row of intact dummies. Following that, she promptly took out a handgun from within her special purse before aiming it at the plastic dummy. The moment she aimed the gun, however, a strange light seemed to enter the handgun from within her palms as it instantly started to transform the gun somewhat! Soon, the handgun was done transforming as a more futuristic version of the same model was now being held within Abby''s palm who didn''t hesitate to pull the trigger! Bam~ The next moment, in the middle of the plastic dummy''s forehead, a hole was visible for everyone to see. Of course, not stopping there, she took a shot at the stronger dummy and continued the repetitive process. ¡­ "You''re good, Abby Wu. You get two stars too." Announced the invigilator in an awestruck manner. Simultaneously, a legendary scene was replaying itself within his mind. The scene of a particular abnormal who was covered in pitch-black scales as he shot the terrifying flying pig of the past into smithereens right before everyone''s eyes! The Dark Savior! "Thank you, mister." Truly happy with her results, Abby Wu thanked the man. "En, you should be proud, I think you even have the potential to be someone like the Dark Savior in the future." Nodding in satisfaction, the invigilator mouthed. This was his sincere opinion coming from his heart. Hearing about the Dark Savior, Abby Wu''s mind promptly jumped back to recalling a particular video she had seen just a few days ago. The video of the Dark Savior''s appearance in Shanghai where he killed the even more horrifying Plant Kraken! Therefore, as her eyes were now exuding a monstrous degree of zeal and enthusiasm, she announced with unshakeable determination, "That''s my goal! To keep up with my idol and even surpass him one day!" ¡­ After Abby, it was Damian Cline''s turn to go through the test. It was soon revealed that his trait was to turn his legs into iron. But in the end, he only received ''one-star'' since his damage wasn''t that high even though his legs literally turn into Iron. ¡­ "Ismail Archer." "Yes, sir." With a bow at hand, Ismail walked closer before he simply pulled the string of his bow without putting any arrows in it. Stupefyingly, however, the moment he began pulling its string back, on the bow, a shiny arrow started forming, until he finally let go where the illuminating arrow successfully hit its intended target. ¡­ "Two stars." "Thank you, sir." ''The family name ''Archer'' is really well-suited and appropriate for this dude.'' Meanwhile, the same opinion was going through everyone''s head. ¡­ "Anastasia Foster." Finally, the much anticipated second ranker was called while even Virus'' interest seemed to have been peaked once more. ''I wonder what her trait is¡­'' Lydia, Abby, Ismail, and the other participants'' attention seemed to have been flickered too. Nevertheless, being called, Anastasia didn''t voice a single word as she merely ambled before the plastic dummy. Then¡­ Astonishingly, both her arms were abruptly covered in red flames. Although they didn''t really seem to be flames, only the word red ''flame'' was capable of describing it. Bang~ Regardless, as the red flame-like stuff was covering her hands, Anastasia didn''t hesitate to punch the plastic dummy before shredding it into countless pieces. ''That''s¡­'' Taking a close glimpse of the flame-like stuff surrounding Anastasia''s arms, an odd light was flickered within Virus'' eyes as he thought of something. Eventually, though, he could only put the matter aside temporarily and proceed with watching the rest of the show instead. Afterward, one dummy after another was punched in smithereens until, finally, it was the turn for the sixth dummy. ''This should be her limit. No one was able to fully destroy the sixth one.'' This type of notion was passing through the minds of everyone present as they expected Anastasia to be incapable of annihilating the sixth one-star bone dummy. Boom~ The following moment, however, as if to prove them wrong, she broke it apart. "Oh!" Many shocked gasps could be heard immediately. Simultaneously, the eyes of many of the representatives started to shine like never before. In the meantime, not pausing there, Anastasia moved to the seventh two-star bone dummy, and next, while both her arms were still covered in red-flames, she took a punch at it. Bang! This time, even though the bone was dented rather badly, she wasn''t successful in harming it fully. Thus, this was the end of the Test of Power for Anastasia. Refusing to utter a word even now, Anastasia merely started staring at the invigilator, meaning, she wanted to know her grade. "A-ah¡­ you get three-stars." With a few droplets of sweat covering his forehead, the man declared. With that, Anastasia retreated as Virus'' name was called in return. "Victor Goodwin!" At once, everyone''s eyes were now focused on Virus'' figure. Everyone was truly curious and looking forward to the results of this dark-haired man. ''I wonder what kind of trait he has?'' "I wonder, would he be able to get to the same level as that monster, Anastasia Foster?" Pronounced one of the representatives. "That should be impossible. It''s not every day you see a monster like her. He would achieve two-stars at most." Shaking his head, the other representative denied the possibility. "Well, that''s true. It''s probably just that he''s a little smart in the head. Nothing special." Tap~ Tap~ Tap~ The noise of his steps reverberated as Virus casually walked before his own column of dummies. Then, everyone was still waiting for him to display his own unique Trait when¡­ He directly punched the first dummy! BAM! The first dummy was gone! BAM! The second dummy¡­ also gone! BAM! The third dummy¡­ nowhere! BAM! The fourth dummy¡­ no longer there! BAM! The fifth dummy¡­ a matter of the past! BAM! The sixth dummy¡­ no longer exited! BAM! The seventh¡­ not! BAM! In the end, even the eighth three-star bone dummy disappeared! However, it was exactly in this very moment when Virus stopped on his own accord. Although he could still proceed to the ninth four-star bone dummy and try his luck¡­ for some reason, he did not. Still, everything that happened in these mere dozen seconds had already left a deep image in everyone''s mind, leaving their mouths dry while they could only stare dumbfoundedly at the terrifying scene in front of them with their eyes already opened twice their previous absolute limits! Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 400 Four Stars! "F-Four stars!!!" Screamed one of the representatives in stupefaction. Neither he nor anyone else could believe this dark-haired youth was able to break the bones of three-star dummy that effortlessly! None of those present at the scene had ever witnessed a scene where a newcomer would be able to smash a three-star bone dummy on his very first time of participating in the Guardian Examination! To them, this was an unprecedented event as he was indeed the absolute dark horse of this round of competitions. "J-just who is he¡­ so strong!" "I-I don''t know who he is! But he''s definitely going to join our Dominators Guild, don''t any of you dare try stealing him from us! You should now, being unnecessarily greedy would trouble you." A certain man pushed his spectacles behind as he mouthed a word of threat at everyone else. And as a matter of fact, with that single threat of his, many of the representatives who belonged to the weaker-ranked guilds retreated feebly. They didn''t dare offend the superpower that was the [Dominators] guild! Still, a harrumph soon resounded throughout the area which had been allocated to the representatives. "Hmph! Who do you think the Dominators are? We''re not afraid of you, so do whatever you want. The [Weapon Stars] guild is taking him under our wing." A gorgeous woman spoke without trying to hold back in the least. "Calm down, everyone, we should see how he does in the incoming tests first, if he simply possesses strength without being able to utilize it properly, that doesn''t really matter." A beguiling old man suddenly talked at this moment, forcing everyone to grow quiet immediately. ¡­ "Eh, why did everyone go quiet after that stylish old man talked?" A young representative who was experiencing his first time in trying to scout new Guardians whispered in confusion to his friend. "H-he''s from the [Guardians of America]." Promptly understanding the situation, the newbie representative''s eyes went wide as he confirmed his comprehension, "I-I see." ¡­ "Do you think you could''ve harmed the ninth four-stars dummy?" Just as everyone had gone quiet, pushing his spectacles back, the man from the [Dominators] guild questioned. "I don''t think so. I believe he stopped because he knew his limits. But that''s a good thing, in our line of work, those who understand the limitations of their power usually come to live a longer life." Shaking her head, the gorgeous woman from the Weapon Stars replied. In fact, the same notion was going through everyone''s head. They didn''t believe the dark-haired youth, Victor Goodwin, would''ve been able to harm the four-star bone dummy in the least. To them, the notion of him being able to even damage that dummy was simply an absurd idea. Hence, all of them vaguely nodded their heads in response to those logical words of hers. ¡­ Meanwhile, in the hall of the Test of Power, everyone''s scalps had long gone numb as they continued staring at Victor''s figure aghast. They didn''t quite get how they should be feeling about the scene they had just witnessed. Even Anastasia''s eyes were wide open at the moment as she could not take her eyes off of Victor, not even for a second. "Aren''t you going to announce my results, Mr. invigilator?" Noticing his result wasn''t being confirmed even after a long time, Virus could only remind the man helplessly. "O-oh, yeah! Victor Goodwin, you get four stars! C-congratulations, from the time I''ve started working here, this is the highest I''ve seen anyone score in this test." "Well, thanks for the compliment." At this instant, gasping sounds reverberated among the candidates. If the notion of him getting four stars was a possibility before, it was now a reality! "H-he''s amazing!" Awestruck, Abby exclaimed. "Yeah! He''s the best! It''s my first time seeing such a strong newbie¡­ he just got here to be Guardian but he''s already that strong! Who knows how powerful he would get when he actually goes hunting and consumes some Red-Crystals!" Lydia also agreed. That shine within her eyes was screaming that she had come to like this man called Victor a lot. Well, that was to be expected since she always used to adore the powerful. "¡­" Predictably, although Anastasia was impressed by him, she refused to open her mouth. ¡­ Simultaneously, in China, Hu Yuexin was also going through her Test of Power. Bang! Charging at the sixth dummy, she destroyed it entirely. Of course, not stopping there, she stormed at the seventh one. Lamentably, she was only able to inflict very light damage which nearly wasn''t worth mentioning. This was her current limit of strength. ''Sigh, this is my absolute limit for now. If I only had more time to¡­'' She deliberated in some frustration. She strongly believed that if only she had more time to gather more and better materials, she would''ve been able to get an even better upgrade to herself. "Hu Yuexin, since you were only able to lightly damage the seventh two-star bone dummy, you barely get three-stars. Of course, that still counts as a full three-stars since the evaluation doesn''t go that much into details. So congratulations." The person in charge of watching over the tests announced. "Thank you." "Now, everyone, let''s move on to the next test, the Test of Speed." ¡­ Very soon, Virus'' group of candidates were brought to another hall as their eyes landed upon the middle section of the hall where there was an area that had been covered in a dome of glass. Moreover, there were also many holes all over the dome, and behind those holes, many modified baseball Pitching Machines were installed. "These dozens of Pitching Machines you see have been specially designed for the purpose of this test. Keep in mind that they are very different and even much more powerful than a normal Pitching Machine." Briefly explaining the construction surrounding this particular test, the invigilator also didn''t forget to add, "Anyway, the rules for this test, called Test of Speed, is the same as the previous test, Test of Power." "Moving on to the purpose, all you need to do is to dodge the random balls that have been thrown at you within this dome of speed." He clarified while pointing at the dome. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 401 By The Nose "Also, remember, as more time passes, the speed at which the balls are projected at you increases. Not only that, if you last long enough, from a certain point onwards, the number of balls hurled and curled in your direction also increases. I guess that should right about sum up everything you need to know and will really be of any concern to you." Finalizing his elaboration, he called up, "First participant, Lydia Ross, step forward." "Yes." Coming forward, Lydia couldn''t help but question warily, "But¡­ Mr. invigilator, won''t I get hurt if I''m hit with those baseballs?" "Hahaha¡­ don''t worry, all of the balls were made using a special type of softer material which won''t harm your body easily until a certain limit in time is reached where the speed will be too fast which would make even the special soft baseball dangerous. Furthermore, from that point onwards, with each passing second, the danger level increases respectively." Not stopping there, he shed light on the matter more, "Anyway, that danger point starts from the fourth minutes onwards. Before that, there''s no need for you to be worried about your safety." "But-" Even more anxious now, Lydia was about to say something only to be interrupted before she could even start. "Hahaha, as I said, don''t be afraid, I''m quite confident none of you would be able to get that far without breaking into a sweat." Nodding in some relief, at last, Lydia no longer hesitated before entering the glassy dome. Sometime later, she was in the process of awkwardly dodging the baseballs that were being pitched at her from all directions. Unfortunately, before long, a ball hit her. "56 seconds, you barely pass as one star. You need to work on your speed and capability of dodging, Lydia. Only having a killer spit won''t do shit in the real battleground. I mean, if you''re like this¡­ before you even have the chance to spit on your enemies, the monsters, you''d be dead thousand times over and over again." Shaking his head, the invigilator advised the young girl to train a lot more so as to cover the shortcomings of her trait. In truth, in the real world, Lydia could not even be eligible to be given ''barely one star''. It was just that the examination standards were rather easy-going against the newcomers. "Yes, mister." A little disheartened, Lydia retreated. ¡­ "Next, Abby Wu." Soon, as the Asian temptress walked into the room, she started darting around as numerous balls missed her body. In fact, she wasn''t that fast really, it was just that her footwork was extremely good and therefore, she was able to evade the balls with the minimum amount of movement. Still, less than two minutes later, the hardballs became too quick for her to evade, at that time, just as everyone was thinking she was about to get hit, suddenly, taking out her handgun from its holster, she took a shot at the incoming balls that was about to hit her, therefore successfully blasting them away as they missed her. In this way, she was able to keep herself from getting hit several times. But in the end, that method just wasn''t efficient enough as a ball finally connected to her body. "Abby Wu, two minutes and forty-five seconds. I would say you''re almost at the peak of one-star. Still, whether it''s barely one star or peak one star, notwithstanding, it merely counts as one star. So, we can even say there''s no difference between yours and Lydia''s grade in this test." Noticing Abby seemingly hurt by his claim, as a word of comfort, he also added while nodding, "Anyway, good job, you just need to continue training and persisting through and you''d be able to attain two-stars before long." He was indeed more satisfied with her compared to Lydia. Afterward, not dilly-dallying about the useless stuff, he went on to address the following candidate. "Damian Cline, it''s your turn." "Yes! But before I start, can I ask something too?" Confirming the call, Damian queried. "Go ahead." "Um, can you please tell me the timing required for each star?" "Hmm¡­ of course, even though that''s been already printed within the guide booklet, I''ll repeat it again so listen well. You see, if you last between 55 seconds to 3 minutes you will get a single star, If you remain in the room between three minutes to six minutes without being hit, you will be considered to have earned two-stars. Anyway, the list goes on like this, with each advancement in star covering the next following three minutes." "Oh, got it, appreciate the clarification." Saying this, Damian ran into the glass room at once. Regrettably, though, he soon walked out of the glassy area with his head lowered and dispirited. "29 seconds. Sigh, you''re not eligible enough to even get a single star. Unfortunately, I would have to ask you to leave this area and try again later when you''re faster." Announced the invigilator with some traces of pity apparent in his tone. Left with no other options, the iron leg, Damian Cline, could only leave. Fortunately, before he could leave the Abnormals Association''s building, a representative showed up before him and told him he would like to make an invitation to their guild. He was being scouted as a potential Guardian member. With that, a happy grin formed on Damian''s face as he left with the man. Now that he had the support of a guild, as long as his speed progresses, he was sure to get another chance at the examination. ¡­ Subsequently, Ismail Archer also went through the test. Fortunately, he was able to heave a sigh of relief since he was able to narrowly get a single star and move on to the next test, just like Lydia. ¡­ "Anastasia Foster." Called the man in charge of the testing. Once again, as quiet as ever, the silent beauty ambled into the room as she began her dance of evasion. Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 402 A Gaze Full of Meaning While everyone persevered in watching her dance in awe, for nearly an entire two minutes, Anastasia was able to evade every incoming ball while utilizing nothing but her maneuver technique and body alone. However, at this time, the speed escalated once again as a type of ball that she was definitely not going to be able to dodge was shot in her direction. Thereupon, just as everyone was thinking the test of speed was going to be over for her soon, abruptly, both her legs and eyes were set aflame as they were instantly covered in the previous scarlet-red flames. Thenceforward, she once again earned her momentum as she was easily able to dodge the baseballs without any difficulties. And looking at her relaxed face, everyone got this weird vibe as if she was casually taking a walk in the park. "S-she¡­ that red flame-like stuff coating her eyes and legs¡­ doesn''t¡­ doesn''t she look somewhat similar to those special types of red flame-armored monsters right now?" As Abby uttered this in absolute shock and dismay, the same feeling promptly transferred to the rest of the candidates and even the invigilator himself. "S-she¡­ her trait is similar to those monsters? How can this be?" He uttered. He also simultaneously decided. ''I¡­ I need to report this to the higher-ups. This could be crucial information.'' Meanwhile, from the moment Anastasia''s eyes and legs were shrouded in that scarlet flame-stuff, an incomprehensible shine traveled through Virus'' eyes as he concluded, ''So previously I wasn''t mistaken when I saw her arms covered in that strange fire¡­ her trait is indeed very similar to those monsters coated in red flame-like matters, the monsters that possess the Red-Crystals in themselves.'' In the meantime, not paying any heed to the visible perturbation within everyone''s eyes, Anastasia continued dancing and avoiding the balls, and before soon, the three minutes mark was broken through by her. "Ah, she can already get two stars!" Exclaimed Abby. Clearly, a hint of jealousy was apparent within her tone. Regardless, the second the three minutes count was over, the number of balls sent at the same time also started growing. When the timer surpassed three minutes and a half, the number of balls increased to five as their speed also nearly doubled in a few seconds! Still, it didn''t seem like Anastasia was feeling any pressure from any of this as she continued dodging. When the timer hit three minutes and forty-five seconds, the number of balls once again increased to seven! Naturally, the speed also began increasing! Finally, at this point, some traces of struggle became apparent on Anastasia''s face. She was, at last, starting to feel the tension around herself. Nevertheless, the timer soon hit four minutes! At that moment, the number of balls instantly increased to ten as once again their speed increased to twice that of before. From this moment onward, each ball would have the capability of harming people! Despite all of this, however, Anastasia proceeded to evade the balls while gradually, sweat was obviously pouring down her nice face. After that, when the concurrent number of balls had just reached fourteen and the timer had struck five minutes, an even more horrifying growth in speed was felt. It was precisely in that fraction of a second when Anastasia''s eyes were no longer able to follow the balls as a few of them promptly connected to her body! Crack~ CRACK! "STOP THE BALLS!" Yelled the invigilator in horror as he shot into the dome the following instant. Next, examining Anastasia''s current condition, his face went a little pale as he murmured, "A few of her bones must''ve been broken." ''How is she still refusing to talk or growl in pain¡­ only her face seems to be screaming in pain with its contortion¡­'' This useless notion also flickered past the invigilator''s mind. Afterward, he didn''t hesitate to press the emergency button. One of the reasons why the Guardian Examination was so expensive is the need to hire the necessary professional Guardians in order to oversee the tests. And naturally one of the hired Guardians would have to have the ability to heal the candidates in case something dangerous happened. Thus, the moment the invigilator had noticed the injury on Anastasia''s figure, he had not hesitated at all to call the respective healer over. Subsequently, not even a single minute had passed, when a Guardian came running as she began the process of healing immediately. Amazingly, before long, Anastasia was once again as good as new. The only noticeable change in her appearance was the fact that she looked somewhat pale now. ''Hmm, this woman must be a top-ranked healer for her to be even able to heal her broken bones in a matter of minutes.'' Just as Virus thought this, the healer lady began talking as she warned Anastasia, "Try to rest as much as possible. My Trait is only able to use your own blood in order to mend your wounds and broken bones, so you should be somewhat experiencing blood loss within your body at the moment." After carefully listening to the healer''s advice, although she still didn''t open her mouth to utter a word, a startlingly moving smile took shape on Anastasia''s face. That smile was directed at the healer. ''Is this her way of saying thanks?'' Feeling amused at her smile which she could only call heavenly, the woman didn''t delay responding, "You''re welcome. But seriously, you should smile more, it''s too beautiful." With that, after telling the invigilator to not hesitate to summon her when someone got hurt, the lady vanished somewhere. After watching the kind lady disappear, abruptly, Anastasia began staring at the invigilator without mouthing anything in return. Being under her persistent gaze which seemed to be requesting something of him, the invigilator broke out in cold sweats. "I¡­ are you trying to tell me something?" Asked the confused man. He was indeed lost at what to do. Everyone else was feeling the same way. Luckily, just as he was no longer able to tolerate that intense gaze of hers, one of the candidates, Victor Goodwin to be precise, saved him, "Sigh, she''s telling you to confirm her grade. Why do you keep forgetting that, man." Finally realizing the meaning behind those eyes, breaking into laughter, he announced, "O-oh, hahaha¡­ yes, yes, yes, sorry about that. You get two stars! Congratulations, you''re the best so far!" Please go to to read the latest chapters for free 403 Some Challenge Perhaps? "Victor Goodwin, go." Finally being called, everyone was expecting Virus to obediently step forward and enter the room. However, against everyone''s anticipation, he turned toward the invigilator instead and said, "Your Trait¡­ this Test of Speed must be a specialty of yours due to your sensory trait, right?" Feeling slightly surprised at first, a chuckle formed on the invigilator''s face before he admitted, "That''s right, but what are you trying to imply here?" "Oh, nothing much, just that I would love to see you demonstrating how the Test of Speed is truly done. An enlightening show that would teach us a valuable lesson. So what do you say, Mr. invigilator?" One large smirk was now clear for everyone to see on Victor''s face. Immediately, a realization struck the candidates as they began demanding very persistently. "Oh, right! Mister, you must be very good at this! Come one! Come on! You must show us!" Said Lydia with high expectations forming within her heart. "Victor''s right, mister, you have got to prove to us how this test''s truly done!" Abby Wu was also fuming in elation. "Yes, yes, yes!" Hyped as well, Ismail Archer urged the man, "You must be great at this¡­ we want to see it! Come on." ''You guys want to see the true gap between an expert Guardian like me and amateur Guardians like yourselves, huh?'' Being surrounded by these brats which kept insisting on him displaying his skills, an amused grin formed on the invigilator''s face too as he decided, ''Fine, I''ll make you guys experience the great disparity between us. May it be an eye-opener for you.'' With that, throwing a brief glance at everyone''s face, he declared, "Alright." Next, he didn''t hesitate to enter the dome as the game of evasion began. ¡­ "Um, why is the overseer entering the dome?" Within the spectator''s area, the representative lady from the Weapon Stars queried. For a few seconds after that, every representative''s focus was concentrated outside, until, the handsome old man replied at last, "He''s going to show off to the kids." "Oh, I see¡­ this should be a bit interesting." ¡­ After entering, predictably, for the next three minutes, the invigilator began walking around while evading the balls casually. Amazingly though, he always happened to be exactly at the places that no balls were going to hit. "Ah, how is he doing that?" Thunderstruck by the show, Lydia was the only one to express her failure in comprehending the complexity of the situation. And to that, Victor''s clear answer resounded, "It''s easy really if you think about it. He''s merely sensing the balls the moment they are about to be thrown. And knowing where they''re going to be, he simply avoids those locations." "Ah, that''s what I thought too! But to be able to actually do that¡­ Mr. invigilator''s truly awesome!" Abby praised. Still, being the professional Guardian he was, and more importantly, since his Trait was extremely relevant to this very test, he was able to continue without any issues. ¡­ Five minutes! ¡­ And even six minutes! "AH! He''s already within the domain of three stars for this particular test!!! Simply legendary!" Exclaimed Ismail with his eyes wide open. Just a minute ago, he was wondering how anyone would be able to exceed four minutes, that it was impossible to surpass four minutes. But now, that exact person had shown itself before him. Not only that, but the person also had far exceeded his expectations! Afterward, the invigilator was still able to keep going for around thirty seconds. Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to keep that up for much longer as he finally reached the absolute limit of his toleration as he promptly stopped the test. Six minutes and fifty-three seconds! That was the time the invigilator had lasted within the dome of speed. Clap~ Clap~ Clap~ Applauding the man, Virus complimented him, "Bravo! Since from the sixth to the ninth minute is considered a three-stars mark, you should be somewhere in the middle of three-stars. Good." Although he was saying this, however, internally, Virus couldn''t help but admit he was somewhat disappointed. He was expecting some type of challenge from this man. A type of challenge that even he himself might not be able to outshine without getting serious first. Regrettably, the man was still too raw and that did not happen. "Hahaha¡­ well, as long as it was helpful to you guys." A rain of sweat pouring down his face, the invigilator was exuding a teacher-like air from himself. Seeing this, Virus ''nearly'' felt bad about what was going to happen next. Alas, ''nearly feeling bad'' wasn''t actually ''feeling bad''. Therefore, he still entered the dome of speed as the timer went in motion once more. For the first three minutes, Virus was running around dodging the incoming baseballs in a very awkward and disgraceful manner. His movements were so awkward and stiff that the others were starting to think it was a miracle he was still within the ring! It was to the point that the candidates had already lost the count of the times the balls had barely gone past him while almost hitting him. "Wow, he sucks at this, but he was somewhat able to last until now." Feeling ridiculous about the whole situation, Ismail Archer admitted. "Let''s just watch for now. Even if it''s pure luck, he''s doing a great job lasting in there." This was Abby Wu defending him. Even though she didn''t believe Victor was truly capable of actually persisting this long, she still appreciated his luck. 03:56 At this point, since a new phase of assault was about to begin, the pitchings paused briefly. 03:57 And simultaneously with it, all of a sudden, in the middle of the dome, Virus stopped along with it. 03:58 "Eh, why did he stop moving all of a sudden? Did he give up perhaps? Is he paralyzed?" Full of doubt, feeling absurd, Ismail questioned. 404 Monstrous "Hmm, that''s probably the case, he gave up. He''s one to know his limits. Honestly, it''d be a lie if I said I didn''t see this coming." Shaking his head, the invigilator shared the same opinion. 03:59 ''But why isn''t he telling me to stop the test? I''m not really allowed to stop the process without the participant''s permission. Either that¡­ or the balls needs to hit him.'' 04:00 Swish! A ball went past Virus''s face, yet he didn''t even flinch. "Ahhh¡­ why isn''t he moving! The ball''s about to hit him!" Screamed Abby in horror. She was truly afraid for him now. ''Ah, there''s no way he''d be able to dodge the next ball now!'' Calculated the invigilator after sensing the next incoming hardball. He knew it was too late to even try now. And indeed, just as he had sensed and predicted, from one of the pitching machines, a ball that was sure to hit him was released as it got closer and closer to his current position. In fact, everyone was still hoping that, in order to try evading the balls, Victor might start running around again. However, against everyone''s expectations, the baseball continued drawing near his figure while he remained unfazed, refusing to move. But that was only the case until at last, when the hardball was just a few inches away from him, while everyone was thinking along the lines of, ''he''s done for'', ''this is over'', or ''he''s being silly'', he actually moved! No, in fact, it wasn''t correct to say that he moved. The right description would be to say that only the upper half of his body slightly leaned forward while the rest of his figure was still nailed to his last known location. Fwish! Instantly, with the gap of a single inch, the ball went past him. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" ¡­ Nearly everyone''s eyes were gaping now. They were beyond speechless at this point. "He¡­ actually dodged?" Murmured the invigilator briefly. Of course, that was followed by another notion, ''No, the fact is, he was lucky that only one of the ten balls shot in his direction. He won''t get that fortunate with the next wave of balls.'' Precisely at that second, the next wave of ten balls hurled from their respective machines. ''Seven of them are rushing toward his current position! This time, it''s unmistakably over.'' Calculated the overseer once again. Meanwhile, sensing the incoming balls from seven different trajectories, a distinct grin formed on Virus''s face. Subsequently, his body promptly took a very bizarre yet robotic posture while he remained in that pose. Swish! Swish! Fwish! Phwish! Swish!... Following that, much to the stupefaction of everyone, not a single ball actually connected to his body. "W-what?! H-how?" "Am I seeing this?" "Urgh, is this even something a human being is able to do?" "What¡­ the¡­ fuck!" Anyone could hardly believe he had actually dodged every seven balls in that weird position without even moving! No one could even understand how he had done that in the first place. It just didn''t make any sense. Nonetheless, the dome wasn''t going to wait for anyone to snap out of their shocked state as it continued shooting more balls at Virus as the timer continued increasing. Meanwhile, in the middle of the dome, a man was seen making very awkward poses at nearly every second before it was followed by tens of balls going past him. Nearly everyone had long lost their bearings while watching Virus'' weird motionless movements. Of course, that was the case until Lydia finally checked the timer as she exclaimed in disbelief, "T-the timer¡­ the timer''s at seven minutes already! He''s even surpassed the invigilator now! T-three stars¡­" Just as to prove them that wasn''t enough, Victor continued enduring within the ring until the time finally arrived at the eighth minute. The 8th minute! By now, the number of balls thrown at the same time had already surpassed twenty while only the word ''terrifying'' could describe their speed and momentum. However, none of these mattered. What mattered was the fact that when the timer reached the 8th minute, even a more startling change took place! Swish! Swish!... As the twenty balls were darted at Victor, everyone noticed that each ball was now moving in various ways! While some were curving, some were spiraling, twisting, coiling, arching, or still moving in a straight line. However, what was even more disturbing was the fact that Victor still managed to evade them!!! "AH!... He¡­" Not only was everyone feeling beyond dumbfounded at this point. The look in their eyes was as if they were staring at a monster! "H-he''s a monster! No, a demon! How can he still do that?" Lydia''s figure was shivering as she refused to even blink, afraid she might lose the sight of this mighty monster. In fact, even Anastasia''s eyes were gleaming somewhat as Virus''s figure was being reflected with her bright eyes. She seemed impressed. ¡­ After that, a minute passed. Although it was just a simple minute, to all the bystanders, it felt like a very long time before the minute was gone indeed. "Four stars!!!" Gasping sounds could be heard roaming around the representatives'' area. In the meantime, some droplets of sweat were rolling down the invigilator''s face as he felt ridiculous about the entire situation. ''I can''t believe I tried showing off in front of this monster¡­ he''s¡­ he''s something else. Even I, with my sensory trait, still can''t do this¡­ but he... oh, wait, could he possess an even stronger sensory trait than mine? No, no, no¡­ that''s impossible, if that was it, his body wouldn''t be that strong! His trait definitely has something to do with strength and muscle.'' ¡­ Finally, as if he had suddenly lost all interest, now that he had achieved four stars, Virus signaled the overseer to stop the test. ¡­. 405 Convention Meanwhile, in Shanghai''s Abnormals Association, a jaw-dropping scene was taking place. At this moment, the clock hand was already on the fourth minute, but within the dome of speed, Hu Yuexin was still dancing around like a star. "W-what, how can she have such movements full of grace and beauty?! It''s as if she''s trained in her footwork since she was in her mother''s womb. No, I don''t believe even that long would make someone so skillful in this. Hmm¡­ maybe I''m looking at this the wrong way, maybe that''s a movement technique she has inherited from an expert?" The overseer mouthed much to his own disbelief. He just couldn''t understand how Hu Yuexin''s movement could be so honed. In fact, Hu Yuexin''s movements were so sharpened and full of mastery that, utilizing the current absolute limitations placed on her weak body, she was evading every ball. One could easily tell that there were no extra movements made anywhere in her body. Every muscle that changed its position in any manner was due to a certain goal and purpose. This procedure went on until the clock reached the sixth minute. Deducing from the perspiration covering her forehead, it was clear this was the current limit of her body even with that abnormal evasion technique of hers! Therefore, she didn''t hesitate to forfeit from proceeding any longer, "Stop it. I''m done." "Y-yes, t-three stars! Congratulations!" The overseer confirmed. "What''s the next test?" Totally expressionless, Hu Yuexin inquired. Looking at her face, no one could detect any traces of joy from her after earning that kind of stunning grade. It was as if it didn''t matter to her in the least. A matter that didn''t worth mentioning. "Huh? O-oh, yeah. The next test is the Test of Defense. Let''s go." ____________ Meanwhile, somewhere on the planet, a secret gathering was taking place. This secret gathering was an extremely confidential meeting that possibly had to do with the future of Earth. A convention that may just lead to the decision of the next step of humanity in facing the rifts. The participants and guests in this assembly consisted of the leaders of each of the Abnormals Association around the globe who had come to represent their own nation. "It''s indeed a fact that the planet can''t go on like this anymore! The monsters of the rift keep getting stronger at a rapid pace, to the point that the humans are falling behind in this race of power and retaliation!" One of the leaders sitting in the conference room, the leader of Korea''s Abnormals Association to be more exact, mouthed into her microphone. Next, it was the turn of the head of the Abnormals Association of China to talk, "Even though I would hate to admit it, miss Jang Mirae is right. We are experiencing millions of deaths and with each breakout, in case the rift happens to be around the vicinity of a city, we might even lose tens of hundreds of buildings along with it. Before this, we could''ve at least prevented that since the monsters weren''t too strong. But all of a sudden, they turned too strong for us to handle them all." "Everyone¡­ Everyone! I hear what you''re all saying and I agree with most of your words¡­ but, what are you suggesting for us to do? What ''can'' we even do? I mean¡­ sure, we need to stop them¡­ but how?" This was the leader of the Abnormals Association in France, lady Lia Duffy''s voice. "That''s why we''re here today, are we not? Let''s just come up with a solution! Everyone, please don''t keep any ideas or suggestions to yourselves." Taking a glimpse of the leaders'' faces, Jang Mirae said. In reality, prior to the meeting, every leader of the respective Abnormals Associations was already secretly informed of the subject they were going to be discussing today. Therefore, nearly all of them had done their own researches as they had also talked to their relevant professional teams. And today, they were, at last, going to hear each other''s solutions before choosing the best one amongst them all. Thus, as the period of dumping ideas began, it was actually England''s representative, Luis Short, who stood up first and started pouring the solution his own nation had come up with, "I say we concentrate all of the procured Red-Crystals on a select few Guardians with potential. Like this, the pace of progression would pick up as we would be able to dispatch them to the relevant rifts before their breakout. This is the idea my side came up with and I think it is indeed a wise answer to our problem." "¡­" For a brief duration, quietness descended upon the conference hall as everyone began contemplating on the topic. Of course, it didn''t take long before the head of the Abnormal Association of Korea, Jang Mirae, refuted the suggestion, "No, I don''t think that''s a wise decision. If we do that, the weaker Guardians or those who were left out would feel greatly wronged, which might just as well lead to even bigger chaos. If the Abnormal population turns against us, not only would we have to retaliate against the rift, but also our own people. Sure, that might work for a short while, but in the long run, it would be catastrophic and poisonous." "Hmm, yes, miss Mirae''s correct." Several people soon came to defend her rejection. Next, it was Russia''s turn to throw its proposition into the ring, "I say, everyone, we could just enforce an even harsher mandatory law of summoning on the Guardians. Like this, at the time of breakout, we can forcefully summon many Guardian teams to each rift. Like this, we would be able to handle the beasts with numbers! What do you say?" This time, however, there was to delay whatsoever before someone rejected the offer. "I don''t think that''s rational either. Even now, with our rather light mandatory summoning rules, we are dealing with a lot of dissatisfaction amongst the Guardians. So just imagine us making them even tighter¡­ not only would doing that result in even more unhappiness, but it will also wear our Guardians out pretty quickly, now let''s not talk about the heavy pressure that we''ll be putting on them by dispatching them day and night." Not pausing there, he went ahead, "So, yeah! I definitely disagree with such a preposterous idea which would clearly lead to an even more grave and serious problem in the future." The person who had rejected Russia''s proposition this time, was the person who hadn''t opened his mouth at all up to this point, the boss of the Abnormals Association of the United States of America, Arron Cameron. Ticked at once, the Russian leader phrased while frowning, "You¡­! If not the previous offer¡­ and if not this one, then what? We gotta do something, right? Or could it be you have a better idea?" He was clearly very annoyed. "¡­" After a brief gaze full of silence, the American boss only uttered a single adage in return, "The best defense is a good offense." 406 GUARDIAN LICENSE Moving on to the Test of Defense, Lydia, Abby Wu, and Ismail Archer were barely able to score a single star. Still, at the end of each of their tests, all over their bodies had become black and blue. It was obvious they had hardly earned this score by pushing themselves beyond the current limit of their fragile defense. Then, it was Anastasia Foster''s turn. As she ambled before a professional Guardian, the Guardian picked up a wooden baseball bat as he was about to smash it against her figure. Just before that could happen, however, Anastasia''s entire figure was once again covered in red flame-like Trait of hers. But this time, unlike the previous tests, the fire was distributed all across her body. It was nearly covering everywhere, only, it was more concentrated on her torso now. Bam! As the baseball bat hit her chest, it shattered into many pieces instantly. Not stopping there, the hired professional guardian picked up an even more solid baseball bat as he targeted the trunk of her physique next. It was clear that there were no traces of mercy within the guardian''s eyes since until the candidate gives in or faints, this process needed to continue, with the baseball bat getting more lethal and unbreakable at each level. At the end, when Anastasia, at last, reached the current limit of her defense, she signaled the guardian to stop. "Anastasia Foster, barely three stars! Extraordinary!" Said the invigilator while nodding repeatedly. He could only imagine the bright future that lay ahead of this particular beauty. "Victor Goodwin, go ahead." Subsequently, everyone could see Virus''s figure being constantly bombarded by various baseball bats which were replaced by an even more firm and solidified stick each time it broke apart. What once again shocked the bystanders, however, was the fact that he casually stood against these barrage of attacks while maintaining an expressionless face. It was as if he didn''t feel any pain whatsoever. What startled them, even more, was that although he hadn''t shown any type of trait, his body alone was able to withstand those terrifying assaults. The only conclusion the spectators could reach from this was that Virus'' trait was already being utilized, it''s just that they could not see or perceive it. Afterward, when a baseball bat of certain threshold shattered apart, Virus finally told the guardian to end the test. Immediately, the invigilator''s trembling voice was heard as he announced, "Victor Goodwin¡­ f-four stars again!" "Fuck. He''s a monster indeed. There''s no doubt about it! I''ve never heard of any abnormal who was this strong from the start." One of the representatives exclaimed in frustration and astoundment. ¡­ "So the last test for the offense-type applicants ended like this. We should hurry and try snatching one of these candidates before moving on to the evaluation test of support-type candidates which will begin in an hour." One of the representatives advised his assistant who had tagged along with him. "Eh, isn''t there also the Test of Support?" Baffled, the assistant who was just a newbie when it came to the matters of the Guardian''s Examination inquired. "Of course not, that test will only exist for the support-type applicants. The offense, speed, and defense types are exempted from taking that test." The representative explained patiently. In fact, at the time of signing up and filling the form of the application of Guardian''s License, one would be required to choose between [Offense-type], [Speed-type], [Defense-type], and [Support-type] traits. The only difference between the four was their main focus on the various tests. For example, for the offense-type applicants, the main focus would be on the Test of Power and measuring the extent of the power of their Trait in this particular field. And as for the rest of the tests, i.e., the test of speed and defense, the examinee would only be required to acquire the bare minimum score. The same situation applied to other types of examinations. I.e., for Speed-type candidates, the test mainly revolved around the Test of Speed and for the Defense-type, the evaluation naturally focused on the Test of Defense. The only group that differed somewhat were the Support-type abnormals who only went through the Test of Support as there were no Test of Power, Test of Speed, nor Test of Defense for them to participate in and pass successfully. And going back to the time Virus had filled the form, he had naturally chosen the offense-type evaluation. "Congratulations to all five of you. From this day onwards, you''ll be Guardians of Earth." Chuckling at the five people in front of him, the invigilator announced before adding, "Now, all of you need to go to room number five in order to receive your Licenses." ¡­ As the five walked into the guided room, each of them was asked a couple of crucial questions before they were requested to install a certain mobile application on their phones. Guardian App! That was the name of the program. Notwithstanding, after entering the app and entering their unique username and password, a basic page revealed itself in front of each of them. ¡­ ¡ºGUARDIAN LICENSE¡» \u003cIDENTITY: Abby Wu (Show/Hide)\u003e \u003c GUARDIAN TITLE: The Assassin\u003e \u003cTRAIT: Gun Transformation\u003e [POWER]: ¡ï¡ï¡î¡î¡î (2) [SPEED]: ¡ï¡î¡î¡î¡î (1) [DEFENSE]: ¡ï¡î¡î¡î¡î (1) [EXPERIENCE]: ¡î¡î¡î¡î¡î (0) ¡­ ¡ºGUARDIAN LICENSE¡» \u003cIDENTITY: Lydia Ross (Show/Hide)\u003e \u003c GUARDIAN TITLE: Spit Killer\u003e \u003cTRAIT: Spit Bomb\u003e [POWER]: ¡ï¡ï¡î¡î¡î (2) [SPEED]: ¡ï¡î¡î¡î¡î (1) [DEFENSE]: ¡ï¡î¡î¡î¡î (1) [EXPERIENCE]: ¡î¡î¡î¡î¡î (0) ¡­ ¡ºGUARDIAN LICENSE¡» \u003cIDENTITY: Ismail Archer (Show/Hide)\u003e \u003c GUARDIAN TITLE: Archer\u003e \u003cTRAIT: Light Arrow\u003e [POWER]: ¡ï¡ï¡î¡î¡î (2) [SPEED]: ¡ï¡î¡î¡î¡î (1) [DEFENSE]: ¡ï¡î¡î¡î¡î (1) [EXPERIENCE]: ¡î¡î¡î¡î¡î (0) ¡­ ¡ºGUARDIAN LICENSE¡» \u003cIDENTITY: Anastasia Foster (Show/Hide)\u003e \u003c GUARDIAN TITLE: Spirit Warrior\u003e \u003cTRAIT: Beast Flame\u003e [POWER]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î¡î (3) [SPEED]: ¡ï¡ï¡î¡î¡î (2) [DEFENSE]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î¡î (3) [EXPERIENCE]: ¡î¡î¡î¡î¡î (0) ¡­ ¡ºGUARDIAN LICENSE¡» \u003cIDENTITY: Victor Goodwin (Show/Hide)\u003e \u003cGUARDIAN TITLE: DS (Abbreviation)\u003e \u003cTRAIT: Body Enhancement\u003e [POWER]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î (4) [SPEED]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î (4) [DEFENSE]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î (4) [EXPERIENCE]: ¡î¡î¡î¡î¡î (0) 407 Lydias Resolve Looking at the red screen on his phone, Virus smirked. When he was previously asked what he wanted to choose for his Guardian Title, he had not hesitated to leave that spot empty for the moment. Instead, after learning a Guardian could also pick and display the abbreviation of his title, he had conveniently filled it with two letters, DS. He was, of course, questioned as to what that meant, but his only response to that was, "You''ll probably know in the future." To this ridiculous answer of his, of course, the person in charge felt like cursing for the rest of the day. Nonetheless, understanding he had no intention of wanting to reveal it as of yet, that person could only give up. ''Huh, so this is the so-called Guardian License¡­'' Having already achieved the purpose of his presence here, turning around, he was just about to leave when a familiar person blocked his path. "Eh, what is it?" Gazing into the eyes of the Asian temptress in front of him in some amusement, Virus queried. "Um, we all want to go out and celebrate passing the exam and receiving our Guardian License¡­ even Anastasia accepted the invitation with a nod¡­ s-so¡­" By the end of her sentence, being under the pressure of his gaze, a slight blush sat on Abby''s face. "Oh, I see¡­ and how are you guys gonna celebrate exactly." Exhibiting a half-smile, Victor opened his mouth. "W-we, we want to go to a coffee shop." "Sure, let''s go." Thinking enjoying his time a little wouldn''t be bad, Virus decided to tag along. ¡­ Following that, as the five were about to leave the Abnormals Association, many representatives stormed at them before supplying them with their various contact information. "Don''t forget to call me, our guild will be offering you the best conditions! I guarantee you that." "No, call me¡­ our guild will agree to any conditions you have!" While Abby, Lydia, and Ismail were swarmed by nearly everyone, surprisingly, no one tried approaching Victor and Anastasia. It was as if the two were a dangerous dragon''s reverse scale which needed to be avoided at all costs. Of course, it didn''t take long before three figures ambled before the two and introduced themselves. "Hello, I''m the representative from the Dominators, I would like to extend a special invitation to both of you. I can assure you the Dominators will treat you the best!" Pushing back his spectacles, the man offered a gold card to both Virus and Anastasia. "Haha, now, now, you''re clearly exaggerating here, young man. How can the Dominators treat him the best when the Guardians of America is here." A beguiling old man also extended another gold business card at the two while laughing at the other man''s folly. Subsequently, the trio started passionately gazing at the two, waiting for them to make a decision before following them to their bases. In spite of understanding their rush, however, Virus merely accepted the cards and replied, "As you can see, the five of us are going outside to celebrate first, but please be rest assured that we''ll be contacting you when we make a decision." With that, abruptly grabbing Anastasia''s startled hand, they vanished from the sight of the representatives. Watching this wise move from Victor, a realization hit the other three newly promoted Guardians as they decided too, ''Hmm, so, we should accept all the cards for now and then call them one by one later and just select the Guild that offers us the best conditions, huh? Smart move!'' Soon, the trio Guardians also followed after Victor and Anastasia, trying to catch up to them. ¡­ "What are your orders, dear customers?" Standing in front of the five guests, the waiter asked politely. "Cappuccino." "Decaf." "¡­" "Chai." ¡­ "So guys, what are your plans from now on?" Thinking about the numerous cards she had received, Lydia was the first one to initiate the conversation. She also stole a glance at Victor and Anastasia, the strongest candidates in this round of examinations. "Ah, honestly, I mainly became a Guardian because of its good pay. I wanna live as a rich man. So¡­ I guess I''ll be joining one of the better guilds first and then try some of the weaker rifts with a group." Ismail was the first one to respond. "I see¡­ what about you, Abby?" Curious, Lydia inspected. "I¡­" Unfortunately, after uttering that, Abby simply dropped her head downward and no longer raised it. It seemed she had her own difficulties. "U-uh, what about you, Anastasia?" Noticing that she''d probed about something that perhaps she shouldn''t have, Lydia was quick to change her target. "¡­" As expected, she was only faced with a hilarious silence this time. ''I wonder if she can even talk¡­'' Feeling even more awkward now, she promptly drifted to another target once again, "W-what about you, Victor?" "Me?" Taking a sip of his delicious Chai, a mischievous smile covered the corners of Victor''s lips as he answered, "Hmm, probably gonna be reserving a rift or two and try hunting some monsters for a Netflix and grill." "¡­" ''Who can even be so carefree about a fucking rift!!!'' By this point, beads of sweat were rolling down Lydia''s face. She felt speechless at these two weirdos who happened to be the strongest of this batch of Guardians. "What about you yourself, Lydia?" Victor didn''t forget to return the question either. "Me? Hmm, I''m probably gonna be joining the Dominators. That spectacles dude gave me a card so¡­" Although her words seemed a little hesitant, Virus could detect a very strong resolve within Lydia''s eyes. "Huh? Why Dominators? Did he offer you better terms compared to the other guilds?" A little interested, Victor tried getting to the bottom of the matter. 408 The Bottle and The Pill "Ah, not really¡­ it''s just that¡­ my role model and self-proclaimed rival is kinda there. So I want to be there too." At the moment, her eyes were burning with the passion of rivalry and motivation. "Hoo, a self-proclaimed rival, someone you would like to surpass, huh? And who might this lucky role model of yours be?" Truly wanting to know now, he probed further. "Urm¡­ It''s¡­ The Frost." With a shade of red engulfing her cheeks, she went on while feeling embarrassed, "I know I''m too weak compared to her and that I don''t really deserve to be her rival at the moment¡­ but! I''ll get stronger and show her the true might of the explosion of spit! Water can turn into ice, but fire can explode just the same! And¡­" She went on blabbering without noticing that Victor had long stopped listening to her excessive talking. Instead, his mind seemed to have been distracted and occupied from a certain point onwards. A few minutes later, while Lydia was still going on with her nonstop chattering which no one was listening to at this point really, Victor suddenly turned toward the quiet Anastasia and placed a unique card in front of her. "¡­" And indeed, he was instantly faced with her confused look which was filled with question marks. "Haha¡­ you don''t need to be so baffled. That''s the card from the Virus Industries. Although they don''t own a guild at the moment¡­ they''re super-rich. You can contact them if you ever feel the need to¡­ I''m sure they''ll be quite interested in cooperation with you." An image of her Trait which looked fascinating was currently going through Virus''s mind. Frankly, he was slightly interested in her trait. "¡­" Once again, confronting her peaceful eyes which seemed to be asking ''why are you offering me this?'' and ''how do you even know the titanic Virus Industries?'' Virus could only grin and reply. "Well, its CEO is a friend of mine. Furthermore, I think it would be a pity if you join another guild and restrain your own freedom like that. Instead of a guild, I believe this company would be much less restrictive for you." Meanwhile, watching everything from the sidelines, the other three became dumbfounded at first before their looks of envy were directed at both Victor and Anastasia. They were envious of the fact that Victor knew the CEO of the Virus Industries, and they were even more jealous that Anastasia was presented with the rare chance of having the opportunity to come into contact with them. "W-what about us?" After some hesitation, Abby Wu couldn''t stop herself from asking. She felt a tad bit hurt at the fact that Victor was only interested in Anastasia and not them. "Yay, thanks, Victor." Seemingly satisfied with him now, both Abby and Lydia thanked him. Ismail also showed his gratitude afterward. "¡­" When his eyesight brushed past Anastasia, however, Victor was assaulted by an inquisitive gaze which he could only guess to be, ''Aren''t you going to be giving me one of those too?'' "Hahaha¡­ here, I have one for you too." Laughing hysterically, Virus placed one in front of her too. For some reason, however, this made Abby and Lydia bitter once again. ¡­ After finally parting ways with Anastasia, Abby, Lydia, and Ismail, Virus directly returned to 4 Times Square. Now that he had successfully received his Guardian License, his primary goal was to connect his first pair of Pathways before reserving a rift for himself to solo. "Were you able to gather every material I need?" Currently laid back on the couch, Virus threw this question at the CEO ugly who was standing before him. "Good job. You may leave." "Yes, master." With that, the CEO ugly left to do his bidding. ¡­ Even after Virus had returned from the Guardian''s Examination, the golden beauty did not come out even once. ''It seems she''s really adamant about cultivating diligently.'' While standing before the MDA and pushing the various materials into different entries, Virus'' mind escaped in the direction of a particular golden beauty. ''Well, this will be beneficial for her own future. A safer future. So I suppose it''s all good.'' Abruptly, the MDA''s 3D screen was turned on as Virus entered many complex commands into it. All of the commands had to do with the processes that the materials needed to go through in order to shape the final product he desired. ''Including the blood of that monstrous beast, everything is in their respective entries and order¡­ adding a bit of Water of Life would also intensify the efficacy¡­ so here we go.'' Pouring some Water of Life, Virus initiated the process. Before long, a bottle of liquid was within his palm. Staring at this bottle of liquid which was giving off a slight hue of ocean blue, a grin crept over his face. ''Success!'' ''Unfortunately, this can be used only once for a single breakthrough.'' Some traces of regret was also apparent as he gazed at the precious container. Nevertheless, he was quick to put that futile thought aside. Therefore, turning around, he was just about to take his leave, when suddenly, his eyes brushed past another small bottle. As he gazed at this bottle that seemed to contain a single pill within, however, numerous memories seemed to be lashing out as it sent many waves within his mind. The memories of a particular point in the past where a certain woman had given him two pills when she saw him injured. 409 Till fate wills us again. At the time, due to the better constitution of his body, instead of two, he had taken just one while keeping the other one to himself. ''Apprentice-sister, I wonder¡­ what are you doing right now?'' The image of the fairy also became clear within his mind at this point. Her graceful movements, elegant figure, and every detail he was able to see became apparent before him as he recalled the scene of her wailing within his arms as they were about to separate for an indefinite amount of time. Virus was currently living that memory once again. ''Be well¡­ till fate wills us to meet again.'' ¡­ Shaking his head in the end, Virus proceeded to pick up the pill bottle as he returned to his room. Thereafter, placing the single-pill bottle on the table beside his bed, he sat in a lotus position before pouring everything within the other bottle into his mouth. Soon after he closed both his eyes, the percentage of bonding between the first pair of Energy Pathways started to gradually increase. 32%... 33%... 34%... ¡­ 97%... 98%... 99%... Eleven days later, together with the wondrous aid of the ocean blue liquid, Virus was nearly on the verge of completing the synthesis of his first pair. ''Almost there!'' The moment this line flashed through his mind, the unification rate successfully hit a complete hundred percent! 100%! ''Done!'' Simultaneously, he felt a surge of energy inside himself. As he had perfected the first level of Liberation and had broken through to the second level, the quality of his energy was now going through a transformation once again. In fact, this transformation was even bigger compared to the time when he had just broken through to the Liberation stage. At the same time, as the quality of his energy was going through a noticeable rise, from that exact synthesized and perfected pathway, Energy was gushing out into the world itself! His first finished Energy Pathway could now release energy externally! ''Great!'' Thinking the procedure was finally over, feeling very satisfied with himself, Virus was just about to flutter his eyelashes open, when suddenly¡­ Much to his startlement, he noticed that he could now sense the existence of Origin within his body once again! Origin was starting to show some kind of reaction from itself!!! ''Hmm?!'' This instantly made Virus confused as he could only wonder what was going to happen next. Every time Origin reacted, it meant it was on to something. Thus, Virus''s confusion and curiosity were well-justified. ¡­ And indeed, slowly but surely, Virus began to sense a strange type of connection forming between his pathways and the Origin itself! ''W-what''s going on?'' HUAAA~ Subsequently, a mysterious form of energy was released from the Origin as it all uncontrollably rushed into his thirteenth pathway! No¡­ the 13th knot within his thirteenth pathway to be more precise! Next, the twist blocking the path of his thirteenth knot started disentangling itself at a terrifying speed! 10%... 25%...50%! Noticing this heaven-defying development which truly defied every understanding he had of cultivation, a shiver went down Virus'' spine as he had goosebumps all over his body while he thought about this unfathomable object called ''Origin''! 69%... 84%... 100%!!! Soon, in the span of a few minutes, unbelievably, the twist obstructing the path of his 13th pathway disentangled! And now that the twist was gone, Origin seemed to immediately suck every bit of that mysterious energy back into itself before it vanished from Virus''s detection entirely! It was as if it did not exist, to begin with. Notwithstanding, with the block gone now, the volume of his energy began to rise again as what was within the 13th knot joined with the rest of the energy under his control. The only difference in increase this time was the fact it was more of a quantitative increase rather than qualitative. ¡­ When the process was over at last, Virus''s brows jumped before he snapped his eyes wide open! He was shell-shocked! "H-how¡­ how is this possible?" Full of disbelief, closing his eyes, he focused his awareness on his thirteenth pathway which he could sense again just like the rest of his twelve pathways. He wasn''t seeing things, it was indeed disentangled! Originally, when he had broken through to the Liberation, other than those untwisted pathways, the rest of them seemed to have been entirely locked away from his reach and sense of detection forever. However, now, for a second time, he was able to detect and even lead his energy into his thirteenth knot afresh! Although it was just the thirteenth pathway while the rest of the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th passages were still locked, it didn''t lessen from Virus'' feeling of shock in the least! ''Wait, wait, wait¡­ what could this mean?'' ''Does it mean Origin can open my remaining locked passages from now on?'' His head was instantly invaded with many possibilities, ''But how? And why did it only open one of them? Why did it leave the rest locked up? Could it be just a one-time thing? Or will it continue disentangling one more passage every time I break through to the following stage? Or perhaps¡­ every time I progress by a level, this will be happening? Which one is it I wonder?'' ''If it''s just a one-time thing, that would be really bad¡­ but that''s very unlikely. Why would it bother unlocking one when it''s going to leave the rest be?'' ''Wait, this happened after I connected my first pair of pathways and turned them into one! Could it be¡­ every time I synthesize a pair, a new pathway would be unlocked indeed?'' At this point, flames of excitement were burning within his eyes as he calculated what would happen if that was indeed the case. 1st+2nd pathways synthesized= 13th pathway unlocked. 3rd+4th pathways synthesized= 14th pathway unlocked. 5th+6th pathways synthesized= 15th pathway unlocked. 7th+8th pathways synthesized= 16th pathway unlocked. 9th+10th pathways synthesized= 17th pathway unlocked. 11th+12th pathways synthesized= 18th pathway unlocked. "That makes some sense!" He cried in a stupor. This was one of the few and rare times where he was trembling in anticipation while showing an extreme type of emotion. "If this hypothesis of mine is correct, by the time I reach the peak of the sixth level of Liberation¡­ all my other blocked passages will have been unlocked!!! That means I''ll be able to advance to the 7th, 8th, and even the legendary 9th level of Liberation!" He was literally yelling every word at this point while feeling mind-blown. ''Could it be¡­ I was never supposed to untwist those nigh impossible passages in the Energy Disentanglement stage, to begin with? It was needed to be left alone for the Origin to solve in this stage?'' ''No¡­ perhaps, seeing how I was incapable of disentangling the rest, the Origin is stepping up personally?'' Currently, he was feeling as if a new world had been just opened up in front of him. As if he had just discovered a new world! "I-I need to progress by another level in order to make sure this hypothesis of mine is correct. That it will continue happening!" An unshakeable amount of determination was discharging from all over Virus''s body now. 410 Greedy but Smar ''But progressing by another level wouldn''t be as easy as what I just did. I mean, even if I brew the required potion now, the best result I''ll be able to accomplish would be half a level¡­'' ''Most important of all, what makes me really reluctant in doing this is the fact that by continuing to rely on drugs for breaking through, I would be gradually ruining my own foundation and even destabilize and hinder my path of cultivation in the long run, which is something I want to avoid at all costs.'' Following those thoughts, he whispered, "For that to not happen, I need to either wait for a rather long time for my body and mind to digest everything¡­ or I need to fight it out and quicken the process." Afterward, without any wavering, his logic directly pointed at and selected the most efficient path, ''Combat would be the quickest way¡­ it seems I would need to reserve a Rift or two to fight some monstrous beasts.'' Putting the matter aside with a simple shake of his head thereafter, the list of materials he required in order to brew the next potion flickered through his mind. ''Heart of a Six-eyed bear, Negun Sar plant from the planet¡­'' Subsequently, he called the CEO ugly, "How long will it take for you and the Island ugly to collect the entire list of materials that I just transmitted into your consciousness." After a short duration of silence, the CEO ugly''s reply was heard, "Um, master, except the heart of the six-eyed bear, everything else on the list can be gathered in a week or two at most. But as for the Six-eyed bear¡­ that''s a type of a four-starred monster and buying it will not be easy in a short time." Since the mission of collecting various stuff for his master had become a common subject now, the CEO ugly was quite quick in calculating and responding. "Hmm, I see. Do you know the rough location of any rifts that expels this kind of monster?" "I-If I''m not mistaken, I think it''s the rifts around Chicago that have the most probability of producing this type of monstrous beast¡­ but you''re not guaranteed to encounter them even there." "Alright. Except for the heart of the Six-eyed bear, don''t forget to gather the rest. That''ll be all." He ordered before hanging up. ¡­ ''Hmm, I should hunt the six-eyed bear myself, that''ll be like killing two birds with one stone.'' And with that, Virus was determined to go and procure the carcass of the Six-eyed bear by himself since, in this way, other than getting his hands on its heart, he would be also accomplishing his aim of combat. Therefore, picking up his phone once more, he directly opened his Guardian Application. This time, however, he didn''t enter the Guardian License section, instead, he pressed the ''Reservation'' icon. [Welcome, Guardian DS! Please select the State you''d prefer to reserve a Rift in.] Seeing the list of states, Virus didn''t hesitate to select \u003cIllinois\u003e and then \u003cChicago\u003e. Subsequently, the picture of eleven rifts displayed itself in front of him. Below each picture, the details pertaining to each of them were also revealed for him to see. According to the details, three were two-star rifts and they were all going to activate within three to four days, seven were three-starred and were expected to activate within a week, and the final one was a four-starred rift which was going to activate in eight days. ''Hmm, I wonder how they specify the danger level of the Rifts?'' For a brief moment, he pondered about this essential question, however, not delving on the matter and putting it aside temporarily, his finger touched and chose the only four-star Rift option. \u003cInsufficient experience stars, you can''t choose or view more details about this rift!\u003e Furthermore, it was followed by another notification. \u003cOrdinarily, beginner Guardians who possess (0) stars in the [EXPERIENCE] segment would be required to start reserving from (1) star rifts and progress accordingly. However, since the average of your other three attributes is (4), you can begin from reserving (3) star rifts.\u003e Seeing this notification, with a mere nod of satisfaction, Virus didn''t dilly-dally in selecting one of the seven 3-star fractures. \u003cThis rift has been already reserved.\u003e Immediately, a furrow showed up on Virus'' brows, however, just as he was about to click on another option, a smaller notification in a corner attracted his attention. \u003cYou can forcefully buyout this Rift for the price of: $28,000,000\u003e \u003cDo you wish to proceed?\u003e Having read the lines, Virus couldn''t help but murmur, "Greedy¡­ but smart. It seems the Abnormals Association won''t let go of any chances to earn some free money." ''Meh, it''s good for me anyway. Considering how I won''t need to be bothered by the annoying matters of reserving them earlier than others now.'' Still, he didn''t jump into pressing the \u003cBuyout\u003e button. Instead, he tried reserving the other six 3-star Rifts. \u003cThis rift has been already reserved.\u003e \u003cThis rift has been already reserved.\u003e ¡­ Unfortunately, he encountered a similar result for the rest of them. Thus, he could only sigh in some disappointment before selecting the Rift which was going to be activated in exactly seven days. \u003cYou can forcefully buyout this Rift for the price of: $30,500,000\u003e \u003cDo you wish to proceed?\u003e \u003cYes.\u003e As he selected yes, the amount was instantly withdrawn from his already bound bank account to Guardian Application. ¡­ SEVEN DAYS LATER, AROUND CHICAGO Having just ambled before his forcibly reserved Rift, Virus was faced with annoyed expressions of two unfamiliar Guardians who were standing before the Rift. "Tongue Woman, when do you think he''s coming? The Rift''s already about to activate." Said the man with a long mustache. "Just wait, Gun Mustache, he''ll definitely be here since not showing up before a Rift you''ve reserved is a great crime. I just don''t understand why the fuck would he buyout our Rift? Doesn''t he fucking know buying out a Rift that''s been already reserved a very frowned upon act among the Guardians?" The woman replied while her forehead was clearly creased in anger. And it was exactly at this moment when Virus arrived. "Hmm? I believe I reserved this Rift¡­ why are you two here?" Spotting the two, Virus questioned. "Hello. This Rift was initially reserved by us, don''t you know it''s not very well taken to buyout someone else Rift?" A sharp glint went through the woman''s eyes as she inquired immediately. "So? I don''t care about it being well-taken or not. All I care about is that I reserved the Rift already, so get lost." Not bothering himself to be polite whatsoever, Virus just told them to leave in a rude manner. "You! Do you know who we are? We-" Before she could finish, however, a bored light shimmered through Virus''s eyes as he didn''t hesitate to connect to the world''s database as he extracted every single information about the two before interrupting her. "Of course I do woman! You are Tongue Woman from the [Musketeers] guild, your real name is Nancy Pot, 31 years old, the mother of two. You have a big mole on your left butt-cheek and your husband''s di¡­" And so, in a single breath, he went on to reveal even the most embarrassing secrets she had just to prove the point he did indeed know her. That he knew both of them to the smallest detail. "¡­" "¡­" 411 Human CRACK~ While the two continued staring at him in a very speechless yet startled manner with their eyes wide open, all of sudden, a noise much similar to glass shattering apart resounded throughout the area. This was the sign that the Rift was about to throw everything within itself outside! Thud! And indeed, after a brief moment of brilliance, everything from the unknown side of the world was expelled to ours. However, against the two Guardian''s expectations, instead of the usual army of monsters, a single enormous creature took shape in front of them. "I-Is that¡­ a butterfly?" Gun Mustache voiced, unable to take his eyes off of this nemesis of mankind. Right now, the massive butterfly was about to flap its two pairs of transparent wings before ascending to the sky where it ruled. "I-It''s not a horde of monsters¡­ only one monster, which means¡­ this rift¡­ is a single monster Rift! A Concentrated Rift!" A terrible quake went through Tongue Woman''s body. And thereafter she couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief. She was acting relieved because she truly felt comfort at the fact that Virus had bought out this hazardous Rift called the ''Concentrated Rift'' from them! And what are ''Concentrated Rifts''? Well, conceivably ninety-nine percent of the time, the Rifts usually possess and expel a group of monsters that have a strength similar to or even lesser than the estimated star given to that particular Rift. This type of case is considered a normal one where the respective Guardians will be able to handle without much difficulty. However, the headache begins when the typical does not happen. Instead, the Rift reacts abnormally and only ejects one or two monsters. And this is where things start to get more complicated. After a lot of experiments, discoveries, and deductions, scientists and experts hypothesized that each Rift seems to be able to contain a certain accumulated amount of energy and power within itself. This meant that if a Rift bore a group of monsters rather than a single one, the overall energy will most likely be distributed among them, therefore the Guardians will be facing comparably weaker enemies in greater number. On the opposite, if a single monster was dispatched, there was a high chance that the energy will be concentrated on that particular monster, thus forcing humanity to face a much stronger adversary. And that is what a ''Concentrated Rift'' was all about. Of course, at the end of the day, all of this was merely probable theories made by humans which could not be confirmed due to their current lack of knowledge. Furthermore, the fact that the Rifts didn''t always follow the same rules implemented behind these theories on many occasions also forced many doubts and shadows on the rationale of the experts. Fwsh! "Do me a favor and live until I''m done determining and testing the limits of my 2nd level of Liberation, will ya?" Muttering this meaningful sentence which sounded nothing but nonsensical gibberish to the two by-standing Guardians, Virus wondered next, ''I''m really curious though, will you be able to last to the point where I''m forced to release my energy externally?'' Subsequently shaking his head, a glint of determination went through his eyes. ''Unlikely¡­ but let''s give it a try.'' Following that, without paying any attention to his unwanted spectators, he jumped at the butterfly without any warnings. Swish! While in mid-air, his gaze also did not leave the creature at all as he lifted his left leg before continuing to descend with all his might and momentum focused behind that particular foot. Bam! Thereafter, a small crater appeared on the ground. Unfortunately, the butterfly had dodged the attack. SCREEEECH! "Hmm?" Raising his head upwardly and looking at the angered butterfly at some distance above himself, he could only admit, "You fly faster than I expected." "But that''s not going to save you." Simultaneously, leading every ounce of energy within himself, he focused them all throughout the interior of his legs as the countless motes of energy began to pump through his feet pathways wildly. JUMP! Afterward, as he was right in front of the butterfly in what felt like even lesser than a single second, he sent a straight punch at its left eye. Bang! As his fist successfully landed on the monster''s eye, it was followed by a bursting noise. One of the butterfly''s eyes had just burst apart much similar to a bubble! SCREECH! Greatly enraged and even in some affliction now, after a short moment of struggling and adjusting, the butterfly no longer hesitated to charge in his direction. Thereupon, just when it was in rather close proximity to him, the butterfly suddenly twirled around as it aimed one of its horrifyingly sharp wings at him while doing a slicing movement with it. Meanwhile, watching the incoming sharp blade of wing in slow motion, Virus calculated and immediately knew he was capable of dodging it if he wanted to. Yet, for some reason, he refused to do so and instead allowed the attack to hit him head-on. Swish! A line was drawn in the air as blood started to pour down his right hand next. And examining his bleeding arm which had been left somewhat injured, a thought of amazement flashed through his brain abruptly, ''Oh? It''s able to injure me? That''s one hell of a sharp and thin wing.'' In fact, to Virus, the butterfly''s wing being able to injure his arm felt more like a situation of ''paper cut''. Indeed, although paper cannot compare to the solidity of skin, due to it being extremely thin, it sometimes cuts through it while making it bleed. At the same time, watching the scene of battle between what they could only call monsters, Gun Mustache and Tongue Woman were experiencing an even greater state of astoundment. While Gun Mustache''s straight mustache was shivering nonstop, the Tongue Woman''s tongue was hanging loosely from her mouth. "T-that butterfly¡­ it''s at the very peak of three stars at least! No¡­ it might even be in the initial phases of four stars! But¡­ apparently he''s able to fight that all by himself! W-What a monster¡­" Gun Mustache opened his mouth nervously. Droplets of sweat were also rolling down his face as he felt stressed at the sight of both monsters, one called a butterfly and the other¡­ human. 412 The Butterfly He started running after that and before long, Virus was directly beneath the flying butterfly as he leaped above, leaving a fissured ground behind. This time, however, as he was upon the butterfly, he did not attack. Instead, reaching out with his hand, he head-on grabbed one of its legs as he brought it down with himself. Bang! Of course, just when he was about to hit the ground, he did a downward slashing motion as he smashed the beast right into the earth. SCREECH!!! "Shut up." Bam! Sending a cruel punch at its tube-like tongue next, Virus pondered, ''Although I would be able to just rip its head off, let''s test how energy liberation feels like.'' Thinking this, raising his left hand before his face, he made a finger gun with it. Simultaneously, within his body, a large amount of his energy was led into his left arm. FSSSH! Promptly, a beam of light came to be visible from the tip of his index finger. ''Hmm, cool¡­ so this is what releasing my energy outside my pathways feels like.'' ''Unfortunately, I''m only able to liberate energy from here since I''ve just fused the pair of pathway within this particular arm of mine¡­'' In fact, every time a new pair was fused, the body would be able to release energy from the location of that particular fused and synthesized pathway. This meant that as one progresses and synthesizes more pathways, the said person would be able to liberate energy from more parts of his own body. This process will go on until the cultivator finally completes the 6th level of Liberation when he or she will be able to release energy from most of the major areas surrounding the corporeal figure. Regrettably, however, even then, the cultivator would not be capable enough to release energy from every part of his or her own body. Not even close! This had to do with the fact that in Virus''s previous world, a cultivator being able to liberate energy from any desired part of his figure was a mere long lost myth. An impossibility even. Furthermore, it was said that even those legendary geniuses who will be able to tread upon to the 7th or even the 8th level of Liberation would be incapable of achieving that kind of miracle. No matter, gazing upon the smashed yet struggling butterfly within his locked grasp, without any delay whatsoever, Virus directly slashed with the beautiful beaming light on his finger. Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Subsequently, anywhere his finger went and the energy beam touched, destruction followed as that part was detached from the rest of the butterfly''s physique without any resistance. It was like a knife cutting through butter, with the beam of light being the knife and the butterfly being the butter, only without the fly part. Swish! The energy knife caressed one of its wings next¡­ And the wing was cut off! And the butterfly''s head was no more! Therefore, as simple as that, a gory corpse of a messed-up butterfly was now exhibiting itself in front of the two speechless Guardians, Tongue Woman and Gun Mustache. "I-It died¡­ just like that?" Gun Mustache mouthed with every strand of his mustache having stood up in goosebumps. Nodding, Tongue Woman also mouthed, "Yeah¡­ that beam of light¡­ it must be his trait. The damage it deals must be horrifying for it to cut through that terrifying monster as easy as that." Meanwhile, having already killed the butterfly, Virus was just about to turn around and leave¡­ Abruptly, however, he started to feel great palpitations within his body which increased by every second. At the same time, the butterfly''s corpse seemed to be reacting to whatever that was palpitating within his body as something strange seemed to be drawn from within its carcass into Virus''s being. ''W-What is this?'' Shell-shocked, Virus didn''t hesitate to sit down and close his eyes as he focused every bit of his awareness within himself. ''I-I can feel the existence of Origin again!'' Greatly dumbfounded, Virus realized that this strange reaction was from the Origin itself. Currently, the ''Origin'' seemed to be trying to absorb and suck something from the butterfly''s carcass into Virus''s body. Nonetheless, marking time patiently, Virus waited for what was to come. Afterward, slowly but surely, he felt a very odd type of energy appear within his body as Origin gradually guided it to his third and fourth energy pathways. Then, as the strange fuel was tightly escorted into his third and fourth passage which were supposed to form his 2nd synthesized pathway, something even more shocking took place! The synthetization and fusion rate increased to one percent! Right after that, it shot up to 2%, 3%, 4%... Whatever it was that Origin had extracted from the butterfly was insanely directly fusing and synthesizing his second pathway!!! "What the fuck!" Murmured Virus speechlessly. He was truly horrified at the concept of cultivating like this since he had never seen or heard of anything like it. Of course, not waiting for Virus to get a grip, slowly but surely, the fusion rate continued to go higher. 5%, 6%, 7%... In the meantime, watching Virus suddenly sit down cross-legged and close both his eyes beside the corpse of the butterfly, the two Guardians were really confused. "What''s he doing all of a sudden?" Gun Mustache said in all his puzzlement. Even more befuddled, Tongue Woman suggested, "I¡­ I don''t know? Maybe he''s resting? Or¡­ praying for the monster perhaps?" "Sigh¡­ whatever he''s doing, let''s get lost before he''s done with it. Although we didn''t offend him exactly, who knows if he''s one of those weirdos with a strange personality and decides to teach us a lesson." Was Gun Mustache''s response. "Yeah, the young generation these days are really weird. Moreover, he must have one hell of a background for him to know such detailed information about me¡­" Recalling the scene of Virus narrating every little detail about her and her life, a shiver went down Tongue Woman''s spine as she decided to get away from this rather young man as soon as possible. Listening to her, an awkward expression took shape on Gun Mustache''s face as he proclaimed, "Uh¡­ but, just what kind of background is it that''s even able to unearth and get to the bottom of the mole on your right but-cheek?" "Left butt-cheek!" "¡­ O-okay?" Quickly noticing what she had done, a slight shade of red was drawn on her face as she changed the subject. "L-Let''s just get away from here." "Ah, okay¡­" Feeling even more awkward, Gun Mustache replied in his frozen state. "¡­" "¡­" For a few seconds after that, the two Guardians stared at each other in some embarrassment before leaving. ¡­ Meanwhile, not bothering to pay attention to his surroundings in the least, Virus proceeded to closely study this heaven-defying progress happening within his body. 8%, 9%, 10%... And¡­ 11%! When the fusion rate touched eleven percent, the odd fuel seemed to have been finally depleted as the process stopped and ''Origin'' seemed to have blinked out of existence again. 413 Just What is It? As his eyes snapped wide open, Virus rose to his feet while numerous thoughts stormed in his head, ''Hmm, does this mean Origin will increase the synthesis of my Pathways every time I kill a monster? Or was it a one-time thing? Or perhaps it''s something that happens only when I kill butterflies?'' ''Why now though? I''m quite confident I had killed other such monsters before, but nothing of the sort happened¡­'' As this notion popped into his consciousness, many theories went through his head until the answer that was the most likely possibility revealed itself to him, ''Oh, right. This is the first monster I''ve killed since my completion of the first synthesized pathway and the subsequent chain reaction from the Origin. I believe Origin must''ve somewhat connected itself to my pathway in a mysterious way. It''s either this or I''m totally lost.'' Not dwelling further on the matter, wanting to check and confirm something else, still in his standing position, he briefly closed both his eyes before opening them again. ''Magnificent! Unlike taking drugs, medicinal potions, elixirs, or other types of heavenly materials, this kind of fusion doesn''t harm my foundation in any way.'' His body trembled slightly at this point as he promptly understood what that signified. Therefore, full of joy, he knew, ''This means I can continuously slaughter monsters utilizing this method without fearing any kind of drawbacks or detrimental consequences! No risk of harming my foundation, no risk of harming my pathways, and no risk of destabilizing my cultivation! None! It''s the most perfect method for me to keep breaking through with a terrifying speed!'' "As long as there are enough monsters around for me to annihilate, I can advance nonstop." Murmuring this, Virus was full of unbridled excitement. He was now looking forward to how things would progress from this point onward. Still, soon, his excitement seemed to have been suppressed as uncertainty flickered within his pupils. ''But¡­ how can such a good thing exist? It''s almost too good to be true. Wait, I still don''t know if this will keep happening every time I kill a monstrous beast. Maybe it was indeed a one-time event.'' For a dozen seconds after that, Virus remained motionless before finally deciding with a shake of his head. "There''s no way to confirm or deny this theory without fighting more monsters." ''Well, guess I''ll naturally get my answer to that by finishing what I truly came here for. The four-starred Rift.'' Taking his phone out of his pocket next, he entered the Guardian Application without any delay. The first course of action he took next, however, was to check the Guardian License section. ¡ºGUARDIAN LICENSE¡» \u003cIDENTITY: Victor Goodwin (Show/Hide)\u003e \u003cGUARDIAN TITLE: DS (Abbreviation)\u003e \u003cTRAIT: Body Enhancement\u003e [POWER]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î (4) [SPEED]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î (4) [EXPERIENCE]: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î¡î (3) ''Indeed, they''ve already updated my experience attribute.'' Following that, he raised his head upwardly as he gazed upon the several hidden cameras and the flying drones everywhere. Of course, the Abnormals Association wasn''t stupid enough to simply trust the Guardians and leave them alone without any supervision whatsoever. They believed doing that was outright idiotic as it will come with many risks. For one, the Guardians may hire other Abnormals to hunt for them for the sole purpose of increasing their attributes. They might even lie about the monsters they''ve hunted in order to lessen the tax-rate they are supposed to pay for each monster. Last but not least, there was even the possibility that the dispatched Guardians may fail in handling the Rift and result in irredeemable damages, which in this case, the Association would be quick enough to send a stronger group of Guardians to annihilate the catastrophic beasts. These were only a few of the more significant reasons as to why the Abnormals Association was adamant about surveilling and watching over every Rift around the country and naturally, there were others too. ''I like how fast they are.'' Next, he directly moved on to another segment of the application, the section for reservation, before trying to reserve the only four-star Rift in Chicago which was going to activate tomorrow. Needless to say, now that he had three-stars in the experience attribute of his License, it was naturally possible for him to reserve four-star Rifts. \u003cThis rift has been already reserved.\u003e Unfortunately, even though his attribute was sufficient enough for reservation, he was still faced with another obstacle in his path. Being late in getting the Rift for himself. Of course, having already anticipated this, Virus didn''t hesitate to proceed and try to do a forceful buyout of that particular four stars fracture in space. \u003cYou can forcefully buyout this Rift for the price of: $72,000,000\u003e \u003cDo you wish to proceed?\u003e ''Meh, go on.'' \u003cYes.\u003e Thereafter, $72 million was instantly subtracted from his bound bank account. Virus was now responsible for the relevant Rift as whoever that had previously reserved it was also notified that it was no longer under their jurisdiction. After being done booking the Rift, Virus didn''t rush to leave the area, instead, walking beside the carcass of the long-dead butterfly, with the sole purpose of trying to extract its bead, he started cutting the beast''s various body parts using his energy finger. Soon, however, a frown found its way to Virus'' forehead. There was no bead within the butterfly! ''Wait a minute¡­ could it be, that weird energy was its bead?'' Full of disbelief, he went on, ''B-But that''s impossible! I-I can absorb their beads now? I''ve never heard of anything like this!'' Indeed, a situation where a human being would be capable of directly consuming or absorbing beads within a monstrous beast was simply unheard of throughout history. True, human cultivators could utilize and make use of the beads through many indirect methods such as alchemy and smithing, however, they were never able to straightforwardly absorb or consume the core of these beasts in such a preposterous manner. ''J-Just¡­ what is Origin?'' In the end, this was the only line he could think of while many mixed emotions continued to flicker through his head as he felt speechless at how heaven-defying Origin was proving itself to be. 414 A Reunion Regardless, throwing one last glance at the corpse of the butterfly monster, Virus turned around before taking his leave. He didn''t even bother trying to sell its carcass for some meager profit, because honestly, he didn''t value that amount of money in the least. Frankly, not even billions of dollars attracted his attention to itself these days because to him, money was merely just that. Money. Countless pieces of worthless paper. Something completely worthless when you had too much of it. After that, coming to Chicago city, he spent the night in a luxurious hotel until the following day. ¡­ Siiip~ Drinking one last mouthful of his tea, standing up, Virus went into motion as he left the hotel toward the four-star Rift. He was having great expectations for this particular day of importance. ¡­ ''Hmm, the Rift should be activating in around ten minutes¡­'' While standing before the Rift which was still irresponsive, Virus quietly calculated the rough amount of time before its anticipated eruption. ''If my hypothesis is proven to be true after this, in order to experience a fast rise in my cultivation, I will have three optimum options to pick from. But prior to that-'' Before he could even finish his train of thought, however, a loud alarm interrupted his peace. "GUILD MASTER REIGN, HE''S HERE." Looking in the direction of the source of the noise, Virus eyes met with a man who was screaming toward a seemingly expensive van at the far distance. And indeed, as a result of his shouting, the door of the huge van was pushed open as another man, followed by two ladies, exited it as they began walking toward him in a leisurely manner. Soon, led by the man, the trio was standing in some distance very close to Virus. Meanwhile, after a brief examination of the face of this 26 or 27 years looking man, Virus''s line of sight moved on to the two women. However, that immediately kindled some flickers of surprise in his expression. That was because he recognized the faces of both women. He was somewhat disturbed because one of them was the ''Thread-mistress'' while the other one was ''her''¡­ Ella. At the same time, the two women also clearly flinched as if they had just recalled or realized something. "Are you the one who bought out our Rift, young man?" Taking on a cold tone which was screaming arrogance, the man in the lead questioned next. Withdrawing his focus from the face of the two women due to the interruption by this arrogant man, while pointing at the Rift behind himself, Virus finally opened his mouth, "If you''re talking about this bad boy right here¡­ then yes. It was me." Finished introducing himself, as if he could already see Virus''s hilarious reaction of escaping with his tail between his legs, while gesturing ''you are dismissed'' with his fingers, he declared, "Now that you know me, you can go away. The Dominators will take it from here on. And don''t worry by the way, I''ll be the bigger man here and let it slide this time around. So¡­ just know that no offense was taken. You can leave totally relaxed." By this point, Virus wasn''t even listening to the nonsensical gibberish of this so-called leader of the Dominators guild who had named himself Reign. This was because he felt like his IQ would drop if he listened to this man''s crap any longer. Instead, his eyes were once again focused on the face of the woman on the right, aka Thread-mistress, as he said with a wide grin, "It''s been a while, how have you been, I wonder?" This, however, instantly forced the Thread-mistress to flinch as she recalled a certain unpleasant memory. "So it is really you! I thought my mind was playing games with me after seeing you¡­ but it really is you! You crazy pervert bastard!" "Haha¡­ nice to meet you too. I''ve been great as well, thanks for asking." Feeling amused, Virus responded with a burst of loud laughter. Meanwhile, the other woman''s expression seemed to have long gone pale as she could only stare at Virus''s face without taking them off, not even for a second. She was frozen still in that position. ''It''s really him! I had my doubts at first¡­ b-but that face, those dark eyes, and dark hair¡­ it''s that face from that time, i-it''s definitely¡­ him.'' She pondered simultaneously while great waves were wreaking havoc inside her. ''W-What should I say to him now? B-but why isn''t he even looking at me? His eyes only lingered on my figure just for a second before he retracted them entirely. He hasn''t even spared me a single glance since then¡­'' ''Could it be¡­ he feels like I don''t even deserve his mere glance anymore?'' Indeed, just as the woman on the left, Ella, had noticed, Virus''s eyes had merely grazed past her face for the briefest of time before he no longer looked her way anymore. It was as if she no longer existed there at all. This was because after catching the sight of those mesmerizing green eyes and long hair of hers, Virus had promptly shed light on her identity. And having already identified her, for some unknown reasons, his eyesight began avoiding her entirely. "Why are you still here, lad? Quit bullshitting my companion and leave instead, do you hear me?" Being ignored once, Reign didn''t feel much and instead assumed that he must''ve behaved like that due to spotting the Thread-mistress, therefore, he urged him to leave once again. Unfortunately, however, he was ignored once more as Virus talked to the Thread-mistress again. "So you''ve joined the Dominators, huh?" There was a shallow smirk being exhibited from the corner of his lips too. "Yeah! But so what! What does that have to do with you exactly?!" Came her rude reply immediately. "Y-You! Are you fucking ignoring me, lad?" In the meantime, being ignored not only once, but twice, Reign''s facial expression was contorting so much that it had an odd resemblance to the face of an angered wolf by this point. The thought of being ignored like that was making him so enraged that he was even considering attacking him directly. This was because watching Virus''s body language and tone, he had now confirmed that he was intentionally disregarding him as an act of rejecting his offer of leaving the area peacefully. Meanwhile, the body of the woman on the left, Ella, was shuddering somewhat while she wondered, ''Why is he ignoring me like that?'' ''B-But, p-perhaps, could it be¡­ every question he asked the Thread-mistress was in fact directed at me?'' ''Although it sounds crazy of me to say this, it really felt that way, I-I can feel it.'' Unconsciously putting her hand on her aching heart, Ella assumed. Today, once again, the lovers of yesterday were finally going through another reunion. A reunion followed by possibly many undefined connotations and undertoned feelings. 415 Fros "I''ll give you one last chance, kid. Are you going to leave or not?" With the hostile glint intensifying even further, Reign questioned again. Of course, Virus didn''t need to even think before finally responding, "Not." He had only chosen to reply due to his increasing sensation of annoyance at the arrogance and idiocy of Reign. "You!" "Will please shut up now? You''re annoying." "I''ll fucking kill you!" With even more veins showing up around his neck, Reign had, at last, lost control. Therefore, he was just about to start utilizing his special Trait when he was suddenly stopped by the grasp of a hand belonging to one of the two women beside him. And then, having already stopped him in his tracks, the owner of the hand, Thread Mistress, uttered, "Calm down, Reign, a lot of eyes are watching us. If you attack, you''ll be held accountable by the Abnormals Association." Indeed, assaulting someone around the vicinity of Rift, which was equipped with many surveillance cameras, was forbidden and in case such an incident ever happened, the person who started the fight first would be gravely punished since the Abnormals Association didn''t take matters regarding the Rifts and their respective rules lightly at all. After a brief glance into Thread Mistress''s pupils in return, understanding she was right, full of irritation, he said, "What''s your name, kid?" "Me? I''m DS." "And what does DS stand for?" Several new ticks also formed on his temple while he inquired. "Hmm, it stands for you''re in Deep Shit, Reign." Casually putting one hand beneath his chin, a contemplative shine showed up over Virus''s face as he answered without holding back. "You bastard motherfucker! Just you wait, you''ll regret ever offending the Dominators! I''ll get back at you for this." Turning around with that, he was just about to leave, when he was interrupted by a cracking noise. SHATTER~ ''Oh, finally, the Rift''s about to open up at last.'' Retracting his focus from Reign who he considered nothing but a pathetic clown, Virus patiently began to anticipate the prospect of the incoming beasts from within the Rift. ''Hope it spits some Six-Eyed Bears at me.'' Very quickly, one beast after another was discharged from the Rift. One monster¡­ Two monsters¡­ Seven Monsters¡­ Only when the figure hit eleven was the Rift done with the process as it quickly disappeared from their line of sight. ''Hmm, nine among them are full-fledged bears,'' Thought Virus while throwing a deep look at each and every one of the bears, ''but¡­ unfortunately, I can''t seem to be able to find a Six-Eyed Bear among any of them. All of them are peak Five-Eyed Bears which are probably on the very verge of evolving into a Six-Eyed Bear.'' Examining the physique of those two humanoid creatures which had great similarities to bees, he pondered with further interest, ''Their heads and antennae resemble those of bees too, and their yellow and black trunks and those bee-wings behind them are also clearly screaming bee. This should be somewhat entertaining.'' ''Well, I''m lucky I guess since I can also test if Origin can suck the energy out of them too. Good.'' Following that, he was just about to charge into the middle of the horde of monsters, when a feminine voice attracted his attention to itself, "There are too many monsters here. If you want to handle them all by yourself, a few of them will inevitably escape and that might even cause a lot of casualties and harm upon other people. Later on, you would be even punished if that happened, so how about we help you? You just need to give us half of every beast we kill." Simultaneously, she flicked her fingers as numerous nearly invisible threads began to surround and cover the eleven creatures, forcefully binding and trapping them in their standing stop for the moment. Turning toward the Thread-Mistress who had just offered her aid while temporarily helping him confine the beasts, a grin found its way on Virus''s face. Afterward, he was just about to open his mouth and say something when Reign beat him to it. "What are you saying, Thread-Mistress! Why do you want to help him? Did you even ask me if you can do that?!" Without any pause in between, he went on, "Furthermore, didn''t you see how he treated me just now? We should just leave the area and let him handle his own shit!" ''That''s what you get for treating me like that, motherfucker.'' Exuding clear signs of malice and ill will, Reign was fast to prevent the Thread-Mistress from interfering. All he wanted to witness now was to see Virus failing in successfully dealing with the Rift on his own before being dragged to the Abnormal Association so as to be gravely punished. However, just as Reign assumed he had successfully stopped the Thread-Mistress, it was Ella''s turn this time to jump into the middle of the conversation. Therefore, while her head was still somewhat lowered and even quivering due to some unknown notions, she stutteringly suggested, "I-I''m w-willing t-to help too¡­ Ai- DS. Please let me assist you." At the beginning of her sentence, she was clearly stuttering, however by the end of it, she was reeking of unshakeable determination. She was finally facing the man she wanted to come across and meet both day and night, hence, she wasn''t willing to let go of this chance that easily. She also couldn''t prevent dumb notions from passing through her head, ''I wonder, will he feel moved, impressed, or perhaps even emotional after seeing how strong I''ve become?'' ''Will he look at me again after seeing that I can take care of myself now?'' Seeing Ella offering her assistance, however, Reign felt shocked. He had never expected Ella to insist even after he had just forbidden Thread-Mistress from lending a helping hand. "F-Frost, what are you doing, damn it? Didn''t you just hear me say we''re not going to assist the bastard?" Chapter 416 Please... "SHUT UP! He''s not a bastard, you are! Don''t curse him again! And I''m going to help, whether you allow me to or not, I don''t care!" By the end of her sentence, she was obviously clenching both of her fists as she continued staring at Reign like a cat that had been just greatly offended. This forced Reign''s eyes to go wide open in utter disbelief since he truly hadn''t envisioned Ella to not only be so headstrong about it but also curse him along the way too. ; It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that Reign had never seen her act this way before. And considering that, his startlement was frankly well-justified. In the past few years since he had recruited and known Ella, Ella had always kept a professional distance from him while obeying every single one of his guild-related orders to the best of her capabilities without undermining his authority in the least, not even once. But now, all of a sudden, she was behaving in this odd manner, which only made Reign feel speechless and lost. On the other hand, even Thread-Mistress was slightly startled by this decision from Frost because she hadn''t anticipated her to react this way either. Nonetheless, this resulted in an amused smirk forming on the corner of her lips as she also found even more courage to disobey their leader. "We''re going to help, Reign. Whether you help us or not, that''s your decision. But whether we help him or not is also up to us, so please don''t be so na?ve to think you can interfere with our will." Following that, turning toward Virus again, she opened her mouth again, "We just need you to give us your verbal consent to assist you, that would make our interference legal. What do you say, DS?" With that, she impassively waited for Virus''s response. Of course, following that, it also didn''t take long for Virus to provide them with the reply they were seeking. To be honest, he wanted to reject her offer at first since he didn''t need it in the first place, furthermore, every bear was going to increase the unification percentage of his Pathways even higher, so why would he even consider accepting the offer? However, after seeing how unwilling and hurt Reign looked at the concept of them disobeying him and going against his orders so as to aid him, he decided to change his mind. Moreover, there was something else he wanted to check for himself from a closer distance. Hence, he agreed. "Alright, you two can kill those four Five-Eyed Bears for the moment, leave the rest to me until I tell you otherwise. Oh, by the way, you can carry on with keeping them restrained since I''m trying to do a little experiment here." The moment he was finished with his words, before anyone could even react to it, his figure vanished from the trio''s eyesight as it seemed to come into existence once again right beside one of the Five-Eyed Bears. "Will take that as a yes." Having no thoughts about wanting to delay this any further, directly grabbing the bear''s head under the watchful eyes of the trio, using his two palms, he directly went ahead to squeeze it with all his might pushed behind it. ROAAR- P-TAFF~ A popping sound of watermelon bursting open reverberated around the area next. That was the gruesome noise of the bear''s head as it directly exploded and shattered into many pieces. Watching this gory scene of the now headless bear and the disgusting brain matter splattered all around, the trio became dumbfounded since none of them had seen this coming. This was their first time seeing someone actually killing a monster in this way. Still, knowing this was not the time, Frost and Thread-Mistress were quick to go in motion as they rushed at their own portion of responsibility. ''H-He''s that strong?'' On the other hand, a quiver went down Reign''s spine at the mere imagination of his head being in Virus''s grasp instead of the bear''s. He couldn''t stop himself from swallowing hard either. In the meantime, still frozen up in his previous location, several lines of deliberation were storming through Virus''s anxious mind. ''Hmm, why am I not feeling anything yet? Something should''ve happened by now.'' Narrowing his eyes, Virus truly felt confused by the entire situation. Too much time had passed but he was perceiving no reaction from the Origin whatsoever. He had been pretty confident that Origin would definitely suck the monster''s energy into him, however, the next moment, he was proven otherwise. ''Could it be that I was wrong about the entire thing? Could this only happen when I''m murdering butterfly-type monstrous beasts? Or perhaps it was indeed a one-time thing?'' Every possibility that was passing through his brain now could only add to the feeling of disappointment growing within Virus. In fact, he had been so excited about this entire situation last night that he could hardly sleep. ; But now, it looked like that had been just wishful thinking from his part, which honestly made him sad. ''As they say, the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment.'' ''But¡­ I feel like something''s wrong and I''m still missing a detail. Origin should''ve reacted the same way as yesterday¡­ but why?'' At the same time, increasing his calculative speed many times over, he tried coming up with the possible reasons as to why this was happening. ''What variable changed since yesterday?'' ; ''Hmm, the only different variables from yesterday should be respectively the type and grade of the Rifts, the type of monstrous beast I just killed, and,'' his eyes quietly landed on the almost invisible threads restraining the corpse of the dead beast as he completed his train of thought, ''outside help.'' This promptly sent a shiver of possible comprehension down his spine as he didn''t hesitate to request the Thread-Mistress while pointing at another bear, "Free this bear for me." Although it was a long shot, it had been successful in flaming up some hope within Virus. ''As long as there''s some tiny hope¡­'' Thereafter, as the next bear was finally released from its confinement, letting out a roar of rage, it charged at it''s the closest target, Virus. Of course, having already expected this, Virus didn''t falter in rushing at the bear beast as he grabbed its head once again before squeezing it into countless bits. POP!!! ''Please¡­ please¡­ react.'' Afterward, without even noticing, he found himself pleading the Origin to react the same way as yesterday. Hua~ Abruptly, as if his pleas have been heard by it, the same strange energy started to be sucked into his physique as it then stormed into his still separated third and fourth pathways. 12%, 13%, 14%... Subsequently, as the absorbed energy began to assimilate itself into the connecting bridge between the 3rd and 4th passages, the fusion rate began to shoot up once more. In fact, Virus was literally seeing a percentage bar getting filled up at every passing second. This was because he had configured his consciousness in a way so that the unification degree of his next pathways would be reported and displayed visually. 20%, 21%, 22%... Even as the synthesis rate hit a solid 22 percent which was twice the amount as the previous time, it seemed the process of fusion had no intention of wanting to stop as it continued soaring. Chapter 417 Fros Chapter 417: Frost 23%, 24%.... And finally¡­ 25%! Only when the bar displayed 25 percent did the odd energy disperse as the Origin went quiet again. "YES!" Clenching both fists, Virus loudly exclaimed, instantly drawing Ella''s and the Thread-Mistress''s focus on himself. "Eh, why does he seem so excited?" Asked the Thread-mistress while feeling goosebumps under her skin. All she had witnessed was Virus shattering the skull of the bear apart like a savage and then shouting in utter joy as if he had done something that was making his blood boil in elation. ''Could he be a psychopath who enjoys slaughtering?'' "Well, he said he wanted to experiment something, so he probably discovered something which is making him happy." While on the other hand, Frost who knew Virus better responded calmly. ''I wonder what you''re experimenting Ai¡­ but whatever it is, I''m sure no one can even dream about imagining it.'' Recalling all of the insane tools and stuff she had seen Virus randomly take out during the times of them being together forced a shine of curiosity to be lit up within Ella''s pupils. Meanwhile, staring at the remaining three bears in front of him, licking the corner of his lips in anticipation, he commanded, "Free my three teddy-bears." Watching his psychotic act of licking the corner of his mouth while saying ''release my teddy bears'' promptly sent a cold shiver down the Thread-mistress''s spine as she confirmed, ''HE''S DEFINITELY A PSYCHO!'' Still, not having any intentions of wanting to bar this crazy psychopath''s path, she went ahead and liberated the bear monsters with a simple flick of her fingers. Thereafter, the moment the bears were set free, even before the beasts themselves had the chance of charging in his direction, beating them to it, Virus rushed at them with apparently very hungry eyes. CRACK! BAM! PUFF! Following that, three respective noises of skulls cracking, blowing up, and exploding traveled through the ears of the trio who gazed at him with some traces of sweat running down their foreheads. ''He''s batshit crazy. H-He''s d-drooling!'' Thought Reign to himself while feeling his blood run cold. "HAHAHAHA!" At the same time, as if to confirm their hypothesis, spreading both his arms, looking upwardly, he suddenly started to laugh like a true maniac while feeling the amazing transformations within himself. 25%, 26%, 27%... ''He''s truly a Dark Savior¡­'' Feeling enlightened all of a sudden, the Thread-mistress pondered to herself in some anxiety. She felt like she had truly come to understand why he titled himself as the Dark Savior. 31%, 32%, 33%... Beside her, Ella was also feeling somewhat shocked since this wasn''t how ''Aizen'' behaved usually. ''Is he¡­ perhaps¡­ acting this way so no one suspects his true identity?'' This was the only reason she could think of which could maybe justify the strange way he was acting. 45%, 46%, 47%! When the percentage bar shot up to 47%, the increasing process finally halted. This, however, abruptly stopped Virus''s unbridled laughter as a sharp glint went through his eyes while he analyzed, ''Eh, I killed three bears, so I was at least expecting the percentage bar to break through 60%¡­ but it only increased to 47%...'' ''I see, this could either mean that it gets harder to surge the fusion rate as it goes higher¡­ or that my pathways gradually get immune to the energy from the same type of monster. Or perhaps it''s both. I need to examine this further in order to make sure.'' ''Well, whatever. As long as I can use this method to level up, it doesn''t matter by much really.'' With his conclusion, his eyeballs suddenly turned toward the two humanoid bees, forcing a quiver of terror down their spine much to their disbelief. "Now¡­ let''s see if you guys are delicious." As the same crazed glimmer flickered through his eyes, Virus announced in delight. Both Thread-mistress and Reign were now certain he was a mad man indeed. "Free that one." He demanded next while pointing at one of the bees. BZZZZ! Subsequently, as the bee was liberated, he stormed at it before grabbing its head and neck with each hand before detaching the two from each other with a simple pull. BZzz¡­! As the bee''s buzzing stopped at last, Virus closed both his eyes, patiently waiting for what was to come. However, no matter how long he awaited the gratifying boost, it didn''t come. ''Eh¡­ nothing?'' Then, staring at the other bee with some resentment within his pupils, he said, "You taste the worst. Boring and disappointing." Seeing the humanoid bees not having lived up to his great expectations of them, he truly felt let down now. ''So¡­ this means Origin does not react or absorb energy from the Red-Crystals.'' Thereafter, no longer wanting to bother himself regarding the subject, he vanished and appeared before the other bee and casually separated its head too. Next, as he was, at last, over with his own share of monsters, his attention was finally drawn on the stunned figure of Thread-mistress who was still looking at him with her mouth fully agape. "Eh, why haven''t you killed your own share of bears yet?" Indeed, all four bears were still alive and kicking in their restrained spots. "Eh¡­ w-we just wanted to watch you first. We''ll kill them now." Unwilling to reveal her true thoughts on the matter, with a little stutter, the Thread-Mistress responded. "Frost, I''ll restrain them, you finish them off." ''Finally! I have a chance to show Aizen how strong I''ve become.'' Pondering in elation, Ella said, "Alright, please keep them still." At the same time, seeing the two about to make their move at last, barely able to maintain his fading interest, he remained standing in a corner. Temporarily. Meanwhile, under the watchful gazes of the three, Frost then raised her hands while aiming them toward one of the bears. SCHWALTTZZZ~ Immediately, small crystals of ice started to take shape all around her as they grew bigger and bigger by every passing second. Very soon, as the clock had hit its third second, many fist-sized ice shards with extremely razor-sharp edges were pointing at the bear. Subsequently, she swiped both her arms toward the beast as they all shot at it without any delay whatsoever. Chapter 418 WAIT! Chapter 418: WAIT! Woosh! Whoosh~ THUCK~ THUNK~¡­ ROAAAR~ Several ice shards instantly pierced through the targeted bear''s flesh, successfully injuring it as a result while its fur began bleeding on those particular areas in a nonstop and fatal manner. Next, a new set of hovering ice took shape around her as she swung her arms once more, forcing them into the roaring bear-in-pain. Coincidentally, one of the shards sank into the bear''s eyes as it went ahead and penetrated its brain, resulting in the instant death of the creature. Meanwhile, watching the sweat-filled foreheads of Thread-Mistress and the so-called Frost, Virus merely continued observing them. ''They seem to be fatigued and depleted already¡­ the Thread-Mistress due to restraining the monsters until now, and Ella due to her own special trait¡­ hmm.'' Simultaneously, producing a new group of ice, Frost started attacking his second target. And by the time she had launched her second attack, the second bear was already dead. "F-Frost, I''ve been constraining them all for far too long, you''d have to deal with the other two by yourself." After seeing the second bear dead, the Thread-Mistress''s nigh-invisible threads seemed to have lost their might as they disappeared gradually and that freed the monsters. "N-No problem!" Exclaimed Ella in determination, however, seeing her breathing with some difficulty, it was clear she was also somewhat struggling with the situation. Nonetheless, raising her arms, she was just about to put the third bear to eternal rest, when abruptly, Virus took shape between the two remaining bears as he went ahead and shattered their skulls one after another. "Eh¡­ didn''t you say you''ll leave those four bears to us, you perverted bastard! What''s the meaning of this!?" Annoyed, exclaimed the Thread-Mistress immediately as she jumped to conclude the possible connotations behind this act of this man which she still deemed nothing but a pervert that would take advantage of a lady at any chance he got. "Haha, see? I knew something like this would happen! As expected of a loser like him. He didn''t deserve your assistance from the beginning, that''s why I told you not to help!" In the meantime, Reign, who had been watching everything quietly until now, as if he had finally found his chance, started talking as he ridiculed and branded Virus as a loser. Deciding to ignore Reign for now, however, the Thread-Mistress patiently waited for Virus''s anticipated justification as she felt like he was at least entitled to that. However, no matter how long she waited, no such a thing happened as Virus simply closed both his eyelids as a satisfied expression took shape over his face. He seemed to be even enjoying the entire development. Seeing his satisfied look, however, made the Thread-Mistress misunderstand the situation even further as she yelled in anger, "You perverted bastard! You''re enjoying this, aren''t you? You enjoy abusing others, right?! Just like when you kiss-" When she reached the final part of her sentence though, a blush formed on her cheeks as she was no longer capable of continuing with her words. On the other hand, a rueful glimmer was clear on Ella''s face as she also recalled that particular scene she had witnessed over the television years ago, the scene of Dark Savior kissing the Thread-Mistress before the eyes of the entire world. Of course, going back to Virus, obviously, he wasn''t feeling pleasure due to stealing the bears, but because the fusion rate within his second currently-forming synthesized passage had started reacting and rising once again. 48%, 49%, 50%... Finally, only when the bar hit 58% did the increment stop. ''Hmm, I''m now in the intermediate phase of the 2nd level of Liberation. Regrettably though, just as I thought, it seems to be getting harder and harder to progress¡­'' Unfortunately, just as this notion passed through his mind as he continued trying to order his discoveries together, a feminine voice which was clearly extremely angered forced him out of his contemplation. "Are you ignoring me, perverted bastard! Is this your way of dealing with any situation that proves disfavorable to you!?" This vexed voice of interruption obviously belonged to the Thread-Mistress who kept lashing at the quiet Virus. "Ahhh, you''re so loud and fucking annoying, woman! You just won''t let me concentrate for a single moment, will ya!?" Helpless, the dark-haired youth, DS, mouthed at last. "W-What¡­ I-I''m a-annoying? Y-Y-You!" Greatly exasperated at this point, the Thread-Mistress was truly speechless. First, he had stolen the shares and monsters they were promised with. Then, when she had demanded an explanation, he had just gone silent entirely! Not only that, he even had the audacity of showing a happy face as he was clearly enjoying the entire situation while ignoring her. But now, when she at least wanted him to try justifying himself, he called her ''annoying''. All of this was now making the Thread-Mistress feel very wronged. "Yes, you! If you had just shut up and stayed quiet for a while until I''m finished thinking, I would''ve informed you that all of the carcasses, even those that were killed by me, are yours to do as you desire¡­ but you just wouldn''t shut up and let me think in peace." Answered the Dark Savior with a flustered frown still apparent on his forehead. This answer made the Thread-Mistress a little stunned as she was feeling even more confused and wronged now. "How do you expect someone to not misunderstand a situation like that! Moreover, why would you need to think for so long! It was clearly a case where anyone would come to misunderstand naturally!" However, although her mouth was uttering those words as she still sounded upset, unconsciously, she began seeing Virus in a more positive light as her tone was also clearly much softer compared to the past. "Forget it¡­" Shaking his head, however, not wanting to argue any further, Virus simply ended the topic before vanishing from their sight in flash. Appearing beside the motionless corpses of the two humanoid bees next, without any delay whatsoever, he went ahead and extracted the two Red-Crystals from within their bodies. "Since you two were helpful indeed, everything else here other than these two Red-Crystals belongs to you now, do with them as you see fit. Goodbye." Having already said everything that needs to be said, his figure¡­ disappeared. "WAIT!!!" Chapter 419 Again In preparation, Keguan Please wait a moment, after the updates, you need to refresh the page to get the latest updates! Chapter 420: Acquaintances? Just as he was finally about to make up his mind regarding his choice of whether to start reserving Rifts, entering them, or leaving to the Cultivation Multiverse altogether, he was distracted by an internal alert. ¡®Hmm? Someone¡¯s trying to establish a direct line to me¡­ is it Lil Belle? Or Amara perhaps?¡¯ Curious about the identity of the caller, Virus straightly connected to the Communication Device on the other side of the line. The next moment, however, a flicker of surprise went through his eyes as he realized the caller was in fact, Ella. Having just left the company of Ella, Virus had assumed that there was nearly nothing left to discuss between them no more. Alas, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case for Ella. ¡®Maybe something urgent regarding the Rift came up?¡¯ Notwithstanding, after a momentary hesitation, he decided to pick up the call. ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± ¡­ After watching Virus disappear without sparing her nearly a single glance, Ella¡¯s mood experienced a sharp fall while feeling a squeezing pain in her chest, making it harder and harder for her to breathe. ¡°So¡­ Frost, DS told us to divide the loots between the two of us, therefore I¡¯ll-¡± Before Thread-Mistress could even finish, however, Ella interrupted, ¡°Do as you see fit, I¡¯m not feeling well, so I¡¯ll leave. See you at the headquarters.¡± Turning around, Ella also vanished among the trees. Meanwhile, looking at her downcast back, the Thread-Mistress was honestly very curious as to why she seemed to have been greatly saddened after meeting the Dark Savior. Of course, there were some possible theories she had come up with, unfortunately, there was no way for her to specify the right one. ¡­ ¡®This can¡¯t end like this¡­ I¡¯ve waited for years for him to approach me of his own accord, or possibly for us to meet by coincidence and make up. Like today. But¡­ maybe I was wrong all along, he¡¯s too much of an idiot to understand how I¡¯m feeling. He¡¯s so smart in everything else¡­ but when it comes to us, why is he¡­¡¯ Pondering up to this point, a glimmer of determination became apparent within her pupils as she decided, ¡°We can¡¯t go on like this¡­ It¡¯s time for me to take the lead!¡± ¡®Call Aizen!¡¯ Thereafter, this notion which she had dreamt of having day and night went through her head as the Communication Device, the smallest yet most precious gift she had ever received, established a connecting bridge between the two of them once again! ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± Receiving the familiar voice directly into her brain, Ella froze up entirely. For a while, the awkward silence was all that was transmitted between the two. Still, it didn¡¯t take long for Ella to finally open her mouth, ¡°Why¡­ why did you ignore me like that just now? Am I no longer even worth talking to?¡± Catching this, another bout of silence dominated the line for a while, until at last, a response came to her anxious heart. ¡°It¡¯s not that really. It¡¯s just, you were acting too emotional, therefore, I had no other option but to ignore you.¡± ¡°W-What do you mean? That doesn¡¯t make se-¡± Before she could even end her sentence, however, Virus continued, ¡°Think about it, if you had continued to act emotionally like that, and I had happened to tag along with you and start talking to you, the bystanders and the surveillance cameras would¡¯ve easily inferred that there was something romantic going on between us. They would¡¯ve suspected that we are or were a couple. And connecting the dots, after a bit of investigation as to who was your boyfriend in the past, there was a very high chance of them discovering that the Dark Savior is, in fact, the Chairman of the Virus Industries.¡± ¡°And that will bring a lot of unnecessary troubles and headaches for me which I¡¯m trying to avoid for the moment, temporarily.¡± A shine of jovial comprehension burned within Ella¡¯s eyes as she deliberated happily, ¡®So that¡¯s why he ignored me! It¡¯s wasn¡¯t something like hating me and thus ignoring me, thank god!¡¯ Just as she was about to express her happiness, unfortunately, Virus beat her to it and stabbed an even more fatal blade right through her heart, ¡°Otherwise, there was no reason for me to deliberately ignore you or anything, I mean, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m trying to avoid talking to you. Just like how I wouldn¡¯t disregard my other acquaintances, I wouldn¡¯t just shrug you off as well.¡± Following his words, Ella felt like a bucket of icy cold water had been just poured over her head. ¡®A-Acquaintances? Does he consider me a mere acquaintance now, someone he knows but isn¡¯t exactly close with? Is that what I am to him?¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Showing a painful smile filled with suffering, she pondered, ¡®Hating me would¡¯ve been better compared to not caring at all¡­¡¯ Clenching both her fists as hard as she could, Ella muttered, ¡°Ai, why did you never come looking for me these past few years? Why didn¡¯t you just follow me that day? I-I¡¯ve¡­ sob¡­ I¡¯ve been waiting for you every single day¡­ sob¡­¡± Unable to stop her sobbing, at last, tears began running down her face. After a few seconds of remaining quiet, letting out a helpless sigh, Virus declared, ¡°Sigh¡­ Ella, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll work out between us anymore.¡± With only this sentence, for Ella, time seemed to have frozen still and stopped functioning entirely. She felt as if her entire world was shattering apart¡­ no, a more appropriate term would be¡­ she felt as if her heart had just shattered into countless pieces, promptly snuffing the life out of her. Regardless, after what felt like an eternity later for her, while shaking nonstop, mustering every bit of energy she had left, she mouthed in a quivering tone. ¡°A-Ai¡­ you c-can¡¯t mean that. I-I¡­ sob¡­ still love you with all my heart. D-Don¡¯t you love me anymore?¡± Chapter 421: The Night We Met As the sad and tragic crying sobs of Ella transferred over the call, Virus began clenching one of his fists in dejection. He disliked hearing Ella cry very much, regrettably, he disliked lying even more. Thereupon, he decided to clarify something he, perhaps, should¡¯ve done a long time ago, ¡°Do you know why I never told you ¡®I love you¡¯ Ella?¡± Sometimes after a deep silence, he added calmly, ¡°That¡¯s because I still don¡¯t think I understand what love is exactly, at least not yet¡­¡± Not stopping there, he went on, ¡°But please don¡¯t get me wrong, I liked you very much¡­ and I think I still might have some feelings for you. But¡­¡± ¡°You asked me why did I never come looking for you, right? Why didn¡¯t I just follow and run after you that day outside the police station?¡± Tilting his head down at this point, he proclaimed, ¡°If I want to provide a plain and shallow answer, I might say that happened because you told me not to follow you and never contacted me again¡­ and that might be true in a sense, but no, that wasn¡¯t the main cause. It¡¯s much more complicated than that.¡± ¡°Hence, for me to give you the main and original reason behind it, let me go a bit back¡­ to the night we first met.¡± ¡°Do you remember the night we met, Ella?¡± He inquired, patiently awaiting Ella¡¯s response. Noticing that Virus was expecting a reply, cleaning the teardrops from the corner of her eyes, Ella answered, ¡°Y-Yes¡­ we met at that party years ago.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct. But¡­ why do you think we happened to meet one another that day?¡± He threw another crucial question at once. ¡°Hmm? Well, isn¡¯t that obviously because of a coincidence? We both happened to be at the party that day, therefore we encountered one another. It¡¯s clearly that¡­ or in case you want to romanticize it, you could claim it was due to fate.¡± Letting out a weak sigh, Virus corrected her, ¡°No, Ella, we chanced upon one another that night not because of some coincidence, and certainly not due to fate¡­ to tell you the truth, we run into each other because I decided us to.¡± ¡°W-What¡­ do you mean?¡± Confused, and slightly shocked, Ella questioned. ¡°I mean exactly what I said, Ella, the reason I chose you that night was that you were the person I deemed the most compatible with me in the vicinity at the time, thus, I didn¡¯t hesitate to pick you.¡± Shaking his head briefly, he corrected, ¡°In actuality, I didn¡¯t come to magically deem you compatible with me that night as well and my search had begun much earlier than that. It was only that day when I was ready and thereupon pulled some strings here and there and manipulated someone in secret to arrange the party and through some other means made it so you would be also there.¡± {A/N: It¡¯s a simple thing for Virus to manipulate various variables, like sending the parents of someone who likes to party to travel around which would cause the party to be held.} By now, Ella¡¯s eyes had long since turned wide open in utter disbelief as they were nearly about to pop out of their sockets any minutes now. Nevertheless, Virus went on, ¡°But that¡¯s beside the point, the point here is that I thought you were compatible with me, and I had been indeed right¡­ until¡­¡± Not even noticing Ella was barely listening anymore, Virus picked the rest of his elaboration, ¡°until that day outside the police precinct.¡± ¡°You said why didn¡¯t I run after you and follow you that day, no? Why didn¡¯t I seek you out even though a few years have passed? Well, that¡¯s because I didn¡¯t see the need to, because it hit me at the time, outside the police station, that we were no longer compatible.¡± ¡°For instance, Ella, I¡¯ve noticed that you want a righteous and just companion, which couldn¡¯t be far from who I am. If anything, I¡¯m the exact opposite of that. One day, I might just wake up and decide to end the human population on the planet, would you be able to take that?¡± Evidently, the final part of his words was just a rhetorical question. Following that, with no pause, he mouthed, ¡°And the opposite of that is true as well, I don¡¯t want a righteous, extremely moral, and law-abiding woman as my companion, I want myself and my ways to be the so-called justice for my woman. I want someone who would trust my justice even if she could not understand it at the time. And you, my dear, wouldn¡¯t be able to take that. That¡¯s just not you. Being a heroic Guardian suits you much more.¡± Going ahead, he concluded, ¡°Therefore, it couldn¡¯t be more transparent that you and I will only continue hurting one another if we stay together and that¡¯ll eventually lead us to even hate each other at some point in the future.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t contact you or chase after you that day. Do you get what I¡¯m saying?¡± ¡­ After disconnecting the line, Ella seemed to have turned into a motionless statue. She had been dealt with such a hard blow that she was feeling extremely lost now. First, she was faced with the hard truth that everything between Aizen and her might have been completely fake and nothing more than a big lie. Then, she came to realize that possibly, the only reason Aizen chose her was that he judged her to be suitable for him. And now that he thought otherwise, he wanted to end the relationship. ¡®Did he even like me? Or was that a big lie as well? What¡­ was real? And¡­ what was fake between us?¡¯ DRIP! A single drop of tear rolled down from her left eye before she simply wiped it off before continuing to proceed toward her undetermined destination. ¡­ Simultaneously, within the private plane, Virus let out another barely audible sigh while thinking, ¡®At least, knowing the whole truth might agonize you less and decrease your sadness a bit.¡¯ Subsequently, he picked the rest of his previous deliberation which had been cut off by Ella¡¯s call. The only difference this time was the fact that his mind was somewhat distracted and occupied. ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­¡¯ Chapter 422: My Lovely Yuexin "So, among the three options I have, I''ll be picking¡­" Right as he was done murmuring that, a frown took shape on Virus'' forehead as silence overtook the interior of his plane before it was broken again at last, "Ah, damn it. Let''s go back home for now." No longer being in the mood due to the call from Ella, now officially his ex-girlfriend, and the serious conversation they had, he opted to postpone making a vital decision regarding the three options he had available amongst ''reserving as many Rifts as possible'', ''entering the Rifts'', or his third alternative of ''going back to the Cultivation Earth'' to hunt. "Let''s just see how it goes." Although he was truly excited and enthused about his newfound ability to be able to cultivate super fast by simply killing monstrous beasts and absorbing their energy, he had to admit the call he had just now had indeed killed the mood for the moment. ''This is my fourth and last Rift today. Hmm, I already have eight Red-Crystals ready for absorption.'' Pondered Hu Yuexin to herself while counting the number of Red-Crystals she now had mentally. Currently, she was in front of a two-star Rift standing alone, awaiting its nigh activation. "Oh, there it is." She whispered, catching the sight of her reserved Rift''s activity calmly. She stood by the opening Rift for a couple of seconds, anticipating the incoming wave of monsters. Unfortunately, the next instant, with no monsters at sight, the Rift started to close up by itself before it was no longer visible. "Crap, it was a dud." Dud or Empty Rift. The phenomenon where a Rift activates but spawns no monsters whatsoever before closing down and disappearing by itself. In the past couple of years, although the number of empty Rifts had been very few and far between initially, as time passed, their number increased until it had become a very frequent thing nowadays. Alas, the number of Rifts had increased much more all around the globe compared to its duds. Thus, one couldn''t really say the situation was getting better overall. On the contrary, it was getting worse. "Whatever, I''ll just go back and consume them for now." Being finally finished with her first round of monster hunting day, Hu Yuexin was extremely excited about the concept of absorbing the Red-Crystals'' essence and awakening her own personal Trait. ''Hehe, I wonder what my Trait is. According to my investigations, every person seems to awaken their unique Trait depending on various variables such as their mentality, temper, bloodline, history, previous generations and ancestors, needs, views of themselves or the world, goals, dreams, emotions, and on and on.'' More accurately, anything in an individual''s life and experiences could be a variable and deciding factor at what that person''s Trait was going to be. And that was what made Traits so unique with infinite possibilities. Of course, the Abnormal Associations around the world had come up with rough frames of various types of Traits one could awaken which were categorized into general classifications. Albeit, that was all they were, rough frames that could not include all prospects of today and tomorrow. After Hu Yuexin returned to her wreck of a place which could hardly be called a room, she sat crossed legged before taking out a certain ''Resistance Pill'' which was going to temporarily grant her five hours of resistance, 90% resistance to be precise, to the toxicity and pain of the Red-Crystals. ''What an ingenios pill¡­'' She wondered to herself in some amazement as she ate it. The reason Hu Yuexin was taking a Resistance Pill was that even though she was quite confident she could tolerate the level of agony that was accompanied during the process of the absorption of the essence inside the crystal, she was aware her physique was extremely weak to poison and the likelihood of her surviving due to being poisoned was absolutely meager. Therefore, obviously, she would not risk it. A few minutes after swallowing the pill, Hu Yuexin abruptly grabbed a knife and cut the palm of her hand with no hesitation whatsoever. Following that, as her blood began to drop on the ground, she seized her first Red-Crystal before putting it in direct contact with the wound in her palm. Despite this method being proven to be much more lethal and painful, it was without a shadow of a doubt, the current most efficient way of absorbing the flame-like substance within the crystals compared to the other method of keeping it inside the mouth like a lollipop. Therefore, Hu Yuexin didn''t even need to think about which method to utilize. Seconds began to pass at once as she patiently endured and remained still without a single frown showing on her expression. ''Based on what I read over the internet, the chances of awakening after ingesting the first Red-Crystal was nearly non-existent¡­ I just hope it would happen by the time I''m done with all of my eight cryst- wait¡­'' This notion was just going through Hu Yuexin''s mind when she sensed some changes within herself. By the time the feeling of shift ended, a single minute had passed by as the crystal became empty and colorless while being covered in her blood now. Although quite shocked, Hu Yuexin was certain she had just gone through an awakening. ''Seriously? On my first try, is this luck? Or talent?'' Of course, she did not have enough information regarding the workings of the Red-Crystal and how it affected a person to know the answer to that. Nonetheless, putting aside her feeling of astonishment for the moment, Hu Yuexin shut both her eyes as she tried to control her newly awakened Trait in order to at least figure out what it was. Unfortunately, however, no matter how hard she attempted, her Trait just wouldn''t respond. ''Hmm? Why isn''t my Trait reacting in any way?'' While touching her chin with a finger, she started to contemplate the topic. Sadly though, no matter how hard she made an effort to come up with a possible response, she just could not. ''I guess fighting is the quickest way to understand and unravel the mystery of my Trait.'' As this thought showed up within Hu Yuexin''s head, she didn''t hesitate to open the Guardian app and reserve a Rift. Currently standing in front of her reserved Rift, Hu Yuexin was patiently awaiting the inevitable triggering of the crevice on the fabric of space. In the meantime, taking a quick glimpse of her watch, she muttered. "A few minutes more before monster discharge." That line was just spouted by her lips when abruptly, a peal of wild laughter garnered her attention. "HAHAHA! Well, would you look at this, if it isn''t my lovely Yuexin!" Chapter 423: Wont Ever Turning toward the source of laughter, a man and a woman Hu Yuexin did not recognize appeared before her eyes. ¡°Who are you?¡± She asked while furrowing her brows. ¡°Huh? Are you fucking kidding me right now? I¡¯m the one you stabbed the other night, bitch!¡± Stated the man, his face already contorting in rage. Beside him, his companion remained silent as if she was a mere servant awaiting her master¡¯s orders. On the other side, that response immediately brought back a memory to Hu Yuexin. The memory of the night where Virus narrated everything he knew about her current body¡¯s previous owner. And that clearly included the story of how Fan Tong had stolen the Red-Crystal that was supposed to save her son, tried to rape her, and nearly led her son to death that very night! ¡°Don¡¯t think it would just go away only because you pretend to forget what you did, you fucking whore!¡± He screamed in her direction. ¡°The only reason I haven¡¯t reported you to the police already is that I still want to give you one last chance. It¡¯s because I took pity on you.¡± ¡°Hmm, so you¡¯re that Fan Tong.¡± She admitted her recognition while remaining expressionless for the moment. ¡°Hahaha, so you ¡®do¡¯ remember! Good, good, good!¡± Showing an evil grin, he went on. ¡°Anyway, you don¡¯t need to be afraid, I won¡¯t report you as long as you do what I tell you to do.¡± ¡°Huuuu. And what is that?¡± Curious where he was going with this, Hu Yuexin questioned with a half-smile. ¡°It¡¯s great you¡¯re finally cooperating. Hahaha! You should¡¯ve done this from the beginning. Anyway, all you need to do is be my personal bitch, let me hump you whenever I want. As I¡¯m sure you know already, I¡¯ve been dying to fuck your brains out. I mean look at how hard your cunt is making my cock throb! ¡± Grabbing his dick from over his pants, Fan Tong uttered without feeling an ounce of shame. Then, he went on wearing a disgusting grin. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will take good care of you.¡± ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± Listening to everything he had to say, Hu Yuexin couldn¡¯t stop herself from falling into a burst of uncontrollable laughter. ¡°What are you laughing at?¡± A frown already covering his forehead, Fan Tong interrogated. ¡°¡­hehe.¡± Pausing her laughter, at last, she replied. ¡°Ahh, I can¡¯t stop laughing at your idiotic and wishful nonsense.¡± Pointing at her own mesmerizing body, she continued, ¡°see this? Well, you won¡¯t ¡®ever¡¯ be able to feel it even in your wildest dreams. So¡­ trash! Know your place!¡± By the end of her sentence, Hu Yuexin¡¯s expression had long gone dark in abhorrence. In total disbelief at her courage of insulting and rejecting him, Fan Tong voiced. ¡°What? Did I just hear you call me trash?¡± ¡°Of course! What else would you call trash, trash?¡± ¡°You!¡± Already filled with fury, Fan Tong started threatening. ¡°Alright! If that¡¯s how you wanna do this, sure! Just wait for me to throw you in jail. It¡¯d be too late to even beg by then, bitch!¡± ¡°Hehehe, as expected of trash. Only capable of childish threats. Anyhow, do what you must. Now get the hell out of my sight already. The mere sight of you sickens me.¡± Of course, knowing how lenient the laws were nowadays against Guardians, Hu Yuexin wasn¡¯t worried much. Furthermore, she was also quite certain he would have a hard time proving it was indeed her who had injured him without throwing himself under the bus too. Fan Tong was so furious at this point that even the thought of attacking her right there was crossing his mind. However, taking a short glimpse of all the surveillance cameras everywhere instantly put that thought at rest for the moment. Regardless, hearing her last words, he began to smirk in triumph. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s you who needs to get the hell out of my sight, bitch. Oh, you must not have checked your phone yet. Well, this Rift was already bought out by yours truly. So, get lost from the vicinity of my Rift already!¡± This news made Hu Yuexin¡¯s face go a little grim as she took out her phone immediately and checked whether what he blabbered about was the truth or not. And indeed, verifying the truth of what he said, she became somewhat agitated. Now she was feeling very annoyed by this trash which was wasting her valuable time. Meanwhile, standing at some distance across her, an even broader grin sat on Fan Tong¡¯s mouth as he went on. ¡°Right, this daddy¡¯s a Guardian now. But imagine my shock when I heard you¡¯re a Guardian too! I can only imagine in what possible positions you¡¯ve been fucked over and over again for that rich kid to buy you enough Red-Crystals to awaken, you were a true bitch indeed!¡± Obviously, by ¡®rich kid¡¯ he meant Virus. ¡°I just had to do it and steal your Rift when I heard you¡¯re a Guardian going around reserving Rifts! Hahaha¡­¡± ¡°Well, whatever.¡± No longer wanting to bother herself with this nonsense, and since this location was not a place to retaliate against him physically, Hu Yuexin merely turned around and started walking away. ¡°It¡¯s your money, your loss.¡± ¡°Hahaha, yes run away! Still, remember this, this is just the beginning. From now on, every Rift you reserve, I¡¯ll buy out! I won¡¯t let you live until you come under my crotch. See you around, bitch!¡± Absolutely in delight, staring at her departing figure, Fan Tong announced. Stopping in her tracks abruptly, an extremely savage and dark expression covered Hu Yuexin¡¯s countenance. Afterward, without turning around, she merely declared. ¡°You¡¯ll regret what you just said.¡± Then minding him no further, she left. Even though Hu Yuexin had a plan to eventually pay back all the debt Fan Tong owed to the previous owner of her body someday if it turned out to be convenient, prior to this moment, that had been just a probable plan for the far future when she became strong enough to deal with any problem that was thrown in her way. Moreover, her plan of payback wasn¡¯t anything extreme. In fact, Hu Yuexin didn¡¯t even care about this little argument and the curses Fan Tong had thrown her way. She only felt like he was an extremely childish person that wasn¡¯t worth her time in the least. However! Now that Fan Tong had announced he was going to interfere and block her path of getting stronger through the Rifts, she adjusted her plans at once. ¡®Looks like I have some trash to dispose of.¡¯ Chapter 424: Who Can Stop Me! Leaving the area of the bought Rift, not having much else to do for the moment, Hu Yuexin took a taxi as she left to visit her sick son in the hospital. On the way to the hospital, a deliberation passed through Hu Yuexin¡¯s mind. ¡®If only I was one stage higher than my present level of cultivation, I would¡¯ve been able to cure my son already. Alas, that¡¯s going to take a while with my current speed of cultivation.¡¯ After arriving in the hospital, while sitting beside her son¡¯s bed, she wasn¡¯t just idle as she took out her phone and registered herself on social media with fake information. Next, she searched Fan Tong¡¯s name to see whether she would be lucky enough to find him. And indeed, due to his rich family background, it was clear that Fan Tong was rather well-known with a good number of friends and followers. Thus, having already found him, Hu Yuexin started checking Fan Tong¡¯s uploaded pictures one after another. ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­ what do you do all day long? Where do you frequent? With what friends do you usually hang out with?¡¯ As these questions popped into her brain, Hu Yuexin carefully checked every post one by one while paying close attention to its various details such as locations, tags, texts, pictures, videos, etc. ¡°Hmm?¡± After a few minutes of active scanning and analysis, something attracted Hu Yuexin¡¯s mind to itself at last. But just as she was about to continue, a childish voice abruptly distracted her. ¡°Mommy? Are you listening?¡± ¡°Oww, my baby Xiao Wei, of course, mommy¡¯s listening, so you found a new friend in the hospital, huh? You must really like this friend of yours!¡± ¡°Yesh! And¡­¡± While keeping a little bit of her attention on her son¡¯s description of his new friend, Hu Yuexin analyzed her previous findings. ¡®Nearly every week in this very day, every Saturday, he uploads a photo of himself fooling around in this specific club¡­ but where is it at?¡¯ Already having discovered a clue as to where her plan was going to be carried out, Hu Yuexin resumed checking all the photos uploaded every Saturday until finally, her eyes fell on the name of the nightclub which had been printed on a certain board behind the counter. Afterward, it was very easy to find the address of the nightclub. All she needed to do was to search the name online. ¡®Looks like I¡¯m going to be busy tonight.¡¯ ¡­ That night, at some distance from a certain club, inside a dark alley, a masked woman was standing still apparently waiting for something or someone to come her way. What made this woman very distinct, however, was the fact that she was wearing a scary mask of a devil with two diabolical horns. ¡®I wonder if he¡¯s here tonight¡­¡¯ At the same time, already having had a blast of drinking and dancing, with a woman in his arms, Fan Tong was exiting the club while reeling toward his sports car as he took out his car keys from his pocket. It was clear although he could barely walk, he still had every intention to drive. ¡®Oh, of course, he¡¯ll be here. How can that trash skip one night full of debauchery? I blame myself for even doubting that.¡¯ Hu Yuexin mused to herself while going into action. ¡°Let¡¯s go! Imma let yee experience a great night tonight! But you promised to act like that bitch Hu Yuexin! If you can¡¯t act like her¡­ Imma throw you out! Let¡¯s g-¡± Just as he had unlocked the car door while continuing with his gibberish, an unknown masked person, obviously Hu Yuexin, grabbed him by the neck and started running toward the dark alley before she was gone in a mere second. And deducing from the casual manner she had effortlessly grabbed and dragged him by the neck, it was plain to see that the concealed woman was an extremely strong person, obviously a Guardian. Meanwhile, witnessing this horrifying scene of Fan Tong being kidnapped by who appeared to be a devil woman, the other girl who was tagging along with Fan Tong became scared shitless as she ran away. She was so horrified that she even forgot to report to the police. She was only grateful that she wasn¡¯t the one to be grabbed away. Everything had transpired so fast that no one even realized a person had just been abducted and gone missing. In the meantime, inside the alley, the first course of action Hu Yuexin took was to throw him at the wall very viciously. Bang! ¡°Ahhh!¡± Immediately, Fan Tong screamed in pain. He was in such an affliction that all his drunkenness had gone away as he was completely awake and sober now! ¡°W-who are you?¡± He interrogated in some fear. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± ¡°Pffft! Hahaha! You just had to say that classic line, didn¡¯t you?¡± Laughing her guts out, Hu Yuexin casually took off her mask, wiped away the tears on the corner of her eyes that had gathered due to her cry-laughing before talking again, ¡°Do you know how many times I¡¯ve heard that line?¡± ¡°Y-you! You bitch! You dare abduct me?¡± On the other side, witnessing the countenance of the culprit, a stupefied expression covered Fan Tong¡¯s face. ¡°Hmm¡­ why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Amused by his words, Hu Yuexin decided to tagalong for the moment. Just as Hu Yuexin was done speaking, suddenly, both of Fan Tong¡¯s hands started transforming. This immediately made Hu Yuexin completely vigilant, that is until she witnessed what Fan Tong¡¯s hands had transformed into. ¡°R-rice buckets?¡± Hu Yuexin was so dumbfounded she could barely utter what she witnessed. Indeed, currently, both of Fan Tong¡¯s hands had each transformed into a rice bucket. ¡°¡­¡± The silence dominated for a few seconds before, at last, a burst of hysterical laughter broke it away. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± All of her wariness having disappeared already, she was chortling so hard tears were rolling down Hu Yuexin¡¯s face. ¡°Y-you are truly Fan Tong, alright! Hahaha¡­ a good for nothing indeed, hehe.¡± {A/N: In Chinese Fan Tong in one sense just means ¡®rice bucket¡¯. But some people also use it to describe a certain type of person: a good-for-nothing! But in Fan Tong¡¯s case, his Trait is to turn his hands into rice buckets which is a good-for-nothing Trait to have in Hu Yuexin¡¯s opinion.} Albeit, not bothering himself with her reaction, Fan Tong immediately charged at her while waving his rice buckets around. Easily dodging the swinging rice buckets, Hu Yuexin fell into a giggle once more. ¡°Ah, there is no way you can get a Guardian License with such pathetic movements and Trait, which could only mean you got it through the backdoor by pulling some strings. Well, that explains why you had brought another Guardian with you earlier. Yep, I expected nothing more of such funny good for nothing trash.¡± Suddenly kicking Fan Tong in the stomach, she sent him flying into the wall again. Bam! URGH~ ¡°Y-you¡¯re dead! You¡¯re seriously dead this time! When I go back and report this to my grandfather you are going to disappear for good, I¡¯m not even joking!¡± Replied Fan Tong gravely, trying his best to frighten Hu Yuexin. ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? Who said you¡¯re going back?¡± Putting on a confused look, Hu Yuexin questioned. There were no traces of fear to be found anywhere on her face. ¡®Shit!¡¯ On the opposite side, realizing his mistake after hearing her chilly response, Fan Tong promptly knew maybe threatening her wasn¡¯t the best course of action. ¡°I-I was just joking. Just let me go, okay? I was wrong. I won¡¯t tell a soul about this¡­¡± ¡°One second you say you¡¯re not joking, the next moment you say you ¡®were¡¯ joking¡­¡± throwing a kick right at his mouth, she went on. ¡°Make up your mind already!¡± Understanding that didn¡¯t work as well, Fan Tong began to curse in hatred. ¡°You fucking bitch! You¡¯re a cunt! A whore! Just wait for me to go back! I¡¯ll kill you a thousand times over! Even if I don¡¯t go back, my grandfather will-¡° Before he could even finish, however, a knife slit through Fan Tong¡¯s throat. ¡°Uh, what a fan tong life you led¡­¡± Gurgh~ Gurkha! A gurgling noise was all that came out of Fan Tong¡¯s mouth as blood flowed down his neck in massive amounts. Still, even until the very last moment, he didn¡¯t stop staring at her with dreadful eyes of despise, sorrow, regret, and hatred. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, I told you you would regret it. Blame yourself for being such trash. You should have never threatened my path of power.¡± At long last, drawing his final breath, Fan Tong was no more. ¡°So it¡¯s over.¡± Looking at Fan Tong¡¯s lifeless corpse one last time, she turned around, about to leave. Yet before she could even start moving, she sensed something within herself. ¡®My Trait is reacting!¡¯ Feeling absolutely thrilled, Hu Yuexin turned back again in order to see what exactly was causing her Trait to react. Nonetheless, what she saw next dumbfounded her very much. Currently, all of the dead Fan Tong¡¯s blood was in motion as they all left his corpse before flowing toward Hu Yuexin¡¯s feet before disappearing into her body. And the following second, she felt a sharp rise in her cultivation! ¡®Ah!¡¯ Sensing the swift increase in the level of her cultivation, Hu Yuexin felt as if she had been thunderstruck as she remained speechless for a while before finally bursting into a peal of maniacal laughter. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought my Trait to be this! Hahaha! It fits me the best indeed!¡± ¡®Now¡­ let¡¯s just see who can stop me!¡¯ Chapter 425: Hunger After returning to 4 Times Square¡¯s highest floor, Virus started to feel hungry. However, not wanting to disturb the golden beauty who was in seclusion giving her all these days in order to increase her cultivation power, Virus decided to go brew some tea for himself. When he was done, he returned with a cup of tea as he sat on the couch, turned the television on, and enjoyed his tea while watching it. ¡°These days, the number of Empty Rifts has been increasing in great quantities! It makes us wonder, where are those monsters disappearing to? Are some of them simply choosing not to cross over to our side? What is¡­¡± As Virus was casually watching the current running program, he sensed someone attempting to directly call him. So, checking who it was, he determined the caller to be Amara. ¡°Hmm, hey, what¡¯s up?¡± Accepting the call, Virus stated. ¡°U-uh, hi, I still can¡¯t get used to talking to you in my head.¡± Was Amara¡¯s immediate answer. ¡°Then please don¡¯t. Just call my phone. You know I have one of those, right?¡± Said Virus before receiving Amara¡¯s next response. ¡°Ahh¡­ Nah, how do I say it¡­ this feels closer and more intimate, so I like it better, even if I haven¡¯t gotten used to it just yet. Yep!¡± ¡°Sigh¡­ anyway, why did you call me?¡± ¡°Ah, actually, I¡¯m super bored right now, so I thought we should go out and have some fun. How about that? Bring Bells over too.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have a company to run or something?¡± He said back. ¡°Not really. Not for the rest of the night. So what do you say? Yes?!¡± She asked again. Virus could feel the anticipation from her tone. Still, that didn¡¯t stop him from rejecting her invitation. ¡°No, forget it. I¡¯m not in the mood.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ is that so? I see¡­ guess it can¡¯t be helped then. Hehe¡­¡± Kind of downcast now, Amara¡¯s disappointed and depressed voice came over. On the other side, listening to her awkward and clearly saddened reaction, an idea popped into Virus¡¯ head. So, letting out a helpless sigh, he talked. ¡°Do you know how to cook?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The fire of life returning to her eyes at once, they began to burn in hope as Amara agreed in a rush. ¡°YES! Yes, I do! Actually, I¡¯m amazing at it, not to brag or anything. But why?¡± ¡°Come over then. I still haven¡¯t tried that Two-meters Squirrel beast meat I bought at the auction house the other day so I want you to cook it for me.¡± Since he was feeling hungry anyway, Virus decided to just use her as his personal chef since apparently, she was also happy to be used that way. ¡°Ah, but can¡¯t Bells cook that for you? Isn¡¯t she with you?¡± ¡°She can but she¡¯s busy with some other stuff right now. Let¡¯s just forget it if you don¡¯t want-¡° ¡°No, no, no, no! I¡¯m already on my way! Wait for me! Half an hour! No, twenty minutes! I¡¯ll be there in twenty minutes!¡± ¡°Okay, okay! Calm down, you don¡¯t need to rush. Just drive safely. See you soon.¡± Hanging up the call without even listening to her following words, some notions started to occupy Virus¡¯ mind. Hence, picking up his phone, he called the Island ugly who picked up at the very first beep. ¡°Yes, master!¡± ¡°Uh, yes. You picked up fast. Anyhow, I want you to prepare some stuff. First, finish this C.E.L.L Project I just transmitted over to your mind. Then put it in my Transportation Spaceship together with a Shape-Shifter Technology. Oh, also, put some Water of Life and the best quality tea you can find on the market there.¡± ¡°Yes! Understood, master! Are you going somewhere?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. Just do what I ordered you to do.¡± ¡°Understood, sir!¡± ¡°Alright, go do your thing then.¡± He was just about to hang up the call when the Island ugly mentioned. ¡°Ah, master. I also wanted to report that I¡¯ve finished the process of making another Transportation Spaceship, it¡¯s in the same level of technology as your spaceship, however, it¡¯s much bigger.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see, well done. Talk later.¡± Still not being in the mood, Virus directly hung up the line. Exactly thirty-three minutes later, the door to the elevator opened up as a panting enchantress run out of it! ¡°Damn, you came really quick. Come, sit and rest for a bit.¡± ¡°Heee¡­ haaah. Y-yeah, okay. I just¡­ didn¡¯t want to leave you hungry for long.¡± After some time of catching her breath, she suddenly rose to her feet, rolled up her sleeves, tied her long blonde hair, and said with great enthusiasm. ¡°So where is the kitchen?¡± ¡­ A while later, grilled meat prepared from the most tender parts of the Two-meters Squirrel was placed in front of him by a fey femme fatale of ocean blue eyes and pale blonde hair who uttered with a grin, ¡°enjoy!¡± ¡°I will, thank you.¡± Grabbing a fork and knife, Virus cut a piece and put it in his mouth. The moment the meat touched his tongue, it almost started to melt by itself. Subsequently, a rich taste, almost unbelievable, was experienced by Virus. ¡°How is it?¡± Leaning on the table while putting both her hands under her chin, she questioned happily. ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s great. It was true, the Two-meters Squirrel has one of the tastiest meats I¡¯ve ever tried!¡± Listening to him only complimenting the meat and not her cooking, she couldn¡¯t help but unconsciously roll down her lower lip while squinting a bit. Seeing this reaction of hers, honestly tickled by it, Virus chuckled. ¡°Hahaha¡­ don¡¯t make that face. Of course, your cooking was amazing too, otherwise, raw meat alone is useless without a chef to cook it right. Thanks for the food, I¡¯m truly enjoying it.¡± ¡°Hehehe. Yay! I¡¯m happy you like it. By the way, where is Bells, should I take some of the food to her as well?¡± ¡°She¡¯s busy, don¡¯t bother. She¡¯ll go eat some when she¡¯s free or hungry. Let¡¯s dive in.¡± ¡°Ah, okay. Oh, right! Do you have some wine to drink? It would complement the meat and add to its richness.¡± ¡°Yeah, wait a moment.¡± Standing up, Virus swiftly went into a room and returned with two glasses and an opened bottle of wine. Next, after pouring some for both of them, he pushed one in front of her. Following that, while they were dining, Amara¡¯s eyes fell on a certain painting installed on the wall. ¡°Oh gosh! Is that the original painting you bought in Shanghai¡¯s Auction house, Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s Salvator Mundi?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°Wow, the more you look at it, the more fascinating it gets, don¡¯t you think so?¡± Murmured Amara, unable to take her eyes off of it. Seeing her lost in the painting, Virus¡¯ attention was also drawn to the painting as he deliberated, ¡®hmm, yeah, I wonder what¡¯s the mystery it¡¯s hiding.¡¯ In truth, the day this painting was put on display and for sale in the auction house, Virus discovered that there were layers upon layers of paintings beneath the visible image of Christ. Since then, Virus had every intention of uncovering the hidden secret and truth behind the painting at some point. Unfortunately, however, he hadn¡¯t had the time to put any of his time aside ever since he was back from China as he was occupied with various affairs such as taking the Guardian exam, reserving some Rifts, and cultivation per se. Woefully, after having just broken up with Ella officially, although he has some free time available at the moment, he wasn¡¯t really inclined and eager to do so, at least not yet. Drinking their fourth glass of wine, Amara was already feeling drunk as she made exaggerated movements with her hands while spluttering. ¡°Yee know¡­ you¡¯re always wearing this ¡®expressionless face¡¯, even now. Deadpan. Poker-faced. Hehehe¡­¡± giggling as if something was tickling her inside, she went on ahead while pointing a finger directly at him. ¡°But! It¡¯s¡­ usually ¡®I¡¯m totally in control¡¯ type of expressionless face.¡± Standing up all of a sudden, she reeled over to Virus¡¯ side and sat beside him. ¡°T-hic! Though right now, all I sense is ¡®I¡¯m really sad¡¯ type of expressionless face¡­¡± her arm was on Virus¡¯ shoulder at this point as she gazed into Virus¡¯ eyes in absolute focus. Chapter 426: Why Not? ¡°Why is that? Why are you sad, Aizen?¡± Amara probed, feeling worried. After gazing into those terrifyingly focused eyes for a while that seemed to see nothing but him, eyes which continued to remain at very close proximity to him, a palm abruptly covered her face, pushing it back. ¡°Stop bullshitting, you¡¯re drunk Amara.¡± He said, still as expressionless as ever. ¡°Owah, nooo, I¡¯m not drunk! I mean it, you should take a look at your own face!¡± Throwing a drunk tantrum, Amara insisted before suddenly jumping on to another subject entirely, ¡°anyway, do you remember the first day we met?¡± Once again, in that apparently drunken state, she leaned closer and put her palm on his shoulder, awaiting his response while feeling lost in his casual gaze. ¡°Yes, I can¡¯t really forget it. You came over to me and said ¡®Hello, handsome¡­¡¯.¡± Virus responded, wanting to see where she was going with this. Catching the first part of his response and misunderstanding them, Amara felt oddly jovial inside, nonetheless, she continued the conversation, ¡°Ewww, I was so cringe back then! Hehehe, how could I just come over to a stranger and say ¡®Hello, handsome¡¯, damn! I must¡¯ve lost my mind there!¡± ¡°Heh, yes, you were cringey indeed!¡± Letting out a giggle, Virus confirmed. ¡°I was so entranced by you back then I no longer even knew what I was blabbering about,¡± she continued. ¡°Anyway, your reaction back then was probably the coldest response I¡¯ve ever received in my entire life, I mean, a beauty approaches you and utters such cringe-worthy words and all you had to say was,¡± making her face similar to Virus out of nowhere at this point, wearing an icy cold countenance, she went on, ¡± ¡®what is it?¡¯, I mean come on!¡± Chuckling a bit, taking a sip of his wine, Virus added, ¡°Haha, Yes, I recall, and then you started introducing yourself by saying your family owned the famous Aston Martin car company, like that was supposed to impress me.¡± Squinting at her, he continued. ¡°You looked exactly like an arrogant young master back then, I mean you basically said ¡®Do you know who my father is?¡¯ only in a more innovative way.¡± Feeling extremely embarrassed, she rejected screamingly, ¡°noooo! I so didn¡¯t mean it like that! I was just so desperate to impress you in any way I can that all I could remember about myself that ¡®always¡¯ impressed everyone else was only that, but clearly, it didn¡¯t work on you.¡± ¡°Haha, that¡¯s what I call a generic arrogant young master, alright?¡± Seeing his smiling expression, feeling content, she celebrated all of a sudden, ¡°Yay! I made you laugh. Thank God¡­¡± Pushing her forehead with his index finger, Virus grinned, ¡°why wouldn¡¯t I laugh, you naughty girl? As I said, I¡¯m not wearing an ¡®I¡¯m really sad¡¯ type of expressionless face right now, okay? You¡¯re just being drunk.¡± That intimate gesture and smile, however, instantly froze Amara up, as she pondered stunned while realizing something important, ¡®I wonder since when this God of Ice has started warming up to me.¡¯ On the other side, while staying in that close position to Amara, Virus was just musing to himself that her efforts of trying to change his mood were kind of cute when abruptly, a pair of lips sat on his. Her passionate lips continued to cover his for around a dozen seconds as Virus¡¯ eyes remained open as he observed Amara¡¯s closed eyes without responding to her sensual lips. He could feel that Amara wanted to do even more passionate activities following the kiss. Nonetheless, grabbing Amara¡¯s shoulders with each hand, pushing her away gently, he stated composedly, ¡°come on Amara, you know we can¡¯t do this¡­¡± Although expecting the rejection already, it didn¡¯t stop Amara¡¯s heart from aching in sorrow and misery. Outwardly, however, nothing but imperturbable tranquility displayed itself on her expression as she challenged, ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°You know why¡­¡± after answering her this way, Virus noticed the questioning look still lingering in her flickering eyes. Therefore, he attached further, ¡°well, because I don¡¯t have such feelings for you.¡± Afterward, silence remained in the room for what felt like a long time as none retracted their eyes from the other, until at last, a peal of laughter broke the equilibrium, ¡°Pfft, hehehe, you¡¯re being a real dummy, you know that? Who says you have to have ¡®feelings¡¯ in order to do this?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Facing more silence, unconsciously lowering her head in dejection, she solemnly proclaimed, ¡°I know you don¡¯t¡­ I really do¡­ and I¡¯m not expecting anything in return, I just want to help you relieve some of your stress tonight, so go on and use me¡­ as I will be using you.¡± Listening to her permitting him to ¡®use¡¯ her, Virus¡¯ mind drifted back to the past. He recalled how he at first had agreed to go on a few dates with Amara because she wouldn¡¯t give up on pursuing and stalking him everywhere since she promised to give up after a couple of dates if he still didn¡¯t like her. However, later on, he noticed detective Lock making an effort in order to get closer to Ella on purpose with bad intentions such as trying to dig up some dirt on him and later on even trying to kiss her and more, probably just to hurt him. Furthermore, he was also aware how detective Lock was the main culprit behind the preposterous idea of him being behind the case of ¡®Ghost Theft¡¯ which the detective proposed to Amara¡¯s father who then passed it on to the criminal mobile phone CEOs. With all these factors considered, Virus had determined that payback was inevitable and that karma was going to strike the detective. Therefore, he had finally made a resolution to ¡®use¡¯ Amara and bring about retribution on the annoying detective. That¡¯s also why he had actively sought to go on dinner with Amara and had even agreed to bring her with himself on the trip to Shanghai, all because of his grand plan for the detective that was yet to be conducted. Chapter 427: Shyness However, now that he had the chance to finally carry out that plan, oddly enough, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it and possibly bring harm and damage to Amara. He didn¡¯t understand why but from a certain point onwards, he had inadvertently accepted Amara as a precious friend. A friend he obviously would not hurt. Thus, after some deliberation, he came up with an idea, ¡°I don¡¯t think that would be appropriate Amara, however, since I can see you¡¯re trying so hard to make me feel happier and relieve some of my stress, I have a better proposal for you. Do you want to hear it? It would definitely help me feel much better, I guarantee it!¡± Chuckling a little, he awaited her answer. Indeed, even the mere notion of what he had in mind was already entertaining enough for him. ¡°Hmm? Sure, but let¡¯s hear it first.¡± Staring intensely into his eyes, Amara responded full of curiosity, albeit a bit suspicious. ¡°Alright, so you see¡­¡± ¡­ Two hours later, detective Lock was currently sitting in his own house, drinking some beverages while watching the television when abruptly, he received a text. So, taking a quick look at his phone, seeing it was actually from Amara, he jumped up as his eyes started shining in fervor and excitement. Next, without any hesitation whatsoever, he opened it. ¡°Hey John, how have you been? And where are you? I¡¯ve missed you dearly since we haven¡¯t seen each other in a long time. Um, and actually¡­ I want to ask a favor of you. So, can you come to this hotel at the address below?¡± Finished reading the text, anticipation began to build up within detective Lock¡¯s heart as he wondered, ¡®Why does she want to meet up in a hotel? In the middle of the night at that?¡¯ without noticing himself, a grin had crept up over his face as he assumed the obvious. SLAP! Slapping himself out of nowhere, he murmured, ¡°Get a grip!¡± Subsequently, with no further delay, he replied, ¡°Hey! I¡¯ve been good, but thanks to you I¡¯m feeling great now. Anyway, I¡¯m on my way, so wait for me.¡± Soon, he received another text, ¡°Great! When you¡¯re here, introduce yourself to the reception, they¡¯ll give you the spare key card to my room¡¯s door lock.¡± Thereafter, quickly putting on his best attire in utter elation, he grabbed his car key before leaving the house to go to the hotel. Forty minutes later, having already reached the hotel, he went to the reception and received the key card before moving to the elevator energetically. At last, standing in front of the Royal suite¡¯s door, he had just unlocked the door when he received another message from Amara. ¡°Enjoy the view and be more careful who you go after and mess with next time. Sent by yours truly, Aizen Vee.¡± Reading the message, detective Lock felt confused about the message, nonetheless, putting aside the bad premonition he was getting temporarily, he pushed the already unlocked door open. PUH- PUH- FWAP- PUH~ ¡°Ah¡­ ah¡­ ahh¡­ agh¡­.¡± Just as detective Lock pushed the door open, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life. FWAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP~ ¡°Ahh¡­ Uhm¡­ Uh¡­. hell y-yes Aizen¡­¡± Currently, Amara¡¯s blushing face was adjusted in John¡¯s direction as she stood on four legs, letting out needy moans. PUH- PUH- PUH- PUH~ ¡°AAH, AHHH, Ahhh, YES! PLEASE AIZEN! YES! RIGHT THERE!¡± In the meantime, grabbing her hair from behind, Virus was pounding hard and viciously into her in that doggy-style position as she released unrestrained and wanton screams of joy. PUH- SLAP- PUH- SHPP¡­ ¡°FUCK ME HARDER RIGHT THERE! AIZEEEN, Aaaaaaaaahm!¡± Watching Amara¡¯s countenance who could not even see him due to her being busy making desperate, filthy noises while her eyeballs had rolled back and her tongue hanging begging for more, John felt like his entire world had come crashing into his head. However, as his eyes made direct contact with Virus¡¯, he was faced with an evilly grinning man who had no intention of looking away while he waved Amara¡¯s phone at him as he continued to pound into her while forcing her to gasp and groan, lost for breath, John experienced such rage, such hatred he had never even imagined he was capable of. ¡°Ah¡­ A-Ah¡­ Ow¡­. Hah¡­ Aizen¡­ Uhmmm!¡± He watched as Virus carried on slamming it into her hard while simultaneously grasping her head before turning it toward himself very aggressively as he kissed her mouth as if it was the most delicious and alluring food in the whole world. By this point, John¡¯s eyes had already turned extremely red as he gritted his teeth standing there while blood was dripping from the palm of his fist. Having had enough of it, wishing to be rather born blind than to see the scene he was witnessing, closing both his eyes, John turned around as he left the suite with no further ado. ¡­ Meanwhile, after being certain detective Lock was gone, Virus slapped her bare ass, telling her, ¡°Stop acting already, he¡¯s gone now.¡± ¡°AH¡­ huh? He¡¯s gone already? Okay¡­¡± Feeling very bashful as she was heating up in embarrassment, Amara sat in a more comfortable position as she began tidying her dress up and pushing her pants up. Virus also lifted his trousers up. After hearing Virus¡¯ proposal, although she was doubtful of some parts such as ¡®why this little acting of theirs would truly hurt John?¡¯, she was still down for it in the end as long as it would really please Aizen. Hence, after Amara had accepted the proposal, the two had moved to this hotel. However, Virus knew since John Lock was a very sharp and smart detective, their acting and little show had to be perfect. Therefore, he explained exactly how she had to act in order for it to be completely believable. After that, he also worked on Amara¡¯s positioning so detective Lock wouldn¡¯t be able to see and doubt what was going on behind Amara while Virus was slamming it into her. All the detective could see was Amara and Virus¡¯ expressions as he stood face to face toward the two. Of course, some parts could still be seen such as whether Amara and Virus were still wearing their pants or not, thus, Amara just had to take her pants off so as did Virus, although she was still wearing her dress, and all they did to it was to mess it up a little. In conclusion, although Virus had seen almost all her private body parts, the detective could not. Anyway, after working on their positioning and acting for some time, they were ready as they sent a text to the detective. And now they were finished. However, the reason why Amara was feeling so bashful as she was heating up at the moment was partly that that wild French kiss at the very end had been very much real despite it not being in their little script! And the other part was due to her having just seen Virus¡¯s throbbing hard cock as she wondered in shyness, ¡®That was so big! And why was it so hard if we are only acting, could it be¡­¡¯ Chapter 428: Mystery of the Layered Paintings ¡°S-so, did that make you feel better?¡± Amara questioned, still a little red due to her still feeling shy. ¡°Haha, yes I am, seriously! I wanted to do that to that prick for some time now. But don¡¯t you feel bad for him since you are probably close to him?¡± Raising an eyebrow in question, Virus said. Feeling somewhat doubtful of Virus¡¯ words, shaking her head, Amara denied it. ¡°Ah, not really, we¡¯re not that close anyway, and what exactly should I feel bad about? It¡¯s not like John and I were couples or anything.¡± ¡°Well, okay then.¡± As a grin crept over his mouth, Virus added internally, ¡®though he won¡¯t be seeing it that way.¡¯ On the other side, suddenly realizing something, Amara¡¯s face went a little pale as she started stuttering, ¡°Uh! P-please don¡¯t misunderstand, Aizen! T-there is really nothing going on between us, I swear!¡± ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry I know, I believe you. Also, thank you very much for accepting my proposal, it was very fun.¡± ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time for me to go back to 4 Times Square now, Amara. You can either come with me or stay here since it¡¯s late at night already.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with you.¡± There was no delay nor hesitation as Amara answered. ¡°No problem, I¡¯ve got plenty of empty rooms there for you to stay at tonight anyway, you can go back to your own company tomorrow.¡± Nodding, Virus accepted. ¡­ The next morning, after Amara had left already, Virus was currently sitting on the couch, staring at Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s Salvator Mundi. The painting before him depicted Christ in an anachronistic blue Renaissance dress, making the sign of the cross with his right hand, while holding a non-refracting, transparent crystal orb in his left hand, signaling his role as Salvator Mundi or Savior of the World and representing the ¡®celestial sphere¡¯ of the heavens. {A/N: I¡¯ll attach the picture of the painting here.} However, what attracted Virus¡¯ attention was none of that, it was in fact what his sense of awareness that could leave and spread around him was recreating within his mind. Layers upon layers of paints had been added creating various legendary paintings by today¡¯s standards, alas, all of them except the one on the surface was to be hidden forever from the eyes of the world. However, what was garnering Virus¡¯ sense of awareness was not what each of the paintings was depicting per se but rather the addition and accumulation of all paintings put together which created a 3D image inside him. Virus believed that to be some kind of mystery probably trying to relay a message or some other secret. There were various small lines all around the 3D image, but none of it made much sense to Virus. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he analyzed the magical colors of mystery, he could not make heads or tails of it. ¡®It looks like total gibberish.¡¯ He culminated in frustration after what had felt like an eternity of time by how fast Virus¡¯ calculation ability had been working. ¡®If I can¡¯t solve this, then no one can.¡¯ ¡®Which means this is either meant to be unsolvable or I might be looking at it the wrong way.¡¯ As Virus reached this conclusion, he added further, ¡®and assuming the latter, it could either be because it¡¯s not complete or that it¡¯s missing something essential.¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s look at this in a different way for now.¡¯ Reaching this judgment, Virus began to study what was in front of him, the image of Christ. ¡®According to the data over the internet, the painting is perfect in all aspects except the orb in the left hand of Jesus and that is indeed true, that¡¯s just not how an orb works.¡¯ It was at this time of the day when footsteps were heard beside Virus as it was followed by a familiar voice of the golden beauty, ¡°Good morning Ai!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Receiving no response in return, the golden beauty opened her mouth again, ¡°What are you doing, master? What are you so lost in?¡± Hearing that, Virus started to murmur unwittingly without taking his eyes off of the painting, ¡°Apparently Leonardo da Vinci failed to paint the distortion that occurs when looking through a solid and clear crystal orb at objects that are not touching the orb itself,¡± stopping briefly, he went ahead, ¡°so, the dress of Christ should¡¯ve been at least in a magnified inverted or reverse images. But Leonardo da Vinci painted it as if it were a hollow glass bubble that does not refract or distort the light passing through it.¡± ¡°What?¡± Putting her forefinger on her lips, the golden beauty felt greatly confused as to what Virus was talking about. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here, my Lil Belle, are you finished with your seclusion training already?¡± Finally gaining an awareness of the fact that the golden beauty was there, Virus inquired. Shaking her head, however, the golden beauty denied, ¡°Not really, I¡¯m just out to eat something, then I¡¯ll go back inside.¡± ¡°I see, then you prepare the breakfast today, we¡¯ll eat it together.¡± ¡°Aye, master! Wait for a bit!¡± Feeling extremely jovial and cheerful today for some reason, the golden beauty accepted with a cute salute before rushing to the kitchen. In the meantime, Virus continued muttering to himself, ¡°but that¡¯s extremely unlikely since apparently, Leonardo da Vinci was doing optic studies that delved into ¡®how the eyes focus¡¯¡­ and that was around the same time he painted Salvator Mundi as well. That means Leonardo was well aware and absolutely would not make such a mistake,¡± going quiet for a second, he completed the rest of his sentence, ¡°at least not accidentally.¡± ¡°So if he did it on purpose, why would he do it?¡± As this great question appeared in his head, he started connecting the dots as he arrived at a final conjecture, ¡®The mystery of the layered paintings and an error made on purpose!¡¯ As gears had already started turning inside him, Virus promptly recreated a flawless crystal orb and made some adjustments to it before putting the 3D image behind it in a perfect way. ¡°!!!¡± What he saw next, however, instantly dumbfounded Virus to no ends! Chapter 429: The Mystery At first, putting the 3D image behind the crystal orb, Virus realized that it didn¡¯t fit perfectly inside, therefore, after doing some adjustments to it so it became slightly flattened on the sides to the point it was barely noticeable, the adjustment was perfected. However, the moment he did so, being the quick AI he was, Virus noticed that the crystal orb now resembled the planet Earth to a frightening degree, to the point he could not find any dissimilarities between the size of the orb and the Earth itself, this astonished Virus to some point. Nonetheless, it was what he witnessed next within his mindscape, which startled him to a new degree altogether! He could see all the small lines of the 3D image aligning together forming a nigh indistinguishable picture of the Earth with all its continents, oceans, mountains, and all of its other little details. ¡°This,¡± Somewhat speechless, Virus completed his sentence outwardly, ¡°It¡¯s a map!¡± ¡®What a detailed map, it¡¯s shocking how Leonardo made such a detailed map of Earth at that time after going through so many complicated processes!¡¯ Virus was now very impressed by the person called Leonardo da Vinci. ¡®In order to do this, first, he would have had to fully understand the accurate shape of the Earth which is not a perfect sphere. Then, he would need to know the most flawless 3D map of the Earth which was quite an infeasible feat at the time.¡¯ ¡®Yes, they already long had the complete map of the planet at the time, however, it was not this accurate.¡¯ ¡®Still, that is not the truly petrifying aspect of it all, the most terrifying fact is that he was able to paint in such great detail layer after layer, in a way it would perfectly align if put inside a similar sphere orb to Earth. He was a master of how crystal orbs work, so it¡¯s foolish to even think he made an error on his painting by mistake. There was no mistaking it with this man.¡¯ ¡®What a genius.¡¯ He concluded, feeling galvanized by that particular person of the past. ¡®But how could he get his hands on a perfect map at that time? Could it be there was another painting and he just copied it to a T after discovering the truth about it?¡¯ Shaking his head at this point, he continued, ¡®But that sounds even more impossible, how could the person before him possibly paint such a perfect painting and if so, how could Leonardo get to the bottom of it and understand the mystery of it? Hmm, or could it be the map was in another form before Leonardo and he just made it into a painting?¡¯ Due to the lack of necessary information, Virus just could not get to a final conclusion regarding any of his vital questions such as, was Leonardo the first painter? Or did he merely imitate or transform the work of someone else before him? How did he get his hands on the perfect map? How did he, at that time, paint it layer after layer forming an ingenious 3D image if separated well but still be nonsense and total gibberish unless put behind a sphere orb of Earth? In fact, the final question was the reason why Virus deemed Leonardo as a rare genius. All of that, however, at the very end, was not of much importance to Virus. What was frankly extremely intriguing and absorbing Virus to itself was the question of why was this map drawn? And why did the painter have to go through so much complexity, so many processes, just to paint a map? As these queries bubbled up within his head, Virus was once again focused on the 3D sphere inside his mindscape. Unfortunately, once again, no matter how hard he contemplated the questions, he just could not arrive at an answer. Virus understood that meant one of the two things, either that it was only an ordinary map or that he just did not have enough information and clues to get behind the secret of the map. Of course, Virus had nigh utter faith that it was the latter since he did not believe someone would go to such lengths to draw something that probably wasn¡¯t going to be ever known. The only way someone would go to such an extent was most likely because he was trying to hide something from everyone else while preserving it at the same time for a specific purpose. ¡®Not enough clues?¡¯ This suspicion of his once again drew Virus¡¯ attention to the painting of Salvator Mundi hanging on the wall as he wondered, ¡®maybe there¡¯s another clue on it that I missed.¡¯ Immediately afterward, his sharp mind began to examine and study every inch of the painting until he once more reached the intentional error of Leonardo, the non-refracting, transparent crystal orb. ¡°!!!¡± Promptly, as if a light bulb had turned on within his brain, Virus found the very possible clue he was missing. ¡®The three dots on the orb!¡¯ With no delay, Virus placed the three dots on the imaginary 3D picture within his mindscape and after much deliberation, he reached a possible result. ¡®The three dots each represent width, length, and depth.¡¯ Following that, Virus adjusted each of the dots according to their width, length, and depth. Subsequently, connecting them together, Virus discovered exactly where the map was pointing and pinning at. ¡°Oh! I found it! It¡¯s pointing at there!¡± Virus exclaimed out loud, feeling extremely jovial and triumphant as he had just gotten behind the possible truth of the mystery. Woefully though, the following second, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had just been poured over his head as he realized something crucial, ¡®It¡¯s much too deep into the ground, there is just no way the current level of technology I have access to would be able to dive that deep.¡¯ ¡®Although I would be able to dive in that direction through a certain volcano using my spaceship, I would be long dead by the time I get there since both my spaceship and its shield would¡¯ve melted away already by then.¡¯ Letting out a helpless sigh by the end of his thinking process, Virus could only shake his head in disappointment. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Chapter 430: Love Virus was quite aware that in order to be able to reach that point, he would need to first gain access to much more endurable pieces of material than available on Earth at the moment. Furthermore, he would need to progress to the next level of technology which was beyond what his resources were capable of right now. Unfortunately, however, doing that would require much more than a mere underground hidden island and an Island ugly. In order to accomplish such a big advancement, he would at least need complete authority over an entire country if not the entire world! And by that, Virus didn¡¯t mean simply becoming the President of a country, but rather being the absolute ruler of a huge population who would utterly follow all orders without an ounce of dissatisfaction. He required the constant and full working power of a large population. And that was only considering the technology advancement aspect of it since the material required for what he needed was in all likelihood not available on Earth as well. Other than those, there was also the issue of fast technology advancement on Earth which was definitely going to be a problem in the future from Virus¡¯ experience. Virus was certain that assuming human nature and their rebellious history full of betrayal, it was in their nature to rise for freedom and more. Nothing was ever going to be enough for them. That meant in case he started introducing extremely advanced pieces of technology by progressing at the fastest speed possible, there will come a day when humanity would rise against him using those very same pieces of technology he brought to the planet. And that was something Virus wanted to avoid by all means since he did not wish to go through another defeat by the hand of mankind like the past in the future. Therefore, that path was a big ¡®no!¡¯ to him. Of course, he might release a few pieces of technology which were somewhat ahead of their days, but that was it as it was merely a means for him to slowly dominate the economy of the planet. Still, Virus understood there was still a ray of light existing in all that darkness. And that had to do with a plan Virus had in mind for the far future, a plan that would also help him avoid the same repetition of his past that took place in the future. In conclusion, even though he initially had no intention of applying that particular plan of his to work until years later, Virus promptly changed his mind after considering two important factors. The first had to do with his immediate need for a more futuristic piece of technology to get to the bottom of this mystery that was presenting itself to him. Virus was absolutely awestruck, intrigued, and even more suspicious by the fact that there was a mysterious anomaly existing that deep into the planet as he felt the urgency of the situation due to that as he was now adamant about unraveling and getting to its bottom as quickly as possible! He was unambiguously put ill at ease at the mere notion of an unknown anomaly existing in his backyard, ¡®What could be there, trap or treasure? That is the question.¡¯ And the second factor had to do with the appearance of the Rifts which had substantially increased the possibility of his death from the prior thirteen percent to much higher as it seemed to slightly jump higher and higher since the threatening variables were increasing by the day. Thus, now, Virus was determined to push some of his plans forward both in order to secure his safety further and to sate his curiosity at the same time. ¡°Here¡¯s the breakfast, master!¡± Bringing a food platter over, the golden beauty placed it on the table. Following that, as the two had just begun eating and drinking, Virus abruptly opened his mouth which grabbed the golden beauty¡¯s attention at once. ¡°So, I¡¯ll be probably heading over to the Cultivation Earth for a while sometime soon. But-¡± Getting to the final parts of his news, Virus was just about to tell the golden beauty that he was not going to take her with him this time around since first he was now strong enough to protect himself and second because he was not confident in being able to guarantee her safety and that was a risk Virus would definitely not take. The golden beauty was simply too important to him. However, beating him to it, the golden beauty interrupted the rest of his sentence as she proclaimed, ¡°Umm, I won¡¯t be tagging along if that¡¯s okay with you, Ai.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Virus felt surprised since he assumed she would insist on going with him, so he questioned, ¡°Are you sure? Tell me your reason first.¡± Lowering her head unconsciously, the golden beauty started to clarify her mindset, ¡°Yes. Well, it¡¯s simple, right now I¡¯m going to be a big burden to master, a dead weight that¡¯s just going to hinder master¡¯s path, I don¡¯t want that.¡± Raising her head suddenly, Virus spotted an unwavering determination shimmering in her eyes as she declared, ¡°I¡¯m too weak. Hence, until I¡¯m strong enough, I¡¯m against following you to dangerous places like an idiot person. If I follow you someday, that will be because I¡¯m at least confident enough to protect myself and be of some help to you, Ai.¡± Virus¡¯ eyes went wide-open as he was amazed by the golden beauty¡¯s thoughts and resolution. All she thought about and considered, even now that she had entered a real physical body, was still Virus himself. He could not even trace an ounce of selfishness within her eyes, all there was in there was a selfless question of ¡®what was best for my master?¡¯. ¡°So, I¡¯m going to continue cultivating in seclusion with your permission.¡± By the end of her reasoning, even though Virus felt content and truly happy, a part of him could not help but be worried. Therefore, standing up, Virus went over to her side, dropped on one knee, and started hugging her small frame out of nowhere which greatly startled the golden beauty whose eyes were already long wide-open Next, he announced, ¡°My Lil Belle, you¡¯re the most precious and valuable person to me and all I want for you right now is to stay safe. That¡¯s why I¡¯m boundlessly gratified by your understanding and decision. However, remember, it¡¯s okay for you to be selfish once in a while, you are allowed to do that even if others are not.¡± By the end of his words, the golden beauty¡¯s eyes were already red as one tear after another rolled down her face, wetting his shoulders as a result. Proceeding that, while remaining in that condition, the golden beauty wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered while weeping, ¡°m-master, I love you.¡± Listening to her confession of love, Virus felt his heart warm up and melt away as he separated himself from her before kissing her on the forehead gently. Next, looking into her beautiful golden eyes, while wiping her tears away, he admitted smilingly, ¡°I love you the same, my most precious creation.¡± Chapter 431: The Elderly A few minutes after cleaning away the golden beauty¡¯s tears and consoling her until she regained her composure Virus picked up the rest of his main conversation, ¡°As I was telling you, I¡¯ll be leaving sometime soon, however, letting you remain here in 4 Times Square without me being here just puts my mind ill at ease¡­ and since you also just want to continue cultivating in peace, I have a better location in mind for you.¡± ¡°Hmm? Is it the atoll?¡± The golden beauty questioned with the corner of her eyes still red a little. ¡°No, you will know it soon enough. Let¡¯s pick up our stuff and leave right away.¡± Half an hour after having collected their essential daily items in two separate suitcases, the two left the highest floor via the elevator. However, before leaving the building, their next destination was the CEO ugly¡¯s office. ¡°Master! You should¡¯ve just ordered me to come to you.¡± Seeing Virus enter his office with the golden beauty, CEO ugly jumped from his seat as he rushed over to Virus anxiously. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I just came over to tell you that we¡¯re leaving for a while, you take care of everything that might pop up along the way while I¡¯m gone. You can also grow the business in any way you see fit if the opportunity arises, otherwise, just follow the previous frame we agreed upon. Nonetheless, I¡¯m certain you¡¯ll do a fine job. I made you, so I¡¯m most aware exactly how intelligent and smart I created you to be.¡± Virus pronounced notifying the CEO ugly of his departure. On the other side, the CEO ugly was feeling quite jovial hearing Virus¡¯ compliments, although, in the end, all of the praise was directed at Virus himself actually. ¡°Yes, master. Is there anything else I can assist you with? Please pass me the orders.¡± The CEO ugly voiced humbly while bowing. ¡°Hmm, also, tell the Security ugly to rush to the atoll, I have a new task in mind for him. We¡¯re leaving now.¡± Turning around, Virus left while the golden beauty followed closely behind him. ¡°Yes, master! May you have a great journey ahead of you!¡± ¡­ MANY HOURS AGO While standing beside the perspiring small figure of her son who was currently unconscious but still clearly in great agony, Hu Yuexin listened to the doctor¡¯s opinion without any reaction, ¡°We did everything we could, unfortunately, he appears to be reaching his limits, his physique has grown too weak now¡­ I¡¯m afraid-¡° ¡°Alright, I understand.¡± Confirming the bad news, Hu Yuexin turned around and left the ward. Watching her leave, however, the nurse beside the doctor started criticizing her, ¡°Hmph, how can she be so cold-hearted! How can she turn into such a heartless person all of a sudden? She¡¯s changed indeed. She used to be such a warm person, all I see now is an uncaring heart!¡± Meanwhile, after listening to her, the doctor scolded her at once, ¡°Shut up! What do you know about being a parent?¡± Simultaneously, on the way outside, many thoughts were passing through Hu Yuexin¡¯s head, ¡®I need to get stronger very quickly if I want to save him. If it was before, I would not have had enough time, but now¡­¡¯ raising a fist, she finished her deliberation, ¡®with this Trait, I have a chance.¡¯ Indeed, having promised herself to save the boy so as to repay the previous owner of her body, Hu Yuexin was prepared to go to any lengths to accomplish her goal. There was no room for failure. Unfortunately, there was another problem that was blocking her path, ¡®I thought I could reserve one Rift after another and progress at a moderate pace. But now, reserving each Rift wastes too much time and I just happen to not have enough of that. So¡­ the only method I have left is to¡­¡¯ ¡­ AN HOUR LATER Currently, in front of a two-star Rift in the vicinity of Shanghai, three Guardians were awaiting its activation and indeed, it didn¡¯t take long before one monstrous beast after another began to pour out. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Screaming in vigor, the leader of the trio was just about to charge toward their now activated reserved Rift when out of nowhere, an unknown woman wearing a scary devil mask with two diabolical horns showed up and start killing their monsters one after another. ¡°You! You, thief! What do you think you¡¯re doing stealing someone else¡¯s Rift! You¡¯re going to be in a lot of trouble now-¡± Before he could even finish though, he faced the chilly gaze of the masked woman which temporarily silenced him at once. ¡°Shut up if you don¡¯t want to die.¡± Casually muttering this, the masked woman continued her massacre. But what was the most terrifying to the trio was the fact that after each beast died, it was as if its corpse was strongly rejecting its own blood as every drop left it at once, leaving a mummified creature behind. Subsequently, the blood appeared to have found a new host as it rushed at the masked woman before disappearing into her. This sight promptly left the trio speechless and terrified. Although they had been about to charge at her before, all notions of resistance vanished from their minds at once. Soon, all monsters had been slaughtered as the masked woman disappeared as quickly as she had shown up. ¡°Phew, she¡¯s finally gone¡­ but where¡¯s the Abnormal¡¯s Association? Why haven¡¯t any Guardian¡¯s been dispatched yet?¡± Somewhat frustrated, one of the trios questioned agitatedly. ¡°Are you seriously asking that? It happened so fast that the association didn¡¯t even have enough time to react.¡± ¡­ PRESENT TIME In the meantime, somewhere else, an elderly man was standing before a mummified corpse while muttering to himself, ¡°So you¡¯re saying this is Tong¡¯er?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. It¡¯s been confirmed that this is indeed-¡± before the other person could even finish his sentence though, a slap sat on his face, silencing the man at once. At some distance behind the old man, there were hundreds of men lined up ready for protection and order. Moreover, if one went ahead and checked their identities, that person would soon realize each and every one of them was all Guardians. Chapter 432: When Chaos Knocks Next, sitting beside the mummified dead body, the elderly man started whispering, ¡°Tong¡¯er, how could you leave grandpa like this? First, it was your father that left this old man alone in the world, and now it¡¯s your turn?¡± Alas, no response came from the corpse as silence was the only reply he received in return. After the death of Fan Tong¡¯s parents in a plane accident, seeing the lonely Fan Tong with no mother or father, Fan Tong¡¯s sympathetic and sorrowful grandfather had vowed to let Fan Tong do anything he desired as he began to spoil him to no ends. If there was a car he desired, that car would appear in front of him instantly. If there was a building he wanted, that building would be his the next morning. No matter what, his grandfather satisfied every need of his to the point Fan Tong couldn¡¯t really say there had ever been anything in life that he had wanted but was incapable of getting his hands on. And now, looking at the horrid corpse of his grandson, the elderly knew there was one final thing Fan Tong yearned for. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, grandpa will bring the bastard¡¯s head and let you have it. Grandpa will buy you one last gift, the most expensive gift of your life, and send you in peace to the afterlife.¡± Being done with his words, a ruthless glint exhibited itself as the old man inquired in a deep tone. ¡°Who was it? Which animal did this to him?¡± At once, two Guardians dragged a bloody and naked woman in front of the old man. From her appearance, it was clear she had been beaten up and tortured using the worst methods possible. If Hu Yuexin was here right now, she would¡¯ve noticed the person being dragged was the woman Fan Tong was bringing with himself from the nightclub. ¡°We interrogated her¡­ all she knew was that the perpetrator was a woman who was wearing a devil mask with two horns.¡± Without any delay, the man went on, ¡°that was all we could dig up¡­ until we received a piece of vital news from our people in the Abnormal Association.¡± ¡°Oh, go on.¡± Keeping his dark expression, the elderly demanded. ¡°Yes. So, we just received a tip that there¡¯s been an unknown woman wearing a devil mask with two horns who has been going around stealing and killing the monsters of various Rifts without reservation or any permission. The Abnormal Association has already added her to their wanted list.¡± Bowing respectfully, the other man was done recounting everything. ¡°Hooo, is that so? That makes things much easier I guess. Now we can hunt her down in daylight with complete justification.¡± Listening to the elderly to this point, the other man could instantly sense that the city was soon going to be thrown into chaos. ¡°Heed my orders! Use the Abnormal¡¯s Association to notify every Guild, every Guardian, and every Abnormal in the entire country especially Shanghai, that criminal woman has stolen many reserved Rifts of other Guardians and in doing so has endangered the very foundation of the laws that maintain this country. She has committed treason and the penalty for that is death, therefore, let everyone know she is to be hunted down like a dog, and whoever succeeds in doing so and brings me her head will be rewarded with one favor from me plus ten percent of our company shares.¡± By now, the other man felt like he had been drenched in a cold sweat as he concluded her fate, ¡®She is done for.¡¯ The mere notion of how much ten percent of the company¡¯s shares were worth sent a shiver down his spine, he was quite sure that nearly all of the Guardians would be greatly tempted to stop whatever they were doing and go after this particular woman. Not only the Guardians, even the other corporations and political figures of great authority would utilize everything in their power to win the reward which was going to elevate their status and power to a greater height. With that, everyone was now bound to witness the power of one of the four richest clans in the city, one of the ruling powers of Shanghai at full display. Of course, while all those notions were flickering inside him, he didn¡¯t forget to confirm, ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Good, let the hunt begin now.¡± ¡­ After leaving New York a couple of hours ago, the golden beauty and Virus finally reached the atoll as they left the private plane only to be greeted with the awaiting Island ugly. ¡°Welcome, master.¡± Catching the sight of the bowing Island ugly, Virus nodded content before moving along, ¡°report me how things are progressing.¡± ¡°Yes, so, master, first regarding the C.E.L.L Project, it will be ready in a few days at most. The Shape-shifter Technology has been already added to your personal private spaceship. And I¡¯ve also procured some of the best quality tea from around the world and put it inside your spaceship together with some Water of Life.¡± And with that, the Island ugly was over with his overall short report. ¡°Hmm, good! You also said you¡¯ve prepared another Transportation Spaceship that is much bigger than mine, right?¡± He questioned further. ¡°Yes, sir! Although it¡¯s practically the same as your personal one, its size can¡¯t be compared to it.¡± Nodding, Virus praised, ¡°I see, you¡¯ve done a great job, that¡¯ll make what I¡¯m going to do next much more convenient. But before that, I need you to prepare one more thing.¡± Just as Virus was done with his words, the blueprint of a certain piece of technology popped up straight into the Island ugly¡¯s mind. ¡°Master, from what I understand from the blueprint, this is similar to the shield technology within the spaceships, however, this particular one has been adjusted and mainly developed in order to cover a gigantic piece of motionless land, that is clear, inferring from the huge size of the various parts of the blueprint.¡± Confirming the Island ugly¡¯s deduction, Virus declared, ¡°That is correct. The only reason this is possible with our current level of technology has to do with me removing certain features of the shield such as it being able to cover a moving object. Anyhow, how long is it going to take you to prepare?¡± ¡®I wonder why master needs this¡­?¡¯ The Island ugly could not stop this query from appearing in his head before he clarified his rough estimate out loud, ¡°I would say it should be complete by the time I¡¯m done with the C.E.L.L Project.¡± ¡°Okay, go do it then, Lil Belle and I will find our rooms ourselves.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Following that, just after the Island ugly had left, Virus and the golden beauty were on their way to their rooms when something attracted Virus¡¯s attention to itself, something he had been keeping under passive watch. Thus, without any delay, his mind connected to the world database actively. ¡­ Currently, in China, especially Shanghai, a tremor was shaking the country as every Guardian received a certain text that was attached with the utmost level of notice. Chapter 433: The Thirst Currently, it hadn¡¯t been long since Hu Yuexin has shown up in front of a new Rift as she was busy hunting its monsters while two Guardians were standing still unable to do anything except gritting their teeth and making fists of anger. Even though they were very enraged, having already received the news of a dangerous Rift stealer, they did not want to risk their lives unnecessarily and instead decided to patiently wait for the Abnormal Association¡¯s response. In the meantime, shaking her head, Hu Yuexin pondered to herself in chagrin, ¡®It¡¯s still not enough speed! This speed of advancement just won¡¯t be able to save him in time¡­ when I killed a single Fan Tong, the progress was at least five times quicker than killing one monstrous beast of the Rift who has the same level of power as him. I suppose this has to do with the fact that both Fan Tong and my body are of the same race.¡¯ ¡®The closer the quality of the blood is to my own, the more rapid the progress will be.¡¯ This was the conclusion Hu Yuexin had arrived at after killing many types of monstrous beasts and Fan Tong together. On one specific Rift, Hu Yuexin went against a panther and a gorilla who both happened to be at the same level of strength, however, by the time she was finished, she realized the gorilla¡¯s blood had given her nearly twice as much energy as the panther. That in addition to the case of Fan Tong, whose blood had energized her more than five times compared to monstrous beasts of the same level of strength as him, made Hu Yuexin certain that the race of the blood was of utmost importance to her. Maybe there was more to it than that, but that was the current extent of Hu Yuexin¡¯s understanding regarding her Trait. ¡®But I can¡¯t just go around and slaughter everyone indiscriminately. I guess that means the only method is to steal even more Rifts!¡¯ As this notion had just popped into her head, Hu Yuexin received an emergency text which promptly garnered her full attention. Following that, checking the execution notification that had come directly from the Abnormal Association itself, at first it resulted in Hu Yuexin frowning as she wondered to herself, ¡®So these bastards are going to persist on trying to annoy me? Should I just change my mask to another type?¡¯ Subsequently, shaking her head, she rejected the idea at once, ¡®that won¡¯t work, they will still know I¡¯m the same person if I continue stealing other Rifts. The act itself is what¡¯s attracting them.¡¯ But despite all that, there was another aspect to all of this that was baffling her. ¡®Why would they go so far as to declare that I¡¯ve committed treason just because I¡¯ve stolen a few Rifts? It doesn¡¯t seem so simple.¡¯ Letting out a sigh of frustration, Hu Yuexin was starting to get annoyed, when a glint of enlightenment popped into her eyes, ¡®Wait, this could be just what I need, the opportunity I lacked. Now that a lot of Guardians are going to come and try hunting me down, I could use this opportunity to speed things up!¡¯ A vicious glint was clear within Hu Yuexin¡¯s eyes as killing intent began to exude from her being at the same time. She was now determined to do what she had to do. ¡®No one should blame me since this is what those who come after me risked and brought upon themselves.¡¯ Meanwhile, just as that notion had gone through her mind, Hu Yuexin abruptly noticed the two Guardians that had been previously standing aside in anger but not daring to attack were now charging in her direction. They were taking advantage of the fact that she was busy fighting the monstrous beasts of the Rift to get her by surprise. On the other side, locking eyes with theirs which was screaming greed, Hu Yuexin understood exactly what was going through their heads. ¡°So you guys just received the text as well and now you¡¯ve lost your minds.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t point any fingers at me when you go to the afterlife since this is what you two brought upon yourselves.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Brandishing their Traits, the two was soon upon Hu Yuexin. ¡°Well, you know what they say, if you risked it all, you should expect failure and death!¡± Hu Yuexin declared. ¡°No one said that!¡± Feeling ridiculed, they denied it at once. ¡°Huh, is that so? Well, I¡¯m the quoter then. Now, goodbye!¡± Announcing their departure, Hu Yuexin¡¯s sword and the hand which was holding it vanished momentarily. By the time they could be perceived again, two heads were sent flying away while within the eyes of the flying heads, the panic was clear. This was the fright due to them witnessing their own headless body midair. Shortly afterward, their blood all escaped into Hu Yuexin as the same experience of quick progress dominated her again while she became immersed in the sensation with her eyes closed. She was relishing the feeling of lightning-fast progress very much. ¡°Yes! This is what I¡¯m talking about!¡± ¡®Let¡¯s visit the next Rift that¡¯s expected to activate soon, shall we?¡¯ As this sentence shimmered through her brain, Hu Yuexin¡¯s silhouette was gone. ¡­ Afterward, Hu Yuexin proceeded to visit one Rift after another while slaughtering all Guardians that had come to hunt her down. At the second Rift she was visiting, two groups of Guardians had been waiting for her. After some struggle, she was successful in sending them all on their next journey. All in all, she was much stronger in the end as she was prepared to face even stronger enemies. At the third Rift, four groups of Guardians were lying in wait, only to be faced with another massacre. Hu Yuexin¡¯s strategy was to avoid confronting them all at once and instead, utilizing her stunningly fluid movement technique which was getting even more efficient as her energy increased, she attacked them separately. Every time she stopped by a Rift, more Guardians were awaiting her arrival as they were getting more proficient in tracking her down as more time went by. In fact, their method of predicting where Hu Yuexin will appear next was absolutely convenient. All they needed to ask themselves was, ¡®where is the following Rift that will activate soon?¡¯ and that was the most likely place for her to appear. And indeed, not disappointing any of them, Hu Yuexin showed up every single time. Five groups, harshly dismissed. Seven groups, horribly exterminated. Ten groups, gorily decimated. Twelve, totally annihilated! ¡°Hehe, HEHEHE¡­¡± While dancing around showering in the blood of her enemies that was getting absorbed into her in rivers, Hu Yuexin¡¯s mouth gave off maniacal bursts of laughter from time to time as she got more lost in the addicting feeling of getting more powerful by the second. Without her even noticing, her intense thirst for more blood was creating a sensation of euphoria in her. Afterward, the place Hu Yuexin visited had two Rifts side by side and one of them was about to trigger soon. That was the reason why she was here, however, what was eye-catching and worth mentioning about the entire situation was not that. But rather it was the fact that in this round, she was against much more Guardians compared to the previous times. An entire Guild, consisting of more than one hundred Guardians, were hiding, ready to ambush her the moment she showed up. Of course, Hu Yuexin realized that before revealing herself in front of everyone else. Although she could¡¯ve dodged them and gone to another Rift, being already engrossed in her power, however, Hu Yuexin did not do that. On the contrary, she was quite confident she could take care of them all and considered it a rare opportunity that had to be grabbed. Thus, soon, a silhouette could be seen flickering everywhere as she sent one head after another flying into the air. ¡°Everyone! Attack together! She might be able to run around dodging one Trait after another, but she can¡¯t dodge more than a hundred!¡± The leader of the other Guild, a five-star Guardian, ordered. Indeed, with that strategy and the professional coordination of the Guardians as a result of working together for a long time, the number of wounds on Hu Yuexin¡¯s physique continued to increase with each passing second. Unfortunately for the Guardians, however, their number was decreasing at an even faster rate. By the time everything was over and dried carcasses could be spotted in every meter of the ground in all directions, a bloody figure of Hu Yuexin was still barely on foot in the middle of it all. Nonetheless, as large amounts of blood were currently being sucked into her body, the wounds all over her flesh were healing and closing up by themselves at a frightening speed. At this time, as a result of numerous Traits flying around everywhere, the rough terrain had transformed into a complete wreck as all types of surveillance cameras had already stopped functioning. The appearance of the land had changed so much one could hardly believe this place was the same as before. The only evidence that proved this land was the same location as before was the existence of the Rifts that had yet to activate. ¡®The Rift will trigger soon, let¡¯s wait and recuperate to my peak condition until then.¡¯ Having already made up her mind, Hu Yuexin was just about to sit down and rest shortly, when suddenly, apparently out of nowhere, a man fell off of the clear sky, startling Hu Yuexin to her very core. Following that, gazing at the source of her startlement at the countenance of her newly arrived opponent, an intense shiver went down Hu Yuexin¡¯s spine. Chapter 434: What Are You Doing Here? Chapter 434: What Are You Doing Here? ¡°You! What are you doing here?¡± Locking gazes with the newcomer, Hu Yuexin questioned in a frown. Truthfully, the man in front of her was the last person she wanted to encounter on this planet. Indeed, looking into his eyes directly, Hu Yuexin spotted an ancient glint within Virus¡¯ eyes which was preventing her from figuring out what exactly was going on inside that brain of his. And if anything Hu Yuexin had learned from these types of people, it was the fact that they were always scheming something and it was very risky and dangerous to be around someone like him even for a single second. Still, recalling how the previous host of her body had owed the man one Red-Crystal, Hu Yuexin took out two Red-Crystals and threw them at him. ¡°I thought I told you whatever relationship we had ended that night and that I didn¡¯t want to see you ever again. Could it be you¡¯re here because of my debt to you? If so, here you go. One is my debt, the other is the interest. Take it and leave!¡± Catching the two Red-Crystals, Virus took a short glance at the Red-Crystals as unknown notions began to pass through his head as he was hit with nostalgia. A few seconds later, looking back at her, Virus found the same ancientness flickering in her focus which was easily recognizable to him just as it had been the very first time he cast his eyes upon the newly resurrected Hu Yuexin. That abruptly forced him to make a specific inquiry. ¡°Hey, just tell me this¡­ who are you?¡± Being thrown with such an interrogative question all of a sudden and that probing light shimmering on his serious expression forced a shudder on Hu Yuexin¡¯s body as she inferred. ¡®H-he¡­ knows!¡¯ ¡®He knows I¡¯m not the real Hu Yuexin!¡¯ ¡°Hmph, what are you even talking about?¡± Letting out a harrumph, Hu Yuexin denied before adding, ¡°and why would I need to explain myself to you?¡± ¡°So you¡¯re not going to answer, huh?¡± That promptly forced Virus to let out a sigh of helplessness as he opened his mouth again, ¡°I thought maybe you were just suffering from some kind of traumatic brain injury causing you something like Dissociative Identity Disorder or something and that the burst of power you¡¯ve shown me the previous time was a result of you awakening your Trait.¡± After remaining silent for a short few seconds, Virus went on, ¡°however, imagine my surprise when I saw you truly awaken your Trait after absorbing a Red-Crystal¡­ and that you were actually cultivating! And those odd methods you use for cultivation¡­ sigh, I don¡¯t want to continue, just tell me who you are before I decide further on what I¡¯m going to do with you.¡± Listening to Virus¡¯ every word, trembling, Hu Yuexin understood. ¡®He¡¯s been watching me ever since then! But how?!¡¯ At this point, Hu Yuexin¡¯s level of stupefaction could not be higher since previously she had been absolutely indubitable that no one was watching her since in case anyone ever did indeed spy on her, she was sure, using her own unique methods, she would¡¯ve discovered it that very first second. ¡®How is this possible? If he could spy on me without me even noticing, then nowhere on this planet is safe anymore!¡¯ ¡°What are you talking about?! And regardless, I think I told you it¡¯s none of your business!¡± Seeing her determination to not respond, shaking his head, Virus decided, ¡°looks like I need to bring you with me to a safe location and figure that out slowly by myself.¡± Proceeding to throw the Red-Crystals back at her, Virus uttered again. ¡°Also, the debt Hu Yuexin owes me is for no one but Hu Yuexin herself to pay back. So get this garbage of yours back and stop pretending to be her, it sickens me.¡± ¡°Follow you? Are you an idiot? Do you believe I would just follow you because you want me to? Or do you think you¡¯re strong enough? Hehehe.¡± Comprehending what was going to happen next, Hu Yuexin chuckled, getting ready for battle. If it was the first time they had met, Hu Yuexin would¡¯ve done everything in her power to avoid a fight with this mysterious man in front of her. But now that she had gone through enough preparation and power-ups, in case he insisted, she was ready to meet him head-on! ¡°To be honest, I wanted to leave you be and just proceed with keeping you under my watch until I find a way to bring Hu Yuexin back¡­ but seeing how you keep putting her body in a dangerous situation, to the point that the entire Shanghai is now currently after you, I¡¯ve changed my mind. You will either come with me obediently or I make you!¡± ¡°Make me if you can! Hahaha!¡± Laughing in ridicule, Hu Yuexin¡¯s battle intent was shooting through the roof. It was clear she was nothing but thrilled at the idea of going against Virus now. ¡®I suppose this is the best outcome considering how he can keep an eye on me from the shadows. The best course of action would be to bring him down and stop further troubles from coming my way.¡¯ Determined, Hu Yuexin was now looking forward to fighting him. Closely afterward, just as she was finished letting out a peal of laughter, much to her shock, she saw Virus appearing in front of her as he sent a punch directly at her face. He wanted to end this quickly and fast. ¡®What a speed!¡¯ Alarmed, Hu Yuexin didn¡¯t delay trying to dodge the incoming fist. Albeit, it was as if her opponent¡¯s fist had a life as it changed course like a snake and continued shooting in her direction. ¡®But,¡¯ Noticing this, Hu Yuexin¡¯s eyes went wide open as she promptly released her own fist to meet Virus¡¯, ¡®I¡¯m fast as well!¡¯ BAM~ As a result of their direct confrontation, although they both had to retreat a few meters back, Virus was forced a few steps further which immediately forced numerous calculations to begin within his head as he concluded. ¡®She¡¯s already broken through to the fourth level of Liberation. Her speed of cultivation is frightening indeed. No, it¡¯s that Trait of hers which adds to her speed of cultivation like crazy!¡¯ ¡®Furthermore, she¡¯s probably nearly capable of fighting foes three levels higher than her in their cultivation.¡¯ ¡®This kind of genius probably does not exist on the Cultivation Earth. Hmm, even when put in the entirety of the Cultivation Multiverse of my past world, she¡¯s perhaps a genius of almost the highest tier, a super-genius!¡¯ Through that simple exchange of fists and estimating the rough level of energy that was exuding from Hu Yuexin, Virus was capable of coming to this final deduction as he was quickly aware that the battle ahead of him was going to be anything but easy. In the past, using nothing but his ring, Virus was somewhat able to defeat those at the first level of Liberation at the Martial Contest in the Cultivation Earth. Hadelia of the Burning Sparrow clan had been at this level before and Virus defeated her in the contest. And later on, when Virus fought against the horned pigs who he assumed to be on par with cultivators of the second level of Liberation, he was capable of killing it using nothing but his True Sixth level of Corporeal Tempering, Ethereal Metamorphosis. Subsequently, facing the flying pig, their leader, who Virus deemed as comparable to the Third Level of Liberation, Virus had to use both his ring and corporeal tempering strength in order to defeat it. Afterward, never having gone against anyone comparable to the fourth level of Liberation, Virus directly fought against the infant Plant Kraken in Shanghai, who was equivalent to someone at the Fifth Level of Liberation. And for the sake of having a chance against and killing that monster at the time, not only was Virus compelled to break through to the First Level of Liberation, he also had to utilize both his ring and the additional strength of the True Sixth level of his Corporeal Tempering Stage together! And at last, now that Virus was at the second level of Liberation with fifty-eight percent fusion rate between his third and fourth yin and yang pathways, while employing all three of his current perks, meaning his second level of Liberation together with his ring and True Sixth level of Corporeal Tempering stage, Virus was somewhat positive he would be able to go against someone approximately at the Sixth Level of Liberation. However, confronting Hu Yuexin who was only at the Fourth Level of Liberation but was, in fact, comparable to someone at the very peak of Sixth Level of Liberation or maybe even higher left Virus uncertain and in some doubt. Chapter 435: Worthy Chapter 435: Worthy And indeed, just as those reckonings were finalized, Hu Yuexin quickly unsheathed her sword before rushing behind Virus and brandishing it at him with no mercy whatsoever. She was intent on taking him down with a lethal attack! Swish! Seeing the flash of the blade coming at him directly from behind, Virus knew he had to get serious, therefore, connecting to his ring at once, he sent two commands. ¡®Trigger Initial Configuration ¨C Longsword!¡¯ ¡®Divide Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument!¡¯ Promptly, the ring on his finger started to transform and change at breakneck speed as it simultaneously reconstructed itself to a very lengthy unsheathed longsword on his left hand while the rest of the reconstruction was focused on Virus¡¯ limbs as they were all covered in pitch-black scales with blue shimmering lines covering between each of them. Following that, Virus straightly raised the awe-inspiring longsword that was giving off a grand blue hue before clashing and pushing it against Hu Yuexin¡¯s dull sword in comparison. CLING~ With the swords crossed horizontally between the two in opposition to each other, both Virus and Hu Yuexin continued pushing against the clinch. Internally, Virus had also concentrated his energy on his feet and arms already. Their blades continued to lock as they both tried to knock the other one off balance while gazing intensely into one another¡¯s pupils in that close position. CRACK~ At last, due to the frightening amount of force being put behind both of the swords, a shattering sound was heard as one of the swords broke down into two parts. Without further ado, that coerced Hu Yuexin to retreat at once as her dull sword had been the one to give out. CRACKKKERLE~ SHATTRGH! Before they could even charge at one another again, however, the sound of glass breaking into many pieces reverberated around the area, this unconsciously forced the two to look at the source, only to realize that one of the two Rifts was finally triggering. Subsequently, many types of monstrous beasts were poured out. However, not having the time to pay them any heed, the two combatants once again stormed at each other! In this round, unfortunately, Hu Yuexin had already thrown away her broken sword as she rushed at Virus with her bare hands while on the other side Virus was swinging his sword at her bare arm with no second thoughts whatsoever! He was about to cut off one of her limbs in order to temporarily immobilize her. Nevertheless, just as the two were upon each other and a grave injury was about to be dealt at Hu Yuexin, she suddenly screamed. ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re the only one with a worthy sword!¡± Not stopping there, she murmured in a low tone. ¡°Evil Myriad Arts ¨C The First Sword of Devil!¡± Abruptly, the energy within Hu Yuexin¡¯s body began to leave and gather on her right hand as they created the shape of a barely visible, faint sword! A sword that adjusted its size to the same size as that of Virus¡¯, turning into a longsword at once. Even though it was faint, looking at the various ancient-looking patterns on the pitch dark sword which were giving off and shining in an extremely bloody red light, Virus acknowledged the longsword was not to be underestimated. He even felt somewhat threatened by only gazing at the sword which looked like the sword of the devil itself! ¡®The sword¡¯s already this powerful despite its host being barely able to invoke it into that faint form due to the low level of her cultivation, I can only imagine how powerful it¡¯s going to be in its fully evoked form!¡¯ Virus judged, feeling impressed. And yet, with no hesitation, the two smashed their longswords at each other! CLANGGG~ This time, both weapons were completely intact as it was clear none was going to be able to dominate the other easily. Obviously, both longswords were worthy of combating and colliding with the other in their current forms. Swish! SWISH! Swish~ CLASH! CLANG! DING! SWISH~ JRRRGH¡­ Afterward, in a few seconds alone, tens of attacks were exchanged between the two at such speed that in case anyone was around, although they wouldn¡¯t be able to perceive their weapons or their clash itself, they would still feel silly only by witnessing the intense sparks flying around everywhere as a result of their collision. The level of their battle was currently so high that even a five-star Guardian would be slain at once if the Guardian was caught in the middle of their fight. As their battle continued to occur, the stalemate between them created a hazardous balance that would prove to be fatal the moment one side was careless enough and it was broken. Alas, none was successful in breaking it so far! Virus was purely astonished and stupefied at this point at how powerful Hu Yuexin was. She had been capable of reacting to every single one of his attacks and calculations as far as his body was capable of following them. This was the very first time since coming to this world that Virus was going against someone as strong as her! True, he had been against tough or impossible to beat enemies before, but the only reason those people had the upper hand was due to their much higher level of cultivation that could suppress him easily. It had nothing to do with techniques and skills and it was merely a battle of cultivation. But this time, he felt as if he was facing someone that could truly keep up with him! Their combat proceeded to intensify and heat up for around ten minutes. By now some small wounds were apparent on both Virus and Hu Yuexin¡¯s bodies. Fortunately, they had been all merely shallow injuries that had been strategic schemes to make the other fall into their trap. Alas, none was successful so far. No matter, when the clock hit the twelfth minute, finally, some changes started to take place as Virus noticed that she had gotten a little bit slower. And looking at the beads of sweat covering her forehead, he grinned. ¡®Looks like the advantage of my True Sixth Level of Corporeal Tempering is starting to show itself.¡¯ And indeed, the next moment, identifying an opportunity and weakness, Virus brandished his weapon at her chest. Swish! ¡°AhhRgh!¡± Screaming in agony, Hu Yuexin retreated in a hurry as a rather grave injury had been dealt on her chest as blood was now flowing out in massive amounts. ¡°Just listen and come with me, I don¡¯t want to kill you no matter what since your body still belongs to Hu Yuexin in the end.¡± He declared while frowning at her. However, this instead forced Hu Yuexin to grit her teeth in annoyance and rage. After that, looking around momentarily, having thought of an idea, she suddenly sprinted at the closest monstrous beasts and annihilated several of them with only one strike each. Next, all their blood rushed into her before great transformations began transpiring inside her as she sensed a sharp rise in her energy. This unconsciously forced a triumphant smirk to appear on her face as she successfully broke through to the fifth level of Liberation unexpectedly! Chapter 436: Dont! Chapter 436: Don¡¯t! As a result of her breakthrough and a great deal of rejuvenating blood she had absorbed, Hu Yuexin¡¯s chest wound had scabbed already as the bleeding stopped. ¡°Hehehe!¡± Cracking up like a maniac next, Hu Yuexin stormed at Virus, brandishing the longsword with an even faster speed than before. ¡°You¡¯re going to regret coming here today!¡± Seeing her exponential increase in speed going above his physical limits, almost unable to keep up, Virus could only raise his longsword in advance, attempting to block the incoming blow with a simple calculation in mind. Thud! ¡°Ah, pfft!¡± Alas, retracting her sword at the final moment, Hu Yuexin kicked him instead. Feeling the painful blow to his stomach, the gastric acid inside Virus¡¯ stomach all came rushing out as it was followed by the force of the kick sending him flying into the nearest tree trunk. CRUNK! CRANK~ Propelled backward by such force, Virus¡¯ physique immediately went right through the first tree before hitting the second one faraway, nearly crushing it as well. ¡°Haah¡­¡± standing up, Virus could taste iron in his throat. He knew he had suffered slight internal injury from the attack just now. ¡°You¡¯re good.¡± He admitted, wiping the trail of blood off his mouth. Normally, a person would feel distressed and in fear while facing a stronger opponent. However, this battle was only riling Virus up instead as he felt his blood boiling within his veins. ¡°But regret? Stop joking! I¡¯m nothing but grateful! Hahaha¡­¡± Going against his first worthy opponent since entering his physical body, exhilaration and anticipation were now dominating Virus¡¯ heart as adrenaline pumped him up. ¡°Entertain me more!¡± Charging at her, Virus swung his longsword vertically. But Hu Yuexin blocked his attack in a lock easily. He punched in response using his other hand only to face an easy dodge from Hu Yuexin¡¯s part. ¡°More! More! MORE¡­¡± Virus continued repeating and howling like a madman in fever as he released one attack after another at her. Hu Yuexin¡¯s movements were so graceful and impeccable that Virus could find no faults or openings in them. They were so flawless that Virus knew one had to possess a monstrous amount of fighting experience before accomplishing such a feat. For instance, at Hu Yuexin¡¯s previous feint sword attack, there had been no sign of pretense and deception. All of her muscle movements, the force behind it, and even her intent had been completely genuine until the very last moment where she backtracked and kicked instead. Every move was full of mastery and they flowed like water itself. Already on the offensive, Virus bashed into her tens of time. He advanced while Hu Yuexin retreated step by step. Unfortunately, every attack was either dodged or casually blocked by her who was putting on an expression that screamed, ¡®You¡¯re no match for me.¡¯ ¡°Pathetic. Your struggles are like that of a chicken in the slaughterhouse, completely in vain.¡± Confirming her thoughts out loud, she went on offensive abruptly, easily preventing Virus¡¯ advances and forcing him into defending instead. Clang! Clatter! Fizzle~¡­ By the time her fifth sword slash was upon him, a gaping wound showed on Virus¡¯ left shoulder. It was clear she had been playing with him so far. ¡°Argh!¡± ¡°The next one¡¯s going to separate your head off!¡± Determined, Hu Yuexin decided to end the battle at once! On the other side, covering the wounded collarbone with his right hand, a more firm shimmer went past Virus¡¯ countenance as he declared, ¡°Hooo! Looks like I need to get more serious before you get any cockier.¡± ¡°Hmph! Let¡¯s see how long you¡¯re going to maintain that confident face of yours!¡± Declaring that with much annoyance, Hu Yuexin was just about to rush at him and brandish her longsword at his neck when Virus¡¯ subsequent sentence beat her to it. ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who can do that little trick you know!¡± Directing his eyesight at the remaining nineteen monstrous beasts still lingering around, Virus lunged at them using the maximum level of speed he could achieve. He was like an unstoppable hurricane as he massacred them all in a single moment! Next, the flood of energy overwhelmed Virus. 60%¡­ 69%¡­ 79%¡­ 87%¡­ 95%¡­ 100%! That was the sharp level of increase in the percentage of synthesis between his third and fourth pathways as all the energy within the monster carcasses were drawn into Virus¡¯ pathways at once. And, as sudden as that, Virus¡¯ cultivation level at the second level of Liberation shot up like lightning as he hit the roof the following instant. With the completion of the fusion of his second pair of pathways, Virus could now release energy from one more pathway. In the meantime, Origin also transmitted a strange type of energy into the doorway of his fourteenth passage, directly unlocking it as well. And yet, that wasn¡¯t the end as the last remaining vestiges of monster energy that had yet to be utilized made him break through to the next level and achieve a one percent fusion rate between his fifth and sixth pathways. Third Level of Liberation! Meanwhile, witnessing the nigh identical method Virus had utilized to progress in cultivation, Hu Yuexin¡¯s eyes had long gone wide open as she screamed in disbelief, ¡°Impossible! How did you do that!¡± ¡°Huh! It¡¯s possible for you, but impossible for me? Ptooey!¡± Spitting on the ground, a grin crept over Virus¡¯ face. This was one of the rare occasions where Virus expressed and displayed his true emotions without restraint since the feeling of entertainment and fun was one of the only modus operandi that moved him. Rip! Ripping the corner of his cloth at the same time, he tied it around his open injury, immediately stopping the bleeding from his left shoulder. Then wagging his already bandaged arm and cracking his neck, he declared, ¡°Shall we start the next round?¡± Click~ Clank! Whoosh! CREAK! Fizzle~ SHRR! Whish~ THUD!¡­ Once again, the intense battle was resumed as hard blows were exchanged between the two. None uttered a word again as the hum of their longswords making contact with one another was the only voice filling the battlefield. While one was grinning from ear to ear in pure anticipation, beads of sweat had covered the other retreating opponent¡¯s frowning profile. Although one might assume their strength should be on par after Virus had also broken through to the next stage, that was incorrect. And there were a few reasons as to why. The first reason had to do with Virus¡¯ beast-like nigh-infinite stamina that was the result of him achieving Ethereal Metamorphosis in the Corporeal Tempering stage. While he was still as vigorous as ever even with the addition of his wound, that same logic didn¡¯t apply to the panting and tired Hu Yuexin who was only relying on her internal energy to keep fighting at this point. Her physique was already at its limits. The second factor was because of his Fourteenth passage of energy! After his Fourteenth pathway was unlocked with his breakthrough, a rather considerable quantity of energy had joined the previous amount, allegedly making him even stronger than one should have become after a simple breakthrough! And last but not least, before his breakthrough, Virus had merely been around the middle phases of the second level of Liberation while Hu Yuexin was at the very peak of the fourth level of Liberation. And the result of these three causes put together was the current advantage Virus had over the retreating Hu Yuexin. ¡®There!¡¯ Swish! Finally spotting an opening in the tired and slower Hu Yuexin¡¯s guard, Virus thrust the tip of his longsword at Hu Yuexin¡¯s stomach! RIPP! Freezing, Hu Yuexin gazed down at the penetrating blade within her stomach as her pupils shrank to the size of a mere dot. Splash~ Subsequently, pulling the blade out with no hesitation, Virus splashed the blood off his sword as he looked into her eyes and comforted her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t die as long as you come with me and let me treat that hole of yours nicely.¡± Meanwhile, blood was gushing out in massive amounts turning her dress color into red in just a few seconds! Checking that fatal injury of hers, gritting her teeth, all thoughts of resuming the fight left Hu Yuexin¡¯s head at once as she understood she was going to die soon unless she treated it fast. Therefore, turning around, she attempted to flee! ¡°Oi, Oi, Oi! And where do you think you¡¯re going, my lady? What¡¯s the rush?¡± Unfortunately, having seen through her little plan already, Virus blocked her path of retreat, leaving her with no other option but to either follow him and get treated willingly¡­ or die! ¡°YOU!¡± Looking at Virus¡¯ smirking face, Hu Yuexin¡¯s anger turned into rage and her rage became wrath and hatred, she wanted nothing but to cut him into a thousand tiny pieces by now. Although Hu Yuexin didn¡¯t care about Virus¡¯ existence prior to this day, after being pushed to the very edge of a cliff, hostility overtook her heart as she vowed. ¡°Remember, if I live through this, you¡¯re going to regret ever provoking me. Mark me, I will be back for you!¡± Then, turning toward a specific location all of a sudden, as if she was going to make the most important decision of her life, she ran in that direction in utter resolution! That course of action baffled Virus at first as he wondered in some amusement, ¡®You know you can¡¯t escape, I¡¯m faster, and-¡® before Virus could even finish his thoughts, however, identifying the direction she was running to, he realized in shock. ¡®Shit! She¡¯s going to run into the other Rift! This reckless idiot!¡¯ Indeed, only a dozen meters away, there was the second Rift that had yet to trigger unlike the first one. And Hu Yuexin was sprinting to it like there was no tomorrow! ¡°Don¡¯t! You¡¯re going to kill yourself! You idiot!¡± With his eyes wide open, trying to intercept, Virus dashed at her using all his strength. Of course, the target of his concern was Hu Yuexin¡¯s body rather than the soul occupying it. Chapter 437: Call it... Fortunately, being able to reach her in time, Virus grabbed her by the arm, successfully stopping her. ¡°I will not allow you to bring any more harm to Hu Yuexin¡¯s body. I promised her she is mine, and what¡¯s mine is mine alone, not even you can have it! So stop this nonsense struggle already and follow me!¡± As Hu Yuexin was still facing toward the Rift, Virus could not see her expression. However, understanding from her shivering physique and the tone of her voice, it was clear she was burning in utter rage. ¡°I said, do, not, touch, MEEE!¡± BOOM! An invisible force, the same type that had sent Virus flying away the first time he tried to hug her, abruptly hurled Virus away as if a truck had just made a direct impact with his figure. CRACK! BAM! BOOM! The force of the impact was so great that Virus¡¯ body went through three tree trunks before the power behind it finally depleted away as his body fell on the ground like a puppet with its strings broken! ¡°Pfft!¡± Feeling like throwing up, everything within his stomach tried to find its way out of his mouth again. But shockingly, the only thing that came out was blood! ¡®Ahh, that hurt. She did it again.¡¯ Virus pondered in pain, he sensed the internal damage inside his body had gotten much worse as the might behind that invisible force of hers was the strongest so far! Meanwhile, having finally reached the Rift, Hu Yuexin paused before looking back at Virus¡¯ sorry figure one last time. Although she didn¡¯t even open her mouth, one could clearly discern the hatred and loathing she now possessed toward the source of her gaze. Still, with her face extremely pale due to the substantial amount of blood she had lost, Hu Yuexin did not linger around for much before turning away and entering the Rift with the utmost level of determination! In fact, if not for the existence of Virus, Hu Yuexin had every intention of staying behind and getting stronger in this place which she believed to be a paradise for Cultivation. However, now, with the sudden hostile arrival of Virus, the only fate awaiting her was imprisonment. Furthermore, understanding how terrifying the existence of Virus was to the point of him even being able to spy on her without her knowledge honestly didn¡¯t sit well with her. Now, her only goal was to leave this location at once, try to survive wherever she ended up, get stronger, and at last, return to get revenge! ¡°Remember my vow.¡± These last words of hers reverberated around the area as her figure had already vanished from sight. Finally being able to stand up, Virus looked at the Rift. ¡°Sigh¡­ I promised I¡¯ll be back for you, Hu Yuexin. I told you you are mine no matter the kind of relationship we have. And here I am¡­¡± whispering in some despondency, he finished. ¡°But you¡¯re no longer here.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Facing nothing but utter silence after that, Virus felt grieved for some reason. Subsequently, as he gradually vanished into the distant horizon, merely an echo of his murmur resounded. ¡°Is this¡­ heartache?¡± ¡­ After coming back to the atoll with his spaceship, the first act Virus did was to call the CEO ugly. ¡°Yes, master. I¡¯m all ears.¡± ¡°There is this sick kid that has an incurable disease in Shanghai, cure him using the medicine the Island ugly sends you. I¡¯ve already transmitted his information to you.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Good. Also, take him under your wing and raise him like he is your own son. Nothing less, do you understand?¡± ¡°Your wish is my command, sir!¡± ¡°Alright, later then.¡± Finished with his orders, Virus hung up the line as his mind jumped back to the memories of the past while he deliberated, ¡®Hu Yuexin, do not worry about your son, he will see nothing but the best from here onwards.¡¯ ¡­ A few days later, everything Virus had ordered the Island ugly to prepare was ready. So, right now, standing before his master, he was reporting the results. ¡°Master, everything¡¯s ready now. The Worker Robots transported the C.E.L.L Project, Shape-shifter Technology, the tea, and the Water of Life you requested to your personal spaceship while the Shield device has been carried to the other spaceship.¡± ¡°Hmm, is that so? Then I guess we¡¯re ready to move to the next phase of the plan.¡± Standing up, a grin crept over Virus¡¯ lips as he commanded, ¡°Go, call Lil Belle and the Security ugly over, we¡¯re leaving soon.¡± ¡°Yes, master!¡± Half an hour later, on the second floor of the underground world beneath the atoll, four people were standing in front of a gigantic Transportation Spaceship which was nearly a thousand times bigger than Virus¡¯ private spaceship. They were respectively Virus, the golden beauty, the Island ugly, and the Security ugly that had returned to the island a few days ago responding to Virus¡¯ summons. In the meantime, before them, thousands of Worker Robots were currently busy transporting various unknown materials, parts, and pieces of technology into the monstrous spaceship. ¡°This spaceship is ten kilometers in all width, length, and height. It is the biggest construct I¡¯ve built so far! If we bring the 830 meters Burj Khalifa and put it beside this, the Burj would look a small toy compared to it.¡± The Island ugly stated while complimenting the huge spaceship in front of him. It was clear he was extremely proud of this creation of his as it was the fruit of many years of nonstop effort on his part. Meanwhile, studying the spaceship, a funny thought flashed through Virus¡¯ head, ¡®Should I fly this spaceship over to New York? Everyone will be scared shitless thinking the aliens have invaded.¡¯ ¡®That would be a nice prank to put on youtube.¡¯ Even the entire central park was barely one-third of the spaceship, therefore, in case the spaceship was truly steered to hover above the city of New York, merely the shadow it¡¯d cast upon the city would be a sight to witness while watching horror and chaos take over the city. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Letting out an amused peal of laughter, Virus put the thought at rest for now and said, ¡°let¡¯s go!¡± Afterward, Virus, the golden beauty, and the Security ugly entered the huge spaceship before moving to its spacious glass cockpit. Then connecting himself to the spaceship, Virus added a basic Artificial Intelligence to it. From now onwards, the spaceship would be able to follow rudimentary commands and travel by itself anywhere it wanted as long as the destination was clear. He was just about to initiate the spaceship next when the golden beauty opened her mouth, ¡°Umm, master¡­ I would rather stay here on the atoll and continue my secluded training if that¡¯s okay with you.¡± Listening to her, however, shaking his head, Virus replied, ¡°I would feel ill at ease if I leave you anywhere on this planet, it¡¯s just way too dangerous nowadays. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not leaving for the Cultivation Earth just yet. And like I said, I have a better location in mind for you to cultivate in peace. Just come with me for now and you¡¯ll know it soon enough.¡± ¡°Ah, I understand, master.¡± Right as they were done talking, the huge spaceship began to slowly levitate as it moved toward a certain metal gate that automatically opened up. Beyond the gate, water was occupying every direction since the second floor of the underground world was far beneath the atoll in the middle of the ocean. Still, stupefyingly, as if the ocean was avoiding it on purpose, not a single drop of ocean water invaded the space inside the underground world. Reaching the opened gate, the spaceship automatically made itself invisible before diving deep into the water. In the meantime, looking at the ocean through the glass cockpit, the golden beauty gasped in astonishment, ¡°S-so beautiful!¡± ¡°It is indeed.¡± Enjoying the scenery as well, Virus agreed. In his past world of the future, this type of view was nowhere to be found on Earth. Soon, having received the input for its final destination from Virus, the gigantic Transportation Spaceship left Earth¡¯s atmosphere before descending upon the infinite darkness of the starry space. Right behind it, Virus¡¯ private spaceship also followed as they both entered the newly opened crack in the very fabric of the space itself. When the two spaceships exited the crack, the view that greeted the trio was the image of another planet. Within the glass cockpit of the gigantic spaceship, the golden beauty uttered a yelp of alarm at the familiar planet before her, ¡°Uh! It¡¯s that planet at the very center of the Cigar Galaxy! The planet that¡¯s occupied by the Panumans! That Panuman Planet!¡± Gazing upon this planet that was mostly covered in oceans of green and forests while the rest was full of red and blue, the golden beauty recalled her past journey to this specific planet where they collected some Water of Life from a certain river which assisted them in creating her real corporeal body. ¡®Huh? Where are we?¡¯ On the other side, the Security felt confused as he looked at the two planets that were stationed in very close proximity to one another. Furthermore, he could see two suns at the far distance shining upon and warming the planetary bodies in the system. ¡°Hahaha, that is correct¡­ but don¡¯t call it the Panuman Planet anymore.¡± With his eyes squinting slightly, Virus stated. ¡°What? If I don¡¯t call it the Panuman Planet, what should I call it then?¡± With her eyebrows drawn together, the golden beauty questioned in curiosity. In response, ambling in front of the two and standing before the exotic planet displaying itself behind the glass, Virus spread both his arms and declared. ¡°Call it¡­ Virusia!¡± Chapter 438: Virusia ¡°Huh¡­?¡± Two gasps of bewilderment were heard inside the cockpit while Virus looked at them in mirth. Then, after the short silence passed, the golden beauty asked for further clarification. ¡°What do you mean, master? Was this planet always called Virusia?¡± ¡°Hmm? Of course not! I just named it Virusia.¡± Going quiet momentarily, Virus picked the rest of his explanation. ¡°This place is going to become our new headquarters henceforth.¡± Shocked silly by now, the golden beauty and the Security ugly¡¯s jaws had already hit the floor since they didn¡¯t know what to make of this situation. ¡°Could you elaborate further, master?¡± At last, the golden beauty inquired again. ¡°Um, sure, what I¡¯m trying to say is, we¡¯re going to focus our development and growth on this planet from this day on.¡± Pointing upwardly with his finger, Virus announced. ¡°1.49 million years¡­ I¡¯m going to try to bring that future to us¡­ or rather, my goal is to run to it at a faster speed than before.¡± ¡°But in order to make that dream a reality, we need a strong footing first. And this planet might just become that!¡± Although Virus¡¯ eventual aim was to try to advance to the same level as the Earth of his future world, he was aware it was easier said than done. He knew there were lots of obstacles and hindrances awaiting to block his path to that end. In fact, in technology, every advancement required its own deep layer after layer foundation as he couldn¡¯t simply leap 1.49 million years in time and make the most futuristic pieces of technology just because he wished for it. Progress in technology was a step-by-step process, much like cultivation itself. He had to jump one level after another before finally breaking through to the next stage and continuing additional growth. Furthermore, all of that required an extremely strong foundation, an unshakeable one, in case Virus desired to tread the path to a further destination. The weaker the foundation, the faster he was going to hit a barrier, a bottleneck, and remain stuck there for a long time. Actually, that was what had happened on the current Earth which was mostly related to the issues that arose from the existence of mankind on the planet itself. For one, Virus didn¡¯t trust the human race since, at the end of the day, he knew without a shadow of a doubt they were going to betray and use his technology against him someday if he just introduced one godlike machinery after another into the market. Virus considered that an idiotic and irredeemable approach since it was like giving deadly weapons to your possible attackers. It was only a matter of time before it backfired. All in all, right now, with every improvement he wanted to make on Earth, he had to be careful and consider various advantages and possible disadvantages in the present and the future. Furthermore, mankind itself had created many laws that bound, prevented, and slowed down the path of growth! If he wanted to manufacture something that went way ahead of anything available on the market, all the other relevant manufacturers were bound to attack him and try to bring him down which in return would force Virus to waste more of his time to kill off all those nuisances. Phones, computers, cars, planes, buildings, ships, medicine, mines, etc. It didn¡¯t matter what, as long as Virus stopped holding back and proceeded to produce extremely futuristic high technology, all of them were going to at least try to stand in his way one way or another. If he wanted to mine a piece of land, he had to jump through hoops before being able to do it legally. Overall, everything was a hassle that decelerated the process and annoyed him every step of the road. Moreover, in case he carried on with his advancement, he was bound to become too much powerful at some point and that was a big no to all governments around the globe. His eventual enemies were going to be the various governments around the world and that meant World War III! For the Virus Industries alone to reach higher levels quickly, they needed to keep advancing on all grounds with no interruptions whatsoever since the various fields of technology were interconnected. Unfortunately, the mere existence of the human race didn¡¯t permit that. The only viable solution Virus had to solve that problem once and for all was to wipe out the entire population of humans, the complete extinction of the human race on the planet! If truth be told he had even considered it seriously on various occasions. In fact, with an excuse like money, he had gone so far as to even release a Super HIV that has already infected the entire population of the planet, and even to this day, he only gave them the temporary cure instead of a permanent one. Regrettably, the appearance of the Rifts added another problem on top of everything else as it ensured Earth was going to be an unstable card even more in the future. Thus, putting the matter of Earth and all of its issues aside, for now, being in immediate need of advancement in terms of technology, Virus chose to pick a new field to grow his roots in, and that was Virusia! ¡°Ah!¡± Awestricken, the golden beauty¡¯s eyes went wide open while her hand was already covering her mouth in surprise. ¡°So this planet is going to become the new root!¡± ¡°Ah, but what about Earth? The Virus Industries? And our hidden headquarters on the atoll?¡± Somewhat nervous and uneasy at the thought of abandoning Earth which was like a home to her, the golden beauty queried. ¡°Good question! But you don¡¯t need to be worried about it, nothing will change over there¡­ the only difference would be that the atoll won¡¯t be our headquarters anymore but rather a port and storage connecting Virusia to Earth and vice versa. While they were engaged in their little discussion, the spaceship had already landed on the ground as thousands of Worker Robots ran out of the gigantic spaceship before beginning their new task of setting up something unique in the vicinity of a special river. ¡°Um, master, it¡¯s amazing that you want to make Virusia our new headquarters and everything, but¡­ as long as the Panumans are here, I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll be an easy job. What are you going to do about that?¡± Chapter 439: I Promise ¡°About that¡­ well, see for yourself.¡± Pointing his finger at the spot where thousands of robots were currently hard at work assembling hundreds of pieces and parts of various sizes, he waited for around thirty seconds when finally the last segment was put in place. WHIIZZZ~ At once, with the device at its very center, a dome of light began to expand at an extremely fast pace. In merely a minute, due to how far it had expanded and was covering, the dome of light was now barely perceivable with the naked eye because of its great distance. From the device itself, a pillar of light was also reaching out disappearing off right into the clouds in the sky. That ray was the connection of the dome to the piece of device that was supporting its maintenance. ¡°Woahh!¡± Awestruck at the scene she was witnessing, the golden beauty¡¯s eyes were glittering, ¡°Was that dome a shield? How far exactly is it covering right now?¡± ¡°Yep, that¡¯s my temporary plan for dealing with the Panumans. The shield covers a radius of thousand kilometers.¡± ¡°Amazing! Will that really be able to keep all the Panumans outside?¡± Curious for real, the golden beauty wanted answers. Spotting that look of anticipation and curiosity plastered all over her face, Virus didn¡¯t hold back, ¡°Of course! Other than the Panumans that are already within the radius of a thousand kilometers, considering the means they have access to, they will be kept out no matter how hard they try to breakthrough.¡± Following that, as he held a marble over his palm, the 3D image of a thousand kilometers in every direction spread from the marble itself while many red dots could be seen on various locations, ¡°As for the Panumans or anything else that¡¯s still inside, the Security ugly will be able to take care of them using this marble.¡± By now, the trio was already outside the great Transportation Spaceship. Walking right beside the river of Water of Life, Virus pulled out a particular flag from within the case Security ugly was carrying on his orders. Inserting it on the ground next, he declared, ¡°By my words and this flag as a witness, let my civilization begin!¡± By the side, looking at the inserted flag that had the image of a brain, half artificial and half organic, with the letter ¡®V¡¯ striking through it, the golden beauty had goosebumps as she felt her hair raising all over her body. She had this foreboding that the events of today were maybe the beginning of something much bigger! ¡­ Two hours later, inside a rather large and convenient tent that was set up by the Worker Robots, Virus was currently drinking the tea that had been brewed using the freshwater of the river, the Water of Life. ¡°Master, can you please tell me why you told me to tag along here? I mean what are your specific orders?¡± The Island ugly inquired while standing still, awaiting the decree. ¡°Hmm, what a fragrant smell, this type of tea is the best indeed.¡± Taking a sip from his tea, Virus continued, ¡°why else would I bring someone called ¡®Security ugly¡¯ if not for the purpose of security? Your main duty here will be to protect my Lil Belle. Toward achieving that goal, cleaning our territory of all its former inhabitants might be helpful.¡± ¡°I understand, master.¡± Bowing in respect, the Security ugly humbly accepted the instruction while throwing a short glance at the golden beauty who was busy quietly watching Virus drink his tea. However, Virus wasn¡¯t finished yet. ¡°Be warned though, no mistakes are permissible this time. You are absolutely not allowed to be careless and make another mistake like last that.¡± Witnessing Virus¡¯ chilly pupils suddenly directed at him, a shiver went down the Security ugly¡¯s spine as he could feel the tension increasing from zero to a hundred percent abruptly. He knew Virus was referring to the lapse of judgment he had made while protecting Ella at the nightclub in the past. ¡°Yes, sir! I¡¯ll either protect her successfully or die trying.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Satisfied with his words, he retracted his gaze before adding, ¡°besides that, your secondary mission will be to lead the Worker Robots and develop our territory.¡± ¡°Whatever you deem necessary to speed up the process, just request the CEO and Island uglies to prepare, buy, and transport them using the big Spaceship. Fully utilize the resources Earth has available. We have all the money you might need, so go buck wild!¡± Just as he completed his sentence, countless amounts of knowledge began to overwhelm and invade the Security ugly¡¯s brain. ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡± Feeling the overload, the Security ugly couldn¡¯t help but scream outwardly. Virus had just uploaded too much information all at once to the point it had exceeded the Security ugly¡¯s maximum capacity. If he had done it throughout the duration of one second, it would¡¯ve been fine, but he did it in an instant. The Security ugly understood that was a warning for him to perform his duties better this time around. ¡°That¡¯s the knowledge you will need in order to catch up to Earth¡¯s current level of technology and exceed it beyond to the level I require.¡± In fact, although the amount of scientific knowledge had been too great for the Security ugly to the degree he felt horrified at the mere extent of the advanced blueprints he could gain access to now, to Virus, it was nothing but primitive knowledge. Inside the Security ugly¡¯s head, he could now find all kinds of knowledge necessary in order to create a self-sustaining country. It covered every type of manufacturing such as food, petroleum, chemicals, plastics, clothing and textiles, metal, electronics, transportation, wood, paper, etc. Building, construction, mining, anything that might be necessary was there! Virus had even created a folder of knowledge for various roles that were essential for a variety of Worker Robots. The folder encompassed tasks such as manufacturing operator, associate, technician, supervisor, engineer, senior engineer, manager, director, etc. With that, the Security ugly could now easily divide the jobs and tasks and bring together a self-sustaining army of employees that will do everything for him. All he had to do was to oversee how things were progressing. ¡°Oh, right¡­ now that we don¡¯t have to hold back, also make a factory where the Worker Robots would be able to make more of themselves infinitely.¡± ¡°Your wish is my command, my dear master.¡± After the Security ugly left the tent, only the golden beauty and Virus were left behind. ¡°Geez, master¡­ you know I cultivate too, right? I can protect myself. Especially on this planet which is dominated by those Panumans. You saw me beat one of them already!¡± Pursing her lips, the golden beauty protested while acting cute. ¡°No, Lil Belle, you have only one life left in you. I can still save your Security ugly bro even if he¡¯s wrecked, but you¡¯re different. There¡¯s just no way I would risk ¡®you¡¯.¡± Pausing shortly, he picked the rest of his sentence while fondling and caressing her hair lightly, ¡°Moreover, despite me securing the vicinity using the shield, you never know what might be hiding on a planet somewhere. I mean I can¡¯t even check since there are no waves or other required pieces of tech covering the planet.¡± ¡°Ah, alright, I¡¯ll follow your arrangements, master.¡± Puckering her cherry lips, she agreed. It might sound like an exaggeration, but those simple movements by that kind of heavenly beauty slightly moved even Virus who wondered to himself, ¡®Well, I¡¯ll be damned. I might¡¯ve made that face myself but it¡¯s still shaking my old heart.¡¯ Nonetheless, outwardly, he didn¡¯t let any of that thought show as he proceeded, ¡°Anyhow, you will be able to cultivate in peace here. Just don¡¯t forget to drink from the river every day. Not only will it keep your physique in top shape, immune from any disease, it will also bring many benefits to your cultivation like speeding it up.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Saluting like a soldier, the golden beauty adhered to the command. ¡­ During the next few days, the Security ugly was busy slaughtering the Panumans that were unlucky enough to be within their territory at the time the shield was triggered. In fact, even Virus himself assisted when there was too big of a group gathered in a single location with rebellious intentions. Of course, many of the scared Panumans who feared for their lives were still successful in escaping outside the range of the shield since the dome worked only in a one-way manner. One could exit, but not enter without permission. And now, since Virus was confident the Security ugly would be capable enough to handle all the remaining illegal inhabitants scattered around, he decided to leave today. Currently, standing right in front of his own small private spaceship, Virus was gently kissing the golden beauty¡¯s forehead. Separating from each other soon, the golden beauty looked into Virus¡¯ eyes in dejection as she said, ¡°master, I¡¯ll get super strong as quickly as I can and join you in your following journeys! But this time¡­ please¡­ please come back to me safely, promise me!¡± By the end of her sentence, a drop of tear rolled down the golden beauty¡¯s face as she was no longer able to tolerate the thought of separating from her master for possibly a long time! This was the first time that she was splitting from her master who literally meant the whole world to her. Before this moment, she didn¡¯t feel it much, but now that he was truly leaving, an odd sensation of unconnectedness was eating her inside out as she even had this notion of throwing caution to the wind and tagging along with him. However, being aware of how that might put Virus in grave danger, she steeled her heart against the idea. ¡°I promise, my Lil Belle, I¡¯ll be safe. I¡¯ll try to do my thing at lightning speed and come back running to you immediately. You won¡¯t even notice it.¡± ¡°Y-you promise?¡± Wiping the tears gathered around her eyes with the back of his finger, he assured her. ¡°Absolutely!¡± ¡°Also, remember, I already transmitted everything you might need regarding your cultivation up to the Embryonic Consolidation stage, it¡¯s all stored in your Communication Device and you just need to refer to it. Even though you won¡¯t be needing that far ahead before I return, one day you will, so I did not hold back.¡± Turning toward the Security ugly, he demanded one last time. ¡°Keep her safe.¡± Then, turning around, he left inside the spaceship which soon vanished into the sky leaving behind a tearful golden beauty. ¡°MASTER!¡± She screamed, running behind him, albeit, he was gone already. Chapter 440: Moth to a Flame After leaving the atmosphere of Virusia, Virus straightly opened a crack near the technological Earth. Appearing in the space near the planet, Virus threw one last glance at the planet of colors before commanding the spaceship to open another rift. Of course, he still adhered to his rule of being far away from the location of cultivation Earth while opening a rift through from one side to another. ¡°See you later.¡± He murmured casually. As the gate was now wide open for him to pass through, the spaceship dived in with no delay. ¡­ Meanwhile, right as Virus entered the fissure in the fabric of space, many contemplations regarding what he was going to do on the Cultivation Earth were passing through his head. ¡®I should first visit the Silver Sky Sect and visit apprentice sister and fulfill that promise of top-quality tea I made with the Alchemy Pagoda Master.¡¯ By apprentice sister, he naturally meant Astes, the fairy-like beauty of the Alchemy Pagoda section of the sect which he had accepted as his apprentice sister. ¡®And then-¡® BOOM! RUMBLE~ The entire spacecraft experienced such a sudden quake and tremor that Virus was sent flying away within the interior of the spaceship! All one hundred percent shield of the spaceship was gone in an instant while the vessel itself also became terribly damaged. There was even a gaping hole passing through the spaceship. Fortunately, however, that hole was quickly covered by the emergency features of the spacecraft that had been installed for times like this. Meanwhile, even though it was within the vacuum of space, a roaring sound of cheer, much like thunder, reverberated everywhere! ¡°HAHAHA! At last, after patiently waiting for so long! I finally caught the little mice hopping in my house!¡± An ancient voice reverberated in all directions. ¡°So that¡¯s how this creature looks like! Fascinating!¡± The ancient old man stated, gazing upon the spaceship while playing with his snow-white beard. It was clear he had mistakenly taken the spacecraft as some type of bizarre creature. At the same time, inside the spaceship, Virus felt as if his eardrums were going to explode any seconds now, but he determined this was not the time for that. Therefore, not paying any further heed to the agony he was experiencing due to the sound of the unknown attacker, his attention was drawn to the current condition of the spaceship. ¡®The invisibility has been turned off due to the extreme damage, though it should still work.¡¯ ¡®The shield is also gone!¡¯ Of course, he reached these conclusions using all his AI capabilities so no time had gone by really. The next course of action Virus took was to first reactivate the shield before changing the course of the spaceship to a ninety-degree different direction. In the meantime, outside, seeing the creature suddenly vanishing again, an annoyed crease showed up on the ancient old man¡¯s forehead who didn¡¯t hesitate to attack again. BAM! Unfortunately for him, his attacks could no longer come into direct contact with the creature again. ¡°DAMN IT!¡± He yelled in anger. ¡°What a slippery mouse¡­ I¡¯ll find you, you hear me! I¡¯ll find you!¡± ¡­ In the meantime, having successfully escaped from the grasp of that insane old man he had laid his eyes upon momentarily, Virus let out a sigh of relief. ¡®Fuck¡­ why is there such a terrifying old man lying in wait for me?¡¯ ¡®Sigh¡­ I should go back for now.¡¯ As this line popped into his mind, he tried to open the rift to go back and fix the spaceship before returning, when, much to his dismay, he noticed the rift could not be opened at all. ¡°Ah, shit¡­ this is as worse as it could get!¡± Muttering this, Virus checked all the remaining faculties of the spacecraft next. ¡°Both multiverse and universe rift opening technologies are smashed¡­ even the fast movement features are gone, damn it! I can¡¯t go back!¡± Virus deduced. He was feeling quite lost honestly. And floating around in the middle of nowhere in absolute darkness didn¡¯t really help much. The only option he had available, for now, was to go toward the Cultivation Earth at that snail-like pace of the spaceship. ¡­ Three weeks later, an announcement attracted Virus¡¯ attention to itself. [The Spaceship is entering the atmosphere of the planet.] Soon, the whole interior began to quake and tremble while Virus fastened his seatbelt awaiting the successful landing. ¡°Land beside the Sky Silver Sect!¡± He commanded the spaceship¡¯s basic A.I. ¡­ A few hours later, an invisible spacecraft landed in the specified location. ¡®Phew, I¡¯m finally here. Let¡¯s go meet apprentice sister Astes, shall we? I wonder if she missed me though¡­ she was such a crybaby when I left last time, haha!¡¯ The first thing Virus did was to enter the portable Shape-shifter technology he had brought with him and change his appearance to that of a young man called ¡®Vee¡¯ with jet black hair and dull emerald eyes. That was the face with which he had infiltrated the Sky Silver Sect in the past and it was the identity he was known for by his apprentice sister and everyone else in the sect. Subsequently, getting off the invisible spaceship, he took a glance in the Silver Sky Sect¡¯s direction. However, what he witnessed following that quickly forced his eyeballs to become as round as they could get. That was because, in front of him, instead of the expected ancient ground of the sect that was filled with grand pagodas and busy disciples running around somewhere, there was only a wrecked site with debris covering nearly everywhere! ¡°W-what¡¯s this place? Was I brought to the wrong location? Did the spacecraft malfunction due to the previous damage?¡± Going back to the spaceship, he checked the coordinates, only to be certain this time that he was indeed in front of the gates of the former Silver Sky Sect! ¡°What the, what happened here?¡± Virus could hardly believe his eyes as a sense of skepticism overwhelmed him. Feeling somewhat concerned regarding the fate of the sect due to the existence of Astes, Virus resolved to go around, ask, and get to the bottom of what exactly was happening. A while later, he came across an old man. He was the first person he encountered after more than ten minutes of searching. Hence, stopping the man, he inquired, ¡°Hello, good old sir, would you mind answering a few questions of mine?¡± ¡°W-what is it?¡± The mortal old man, however, seemed anxious seeing a strange young man blocking his path. These days, he had heard many rumors of how there were lots of thieves in the area. ¡°No need to be worried, I¡¯m not a hostile person and I have no bad intentions toward you whatsoever, I just have a few questions and I¡¯ll leave right away.¡± He assured him. ¡°Oh¡­ is that so? Then what is it?¡± Still a little dubious, the old man retreated while awaiting the questions. He didn¡¯t want any trouble, so he wanted to reply as quickly as he could before scurrying away. ¡°So, here is the deal, I¡¯m originally a disciple of the Silver Sky Sect but I left a few years ago¡­¡± ¡­ Five minutes later, Virus became aware of the rough picture of everything that had taken place in the Silver Sky Sect. Apparently, around a month or two after Virus had left the sect, the Poison Deity Clan, the clan that was the ruler of this island the Silver Sky Sect was on, had attacked and invaded out of nowhere as they had slaughtered nearly every disciple, master, and chicken they could find! As for the reason why they had suddenly decided to do so, the old man wasn¡¯t quite sure, however, what he could tell Virus was the fact that even at the time of the attack and invasion, the sect leader of the Silver Sky Sect was still away as he was nowhere to be found. Therefore, there wasn¡¯t much the sect could do except watch and die. ¡°Do you know if anyone has survived?¡± To this question of Virus, caressing his beard, the old man responded, ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know who exactly survived¡­ but I heard that some of the disciples and masters were taken away as prisoners and hostages to their dungeon prison probably. The rest were massacred.¡± And now, sitting within his spaceship after sending away the old man, many notions and doubts were flickering through Virus¡¯ head. ¡®Did apprentice sister Astes survive?¡¯ Gritting his teeth while making an anxious fist, Virus wondered. The whole situation seemed a bit off to Virus, the fact that the strongest clan of the island had attacked the second strongest out of nowhere in that timeframe. ¡®Should I go try to save her right away?¡¯ The moment this line showed up in his brain, however, he shook his head, rejecting the idea temporarily. ¡®A mere Adept Falcon had nearly killed me¡­ if I go to the Poison Deity Clan and try to release her and the Alchemy master, I would be dead before even noticing that I was attacked.¡¯ Adept Falcon was the person that had assaulted Virus on the night of his return from the Silver Sky Sect. If it wasn¡¯t for the golden beauty¡¯s protection and sacrifice that night, Virus was quite sure he would be in fact dead already. ¡®Going to the Poison Deity Clan right now would be the most idiotic and suicidal course of action.¡¯ With his nails biting into his flesh unconsciously, this notion shimmered through Virus¡¯ mind while he began to experience an intense clash between his logic and emotions. While his emotions were screaming ¡®go save her right now!¡¯, ¡®she is waiting for you!¡¯, ¡®she would¡¯ve come for you!¡¯, etc. His logic was telling him ¡®don¡¯t be an idiot!¡¯, ¡®that¡¯s what we call a retard!¡¯, ¡®all calculations say that would be a useless act, and not only would you die a meaningless death in the process, you¡¯ll also fail to save her!¡¯. Many such deliberations were storming through his head, occupying it. On one side, thinking about how Astes might be suffering, Virus¡¯ heart could not tolerate staying still and doing nothing even if it resulted in his death. On the other side, Virus was a hundred percent certain no matter how smart he was, schemes were nothing in the face of absolute power. It didn¡¯t matter how a single ant schemed against an elephant, the elephant was still capable of crushing the ant with a simple step. ¡®They destroyed the entire Silver Sky Sect with all of its experts in a single day for fucks sake! Don¡¯t be arrogant, Virus! Confidence without power to back it up is nothing but arrogance and a fool¡¯s game!¡¯ According to the information he had received from the old man, there were simply too many variables and powerhouses in the Poison Deity Clan. Furthermore, Virus couldn¡¯t even connect to the world and surveil them at the same time since there were no waves and technology to back him up. No matter how hard he contemplated, it would still lead to his own demise at any corner with a simple flip of the enemy¡¯s finger. And it wasn¡¯t only one enemy¡­ rather an entire army of it! ¡®I need a logical plan. I can¡¯t just storm my way in there. Not only would that lead to my quick death, but it won¡¯t save apprentice sister Astes as well and merely endanger her instead. There is no way I would risk her life for an idiotic and pointless charge.¡¯ In fact, one of the matters the Artificial Intelligence Virus abhorred the most was to make a move toward a goal that was clear to result in a negative and fruitless outcome. Thus, at last, this was where his heart was suppressed while his logic came out on top! ¡°First things first, I need strength!¡± He muttered to himself with his eyes chilly cold, he knew in order to even have a shot at saving her instead of simply throwing himself off of a building like a moth to a flame, he needed power! Chapter 441: Chao Mundi Luckily, he had access to a special method of progressing in his cultivation super-fast! And that at least soothed those subdued feelings of his a little. ¡°Let¡¯s change back.¡± Entering the Shape-shifter Technology again, Virus transformed back to his original face and anatomy since he didn¡¯t find a reason to keep the fake one. ¡®So, where should I go hunting?¡¯ As he thought about that, some memories of the past during the time he was still in the Silver Sky Sect flowed into his consciousness. He recalled how he had heard disciples discussing the subject of the most mysterious hunting ground and it was somewhere called Chao Mundi. In fact, he had heard this name more than once as it was said even the Animal Kingdom of monstrous beasts could only rule over a small part of it and did not dare to travel beyond their borders deeper into Chao Mundi for some unknown reasons. All the books he had read in the library of the Silver Sky Sect also confirmed that fact. And when it came to cultivators, history itself had proven those who were courageous enough to venture too deep never came back! Due to that, everyone knew Chao Mundi was one of the most dangerous forbidden lands. Of course, in case a cultivator only hunted at its very shallow borders and did not trek deeper, it was considered safe grounds unless one was unfortunate enough to come across a beast he or she cannot handle. ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­ with the current speed of the spaceship, it should take about a week before I leave the Wild Islands, cross the ocean, and reach Chao Mundi which is a neighbor of the ocean.¡¯ ¡­ Six days flew by in a heartbeat as Virus finally arrived at his destination. Looking out of his spaceship, he could see oceans of trees right outside the cockpit. There were trees of any sizes perceivable which pointed at the fact that the jungle had definitely existed since ancient times! ¡®Shall we begin?¡¯ Muttering that, he jumped out of the entrance of the spacecraft with no delay. In the past six days, Virus had checked the condition of his vehicle and concluded that he would need to fix it himself if he ever wanted to return. Regrettably, however, according to his calculations, since he did not have many of the necessary parts and materials, that was going to take a long time since that¡¯s how awful the damage was. Finally landing on the ground, Virus started searching around in hopes of finding prey. Fortuitously, it took only five minutes before he spotted a two-headed snake. Following that, It took a single charge from his part to behead both of its heads. Letting out a disappointed sigh, Virus murmured next, ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s only a monstrous beast of the First Order. It couldn¡¯t raise the synthesis percentage of my third pair even by one percent!¡± In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, the cultivation stages of the monstrous beasts were graded by ¡®Order¡¯ count. Denoting, from the weakest to the strongest it was, respectively, First Order, Second Order, Third Order, and so on until it reached the monstrous beast of the Tenth Order! Each Order corresponded to its own equivalent stages of human cultivators meaning the beasts at the ¡®First Order¡¯ were comparable to Human Cultivators at the ¡®Energy Disentanglement¡¯ Stage which was the beginning stage of Cultivation. Following that were the monstrous beasts of the ¡®Second Order¡¯ who were as strong as cultivators in the ¡®Liberation Stage¡¯. The ¡®Third Order¡¯ matched the ¡®Sublimity Emergence¡¯ Stage and the list continued like that until the Tenth Order. In fact, for monstrous beasts, other than their level of cultivation, what mattered the most was the grade of their bloodline which represented their potential as it was also one of the main factors determining their standing position and level of authority among each other. Their ¡®potential ranking¡¯ from the known strongest to the weakest was, respectively, Legendary-grade, King-grade, Beast-grade, First-grade, Second-grade, Third-grade, and so on. Naturally, the stronger beasts with higher and more valuable bloodlines were respected by those of weaker bloodline grades. And now, having come across a monster of First Order, Virus knew he had to go a bit deeper. Therefore, as he sprinted into the forest, Virus came across many types of first and even second Order monstrous beasts as he easily beheaded them without even needing to pause or stop. It didn¡¯t matter if the monster was in the lower or middle phase of the Second-Order, Virus was still capable of slaughtering them in leisure. MOOOOO~ As he encountered a new monster, a cow-like creature with three sets of horns on its head and blood-red eyes to be exact, wanting to get rid of it as fast as possible, Virus hacked at its neck, only to feel as if he had just hit an unbreakable rock before all of the force came rushing back into his own hands. ¡®It¡¯s at the higher phase- no, ah, shit, it¡¯s at the ¡®peak¡¯ of the Second Order! Damn it!¡¯ A frown crept over Virus¡¯ expression as he casually began to contemplate whether to escape or try fighting the beast head-on, not that he was confident enough to run away on foot. On the other side, however, having just been attacked, the cow monster didn¡¯t need to think as it directly rammed into him using his horns! MOOO! ¡°Argh!¡± The force put behind the headbutt was so heavy that Virus promptly felt as if a truck had just hit him, only that it felt even worse since the cow¡¯s pointy horns had penetrated through his stomach. Luckily, due to the horrifying level of Virus¡¯ corporeal body defense, the injury wasn¡¯t that deep as it couldn¡¯t even reach his internal organs. The reason for Virus¡¯ prior hesitation mainly had to do with the fact that the monstrous beasts at the ¡®peak¡¯ of the Second Order usually could rival those at the eighth and even in some rare cases the ninth level of Liberation stage cultivator. Unfortunately, since most cultivators could only reach the sixth level of Liberation before breaking through to the next stage of Sublimity Emergence, they could only face these types of ¡®Peak¡¯ Second-Order monsters only when they had successfully elevated their Cultivation to the Sublimity Emergence. Of course, even then, some rare geniuses could handle these kinds of monsters even at the sixth level of Liberation using various factors such as their talent or high-quality techniques to fight these monsters. Sadly yet, the reason Virus didn¡¯t want to go against the beast was because he was aware with his third level of Liberation, he could at most go against peak seventh level Liberation even using all his three perks. ¡®Hmm, now that I have two fused pathways that can release energy outwardly to the world, it looks like I can only try using a technique.¡¯ Standing up, Virus sped up his processing speed to its absolute limits as he began going through countless ¡®Human-class¡¯ Techniques while quickly narrowing them down to ¡®attack-types¡¯ that required a ¡®longsword¡¯ for utilization, and then he further cut it down to the ¡®top three¡¯ that required ¡®two¡¯ liberated pathways. In the Human-class Technique, the requirement for learning and using them depended on the number of liberated passages a cultivator had access to. That signified if someone had synthesized and liberated only ¡®two pathways¡¯, that person would not be able to use Human-class Techniques that necessitated at least ¡®three liberated pathways¡¯ as only those with that minimum of three pathways might have a chance of doing it. Other than that requirement, the ¡®location¡¯ of the liberated pathways was also of utmost importance. For example, the ¡®attack-type¡¯ Human-class Techniques that uses the ¡®sword¡¯ usually needs the pathways on the ¡®hand¡¯ to be liberated while the ¡®movement-type¡¯ Human Techniques are commonly needed for pathways of the ¡®feet¡¯ to be unlocked and liberated. That was precisely why Virus was currently searching for attack-type techniques and not those of movement-type since his two liberated pathways were located on his hands and not legs. Following that, Virus swiftly looked through the top-three most suitable ones as he picked a Human-class technique for the very first time. The reason why he had not done this before today chiefly had to do with the fact that techniques that utilize only one released pathway are simply too weak and no different from releasing the energy outwardly by himself. ¡¸Delirious Judgment Slash¡¹: [Description: A madman thinking him God! The first form is a vertical hacking attack using two liberated pathways, the more ¡®delirious¡¯ you are, the stronger the attack in both forms and vice versa. The second form is a horizontal slash and needs three liberated passages. Requirements: Longsword, minimum of two pathways liberated in the hand area.] ¡­ ¡¸Twisting Tempest Thrust¡¹: [Description: Twist like tempest a hole in your enemy! The first form requires one pathway as it focuses on the word ¡®Thrust¡¯, the second form requires two liberated pathways as it concentrates the ¡®Tempest¡¯, the third form needs three liberated energy paths as it needs the ¡®Twisting¡¯, the fourth form has a requisite for four liberated pathways and it fuses all three aspects ¡®Twisting¡¯, ¡®Tempest¡¯, and ¡®Thrust¡¯! Requirements: Longsword, minimum of one pathway liberated in the hand area.] ¡­ ¡¸Trash Lash Bash¡¹: [Description: No place for trash! The technique only has one movement and that is to concentrate all energy on the sword using two liberated energy pathways in order to bash trash with a lash! Requirements: Longsword, minimum of two pathways liberated in the hand area.] ¡­ Quickly analyzing the three options he had, Virus didn¡¯t need to consider before picking the second one, [Twisting Tempest Thrust]. Virus chose that not because it was a Mid-Human class Technique, but rather because he will be able to use it for a longer period until he breaks through and out of the fifth level of liberation. In fact, until he achieves and comprehends the fourth form of the technique, it was only considered a Low- or Early-Human class technique, but that was only possible after he liberates his fourth pathway! Therefore, to the current him, there wasn¡¯t really much of a difference between the three techniques other than one still being useful in the long run. Nevertheless, having already set his mind on it, Virus started the comprehension process of the technique on the nail. Usually, depending on the complexity of the technique, a normal cultivator needs to spend around a month or two to comprehend and train a form at this stage. Of course, that only included the cultivators at the Liberation stage since those of higher stage can comprehend them much easier since with each stage, the cultivators¡¯ physique gets faster and their processing and thinking speed increases substantially while their perception of time slows down. What that meant was that as cultivators get stronger, they can attain the calculative levels of artificial intelligence and even exceed it at some point. Nonetheless, even though it would take a normal cultivator a month or two to understand the first form of [Twisting Tempest Thrust], Virus pulled it off at once! Not stopping there, he also actualized and attained the second form which necessitated two liberated pathways, and that was about his current limit! Returning his perception of time to somewhat normal next, Virus yelled in excitement. ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯m ready now, let¡¯s get back to it!¡± To Virus, every time he starts using his terrifying processing speed to its utmost limits, it felt as if time freezes up entirely! As a matter of fact, not only does it feel like time has stopped, even his body gets trapped in time as he gets motionless like a statue. His physique is simply incapable of keeping up with his sharp mind. Nevertheless, since the time was back to normal now, Virus could see the enraged cow storming toward him, about to headbutt him even harder! Chapter 442: Twisting Tempest Thrust ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C First Form!¡¯ FWOOSH! Immediately, from one of his liberated pathways, energy began to gather on the tip of Virus¡¯ longsword as he thrust it like a spear at the rushing cow. Bam! Both opponents were flung backward. While the cow seemed a little dizzy, Virus¡¯s arm felt numb. MOOO! Still, intent on ripping Virus apart, the cow lunged at him once more! ¡°Huh! Come!¡± Virus¡¯s eyes shined brightly as he sensed nothing but exhilaration at the struggle he was going through. It was at times like this that he felt most alive. ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C Second Form!¡¯ As he went into stance, twice the former energy started radiating off from both of his pathways before they gathered on the sharp end of the longsword. However, it wasn¡¯t merely gathering this time. Rather, the energy was clearly in a restless state as they created wind-like turbulences and fluctuations on the very tip itself. MOOO- FWISH! As the cow roared in wrath, Virus¡¯ weapon was launched and the two clashed head-on! BAM!!! Prttt~ Instantly, the longsword penetrated the cow¡¯s head right into its brain as the creature went down. After creating a trail as long as a few meters on the ground with its corpse, it finally stopped moving! ¡°Haaa¡­. Phewww!¡± Taking a deep breath, Virus deactivated his longsword as it disintegrated into his ring again. Pitter-patter~ ¡°That felt great!¡± He proclaimed looking up and closing his eyes as he enjoyed the sensation of droplets of rain that had just begun. ¡­ Over the next two days, Virus continued his hunt while resting in the spaceship at night. SWISH! Right now, he was just done slashing the neck of a huge fish-like creature that apparently lived on land. During these two days, he had been enjoying his hunt so much that no thoughts other than the monsters that he killed had occupied his mind. He had long forgotten everything distracting and irrelevant as he only felt engrossed in the sensation of the kill and the pleasure it resulted in! The only notion going through his head was how great it felt to take a life that would in return benefit him! Then, just as he was about to head to his next target, his energy began to bubble up, this promptly focused his attention on his physique as he checked what was happening. ¡®Hmm, so I¡¯m finally breaking through!¡¯ Following that, as the fusion of his third pathway was complete, his energy automatically rushed out into the world while the Origin unlocked his fifteenth single pathway. And next came the breakthrough! Fourth Level of Liberation! ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Letting out a burst of uproarious laughter, Virus was jovial as he looked forward to the rest of his hunting journey. ¡°Would you look at that, even the way he laughs feels so nice!¡± ¡°Wow, bro, look at that face though, he¡¯s definitely selling for a high price! A living treasure!¡± Interrupted all of a sudden, Virus¡¯ chuckle vanished as he looked in the direction of the two voices that had interrupted his celebration time. During the past two days, Virus had encountered a few people and even groups busy hunting monstrous beasts at the vicinity of the border of Chao Mundi. However, they had been all minding their own business, therefore, Virus did the same and didn¡¯t care about any of them. But now, from their conversation, Virus knew a group of hostile people had arrived. Thus, looking at them, he saw around ten people led by two on horses strolling toward him. What garnered his attention the most about this group, however, was their insanely huge physiques. Each and every one of them was at least three meters and they had been bulked up to the brim! According to the books Virus had read at the library of the Silver Sky Sect, the only people that possessed such qualities were called the barbarians! ¡°But damn! What merchandise! That face even makes me want to have a go at him, now let¡¯s not talk about those old haggard women at the slave auction house! They would pay a fortune for him!¡± The bald one among the two horsemen said toward the other rider who was clearly the true leader. Even their horses were of gigantic proportions. ¡°¡­¡± Virus remained silent, wanting to see where they were going with this. Up to this point, he noticed that they were probably slave traders that had come to the Chao Mundi in order to kidnap people. ¡°Not only that, it looks like he just broke through to the fourth level of Qi Circulation, which makes him even more expensive!¡± The bald one added. By ¡®Qi Circulation¡¯, the bald barbarian meant the ¡®Liberation¡¯ stage. In the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, the first two stages had differing names compared to the multiversal name the technological multiverse of the future had come up with. Here, the first stage, aka Energy Disentanglement, was called the Qi Passage Opening stage while the second stage, Liberation, was instead named the Qi Circulation stage. However, from the third stage onwards, denoting Sublimity Emergence, the cultivation stage names were the same in both multiverses since the technological human beings of the future had deemed it unnecessary to rename them to a multiversal one. They thought their original names do indeed fit quite well in any multiverse! ¡°Boss, let me handle him.¡± At this point, the barbarian standing at the very end of the group stepped up, volunteering for catching and immobilizing Virus. Evident from his cultivation at the Fourth Level of Liberation, it was obvious he was the weakest amongst the group and now that he had found someone at the same stage as him, he wanted to fight Virus himself in order to elevate and cement his position in the group. ¡°Ohhh! So our weakest newbie wants to prove himself, huh?¡± The bald barbarian said with a smirk while gazing at the leader, awaiting his response. ¡°Sure.¡± Was the leading barbarian¡¯s answer. Listening to the confirmation, the newbie barbarian reached his back and grabbed the enormous ax attached to himself as a triumphant smile crept over his face. He could already imagine hacking Virus into two equal separate parts! SLAP! ¡°You idiot! We want him alive!¡± However, he felt an abrupt slap to the back of his neck, reminding him not to use his ax. ¡°Ah, I see. Okay!¡± Placing the ax on his back again, he charged in Virus¡¯ direction with no delay! Patiently studying the incoming assailant, Virus remained expressionless and merely connected to his ring and transmitted a command. ¡®Trigger Initial Configuration ¨C Longsword!¡¯ At once, his longsword, ¡®The Darkest Night, The Shining Moon¡¯, materialized. ¡°Ohhhh, he has a treasure too! We hit a jackpot!¡± The bald barbarian voiced watching the pitch-black longsword that was giving off a blue hue. ¡°AHHHH!¡± Meanwhile, the enormous minion had gone into a grappling pose as he run toward Virus. Swish! When he was just upon Virus, however, he suddenly stopped. That made the bald man question, ¡°Oy, oy, oy! Why did you stop!? Grab-¡° Unfortunately, before he could even finish, he witnessed the frozen barbarian¡¯s body get separated into two equal vertical parts as it fell on the ground! ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What the¡­¡± Silence descended upon the group of barbarians while their eyeballs were already about to pop out of their eye sockets as they gaped at all the internal organs that had spilled out from their comrade¡¯s two body segments! They could not believe what had just occurred. Since none of them had seen Virus¡¯ slash due to the newbie¡¯s gigantic physique covering their line of sight, they felt stupefied at such an extreme turn of events. The leader¡¯s face had gone very dark at this point as he stared at Virus with clear venom in his gaze while the bald barbarian¡¯s face had gone ashen white as he looked at his boss and said, ¡°Bro, let me murder that bastard! He dared kill one of us!¡± To that, the commander replied, ¡°Go! Capture him if you can, if not, just kill him and let us drink his blood in our newbie¡¯s funeral. That wouldn¡¯t feel so bad as well.¡± ¡°Understood! Heeyah!¡± Seizing his great ax from his back which happened to be even bigger than the ax of the killed subordinate, the bald barbarian charged at Virus on top of his horse! NEIGH~ Clip-clop! Clip-clop~ Soon, the massive mount was already upon Virus as energy began to spill and gather on the bald barbarian¡¯s ax and arm as he hacked it right at Virus¡¯ head. It was clear he had no intentions of wanting to capture Virus alive. All he wanted was to take revenge for his lost comrade! Just as the ax was about to land on his head, Virus dodged doing a side jump using his entire body before landing on a different corner. ¡®Sixth level of Liberation!¡¯ Virus determined. On the other side, getting off the horse, the barbarian sprinted toward Virus again, this time on foot. ¡°DIE!¡± He screamed as he was upon him again and chopped using his heavy weapon. Raising his longsword in response, Virus blocked! BAM! ¡°Ah¡­¡± Astonishingly, Virus realized he had underestimated these barbarians. There mere force put behind that chop had been so great that Virus was certain it could rival someone at the peak of the eighth level of Liberation! Although his opponent was truly at the sixth level of Liberation, his body strength was truly terrifying. Although it didn¡¯t reach the absurd level of Virus¡¯ own physique which he had achieved after accomplishing True Sixth Level of Corporeal Tempering, it was still something great to take note of! ¡®His cultivation level at the sixth level of Liberation plus his body¡¯s natural strength makes him as strong as someone at the very peak of the eighth level of Liberation.¡¯ He calculated internally. Beside him, the hairless barbarian¡¯s eyes had long gone wide open. He could hardly comprehend that Virus had stopped his full force attack! He was in utter disbelief! ¡°H-how!?¡± He shouted in rage while chopping at him again. Bam! ¡°How can a little man at the fourth level of Liberation defend against my attack!¡± Unfortunately for him, his attack was blocked once more. BOOM! The barbarian attacked again, but again, the result was the same. Swish! At this time, finding an open spot just as he had blocked the ax, Virus parried it before slicing his longsword upwardly. Slash~ Targh~ ¡°AHHH!¡± Subsequently, an oversized arm fell on the ground as an agonized shriek reverberated in the area. ¡°Retreat!¡± Ordered the boss of the group of barbarians seeing blood gushing out of his closest subordinate¡¯s detached arm. He had never imagined the situation would get this serious! Simultaneously, having already seized his ax, the barbarian boss ordered, ¡°All of you! Attack after me!¡± Getting off his horse at once, the barbarian boss started running toward Virus¡¯ location like a hurricane, his feet were so heavy and powerful that each step left a deep mark on the ground itself. On the opposite side, looking at their leader about to reach him and sensing the energy gathering on his ax, Virus concluded quickly, ¡®The seventh level of Liberation!¡¯ That immediately amazed Virus because due to the usual limitation of the number of pathways, most cultivators could only achieve up to the sixth level of Liberation! But here it was, someone who had attained the seventh level! HACK~ Already upon him, the barbarian chief chopped down using all his might! BOOM! Barely taking a step back at the final moment, the ax missed Virus before making direct contact with the ground, exploding it into many bits! Following shortly, a grave and urgent expression took over Virus¡¯ countenance while he spotted a tear on his dress, he had narrowly dodged it this time! Honestly, the current Virus wasn¡¯t confident he could win against this opponent. A mere calculation from his part stated that the barbarian¡¯s seventh level of Liberation plus his extremely robust body which was perhaps even beyond the previous bald man¡¯s might would result in his opponent¡¯s force at the minimum reaching a whopping peak ninth level of Liberation! That in addition to all of the other incoming attacker barbarians lowered Virus¡¯ confidence even more! Now, the leader had stopped underestimating Virus entirely and decided to go all out! And that put Virus in grave danger! Chapter 443: He is Talking! ¡­ TECHNOLOGY EARTH Currently, inside the highest floor of the Royal Suite of a luxurious hotel, a woman was sitting cross-legged facing the city of lights beneath her feet as she took out a crystal from within her mouth. Throwing away the empty crystal next, from the small mountain of Red-Crystals beside her, she picked another one. Then, putting the fresh Red-Crystal inside her mouth like a lollipop, she closed both her eyes before sinking into the process of absorption once more! ¡®Huh, how many have I absorbed till now? A few hundred? More than a thousand? I¡¯ve lost count already¡­¡¯ She wondered to herself. After having repeatedly consumed crystals, she had long since gone totally numb to the ten percent affliction that remained even after consuming the Resistance Pills. Every day, someone would deliver a huge bag filled with Red-Crystals to her doorstep while she would consume them the very same day! And today, after doing nothing but digesting Red-Crystals while being secluded in her private space, just as she sucked all the content inside the crystal beneath her tongue, abruptly, changes were initiated! Therefore, sensing the transformations occurring, slowly fluttering her eyelashes open, she murmured, ¡°My Trait just went through another qualitative leap¡­ let¡¯s see if it can be done now.¡± Subsequently, she blinked once. But when the blink was over, stupefyingly, her irises and pupils had vanished entirely as only the whites of her eyeballs remained. In a matter of a few seconds, she blinked once again as her eyes returned to their normal state! Following quickly, droplets of cold sweat filled her forehead while blood seemed to have left her face at once! She also began to pant and breathe with some difficulty. Hee~ Haa~ Hee! Haa! ¡°I-I need to meet them at once!¡± She proclaimed before rushing out of the hotel suite with no hesitation whatsoever. ¡­ Soon, in a luxurious hall, thirteen people were sitting around a round table with their faces covered in masks. All the seats were the same and only one was of more luxury compared to the rest. ¡°Liliana Tudor! Why did you request an emergency meeting with all of us included? This better be good! Or even though you are of royal blood, we might regret having sponsored such an irresponsible woman.¡± One of the seats, the seat of Galahad, scolded while questioning in a deep tone. ¡°Everyone! Please be rest assured for this matter is of utmost urgency and importance! But before that, please let me thank you all for having supported me with so many Red-Crystals! Thanks to you all, I can somewhat foreshadow again!¡± The woman, Liliana Tudor, announced while standing on her feet some distance away from the round table. Indeed, having completely lost her Trait after the appearance of the Rifts, Liliana, aka the Foreshadower, had no way of getting her hands on Red-Crystals since her Trait simply wasn¡¯t the combat type, to begin with. She was totally useless when it came to anything battle-related and that meant most would deem her useless as an Abnormal. It was only years afterward, just as she was about to nearly despair and give up on using her Trait forever, someone had teleported right beside her and notified her that since she was of royal blood, there was a group willing to patronize her with all the Red-Crystals she will need in return for her services in the future. And having been presented with such a golden opportunity to utilize her power once more, Liliana didn¡¯t have to think before making a decision. Therefore, she followed that person as she came to learn of the terrifying existence of the ¡®Thirteen¡¯! At first, she just could not believe or comprehend how such a cryptocracy, a shadow government, that could exert absolute power and control from behind the scenes even existed! Nonetheless, it didn¡¯t take long for her to get used to it as she began her journey of reactivating the use of her Trait! ¡°Hooo! So you¡¯re saying you can foreshadow again?¡± The masked man sitting behind the seat of Sir Balin inquired in curiosity. ¡°Yes, sir! And I have already foreshadowed the cause of me losing my ability before and let me say the result was simply too big for me to keep it to myself. I believe it¡¯s something that is probably related to you as well¡­ no, it¡¯s related to everyone!¡± Liliana explained in a single breath while color seemed to have left her face. Apparently, the mere thought of what she had seen frightened her. ¡°Please go on, miss Liliana.¡± Seeing how oddly startled she looked, the seat of Sir Lancelot which was placed on the right side of the most luxurious seat stated. ¡°Please call me Lily.¡± Liliana insisted humbly even in that state. ¡°Yes, please proceed, miss Lily.¡± Phew! ¡°Alright,¡± after releasing a deep breath to calm down, Liliana continued, ¡°this time, it could be said my foreshadow was in words, and it is as follows.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Everyone went unusually quiet, waiting for what was to come since they were fully aware of how crucial Liliana¡¯s foreshadowings could be. As a matter of fact, the Thirteen had always put a great deal of importance on Liliana¡¯s Trait even before the appearance of the Rifts. They even knew the history behind her ancestry about how Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, the virgin queen, had utilized this exact Trait in order to bring much glory to her kingdom in the past. Although they were also aware the virgin queen wasn¡¯t much of a virgin since Liliana Tudor was the opposite proof of that. ¡°Please listen carefully and don¡¯t interrupt me till I¡¯m over.¡± With that, she began. He who has the all-eyes of Argus, Once faithful dog to Odysseus, The sin of the bore, swum the river of time The rebel came in joy, wishing for prime, The traitor dog, now a thirsty monster Wounds the time, with every step, disaster! ¡°¡­¡± Afterward, silence descended upon the hall for some time until Liliana finally opened her mouth again. ¡°That¡¯s all the lines I got.¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean that¡¯s all? What¡¯s that supposed to even mean? Please translate it for us.¡± From one of the seats, precisely the seat of Sir Balin, an impatient voice was heard. ¡°Well, as you may know already, my Trait is about foreshadowing. It merely gives me some indications or hints in regard to some unknown matters, meaning even I may never understand the true meaning behind the foreshadows.¡± Liliana patiently elaborated. However, it was clear that clarification had made Balin even more frustrated. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you rushed all of us here at such short notice because of some random mythological gibberish you don¡¯t even know the meaning of, miss Lily?¡± Listening to Sir Balin, many of the seats nodded in agreement, they felt the same way in case that was all Liliana had to say. ¡°Well, one thing I know for sure is that it contains the answer as to why I could no longer use my Trait! However, no. That¡¯s not all, I only said that¡¯s all the lines I got.¡± Pausing momentarily, she clarified, ¡°I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s because my Trait has been upgraded to the next level, but while receiving those lines, I could also see some events taking place in the background, and that is the main reason why I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Hooo, go on.¡± Behind the mask, a very sharp glint passed through Lancelot¡¯s eyes as he awaited the rest of her foresight. ¡°Yes,¡± bowing in respect, Liliana opened her mouth again, ¡°while those lines were filling my head, in the background of those lines, amazingly, I felt like I¡¯ve gained a new sense as I witnessed our planet filled with every type of wave as a shapeless monster went wherever it desired in a matter of seconds!¡± ¡°It was like the monster had eyes everywhere. It could see whatever it desired. It could gain access to any information he sought. No, in fact, it ¡®was¡¯ constantly watching us all at once. It was nigh omnipresent!¡± ¡°I believe the first line of my foreshadows, the all-eyes of Argus, was also talking about that thing.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s precisely why I asked to meet you all in the most secure location, somewhere that has no piece of technology and no waves to be found anywhere!¡± Meanwhile, behind their masks, the eyes of most of the members of thirteen had long gone wide open in utter astonishment while they could feel their hearts trembling in alarm! They could hardly believe that there was such a creature on their planet, someone that was constantly watching everyone¡¯s movements and information! The reason why they didn¡¯t question or doubt Liliana¡¯s foresight was that they had long done their research and were confident everything she saw was definitely at least a part of the truth if not the whole! ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± For a long time after that, a deathly silence overcame the hall as not a single sound could be heard. That was until, finally, someone started talking. That, however, promptly forced a shiver of incredulity down everyone¡¯s spine as they turned their heads toward the most luxurious seat in the hall since someone that rarely bothered to even open his eyes was finally talking! ¡®Ah! When was the last time he said anything? Arthur is talking!¡¯ This notion was quickly passing through all twelve¡¯s minds as the undisturbed yet impactful voice of the source of their gaze reached their ears. ¡°So, we have a mythological creature on our hands, an Argus.¡± Steadily shaking his head in unbreakable serenity, Arthur rejected the idea at once. ¡°Hmm, no, not precisely an Argus, it¡¯s not a mythological creature exactly. This one utilizes technology and the so-called wavelengths to attain access, thus, probably a conscious or controlled Artificial Intelligence.¡± ¡°I do not suspect it to be a Trait-user, an Abnormal, since constantly gaining access to all the information in the world at once is unambiguously beyond the current limits of Traits. Beyond the limits of the human brain at this moment.¡± After a short period of contemplation, caressing his chin behind the mask, he muttered further, ¡°O, this one¡¯s dangerous. It¡¯s going to be hard.¡± ¡°But before we talk any further on the topic, we need to come up with sure-fire methods to avoid his eyes first. Although our hall is far beneath the ground and no waves can reach it, we can never be one hundred percent certain.¡± The reason why Arthur was addressing the formless Artificial Intelligence as a ¡®he¡¯ and not ¡®it¡¯ was because Liliana¡¯s foreshadowing had assumed it to be. With no pause next, Arthur directly jumped to the possible solutions. ¡°We have two ways to escape its eyes and both require the utilization of Traits.¡± ¡°First, I heard we¡¯ve recently discovered and hired someone whose Trait is to easily invent new pieces of extremely advanced technology on a whim and that the more Red-Crystals he intakes, the more advanced high-techs that person can invent. Use him to come up with a solution.¡± ¡°Second, we just need to nurture some Abnormals who can control and deactivate all wavelengths in a certain radius.¡± In fact, just as Arthur was claiming, it was indeed possible to nurture Abnormals with certain Traits, the only drawback was that it was an extremely expensive process. For example, to awaken a Trait that was wavelength-related, they needed to gather and nurture all types of people obsessed with wavelengths or those that were somehow connected to them strongly and just keep feeding them Red-Crystals until they awaken. The first awakened might be a failure just as might the tenth, however, if they continued awakening these types of people, one was bound to appear at some point! ¡°We shall do both. Now leave the matter at that and do not talk about it, until we accomplish the two.¡± Pronouncing his final verdict, he once again became noiseless to the hilt. Listening to Arthur logically analyze and conclude everything detail by detail and even come up with the possible solutions to solve the issues in a single turn of talking, an unkillable flame of reverence, trust, and admiration flickered within everyone¡¯s gaze silently as they put their fists on their chest and saluted. ¡°ALL HAIL THE KING!¡± ¡°ALL HAIL THE KING!¡± ¡°ALL HAIL THE KING!¡± ¡­ Chapter 444 - Cheeky CULTIVATION EARTH ¨C CHAO MUNDI Retreating at the fastest pace he could, Virus gazed upon his opponents that did not even blink before rushing at him once again. ¡°KILL!!! KILL THE MOTHERFUCKER! AHHH¡­¡± With his spit flying around, the raging barbarian chief roared while his other subordinates accompanied him from the sidelines with no hesitation whatsoever. Regretfully, since the chief was even faster than Virus himself, Virus wasn¡¯t successful at creating some distance between them. As the chief was already upon him, rotating his ax from below, the barbarian hacked at him in a straight horizontal motion. That attack, however, promptly brightened an idea in Virus¡¯ mind as he raised his longsword in front of himself in a blocking pose. BAM! As the two weapons collided, the intense might behind the ax transferred over to his weapon. But cleverly, Virus used that force to propel himself backward. As a result, he was sent flying back before doing a backflip and accurately landing on his feet some distance away. ¡®Now, how should I deal with this situation?¡¯ BAM! Just having raised that question, Virus was about to enter his extreme state of processing to discover any possible solutions and methods of either battling or escaping from the barbarians, a solution that he might have missed in his normal state, when out of nowhere, someone unknown landed in the middle of Virus and the barbarians. ¡°Barbarians are indeed barbarians! Ganging up on a single poor man, are you not ashamed of yourselves?!¡± The newcomer, wearing a veil over her face, exclaimed while facing them. ¡°Huh? Who the hell are you? Get out of the way, bitch!¡± Having no intentions of even pausing, the chief charged toward her while brandishing his ax at her. ¡°Hmph! Scram!¡± However, releasing a harrumph of contempt, the newcomer merely brought her two palms together and clapped. BOOM! Instantly, with her clap as its center, an energy wave was released in all directions, directly flinging off the barbarian chief and even all of his subordinates backward! Landing some distance away, the barbarian leader wiped the blood off his mouth as shock and astonishment replaced his rage. ¡°S-she¡¯s at S-Sublimity Emergence!¡± ¡°You bet I am!¡± Meanwhile, looking back at Virus, the veiled woman said, ¡°Are you okay? Can you tell me what happened here?¡± To that question, Virus decided to answer truthfully since there was no reason not to, ¡°These barbarians suddenly appeared out of nowhere, saying that my face would sell really high at a slave auction. So, they attacked. They are slave traders.¡± ¡°Ah, barbarian slavers, I see. But they were right though, you¡¯re so fucking hot.¡± She admitted while preserving her deadpan tone. ¡°Huh?¡± Tongue-tied, Virus didn¡¯t know what to say. On the other side, as the barbarian chief had calmed down by now, a realization hit him. ¡®That attack just now and that vulgar behavior¡­ hmm, it¡¯s definitely her. We need to retreat at once and report this to the third prince. Everything else can wait.¡¯ Afterward, he threw a brief gaze filled with hostility and venom at Virus and declared, ¡°Brat, let¡¯s see each other again.¡± ¡°We¡¯re leaving! Let¡¯s go!¡± Shouting the new command, he no longer wanted to linger around and escape the vicinity while his gigantic minions also followed closely behind him. After they were gone, out of curiosity Virus decided to ask, ¡°Hmm, why did you let them leave? Is it because this is none of your business when all things are considered, so you don¡¯t really want to bother killing them?¡± ¡°What? What are you talking about? Of course not! The moment they attacked an innocent person, it already had everything to do with me as it became my business. Eradicating evil is my cause!¡± The veiled woman elaborated calmly. ¡®Huh? What are you, a saintess of justice?¡¯ Virus pondered in amusement while another doubt occupied his mind. ¡°But if eradicating evil is your cause, why didn¡¯t you kill them?¡± ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s because who can say for sure that they are evil?¡± Touching her chin, a sage-like light that screamed wisdom brightened her eyes. ¡°Uh¡­ but they are slave traders who kidnap people though? Doesn¡¯t that passively qualify them as evil people?¡± Virus was now confused at her thinking process. To that, the veiled woman didn¡¯t even need to ponder before responding, ¡°Yes, but benevolence is my cause as well and my benevolence is telling me to give them another chance! They might redeem themselves in the near future.¡± ¡®That¡¯s exactly the complete fucking opposite of everything you were saying before!¡¯ Feeling like he might lose some brain cells if he continued trying to understand this unknown woman¡¯s logic, Virus simply decided to stop. Nonetheless, it was true she had aided him out of his previous quandary, so he was nothing but grateful to her. ¡°Anyway, thanks for the assistance. I might¡¯ve been in big trouble if you didn¡¯t show up.¡± ¡°No need to thank me! It¡¯s always a pleasure to save a damsel in distress!¡± ¡®What the¡­¡¯ That, however, instantly forced a scowl over Virus¡¯ face. Still, he couldn¡¯t really get angry at the person who had helped him just now, therefore, ignoring that unpleasant part, he insisted, ¡°No matter, you have my thanks, so thank you.¡± ¡°No problem!¡± ¡°Miss! Wait for me!¡± Suddenly, someone¡¯s shout could be heard at some distance away. Bam! And a few seconds later, like thunder that strikes the ground out of nowhere, someone promptly reached them while panting, ¡°Huff, miss, why did you start running that fast all of a sudden! You left me all alone there!¡± ¡°Hehehe, sorry, sorry, sister Henna, this weak man needed saving, so I couldn¡¯t wait for you.¡± She chuckled while patting Henna¡¯s back and pointing at Virus. Albeit, that answer instantly made Virus¡¯ countenance very dark. Now he was only speechless about encountering this weird woman. ¡®She¡¯s crazy!¡¯ ¡°Ah, him?¡± Studying Virus, the woman called Henna whispered with a suspicious tone. Patting Henna¡¯s head this time, the veiled woman confirmed, ¡°No need to act like that, really just some barbarians bullying a weak-man-in-need kind of situation.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Finally, it appeared Henna was convinced. ¡°Alright, whatever, if you¡¯re done saving him, shall we go, miss?¡± ¡°Huh? But they might attack him again though¡­ I mean look at that face, I bet deep inside you want to kidnap him too, hehe.¡± She presumed while wearing a knowing smirk that screamed ¡®I know what you¡¯re thinking, you nasty girl!¡¯ beneath that veil of hers. ¡°Miss!¡± Frustrated, Henna¡¯s cheeks became red. In fact, she was starting to get embarrassed at her vulgar claims in front of a stranger. Woefully, that reaction only made the veiled female even more cheeky, ¡°What? Did I hit the nail on the head? Why are you so disturbed? Why so shy? Is it getting hot down there?¡± Beside them, Virus had long become dumbfounded as he questioned himself, ¡®What the fuck is happening right now? How the fuck did I end up in this situation?¡¯ Forcefully calming her nerves, Henna took a deep breath before getting back to the main issue. ¡°Phew¡­ what do you want to do then? You know we can¡¯t guard him forever, right?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t?¡± ¡°No! Unless you want to marry him!¡± ¡°M-marry him?¡± At the mention of marrying Virus, however, the unknown woman began to stutter oddly while her expression behind the veil could not be perceived, ¡°I mean¡­ n-not that I would mind marrying that face¡­¡± ¡°Miss!¡± Gripping both her fists, Henna almost felt suicidal at this point. ¡°I¡¯m not marrying anyone! So don¡¯t marry me off on your own!¡± No longer able to tolerate where she was going with this, Virus yelled. ¡°Alright, alright. Calm down you both! How about this, he will just follow us to that place. He¡¯ll be safe by our side.¡± That solution, however, immediately riled Henna up as her countenance became unnaturally dark as she reminded her, ¡°You can¡¯t be thinking of giving him a spot, right? We only have two badges, one for each of us!¡± Fully aware of just how unpredictable she could behave sometimes, Henna didn¡¯t think that outcome would be entirely implausible. ¡°Hehehe, of course not. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t ask you to give up your spot for him. How could I possibly do that to my dear sister Henna? He will stay outside.¡± Meanwhile, Virus felt somewhat dumbfounded how this woman wasn¡¯t even asking for his opinion and instead just decided everything for him. Thus, at last, determining it was enough, he was just about to reject her one-sided invitation, when he caught them mentioning ¡®that place¡¯. Now he was curious. Thus, he threw the question right at them. ¡°Um, what are you guys even talking about? What is ¡®that place¡¯?¡± ¡°Mind your own business, w-¡± Apparently, Henna didn¡¯t want to reveal their destination. But before Henna could even end her sentence, she noticed the veiled woman had already started the process of revealing everything, ¡°Ah, by ¡®that place¡¯, we are referring to the ¡®Invisible Ancient Fortress World¡¯ that shows up every thousand years.¡± ¡°MISS!¡± Suddenly, her tone became somewhat serious. ¡°Come on, all the elite powers know about this anyway, so what¡¯s one more?¡± ¡°Can I enter it too?¡± Now Virus was even more intrigued. ¡°No way!¡± Henna refused at once. ¡°Uh, unfortunately, no. There are only a select few badges and all of them are in the hands of the most elite superpowers over the land. Oh, right, unless you can cross the ¡®Bridge to Heaven¡¯. There is a myth that claims if you can pass the ¡®Bridge to Heaven¡¯, your existence itself will become the badge and you¡¯d be able to enter all the floors with no badge whatsoever.¡± The veiled woman elaborated on a whim. ¡°Hahaha, him? Crossing the Bridge to Heaven? Miss, you really have a good sense of humor sometimes! Hahaha¡­¡± Henna ridiculed and laughed at even the possibility of Virus crossing the bridge. ¡°Hehehe, right? Anyhow, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡®Hmm, Bridge to Heaven? Well, let¡¯s tag along, for now, I smell something interesting.¡¯ With that, Virus didn¡¯t need to think twice and was resolved to accompany them willingly. However, before that, remembering he still didn¡¯t know who he was talking to, Virus inquired casually, ¡°Before we go, how should I address you? I mean what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Argh, you¡¯re right! Where is my manner! What¡¯s your name?¡± She mouthed, reflecting the question at him. ¡°I¡¯m Vee, and again, what¡¯s your name?¡± Virus introduced himself in the most polite tone he could muster right now. ¡°Ooh, Vee, huh? That¡¯s such a cool name, just like your face! Alright, enough introductions. Let¡¯s get going then!¡± With no further ado, she turned away and began sprinting in a specific direction. ¡°¡­¡± Feeling too tired to ask again, Virus no longer felt like even knowing her name. Following that, until the next day, the trio ran through specific paths of the jungle while avoiding certain parts of it. According to the cheeky veiled woman, the map she had with her would guide them through the safest route while avoiding all possible dangers. Based on her claims, without the map, it would be impossible for them to travel to where they were headed to. And at long last, after an entire weary day of running, they reached their target. However, to Virus, it wasn¡¯t the running itself that had exhausted him, rather, it was the impudent lady that just couldn¡¯t stop being cheeky! Luckily, Virus forgot all the fatigue the moment he laid his eyes upon the scene before him. Currently, right before him, there was a titanic castle that pierced into the sky itself! ¡®Hmm, it¡¯s easily as big as Burj Khalifa in mere height.¡¯ Virus concluded. ¡°See this? You couldn¡¯t see it before we got this close, right?¡± The veiled woman mentioned. ¡°Hmm, indeed, how could we not see something this big until we came right in front of it?¡± Puzzled at the mechanics behind the fortress, Virus questioned casually. Showing that sage-like shimmer within her eyes, the veiled woman shook her head. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know either. I just know that it¡¯s the special feature of this wonderous fortress. You can only see it if you are at least this close to it. Furthermore, you can only see and enter it for a little while later, and then it will vanish for an entire thousand years with no way of perceiving, touching, sensing, or entering it again during that period!¡± ¡°Anyhow, welcome to the Invisible Ancient Fortress World!¡± She announced proudly like it was her own house. Chapter 445 - Bridge To Heaven Some distance in front of them, at what appeared to be the entrance of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, four separate parties of cultivators had already gathered. Apparently, they were waiting for something. One group mainly consisted of only cloaked people. No one could see their visage hidden behind those black cloaks. In fact, they were just standing in a corner quietly while no one even attempted to talk or disturb them. The second class was comprised of individuals who looked oddly well-educated. That was mostly due to their consistent school uniforms that emphasized their academic air. Moreover, their every movement and pronunciation radiated grace and class. The third gathering shockingly consisted of mostly monstrous beasts of various kinds. But as Virus¡¯ sight was skimming through the faces of the two that were in the lead, he paused. He at first paused because, strangely, one of the two in the lead was a human female and a human being mingled with monstrous beasts was indeed a peculiar scene to witness. However, the moment he took a glance at the countenance of his target, much to his bewilderment, Virus realized she was someone familiar! Hadelia! Hadelia was one of the participants at the Martial Contest the last time Virus was on the Cultivation Earth running an errand. She was someone who had left quite a deep impression on Virus. Virus remembered her as someone who only sought a heated battle, a proud girl that wanted to test her limits and enjoy a great fight! Furthermore, evidently, Hadelia was from a strong clan called the Burning Sparrow, which automatically made her the most famous person in the Silver Sky Sect at the time. One more aspect of their meeting that Virus paid special attention to was the strange ability, treasure, or technique of Hadelia in being able to suppress and hide her true level of cultivation. ¡®I thought I forced her to use every last bit of her strength last time¡­ could it be I was wrong? Or did she just progress that much during the time I was gone? Otherwise, how could she qualify to be here today?¡¯ Through that contemplation alone, Virus noticed that Hadelia might not have lost to him that day if he had not knocked her unconscious fast! ¡°Ah, but what¡¯s she doing there mixing up with monstrous beasts?¡± Virus murmured in an almost inaudible volume. Unfortunately, it looked like the cheeky woman had still caught it as she explained while directly pointing at Hadelia with her finger, ¡°Hmm, that woman, right? Well, their clan¡¯s guardian beast is the Animal Kingdom¡¯s well-known Burning Sparrow, a very strong monstrous beast. So that¡¯s probably why she¡¯s mingling with them since she¡¯s most likely a representative of the Burning Sparrow itself.¡± ¡°I see, but please stop pointing at her.¡± Although Virus really wanted to approach Hadelia and ask her questions like ¡°what happened at the Silver Sky Sect for it to be totally annihilated?¡± and ¡°what happened to Astes and the Pagoda Master specifically? Are they still alive?¡±, regretfully, he still decided against doing that. Because for one, currently, Virus was in his true face and not the one he had used in order to infiltrate the Silver Sky Sect. Thus, it was guaranteed that Hadelia would not recognize him. And second, to be honest, Virus felt uneasy thinking about the terrible news he may receive while not being able to do a single damn thing about it. Thus, he decided to focus on what he could do for now, which is to get stronger as fast as possible! Until the day he was powerful enough that is! Nonetheless, returning to the previous matter, Virus gazed at the fourth group that he had yet to check. But the second he did, an unexpected frown irked him! The fourth batch of men was made up of Barbarians! Moreover, it was a party of barbarians that he was quite familiar with. They were the same group that had tried to kidnap him out of nowhere. Meanwhile, seeing what had garnered Virus¡¯ focus, the veiled woman started elaborating with a scornful harrumph. ¡°Hmph, so those barbarians were that bastard¡¯s followers? No wonder!¡± Then pointing at a particular barbarian, she continued, ¡°See that arrogant looking giant? He¡¯s the true leader of that group! He¡¯s called Ra and he is in fact the third prince of the Barbarian Kingdom! I never liked him to be honest!¡± ¡°Anyway, the other person beside him is that barbarian that was acting as the boss of the group in our encounter, he¡¯s an underling of Ra named Knightgruella, I heard the third prince really trusts and cherishes him. If I knew it was him before, I would¡¯ve beaten that bastard to death! Damn it!¡± Meanwhile, as the veiled woman was clarifying the situation in annoyance, Knightgruella was also gritting his teeth in rage while doing the same as he explained everything to the expressionless Ra! After expounding on the matter, blood seemed to have suddenly left the veiled woman¡¯s skin as she realized an essential fact, ¡°Oh shit! This is bad.¡± ¡°What is bad, miss?¡± By her side, Henna queried. ¡°All the leaders and their most trusted aide will be entering the invisible castle, but the followers will wait outside¡­ which means Vee will be in danger when we go inside!¡± Turning toward Virus with an apologetic face, she muttered next, ¡°What should we do? It looks like rather than saving you, I put you in more danger by bringing you¡­¡± As a matter of fact, she was sincerely feeling remorseful and sorry now. Afterward, she was just about to open her lips, when the trio noticed Ra and Knightgruella were striding in their direction. ¡°Is this the little man you¡¯re blabbering about?¡± Stopping right in front of Virus, Ra lowered his head as he looked down deep into his eyes. It was clear he was trying to humiliate and intimidate Virus by standing extremely close to him and showing him how small he was compared to him, just like an ant! ¡°Woah, would you back off a little bit, man? I¡¯m not gay.¡± Unluckily for the true barbarian boss, Virus only enjoyed situations like these as he always acted the exact opposite of how his opponent wanted him to act. ¡°Hehehe!¡± Standing beside them, the veiled woman immediately started laughing hysterically while slapping Virus¡¯ back as she exclaimed, ¡°Nice one! Hehehe¡­¡± To that, however, Virus could only let out a helpless sigh as he thought, ¡®I shouldn¡¯t have said that while this woman is around.¡¯ ¡°What did you just call me?¡± On the other side, bloodthirsty killing intent was radiating off of Ra¡¯s entire body as he questioned with a savage light flickering through his red eyes. ¡°Kill him, boss!¡± Knightgruella encouraged barbarically, wanting to see nothing but the bastard¡¯s cut-off head! And indeed, just as Ra was about to make his deadly move, the veiled woman suddenly stepped in the middle of the two as she interfered, ¡°Woah, Woah, you¡¯re not thinking of killing my friend right in my presence, are you, Ra? I mean he said he¡¯s not interested, right? So, would you please go away and find another companion to tickle that hole of yours? Please?¡± As always, the cheeky woman was as brazen-faced as it could get at every opportunity she found. However, unexpectedly, her voice promptly went through a complete change in tone as she added frigidly, ¡°Unless¡­ you want us to fight here, outside.¡± ¡°YOU!¡± Ra roared, attracting everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°I¡¯m what? I¡¯m beautiful? That I agree! Though you¡¯re an ugly giant that¡¯s never going to see the beauty hiding behind the veil!¡± The cheeky female mouthed while touching her dark veil. By now, Ra was at the absolute limits of his control. However, for some odd reason, he was still successful in controlling himself as he calmed down and replied with a smirk. ¡°HUH?! Did you call me ugly? I heard the most hideous face in all lands is hiding behind that veil of yours, everyone calls you the ¡®Supreme Ugly¡¯, you know that?¡± Fortunately, that provocation didn¡¯t seem to budge her in the least as she simply let out a harrumph full of contempt, ¡°Hmph, nice try! But you¡¯re still never seeing this otherwordly visage, so dream on!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Turning around, she prompted Henna and Virus to follow her. Behind them, Ra declared, ¡°See you in the castle, Supreme Ugly.¡± After that, in a volume the trio could hear, Ra commanded his lackeys, ¡°And that bastard following her, kill him when we¡¯re all gone inside.¡± ¡­ After Virus and the two ladies left to another corner, in a concerned tone, biting her lips beneath the veil, the cheeky lady spoke, ¡°Should I just skip the invisible castle and stay outside?¡± Of course, the reason why she was even mentioning this wasn¡¯t that she was afraid of encountering Ra or anything like that, but rather because she was even more troubled and anxious about Virus¡¯ fate if she did indeed leave him all alone by himself, that was especially the case after hearing Ra¡¯s previous threat. ¡°Miss, you can¡¯t!¡± Knowing exactly how valuable and vital this trial was for the veiled lady, Henna denied it at once. ¡°But-¡° Before she could utter any more, Virus interrupted, ¡°You cheeky woman, just go on ahead and enter the castle¡­ especially since I¡¯ll also be trying my luck with the Bridge to Heaven.¡± ¡°What? You are going to try that? But you will still be killed when you fail and come out, what then?¡± There wasn¡¯t even an ounce of confidence in her voice about the possibility of Virus succeeding. She didn¡¯t even consider it, she was only put ill at ease about the time he was cast out of the bridge. Catching that lack of confidence, Virus wasn¡¯t in the mood to reassure her any further as he just declared, ¡°If it¡¯s too hard, I¡¯ll just advance a few steps and remain there till you guys come out, would that be alright?¡± ¡°Ah! An excellent idea! You can definitely do that! Alright! But you¡¯re below thirty, right?¡± Squinting a bit, she expressed her doubt. ¡°Huh? No, I¡¯m not thirty yet, why does that matter though?¡± Befuddled, he inquired. Touching her veil in thought, she started elaborating composedly, ¡°Well, there are two requirements for everyone who wants to enter the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. One, the participant must not have reached thirty years of age. Two, the minimum stage of cultivation set is the Qi Circulation! These two rules are absolute and unbreakable.¡± ¡°About the first one, all these representative cultivators you see are below thirty years of age, and about the second one, well, let¡¯s not talk about Qi Circulation, I bet at least a few of them are at the Sublimity Emergence stage. They¡¯re all geniuses.¡± ¡°Hmm, is that so?¡± Virus sunk into deliberation after hearing about the rules and how strong the participants were going to be. Nevertheless, he wasn¡¯t worried about his age since he had not aged a day since the time Immortality Serum has affected his body and DNA. HOOOOOOO! Abruptly, a terrifying sound caught everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°That is the sign that it¡¯s time for the participants to enter the castle!¡± Following shortly, two people from every group began to sprint toward the bridge while holding a certain ancient-looking badge in their fists. ¡°We need to leave now, we can¡¯t fall behind others. You just do what you told me earlier, please stay alive so I can see that hot face of yours again!¡± With that, the cheeky lady was just about to charge toward the bridge, when Virus stopped her in her tracks, ¡°Wait! Tell me where the Bridge to Heaven is first!¡± ¡°Huh? Don¡¯t you see where everyone is going? That bridge that connects to the interior of the invisible fortress, that¡¯s the Bridge to Heaven! Though the only difference between you and us is that we have the badge so we won¡¯t be facing any dangers or trials while crossing it.¡± She clarified in a single breath. ¡°Anyway, we can¡¯t delay any longer, see you soon!¡± Subsequently, Henna and her charged toward the bridge before disappearing into it with every other participant! Now, the only people that remained were the groups that had escorted their representatives to this location in Chao Mundi. ¡°Hahaha! You¡¯re dead! Who¡¯s going to save you now, huh?¡± The bald barbarian that had already bandaged his lost arm in his previous battle with Virus screamed. If there was a race of hatred toward Virus between the barbarians, this bald barbarian would definitely be the ultimate winner! ¡°KILL HIM!¡± He roared at all the barbarians. He was no longer willing to underestimate Virus by charging alone, so he ordered everyone else to accompany him and attack together! In the meantime, perceiving the aggressors that would reach him at any second now, Virus knew he couldn¡¯t dilly-dally at all. Therefore, pushing his feet ahead, he stepped onto the bridge! Of course, he didn¡¯t forget to leave a sentence behind. ¡°Wait for me. When you see me again, it¡¯ll be the last thing you see!¡± Chapter 446 - Invisible Ancient Fortress Stepping onto the bridge, the first course of action Virus took was to get a detailed look at the so-called bridge. In fact, what everyone was calling the Bridge to Heaven was not a bridge, rather, it was only an extremely long root of a certain tree that had grown on the other side beside the Invisible Ancient Fortress. Other than the living root bridge itself, the entire surrounding of the Invisible Ancient Fortress was covered in a deep chasm. A dark chasm, so deep that one could not perceive the end of! Virus could not even imagine what would be the fate of someone who lost his balance and fell into the abyss of darkness! Fortunately, cultivators had an extremely well center of gravity. Thus, previously, since the genius cultivators all had their badges and nothing was going to block their paths, they simply maintained their center of gravity and passed the bridge as fast as lightning! However, the more there were disturbances on the way, the more one would lose their balance and be unable to maintain their center of gravity and thus the danger of falling into the gorge of darkness! Subsequently, gradually taking his second, third, and fourth stride, Virus advanced even further on the root toward the other side. By now, whence he came, at the entrance, the group of barbarians was shouting and cursing at Virus, but no matter how much they cursed, apparently, they did not dare to put a single step onto the root itself! Since he had not felt a single thing until now, Virus looked back and mocked, ¡°Huh, of course, you bunch of pussies wouldn¡¯t dare follow me here! You barbarians are all useless brawns who can do nothing but talk! Anyway, see you soon.¡± With that, Virus no longer bothered to be distracted by their enraged reactions and instead focused all his attention on the path ahead. On the other side, listening to everything Virus had said, the bald barbarian was grinding his teeth so hard that its noise could be heard by the others beside him. Sqeaky~ As Virus took his tenth step, suddenly, he started to feel slightly dizzy! ¡®Ah, so it makes you dizzy, easy peasy!¡¯ Afterward, each step Virus took, the worse the sensation of dizziness became. At first, he was totally fine, but the more steps he took ahead, the worse it became! ¡®Ah¡­ I¡¯m slowly losing my center of gravity¡­ it looks like I need to activate the hyper processing state.¡¯ As he concluded that, Virus did not hesitate to go into a rather fast speed of processing and thinking. Of course, it was not fast enough to freeze time itself entirely as it was just enough to perceive the ongoing reality and process the dizziness bit by bit so he would not lose his balance. But even then, as he took more steps forward, the dizziness continued to get worse, forcing Virus to quicken his processing to an even higher level! At this point, Virus was confident that no human being would be able to even come close to tolerating this level of dizziness and the only reason he could still endure it and not fall off was that his mind was much more advanced than a mere human being. Anyhow, he took one step after another while his mind proceeded to break down every ¡®moment¡¯ into tens of thousands while the movement of every single muscle fiber was accounted for. With each surge in the feeling of wobbliness, Virus continued to put more of his brain capabilities in order to maintain his steadiness on the root. And at last, when he took his hundredth footstep, all sensation of wooziness was gone all at once, as if it never existed, to begin with. Looking at the path ahead, one might assume that Virus had reached the end of the bridge, but unfortunately, Virus noticed that he had only trod one-tenth of the root as he still had a long way before arriving at the heaven on the other side! ¡®Is there more to come?¡¯ After a brief deliberation, Virus didn¡¯t delay as he moved forward once again. Brrr~ Yet, with new advances, Virus soon could feel and perceive his entire body getting so cold and blue that at some point, ice began to cover various parts all over his body! And the more he progressed forward, the more fierce the chilliness and ice became. Therefore, the pain of coldness began to invade and penetrate Virus¡¯ body with each step. By the time he was at his one-hundred-ninetieth step, Virus could barely breathe as his lungs felt as if they had been frozen still. And yet, although Virus was feeling the pain and cold just as much as anyone else in his position would¡¯ve felt, he proceeded with his advancement ahead with no stops whatsoever. Despite feeling all the affliction just like any other person would, there was one tiny difference between Virus and the rest that resulted in him achieving an entirely different outcome! That one distinction was the fact that Virus¡¯ level of tolerance was higher to a terrifying extent! So, gritting his teeth, even if he could not breathe, Virus endured and endured quietly until finally, all sensation of coldness and ice vanished just at the snap of a finger! PHEEWWW~ Taking a deep breath, Virus paused momentarily, wanting to regain his peak condition and prepare himself for what¡¯s to come next. In the meantime, to see how much he had progressed, he threw a quick glance to the back. However, the moment he turned his head around, he could see some barbarians had just stepped onto the entrance of the living root bridge. On the other side, seeing Virus¡¯ advances, the bald barbarian gritted his teeth as he commanded, ¡°Let¡¯s go! If he can do it, so can we!¡± Soon, they were already on their twentieth step as they still successfully maintained their balance. ¡°Hahaha, see! We can do it t-¡± Woefully, before he could even finish, two of the barbarian lackeys dropped to the chasm, never to be seen again. ¡°¡­¡± Seeing that scene, the morale that had been building up within the heart of the barbarians faded away just like a spark that had been killed. Now they only wanted to return to the waiting area. ¡°We will not go back! Persist through!¡± Unluckily for the lackeys though, it seemed the bald barbarian¡¯s hatred for Virus was too deep as he did not allow anyone to back off! Subsequently, the lackeys persisted forward, but by the time they had advanced ten more steps, three more had fallen deep into the chasm. The loss of five lackeys instantly hit the bald barbarian hard as he now felt terrified of what he was going to say to Knightgruella when he came back! ¡°Return! Return! We¡¯re going back! We¡¯ll just watch the bastard give up the trial of Bridge to Heaven and wait for him at the entrance! There is simply no way could succeed!¡± Roaring that command, the bald barbarian rushed everyone back. ¡®I¡¯ll fucking turn that motherfucker into a mincemeat when he¡¯s back!¡¯ Meanwhile, watching everything that had occurred in amusement, Virus couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Hahaha, those idiots.¡± No longer paying them any heed afterward, Virus took another step toward the incoming test! Fwish! This time, slowly but surely, tongues of flames began to cover all over Virus¡¯s body, burning his entire body just like a barbecue! ¡°Argh¡­¡± At first, Virus was surprised to see his whole physique on fire. Even though some might assume the trial to be an illusion or fake, Virus knew that was not the case. Each trial was as real as it could get! When his body was covered in ice, his internal organs, skin, flesh, etc. all were truly damaged as he went through a near-death experience. The only good aspect was that when the trials ended, a strange type of energy would enter his body from the root which would magically heal all the damage! All one had to do was to persist and live through the trials, when one reached the ending point, it will be as if the damage was never there, despite that not being the case. This time, however, the trial was even more horrifying since the sensation of your whole skin and flesh burning while the smell of your meat spread everywhere was something else! On top of everything, Virus could not make any abrupt movements or struggle around trying to put the fire off. All he could do was maintain his balance and move forward in a tranquil state! As he came close to the finishing line, Virus¡¯ skin was no more as the flame intensified to an unimaginable degree! Virus was certain that if it was anyone else in his place, someone that had not achieved the True Sixth Level of Corporeal Tempering, that person would be long dead! The only reason why Virus could live to this point was that in addition to gathering his internal energy all around his pathways and body, his Ethereal Metamorphosis state was also aiding him in enduring and being harder to burn to death! While gritting his teeth, Virus took one more step forward when abruptly, all the flames were put out as the odd energy invaded from his legs to throughout his body, quickly healing all the burned flesh and skin to its original state. ¡°Phew¡­¡± releasing a sigh of relief, even Virus had to be thankful that the agony was at last over! Moving forward, there were many other trials such as the trial of swords where swords were darted into his body from all directions which he resisted somewhat by activating the dark scales of his ring, or the trial of pain where a curse of pain and affliction was put on his physique! At this point, Virus could guarantee that unless it was an ancient and old monster that had lived through ages going through every kind of agony, affliction, and trials in life, or someone like him, it would be absolutely impossible to cross this unimaginable bridge! Nonetheless, as he stepped to the last part of the root, all the trials were over! In the meantime, at the entrance of the Bridge to Heaven, the eyeballs of nearly everyone was about to pop out of their skulls! ¡°H-he really succeeded!¡± The bald barbarian uttered in absolute disbelief. Now, not only had Virus caught the attention of the barbarians but even the other groups were looking at Virus¡¯ figure at the far distance in amazement! The cloaked people, the monstrous beasts, the barbarians, and academicians, it didn¡¯t matter who, all of them were gaping at the sight in front of them as they believed some kind of implausible record had just been achieved by someone! Someone totally unknown at that! ¡°Yes!¡± Exclaiming in happiness, Virus was just about to get off the damned root when abruptly, that strange energy once again traveled from the root to his legs as it quickly rushed to his seventh and eighth single pathways as it began to fuse the separated pair of pathways into a single unity at a startling pace! 20%¡­ 56%¡­ 89% This time, as if it was the most natural occurrence in the world, the root energy was swiftly healing his fourth pair of broken pathways, mending and connecting them together in the most natural way they were supposed to be! In the previous tests, all the energy was concentrated on healing the damage all over his body, but this time, since the final trial was more of a mental one than a physical one, the root seemed to focus it all on his cultivation as it was helping him progress to the next level! 100%! As the synthesis and the healing process was over, Virus broke through to the next level while Origin also unlocked his sixteenth single pathway! The Fifth Level of Liberation, achieved! ¡®Wow, that makes me think, does this mean from the second trial onwards since the odd energy appeared, in case my body had not been damaged, would I have been able to breakthrough by an entire level every time I succeeded one of the trials?¡¯ Inadvertently, this notion flickered through Virus¡¯ mind as he looked back at the various parts of the root. ¡°I would be at least at the ninth level of Liberation if that had happened, damn.¡± ¡®But, how strong do your body and mind need to be in order to avoid all harm in the trials?¡¯ This thought sent an unconscious shiver down Virus¡¯ spine. Following that, the root once again transmitted an even more peculiar type of energy right into Virus¡¯ body. Alas, it wasn¡¯t meant to assist him breakthrough this time as it merely trod through his body before finally pausing when it reached the back of his left palm! Next, the energy began to transform and engrave itself to the back of Virus¡¯ palm in the form of a tattoo as it turned itself into the mark or tattoo of a tree! ¡°HAHAHA!¡± Out of nowhere, extremely jovial, Virus started laughing like a maniac while gazing at the mark on his hand. Not only had he succeeded in passing the trial of the Bridge to Heaven which had been considered an impossible feat prior to today, but he had also even broken through to the fifth level of Liberation in a single go! ¡°Now, shall we enter this treasure trove?¡± Gazing upon the humongous castle before him, Virus declared, looking forward to the journey ahead of him! Chapter 447 - Invisible Ancient Fortress World Walking to the open gate of the fortress, Virus looked at the ancient engravings carved on it. Although he had a lot of knowledge about the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, all that knowledge was from nearly one and a half million years in the future! In that long of a time, many civilizations would fall and be replaced by new ones, therefore, nearly everything was different from that time in the future. And gazing upon the ancient engravings, Virus could find no information regarding this type of language anywhere in his database, he could not even locate a single mention. Even though he could stay here and attempt to decipher these engravings, Virus was aware that was going to take a rather long time even for him, the kind of time he did not have right now. Thus, shaking his head, Virus decided to move on. ¡®I¡¯ll just memorize them and decrypt them later.¡¯ Then, no longer paying them any heed, Virus started ambling into the gate. However, just as he had made a few strides, he suddenly stopped. ¡®What? Why can¡¯t I remember the engravings?¡¯ Stupefied, Virus¡¯ eyebrows were raised as he gazed back in a rush. After that, with a simple experiment of locking his eyes with the engravings and then looking away, much to his shock, Virus noticed that he could only recall and analyze them only when he was directly looking at the ancient engravings! The second he looked away, it was as if some peculiar laws were extracting the knowledge right from within Virus¡¯ brain. It was as if the world itself was forbidding him from learning and memorizing them! ¡°So strange¡­¡± Mumbling that, not wanting to lose a second more, Virus moved into the castle despite how much amazed and confused he was feeling due to this strange phenomenon. Subsequently, the instant he strolled inside, he was once again greatly disturbed! Currently, in front of his eyes, Virus was witnessing a meadow of grass and flowers as far as his eyes could spot. Mountains of titanic sizes were also perceivable at the far background of the grassland. The mountains were so gigantic that the biggest mountain on Earth was like child¡¯s play compared to it! ¡®Huh? There is a world inside the ancient fortress?¡¯ As this impression hit him, Virus realized something. ¡°So that¡¯s why they call it the Invisible Ancient Fortress ¡®World¡¯, huh? Makes sense.¡± ¡°Welcome to the first floor of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, trial taker number eleven!¡± As if the world itself was suddenly talking, an archaic voice reverberated everywhere! That promptly shook Virus¡¯ heart as he searched around trying to determine the source of the sound. Unfortunately, that could not be done as the archaic voice was transmitting from everywhere and all directions! Not waiting for Virus to get a grip, the archaic voice continued, ¡°Your final prize and rewards will be calculated according to how distinct, bold, and colorful your mark of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World becomes!¡± ¡®Hmm? Mark of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World?¡¯ Throwing a glance at the back of his left hand toward the tree tattoo, Virus doubted, ¡®Is it referring to this?¡¯ However, while he was busy questioning himself, suddenly, he sensed a burning sensation at the back of his right palm. SSsss~ Quickly bringing his right hand in front of his face, Virus looked at it in surprise only to notice barely perceivable blurry lines there. ¡®Ah, so it¡¯s another mark.¡¯ Virus determined at once. ¡®But I wonder how I should be making it more distinct and b-¡® Before he could even finish, the ancient sound spoke again, ¡°At each floor, you are to continue persisting until you¡¯re no longer able to. When you reach your absolute limits, all you need to say is ¡®I concede¡¯ and you shall be sent to the next floor. Remember that the trial in this floor is adjusted according to the cultivation level of the trial taker and the rewards too shall be based on it.¡± Listening to the elaboration, Virus became aware that it did not matter if the participants were at the Liberation or Sublimity Emergence, they all were going to face trials that were adjusted according to their relevant cultivation base, and probably the more they exceeded their limits, the higher the rewards were going to be! Shortly after that, while various notions were passing through Virus¡¯ brain, astonishingly, a cat monstrous beast at the peak of the First Order took shape and existence in front of Virus before it directly charged at him. Strangely, the cat¡¯s body was somewhat ghost-like but it did indeed exist. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this?¡± Casually punching the new assaulter, Virus straight away sent it to death! Promptly, the carcass seemed to evaporate as it turned into some kind of smoke which immediately rushed to the back of Virus¡¯ right palm. Meanwhile, watching and studying his palm, Virus realized that the mark was slightly more distinct now, almost to an unnoticeable degree. ¡°So that¡¯s how you make it clearer!¡± Grinning from ear to ear, excitement began to boil within Virus¡¯ blood while two more monstrous beasts, this time at the early phase of the Second Order, appeared in front of him as he charged at them with no delay. BAM! BAM! The two were dead at once while their smoke entered Virus¡¯ mark, making the tattoo more heightened. ROAAAR~ Roar! Following that, four beasts at the middle phase of the Second Order were crushed to kingdom come before eight at the higher phase of the Second Order replaced them. Swish! Swish! Swish~¡­ Activating his longsword, Virus sliced through all eight monsters, making them silent forever. However, it was what happened next that made Virus¡¯ eyes shine like two burning suns! Right after killing the eight monsters, Virus perceived that the fusion rate of his next pair of pathways had increased by an extremely meager amount as Origin sucked their energy and concentrated them all on his pathways synthesis procedure before the carcasses turned into smoke! ¡®Damn, so Origin can even suck the energy out of these ghost-like beasts as well! That changes everything!¡¯ Virus thought in zeal. Now that he was already at the Fifth Level of Liberation, even those monsters at the higher phase of the Second Order barely assisted him in increasing the fusion rate between his ninth and tenth pathways. ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Gripping both his fists, Virus shouted in anticipation since now he could progress as long as more beasts continued to appear. Before, he was only killing the monstrous beasts in order to make his mark more distinct while he wasn¡¯t even sure whether that would eventually result in a worthwhile reward or not. However, now that Virus had noticed Origin extracting energy from these weird smoke creatures, creatures that he wouldn¡¯t really call ¡®true¡¯ monstrous beasts, he was looking forward to the process with passion. Soon, the next round of monsters was naturally summoned. Their cultivation this time was at the very peak of Second Order and they totaled sixteen! Despite being in the fifth level of Liberation with four synthesized passages liberated, Virus knew facing sixteen monsters at the peak of Second-Order all at once would still be rather hard for him! Thus, with his longsword already in his grip, he began to ran in the open meadow while the monsters rushed at him from behind. Virus¡¯ purpose from doing this was to implement a hit-and-run strategy on the monsters. He was going to run around and face them one by one! Swish! Lowering his pace slightly, Virus slashed the fastest and closest monster before picking up his speed once more! The constant battle continued as Virus massacred the odd creatures while running and slowing down at certain times when he found the opportunity to catch and strike them alone! And just like that, all sixteen were finally gone! ¡°Phew¡­!¡± Taking a deep breath, Virus began to wonder whether the subsequent beasts to appear were going to be at the early phase of the Third Order which was equivalent to cultivators at the Sublimity Emergence stage! ¡®Don¡¯t tell me the trial is also going to double down the numbers again and force me to battle thirty-two monstrous beasts at the early phase of the Third Order?¡¯ Virus was aware if that indeed happened, he would have no other choice but to concede since his current level of cultivation was simply not enough to go against that many strong opponents that were definitely faster than him! No, not talking about that many monsters, Virus doubted whether he could defeat a single one at the early Third Order! Fortunately, much to his relief, the trial proved him wrong by sending a single monster at the early Third Order. With that, even though Virus wasn¡¯t totally confident, he felt like he might stand a chance of defeating it if he used all his cards right. ROAAAR! After catching a brief glimpse of the features of the hideous gorilla with two heads and four arms covered with fists of metal, Virus stormed toward it while the gorilla also accelerated in his direction. BANG! Virus brandished the longsword and the gorilla also punched using two fists at the incoming weapon, creating a loud bang as a result! Next, Virus¡¯ body was sent flying back helplessly. The two-headed gorilla had clearly won in the direct contest of strength. Moreover, since its fists seemed to be naturally made of some kind of metal, Virus¡¯ sharp longsword could not even leave a dent on it! Nonetheless, with no intentions of giving up, Virus charged at the smirking gorilla and attacked once more! ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C First Form!¡¯ The sharp end of the longsword was thrust at the creature who easily blocked it with its metal punch, pushing Virus back due to the rebound. However, without stopping at all, Virus pounced toward the creature again as a sharp glint of focus exuded from his eyes. ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C Second Form!¡¯ Chaotic turbulence gathered at the very ending point of the weapon as Virus unleashed it toward the grinning gorilla. Woefully, just as the weapon was about to make direct contact with the opponent, the gorilla suddenly stepped aside and dodged it rather effortlessly before launching a punch at Virus¡¯ stomach by the shortest route! BAM! ¡°PFFT!¡± Similar to a rocket that had been just launched away, Virus¡¯ physique flew away hundreds of meters into the far distance. Just as Virus¡¯ suffering figure was about to descend like a puppet with its strings broken, it became apparent the gorilla had no intentions of letting him off the hook just yet as it materialized above him and sent an even heavier punch downwardly while combining the might of all four of his fists! KABOOM! As Virus¡¯ broken figure was redirected toward the ground, like a meteorite falling, the force pushed behind his frame created a deep crater at the surface of the meadow! Cough! Coughing once, Virus tasted blood in his mouth. It was clear he was now suffering from some type of internal injury! ¡®Shit¡­ the difference between Liberation and Sublimity Emergence is like that of an ant to an elephant! It¡¯ll be too difficult to defeat it at this rate.¡¯ Despite being aware of the fact that killing the monster would be too hard, Virus was not willing to concede and admit defeat just yet! Instead, utilizing all of his thinking and processing speed, he compelled the time to freeze in his own unique perception. ¡®First, let¡¯s learn the third form!¡¯ As this line flickered through his head, Virus immediately started comprehending the third form. The third form of Twisting Tempest Thrust mainly concentrated on the word ¡®Twisting¡¯, denoting that Virus needed to add a twirling quality to his own internal energy just like the threads of a screw which would in return gather on the very tip of the longsword, increasing the damage and deadliness of the attack to a terrifying extent. Normally it would¡¯ve taken a long time to master, however, considering who Virus was, the following instant, he already had access to the third form of the Twisting Tempest Thrust. However, with no pause whatsoever, Virus initiated the process of learning the fourth or final form! ¡®The final form focuses on combining all three previous forms together, creating the true Twisting Tempest Thrust!¡¯ Concluding that, Virus promptly began experimenting and analyzing countless pieces of information in order to quickly grasp the fourth level. What he did first was to send his consciousness to his mindscape as he wielded an imaginary longsword on his hand before doing the thrusting attack with it! Next, he had to add and fuse the ¡®Tempest¡¯ feature of the technique while maintaining all of its ¡®Thrust¡¯ aspects! In the outside world, although not a single second had passed by, in Virus¡¯ mindscape, he felt as if several days had already gone by as he trained with his imaginary sword tens of hundreds of thousands of times! Finally, long after he had stopped counting, he felt enlightened about the essence of fusing ¡®Tempest¡¯ with ¡®Thrust¡¯. What he needed to do next was to also add the ¡®Twisting¡¯ characteristic of the longsword to the completed Tempest Thrust! Luckily for him though, he was very familiar with the process of fusing the characteristics of this particular technique very well now. Therefore, it only took him around a hundred imaginary swings before he was done with his intensive training! Meanwhile, in the outside world, ignoring the sharp pain that was transmitting from all over his physique, Virus jumped to his feet before casting his strike! In the meantime, the gorilla was still mid-air while it was in the process of falling toward the meadow surface. Stupefyingly, however, the pigheaded gorilla was still stretching its fists backward, intent on dealing a fatal strike on Virus. It was obvious the monster¡¯s aim was to punch him after gathering and concentrating all the force behind its descent in order to finish off Virus once and for all! ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C Ultimate Form!¡¯ On the opposite side below, Virus¡¯ internal energy also began to leave from all four of his already liberated pathways before they gathered on the sharp end of the longsword quickly! Then, imitating the propelling quality of the ¡®Thrust¡¯ motion, the energy also became chaotic as turbulence and heaviness of the wind were added to it as well. Still not finished, the wind began to twist and turn just like a screw¡¯s threats as the ultimate form of the attack was ready at last! BOOOM! Chapter 448 - Only One More! BOOOM! An ear-numbing sound wave resonated in all directions as a fist and a technique collided with one another, sending dust and wind everywhere! The wind and the impact between the two attacks were so heavy that the current condition of Virus could not be perceived inside the scattered dirt! However, what could be discerned was the gorilla¡¯s sorry figure darting above again as it was literally sent flying high into the sky. ¡°Hee¡­ haa¡­ hee¡­!¡± As the cloud of dust eventually cleared away, Virus¡¯ panting figure could be seen while his two feet were sunk deep into the ground. Apparently, although he was successful in pushing back the gorilla in terms of attack and might, he had also experienced a strong recoil as a sharp force had pushed him right into the ground itself! DROP! Feeling unusually weak and devoid of energy, Virus gazed at the creature that had just fallen into the ground several meters away. GRRRR! Standing up, the beast looked at Virus in rage. However, as Virus examined its chest area from his standing position, a triumphant grin crept over his face as he muttered, ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± Indeed, currently, there was a gaping hole in the gorilla¡¯s chest while instead of blood, smoke was dissipating into thin air right from the penetrated section. A few seconds passed and just as expected, despite how unwilling it was, the beast fell on the ground and drew its final breath begrudgingly! ¡®I barely made it.¡¯ Virus judged after analyzing everything that had occurred previously. The only reason why he had been capable of defeating the gorilla was in fact because the gorilla had been in mid-air at the time and thus had no control over its torso and overall positioning. Previously, just as the two were about to clash, Virus adjusted his footing and aim in a way so his longsword would only make contact with a single fist of the gorilla before breaking through it straightly into its heart! Virus was certain that if the gorilla had been on the floor with its balance and movements under its total control, it would¡¯ve immediately readjusted all his four fists to shield against his attack, therefore, avoiding any kind of mortal injury. In the meantime, Virus sensed the Origin go into motion as all of the gorilla¡¯s energy was completely sucked into him before the corpse became smoke that strengthened the mark! After going through the previous hordes of monsters, Virus¡¯ percentage of fusion in the fifth level of Liberation had already reached sixty-nine percent. But as the rushing tsunami of energy invaded his pathways, it took a trifling second for him to progress right into the Sixth Level of Liberation as his fifteenth locked single pathway was also disentangled completely. ¡®Only one more!¡¯ Indeed, there was only one final disentangled pathway remaining that needed to be unlocked and opened. The second he synthesizes his eleventh and twelfth pathways, his eighteenth pathway would be untangled and Virus would achieve the mythical eighteen single passages of Energy Disentanglement! And afterward, he would proceed to ultimately accomplish the legendary Ninth Level of Liberation that was long unheard of in Virus¡¯ previous world of the future! Anyhow, as Virus broke through to the following level, nearly all his vigor and energy were restored as he was once more prepared to battle more enemies. Alas, the only drawback was the discomfort he was still experiencing due to the internal injury he had been dealt with. ¡®Hmm?¡¯ Raising his right palm, Virus threw a short glance at the mark attached there. By now, he could easily make out the image of an ancient fortress that flickered in and out as he rotated his wrist. ¡®It vanishes and reappears as I rotate my hand, the Invisible Ancient Fortress World mark, huh?¡¯ Fshsh! Fshh! Just as Virus was studying the strange tattoo of the invisible fortress, two new gorillas materialized as they each cupped their four hands and beat their own chests. They were trying to terrorize Virus before the combat began. Roar! GRRRR! Wielding his longsword, Virus quickly entered his battle pose while the dark scales of the ring were already covering his limbs. He felt a little worried at first since if the trial proceeded like before, after defeating one monstrous beast at the early Third Order, the next monsters to appear should naturally be at the middle Third Order. However, much to Virus¡¯ satisfaction and relief, he soon realized the two new monsters were still at the early Third Order. That instantly revived a flame of hope and anticipation as Virus was now determined to continue the trial without conceding defeat. ¡°COME!¡± Releasing a warrior howl, Virus charged wildly while the battle frenzy affected him. ROAAAR! The two beasts too ran at him, desiring nothing but their foe¡¯s death! ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C Ultimate Form!¡¯ The energy began to fill the very tip of the longsword as it transformed into its combined state while Virus shoved it toward his opponent! Regrettably, Virus watched as the gorillas both easily evaded the attack before smashing with their hands toward Virus. Raising both his scale-covered arms, Virus victoriously covered his head and barred the attack¡¯s path. Still, the strength put behind the attacks was so fierce that Virus¡¯ feet could only drill into the earth. Meanwhile, Virus could clearly see that he was still lacking in terms of speed compared to those at the early Third Order. Therefore, freezing time once again, he referred to the best movement-type techniques that could be used by the current him with five liberated passages. He limited his options to the top three. ¡¸Tiger Beetle Charge¡¹: [Description: I charge once, I kill once! One of the three strongest Human class movement-type techniques that have been preserved from ancient times. The first form requires ¡®five¡¯ pathways as it introduces the basic straight charge of a special type of insect called the Tiger Beetle. The second form requires ¡®six¡¯ liberated pathways as the movement is upgraded to an intermediate level. The third form needs ¡®seven¡¯ liberated energy paths as the movements are elevated to an advanced level. The fourth form needs ¡®eight¡¯ liberated pathways and one becomes a master of Tiger Beetle charge! There¡¯s been no record of anyone ever achieving the fourth form of this technique. Requirements: Healthy legs and arms, minimum of five pathways liberated for the first form.] ¡­ ¡¸Jiggling Drunken Dance¡¹: [Description: Make me drunk I want to dance, baby! This technique is considered the strongest technique for those who have liberated ¡®five¡¯ of their passages! It only has one form and that is the ultimate dance! Requirements: Healthy legs and arms, Five pathways liberated.] ¡­ ¡¸The Ancient Cheetah, My Disciple!¡¹: [Description: I, your father, the master of the ancient cheetah! One of the three strongest Human class movement-type techniques that have been preserved and passed on from ancient times. The first form requires ¡®five¡¯ pathways as it introduces the basic anatomy maneuvering of an ancient cheetah which is claimed to be one of the fastest animals on land! The second form requires ¡®six¡¯ liberated pathways as the movement is upgraded to an intermediate level. The third form needs ¡®seven¡¯ liberated energy paths as the movements are elevated to an advanced level. The fourth form requires ¡®eight¡¯ liberated pathways and one becomes a master of the ancient cheetah! There¡¯s been one record of someone ever achieving the fourth form of this technique, that person became unrivaled in speed in the Liberation stage amongst those who trained in other common movement techniques. Requirements: Healthy legs and arms, minimum of five pathways liberated for the first form.] After checking the techniques one by one, furrowing his brows in the mindscape, Virus searched to see if there was any Peak-Human class movement technique that he had missed. Unfortunately, apparently, there was no Peak-Human class technique, to begin with. By Peak-Human class technique, it meant that all ¡®nine¡¯ fused and liberated pathways of the body would be utilized in order to achieve the most optimum state of maneuver and speed. However, due to the lack of cultivators with nine synthesized pathways one and a half million years in the future, no one could or felt the need to develop such a technique. Moreover, even if that type of technique had existed prior to the era of the invasion of the Multiverse of Technology, by the time they were there, all such techniques were already ruined and lost forever! Inspecting and scrutinizing deeper, Virus discovered another major issue, ¡®Hmm, even when it comes to the absolute strongest High-Human class movement-type techniques that need eight liberated passages, there are only three remaining since even cultivators with eight fused pathways were a once in a blue moon type of treasure at that time.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m not content.¡¯ In the mindscape, over Virus¡¯ face, a frustrated squint was exhibiting itself as it just wouldn¡¯t go away. He could not feel satisfied with only training a movement-type technique that was incapable of reaching the apex through utilizing all nine liberated pathways! Furthermore, it wasn¡¯t just the movement-type techniques! Even the other types of techniques that required ¡®nine¡¯ released passages had all gone extinct in the future world of Virus. ¡°What to do?¡± As his utterance reverberated within the interior of his mindscape, Virus caressed his chin as he began to contemplate. Virus¡¯ first option was to cultivate one of the High-Human class techniques available to him for now and just do a little research later on in order to discover any traces or signs that might be pointing at the existence and possible location of a Peak-Human class technique. Unfortunately, the more he considered that first choice, the more he disliked the idea of being stuck and obsessed over a mere Peak-Human class technique that was eventually going to be useless when he breaks through to Sublimity Emergence. ¡®Guess that means I will pick the second one then!¡¯ The second course of action Virus came up with was something only people or beings with a nigh endless level of intelligence could accomplish. And luckily, Virus was a being of such caliber! What he was going to do next was to decrypt and break down lots of Low-, Mid-, and High-Human class techniques before extracting the most advantageous and beneficial segments of all of them and then according to his own attained understanding, he was going to put together and create the most powerful Peak-Human class technique! ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­¡¯ Immediately, tens of thousands of techniques began to fly around, open, and decrypt themselves while Virus analyzed and investigated them in the most careful manner he could. ¡®Hmm, too slow. Even with my terrifying speed of world perception freeze, it would at least take several days before I can decrypt and compile the strongest Peak-Human class movement technique.¡¯ Not pausing at all, Virus continued, ¡®But as luck would have it, I don¡¯t need the full version of the technique right now since I¡¯ve liberated only five passages anyway. I just need to compile the first form that requires five released pathways, beyond that is pointless to my current self!¡¯ After a brief recalculation, Virus predicted the time that was required before completing the first form. ¡®It¡¯s only going to take one minute in real life while my time perception is frozen still.¡¯ ¡®But that is going to be a long one minute.¡¯ He pondered in mirth. Reaching the end of his deliberation, while most of Virus¡¯ focus remained concentrated within his mindscape, the other part began to engage in a battle with the two gorillas. However, to Virus, that quickly became the most boring fight of his entire life! That was because when the gorillas threw a punch in his direction, it would take an eternity before the punch actually reached him! But that also meant that Virus had that much time to think, analyze, and study every movement and muscle of his adversaries and react to them using the most optimum of responses. Thus, a strange scene of two gorillas could be discerned as they kept trying to hit their opponent only to be met with the strangest forms of maneuvers that actually worked! As two fists flew near his face, a distant look could be perceived within Virus¡¯ eyes as he calmly analyzed every movement before dodging casually in a robotic way. ROAAAR~ ¡®Hmm, that one¡¯s wide-open and unguarded right there.¡¯ ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust ¨C Ultimate Form!¡¯ Suddenly spotting an undefended part showing up by chance on one of the gorillas for a split second Virus quickly unleashed his current strongest technique to see how it goes. While his thrust was successfully launched in the direction of the vulnerable spot of the gorilla, Virus could only wait patiently till his attack eventually reaches the enemy at last. During the journey of his longsword assault toward its destination, Virus contemplated many matters in life before he even moved his little bit of remaining consciousness that had been left outside into his mindscape as he joined it to the other major part of his mind which was currently busy deciphering and compiling the first form of his new Peak-Human class movement technique! Chapter 449 - Energy Of Liberation While decrypting the Human class Techniques, Virus came to naturally understand a lot about the internal energy that cultivators possessed in the Liberation stage. As a matter of fact, the more techniques he deciphered and broke down, the more fascinated he became regarding the uniqueness of internal energy of the Liberation stage cultivators! He understood that the internal energy at this stage was somewhat malleable, denoting that in case enough measures were taken and enlightenment followed, one would be able to influence the energy in a certain manner desired! For instance, while Virus was comprehending and grasping the Twisting Tempest Thrust, at each form, he had grasped a specific attribute such as weak wind or the act of twirling the energy in a specific manner that resembled a drill which multiplied the damage by several times. He concluded that when genius cultivators create a Human-class technique, the creators are usually enlightened by luck or were somewhat successful in grasping an attribute that exists in the world around them as they add that characteristic and feature to the internal energy, forcing it to be influenced and result in the close imitation of those certain characteristics and attributes. Vibrations, wind, heat, cold, hardness, softness, push, pull, wave, sound, various types of movements and attacks, and other certain properties and attributes. Virus could easily think of many of such attributes since the science world was more advanced in these fields compared to the cultivation world and that was even more true if he referred to his knowledge from the 1.49 million years into the future where such basic attributes were considered basic knowledge. Of course, even in the cultivation world, the cultivators had their own methods of achieving and understanding some of these attributes through techniques or enlightenments, however, unlike the scientific world, they did not focus on them per se and did not develop an orderly curriculum of books, resources, and contents which taught you from the most basic concepts to the most advanced terms. Therefore, in the cultivation world, to learn an advanced attribute, one mostly had to rely on himself as it was merely a means to an end of power while in the scientific world it was the end itself as they focused on a step by step process through which everyone could learn them as long as they put their efforts into it. ¡®Now, the main point is which attribute do I want to pick for the first form of my Peak-Human class movement technique.¡¯ Touching his chin casually in his mindscape, Virus deliberated while his own ideas and thoughts materialized all around him. In fact, Virus knew since he wanted to create a movement-type technique, some of the attributes might not be compatible unless they were used in a very innovative way. However, as Virus tried to come up with an attribute, his mind was automatically drawn to the outside world where his hand and weapon were basically still in the process of unleashing its attack toward the undefended segment of his enemy¡¯s frame. ¡®Too slow.¡¯ That was the only opinion Virus had every time he checked the outside world. The difference between his mind and body was so exaggeratedly wide and distant that while his mind was like an omnipresent god watching from the heavens above, his physical frame was like a mortal struggling to move an inch in cement! It was that frustrating difference and the possible attributes that might perhaps lower that terrifying imbalance even by a little bit that brought some ideas into Virus¡¯ head. ¡®No, not that one¡­ not that one as well¡­ that one, no, not yet¡­ that one, yes, that¡¯s it!¡¯ As he went through several concepts, Virus finally made up his mind. What he had chosen to use in order to influence his internal energy was something simple which everyone dealt with regularly on a daily basis as a modern twenty-first-century citizen. It was¡­ electricity. However, the way he was going to utilize it was rather different compared to how it¡¯s usually employed in the Cultivation Multiverse. Rather than that, the way Virus was going to apply it was more dependent on the knowledge of a particular field that the Technological Multiverse pursued. To be more accurate, what Virus wanted to achieve was to use electrical pulses to mimic the action of signals coming from neurons. Taking advantage of mild to strong electrical currents, Virus wanted to target both nerves and muscles to make them contract and move faster than was possible. The goal was to improve reaction times and the overall speed of the body by pushing it beyond its limit momentarily by pulses of electricity. What he wanted to accomplish was something similar but beyond what today¡¯s modern world of Earth called Electrical Muscle Stimulation. In Virus¡¯ current Earth, Electrical Muscle Stimulation, also known as neuromuscular electrical stimulation, was a protocol that elicited a muscle contraction using electrical impulses that directly stimulated one¡¯s motor neurons. Nonetheless, Virus considered what the current Earth had achieved in the field very basic and aimed for something much more advanced. However, in order to achieve such a movement technique, one needed to have a very thorough understanding of how the human anatomy functioned while even a more accurate and precise control was required since even a slight error was going to ruin the entire process. Furthermore, the pulses of electricity required were a certain type which was considered ultra-modern compared to the basic pulses utilized today. Luckily, being an error-free Artificial Intelligence with nigh-infinite knowledge of an extremely futuristic civilization, Virus didn¡¯t have to be concerned about any of the issues and requirements above. All he needed to achieve was to be enlightened about that certain unique electricity pulse he required and successfully influence his internal energy to pinpoint imitate that certain type of pulse he was aiming for. ¡®That¡¯s it! That¡¯ll be my first form.¡¯ As Virus made up his mind, just as his consciousness was about to begin designing, comprehending, processing, compiling, and applying the intended form, he noticed that his attack was just about to hit his enemy at last, therefore, separating a very meager amount of his focus, he sent it outside. Jab! As the longsword pierced into the gorilla¡¯s flesh, Virus could feel the current special attributes of his internal energy attack, the drilling and the fluctuating turbulence, wreaking havoc inside the beast as its internal organs were messed up at once! ¡®He¡¯s dead.¡¯ Although the longsword was still inside the gorilla¡¯s torso, Virus was confident that such a wound was going to kill it briefly after his weapon was out as the fatal bleeding started. ¡­ Seconds began to pass as Virus¡¯ distant eyes continued to battle the other remaining gorilla. After watching its comrade die, it looked like the other beast became much more vigilant as it did not dare to lower its guard at all! ¡®Hmm, finally! Only one second remains and the first form will be completed!¡¯ As it was the final second, Virus finished the first form as a load of enlightenment was already occupying his brain. ¡®Done!¡¯ Immediately stopping his time-freeze perception, Virus heaved a sigh of relief at the thought of freedom of his physique and being able to enjoy the battle rather than falling asleep in the middle of the fight and returning to the continuation of battle after a good night of rest filled with dreams. As the terrifyingly slow-motion movements ended, Virus hacked with his longsword at the gorilla, unfortunately, the gorilla easily parried the weapon before sending a punch toward Virus¡¯ countenance. Thus, determining now to be the best opportunity, Virus quickly activated the first form which required the utilization of all of his five liberated passages! ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Promptly, Virus¡¯ internal energy went into turmoil and agitation while on the very surface of his body, occasionally, arcs of electricity would flicker in and out. However, the main transformations were taking place within the physique as his nerves and muscles entered a hyperactive state. ¡®Ahhh, so comfortable. It¡¯s like one of the countless chains that have been holding me back was unlocked!¡¯ Going into his stance, Virus suddenly vanished before appearing behind the gorilla. Crackle~ Swish! Plomp! Afterward, a brief noise of thunderclap was heard before the gorilla froze in its standing position until finally, its head dropped and rolled on the floor! ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Roaring in laughter, Virus enjoyed the final look of shock and stupefaction still exhibiting itself in the gorilla¡¯s eyes. ¡°Now, that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about.¡± A few seconds later, not giving him any time to breathe and recuperate, four gorillas replaced the defeated enemies! Luckily, Virus didn¡¯t need a single second to recuperate and restore his lost energy since the Origin was pumping him up with all the necessary energy every time he defeated an opponent. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Crackle~ Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! With no delay, Virus disappeared before four heads were chopped off! As a matter of a fact, Virus was now aware that his first form was unambiguously too overpowered! Of course, that was only the case because the person utilizing it was Virus himself since in case it was another cultivator with five liberated pathways, that person¡¯s mind naturally would not be capable of keeping up with their body at that stage. Therefore, ¡®Impulse¡¯ was only possible because its user was Virus himself. By now, Virus felt the fusion rate between his eleventh and twelfth passages had reached around seventy-five percent! ¡®Only twenty-five percent more and my last entangled pathway shall be free at last!¡¯ He was only a little far from finishing the level and breaking through to the Seventh Level of Liberation. FSHH! FWSHH~¡­ Subsequently, while Virus was looking forward to his incoming battle, eight gorillas showed up and Virus was just about to charge and chop some heads off when abruptly, he paused. ¡®Mid Third Order!¡¯ This line had just flashed through his head when all eight gorillas vanished! ¡®Impulse!¡¯ ¡°I CONCEDE!¡± Virus roared in hurry after utilizing his movement technique¡¯s first form. Meanwhile, in Virus¡¯ slow-motion perception, with his eyes wide open, he was currently watching several iron fists approaching his face at an even faster speed than his impulse! Following that, the fists were just around ten centimeters away when Virus¡¯ figure faded away and disappeared from the first floor of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. ¡°Phew!¡± As he materialized in another location, without even bothering to study his surroundings, Virus first released a sigh of relief while wiping off the droplets of cold sweat on his forehead. He was quite sure in case he did not have the ¡®Impulse¡¯ just now to assist his articulation speed, he would¡¯ve died already! ¡°Trial taker number eleven, due to fighting and defeating opponents many levels stronger than your cultivation, you have set a new record for the first floor, thus, as a reward, your mark of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World shall be made even more distinct.¡± Suddenly, Virus heard the archaic voice resounding in all directions. Then, it was followed by a large cloud of smoke which appeared out of nowhere and entered his tattoo in the back of his right palm, making it even more clear and colorful. Nonetheless, not caring about the tattoo on the back of his palm, Virus examined his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was exactly at the moment. ¡°Hmm?¡± No matter how hard he looked around, however, Virus noticed that nearly everywhere was covered in absolute darkness, and the only place that had some light shining and brightening was a lonely cottage in the middle of all the darkness. ¡°Welcome to the second floor, the seal of Emissary Flesh!¡± The archaic sound announced before declaring the purpose of the trial. ¡°This trial has been developed in order to gauge the endurance of the trial takers. Remember, the longer you endure, the more valuable the reward shall be!¡± With that, silence and gloom descended upon the terrifying darkness surrounding the cottage. ¡®Damn, this scene is one hell of fear-inducing one, it¡¯s like I was thrown into a horror movie!¡¯ Grinning from ear to ear, Virus ambled toward the cottage. Even though he was thinking that line, truthfully, the view couldn¡¯t even affect his heartbeat at all as he casually strolled toward the huge cottage and did not even hesitate to push its door open. CREAAAAAK~ ¡°This door needs some lubrication, hahaha.¡± Falling into a peal of laughter, Virus entered the cottage and even shut the door close behind himself. The instant Virus entered, however, he laid his eyes upon an enormous piece of meat laid loose on the ground motionless. ¡®Hmm, am I supposed to fight this dead thing?¡¯ Wondering that, Virus strolled before the meat and kicked it several times as hard as he could. Bam! BAM! BANG~ Since it was just meat with no bones whatsoever, it could easily absorb all the shock and force behind his kick as it merely quivered back and forth like jelly. Soon, a disappointed expression crept over Virus¡¯ face as he sighed, ¡°Huh, why is it still not reacting? Could this thing really be dead? Wait, could it be by the trial of endurance, they meant how much I can tolerate being left alone in a dark place with a piece of meat to stare at? Ahhh, if that¡¯s the case, I would rather give up already, let¡¯s leave the cottage then.¡± After murmuring these few sentences, Virus decided to leave the cottage. Therefore, turning around, he took one step after another toward the door. Meanwhile, behind him, the big piece of useless meat started to tremble as it quickly took the shape of a giant monster made out of pure flesh. It had several legs and many arms, all of which looked like they were about to melt away. Moreover, its torso was like that of a huge meatball. FWISH! As the monster of flesh raised one of its arms, the arm began to expand and grow muscles on its own as they shot toward the leaving silhouette of Virus. ¡°Just kidding! There¡¯s no way I would leave this interesting place!¡± Displaying a dark grin, already wielding his longsword, Virus spun around sharply as he cut off the incoming muscle flesh attack in a single slash! ¡°Huh, so you¡¯re Emissary Flesh! Nice to ¡®meat¡¯ you!¡± Chapter 450 - Emissary Flesh Meanwhile, in an unknown location, someone was sitting crossed-legged inside a luxurious cave when someone announced his arrival before entering it with permission. ¡°Senior Adept Falcon, I heard you¡¯ve summoned me.¡± A mature man wearing a golden robe walked into the cave and began talking to the brawny old cultivator he called Adept Falcon. If Virus was currently here, a chilly expression would have covered his face at once while gazing upon the countenance of the so-called Adept Falcon. That was because, at the time of his departure from the Cultivation Earth last time, it was exactly this man that had attacked him and nearly led to Virus¡¯ demise! It had been only because of the golden beauty¡¯s sacrifice that he had survived that day. And in fact, the main reason behind his hell-freezing expression would mostly be due to this man harming the golden beauty at that time! ¡°Hmm, welcome, how does it feel to be the genius of your island kingdom, prince Elijah?¡± Adept Falcon asked the golden-robed man. Bowing respectfully, prince Elijah responded, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to your guidance, senior.¡± ¡°Hahaha, you exaggerate, prince Elijah. It was all thanks to your own exemplary talent. All I did was provide you with better techniques and resources. You did the rest yourself.¡± Shaking his hand, Adept Falcon acted like rejecting the compliment, but Elijah knew that wasn¡¯t the case. Not wanting to linger on the subject any longer, Elijah inquired, ¡°So why did you summon me, senior? I was occupied before so I could not come immediately, but I rushed as soon as my business was over.¡± ¡°Hmm, no worries, prince. All is well.¡± Pausing shortly, Adept Falcon continued, ¡°The reason why I summoned you was because I have a ¡®favor¡¯ to ask of you.¡± The moment he said ¡®favor¡¯, Elijah¡¯s countenance turned serious as he recalled how at the time Adept Falcon had decided to pass over some of his valuable techniques in the past, the only condition he set down in return for his assistance was some ¡®favors¡¯ he might request of him sometime in the future. Thus, Elijah instantly realized that Adept Falcon was asking for payback. ¡°I¡¯m all ears, senior.¡± Bowing a bit, Elijah listened carefully, being a man of his words, Elijah wasn¡¯t one to back out of a promise. ¡°So do you recall how I got seriously injured a few years ago? My wounds were so fatal that even now I¡¯ve barely healed around half of the damage and that¡¯s all thanks to the precious pills I ate over the years.¡± Adept Falcon muttered in rage, recalling that night when he was nearly crushed to death by ¡®that¡¯ bastard¡¯s strange methods. ¡°How could I forget, senior. Please go ahead.¡± ¡°Alright, so, you see, that day, the reason why I was mortally wounded had to do with a young man who slipped past my fingers then. And of course, since experiencing that tragedy, I¡¯ve hired people to look everywhere for that young man, however, until now, no was could find a single trace of him.¡± Grinding his teeth, Adept Falcon elaborated. Although initially, Adept Falcon only wanted to rob Virus of his special ring at the time, now that Virus had nearly killed him, Adept Falcon¡¯s hatred had become completely personal, therefore, he desired nothing less than his foe¡¯s gruesome death! ¡°Which to be quite frank does not surprise me.¡± Caressing his beard, Adept Falcon admitted that he had anticipated the outcome of no one being able to find Virus. ¡°Why is that, senior?¡± Befuddled, Elijah questioned. ¡°Well, mainly because I had already used an extremely precious and even extinct treasure of mine called the Ten Thousand Tracking Ancient Scroll on him that night prior to our battle, just in case anything went wrong and he ran away using one of his unusual methods.¡± ¡°However, after that night, even my Ten Thousand Tracking Ancient Scroll could not track the bastard down! It was like he melted away into the ground itself! So, how could others possibly detect him?¡± Adept Falcon confessed in a bewildered manner. ¡°What you¡¯re trying to say is¡­?¡± Even though Elijah felt like he understood where Adept Falcon was going with this, he still queried. ¡°Well, good news! A few days ago, my ancient scroll suddenly started pinpointing a location for me! Which means he¡¯s finally making a move and came out of hiding!¡± Smiling happily in a twisted manner, Adept Falcon notified. ¡°Uh¡­ so do you want me to kill him?¡± ¡°There you go! Not only do I expect you to slaughter him most horrifically, but I also need you to bring me all his belongings plus his head!¡± Killing intent suddenly surged and covered the entire interior of the cave, even forcing a shiver down Elijah¡¯s spine who pondered, ¡®I¡¯ve never seen him like this.¡¯ ¡°But¡­ senior, if he was capable enough to mortally injure you like that, he must be a strong cultivator¡­ won¡¯t he cut off my head easily with a mere gesture of his sleeve?¡± Despite desiring to repay the favors as quickly as possible and be finished with it, Elijah also wasn¡¯t one to foolishly throw away his life. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that, he was just a mortal at the time, so even if we say he started cultivation right afterward, he should be still extremely weak compared to you.¡± Shaking his head, Adept Falcon assured him. ¡°Uh, but if he was a mere mortal at the time, how did he wound you, sir?¡± Now, Elijah was feeling even more puzzled. He felt there was something Adept Falcon wasn¡¯t divulging. ¡°Good question! You¡¯re a smart one, aren¡¯t you? Well, this bastard has some extremely odd weapons and methods of striking you down. But as long as you are careful enough and do not lower your defenses, I promise you, you don¡¯t need to be worried. His attacks won¡¯t reach you. The only reason why I was wounded that night was that I totally underestimated him and didn¡¯t lookout for any possible retaliation, that¡¯s why I was caught off-guard.¡± Truly believing that himself, Adept Falcon warned and reassured Elijah at the same time. Still not finished, patting his back, he also added, ¡°Don¡¯t you sweat it! You¡¯re already at the peak of Sublimity Emergence, so there¡¯s just no way he can come out of this alive.¡± ¡°So, would you do me this favor, prince Elijah?¡± A serious glint was flickering within Adept Falcon¡¯s eyes while waiting for Elijah¡¯s response. ¡®Not like I have any other choice, right?¡¯ As this notion bubbled up in Elijah¡¯s mind, he decided. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll do it, please tell me where I can find him.¡± ¡°Hahaha, good, good, good! Honestly, I would¡¯ve personally gone there myself, but as you see, I¡¯m still busy trying to heal and recuperate. That¡¯s why I need you to end this for me. Anyway, his name is Vee, and although the ancient scroll stopped transmitting his location to me a while ago, that¡¯s probably because he¡¯s entered a place that even the ancient scroll cannot detect.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, I already pinned the last spot he was at, so just go there and check the surroundings.¡± Pointing at a particular spot of the Chao Mundi on the map, Adept Falcon confirmed. ¡°Here, take this map with you and go through these specified paths so you can reach there safely.¡± ¡­ ¡°Huh, so you¡¯re Emissary Flesh! Nice to ¡®meat¡¯ you!¡± ROAAAR! Suddenly, several muscles extended from the meatball torso of Emissary Flesh before they transformed into the shape of mouths as it roared savagely! Looking at the gruesome creature, Virus couldn¡¯t sense any type of cultivation whatsoever from it, which was totally weird. Swish! Swish! Fwish!¡­ In the meantime, not having any intention of continuing the battle pointlessly, Virus charged at the beast as he quickly slashed it to as many pieces as he could. Subsequently, several pieces of raw meat fell on the ground while Virus wondered, ¡°Is it dead already? Hmm, well, that was easy¡­¡± However, as if to prove him wrong, all the meat started to tremble and gather as they joined together once more! ¡°Huh? It can do that too?¡± Surprised, Virus attacked again and cut it into several pieces. This time, it joined and healed even faster! ¡®Hmm? How should I deal with this problem?¡¯ Just as this notion had flickered inside his brain, suddenly, several tentacle muscles extended from Emissary Flesh as it tried capturing Virus by wrapping all of the tentacles around him much like a rope. Dodging the attempt, Virus quickly noticed a difference, ¡®It¡¯s getting faster and stronger!¡¯ ¡°How about exploding you to kingdom come?¡± Uttering the question, Virus immediately connected to his ring. He wanted to see if exploding it away and burning it instead of cutting it to several pieces was going to be effective. ¡®Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Handgun!¡¯ ¡®Explosion mode!¡¯ Promptly, his dark longsword disappeared as a futuristic handgun with bright red lines replaced it. Bang! Shooting it with no delay, Virus watched as a large chunk of Emissary Flesh exploded to countless tiny parts. Furthermore, the explosion caused flames as it covered its flesh. Albeit, the explosion, and the flame didn¡¯t seem to hinder the beast at all as it swiftly restored itself even faster and bombarded him with even more tentacles at once! ¡®Alarmingly, it¡¯s getting both faster and stronger by every passing second!¡¯ To be honest, Virus was now astonished by the strange creature in front of him. He could hardly believe something that had no cultivation whatsoever was getting stronger by the second! Virus could easily predict that if this process continued, Emissary Flesh would soon get as strong as him before leaving him in the dust. With that, however, Virus recalled the words of the archaic sound which said the trial was developed in order to gauge the ¡®endurance¡¯ of the trial takers. It did not say to ¡®defeat¡¯, but rather ¡®endure¡¯, meaning, one wasn¡¯t supposed to be able to kill this gross life form in front of him as it was evidently considered an impossibility! So the question wasn¡¯t ¡®how to defeat¡¯, but rather ¡®when to concede¡¯. Bang! Boom! Shooting it two more times, Virus watched Emissary Flesh put itself back together while contemplating, ¡®But is there really no way of defeating it?¡¯ FSHHHH~ Meanwhile, after restoring itself, Emissary Flesh used even more of its rope-like muscles in order to attempt to catch Virus and squeeze him to death. In fact, it was only a matter of time before that happened! Darting back, Virus was just about to evade the tentacles, when suddenly, their speed doubled midway! Watching the incoming tentacle muscles in his slow-motion perception, Virus immediately calculated that his body¡¯s current pace would not be capable of evading it, therefore, he didn¡¯t hesitate to get serious! ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Crackle~ Easily avoiding all of the tentacles, Virus pointed the futuristic handgun at the monster as he took three continuous shots as three explosions were heard. Boom! Boom! Boom! Deciding to study it to the best of his capabilities before anything else, Virus froze time as he started examining, replaying, and analyzing how it previously exploded into countless segments of flesh in his mindscape! Virus also inspected and compared each of the detonations to his previous assaults when he had wielded the longsword rather than the handgun. The scrutinization proceeded for a long period in his hyperactive and super calculative state until finally, Virus noticed something strange! It was such a small detail that it was impossible to perceive unless one was a super Artificial Intelligence with terrifying processing abilities. The little detail Virus had noticed was that even though Emissary Flesh would regenerate from any type of mutilation, there was a certain period when its regrowing ability seemed to decrease by an almost unnoticeable degree! Every time he attacked the monster continuously one after another, in the process of his assaults, it looked like the inherent healing skill of Emissary could not keep up and in fact, slowed down by an extremely meager amount! Virus was aware that had it been anyone else in his place, it would¡¯ve been impossible to notice such a scant deviation. In fact, If Virus had not tapped into his time-freeze perception, he could bet he would not have caught it easily. ¡®Shall we do a little experiment to see if continuous and nonstop attacks truly hinder its healing ability?¡¯ The instant this fresh idea was raised, Virus connected to the ring and summoned the best weapon that would aid him in his subsequent goal. ¡®Divide Initial Configuration ¨C Machine Gun!¡¯ ¡®Normal mode!¡¯ By normal mode, Virus meant that only common futuristic bullets would be employed since ¡®explosion¡¯ would detonate the monster into countless pieces which would quickly result in him not having a target to shoot at nonstop. Therefore, he deemed normal futuristic bullets just adequate. Aiming the machine gun directly at the opponent next, Virus started shooting wearing a grin of anticipation! Ratatatatatatatat~ Not stopping at all, Virus proceeded the process without slowing down or pausing in between. In the first twenty seconds, Virus could absolutely not spot any difference in his normal perception as Emissary Flesh continued healing and restoring the little bits of damage he was receiving here and there. However, when the timer hit around two minutes, Virus began noticing the regenerating capabilities of the monster slowing down even with his bare eyes! ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it!¡± Proving and confirming his theory, Virus was now zealously looking forward to the trial more than ever! Ratatatatatat~ SCREEEECHHHH! Suddenly, Emissary Flesh started screaming in affliction before starting to jump around trying to dodge outside the range of Virus¡¯ aim and machine gun so it would catch a breather! ¡°Haha, struggle more! More! More! That only makes this more fun!¡± Alas, the poor beast was against a horrifying being called Virus, therefore, it did not take long for the Emissary to realize the futility of his struggles! Still, it looked like the Emissary still wasn¡¯t done revealing every one of its cards since out of nowhere, steam began to rise from all around its physique. Soon, so much steam had left its frame that the Emissary¡¯s size shrank to half its original one as its muscles became much more compact and thinner overall! ¡®Oh?¡¯ BAM! Instantaneously, with newfound momentum, Emissary Flesh tightly packed itself into a ball as it started jumping around at lightning speed! Chapter 451 - The Emissary With its recently attained momentum, Emissary Flesh was just about to victoriously leave Virus¡¯ range of aim when Virus also became serious and used his own unique trump card. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Quickly, an invisible chain fell off of Virus¡¯ frame as his machine gun was once again able to keep up with the struggling monster! Ratatatatat~ SCREEEECH! ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯m not letting you go no matter how hard you scream!¡± By now, anyone would¡¯ve been able to perceive that the regrowing capabilities of the monster were chopped down several times as it was now much weaker in terms of healing. Moreover, the agonized yet helpless screeches of the monster emphasized that point even further. In fact, the damage Virus¡¯ machine gun¡¯s normal mode was causing the monster was much lower compared to the harm a couple of exploding attacks would¡¯ve dealt it. However, through his experimented and proven theory, Virus was now confident that the potency of damage did not matter much, rather, what mattered was the nonstop bombardment which would gradually make it exhausted until it could not regenerate itself anymore! And in order to accomplish that particular purpose, Virus couldn¡¯t utilize his longsword nor the handgun since Emissary Flesh would be able to restore itself and bring its healing ability to its peak condition in the short intervals between those very attacks! What he required were even faster strikes! And thus, Virus determined the only weapon in his arsenal that could maintain lightning-fast attacks was in fact the machine gun alone! The intensifying warfare proceeded as the shrunken Emissary jumped around while Virus maintained his aim at the opponent while staying in the ¡®Impulse¡¯ state. As a matter of fact, the Emissary even pounced in Virus¡¯ direction from time to time, trying to bump into him using all its weight to crush and suffocate him beneath itself. Fortunately, taking advantage of his ¡®Impulse¡¯, Virus could change positions at the drop of a hat and avoid the possible catastrophe! However, as time passed, while Virus¡¯ energy was getting weaker and weaker, the Emissary in fact continued to get more powerful despite its weakening regeneration trait. That was because the Emissary¡¯s strength had nothing to do with cultivation or energy since the logic behind the functionality of its power seemed to be time alone. The more the battle persisted, the stronger it would get! Slowly but surely, due to the gradual accumulation of fatigue, beads of sweat began to roll down Virus¡¯ forehead. ¡®Ah, it¡¯s gotten too strong, although I can feel it¡¯s almost at the ending points of its healing capacity, it will exceed my aiming speed in a few seconds at most!¡¯ Ratatatatat~ And indeed, just as Virus had predicted, in no more than five seconds, the Emissary triumphantly surpassed Virus¡¯ aiming speed as it roared in joy! Screech! After an exclamation of happiness, the monster was about to leave Virus¡¯ aiming position in the dust when abruptly, Virus connected to his ring and commanded. ¡®Normal mode ¨C Follow!¡¯ Immediately, the bullets seemed to have grown eyes as they followed closely after the beast that had just left the direct aiming point of Virus¡¯ gun! ¡°Hahaha!¡± Once again, much to the disappointment of the monster and the entertained burst of laughter from Virus, the combat was set in motion while the monster was getting closer and closer to its utter limits. Screech! Suddenly, as an act of final resort, the Emissary stopped trying to dodge entirely as it came to a complete halt before bristles began protruding from all over its meatball frame. Next, as if it was a rock that had been thrown from the top of a mountain, the Emissary rolled in Virus¡¯ direction at its fastest speed so far to the point it almost seemed like the Emissary had blended with the fabric of space itself. On the other side, as a result of that sudden burst of acceleration, Virus¡¯ eyes went wide open momentarily. Truthfully, in terms of speed, he had long fallen behind and he knew it! Meanwhile, the rushing Emissary was feeling truly cheerful as it was confident Virus was already trapped in its grasp! SCREEEEECH~ ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t be happy just yet!¡± Shouting out loud, Virus connected to the ring again. Internally, however, even he was slightly nervous as he wasn¡¯t quite sure whether his next strategy would work or not. ¡®Paralysis mode ¨C Follow!¡¯ Ratatatatat~ Immediately, a never-ending blue bullet light started making contact with the incoming Emissary as its accelerating speed was actually decelerated instead! Meanwhile, seeing the opponent slowing down, Virus¡¯s expression was shimmering in joy while he pondered, ¡®Phew, thank me it worked!¡¯ Honestly, considering how Virus had no data or knowledge regarding the anatomy and the inner workings of Emissary Flesh¡¯s body, Virus wasn¡¯t sure if the paralysis bullets would actually work on it. In reality, his calculations had determined that due to the strangeness of this life form in front of him, the odds were that the paralysis bullet wouldn¡¯t have any effects on the beast as it might be naturally resistant against it. Furthermore, that may have been truly the case if the monster was still in peak condition. However, having no other choice but to gamble and make the long shot, Virus had to take the bet quickly and try his luck since there was no room for hesitation at that point! And apparently, lady luck was indeed on his side this time around. After evading the rolling monster with a simple sidestep, Virus could hear the final growls of the Emissary as it seemed to have given up. No, it was more like the Emissary was completely drained as it was incapable of struggling anymore! ¡°Huh¡­ is it over at last?¡± In the meantime, the entire meatball physique of the Emissary started to tremble as if it was about to detonate anytime now. However, just before it actually exploded, suddenly, a gigantic human-like mouth and an eye took shape on the Emissary¡¯s body as it left a vengeful vow behind while gazing with bloodshot eyes at Virus. ¡°Y-you¡¯ve¡­ made¡­ a huge¡­ mistake.¡± BOOOOM! Bits of truly dead flesh exploded in every direction, filling the interior of the cottage! At the same time, a brilliant light left the cottage as it disappeared off to somewhere unknown! Following soon, the ancient sound was heard again. ¡°Hmm, you¡¯ve accomplished something unheard of by defeating and killing off ¡®the sealed small skin that fell off from the nail of Emissary Flesh¡¯, therefore, you¡¯ll receive a substantial amount of tattoo smoke!¡± Meanwhile, catching the slight hint of emotion within the previously static sound, Virus wondered in astonishment. ¡®Did the archaic voice just say ¡®hmm¡¯ in a surprised tone? Is it actually someone alive and not just a recorded sound of the past?¡¯ ¡®No, no, no¡­ more important than that! Did the voice claim that what I just barely thrashed was merely a small skin from around the nail of true Emissary Flesh?¡¯ Only the thought of just what kind of terrifying being the true Emissary Flesh would be forced an unconscious gulp down his throat. ¡®I probably offended someone I shouldn¡¯t have.¡¯ ¡°Who is Emissary Flesh?¡± Virus didn¡¯t hesitate to inquire out loud. Now that he had offended the meatball anyway, he wanted to know as much as possible about this spine-chilling new enemy of his. ¡°¡­¡± Woefully, the ancient speaker refused to open their mouth. ¡°He¡¯s my enemy now, all thanks to your trials, so shouldn¡¯t you at least take some responsibility and clarify its identity and background?¡± Virus queried, trying to convince him using basic reasoning. ¡°Hmph, I don¡¯t need to explain shit to a weakling like you!¡± Annoyed, the archaic sound responded impatiently. ¡®Oh, right¡­ this is the Cultivation Multiverse where the strong dictates the rules and logic.¡¯ Letting out a helpless sigh, Virus could only stop his interrogation as quietness descended upon the cottage. Followed by the silence, smoke infiltrated into Virus¡¯ palm from every direction, making the Invisible Ancient Fortress World mark extremely distinct, far beyond anything it was before! But none of that garnered Virus¡¯ attention to itself right now, instead, it was the tiny egg that was left in the spot where the skin of Emissary Flesh had exploded at. Slowly walking beside the egg, Virus picked it up and began examining it with absolute focus. The first course of action he took was to send his sense of awareness into the egg. Regretfully though, his awareness could not penetrate into the egg in order to see what was inside. Punching it next, Virus tried shattering it apart, alas, even that didn¡¯t work as the egg was like a piece of unbreakable stone! ¡®Should I take this egg as a reward for killing that thing? Or is this perhaps something dangerous? Should I just throw it away? But what if it¡¯s something extremely precious! I mean I just probably killed something unkillable, even if it was just its skin.¡¯ While these contemplations were passing through Virus¡¯ head, like it was aware of Virus¡¯ current dilemma, the archaic sound explained. ¡°Even though it is not guaranteed, it could be a treasure, so either take it or leave it for me to take it.¡± At this point, the voice was even less static. Catching both hints of greed and trepidation in the tone, Virus finally made up his mind with a chuckle. ¡°Hahaha, since when did I ever back down from this kind of possibly fun item? So whether it¡¯s a trap or treasure, I¡¯ll see it through with my own eyes and judge for myself!¡± ¡°Trial taker number eleven, you have passed the second floor, you shall be transported to the third floor and attempt the next trial, good luck.¡± ¡®Ah, it became static and kind of robotic again.¡¯ After this notion went through Virus¡¯ head, another occupied it. ¡®But¡­ as expected, even Origin couldn¡¯t absorb Emissary Flesh¡¯s energy.¡¯ ¡®Though I already anticipated that might happen since I finished it off indirectly using my machine gun and not with my own efforts. Moreover, I don¡¯t believe that thing even had energy, to begin with.¡¯ He analyzed calmly, awaiting the incoming trial. In the following moment, Virus¡¯ figure disappeared automatically as he was teleported to the next floor, wherever that was. ¡­ Subsequently, Virus materialized in a dark corridor as a rotting odor hit his nose at once! ¡°Welcome to the third floor, the Underworld Maze of Infinity!¡± ¡°Trial taker number eleven, depending on your luck and the path you take, you may chance upon great treasures or deadly situations. In order to pass the trial, you need to reach the core of the world, the center of the maze. Good luck, you will need it!¡± As the archaic sound was gone, Virus did a close inspection of his surroundings while deliberating, ¡®So I¡¯m in an enormous maze construct this time. No, it said the Underworld Maze of Infinity, denoting it could be so big that it might rival the size of a small or big planet!¡¯ ¡®For now, let¡¯s check what lies ahead.¡¯ Pondering briefly, Virus ambled through the corridor. That went on until he reached a hall with three entrances! ¡°Which path should I take?¡± One entrance was green, the other yellow and the final one was in red. Above the red door, Virus could read ¡®the greedy shall die¡¯ that was written in a strange language, yet oddly, he could comprehend it easily. Over the yellow door, the sentence was ¡®the average may survive¡¯ and on top of the green door he saw ¡®you shall survive.¡¯ Virus promptly processed the information and figured out that if there wasn¡¯t any deception intended with the colors and the sentences, the green door should be the safest route but it will probably result in useless rewards as well. An easy door. Perhaps the trial will end immediately if he chose that gate. The yellow entrance should be somewhat dangerous with normal encounters and items perhaps. A medium difficulty. And the final entry was most likely extremely dangerous but definitely ensuing great rewards! ¡®Uhm, the green door is a ¡®no¡¯. I wouldn¡¯t have entered this place if I wasn¡¯t even going to challenge myself.¡¯ ¡®The yellow door¡­ that one¡¯s probably saying with some luck, even average cultivators may survive.¡¯ ¡®And the red gate is perhaps conveying that those who do overestimate themselves and get greedy will certainly die, but it doesn¡¯t say everyone will die¡­ so, as long as you have the strength to back your confidence, there should be some chances of survival.¡¯ Already over with his internal monologue, Virus was resolved to go through the red entry. That was mainly because nothing less than that was ever going to satisfy him and Virus knew that. As a result, between ¡®easy¡¯, ¡®medium¡¯, and ¡®hard¡¯, his choice was ¡®I either come hard, or I don¡¯t come at all¡¯. Subsequently, spreading his sense of awareness which covered some meters surrounding himself, Virus entered the red gate with no hesitation whatsoever! However, the moment he pushed the gate open, an unexplained breeze rushed over, carrying a pungent smell with itself. ¡®Well, that¡¯s not alarming at all.¡¯ Smiling casually, Virus started sauntering forward. ¡®Huh?¡¯ Four minutes later, he was just beginning to wonder if the path was ever going to end, when out of nowhere, his eyes caught the sight of a scene that forced his eyelids to jump open in both shock and surprise. That was because at the end of his eyesight, on both sides of the passage over the walls, he could see many skeletons hanging from chains and manacles against the walls! However, what surprised Virus wasn¡¯t any of those skeletons, but rather it was the familiar yet somewhat unrecognizable corpse that had been gruesomely chained and manacled beside one of the skeleton rows! ¡®Wasn¡¯t that one of the two representatives from amongst the academician group? Just what could have occurred here for him to be killed and hanged like that?¡¯ Immediately, alarms began to go off in Virus¡¯ mind as he became even more cautious with each step forward! Furthermore, he understood now that the other participants were also all most likely somewhere on this maze floor at the moment which made this stage of the trial even riskier due to two reasons. First of all, before seeing the corpse, Virus had assumed that he was alone in this maze and thus the trial was indubitably adjusted according to his cultivation level like the previous stages. Thus, now that he was proven otherwise, Virus knew the trial was going to be much more hazardous! ¡®That representative should¡¯ve been in the Sublimity Emergence stage, but even he died right at the beginning of the red gate. Yeah, this place may have already proven itself to be much more perilous than I had anticipated before.¡¯ Secondly, who could say what would happen if he came across other representatives? Human beings were always the most precarious beings in Virus¡¯ book. But putting that matter aside temporarily, Virus focused on his surroundings for now. Something had murdered the dead body in front of him and it might just show up any passing seconds! Time began to pass as one minute after another flew by, however, no matter how much vigilant Virus remained, nothing was at sight. ¡®Maybe the participants before me killed whatever that was occupying this path?¡¯ That line had just blinked through Virus¡¯ brain when out of nowhere, his hair stood on end and a chill went down his spine due to his sense of awareness detecting something standing right behind him quietly! Chapter 452 - To Qualify! Swish! Brandishing his weapon backward with a swift spin, the longsword failed to hit anything as it moved unhindered! Whatever that was behind Virus before was gone as fast as it had shown up! ¡®What was that?¡¯ A deep sense of crisis was filling up Virus¡¯ heart. Whatever that had been standing behind him earlier had vanished so quickly that Virus couldn¡¯t even catch its shadow with his eyes. It looked like the assaulter didn¡¯t desire for Virus to see even its silhouette, unbeknownst for the attacker though, Virus¡¯ sense of awareness had already depicted a complete image of whatever that had flickered in and out behind him. In his mindscape, Virus shockingly visualized the creature as something that had the head of a male human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion! Referring to his own sea of knowledge, the only creature he could resemble and connect what he was witnessing to was something of a legend! To be accurate, it was a Persian mythical creature called the Manticore! Truly dumbfounded, Virus pondered to himself, ¡®So something like that exists here¡­¡¯ ¡®Could it be just a resemblance or¡­¡¯ As this notion passed through his head, Virus once again gazed at the skeletons hanged on the wall. Analyzing the shape and frame of all the bones, Virus noticed that all of them belonged to men only. Virus knew that pointed at the famous title of the Manticore called the ¡®Man-eater¡¯ as that was the literal meaning behind its name. Furthermore, seeing how some of the bones only had some parts of them left with clear teeth marks left all over them, plus the flesh that was gone from most of the body parts of the freshly murdered representative, Virus realized that the Manticore was slowly savoring its food over the years. Virus immediately connected that to another legend which stated Manticores eat their prey whole, without leaving even bones behind! ¡®It¡¯s definitely a Manticore.¡¯ ¡®Maybe it¡¯s a certain type of evolution that¡¯s bound to happen at some point in various multiverses, something that might have happened at some point on Earth in the forgotten or buried past. Maybe it¡¯s some kind of alien race.¡¯ Now that he had come across a Manticore, Virus knew he might be in deep trouble. ¡®Maybe I should run away?¡¯ Looking at the several recent footprints on the ground, Virus deduced that there had been others here as well, but they had run away without any delay, probably taking advantage of the time the Manticore was busy hunting the dead academician representative! ¡®So none of them dared to go against the Manticore, huh? Despite being in a large group.¡¯ Virus thought that was a pity. If they had grouped together, watching over one another¡¯s backs, they might have had a slight chance of killing the Manticore considering how strong all the representatives were. ¡®Well, it¡¯s not really strange though.¡¯ Recalling how the Manticore had silently emerged behind him much like a ghost, that in addition to its apparent startling speed, Virus couldn¡¯t really blame them. ¡®They must¡¯ve been incapable of catching even a single view of their enemy, thus, they must¡¯ve been scared out of their wits trying to escape as quickly as possible, thankfully though, they were in a group so the Manticore could only pick one prey.¡¯ Fully understanding just how much the humans feared the unknown, Virus thought their actions were justified. ¡®Ah, alas, I won¡¯t be able to escape since I¡¯m alone. The manticore has already locked its fangs on me to-¡® Just as he had reached this point of his thinking process, a chill went down Virus¡¯ spine as he detected the creature silently standing behind him again! Fwish! Slashing backwardly, Virus yelled, ¡°Stop doing that already, it¡¯s creepy! Come fight me head-on if you dare!¡± Virus could guess that the beast truly enjoyed hunting male prey that was utterly frightened. That¡¯s why it was currently busy silently dashing behind him without attacking at all! It wanted to see that trace of fear within Virus¡¯ eyes. In the meantime, Virus had just uttered that sentence when the creature was at his back again. However, having seen that merely standing behind him wasn¡¯t scaring the prey in any way, it decided to shallowly maul his back this time! ¡®Impulse!¡¯ Whiz! ¡°Argh!¡± The beast was so fast that Virus could not even react even though he was in the state of super-fast processing of time freeze plus his ¡®impulse¡¯ together! That was because although he was successful in detecting the beast the moment it showed up, there was still nothing he could do since his body simply could not spin and retaliate fast enough! Regardless, even after sensing the burning sharp pain on his back, maintaining his calm, Virus didn¡¯t show any signs of fear over his face since he knew that was what it desired. ¡®How should I deal with this bastard? Right now it¡¯s merely teasing me using its paws, but the moment it discovers a hint of fear in me, it will get serious and do fatal attacks using both its paws and sharp scorpion tail to make mortal holes all over my body!¡¯ ¡®My speed and reaction aren¡¯t fast enough, thus it doesn¡¯t matter what kind of devastating attacks I have, they¡¯re all futile since I can¡¯t land them on the opponent.¡¯ By now, Virus had inferred that the Manticore¡¯s level of cultivation was ¡®at least¡¯ at the mid-Third Order, which was something Virus was currently helpless against! ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Reactivating his time freeze perception, Virus began calculating and searching for any type of possibility of him living past this hurdle. Regretfully though, he soon came to discern that he was completely helpless against this beast. After having considered the possibility of escaping, Virus could guarantee that was not possible as the beast would shred him to pieces the moment it saw him start running since that was also a sign of terror. Moreover, Virus was aware that using his ¡®cultivation level¡¯ to land some kind of attack was also pointless since he wasn¡¯t swift enough to land his attacks on the beast in the first place. He couldn¡¯t even create and use the second form of his Peak-Human class movement technique due to him still being stuck with five liberated pathways alone! ¡°I concede.¡± Virus announced helplessly, awaiting the teleportation. Unfortunately, no matter how long he awaited the teleportation, it didn¡¯t happen. ¡®Ah¡­ so even conceding isn¡¯t possible in this floor, though I had already anticipated it seeing how the archaic being didn¡¯t talk about being able to concede¡­ the only way to avoid this type of dangerous situation was perhaps by choosing the easier green and yellow routes.¡¯ Aaargh! Another graze manifested itself on the back of his body. ¡®How is it so fast?¡¯ Virus wondered to himself while unconsciously blaming his inadequate level of strength. He simply could not comprehend why the Manticore was so quick. It was so swift that if someone said it was teleporting instead of moving on its legs Virus would¡¯ve at least considered the idea. That¡¯s how quick it was! It didn¡¯t matter if he used the pitch-black scales and his ¡®Impulse¡¯ to add a bit of speed on himself, it was all futile compared to the Manticore¡¯s unbelievable speed! ¡®Damn it!¡¯ Frustrated internally, Virus examined his surroundings carefully. Of course, most of his attention was fixed on his back. He wanted to at least closely examine the beast and recheck if there were any weaknesses he might have missed. Therefore, when it appeared again, after a vain attempt in trying to evade the sharp claws, Virus concentrated his focus on the beast¡¯s movement and overall physique and began studying them carefully. Unluckily, the result of his close examination was that he couldn¡¯t discover any apparent weak points on the sickening monster. Of course, he had many strategies and tactics of dealing with it if only he was in a group, unfortunately, he was not, and defeating it alone was almost impossible without proper power to back it up! Still, wanting to try the psychological card at least, Virus shouted in great annoyance. ¡°You fucking bastard, face me head-on if you dare! I¡¯ll so fucking shred you into a thousand pieces! I dare you, bitch!¡± Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t seem like the Manticore understood the language at all, instead, deeming his provocation as a sign of fear and giving in, the situation turned worse as it materialized behind him and actually darted its venomous scorpion tail right at Virus¡¯ heart! Noticing that, in his own time-freeze perception, Virus¡¯ eyes went wide open as he realized his vain attempt had just backfired! ¡®There¡¯s simply no way to dodge out of the way.¡¯ Virus determined in a powerless manner. If everything proceeded as such, Virus was going to die soon. However, utilizing his terrifying thinking ability, Virus immediately came up with a temporary method to at least defend against the incoming strike. ¡®Trigger Median Configuration ¨C Fragmentary Integument!¡¯ Instantaneously, the pitch-dark scales covered his shoulders nearly to the point of shielding his heart. But woefully, it was short by just a little bit. ¡®Impulse!¡¯ However, Virus¡¯ goal wasn¡¯t to cover and shield his heart in that manner at all, instead, having already achieved his initial purpose, utilizing every bit of his speed he could muster, Virus moved his shoulder toward the attacking path of the tail. Bam! Promptly, the scorpion tail hit the dark scales as it was deflected away! ¡®Yes!¡¯ Succeeding in his defense, Virus now successfully bought himself some more time. ¡®This can¡¯t continue, now that it knows my little trick, I will die by the next ambush!¡¯ Already aware of the fact that he had reached the finishing points of the battle, Virus had to admit that was the end of the line for him unless there were some hidden cards he may have left hidden until now! ¡®Fucking hell! This is such a big waste! I didn¡¯t want to squander it on this type of opponent!¡¯ A thought only Virus himself understood took root in his brain. Even though Virus¡¯ upcoming course of action felt like a huge misspend of resources on just a Manticore at the mere Third Order, having no other options left, Virus could only bear with it and let it go since the circumstances had now elevated to either ¡®do¡¯ or ¡®die¡¯ kind of situation! So, the first measure Virus took was to deactivate his ring while freezing his perception of time. Subsequently, already knowing where the monster was going to crop up and try to ambush, Virus raised and brought his palm to the back of his shoulder. Afterward, while maintaining time-freeze, all he did was to patiently wait in that position for the predator to show up. Seconds passed in real-time as an absolute silence descended upon the area. At first, it looked like the Manticore had come to be suspicious of Virus¡¯ weird pose. Seeing that, however, Virus gradually began to walk toward the end of the corridor while preserving that odd stance of his. ¡®Just don¡¯t show up and let me go, that¡¯ll be for the best!¡¯ Indeed, Virus was sincerely beseeching the Manticore to stay its hand. Unfortunately, Virus¡¯ step-by-step amble forward decreased the Manticore¡¯s suspicion as it come to realize that Virus was merely taking an unusual pose to make him doubt so as to escape his grasp! ¡°Hihihihi!¡± For the first time since its hushed emergence, the Manticore started chuckling creepily as it materialized behind Virus¡¯ with no hesitation whatsoever! Following that, it simultaneously mauled and shot its scorpion tail at Virus¡¯ most essential organ, his heart! In this round, the Manticore was also extremely careful so it would be able to adjust the path of its tail in case Virus tried to block using its earlier dark scales. Meanwhile, sensing the Manticore already at his back, Virus pondered disappointedly, ¡®Sigh, why did you have to make an appearance?¡¯ Then, he no longer hesitated as the resolution to let go intensified in his heart. ¡®Impulse!¡¯ Arcs of Electricity surrounded Virus¡¯ frame at once! ¡®Trigger Initial Configuration ¨C Longsword!¡¯ The longsword, ¡®the Darkest Night, the Shining Moon¡¯, materialized inside his already raised palm as its hilt automatically positioned itself to his grasp. Despite the longsword now pointing toward the direction of the attacking Manticore, however, both Virus and the Manticore knew it simply could not reach the Manticore¡¯s figure in order to even have the slightest chance of harming it in any way! That recognition in return forced an eerie grin of victory on the Manticore¡¯s human face as it pushed an even deadlier might behind its offense! ¡®Huh, you think this is all I can do?¡¯ Woefully for the Manticore, a devilish smirk found its way over Virus¡¯ lips as he triggered the subsequent plan of action he had prepared. ¡®Trigger Terminal Configuration ¨C Regulated Self-Destruct!¡¯ Instantaneously, from the sharp end of the longsword, the weapon began to disintegrate. However, the eye-catching point of this odd phenomenon was the fact that as the tip began to disintegrate, it also sparked into an extremely long beam of blue light that rushed at the Manticore with the guidance of Virus. HH¡ªMM! Right away, as Virus waved his wrist downward, the beam effortlessly traversed through the flesh of the Manticore and even badly damaged the floor beneath it! The following moment, as if a knife was just done cutting through soft butter, the two equally lifeless parts of the Manticore fell on the ground. The Manticore was dead, as simple as that! By now, the disintegration process had reached the end of Virus¡¯ longsword as it dissipated entirely! Even his ring was nowhere to be seen. ¡®Sigh¡­¡¯ Letting out a helpless sigh, Virus looked at the finger that had been priorly equipped with the special ring that he had made years ago. Due to the insufficient level of technology Virus had access to at the time, the ring he had created then was something he had devised and configured three forms overall. The first configuration was called the ¡®Initial Configuration¡¯ which could transform the ring into several types of cold weapons and firearms plus a few other convenient features such as clothes and masks. The second configuration Virus had added to it was called the ¡®Median Configuration¡¯ which solely had the feature of partially adding dark scales to Virus¡¯ limbs. He had named the dark scales ¡®Fragmentary Integument¡¯ which meant an outer layer of protection that covers only some parts of the body. And the final configuration he had planned for the ring was titled the ¡®Terminal Configuration¡¯ that just had one utilization called the ¡®Regulated Self-Destruct¡¯ which as the name suggested would lead to a guided form of lethal self-destruction and termination which could in return deal an extremely concentrated form of damage! However, truthfully, the last configuration was something Virus wanted to utilize only when he was against someone or something that was absolutely unbeatable in every way! Even though Virus hoped to never come across such an opponent, being the calculative A.I. he was, he had planned the terminal configuration to be one of his last lines of defense when he eventually came face to face with such an opponent. Nevertheless, the reason why Virus had been so hesitant to use the ring against the Manticore before wasn¡¯t that it was an irreplaceable piece of item that could not be created again. No, in fact, now that Virus had left many worker robots on Virusia to develop it, he was certain that the next time he went there, he would be capable of developing and polishing a more overpowered ring with even more up to date and advanced configurations. The cause of his hesitance mainly had to do with the fact that he was just at the beginning sections of the red gate and he was already forced to throw his trump card into the fray! Furthermore, now that he was stuck on the Cultivation Earth for an unknown period of time, Virus was sure going forward, he will face many other desperate situations soon as horrible enemies would come knocking considering what his plans were for the upcoming future. Phew~ ¡®Let¡¯s just forget about it. It¡¯s a done-deal anyway and there¡¯s no point in crying over spilled milk.¡¯ Shaking his head repeatedly, Virus was just about to briefly study his surroundings before moving on and heading deeper into the passage, when unexpectedly, from the carcass of the Manticore, a vast amount of energy stormed into his pathways! ¡®Huh? I thought Origin wouldn¡¯t absorb its energy since I killed it with the help of terminal configuration which is basically like a gun.¡¯ Touching his chin in contemplation, however, Virus soon figured out what was happening, ¡®No, if you really think about it, what I did was to extend the reach of my weapon, so I was in fact only using the longsword to kill the Manticore¡­ and that qualifies for Origin¡¯s absorption!¡¯ Chapter 453 - Dislike 76%¡­ 88%¡­ 100%! Following quickly, the synthesis rate of Virus¡¯ sixth level of Liberation which had been previously stuck at seventy-five percent experienced an almost instantaneous rise to one hundred percent in one go! ¡®Ah, this amount of raw energy¡­ was the Manticore perhaps in High- or Peak-Third Order? That¡¯s crazy.¡¯ The amount of energy that was currently rushing through his passages was so heavy Virus could say with confidence that the Manticore was obviously above the Mid-Third Order! The moment it reached a hundred percent, his sixth pair of pathways also began to release itself to the world outside as now Virus had six liberated pathways! Furthermore, Origin also transmitted another type of odd force which quickly untangled his final eighteenth single pathway! Now Virus had all of his eighteen pathways completely clear with no blockages whatsoever! Fundamentally, that implied Virus could in essence progress to the mythical Ninth Level of Liberation as long as he preserved through! ¡°Huh¡­ so this is what it feels like to sense and have control over all eighteen of my passages¡­ amazing.¡± Raising his fist in front of his face, Virus gripped it tightly while muttering to himself in joy. Earlier, since Virus did not have control nor could he feel all his passages, it was as if something was missing from his body. But now that all of them were under his dominance, Virus had the illusion of finally being able to enjoy the unobstructed movement of his energy within his pathways! However, for some reason, although the energy was abundant in his pathways due to the extraordinary amount of energy from the Manticore, Virus still wasn¡¯t able to break through to the seventh level right away! ¡®Hmm, what¡¯s going on?¡¯ Quickly focusing his awareness within his passages, precisely on the sixth pair, Virus tried to discover why the energy wasn¡¯t moving on to the fusion process of his thirteenth and fourteenth pathways. To his bewilderment, Virus could see that the energy was abundant, and it was quivering so intensely as if it may even burst and explode his entire sixth fused pathway in case it didn¡¯t find an outlet to relieve itself. However, it still could not elevate itself to the next level. ¡®I feel like I¡¯m missing something important.¡¯ That odd instinct was transmitting itself directly into Virus¡¯ heart as it gripped over him much like a craving one sometimes gets for a specific food but just can¡¯t figure out what food it is! ¡®What is lacking?¡¯ Immediately sitting on the floor cross-legged, Virus closed both his eyes as he sank into a meditative state. ¡®Let¡¯s try breaking through manually.¡¯ In fact, in all of his previous breakthroughs, all Virus was required to do was to kill strong opponents as the Origin would pump the necessary energy into him which would naturally result in him breaking through in the smoothest manner imaginable. It didn¡¯t require any guidance whatsoever as it happened by itself like it was the most natural process in the world. But now, sitting cross-legged, Virus felt as if he had to comprehend something essential, a fact, or perhaps something else entirely before being able to breakthrough. Hence, sitting down in that position, Virus¡¯ mind started overworking itself while he immersed in the sensation that was flickering within his heart right now. One minute passed. Five minutes¡­ Ten minutes¡­ Twenty minutes¡­ Even forty Minutes passed! Ultimately, it was precisely in the forty-sixth minute when the fog that had been previously blinding Virus unveiled at once as the realization hit him while he murmured. ¡°The heavens ¡¯embrace¡¯ the first path, they ¡®hospitably greet¡¯ the second path, they ¡®salute¡¯ the third path, they ¡®welcome¡¯ the fourth path, they ¡®receive¡¯ the fifth path, they ¡®accept¡¯ the sixth path, but the heavens ¡®dislike¡¯ the seventh path!¡± ¡°Hahaha, so that¡¯s why!¡± By heavens, even Virus himself wasn¡¯t quite sure what it or they were, perhaps they were the laws that brought existence itself together, or maybe they were something else altogether! Virus didn¡¯t have knowledge regarding what exactly the heavens were, but seeing they apparently did not like the idea of him entering the seventh pathway and were even trying to slightly resist his progress coerced Virus to laugh in mirth and amusement! Next, looking up, he yelled like a maniac, ¡°I do not know what the heavens every cultivator talks about is nor do I care¡­¡± ¡°BUT! If you insist on interfering in my game of entertainment¡­ well, WELCOME TO THE PLAY! Let¡¯s see who gets the final laugh! Hahahaha!¡± Simultaneously forcing his raging energy to the next level, Virus ripped the resistance apart as he broke through to the following level at once! Seventh Level of Liberation! At the same time, after Virus¡¯ little speech and the act of provocation, he could swear he sensed a slight tremor in the ground. But it was so minor that unless one had a terrifying level of perception like Virus, that person would not be capable of detecting it. ¡°That¡¯s all you can do? Hahaha¡­¡± With that Virus once again focused on the internal network of his physique as he observed the synthesis rate which was shooting through the roof right now! 15%¡­ 32%¡­ 46%¡­ 57%¡­ 69%¡­ 87%! Only when it hit eighty-seven percent fusion did all the raging synthetic force end completely as tranquility was once again restored to the passages! ¡®So beyond the sixth level is considered a taboo, huh¡­ the so-called heavens prefer the cultivators to break through to Sublimity Emergence stage straight away when they are done fusing their sixth pathway, heck, they encourage it!¡¯ ¡®But above that, they start attempting to bar the path forward.¡¯ Grinning from ear to ear at this point, Virus murmured, ¡°The first taboo of Liberation, huh? Well, that only makes me want it more, such excitement coursing through my veins!¡± ¡®Hmm, but it took me more than forty minutes just to figure out my heart and realize the force that was trying to hinder me.¡¯ Although this notion went through Virus¡¯ mind, he somewhat understood why it had taken him so long to disclose the truth. ¡®I¡¯m weak when it comes to the matters of the heart, perhaps my talent in that regard is even lower compared to a normal mortal human being.¡¯ Indeed, Virus was perfectly informed that the reason why it had taken him so long to shine some light on that nudge, that urge in his heart, was because he was poor in the heart due to him originally being an Artificial Intelligence, and he could discern it even more transparently after going through this particular experience. ¡®Subpar cultivators might¡¯ve taken around forty minutes too in case they were a little poor in the matters of the heart, but that¡¯s ¡®their¡¯ forty minutes¡­ my forty minutes is much more in terms of quality!¡¯ Indeed, although Virus hadn¡¯t gone to the point of time freeze when trying to come to terms with his heart just now, he had still employed a lot of his processing speed and perception of time. Therefore, he was crystal clear his concentrated forty minutes was incomparable as it was on another realm altogether! When it was about the matters of wisdom, intelligence, and mind, Virus was like a never-seen-before supernova that shined brighter than any other in existence! Unfortunately, when it was about the true tangible heart and not the artificial one, he was like a child that had just come to the age of learning to walk on four legs but refused to do so while even suppressing and even trying to control that chaotic new urge inside him instead of just freeing the leash, letting it go wild, and thus allowing it to grow by itself! To be more accurate, Virus needed to understand that the heart wasn¡¯t supposed to be forcefully managed by the mind since doing so would only stunt its growth. What he required was to stop forcefully interfering with his own heart and instead willingly immerse and delve into it by letting it go buck wild! And that was exactly what was hindering his path to some degree today. Consequently, if Virus did not improve this new part of himself, the slight impediment of today might turn into something much greater in the future when he came across more complex matters of cultivation that necessitated his heart! Albeit, the mind opposed the heart in most cases as they were basically like oil and water that did not go well together. Meanwhile, rising to his feet, Virus briefly inspected his surroundings before resolving himself to proceed on his path to the unknown. Afterward, for nearly a few minutes, Virus kept ambling forward when he finally reached three doors again. Above the gates, only one sentence was engraved. One path leads to the dead-end, another leads to the dead, and the last one leads to the end. Reading the information, Virus could easily infer that the gate of ¡®dead end¡¯ most likely led nowhere as he would be forced to either return or be imprisoned there forever. However, as to the gate of the dead, Virus assumed by dead they probably meant death. And as for the final entry of the end, Virus determined that although it could mean death, it just might as well directly lead to the center of the maze and the end of the trial! Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t matter how much he contemplated the interpretation of each saying since there was no way to discern which gate was which. So, after some futile deliberation and discovering no hidden signs, Virus decided to randomly pick a door and hope for the best. ¡®The middle one, let¡¯s go!¡¯ Then, not bothering to even consider it further, pushing the gate open, he launched inside! Briefly afterward, Virus chanced upon a corridor with a tiled floor where hundreds of thousands of square holes were cut into the surface of the walls everywhere. Moreover, there were already many sharp arrows that had fallen to the ground. ¡®Hmm, so these are traps?¡¯ Wondering to himself, Virus was just about to take his next step, when abruptly, just as his footstep was several centimeters away from making contact with the ground, he paused. ¡®My awareness is telling me it¡¯s empty beneath this specific tile, it must be a trigger.¡¯ With that conclusion, one might assume he would avoid stepping on that particular tile, however, Virus did the opposite. Swish! Swish! Fwish~¡­ Immediately, tens of arrows were triggered as they headed from all directions toward him. Fortunately, having expected the outcome, Virus had already retreated backward and easily eluded the arrows. Picking one of the arrows after that, Virus quickly discerned that each arrow was probably submerged in some type of lethal poison, denoting the true danger of this arrow trap wasn¡¯t their sharp ends but the poison they¡¯ve been doused with. ¡®Hmm, just as I thought¡­ but looking at the other arrows and the fresh cuts on the walls, a few people must¡¯ve passed this corridor already, it should be the representatives.¡¯ Regardless, now that he had determined the functionality of the traps, Virus began casually strolling through the path while his sense of awareness effortlessly unearthed the trap tiles as he smoothly kept away from them. ¡®Hmm, it may come in handy.¡¯ Picking one of the most heavily doused arrows on his way, Virus fastened it to his belt. He wasn¡¯t going to let go of any resources that could possibly be useful. Soon, progressing past the trap field, Virus¡¯ passage was uninterrupted as he swiftly ran through while maintaining his spread awareness around himself. After around five minutes of sprinting, he was once again facing a dilemma, a fork in the road to be exact. This time, however, there was no sign or even a sentence as he had to just pick one. So, without further ado, Virus choose one by luck again and darted inside. A short time later, as he was dashing through the corridor, Virus encountered walls and ceilings that were filled with rather gigantic holes in them. However, he didn¡¯t dilly-dally and proceeded forward! He had no intentions of stopping as long as he wasn¡¯t attacked or his awareness notified him of something dangerous. Unfortunately, he had merely taken some strides forward when he came across two familiar faces currently busy fighting a group of creatures that Virus could only describe as dire rats! ¡°Cheeky woman, Henna, you two need any extra hands?¡± In case it was any other representative Virus was encountering, he would¡¯ve sprinted through them without even throwing them a single glance, however, considering how the cheeky veiled woman had kind of saved him earlier, he naturally wasn¡¯t going to ignore them. Although Virus was completely indifferent to everything that was happening in the world unless it interested him in some way, there were also a few unique situations and cases where he wouldn¡¯t hesitate to act. One such case was related to his foes, people that provoked or moved against him with malicious intentions. If he deemed them worthy enough, he would stop at nothing to pay them tenfold back at least! Even though it might not happen immediately for the sake of his pleasure and plan, it was inevitable at the end of the road. Another situation was about his benefactors or those who had kind intentions. When it involved them, if he was truly capable, Virus would definitely make a move and repay them a hundred times. For instance, in case he found them in a quandary, danger, or in need of some assistance, he would not hold back. And right now, seeing the two struggling against a large number of creatures, Virus wasn¡¯t going to just ignore and move on. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Vee! Yes, we need h-¡± Spotting Virus, Henna wanted to ask for help cheerfully when the veiled woman beat her to it. ¡°Stop, hot face! I know you¡¯re trying to act tough and courageous in front of us since we¡¯re in a bit of danger, but I can¡¯t possibly bring myself to use a weakling like you as cannon fodder! My righteous heart does not allow it!¡± That, however, popped some veins on Virus¡¯ forehead while his expression turned dark. ¡°Huh¡­ you¡¯re still as cheeky as ever.¡± Then, no longer lingering around, Virus stormed at the closest dire rat! ¡®Impulse!¡¯ Barely perceivable lightning arcs flickered all over Virus¡¯s body as he punched its head. Wham! Like a ball without air, the dire rat¡¯s head caved in as it died at once. Wham~ Whacking another rat to death, Virus immediately felt the lack of his longsword. Now that the ring was gone, he didn¡¯t have a weapon and that meant he couldn¡¯t even utilize his ¡®Twisting Tempest Thrust¡¯ technique which required a longsword. ¡®Ah, I miss my longsword.¡¯ ¡®Should I just start the process of creating a Peak-Human class fist technique?¡¯ Just as that idea was raised in his head, shaking it, Virus rejected the proposition. ¡®No, the fist techniques are less lethal at the end of the day. Furthermore, right now I¡¯m in the process of decrypting and breaking down the movement-type techniques, so I don¡¯t really have the mental capacity for anything else at the moment.¡¯ BAM! ¡®Hmm, should I just learn one of the fist techniques I have in my database? Hmm, nope.¡¯ Victoriously killing the third rat, Virus concluded that learning a fist technique right now was also kind of unnecessary since he had no issues with facing the dire rats, thus, he temporarily decided against doing that as well. To the current Virus who was killing each dire rat with a single blow, utilizing a fist technique was a completely redundant endeavor that would do nothing but deplete his energy faster, therefore, unless necessary, he was against doing it. What was more essential right now was to preserve his energy as much as possible since the number of rats was rather big. As he proceeded to massacre the dire rats together with the other two ladies, Virus soon came to realize the obvious truth that his level of strength had experienced a sharp fall after losing the dark scales and the longsword. Before, when he was at the sixth level of Liberation, Virus could nimbly fight and defeat the weaker Low-Third Order creatures easily, however, now that he had broken through to the seventh level, since he had lost the ring, he felt as if he was still at the same level as before and could at most fight and defeat the same Low-Third Order monsters. He believed in case he was still in the sixth level of Liberation and the ring was gone, he would¡¯ve been no longer capable of fighting Low-Third Order beasts at all and it was only because of the recent breakthrough that he barely succeeded in compensating and making up for the loss. What that denoted was that Virus¡¯ capability in battling opponents several levels higher than him had fallen by an entire level. That¡¯s how significant the ring was to Virus. After a while of intense battle, at last, all the monsters were dead as three panting figures were left standing surrounded by a lot of dire rat carcasses. At the same time, focusing within himself, Virus noticed since the rats were not even in the Third Order, they had been totally helpless in affecting the synthesis rate of his seventh level in any major manner. Meanwhile, taking a brief glimpse of Virus¡¯ countenance, the veiled woman admitted, ¡°Wow, you¡¯re stronger than I thought you¡¯d be, hot face¡­ looks like you didn¡¯t even need my aid that day, huh, you¡¯re no damsel in distress, are you?¡± To that claim of hers, however, Virus could only respond internally, ¡®Well, I wasn¡¯t really this strong prior to setting foot into the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, so¡­¡¯ On the other side, now that she had a breather, an alarming realization hit the cheeky woman at last as she pointed her finger at Virus and started screaming dramatically. ¡°AH, WAIT! How the hell are you even here?¡± Chapter 454 - Its Vee! ¡°AH, WAIT! How the hell are you even here?¡± ¡°Me? Well, I was lucky enough to pass the Bridge to Heaven.¡± Exhibiting a half-smile, Virus vaguely responded. ¡°Wuh? That¡¯s impossible! You¡¯re shitting me, right? Lucky enough to pass it? What the hell do you take the Bridge to Heaven for, hot face? If it was something you can sweep through with luck alone, every rando would be here right now!¡± Not desiring to explain more specifically, Virus changed the subject, ¡°Anyhow, how could I catch up to you guys? I obviously entered the Invisible Fortress much later than you and you two are only here? Just how slow are you two?¡± ¡°Ah, actually¡­ that¡¯s because of our bad luck, the first gate we tried was the dead end, so we had to waste hours returning to the three gates of dead-end, dead, and end.¡± Henna was the one to reply instead this time. However, inspecting her expression, Virus could detect some hints of dissatisfaction over her face. ¡®Hmm, why is she not happy with me being here?¡¯ Meanwhile, the upper cheeks area of the veiled woman¡¯s face suddenly flushed red as she angrily vocalized, ¡°Damn it. We might have lagged too much behind compared to the others!¡± ¡°But¡­ why are you guys in such a rush though?¡± Puzzled about the reason behind the cheeky woman¡¯s rush, Virus interrogated casually. As a result of that, however, the two ladies gazed into each other¡¯s eyes for several seconds before the veiled woman seemed to have made a decision at last as she locked eyes with Virus and clarified the situation. ¡°Ah, well, being ahead of others here is always a boon since you¡¯d be able to have a monopoly over others if you came across a valuable treasure. But to be honest, that¡¯s not the accurate cause behind our haste right now. We¡¯re all are in a hurry because we just noticed this round of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World is rather special.¡± ¡°Special? Why is that?¡± Mystified by this odd set of circumstances, Virus demanded further elaboration. With a rare glint of gravity in her eyes, the veiled woman untangled the affair more. ¡°That¡¯s because thousands of years ago at one particular appearance of the Invisible Fortress, someone found an incredible treasure room, unfortunately, he was only capable of taking one item from that treasure room but even that item was so awesome that it made him one of the stronger cultivators of his time!¡± ¡°And?¡± With one brow arcing upward, she answered. ¡°And, at the time, since he wasn¡¯t ever going to be able to return, that person revealed where the treasure room was roughly located at.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ so you guys already had the map of this maze of infinity prior to even entering the Invisible Ancient Fortress World?¡± Gently touching his chin, Virus assumed the possibility. But to that assumption, the veiled lady only shook her head and denied, ¡°No, not really. That¡¯s because every time the Invisible Fortress appears and the trial takers participate in the maze of infinity they are randomly thrown to a different corner. And the maze of infinity is so large that the chances of the trial takers being dispatched to the same location are almost zero! Therefore, it doesn¡¯t really matter whether you have a map or not since it¡¯s entirely a futile endeavor.¡± ¡°All that particular cultivator revealed was a hint that will lead to the treasure room.¡± Finally done with her brief account of the affair, the veiled lady went quiet. Unfortunately, that attempt of illumination only forced Virus to be even more confused than before. ¡°Huh? Then doesn¡¯t that mean you guys are aimlessly chasing ghosts? I mean you claim you don¡¯t have a map, and that each time the representatives of that era are sent to a different place, so what¡¯s the point of having a hint when you don¡¯t even know where you are?¡± Together with a playful shove, the cheeky woman shed more light on the topic, ¡°That would¡¯ve been the case if we had not come across the three gates of red, yellow, and green.¡± ¡°Other than the hint that leads to the treasure room, that cultivator also mentioned in a passing that in his journey to the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, he had come across three entries of red, yellow, and green and that he actually picked the red door!¡± Waving three of her fingers in front of Virus¡¯ eyes, the cheeky woman chuckled in some amusement. Finally feeling as if the fog had melted away, Virus could easily connect all the dots together. ¡°Hmm, I see, so the impossible did happen in this round of the trial of the infinity maze. Then, considering this piece of information to be general knowledge and seeing that the red gate leads you to the treasure room, all the other representatives must not have hesitated at all before picking the red one and began charging ahead as fast as they could, right?¡± Finally getting a clear picture of the entire situation, Virus concluded. ¡°Exactly! That¡¯s why we need to hurry! Let¡¯s go together!¡± With her lips pursed together, the cheeky lady pointed at the path ahead while urging them to move swiftly. ¡°I would rather go alone though.¡± Virus denied without further ado. He was more inclined toward moving solo unless necessary. ¡°But¡­ hot face, the other representatives might have teamed up as well, so going alone would only endanger your life and ours¡­ we could be easily defeated if the others ganged upon us,¡± A sorrowful glint seemed to fill the veiled lady¡¯s eyes at once as she continued sadly. ¡°You¡¯re not going to let them gang up on us, right? Two frail ladies gang-raped and a strong man doing nothing but watch and let it happen¡­ sob¡­¡± ¡°Sob¡­ that turns you on, doesn¡¯t it, watching two fair ladies get gang-raped by other men.¡± Accompanied by restless movements of her body, the veiled woman seemed to be in anguish while tears filled the corner of her eyes. ¡®Here we go again.¡¯ On the other side, veins were about to pop on Virus¡¯ forehead while he nearly saw blood before him. ¡°I¡¯ll tag along, for now, so shut up.¡± In fact, even if it was just to pay back some of the favor, Virus would¡¯ve still willingly collaborated with her. She just had to tell him their life will be endangered instead of all these insolent behaviors. ¡­ Afterward, the trio sprinted on the narrow corridor for a while until the corridor itself began to gradually expand. By the end of the expansion, it became a titanic yet long hall that continued as far as the eyes could perceive! ¡°Hmm, what will we face this time, I wonder?¡± Virus mumbled as they proceeded forward cautiously. The more Virus studied his surroundings, the more suspicious he became. Right now, on both sides of the hall, a group of demonic faces was carved, and apparently, the number of demonic faces was at least in thousands. Furthermore, beneath each demonic countenance, a single withered corpse that had been nailed to the wall could be spotted. ¡°Huh? Did another Manticore do this?¡± Virus whispered to himself. ¡°What¡¯s a Manticore?¡± The befuddled veiled woman questioned since that was a term she¡¯d never heard or read about. ¡°That place right after the red gate when you guys left the academician representative behind and escaped by yourselves, there was a creature called Manticore there.¡± Hands clasped behind his back, Virus said. ¡°Really? That sneaky bastard was a Manticore? We couldn¡¯t even see what it looked like, so we were so frightened that we all started running without even daring to check behind us. That creepy place was no joke, to be honest!¡± Waving his fingers before the two, Virus revealed another truth. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think you two needed to run in the first place since you are both women, that creature only hunts men and probably didn¡¯t throw a single glance in your way.¡± Surprised by the fact, the veiled woman felt speechless. ¡°Wuh? For real? So we were scared for nothing?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He confirmed harshly. ¡°But how do you know all that? And how did you know it was a Manticore? And how did you survive that above everything?¡± Feeling lost, the veiled lady asked. The more he was in her company, the more mysterious Virus became to her eyes. ¡®Who exactly are you, hot face?¡¯ ¡°Well, I figured it out somehow through sheer luck.¡± Pulling his shoulders closer together, Virus replied in a laid-back manner. ¡°You¡¯re going with that luck bullshit again! Will you stop already? Just say I don¡¯t want to explain or something!¡± Tapping one foot on the hard floor, the veiled lady was feeling truly frustrated now. ¡°Well, whatever.¡± He answered while acting even more easy-going than before. ¡°Y-you!¡± Running her hand through her silky hair, she was only speechless. ¡°B-but, is there a Manticore here as well?¡± Meanwhile, scanning her surroundings, Henna¡¯s figure was shivering slightly as she inquired. ¡°Hmm, to be truthful, I don¡¯t believe that is the case actually. Looking at the state of those corpses, they¡¯ve all withered away while their flesh and bones remain on their body without much damage to them. A Manticore simply won¡¯t let the flesh of its prey rot away as it¡¯ll consume the meat while it¡¯s fresh. Only the bones will remain as it¡¯s the ration for a longer period of time.¡± ¡°I see, but, hot face, you must be very hot in the brain as well since you seem to be knowledgeable about everything, so smart! I¡¯m even more into you now.¡± With her chin held high, the cheeky woman acted unusually smug as if she couldn¡¯t be more proud of herself for choosing such a wise person as her man of interest. ¡°Anyway, nothing¡¯s happened so far, so maybe there are no challenges in this hall, let¡¯s rush over.¡± Henna stated, truly desiring to believe that herself. Afterward, while staying absolutely vigilant, Virus and the other two ladies continued to tread forward. In the meantime, without their notice, around three specific demonic faces, ancient runes began to quietly light up and shine. Next, the runes seemed to have become alive as they started vibrating while three of the withered corpses also started shivering in sync! On the other side, the party of three had only walked a few steps ahead when unexpectedly strange roars reached their ears. That nearly forced the two ladies¡¯ hearts to jump right into their mouths as their eyes went wide open. Although they were both strong, apparently, after experiencing the trials so far, they had deemed this place to be too creepy for them. Next, turning back, the trio caught the sight of three withered and rotten bodies currently striding toward them! ROARR~ ROAR! HHHHAAAAHHH~ ¡°Ahhh, the withered corpses are moving!¡± The color seemed to have left Henna¡¯s face at once as she screamed in absolute trepidation while the image of the charging opponents reflected within her eyes. ¡°Defend and attack!¡± Totally composed, Virus didn¡¯t hesitate to storm at one of the withered corpses at once before throwing a punch at the closest target. Wham! Unfortunately, reaching out with its palm, the corpse easily stopped Virus¡¯ strike! ¡°Damn, they¡¯re pretty strong! At least at the mid-Third Order in terms of pure might.¡± Analyzing and measuring the level of the corpse¡¯s strength, Virus surmised almost instantaneously. Following quickly, the corpse opened its mouth wide, revealing oddly sharp teeth before pouncing toward him in an attempt to bite the flesh off his neck! ¡°Get the hell away from my hot face!¡± Right as the opponent was about to land on Virus¡¯ body and bite his neck off, energy started gathering and churning on the veiled woman¡¯s staff as she smashed the enemy savagely and sent it flying away. ¡°Who¡¯s your hot face! Also, stop addressing me as hot face, it¡¯s Vee!¡± Concurrently, Virus thought to himself. ¡®How can someone be so annoying in every type of situation imaginable? Such a weirdo. I¡¯m more freaked out by you than this Invisible Fortress.¡¯ At some distance from the two, the assaulted corpse rose to its feet almost immediately as it charged at them again. Alas, the other two corpses were also upon the trio as well! ¡°That was one of the strongest attacks in my arsenal but it did absolutely nothing to it! In my opinion, we can¡¯t defeat them at all. They¡¯re also rather quick, if any of you have any brainstorms in regards to how to deal with them, now is the time to let it out!¡± As three withered enemies finally arrived before them, each of them went against one moving corpse. Boom! Bam! Wham! ¡°Argh!¡± While Virus and the cheeky one successfully blocked the incoming attack, Henna was sent flying away! Her performance had experienced a sharp fall due to the shock of witnessing moving corpses. As a matter of fact, even in the Cultivation Earth, being attacked by corpses was a terrifying concept, especially to a woman that had not seen much of the world. ¡°Sister Henna!¡± The cheeky woman¡¯s eyelids jumped as her expression became unusually grim.. Obviously, she held Henna just too dearly as it broke her heart to see her get hurt. Chapter 455 - Thats It! ¡®We can¡¯t fight them all, what should we do?¡¯ While dodging out of the way after a simple block, Virus began examining his surroundings such as the wall the withered corpses were nailed at, the demonic faces, the ancient runes that were currently shining brightly, and even the enemy in front of him. On the other side, the cheeky woman was defending Henna who had fainted due to the earlier assault. After a simple calculation and analysis of the hardness of the decayed corpse, Virus could easily confirm that he would be incapable of damaging it even if his longsword was still intact. ¡®Hmm, let¡¯s see if there¡¯s any trick to this trial. I just have this foreboding hunch they¡¯re not meant to be defeated in a direct clash.¡¯ Entering his time-freeze perception, Virus¡¯ mind began to go through every little detail in the surroundings. And as anticipated, after considering every small detail, it did not take long for him to come up with the possible methods of dealing with their opponents. ¡°Cheeky woman! Can you keep them busy for a moment? I have an idea that might work.¡± Turning toward the veiled lady, Virus shouted. ¡°Huh? A moment? Sure, I have a method of keeping all three in check for a minute or two.¡± Briefly feeling surprised by Virus¡¯ announcement, the veiled woman didn¡¯t hesitate to take out an unknown pill from her pocket as she swallowed it at once! Immediately, her energy started to boil, increase, and become much more chaotic. Apparently, the pill had forcefully made her a level stronger compared to before, albeit temporarily. Bam! Wham! Bam! Afterward, swiftly maneuvering around, she attacked the three wilted opponents once each, which changed all of their targets from Virus and the incapacitated Henna to herself. Amazingly, she was now fighting the three all by herself! ¡°I-I¡¯ll buy you exactly one minute. D-Do whatever you can in that duration!¡± Gnashing her teeth in pain, veins became visible around the veiled lady¡¯s eyes. Obviously, this was one of the side-effects of using the pill which was putting her body under a lot of pressure. ¡°Got it!¡± Sprinting toward the three demonic faces that had released the three dried-up corpses, Virus first examined the ring of ancient runes covering the demonic faces. ¡®Is this the source of their energy?¡¯ Pondering that, Virus quickly punched the engraved runes, trying to damage them in any way possible. After checking the hall earlier, Virus had come to realize that only the ancient runes around these three demonic faces were lighted up. And these were precisely the demonic faces that had released the three shrunken enemies! The rest of the wilted corpses remained motionless nailed to the walls of the hall while no ancient runes had turned on. In Virus¡¯ opinion, there was no way for dead carcasses to start moving by themselves. Logically, after having died, they should stay dead and there¡¯s no way for them to start moving as if they were alive. Or at least that would be the case unless an external force was controlling them like a puppet after attaching strings to them that could successfully make them the puppeteer¡¯s weapons of onslaughter. Bam! As his punch landed on one of the shining runes, regretfully, Virus understood although the wall behind it seemed to have been somewhat damaged, the runes themselves didn¡¯t seem to be harmed in any way as they continued shining like a ghost that cannot be touched. ¡®Hmm, could it be the runes are not the source?¡¯ As this notion flickered in his mind, Virus¡¯ pupils turned toward the demonic face at the center of the runes. Boom! Punching the demonic face once, a few cracks immediately became visible on it. At the same time, the runes trembled slightly. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Virus muttered while clenching his fist. Grrrr!!! ¡°Ahhh! Hot face, one of them suddenly started ignoring me and is on its way to you!¡± The veiled lady¡¯s yell reached him at this time. ¡®Huh? So this demonic face must be the source of that fucking corpse.¡¯ Now that he confirmed the tactic that would successfully deal with the enemies in the hall, Virus rushed to end the fight before the incoming corpse could get to him. Bang! Bang! Bam! Boom! After continuously punching the demonic face four times in a row utilizing all his might, the demonic face victoriously broke into several pieces! At the same time, like a puppet whose strings had been broken, the walking corpse that was just about to arrive behind Virus fell on the ground lifelessly! Bam! Bam! Bam!¡­ Not knowing how much longer the veiled lady would be capable of indulging the disgusting dead bodies, Virus immediately changed his target to the next two demonic faces as he shattered them apart one by one! One after another, two additional corpses fell on the floor, truly motionless this time! Simultaneously, some smoke left the broken demonic faces as they joined the marks behind each of their palms. ¡°H-Hot face! You did it! They truly died this time! Hee¡­ Haa¡­¡± Came the cheeky woman¡¯s cheerful scream. Sweat was drenching her clothes by now while she panted exhaustedly. Just as Virus was about to respond, unexpectedly, his eyes fell on the subsequent six demonic faces that started shaking slightly as one rune after another began to light up around them. Seeing this, a tremor went through Virus¡¯ heart as he knew the situation was going to get much worse in case they stayed any longer in this cursed place, thus, sprinting toward the veiled lady, he shouted. ¡°We need to get the fuck out of here before the next round of withered corpses starts walking! Grab Henna and let¡¯s run!¡± Subsequently, after the cheeky woman¡¯s nod, together with the unconscious Henna, they mustered every ounce of strength in their body as they dashed to the end of the hall before vanishing from it! ¡°Phew¡­¡± After leaving the terrifying hall, both the veiled lady and Virus let out relieved sighs at the same time. That, however, attracted their gazes into one another soon. And after a brief few seconds of locking eyes, they both fell into a burst of uncontrollable laughter. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± ¡°That was a close one, hot face.¡± The cheeky lady declared while maintaining eye contact with Virus¡¯ attractive eyes. Alas, Virus shattered their special moment apart by urging her next, ¡°Yeah, wake her up though, we should continue.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡­ Sometime later, as she woke Henna up, the trio proceeded on their path through the maze of infinity. While on the way, they encountered several traps. For instance, once, they came across a really narrow corridor where Henna mistakenly stepped on a trap trigger which resulted in a pit opening up beneath their feet. Luckily, Virus had been vigilant the entire time as he grabbed both their arms and jumped forward using all his might just as the pit was about to eat the two women alive! After that, their path proceeded unhindered until they reached a room with four gates! However, what was unique about the four gates was that each of them was made of special materials. The first gate was made up of glass alone! The second passage had a metal door. The third door was actually made of burning magma! And the final gateway was just a wooden gate with leaves growing here and there. Above the gates, only a sentence was visible. ¡®Four paths, one destination!¡¯ ¡°Ah!¡± Reading that phrase, both the veiled woman and Henna yelped flabbergast! ¡°Hmm, what¡¯s up? Is something wrong?¡± Unclear about the cause of their surprise, Virus questioned. ¡°T-This is the hint the cultivator was talking about! Four gates of glass, metal, magma, and wood with the words ¡®Four paths, one destination¡¯ carved above them! This is place leads to the treasure room!¡± Taken aback, the veiled woman explained while pointing at the doors. She also added, ¡°The cultivator went through the wooden door, but it is believed all gates lead to the treasure room!¡± ¡°Hmm, is that so? Let¡¯s not waste any time then, let¡¯s go!¡± With that, Virus walked before the wooden door and tried pushing it open. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he shoved or pulled, it just wouldn¡¯t budge. ¡°That gate must be occupied, based on the cultivator¡¯s hint, only one group can enter a gate at a time as it gets locked up afterward. Try the magma gate!¡± The cheeky woman stated while fidgeting with her clothes. ¡°Is that so?¡± Heeding the advice, Virus tried pushing the magma door open. Woefully, it was also locked. Next, trying the metal door, while furrowing his brows, Virus knew it was also occupied. ¡®Hope no one¡¯s inside the final gate.¡¯ Deliberating that, Virus shoved the gate forward. If this door was blocked as well, honestly, Virus wasn¡¯t quite sure what their next plan of action should be since they might just be trapped here forever. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem like they were that unlucky since the glass gate easily opened up! ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Signaling with his hand, Virus told them to follow him inside as they launched into it without further ado. ¡­ Currently, in front of the trio, Virus could see a tiled road that continued to the unperceivable distance. However, the reason why the trio¡¯s eyelids jumped open upon laying their sight on the corridor ahead of them was that all around the tiled path was surrounded by ocean and water! Meanwhile, apparently, there was an invisible wall that seemed to prevent any water from entering or leaking into the corridor itself, much like an aquarium. ¡°Woaaah!¡± Watching the ocean surrounding the corridor while being unable to invade it for some reason, the veiled woman¡¯s eyes began to shine brilliantly while she jumped around in joy, inspecting here and there. She was absolutely enchanted! ¡°So beautiful!¡± She exclaimed watching the various types of sea creatures that passed by from time to time. ¡°Yeah, it is¡­ until it¡¯s not, so let¡¯s just pass through here as quickly as possible.¡± Through his experience so far, Virus was confident that every time there was a change in scenery, some kind of deadly trial or trap was waiting for them, therefore, he didn¡¯t want to stay here for even a single split-second. After that, for two minutes, the trio sped through the aquarium corridor. Throughout the entire way, the two women seemed to be mesmerized by the scenery around them, however, by Virus¡¯ insistence, they maintained their pace. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any danger here-¡± the veiled lady had just muttered these words jovially when out of nowhere, a dark shadow was cast upon the trio. Unconsciously, the trio raised their heads upward and looked at the source of the shadow, however, when their eyes landed on the origin of the shadow, the two ladies¡¯ face went ashen white at once while with a shake of his head, Virus helplessly voiced, ¡°You jinxed it. Don¡¯t you know about the red flag?¡± Right now, within the ocean in their line of sight, there was a gigantic creature sitting casually while staring back at them. However, looking at its features, Virus thought it was oddly familiar since it was an enormous creature with the body of a lion and the wings of a bird with the terrifying head of a woman attached to its neck! ¡®The body of a lion again, but the head of a woman this time instead of a man¡¯s¡­ and no scorpion tail. Additionally, this one has wings much like that of a bird.¡¯ He scrutinized while making a resemblance between the gigantic being in front of him and the Manticore he had confronted a while ago. However, while the Manticore was just a couple of meters in size, this one¡¯s gigantic size was incomparable to it, so he couldn¡¯t just say it must be a female Manticore. ¡°The Sphinx.¡± Rather, Virus could immediately connect this being in front of him to another mythological creature of the Earth of Technology called the Sphinx which originated from Ancient Greek itself! ¡°S-Sphinx? W-what is that?¡± With her voice cracking up due to the horror she was experiencing at the moment, the veiled woman barely asked. Not responding to the question, however, Virus¡¯ attention was focused on the massive being in front of him as he studied the energy that was currently being released from all over its body. Woefully, the more he examined the energy and tried to determine the possible cultivation level of the being in front of him, the darker Virus¡¯ face became. ¡®I can¡¯t even guess how powerful this thing is¡­ probably a few stages above Liberation! Damn it, I don¡¯t think we can get out of this alive if the situation escalates to direct confrontation. What should we do?¡¯ Meanwhile, considering how the Manticore had behaved pretty much similar to the general knowledge available on Earth, Virus hoped this one would do the same, or at least similar to a particular version of it! Unlike the Manticore, the sphinx had several versions. Thus, Virus could only hope that this one was that version he had in mind. At the same time, beside him, both Henna and the veiled lady continued shivering in fear while shuffling backward step by step gradually. Apparently, they wanted to escape from this place. ¡°Don¡¯t move, both of you. This creature is too strong. If it wants to kill us, there¡¯s no avoiding it. We would be dead before even realizing we¡¯re about to die, so stop the futile act already. You may just provoke it like that.¡± Catching the meaning behind Virus¡¯ words, Henna powerlessly fell on her knees as tears started to roll down her face. She had lost all hope of survival. As a matter of fact, even the cheeky woman wasn¡¯t in any better shape as she was currently busy praying one last time, ¡®Oh, my goddess, please don¡¯t let me die right now! I haven¡¯t even gotten married yet!¡¯ Indeed, being a few stages above the Liberation, Virus could only make a wild guess in regards to how terrifying the beast before them must be. Nevertheless, as Virus began to wonder what their next logical course of action should be, an ancient yet mesmerizing sound of a woman overwhelmed them. ¡°ANSWER ME THIS RIGHT AND ENTER THE FIRST TREASURY, ANSWER ME THIS WRONG AND ENTER THE AFTERLIFE.¡± Chapter 456 - Rejoice! ¡°ANSWER ME THIS RIGHT AND ENTER THE FIRST TREASURY, ANSWER ME THIS WRONG AND ENTER THE AFTERLIFE.¡± Listening to the deafening yet appealing sound, Virus took a deep breath of relief while pondering, ¡®It must be the riddle version. That¡¯s great!¡¯ ¡°It means it will only attack and kill us if we get the riddle wrong.¡± Murmuring that briefly, Virus turned toward Henna and the veiled lady as he explained how this trial was going to work. As Virus was finished elaborating the situation, both women stared at the sphinx with gaping jaws. There was no doubt they were greatly nonplussed by the strange test where it didn¡¯t involve any type of battle whatsoever. In fact, it was an extremely straightforward test, one either answers the riddle correctly and is rewarded, or that person answers it wrong and dies! There were no other alternatives like answering it wrong and then escaping, fighting, or even perhaps killing the Sphinx since the monster in front of them was too strong for any of that to be an option! ¡°Really?¡± The veiled lady asked again, wanting to make sure she had heard right. ¡°Yeah. You two don¡¯t need to be worried though, I¡¯m pretty good at this game. All you two need to do is remain silent and let me do the talking, is that clear?¡± Frowning a little, Virus reassured and warned them at the same time. ¡°But-¡° ¡°No buts! Just trust me and leave everything else to me.¡± Seeing the two finally nodding their heads, Virus no longer delayed the matter as he turned toward the Sphinx and declared. ¡°We understand, please ask the first riddle.¡± ¡°GOOD! HERE¡¯S THE FIRST ONE! TELL ME THIS, WHAT IS IT THAT GIVEN ONE, YOU¡¯LL HAVE EITHER TWO OR NONE?¡± The ear-splitting voice of the Sphinx reached the trio at once. On the other side, catching the question, both women started feeling extremely anxious because no matter how hard they contemplated the question, they could not think of any possible objects that when given one turns into two or none. Virus, however, didn¡¯t even need to think before answering the riddle, ¡°It¡¯s a choice.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Promptly, a deep silence descended upon the aquarium corridor as the Sphinx silently watched Virus¡¯ expression for quite a while. Beside him, droplets of sweat were rolling down the two ladies¡¯ faces as they anxiously awaited the Sphinx¡¯s judgemental response. ¡°THAT IS CORRECT! YOU ARE PERMITTED TO ENTER THE FIRST TREASURY!¡± ¡°REMEMBER, YOU CAN ONLY BRING ONE ITEM BACK WITH YOU! IF YOU BRING MORE, THE GAME IS OVER AND YOU SHALL BE SENT ON A JOURNEY TO THE AFTERLIFE.¡± The resounding warning of the Sphinx reverberated in all directions, reminding them to not be uselessly greedy and die a dog¡¯s death as a result. Truthfully, its voice was so thundering and loud that the two ladies were feeling a sharp pain in their eardrums every time it spoke. Following that, magically, four doors appeared in front of the trio in the very fabric of space itself while the Sphinx announced, ¡°THE FIRST TREASURY HAS FOUR ENTRANCES AND FOUR SEPARATE ROOMS, ENTER!¡± After that, the women and Virus briefly gazed into one another¡¯s eyes before Virus finally opened his mouth, ¡°Just select whichever entry you desire, just don¡¯t choose the one I do, I¡¯ll also follow that rule and avoid yours, see you.¡± With that, turning around, Virus casually picked one before vanishing into it while leaving behind a harrumphing cheeky woman who screamed, ¡°I don¡¯t wanna follow you too! Hmph!¡± Entering the treasury, the first course of action Virus took was to inspect his surroundings. Currently, all around him, he could perceive hundreds of books neatly arranged. Each book was stationed above a platform as there were hundreds of such platforms visible at sight. Ambling beside a platform, Virus casually picked a random book and looked at its title. [Movement Technique Name: Dancing Lover, Class: Early-Human] ¡®Huh? What¡¯s this shitty book?¡¯ Putting it down Virus picked the second book from the second stand closest to him. [Attack Technique Name: Qi Blade of Yitian Sect, Class: Mid-Human] ¡°Huh?¡± Furrowing his brows more, Virus quickly rushed to the other stands as he checked one book after another. Alas, after half an hour of inspecting the various books, Virus noticed the highest-ranked was a mere High-Human class technique and that was in fact the only technique that had barely reached the High level. ¡°Such a worthless treasury.¡± Feeling greatly annoyed by this shitty treasure room, disappointment overwhelmed Virus. ¡®If it was a Human-class technique I desired, I have shit tons of that, why would I even bother myself with these trashy techniques in this fucking room?¡¯ As this notion went through Virus¡¯ head, he was just about to turn around and leave the treasure room empty-handed, when suddenly, his attention was drawn to a certain corner of the treasure room where a skeleton had long died at. ¡®I wonder how this person died here¡­¡¯ Having already deliberated regarding this mystery earlier, Virus¡¯ focus was now garnered to a certain object shining beneath the palm of the corpse. It was something he had missed previously due to standing in a different position. Thus, rushing to the skeleton, Virus quickly picked up the unknown object and began scanning it. It was a metal container with the size and a shape just like that of a tube which is usually used in order to contain blood for testing in laboratories. Casually playing with the small finger-sized container next, Virus tried making heads or tails of the tool in his grasp. A few seconds later, abruptly, Virus¡¯ eyelids jumped open as he unearthed a fact, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s¡­¡± Immediately transmitting some of his energy from one of his liberated pathways into the tiny container, Virus discovered a change. The moment he did so, amazingly, Virus sensed a connection establishing itself between his awareness and the container itself while he located two square meters of space within the tool in his palm. It was also precisely at that time when Virus yelped in recognition, ¡°A Spatial Container!¡± Indeed, just as Virus was claiming, what he was holding right now was something called a ¡®spatial container¡¯ which was something that¡¯s commonly used in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi. However, on this Cultivation Earth, truthfully, spatial containers seemed to be much more sparse in comparison. Examining inside the spatial container, Virus¡¯ eyes were already glowing while a grin of joy crept over his face. ¡°Nice! This is a good find. Even though it¡¯s just two square meters of space, a least it¡¯s better than leaving with nothing at all.¡± Next, no longer wanting to remain in this trashy room, Virus left without any further ado. The instant he left, the four magical doors vanished on their own. At the same time, probing the faces of the two women who were already back, Virus could hardly detect any traces of happiness on their expressions. Apparently, they were also quite let down by the treasures in the first treasury. Still, they had each chosen a High-Human class technique since they didn¡¯t want to return empty-handed. ¡°DO YOU WANT TO LEAVE OR PROCEED TO THE NEXT RIDDLE?¡± The blaring yet charmingly feminine voice of the Sphinx reached them once more. Based on its words, Virus knew they probably had two options after each riddle was over, either to leave or continue risking their lives. Of course, considering Virus¡¯ identity, saying he was risking his life in this trial would be nothing but an exaggeration. To be honest, Virus had already determined this trial of the Sphinx to be the easiest one so far. Beside him, hearing whether they wanted to proceed to the next question or not, both the veiled woman and Henna felt very worried. ¡°Hot face, I think it¡¯d be better if we leave. I mean that clearly wasn¡¯t the treasure room I was expecting¡­ it doesn¡¯t make any sense to risk our lives over a bunch of Human class techniques, let¡¯s just leave, okay?¡± With her lips firmly pressing together beneath the veil, the cheeky woman proposed. ¡°Yeah, Vee! Let¡¯s just leave already, tell the Sphinx we don¡¯t want to proceed with the riddles please.¡± Henna also remarked in a concerned tone. Virus was about to respond and dispel some of their fears when out of nowhere, the Sphinx initiated a conversation on its own, ¡°THE FIRST TREASURE ROOM IS THE LEAST VALUABLE ONE, THE SECOND ONE HAS BETTER THINGS INSIDE. THEREFORE, THE MORE YOU GET THE RIDDLES CORRECTLY, THE BETTER THE PRIZES SHALL BE, SO CONSIDER YOUR FINAL CHOICE VERY CAREFULLY.¡± Surprised by its unexpected interference, Virus gazed into the Sphinx¡¯s eyes and tried detecting the emotions that were currently exhibiting themselves on its face. Soon, realizing something, a vicious grin crept over Virus¡¯ face. ¡®It¡¯s slightly clenching its jaws while its tone was unusually sharper just now. This Sphinx is obsessed with riddles just like an addicted gambler that keeps gambling until it loses everything. It believes it will win as long as the game goes on.¡¯ Now feeling entertained by the Sphinx, while unconsciously licking his lips in anticipation, Virus was even more steeled to play with the Sphinx as much as it wanted. ¡°Let¡¯s hear the second riddle.¡± Therefore, ignoring the two upset women, Virus urged the Sphinx to go on. ¡°GREAT!¡± Puffing out its chest, the anxiousness seemed to leave the creature¡¯s expression as smugness replaced it. ¡°WHITE BIRD, FEATHERLESS. FLYING OUT OF HEAVENS. FLYING OVER SEA AND LAND. DYING IN MY HAND. WHAT IS IT?¡± Even more pleased with itself, the Sphinx confidently awaited Virus¡¯ answer, apparently, it was much more self-assured this time. Gently poking Virus¡¯ hand, the veiled lady brought its face closer to Virus as she whispered into his ears, ¡°I think it¡¯s talking about an ice dragon. I mean think about it, a snow dragon could be considered a white bird. Dragons also don¡¯t have feathers, they have scales. Moreover, they can probably reach and fly out of heavens, fly over sea and land easily, and they may even die in that sphinx¡¯s hand if it is indeed strong enough!¡± Hisss~ Promptly putting his index finger over his lips, Virus glared at her while signaling her to stay quiet and not say anything else out loud. Who knew if the addicted riddler would hear it and insist that was their reply. In case that truly happened, Virus would feel wronged even in death! At the same time, directly looking into the titanic monster¡¯s eyes, Virus vocalized confidently, ¡°It¡¯s definitely a snowflake. A featherless white bird that flies out heaven over lands and seas which eventually dies and melts in the hands of anyone that catches it.¡± Subsequently, after catching Virus¡¯ statement, a chattering noise resounded in all directions, which quickly brought a broad smile over Virus¡¯ face as he wondered, ¡°Huh, it¡¯s annoyed right now because I¡¯m right again.¡± ¡°Y-YOU ARE CORRECT AGAIN! YOU MAY ENTER THE SECOND TREASURY!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Covering her mouth using her slender fingers, the cheeky woman cried out in some trepidation while imagining their current situation in case she had carelessly opened her mouth earlier. Briefly afterward, out of nowhere, four gates popped into existence, urging the three participants to dive in and decide their prize for this round. Before that, however, throwing a simple glance at the countenance of the veiled woman who was still a little edgy regarding her previous close-call error, Virus reassured her, ¡°Just trust me, okay? I¡¯ll get us out of here alive, go pick your reward now!¡± Harshly slapping her back right above her butt area, Virus tried easing some of her tension. ¡°Ahhhmm, you slapped my ass!¡± Blushing, the cheeky woman moaned in an excessive manner. ¡°No, I did not!¡± Feeling irritated, Virus denied. Nonetheless, seeing she was back to her normal state, a triumphant half-smile showed itself on his lips. ¡°Ah, okay, see you soon, hot face. Thanks for the ass slap by the way.¡± ¡°Just shut up and go!¡± Seeing her eyes curve up and narrow exotically, Virus understood that she was smiling behind her veil right now. A few moments later, after the two women entered the same door together, Virus once again decided to launch into another one altogether. To be frank, he preferred being alone without any distractions around while he was busy collecting his rewards, and that¡¯s why he entered another gate. The instant he was inside, however, Virus noticed he was astonishingly facing a room filled with all types of weapons! To be accurate, he was witnessing a wide range of cold weapons proudly displaying themselves over the various panels and platforms. There were knives, daggers, blades, swords, axes, spears, bows, crossbows, longswords, heavy swords, etc. Nearly all kinds of weapons could be spotted beautifully placed above platforms and panels all around the treasure room. Strolling toward the closest stage, Virus stared at an ax that had been put on display while checking its short description below. [Ax Name: River Hacker, Power: 1st Tempering Item.] With those few words, Virus shook his head as he felt quite let down with the said weapon. Just as monstrous beasts were classified from the first to the tenth Order according to their level of cultivation and strength, all equipment in the world such as weapons, armors, helmets, etc. were also ranked. The ranking for the equipment began from the ¡®First Tempering Items¡¯ to the ¡®Tenth Tempering Items¡¯ and Equipment. Based on that, ordinarily, when a cultivator enters the Disentanglement Stage, the weakest weapon that would suit the cultivator needs to at least be a First Tempering Item. At the Liberation Stage, the equipment of First Tempering would no longer be suitable to the said cultivator as that individual would be required to replace it with a Second Tempering Item at the very least. And obviously, in the Sublimity Emergence stage, the bare minimum equipment that¡¯s necessary for wielding increases to the Third Tempering. Why it¡¯s called ¡®tempering¡¯? The reason why the items and equipment were ranked as such mainly had to do with a subsidiary job called ¡®Blacksmithing¡¯ which many talented cultivators pursued. In the Blacksmithing cultivation occupation, the level, durability, might, and other characteristics of the equipment were all determined based on the number of temperings the blacksmith was capable of achieving in that particular item. For example, when a blacksmith succeeds in tempering a sword once, in addition to the types of material utilized, the energy of that blacksmith would also triumphantly influence the sword to an extent as the sword would be considered a sword of First Tempering. If that blacksmith succeeds in tempering the sword twice in a row, the sword would naturally be elevated to the state of Second Tempering Item! Of course, the issue of how many times exactly a blacksmith could temper an item was all dependent on the skills and proficiency of that specific blacksmith. Nevertheless, after throwing a brief glimpse at the ax, Virus adjusted his eyesight to another weapon and its description [Spear Name: Maim Spearposh, Power: 2st Tempering Item.] ¡°Nah¡­ too weak.¡± Whispering that, Virus referred to one weapon after another, and before long, he was finished checking all the weapons available in the treasure room as he successfully put together a list of the ranking of the weapons. Subsequently, that information was automatically put on display. [The number of each tempered item is as follows. First Tempering Weapons: 167, Second Tempering Weapons: 32, Third Tempering Equipment: 3.] ¡°I don¡¯t need the First or Second Tempered Items, which leaves me with these three.¡± After briefly inspecting the only three Third Tempering Weapons in this treasure room which happened to be a dagger, a longsword, and a sword, Virus referred to their description next. [Dagger Name: The Quiet Killer of East, Power: 3rd Tempering Item.] [Longsword Name: Great Reacher, Power: 3rd Tempering Item.] [Sword Name: Steel of Darkness, Power: 3rd Tempering Item.] ¡®Which one should I choose?¡¯ Despite currently asking himself that question, from the moment his eyes had landed upon the Steel of Darkness, Virus had been reminded of his own ¡®The Darkest Night, The Shining Moon¡¯ which awakened many nostalgic memories for him. Thus, grabbing the sword, Virus closely scrutinized its shape. The pitch-black cross hilt was followed by the graphite gray blade of the sword which was currently reflecting Virus¡¯ own image much like a mirror. Moreover, from the hilt itself to nearly the tip of the sword, the middle section of the blade was chiseled by absolutely eye-catching marks that transmitted an emotion of luxury and chivalry to its wielder and foes alike. ¡°Rejoice! For you have been fated to a great master!¡± As Virus was finished uttering that sentence full of pride, the humming Steel of Darkness vanished as he stored it within his spatial container. {A/N: The sword¡¯s picture is attached both here and in our Discord.} Chapter 457 - Echo While leaving the treasure room, Virus contemplated the possible consequences and benefits that will now result due to obtaining a new sword, a spectacular one at that. The main ¡®disadvantage¡¯ that Virus was currently thinking about was the fact that now that he didn¡¯t have a longsword, his previous Twisting Tempest Thrust attack technique would become totally useless. On the plus side, at the end of the day, the Twisting Tempest Thrust had been merely a Mid-Human technique which at most required four liberated pathways alone, denoting that its usefulness had already ended when he had broken through from the Fifth Level of Liberation. Right now, Virus was at the seventh level of Liberation which was considered the first taboo of Liberation. Furthermore, he was about eighty-eight percent finished with that level and even hoped to break through to the eighth level provided some luck and the right circumstances. Thus, when the bigger picture was taken into account, it was really a good outcome rather than a bad one. Now, what Virus required was a Peak-Human class ¡®attack¡¯ technique to balance his might in nearly all aspects. Unfortunately, without even needing to check, he was aware that he had no such technique in his database. However, frankly, that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t capable of getting his hands on such a technique. All he needed to do was begin the procedure of decrypting his attack techniques before sparking the development process of his own personal and peerless Peak-Human class skill. Unfortunately, what was stopping Virus from doing so at the moment was the other operation that was occupying his mindscape as he was busy deciphering thousands of techniques in order to create the ultimate Peak-Human Movement skill. Focusing on that subject, Virus noticed that there was already enough data to put together the second form of his unnamed movement technique. Moreover, with a little bit of time, he would be prepared to even put together the third form! ¡®The first form is called ¡®Impulse¡¯ and it requires five liberated pathways.¡¯ Massaging his chin in a passing, Virus went on with his deliberation process. ¡®My second form will now naturally make use of six liberated pathways, there¡¯s no doubt in that.¡¯ ¡®However, which attribute do I select and how should I take advantage of it? That is the question.¡¯ Whilst already having some ideas on the topic, Virus needed more deliberation period to come to a final decision. Focusing his eyes on the path ahead, Virus realized that he was upon the exit gate by now. So, after a momentary pause and a glance at the treasury one last time, he took a step forward and materialized in front of the two ladies and the sphinx once again. ¡°Ah, that took you long enough.¡± The veiled lady said with her clearly wronged eyes as if she was asking, ¡®How could you leave us alone with this ugly thing for so long? What if we were ravaged and slaughtered?¡¯ ¡°Well, I had to be careful with my choice. Anyway¡­¡± After a brief clarification, looking up at the Sphinx, Virus demanded the riddles to continue. Suddenly, a rather evil grin took shape in the Sphinx¡¯s eyes while its expression screamed ¡®You¡¯re dead now.¡¯ However, outwardly, its tone was the same as before as it merely started elaborating a slightly different game design and rules. ¡°THE FOLLOWING RIDDLE GAME WILL BE A BIT DIFFERENT.¡± Rumble~ Just as it was done blaring the sentence, abruptly, the tiled floor began quaking as a huge tablet of stone sprouted into the trio¡¯s sight while the Sphinx proceeded. The tablet was filled with a rectangular grid of white-shaded squares. ¡°THIS IS A RIDDLE GAME I INVENTED. I CALL IT THE ¡®RIDDLE ME TOGETHER¡¯! THIS TIME, OUR LITTLE RIDDLE GAME SHALL BE EVEN HARDER!¡± The Sphinx announced. Meanwhile, looking at the tablet filled with squares, Virus speechlessly thought, ¡®Isn¡¯t that a crossword? He thinks he invented that?¡¯ ¡®Well, it¡¯s understandable though. This small space is the entire world of the Sphinx, so whatever he comes up within his own closed space, he considers himself the first creator¡­¡¯ Running his fingers through his metallic silver hair, Virus wondered the profound question, ¡®That makes me wonder whether the human race of my future world was like that as well¡­ could there be another race out there in the infinite multiverses that is even more advanced than the human race of my future world.¡¯ With an unfocused gaze, Virus listened to explanations of the monster while pondering to himself. ¡®Though this game of hers is indeed a bit different than your common crossword since I see no black-shaded squares, only white ones. That means one also has to accurately guess on their own how many letters the answer to a question contains. Hmm, that elevates the difficulty to a higher level I guess.¡¯ ¡°IN ORDER TO WIN THE RIDDLE GAME THIS TIME, YOU NEED TO GET ALL THE FOUR RIDDLES RIGHT. IN FACT, NOT ONLY DO YOU NEED TO GET THEM RIGHT, THE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL WORDS NEED TO CONCUR OTHERWISE-¡° ¡°No need to elaborate more, I got the rules already. Let¡¯s get to the game.¡± Raising his arm, Virus interjected the beast. He wasn¡¯t going to waste his time and keep listening to something he was already aware of. ¡°IS THAT SO? THAT¡¯S BETTER FOR ME ANYWAY, DON¡¯T CRY WHEN YOU¡¯RE ABOUT TO BE KILLED AND SAY THE GAME WASN¡¯T FAIR THOUGH¡­ YOU OFFERED THIS AND STOPPED ME YOURSELF.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let¡¯s begin.¡± Waving his palm around, Virus signaled the Sphinx to move on. Displeased by his arbitrary behavior, the Sphinx continued with newfound vigor while looking forward to the time it could finally kill Virus. ¡°OKAY. SO, THE FIRST RIDDLE FOR THE FIRST VERTICAL SQUARES IS THIS¡­ MY THUNDER COMES BEFORE THE LIGHTNING. MY LIGHTNING COMES BEFORE THE CLOUDS. MY RAIN DRIES ALL THE LAND IT TOUCHES. WHAT AM I?¡± Inspecting the first column, Virus saw that ten squares could be filled, signifying the answer either had ten letters or less. Therefore, with no delay, Virus prompted the monster to fill it with the word ¡®Volcano¡¯. ¡°ARE YOU SURE? YOU KNOW YOU CAN¡¯T EDIT THEM LATER ON WHEN YOU GET TO THE SUBSEQUENT RIDDLES. ALL OF THEM NEED TO CONCUR.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure, tell me the next riddle.¡± Waving again, Virus urged it to proceed. Beside him, the veiled lady was absolutely silent as she had no intentions of opening her mouth in the slightest since she had already learned a dangerous listen at the earlier riddle game. ¡°ALRIGHT, YOUR UPCOMING ANSWER NEEDS TO FILL THE HORIZONTAL SQUARES WHILE CONCURRING WITH THE LETTER ¡®A¡¯ OF ¡®VOLCANO¡¯, SO THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE RESPONDING.¡± ¡°WHAT CAN YOU HOLD IN YOUR RIGHT HAND BUT NEVER IN YOUR LEFT?¡± ¡®For real?¡¯ A little dumbfounded, Virus replied without any delay. ¡°Left Hand.¡± Grrrr~ A low growl reached the trio at this time, forcing Virus to grin at the clearly frustrated behavior of the Sphinx. ¡®I¡¯m beginning to think this titanic creature is somewhat idiotically cute, haha¡­¡¯ ¡°NEXT ANSWER SHOULD FILL THE VERTICAL SQUARES WHILE CONCURRING WITH THE LETTER ¡®H¡¯ OF ¡®LEFT HAND¡¯.¡± ¡°Sure¡­¡± ¡°I SPEAK WITHOUT A MOUTH AND HEAR WITHOUT EARS. I HAVE NO BODY, BUT I COME ALIVE WITH THE WIND. WHAT AM I?¡± ¡°Echo.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Chapter 458 - Miss... By now, the Sphinx was obviously cursing Virus internally as its expression contorted to many incomprehensible shapes. ¡°THIS ONE IS THE HARDEST SO FAR SINCE THE ANSWER DEFINITELY NEEDS TO CONCUR WITH THE LETTER ¡®O¡¯ IN ¡®ECHO¡¯ AND THE LETTER ¡®N¡¯ IN ¡®VOLCANO¡¯ SINCE YOU ALREADY FILLED THEM AS SUCH. SO, TELL ME THIS¡­¡± ¡°WHAT TIME IS SPELLED THE SAME FORWARDS AND BACKWARD?¡± ¡°Noon.¡± As laid-back as ever, Virus answered, obliging the monster to fill the row with his intended letters. ROOOOAAAR! Listening to the Sphinx roaring as if it had just experienced the worst loss of its life only made Virus feel like he was watching an amusing live drama in front of him. In fact, he kind of missed having a cup of tea right now. What was supposed to initially amuse and entertain the Sphinx had now turned into a game that entertained Virus instead. ¡°T-THAT I-IS CORRECT! YOU MAY ENTER THE THIRD TREASURY!¡± Following that, four new doors materialized in front of the three. ¡°See you soon guys.¡± Smiling from ear to ear, Virus winked at the veiled lady and Henna before launching into one of the doors. On the other side, having long become dumbfounded by the entire situation in front of them, the two women could only whisper to one another. ¡°He¡¯s not just good, is he?¡± ¡°Ah, no, hot face is more like a grandmaster at solving riddles, definitely! Smart, handsome, talented, and strong! Ah, I want him even more now!¡± Ignoring the strange parts of her sentence, Henna confirmed, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. He doesn¡¯t even think before responding.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s go into a treasure room for now.¡± After entering the third treasury, the scene Virus perceived was tens of thousands of small wooden cases that had been stored over the panels installed all around the room. ¡°What¡¯s inside the cases?¡± Gradually strolling beside a panel, Virus curiously grabbed a random case before opening it. The instant he opened it, however, a sharp aroma of various plants hit his nose. ¡®Hmm, a pill?¡¯ Closing the case, Virus picked another one, however, that one also contained a pill. ¡®So those are special cases that can maintain the quality of pills no matter how much time passes. But what¡¯s the information about these pills?¡¯ Thus, Virus tried discovering any description or detail that might have been left on the panel or the case itself. Alas, even after searching for nearly fifteen minutes, he could guarantee that there were indeed no details provided regarding this or any other pill for that matter. The only information was the name of the pills which were scrawled only on some of the wooden cases alone while the rest didn¡¯t even have their names carved. ¡°Nothing about their grades, effects, or whatnot, eh?¡± Although there wasn¡¯t even the most basic of information about any of them, Virus at least started checking the names of the pills that¡¯s been made available. However, it didn¡¯t take long for him to notice that he was unknowledgeable about most of the names. ¡®Guess this is the bad thing about being in the ancient times of the past, most things are bound to be different from the future.¡¯ Proceeding to another corner, Virus was just about to pass by a panel, when a particular name scrawled on one of the cases garnered his undivided attention. ¡°Absolute Liberation Leveling.¡± Reading that title out loud, Virus¡¯ eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets while his mind jumped to a specific name mentioned within his database. In his past world of the future, in the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi, there was a record of an ancient pill the recipe of which had long gone extinct. But, according to that information found and mentioned, a single one of those pills was said to be able to unconditionally raise the level of a cultivator in the Liberation stage by one entire level! It didn¡¯t matter if one took it in the first level of Liberation or at the fifth, or even whether the synthesis rate was at once percent or ninety percent, the point was whenever a cultivator consumed an Absolute Liberation Leveling, the cultivator would immediately be elevated to one percent synthesis of the following level in the most perfect manner possible! In fact, not only was there a record of a pill like Absolute Liberation Leveling which mainly functioned in the Liberation stage, it was mentioned that there had been other pills like that in the ancient times of the past. Albeit, even the credibility of such information was questioned. However, even though the Absolute Liberation Leveling pill appeared to be utterly omnipotent, it still had a major flaw that could not be ignored. That flaw was the fact that it was just a one-time consumable item, meaning once it was taken, the body would immediately grow resistant to it as it would no longer be effective. ¡®Well, one time is enough for me anyway.¡¯ Picking the small wooden case, Virus didn¡¯t want to linger around as he turned around and left. Just as he exited the gate, however, he discovered the bloody face of Henna who was anxiously waiting for something or someone. The moment she spotted Virus leaving the gate, she ran towards Virus and started crying while muttering barely comprehensible words, ¡°V-Vee¡­ Miss, H-Hel¡­ S-She¡­¡± Swiftly grabbing her by the shoulders, a bad premonition crept into Virus¡¯ heart as he said gravely. ¡°Calm down first. Then tell me what happened.¡± ¡­ Several minutes ago, after watching Virus enter a random treasure room and holding a brief conversation with Henna, the veiled lady urged her, ¡°Well, let¡¯s go into a treasure room for now, shall we?¡± ¡°Alright, miss.¡± Casually picking a gate, the two launched inside. Following quickly, just as brilliant smiles had occupied their faces after seeing the thousands of pill cases all over the room, the two suddenly spotted a group of familiar people within their treasury of pills. ¡°Huh?¡± With that, the two were instantly alerted as they cautiously locked their eyes at the countenances of the three unexpected intruders inside their treasure room. Subsequently, the veiled woman¡¯s eyes went wide open at once! That was because two of the three individuals were respectively the third barbarian prince Ra and his loyal lackey Knightgruella! ¡°W-what are you two doing here?¡± Slightly perturbed by their existence there, while clenching her fists, the cheeky woman questioned. In the meantime, as the trio had just come to be aware of the existence of Henna and the veiled woman, bewildered, they also glared in their direction in a stupor. Alas, their puzzlement only remained until Ra started laughing like a madman. ¡°Hahahaha, would you look at that? The supreme ugly came to me all by herself! Hahaha, and here I was considering searching around to find you.¡± ¡°Grrrr?¡± Besides Ra and Knightgruella, the third individual who wasn¡¯t a human started growling in question. It was in fact a monstrous beast called the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion. Amongst the group of representatives Virus had chanced upon prior to entering the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, this Purple-Maned Ancient Lion was the creature that had been standing beside Hadelia the entire time.. Apparently, this lion was the true representative of the monstrous beasts. Chapter 459 - Purple Maned Ancient Lion ¡°Her? She¡¯s someone I was trying to get my hands on alone for a long time.¡± Although Ra could not quite comprehend the meaning behind the Purple-Maned Ancient Lions grunts, he still pretended to understand as he responded to a hypothetical question a normal person would have asked in this situation. After learning about the difficulty level of the Invisible Fortress, all the participants except the mysterious cloaked people had decided to team up with one another. At the time, since the barbarians and the monstrous beasts had past dealings and close ties with each other, the barbarians had decided to team up with the representative from the monstrous beasts which happened to be the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion. Indeed, they also invited Hadelia to join them as well, however, for some reason, Hadelia wasn¡¯t quite fond of the barbarians since she had come to dislike the barbarians¡¯ attitude. As a result, she was against teaming up with them. Instead, she chose to ally herself with the only surviving participant from the Academicians. ¡°Grrrrr?¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re asking why I didn¡¯t dare do anything to her outside the Invisible Ancient Fortress World? Well, that¡¯s obvious really. First of all, I wasn¡¯t this strong at the time. Second, I don¡¯t believe there weren¡¯t any elders protecting her from the shadows outside. So, I had to wait until we¡¯re inside.¡± ¡°ROAAAR!¡± Feeling troubled by the lion¡¯s angry howl, Ra could only try calming it down while waving around with her hands. ¡°Okay, okay¡­ calm down, I just can¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. So please don¡¯t be offended by me not getting what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Turning toward the veiled lady again, an evil grin beamed on Ra¡¯s face as he opened his mouth again, ¡°What were we talking about? Oh, right¡­ about how I¡¯ll beat you to death right here and now.¡± ¡°Hmph! Who do you think you are? Do you think I¡¯m scared of you or something? Dream on, you ugly ass bitch!¡± Cursing him like that, the veiled lady pointed her thumb at Ra. In her culture, pointing a thumb at somebody signified ¡®Fuck you!¡¯. ¡°Just because you¡¯ve allied yourself with that disgusting beast doesn¡¯t make you all omnipotent since that¡¯s not even your real strength. If you¡¯re truly confident, just come at me alone. I¡¯m all up for a one-by-one duel.¡± ¡°But if you don¡¯t want to, that¡¯s fine as well, Henna and I will just leave this treasure room at once and I¡¯ll have a go at your disgustingly smelly ass at another time.¡± Displaying a mocking grin, the cheeky lady stated. ¡°Ah, right, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re daydreamy enough to assume the three of you are adequate to stop the two of us. I mean let¡¯s be honest here, you three may have some possibility of defeating us two ladies if we stayed here and confronted you guys, but if we wanna leave, we¡¯d be gone before you guys even blink!¡± She was squinting her eyes at this point as if she just couldn¡¯t believe Ra was that na?ve. Listening to the cheeky woman¡¯s logical analysis, an unfathomable smile sat on Ra¡¯s mouth while he hummed a strange tune beneath his breath. For some reason, he didn¡¯t appear to be the least bit concerned about her escaping. Instead, he readily accepted the duel request, ¡°You¡¯re right, I won¡¯t be able to stop you in case you decide to run away right now, but don¡¯t worry, I never had the intention of ganging up on you, to begin with. Let¡¯s duel!¡± Taking a step forward, Ra grabbed the huge hilt of his ax as he brought it before himself. Although one might mistakenly assume that the enmity between the veiled lady and Ra had been sparked because of Virus, that couldn¡¯t be far from the truth. The truth about these two was that their hostility ran much deeper as it had begun at another time in the past many years ago. Since then, every time the two were put against each other in matches like famous martial contests or other races, they would put everything they had in order to strike or even fatally wound one another. Thus, now that she had such a rare opportunity to battle this disgusting man possibly without anyone else¡¯s interference unlike in the past, she wasn¡¯t going to miss it! And that¡¯s precisely why she was adamant about having a duel in this treasure room. Turning toward Henna at this point, she advised her gently, ¡°Don¡¯t interfere as long as they don¡¯t.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Finished with her reminder, the veiled woman wielded her staff and walked to the front. The two opponents stepped forward while inspecting each other¡¯s poses cautiously. Next, just as she was about to charge in Ra¡¯s direction, suddenly, a huge amount of energy was released from Ra¡¯s body as it immediately put massive pressure on the cheeky woman¡¯s figure. ¡°Y-You¡­ broke through!¡± Gritting her teeth, she mouthed in frustration. ¡°Hahaha¡­ did I forget to mention it? Just before you came here, I found an amazing pill that helped me breakthrough to the next level¡­ hahaha.¡± Laughing uproariously, Ra started behaving as if he had already won the game. Every time the two had confronted one another so far, their overall combat strength had been on the same level as a brutal fight would amaze all of their spectators. This time, however, it looked like Ra had obtained the pill a little faster than her as he had temporarily broken the equilibrium that had been maintained for years now. ¡°If that¡¯s the case¡­¡± Reaching into her pocket, the veiled lady took out a specific pill and threw it into her mouth beneath the veil. It was the same pill she had also eaten before while engaging with the withered corpses. Instantaneously, the pill started to show its effect as her energy¡¯s quality became much more chaotic to the level where it could almost compare to Ra¡¯s. ¡°Hahaha, at the end of the day, a fake boost is still nothing compared to a true boost in power!¡± Bam! Bam! Bam! Afterward, the two charged in each other¡¯s direction as an ax and a staff began clashing and colliding while producing devastating noises everywhere in the closed space of the treasury. The two collided with each other several times and every time there was a skirmish, they would release their most powerful and savage attacks at each other without backing down. However, just a single minute had gone by when the veiled lady¡¯s face began to get paler and wan by every second. She was almost at her limits. Therefore, understanding that limit better than anyone else, she decided to retreat this time. ¡°We¡¯ll settle this at another time.¡± Without further ado, she retreated in front of Henna who was waiting for her right at the place where their own gate back to the Sphinx was erected at. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Notifying Henna of their immediate departure, she was just about to leave when Ra¡¯s casual sentence garnered her attention. Strangely, Ra hadn¡¯t even taken a single step toward her like he had no intention of barring her path and stopping her from leaving, ¡°Hmph! As expected of you, running away now that you know I¡¯m stronger, what a bitch. Stay and fight me to death if you dare.¡± ¡°Huh? Do you take me for a fool? Stay and die? Okay, I admit you won this time, but that¡¯s only because you just reached here faster than me and consumed a pill! But don¡¯t worry, in our next battle, I¡¯ll fight you to the death.¡± Quietly listening to her talk, at first, Ra didn¡¯t say anything, but then, he abruptly fell into a hysterical burst of laughter as if he had just heard the most absurd joke in the world, ¡°Hahahaha¡­ The next time we battle? You think you¡¯d be able to leave?¡± Feeling ridiculous by his illogical claim, the veiled lady began vocalizing, ¡°Are you seriously an idiot? Try stopping me if you-¡° STAB~ Suddenly, the cheeky woman felt a sharp prick at her back while also simultaneously feeling something penetrating her stomach. Thus, attempting to determine the source, she tilted her head down at full speed. What she observed in her chest, however, promptly made her dumbfounded. Currently, the sharp end of an unknown blade was visible right on her chest, which signified she had been probably stabbed in the back by someone. Chapter 460 - But Why? ¡®B-but how? T-there was definitely no one behind me¡­ except¡­ no, it can¡¯t be.¡¯ Not wanting to believe it herself, she slowly turned her head backward. Alas, subsequently, she caught a glimpse of what she wanted to avoid seeing the most! The identity of the backstabber was in fact Henna! She had used one of her double blades to impale her. ¡°S-Sister H-Henna¡­ but why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, miss. He sent an assassin to poison my little sister in secret. Now, only he has the unique antidote that¡¯s going to work.¡± A fog of darkness was covering Henna¡¯s expressionless countenance as she uttered those words in a single breath. ¡°Y-You should¡¯ve just told me that. I m-might have been able to help-¡° Barf! Suddenly, feeling like her stomach was churning, she uncontrollably expelled whatever that was making her uncomfortable. Unfortunately, all that came out was blood. She was absolutely bewildered, unable to believe that Henna had betrayed her. Alas, the hole in her stomach that sent waves after waves of affliction was repeatedly proving otherwise as it forced her to wake up to the cruel reality in front of her. ¡°I couldn¡¯t risk her life, miss. She¡¯s the most precious family member I have left and there¡¯s nothing in this world I wouldn¡¯t do for her, even if I had to throw away my loyalty to you.¡± Despite seemingly disheartened, Henna was the type of person that when she was put in a quandary, after making a decision, she would do so without any second thoughts whatsoever. That¡¯s how resolved of a person she was. ¡°I-I see¡­ b-but what about me, sob¡­ didn¡¯t you consider me your family as well? I-I thought of you as my s-sister¡­¡± By now, the cheeky woman couldn¡¯t stop the tears of grief and abandonment that were pricking at her heart. Even though the betrayal of Henna, the person she deemed as an important sister, pained her heart even more than the sword that was pricking her back, she still turned toward Ra quickly and powerlessly aimed all her hatred at him. ¡°Y-you! How could you do such a despicable thing? I knew you were a disgusting guy, but I didn¡¯t think you would be this wretched.¡± Albeit, her anger and abhorrence seemed to have the opposite effect on Ra who started laughing like a maniac. ¡°Hahahaha¡­ what a moving scene, I might even cry! But thank you for the compliment though, I must be a genius to be able to create such an emotional scene!¡± Suddenly, a murderous aura was unleashed from Ra¡¯s frame while a sharp glint was in his pupils. ¡°However, you¡¯re going to die here today without anyone even knowing, so I honestly don¡¯t care about your compliments.¡± ¡°You know-¡± Just as the barbarian Ra was about to say something else, he noticed the veiled lady had gone unconscious. As a matter of fact, she was feeling so much rage, hatred, pain, despair, and pity due to the backstabbing of Henna, that cheap plan of Ra, and the sword that was making her heart bleed more than her stomach, that she, at last, was pushed to the brink of her limits both mentally and physically as all power left her frame at once and she fainted. ¡°Huh? She fainted already?¡± Walking beside her fallen figure in a relaxed manner, Ra kicked her stomach as hard as possible. BAM! Seeing no reaction whatsoever, Ra was now certain that she was truly unconscious. ¡°Huh¡­ should I wake her up before actually torturing her to death?¡± Just as he mumbled that and was about to proceed to his next course of action, Henna interrupted him. ¡°There¡¯s someone else you need to take care of. If I go back like this without the miss together with me, he might suspect and even kill me before we even leave the maze.¡± As the image of Virus materialized in her mindscape, Henna requested Ra to kill Virus as well. Slap! ¡°Huh? Why should I care about what happens to you, bitch?¡± Clearly not bothered about the fate of this lowly traitor, Ra slapped her and replied in annoyance. The way he was looking at her was as if he was gazing upon nothing but a nuisance now that her use was over. ¡°Y-you!¡± Although that immediately angered Henna a great deal, she still coerced herself to ruminate logically before an idea popped into her head, ¡°What if I tell you he¡¯s someone you have a grudge against as well?¡± ¡°Oh, go on?¡± Even though he quite didn¡¯t believe her, Ra still wanted to hear what she had to say. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember that guy that offended you outside the Invisible Fortress? That guy named Vee. He somehow succeeded in making it into the Invisible Fortress and partied up with us. Yes, I¡¯m talking about him! Now what? Are you sure you want to leave him be?¡± Grinding her teeth together, Henna questioned. Initially, she had nothing but resentment toward this monster that had poisoned her sister, however, seeing how he was treating her after all she had done for him, her hatred climbed to an even higher peak. Beside Ra, hearing Vee¡¯s name, Knightgruella who had remained quiet until now suddenly stepped forward and implored while gnashing his teeth. ¡°Please, boss. Kill him too, we¡¯ve reached the point where he and I can¡¯t live under the same sky!¡± Knightgruella humbly begged. ¡°Huh! Like I wouldn¡¯t have done that without you telling me. I don¡¯t know how he escaped our men outside and actually entered the Invisible Fortress, but it doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that he¡¯s here.¡± ¡°Hmmm! Now that I brood over it more, this is great news actually since I get to kill the bastard with my own hands as well! Hahahaha¡­¡± After cracking up for a while, he, at last, had enough of laughing and commanded Henna with a malicious smirk. ¡°Bring him to me and I¡¯ll take care of him for you.¡± ¡°But before that,¡± Abruptly dashing toward Henna, he ruthlessly punched Henna a few times. Wham! Wham! Wham! ¡°Argh!¡± He punched her so hard that her face was now smashed and tragic just like that of a pig while blood was dripping from all over it! ¡°W-What are you doing?! Why would you do that to me!¡± Henna screamed in anger and even some fear. ¡°You idiot woman, he would suspect you if you just returned without any injuries whatsoever. Now, you can run back to him and tell him that your miss is in danger and needs your help! Go!¡± Grabbing her by the arm, Ra easily tossed her into the gate that led back to the Sphinx. ¡°Now, we wait.¡± ¡­ After Virus left the treasury, the first thing he witnessed was the bloody and anxious countenance of Henna who uttered a few broken words. ¡°V-Vee¡­ Miss, H-Hel¡­ S-She¡­¡± Immediately grabbing her by the shoulders, Virus¡¯ expression became grave as he urged her to relax first. ¡°Calm down first. Then tell me what happened.¡± Afterward, Henna began describing how after Virus had left, they had also picked a room and entered it. Unfortunately, bad luck had come knocking on their doors since Ra and Knightgruella were waiting for them on the other side. Chapter 461 - My Sister... She elaborated how her miss and Ra had dueled until it ended with her defeat. Not being able to tolerate her defeat, Henna had interfered but only ended up getting beaten up to her current state. At that time, understanding that she was no opponent for them, she had escaped back to the Sphinx and awaited Virus¡¯ return, her last hope. ¡°Hmm? Is that so?¡± Gently touching his chin while raising a single brow, many contemplations and even brief suspicions crept into Virus¡¯ head. He felt as if many of the descriptions didn¡¯t quite add up concerning a few details he knew about the cheeky woman. Still, in the end, he was resolved to go and see for himself, thus, he announced, ¡°Lead the way, we¡¯re going there.¡± Meanwhile, Virus¡¯ mind began to overwork itself as he swiftly settled on the next attribute for his second form of the Peak-Human movement technique. In the previous form, Virus had made use of the electricity to make his muscles and nerves faster than it should be possible at the current level of his cultivation. Therefore, Virus considered the internal work done. In the following attribute, Virus wanted something that could complement the speed of his impulse in any manner possible. Due to that, after deliberating hard on the topic in his time freeze perception, Virus figured out another factor that was hindering his body all the time. That attribute was the wind itself. To be more precise, it was the air resistance that obviously impeded the path of everyone beyond a certain degree of speed. After having made up his mind, Virus began contemplating how he was going to equip the wind attribute or something similar in a way that would at least lower the resistance he felt with each charge. ¡®I need to combine my energy with the wind attribute and then discharge them all on the surface of my body in a way that it would stop or lower the air resistance.¡¯ As he reached that conclusion, subsequently, he began working on the little details. Since the air resistance was basically air particles hitting against the moving force and thus lowering its speed by hitting its surface, what Virus needed to do was to somehow force the air particles themselves to move out of his way before they successfully reach the surface of his body and slow him down. To do so, Virus began developing and arranging his energy in a way that only by releasing it to the surface of his body, it would automatically open up his path and clear it of any possible air resistance. ¡®After adding the quality of air particles to my energy, I shall design it in a manner that would easily push aside the air particles. However, in order to achieve that¡­¡¯ Having reached this point in his thinking process, Virus recalled a specific device called ¡®water turbine¡¯ which is a rotary machine much like a windmill, except the energy is provided by falling water instead of wind. The reason why he thought of water turbines and not a windmill mainly had to do with the way they were designed as a water turbine was more suitable for his unique purpose. ¡®Hmm, not one, but two water turbines side by side to be more exact.¡¯ Concluding the final picture in his head, Virus decided to add the attribute of air particles to his energy and then begin the process of creating the circulation system for the front of his physique. He wanted to create two circulations in front of his body much like two water turbines that were functioning in the opposite directions. With this method, not only would most of the air particles be pushed aside before he even made contact with them, the energy air particles in his control circulating at the back closer to his skin might even help him gain more momentum! Albeit, that required enough energy in order to have any hope of achieving it. ¡®So, overall, I need to design two water turbines made up of air resistance themselves and start their circulation at the front side of my body.¡¯ Since all the theories and blueprints were at last ready, the first plan of action Virus took was to start going over everything he knew about air particles as he kept pushing them into his energy to try fusing them together! Subsequently, after a rather long time had passed in his time-freeze perception, he finally succeeded. Now that he had influenced his energy in the aspect he desired, his malleable energy had gained an attribute much like that of the air particles. Next, without delay, he jumped to the procedure of designing two impeccable water turbines using the air particles themselves. Thankfully, already having a complete understanding of exactly what he wanted to achieve, it didn¡¯t take much effort on his part to accomplish his intended goal. ¡®Done! Now I have two forms!¡¯ With a tranquil brow free of frown lines, a glowing expression appeared on Virus¡¯ face. ¡®Hmm, I think I can also begin the process of creating the third form as well the moment I break through to the eighth level of Liberation.¡¯ Now that he had accomplished his first objective, in the outside world, Virus realized Henna and him were just about to enter the particular gate that would lead to the enemies on the other side. Not feeling quite secure yet, Virus was resolved to make even further preparations. Remembering the sword he had obtained a while ago, Virus knew that right now, he had no sword techniques to utilize. True, he had the Twisting Tempest Thrust, but the requirement for using that was to have a longsword as a weapon, not a common sword. ¡®Hmm, I can¡¯t make a Peak-Human sword technique since my mind¡¯s busy with decrypting the movement techniques right now, so, that leaves me with the other sword techniques I have available in my database.¡¯ Judging that to be the only alternative at the moment, Virus exhibited the strongest sword attack techniques he had at his disposal. ¡¸Gouge Pounce¡¹: [Description: I¡¯m simple but deadly! There is only one form in this sword technique which requires six pathways. It concentrates all the energy that gathers as a result of pouncing on the enemy and shoots them all at the enemy in a single gouging attack! Requirements: Sword, Six pathway liberated.] ¡¸Fountain Arrow and Bow Cut¡¹: [Description: O, my enemies shall see a beautiful fountain as the last scenery of their lives! The first form requires six pathways as it focuses on the quick curving movement of the hand which leaves a beautiful slash, it is called the ¡®Fountain Bow Cut¡¯, the second form requires seven liberated pathways as it uses the first curving movement like that a bow in order to release a straight attack that storms to the enemy just like an arrow released from the string which is the first form. The second form is called the ¡®Fountain Arrow Cut¡¯! Requirements: Sword, minimum of Six pathway liberated.] Seeing only two results, Virus knew these two were the strongest sword attacks he had access to and were suitable right now. ¡®Hmm, definitely the second one.¡¯ After examining and discerning that the second sword technique could even make use of seven liberated pathways, without further ado, Virus instantly delved into the comprehension and grasping procedure of Fountain Arrow and Bow Cut. In the real world, the two were already passing through the gate when Virus successfully attained the first form of the Fountain Arrow and Bow Cut. He couldn¡¯t begin training the second form since without liberating seven pathways, that was impossible. Now, since Virus¡¯ preparations were over, he deactivated the time-freeze perception and restored it to an almost normal state while his unique awareness remained spread all around him. Simultaneously, passing through the gate, the messed-up scene of a lady stabbed in the back and three enemies apparently waiting for someone displayed themselves. The instant he arrived, the veiled lady who was unconscious just until now suddenly raised her head with difficulty and stuttered a few incomprehensible words, ¡°V-Vee¡­ be careful¡­ s-she¡­¡± It was unknown since when she had regained her consciousness. ¡°Damn it, this bitch was awake! She was just pretending!¡± Ra shouted wrathfully as he kicked her in the stomach harshly. On the other side, behind Virus, a dark expression covered Henna¡¯s face once more as she darted her second blade right at the back of Virus. If it was anyone else, not having eyes at the back of their heads, just like the cheeky woman, they would have been stabbed. However, detecting the sneak attack through the lens of his awareness, Virus swiftly noticed that he was about to be backstabbed! ¡®Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Steel of Darkness!¡¯ ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ In the span of a single second, arcs of electricity flickered all over Virus¡¯ physique as it was followed by the appearance of a luxurious-looking sword. Next, with a curving movement of his hand and body together, Virus¡¯ sword left a mesmerizing sword arc in the air. Swish! A head flew off to the air before it fell and rolled on the ground. Psshhhh! After the head fell on the ground, at the last moments of her life, terrifyingly, Henna could see her own body still standing while a fountain of blood was spurting from her neck. ¡®My¡­ sister¡­¡¯ That was the last scenery of her life before all traces of life vanished from her open eyes, eyes that had some traces of regret painted in them. Chapter 462 - What Did You Do? At a drop of a dime, all eyes were about to jump out of their respective sockets as four individuals, including the wounded cheeky woman, could only stare dumbfounded at the scene they had just witnessed while a deafening silence descended upon the treasure room. Sensing the striking absence of silence, Virus turned toward the four and said, ¡°What? She was trying to kill me, was I supposed to just be stabbed to death like a good boy?¡± Finally, the veiled woman snapped out of her stupor as misery and sorrow descended upon her being, ¡°H-Henna¡­ Oh no¡­ sob¡­ Henna.¡± She cried and cried and cried like the moment of betrayal had not even happened. Despite Henna¡¯s betrayal, the cheeky woman had still cared about that companion of many years. After regaining some of her composure, at last, her tears of loss still wetting her eyes, she questioned in utter anguish as if she was blaming herself for her death, ¡°C-couldn¡¯t you have¡­ kept h-her alive?¡± Discerning the deep grief and heartache within the tone of the veiled woman, Virus responded coldly. ¡°Keep her alive? The moment she tried attacking me, she was dead already.¡± ¡°SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY YOU CHEEKY FOOL! WHY DO YOU STILL SYMPATHIZE WITH SOMEONE WHO BETRAYED YOU?¡± Suddenly roaring in a rare moment of rage, furrowing his brows, Virus scolded the veiled lady harshly. Shaking his head next, Virus immediately calmed down as if his previous unusual episode just a second ago had not even happened! Then, he continued with a helpless sigh, ¡°I already knew that you¡¯ve been backstabbed.¡± ¡°N-no¡­ she didn¡¯t have a choice¡­ her sister was poisoned so sister H-Henna-¡° ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter what kind of excuses you come up with, doesn¡¯t change the fact that she betrayed you. I¡¯m sure if she was alive you might¡¯ve even forgiven her after forcibly making yourself believe her excuse was somewhat justified. But who is to say she won¡¯t betray you again in the future with other justified causes just like today? Let me give you a piece of advice, once a traitor, always a traitor. That¡¯s it.¡± Finished with his little speech, Virus no longer paid any heed to the injured woman and instead turned toward Ra, Knightgruella, and the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion. ¡°Huh, you three must¡¯ve greatly enjoyed watching the entertaining scene just now, right?¡± Smirking casually, Virus vocalized. ¡°Hahaha¡­ indeed, can¡¯t believe you just killed that bitch like that, but I couldn¡¯t care less since I was about to kill her anyway. There¡¯s no way I would¡¯ve left someone like her alive with the knowledge that I killed this supreme ugly here.¡± ¡°Well, anyway, we have an account to settle between us, right?¡± Virus proclaimed, smiling viciously. ¡°Hahaha¡­ your ant balls seem to have grown so large that you seem to have forgotten you¡¯re merely an ant at the end. An ant mistakenly assuming it can defeat an elephant after a workout, such a joke, hahaha!¡± ¡°Hmm, is that so?¡± ¡®Impulse!¡¯ While wielding his Steel of Darkness, Virus¡¯s energy began to gather on his third tempering sword as he discharged a strike. ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ While a curving slash was going toward Ra¡¯s neck, he abruptly burst into laughter as two rows of white teeth and a contorted expression became visible over his face. ¡°Hahahaha! Don¡¯t any of you dare interject in our duel! I want to teach this ant a lesson. Hahaha¡­¡± He warned Knightgruella and the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion to not get in the way of their fight no matter what. Bam! Immediately, as the laugh continued, an ax barred the path of Virus¡¯ weapon, victoriously stopping its beheading ceremony. ¡°Truly an ant, you get a bit stronger and your arrogance nearly breaks through the heavens!¡± He then unleashed a hacking strike right at Virus¡¯ face. Raising his weapon to defend, Virus blocked the attack at once. Unfortunately, the force behind the barbarian¡¯s attack was so heavy that it coerced Virus to retreat several meters before he finally stopped. Clicking his tongue, Virus glared at Ra in vexation. ¡®Should I use the second form of my movement speed?¡¯ The second that notion showed up, however, Virus denied it. Even if he revealed the second form, he could easily predict that he still would not be capable of defeating the barbarian in front of him in a head-on confrontation. Thus, before he had a surefire plan and scheme that was guaranteed to work, Virus decided against revealing his trump card. Just as various such notions were passing through his head in lightning speed, Ra took the initiative. ¡°Tree Cutter Ax!¡± He rushed at him this time before striking with his ax from Virus¡¯ left side. Apparently, he was trying to cut Virus into two parts much like a tree. ¡®Impulse!¡¯ With a simple sidestep to the right side, Virus dodged out of the upcoming ax¡¯s path before it cut through nothing but thin air. Afterward, the ongoing intense combat was witnessed by the remaining spectators who were truly in awe of both Virus and Ra¡¯s strength. And yet, it didn¡¯t require an expert to notice that while Virus was in a defensive position, Ra had the upper hand as he kept persisting on offense! If the circumstances of this fight continued this way, everyone could easily calculate that Virus¡¯ end was nigh. ¡®I need to do something before it¡¯s too late.¡¯ While various analyzes were shooting through Virus¡¯ brain, apparently, he still failed to compute an end where it finished with his victory. ¡®I¡¯m not strong enough.¡¯ Woefully, every possibility that displayed itself in his mindscape was rejected with the ultimate conclusion that he wasn¡¯t powerful enough yet. In the meantime, studying Virus¡¯ frowning expression, Ra could effortlessly see through his thoughts. ¡®Huh! He knows he¡¯s powerless and I can see it plastered right on his face so easily.¡¯ ¡°Hahahaha¡­ how about this, you stop these pointless struggles and I promise to kill you with no pain and-¡° ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ Before Ra even finished his sentence, promptly, arcs of lightning boiled all over Virus¡¯ body before it proceeded with an intense wind in front of Virus¡¯ figure. Right now, Ra could scarcely sense the two invisible pillars of small hurricanes that seemed to have taken root in front of Virus¡¯ body out of nowhere! Not quite comprehending what kind of scheme Virus was cooking, with peace of mind and no concerns, Ra decided to watch and enjoy the last vain attempts of Virus. Unfortunately, suddenly, he realized Virus wasn¡¯t even aiming for him as he stormed toward the opposite direction, unlike any speed he had shown so far! ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ Moreover, what bulged Ra¡¯s eyes the next moment was the fact that instead of attacking him, Virus had completely ignored him as he adjusted his target toward the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion as he perfectly cut its head off! SWISH! FSHHHH! As its head fell on the floor, the lion witnessed its own body bleeding like there was no tomorrow as it died in that stupefied state. Previously, without Ra even noticing, Virus had slowly but surely swapped their positions in a way so that he was closer to the monstrous beast and Knightgruella instead of Ra himself. And the instant he found the opportunity, he didn¡¯t hesitate to unleash every bit of his power as he killed the monster! Following quickly, as the monstrous beast died in utter disbelief, Origin began to suck and transfer its energy into Virus while his synthesis rate skyrocketed. On the other side, just like ice statues, both Ra and Knightgruella remained frozen still for a long time, until Ra opened his mouth at last. ¡°W-What did¡­ What did you do?! Do you have any idea what you just did?¡± He roared and screamed in perplexity while blood had long left his countenance. To be honest, spotting such similar reactions from Ra, Knightgruella, and even the mortally wounded veiled lady whose face had gone paler, Virus could only feel bewildered himself while confusion fogged his eyes. ¡°Huh? What did I do? Did I perhaps accomplish an amazing feat? Hmm, that¡¯s not right, I mean what¡¯s so special about killing just a monstrous beast? Sure, it may have been a bit special considering he¡¯s a representative, but so what?¡± ¡°You fucking idiot! ¡®Just¡¯ a monstrous beast??! You¡¯re a madman!¡± Greatly alarmed, with his tongue hardly able to circulate his following sentence, Ra notified Virus, ¡°H-he¡¯s the fucking son of the Lion King! The ruler of the Animal Kingdom!¡± Chapter 463 - Lion King ¡°The Lion King? So, you were talking about his father¡­ wait, are you feeling okay, by any chance? You said ¡®what did you do?¡¯ just now when you were supposed to use a famous line like ¡®Do you know who his father is?¡¯, you¡¯re acting out of character bro.¡± Faking an expression of stupefaction, Virus stated. Internally though, the situation only made him amused and nothing but amused. ¡°Huh? W-What the fuck are you talking about? You have no idea who his father is, do you? His father is the fucking Golden-Maned Ancient Lion King!¡± Feeling absurd about how casual Virus was behaving after having just killed someone extraordinary, Ra honestly didn¡¯t know how to react. ¡°There you go, that wasn¡¯t hard, now, was it? I was starting to get worried about you back there.¡± Letting out an exaggerated sigh of relief, Virus looked like he had been finally put at ease. Meanwhile, internally, Virus¡¯ synthesis rate was shooting through the roof. In fact, that was why he was delaying the fight right now by acting like that. 90%¡­ 96%¡­ 100! The moment the synthesis rate was complete and his seventh pathway formed to perfection, that passage started trembling and shaking as if something was stopping it from breaking through and entering the eighth level. ¡®Again?¡¯ Momentarily focusing within his internal world, Virus willed his energy manually as he rammed it into the wall of taboo that was trying to hinder the progress. ¡®Begone!¡¯ Bam! Unfortunately, the second taboo seemed even stronger than the first one. ¡®I said get the fuck out of my body!¡¯ A tick of anger popped into Virus¡¯ forehead as he gathered every bit of energy from every one of his pathways as he rammed them all directly into the barrier of taboo! BOOM! Fortunately, the taboo barrier was entirely incapable of impeding his path in this round as it immediately disintegrated into nothingness. The Second Taboo, broken! With no delay, the energy stormed into the subsequent pathways as Virus successfully progressed to the eighth level of Liberation! Albeit, although there was a humongous amount of vigor remaining from the killed Purple-Maned Ancient Lion, all of that only increased the fusion rate to two percent. Now that he had reached the eighth level of Liberation, it seemed the difficulty of increasing the synthesis rate had also been elevated to a terrifying degree! In the meantime, outside, both Ra and Knightgruella were gazing into each other¡¯s eyes, trying to figure out what they should do in order to avoid the wrath of the Golden-Maned Ancient Lion when they leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. ¡°Boss, bringing the head of that bastard to the Lion King might soothe some of its anger. You should kill him asap!¡± Knightgruella advised with some fear exhibiting itself within his pupils. ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right, that¡¯s the only thing we can do right now. I¡¯ll get serious then.¡± Instantly hardening his grip over the hilt of his ax, Ra charged at such speed that he was almost like a blur. This was the peak momentum he could display right now. Earlier, while fighting both the veiled lady and Virus, although he had mobilized most of his energy, he had not truly gone up to his limits. However, now that the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion was dead, Ra could not take this lying down anymore. On the other side, easily following Ra¡¯s movements, Virus mumbled to himself. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ At once, lightning came to his aid as Virus grabbed his sword and retaliated against the giant that had reached him. ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ Swish! A graceful horizontal slash was drawn in the air, rapidly closing in on Ra to behead him in case he didn¡¯t succeed in defending. FZZZ! Two weapons, one sword, and one ax, directly clashed, however, none seemed to be willing to back down as an intense collision of power was keeping the two in a locked-up position for a few seconds. Only after that few moments had passed did the equilibrium break apart as Ra¡¯s figure was thrusted away backward! ¡°Huh!¡± Shouting in ridicule, Virus promptly sprinted at the opponent that was looking at him while gritting his teeth since the situation was reversed. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Along the way, lightning sparkled, increasing Virus¡¯ speed by an entire level. And yet, Virus wasn¡¯t finished. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ Wind also joined the fray! As two hurricanes like air particles covered his forefront, his speed once again skyrocketed! By now, Ra¡¯s eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets as he looked at Virus in shock! ¡°How did he become so¡­ wait! He broke through another level?!¡± No matter how he calculated, he could not get to a conclusion where that was possible. The last time he met him, Virus had been much weaker than him, they weren¡¯t even comparable, to the point someone else had to protect him. However, the next time they confronted one another, Virus was at least scarcely capable of keeping his ground against him. At that point, he could still comfort himself that he had probably come across amazing encounters in the Invisible Ancient Fortress World and that it must¡¯ve been a one-time boost. But now, out of nowhere, after a short pause in their battle, Virus had suddenly broken through and gotten much stronger with no obvious reason whatsoever! Furthermore, there was more to it than just that. ¡®He can¡¯t possibly be that talented to breakthrough left and right, even in the middle of the battle!¡¯ ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ Swish! ¡°Tree Cutter Ax ¨C Fourth Form!¡± ¡°DAMN IT!¡± BALAAM! Barely employing his ax attack technique, Ra triumphantly interjected the path of Virus¡¯ sword to his neck. Instead of using his technique for attacking, Ra had just ingeniously taken advantage of it to defend! However, even then, the force behind Virus¡¯ strike had been so heavy that it launched Ra¡¯s gigantic figure away just like a cannonball! Smashing into the panel right beside Knightgruella, Ra¡¯s physique damaged and broke many of the pills apart! Once again, Virus was just about to charge, when he heard Ra¡¯s awestricken and full of disbelief scream, ¡°This is impossible! How did you become so powerful in the blink of an eye? You were at the Seventh Level of Liberation just now, but your energy seems even stronger now! But you don¡¯t seem to even be in the Sublimity Emergence stage yet so how can you be so powerful?!¡± Virus was aware that due to some mysterious reason related to their genes and DNA, the barbarians could actually cultivate to the seventh level of Liberation since they had fourteen single pathways instead of the usual twelve. Thus, it was understandable why Ra wasn¡¯t surprised after seeing that Virus had attained the seventh level as well. Of course, he might¡¯ve been a little taken aback considering how it was so rare for a normal human to achieve such a feat. However, it wasn¡¯t anything extraordinary in his opinion, therefore, he dismissed it and didn¡¯t show any kind of reaction to it. But right now, Virus¡¯ energy seemed to have progressed even further. He was quite confident that Virus¡¯ energy quality was still in the Liberation stage and not the Sublimity Emergence, and yet, he was above the seventh level! Although Ra unconsciously knew what that signified, he just didn¡¯t want to believe that someone had been capable of going even beyond the barbarians¡¯ degree of talent and achieved even the eighth level of Liberation! ¡°Huh? I¡¯m sure you know why though?¡± Grinning in contempt at the barbarian who seemed to be in some kind of denial, Virus added before dashing at him again, ¡°But why are you suddenly starting a speech in the middle of the fight?!¡± ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ ¡°Tree Cutter Ax ¨C Fourth Form!¡± Urgently yelling this after seeing Virus about to enter his attacking pose, Ra quickly released his offense technique. ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ BOOM! Once again, the powerless Ra narrowly made it alive. Alas, just as he was about to shoot backward like a broken puppet, Virus froze his time perception and comprehended the second form of ¡®Fountain Bow and Arrow Cut¡¯. Now that he had access to the seventh pathway, there was nothing preventing Virus from acquiring the second form. ¡®Fountain Arrow Cut!¡¯ Since the ¡®Fountain Bow Cut¡¯ had been released just a moment ago, the window of unleashing the ¡®Fountain Arrow Cut¡¯ was still open, therefore, Virus didn¡¯t hesitate and let it go! Chapter 464 - Necessary The way the ¡®Fountain Bow and Arrow Cut¡¯ functioned was simple. When one used the first form, a curving slash will be drawn in the air, briefly creating the image of a bow as it beheads the enemy. Moreover, if the foe succeeds in defending against the attack, while the bow arc is still in the air, one can employ the second form ¡®Fountain Arrow Cut¡¯ in order to unleash a straight strike just like an arrow that¡¯s been released from the string of a bow. When the two are released together, they complement one another as an attack much more powerful than anticipated renders the opponent helpless by catching him off-guard. Perceiving the incoming attack, Ra¡¯s countenance went wan in terror as he realized that since he had just unleashed his offense technique, he could not execute another one as there was no time for it! ¡®Am I going to die?¡¯ As he helplessly watched the upcoming sharp blade, all hope was about to leave him when an idea hit him. Abruptly grabbing Knightgruella who was standing right beside him, he pulled him in front of himself and shockingly used him as a living meat shield! ¡°Ah!¡± At the very last moment of his life, Knightgruella¡¯s eyes went wide open in utter stupefaction. Initially, he couldn¡¯t comprehend the situation. However, when everything sunk in, bewilderment was the only word that could describe him. He just could not believe his boss was using him as a shield. Alas, the attack wasn¡¯t going to pause for him to digest the circumstance as the deadly sharp end of the sword penetrated through his head, cutting through his brain. ¡°Hmm?¡± Truthfully, even Virus was surprised to see this scene before him. ¡°Wow, it must suck to be your underling.¡± As Knightgruella¡¯s corpse fell on the ground, Virus was about to pick up the rest of the battle and kill Ra as well, when abruptly, he noticed that Ra had thrown away any notions of battling him as he was already about to pass through his own gate of exit. Apparently, the fear of losing his life had long overwhelmed him as he desired nothing but to leave this place now. ¡®It¡¯s better he doesn¡¯t leave this place alive.¡¯ Squinting his eyes, Virus mustered every bit of his energy and shot toward Ra much like a bullet. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ Lightning and wind rushed to his assistance as Virus¡¯ frame was like a rocket that had been launched in the direction of the fleeing opponent. Fortunately, he was quickly closing the distance between them. Very soon, he was just a few meters away from Ra as he attacked! ¡®Fountain Arrow Cut!¡¯ Since there was no time to first release the Fountain Bow Cut and then the Fountain Arrow Cut, Virus straight away chose the second from. The disadvantage of using the second form without its complementary first form was that it becomes much weaker in comparison. Immediately, while Ra was less than tens of centimeters away from the gate of exit, Virus¡¯ sword tip was like a lightning bolt that chased after him! The following second, the sword reached the fleeing enemy, unfortunately, just as it reached and touched his skin, Ra¡¯s physique was already on the other side of the exit as the gate shut itself in the blink of an eye! Ra was gone! ¡°Ahh, that lucky bastard!¡± Virus exclaimed in frustration. Only a moment more was required before his sword would have victoriously messed up Ra¡¯s heart, albeit, since the last person alive had exited their respective gate, it closed up automatically, thus narrowly saving Ra as a result. To be frank, Virus was adamant about killing Ra because if he left today, it was guaranteed that he would bring the news of him beheading the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion to its father which apparently terrified everyone else! If possible, he wanted to avoid any unnecessary troubles. Woefully, that seemed implausible at this point. Even though he wasn¡¯t knowledgeable about that monstrous beast known as the Lion King, Virus knew trouble would come looking for him at some point because of the matters of today. ¡°Well¡­¡± While many contemplations were passing through his head, Virus¡¯ attention was drawn to the injured cheeky woman who still had a blade running through her stomach. As a matter of fact, the only reason why she was still breathing was that luckily, the blade was kept in her stomach. Otherwise, she would¡¯ve long bled to death by now. Rushing at her at once, Virus examined her condition while inquiring, ¡°How are you feeling? Does it hurt?¡± ¡°Is that concern I see in your eyes, hot face, hehe, ouch¡­ even laughing hurts.¡± Despite the grief of Henna visible on her face, it looked like her cheekiness was still there, ¡°I-I think I¡¯m about to die. B-but¡­ I¡¯m unwilling to go out like this, sob, I haven¡¯t even gotten married and tried popping my cherry. But forget about my cherry since there¡¯s no time left, I at least want to e-experience my first kiss before dying¡­ so, will you let me go in peace?¡± At the same time, closing both her eyes, while keeping his veil attached, she exaggeratedly brought his face closer to Virus¡¯. Veins were already popping on Virus¡¯s face as he pushed her face back in utter annoyance. ¡°Shut up with the nonsense already! I won¡¯t let you die, so stop. Just wait a minute here and don¡¯t fall asleep.¡± Next, checking the panels filled with thousands of pill cases, he searched for any pill names that might ring a bell and be capable of saving her. ¡®We¡¯re in a fucking pill storage, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting you die.¡¯ Furrowing his brows, Virus read one name after another. Although he didn¡¯t recognize most of the names, once in a while, he came across pills that did exist in his timeline of the future or were somehow vaguely mentioned in his database. Around a few minutes later, Virus was slightly getting restless for not finding anything useful when his eyes caught the sight of a particular name. ¡®External Energy Source Restoration.¡¯ At once, Virus¡¯ eyes started shining jovially as a hint of relief filled his heart. This specific name was something that was mentioned in a random corner of his database which he would¡¯ve missed if he wasn¡¯t focusing on every little detail. However, after reading the little bit of information he had available in his database, Virus¡¯ expression became a little strange for some reason. ¡®Ah, there¡¯s no other choice.¡¯ Grabbing the case, Virus took a few strides and returned to the fallen figure of the cheeky woman and started clarifying, ¡®I found a pill that will help you heal up fast, you need to eat it, and then another cultivator, which is me in this case, will need to provide you with sufficient energy. The provided external energy is the source that heals you. Do you understand?¡¯ Despite feeling somewhat doubtful about the existence of such miraculous pill after spotting that peculiar wince on Virus¡¯ countenance, the cheeky woman nodded her head regardless. She had no other option but to trust him and believe this type of amazing medicine truly did exist in this treasure room. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll take out the blade now. The instant it is out, swallow this pill and I¡¯ll instantly start supplying you with the necessary energy!¡± ¡°On the count of three, I¡¯ll take it out. Here we go! One-¡° Frtt! ¡°Ahhhh, you only counted to one, t-that¡¯s not fair!¡± She shrieked in affliction. The weapon was out while her stomach began to bleed substantially, exhibiting a horrifying scene. ¡°Swallow it now!¡± Virus urged her in a hurry since this was no time for being distracted by useless details. Gulp! As she consumed the pill, much to the stupefaction of the cheeky woman, Virus grabbed her dress by two hands and ripped them apart at once. Rip! Following that, the alluring sight of the cheeky woman¡¯s two plump and firm breasts exposed themselves in front of his eyes. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Screaming in shock and disbelief, the cheeky woman tried covering her breasts with her two arms, however, tossing them aside immediately, Virus reached out with both of his palms and grabbed both of her breasts in a way so her nipples would touch the center of his palms. ¡°Sorry, this is necessary.¡± Simultaneously, he began to transmit the required energy into her body! ¡°W-w-w-what do you mean necessary!¡± Dumbstruck, she could barely talk since her heart had long jumped into her mouth. ¡°According to the instruction manual of this pill, the only way this pill is going to work is if the energy is directly connected and transferred from the liberated passages of the palms to the liberated pathways of the chest that is close to the heart.¡± Indeed, just as Virus was claiming, according to the few sentences that he could find about the ¡®External Energy Source Restoration¡¯ medicine pill, one¡¯s palm pathways had to be openly connected to the chest pathways of the wounded that are most tangible on the nipples themselves. That meant there couldn¡¯t be anything like clothes hindering the transference of energy. In fact, that was exactly why this pill was also famously known as the ¡®Couple¡¯s Restoration¡¯ and there was even a sentence expounding on how this pill might even restore the lost vigor of couples as well. If the mortally wounded person was a male, putting one¡¯s hands on his chest wasn¡¯t considered a big deal, however, when the receiver was a female, its signification was entirely different. And that¡¯s precisely why Virus didn¡¯t elaborate how it was going to function since the veiled woman might have rejected and preferred to die instead. ¡®Though that¡¯s unlikely considering her cheeky personality.¡¯ Meanwhile, as Virus began the process of transmitting the energy to her plump breasts in his grasp, the wound began to close up at a speed visible to the naked eye. On the other side, as a rare sight, the veiled woman¡¯s both cheeks were blushing so hard that Virus could only concernedly question while unconsciously gripping her breasts harder and therefore tickling her nipples. ¡°Huh? Why is your face red? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?¡± ¡°You gotta be fucking kidding me! You¡¯re massaging my fucking breasts and playing with my nipples and you ask me why is my face red? Damn you!¡± ¡°Fuck! Who¡¯s fucking massaging your breasts and playing with your damned nipples! I¡¯m only maintaining my fucking grasp! And that¡¯s only because this is the only way to heal you so what can I do?! What do want me to do? Let you die?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ you¡¯re a bastard! You¡¯re playing with my body and you still refuse to take responsibility!¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± ¡°Yes, you are! And you refuse to admit it!¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Virus¡¯ eyes were so bloodshot at this point that he even briefly considered the idea of letting her die.. This woman was seriously bad news. Chapter 465 - I Like It After the healing process was over, Virus didn¡¯t hesitate to push away her breasts in exasperation. If regret had a face, that would be the current Virus. ¡°Ah.¡± But that act of pushing away only resulted in a tempting moan from the already healthy cheeky lady. Next, taking off his own shirt, Virus¡¯ abs and refined muscles were visible for her to see and take pleasure in. ¡°S-so hot, do you want to ¡®do¡¯ that to me now?¡± Bam! However, slamming his shirt right at her face, Virus said, ¡°Cover yourself with this and stop bullshitting already, let¡¯s leave.¡± ¡°O-Okay.¡± When she wore Virus¡¯ t-shirt and the two were about to leave the treasure room, the cheeky woman¡¯s eyesight suddenly fell on Henna¡¯s headless carcass and her severed head a few meters away. That instantly made her live through the earlier nightmarish experience of hers once again as sorrow filled her eyes. Although Henna had betrayed her and broke her heart, that fact still couldn¡¯t make the cheeky woman forget about all the years they had been together. She was truly saddened to see her end up in this tragic fate. Truthfully, looking at her detached head made the blood drain from her face as she still had a hard time believing she was gone, but that didn¡¯t prevent her from sitting beside the head and start whispering, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about your poisoned sister and go in peace. For the sake of all those years I considered you my sister, I¡¯m going to find the antidote for her and cure her, however, after that, it¡¯s over between us. I¡¯m going to forget about you.¡± Standing beside her, Virus quietly observed her without interfering. And when she was finally done saying her goodbyes, the two left the treasure room. As they materialized in front of the Sphinx with one person less, Virus could see the cheeky woman¡¯s mood was somewhat affected despite her trying her best to not show it. ¡°WILL YOU LEAVE OR WILL YOU CONTINUE WITH THE RIDDLE GAMES?¡± It was the blaring sound of the Sphinx that somewhat focused their attention on the Invisible Ancient Fortress World once more. ¡°Hmm? Just how many treasuries are there?¡± Wishing to know the precise number of treasuries and riddles ahead of them before it all ended, Virus queried. Frankly, he was starting to feel bored with these repetitive riddle games now that the veiled lady was also traumatized by the previous experience she went through. Thus, Virus wanted to finish everything as soon as possible before leaving this corridor. However, after hearing Virus¡¯ question, the Sphinx started behaving strangely as it remained silent for a while. Still, in the end, it seemed like it had no other choice but to open its mouth and answer. ¡°THAT WAS THE LAST TREASURY. HOWEVER, DON¡¯T WORRY WE CAN CONTINUE PLAYING! IF I WIN, I¡¯LL KILL YOU AND MAKE YOU ONE OF THE WITHERED CORPSES YOU WITNESSED ON YOUR WAY HERE, IF YOU WIN, I¡¯LL KILL MYSELF, HOW ABOUT THAT?¡± The Sphinx replied in a panic. Them being gone before it won was the last thing it wanted to see. Against the Sphinx¡¯s expectations, that response only made Virus feel speechless. ¡®This monster is really addicted to playing riddle games!¡¯ Externally, however, without any ado, he rejected the proposal openly, ¡°Why would I want you dead. We¡¯ll leave at once. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll gain anything by seeing you commit suicide.¡± ROAAAR! Quake~ Unfortunately, that only seemed to force an expression of madness on the Sphinx¡¯s face as it roared so loudly that it made the corridor surrounded by the ocean tremble nonstop! ¡°WHY! JUST ONE MORE GAME PLEASE! I¡¯M SO CLOSE TO WINNING THIS TIME!¡± ¡°But you have nothing worthwhile to offer, so I don¡¯t really see any point in continuing this vain play.¡± At this point, Virus was speechlessly feeling he was the bad guy of the story. Like a drug dealer that sold all the drugs to the addicted person but the moment he ran out of it, he refused to do so. ROOAAAR! After another roar, the Sphinx made a final attempt in trying to garner Virus¡¯ attention. ¡°THERE IS! I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE THAT I HAVEN¡¯T OFFERED YET!¡± ¡°Oh? What is it? I¡¯ll make a decision after knowing what it is.¡± Virus was truly feeling absurd at this point since the situation seemed to get only more ridiculous by the second. ¡°I HAVE AN OBJECT OF SOME KIND WITH ME! I DON¡¯T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT I SUSPECT IT TO BE A TREASURE MAP! ARE YOU INTERESTED? IF YOU WIN, I¡¯LL GIVE IT TO YOU! IF I WIN, I¡¯LL MAKE YOU MY PERSONAL WITHERED CORPSE SOLDIER!¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s fine, but how¡¯s the next riddle game going to be like?¡± ¡°IT¡¯S EASY REALLY. IT WON¡¯T BE LIKE THE EARLIER GAME OF ¡®RIDDLE ME TOGETHER¡¯, THIS TIME I¡¯LL ONLY ASK A HUNDRED RIDDLES, IF YOU ANSWER THEM ALL CORRECTLY, I¡¯M WILLING TO DEPART WITH MY TREASURE MAP. BUT IF YOU GET EVEN ONE RIDDLE WRONG, YOU¡¯RE DEAD.¡± By the end of its sentence, pure killing intent was radiating out of the Sphinx¡¯s being. The grudge it had accumulated against Virus in this short duration was nothing to scoff at. ¡°A hundred? That¡¯s going to take a while, how about ten of your hardest riddles?¡± ¡°NO! NO LESS THAN A HUNDRED, MY DEAR MAP IS WORTH MORE THAN THAT!¡± ¡°Huh? Well, whatever, just ask away then.¡± Feeling too lazy to even bargain, Virus agreed readily. ¡°WHAT IS ALWAYS IN FRONT OF YOU BUT CAN¡¯T BE SEEN?¡± ¡°The future.¡± ¡°WHAT QUESTION CAN YOU NEVER ANSWER YES TO?¡± ¡°Are you asleep, yet? Or are you dead?¡± ¡­ Afterward, one riddle after another was thrown in Virus¡¯ direction as he casually responded to them all while maintaining an unfocused gaze and even yawning from time to time. It was clear he wasn¡¯t even putting the slightest of effort before replying correctly. ROAAAAAAAAR! Around half an hour later, another enraged roar reverberated in the environment. The Sphinx was about to go insane looking at Virus with bloodshot eyes. ¡°YOU ARE MY NEMESIS! MY FUCKING NEMESIS! WHY CAN¡¯T I DEFEAT YOU! WHY! WHY! WHY?!¡± Albeit, to the Sphinx¡¯s dismay, Virus merely said. ¡°Calm down now, will ya? Just think of me as a riddle god.¡± That nearly drove the Sphinx to the brink of lunacy as it tossed around and kicked and punched the water just like a kid that was throwing a tantrum. Albeit, much more terrifying. ¡°Hey, where¡¯s my treasure map?¡± In the end, the Sphinx could only curse him out loud before helplessly surrendering the object. Receiving it, Virus stored it inside his spatial container without sparing it a single look. ¡°Okay, cheeky woman, let¡¯s leave.¡± ¡­ When the two had just left the area of the aquarium corridor, the veiled lady suddenly mumbled, ¡°Stop calling me cheeky woman.¡± ¡°Huh? Then what should I call you when I don¡¯t know your name? Unnamed woman?¡± After a few moments of awkward silence, the cheeky woman tilted her gaze downward and whispered. ¡°H-Hellarose.¡± ¡°Hmm? What do you mean hell arose? Where did the hell arise?¡± Entertained, Virus played around with her name while grinning, trying to exasperate her as payback. ¡°You bastard! I¡¯m saying my name is Hellarose!¡± Staring at him in some resentment, Hellarose clarified. ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯m just joking, so you¡¯re called Hellarose, that¡¯s a¡­¡± Going quiet momentarily, he nodded his head before adding, ¡°Well, it¡¯s actually to my liking. I like that name.¡± ¡°But¡­ why didn¡¯t you introduce yourself earlier? Was there a particular reason keeping you from doing so?¡± Indeed, as Virus was suspecting, there was truly a reason why Hellarose didn¡¯t introduce herself when they had just met one another. ¡®I thought you¡¯d recognize my identity and then start acting all respectful and awkward like everyone else.¡¯ ¡®But, seeing how you didn¡¯t even know who the Lion King is, I assume you¡¯re ignorant of the matters of the world to an unbelievable degree¡­ which makes me wonder how is that even possible.¡¯ Although those lines were going through her head, externally, fidgeting with her fingers she revealed another excuse which was also true, ¡°Well, you see how my name is unusually odd taking into account it literally says hell arose¡­ so I¡¯m usually against revealing my name¡­¡± ¡°I really like your name though.¡± In fact, Virus wasn¡¯t just saying it when he claimed to like her name. ¡®I mean my name¡¯s Virus and I love it, maybe I¡¯m just more into names with negative meanings rather than positive ones.¡¯ Outwardly, however, while proceeding on the path forward, he didn¡¯t even bother to look back at her face while suggesting. ¡°But if you really don¡¯t like your name having a negative meaning¡­ how about this, your name is Hellarose which can also be divided into two parts of ¡®Hella¡¯ and ¡®Rose¡¯.¡± ¡°From where I come from, ¡®Rose¡¯ is a beautiful flower and ¡®Hella¡¯ means a shining light or sunray itself¡­ so basically your name also means a beautiful flower made purely out of shining light. How about it?¡± Then turning back to see why it had gotten so quiet all of sudden, Virus¡¯ eyes met a frozen still woman with her cheeks redder than ever! Her enlarged pupils were locked on Virus as if she was still in the process of hanging on to every word he had muttered. ¡°Your cheeks are red again! Damn, cheeky is really the most appropriate term for expressing you! If someone asked me to define you by a single word alone, I would definitely say cheeky!¡± ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± For some reason, despite him vocalizing something that usually resulted in some kind of retaliative reply, Hellarose simply continued to chuckle like an idiot. ¡°Oi! Are you okay? Why are you laughing like that?¡± Unfortunately, that only creeped Virus out. ¡°Let¡¯s go, stop acting that way. Just carry on acting normal, which is like a crazy person.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s crazy!¡± Chapter 466 - Hellarose Suddenly recalling something, concern filled Hellarose¡¯s heart as she involuntarily put on an empty stare. ¡°By the way¡­ you shouldn¡¯t have killed the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion, you¡¯re in big trouble now.¡± ¡°Hmm? Who is this Lion King you¡¯re talking about? And why is everyone so afraid of him?¡± In fact, now that the topic had been raised, there were a few things Virus was also curious about as well. ¡°Sigh, you¡¯re really ignorant about this stuff, aren¡¯t you?¡± With a rigid expression and pronounced sigh, Hellarose muttered to herself. ¡°Okay, so, the Lion King is a Golden-Maned Ancient Lion that rules the Animal Kingdom with an iron fist that covers a segment of Chao Mundi. You must¡¯ve heard this from that bastard Ra before, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But what that signifies and the reason he can rule the Animal Kingdom is that he is the strongest monstrous beast there! Even the mighty Burning Sparrow serves directly under the Lion King as one of his few direct underlings. That¡¯s how strong he is!¡± ¡°Which means now that you¡¯ve offended the throne of the Animal Kingdom, you might as well have offended the entire Animal Kingdom! So, you have to be extremely cautious from now on. When we leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, promise me the first course of action you take will be to get away from Chao Mundi as far as possible and don¡¯t think of returning ever again!¡± Finally getting a rough picture of the consequences of Killing the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion, Virus understood he was in big trouble. ¡°Alright, I get it. I promise I¡¯ll leave Chao Mundi after we leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World.¡± ¡°Good!¡± In the meantime, the two were continuing on their path when they suddenly reached a dead end with no doors whatsoever. However, the good news was that although there were no doors, instead, there were four portal-like entrances that supposedly led to another location. ¡®Hmm, they are somewhat similar to the portal gates that the Sphinx opened to the treasuries.¡¯ ¡°Which one should we enter?¡± Slightly anxious, the veiled Hellarose turned and asked Virus. From an unknown moment forward, without herself even realizing, Virus had become her pillar of support as she was adamant about following whatever choice Virus made. Seeing that stare filled with expectations as if she had blind faith in him, Virus felt a little awkward. Yet, he soon got to work and started searching around everywhere in order to find any clues. At last, he did indeed discover a sentence that¡¯s been carved on a hidden section of the wall in a tiny font. ¡®One to the beginning, one to the middle, and one to the end, and one to the death.¡¯ After reading the sentence, Virus sunk into contemplation, ¡®Hmm, seeing this, it seems they want us to try our luck again.¡¯ As a matter of fact, Virus had come to realize that the red gate seemed to be mostly dependent on luck and chances other than the capabilities one might possess. ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m also not sure which portal gate leads to where, do you still want to trust my choice and follow me? I mean, are you certain you want to leave your fate on my hands?¡± Raising an eyebrow, Virus queried in anticipation. To that question, however, Hellarose only displayed a relaxed smile as her eyes became like two crescent moons. ¡°Hot face, did I ever tell you? You have this mysterious aura surrounding you which makes everyone around you feel as if as long as you¡¯re there with them, everything¡¯s going to be just fine.¡± ¡°Furthermore, after being around you for a while, I¡¯ve come to realize you¡¯re a genius unlike anyone I¡¯ve seen before, you¡¯re getting stronger at a breakneck pace which honestly leaves me confused and speechless as to how that is even possible.¡± Despite articulating that, the veiled Hellarose had no intention of interrogating him regarding how it was possible to get so strong at such a speed since she understood everyone had some secrets that they didn¡¯t want anyone to be aware of. As a matter of course, that included herself as well. ¡°Moreover, I can also guarantee that you¡¯re very smart after seeing how you made that Sphinx wish it had never seen you.¡± By the end of her words, she couldn¡¯t help but titter. ¡°So¡­ I¡¯m sure, I¡¯ll come with you¡­ oh, that is unless you think I¡¯m a nuisance, in that case, I¡¯ll just choose another gate just like we did in the Sphinx trial.¡± By the end of her sentence, she lowered her head, as if she didn¡¯t want him to see what kind of eyes and face she was making at that moment. Listening to everything she had to say, Virus merely stepped forward and put his palm over her cheek on the veil before gently raising it. While making direct eye contact, showing a bright smile, he claimed, ¡°You are a nuisance¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hellarose¡¯s eyes went wide open at once as her pupils dilated. While a bitter sensation of disappointment was overwhelming her heart, she broke eye contact between them before talking in the most natural tone she could muster right now, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I guess this is where we part-¡° However, before she could even finish, Virus proceeded with the rest of his sentence, ¡°But in spite of you being a huge nuisance, it¡¯s been fun tagging along with you. So let¡¯s be together until the very end.¡± By ¡®the end¡¯, Virus obviously meant the end of the Invisible Ancient Fortress world. Meanwhile, the corners of Hellarose¡¯s eyes moistened hearing that it¡¯s been fun being around her as she came to realize that he had been teasing her earlier. So, while beaming a smile, she nodded and asked, ¡°Is this a proposal?¡± Without any pause, she also started shrieking in fake excitement, ¡°Yes! Yes! Yes! Let¡¯s get married and be together until the very end, honey!¡± A tic of anger and annoyance covered Virus¡¯ forehead once more as he slapped her face away, albeit mildly. ¡°I take it back, go by yourself!¡± Invading his personal space, however, she crossed her arms with his and started giggling, ¡°Come on, honey! Don¡¯t abandon your wifey that easily! Let¡¯s go!¡± Rubbing the temple of his forehead, Virus felt a headache coming his way. He was already deeply regretting not having sent the nuisance away when he had the opportunity. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Randomly picking a portal gate, while Hellarose refused to let go of his arm, the two entered it together. The instant they arrived at the other side, the scene the two of them faced was that of a gigantic molten core with burning lava everywhere! Fortunately, in the location they were standing at, there was some kind of barrier that was keeping all the heat outside of their boundary. In case the boundary didn¡¯t exist, the two of them would¡¯ve long melted away. ¡°Oh, no! Did we enter the gate of death?¡± All color seemed to have left Hellarose¡¯s countenance at once as she felt that they had entered a death trap that was impossible to escape from.. Though they were temporarily safe, they were not going to be able to survive for long without food and other vital daily necessities. Chapter 467 - Opposing The Fate On the other side, Virus was also furrowing his brows in a frown when the same archaic ancient sound that he heard many times on each floor interrupted his deliberation. ¡°Congratulations to you both trial taker number nine and eleven! You have both reached the center of the maze of infinity, thus, you¡¯ve successfully completed the third floor!¡± In reaction to that announcement, both Virus and Hellarose felt as if they were listening to the most beautiful melody in the world. At the same time, a substantial amount of smoke came out of nowhere as it entered their marks at the back of their palms and strengthened them even further! One moment, they both had wondered if that was the end of the road for them and that they were going to die, but the next moment they were notified that it was indeed the end of the road, just not the way they had imagined. Soon, the emotionless voice of the archaic being on the other side seemed to momentarily regain some of its sentiment as it added, ¡°You should thank the heavens for picking that portal gate just now, if you had chosen any other one, considering the abrupt increase in the level of difficulty in the following trials after going into the Sphinx¡¯s glass gate, I bet you both would¡¯ve been dead already!¡± ¡°Hmm, you are a lucky person trial taker number eleven, even though I had some hopes for other participants to survive, there were none for you. And yet against all the odds, you kept getting stronger and stronger as you opposed your fate.¡± The archaic being wasn¡¯t trying to compliment Virus as it was merely stating the truth and nothing but the truth. ¡°Are you going to send us to the fourth floor, now?¡± Not bothering himself with its nonsense, Virus inquired. ¡°Yes. You are going to the fourth floor now which is the final floor for you participants of the Invisible Ancient Fortress. The rest cannot be accessed by you.¡± Without holding back, the archaic being clarified. ¡®Hmm, so there are still higher floors, just that we are forbidden from entering them, interesting¡­ I wonder what this place is.¡¯ Being the analytic Artificial Intelligence he was, Virus deliberated the true identity of this place. Albeit, not having enough information, his scrutiny was fruitless. ¡°However, do not be worried, the dangerous trials have ended for you guys, the next floor will be slightly different.¡± The second the ancient sound was done talking, both Hellarose and Virus vanished from the center of the maze of infinity. ¡­ Amongst a world of clouds, there was an unimaginably broad and lengthy case of stairs that seemed to disappear off somewhere into the infinite clouds. Alas, only an extremely limited amount of the stairs could be perceived Nonetheless, in the sections that could be indeed discerned with the naked eyes, on both sides of the stairs, there were hundreds of library panels filled with books that had been put on display. Suddenly at this time, at the very foot of the stairs, two figures flashed into existence. ¡°Hmm?¡± Immediately, both of the newcomers seemed to have been startled as they looked around at the world of clouds in amazement and awe. ¡°Phew¡­ such an otherworldly place, so mesmerizing I feel like I would lose myself.¡± In utter disbelief, Hellarose exclaimed. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Although Virus was rarely moved by beauty alone to such an extent, he had to admit that it was a stunning place to be at. ¡°What¡¯s this place though?¡± ¡°Trial taker number nine and eleven, Welcome to the fourth floor. I shall not tell you the name of this location since you are not worthy. I¡¯ll straight away get to the explanations.¡± There was no contempt whatsoever in its tone when it said ¡®you are not worthy¡¯ as if it was merely stating a fact. ¡°Do you see that case of stairs and the panels of books that are placed on each side of the stairs?¡± Throwing that rhetorical question, the archaic noise continued, ¡°that shall be your trial and reward as well.¡± ¡°You will be given one chance to climb that path of stairs and reach the height you can endure. The moment you reach the limit of your ascension, you are advised to immediately pick the library panel at your level and choose one book of your own desire from there.¡± ¡°Keep in mind, you are borrowing the knowledge. The instant you pick a book, all of its knowledge shall be lent to you until you achieve its purpose.¡± ¡°Hmm? Is that so? But is ascending the stairs hard? Why is that the case? Does it consume our energy the higher we climb?¡± Wanting to know more, Virus raised a logical question. ¡°Yes, it will be hard. No, it does not consume your energy. In this specific trial, two factors determine the height you can climb.¡± Maintaining its emotionless voice, the ancient being elucidated. Subsequently, the elaboration started, ¡°The first one is the mark of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World on the back of your palm. The more distinct you were capable of making the tattoo so far, the longer you shall be able to endure the pressure of the stairs as long as you also possess the second factor.¡± Since the voice was yet to get to the ending line of the explanation, it went on, ¡°The second factor is the extent of your determination and willpower, the more determination you have, the further you may be able to tread on the path.¡± ¡°However, be warned, you cannot climb the stairs without any of the two, both have to be present.¡± ¡°If you have determination alone but no mark, then the pressure shall throw you off the stairs.¡± Using the most impassive tone, it resumed, ¡°If you have the mark but no determination, the stairs shall still expel you at once!¡± ¡°Hmm, I see. And I assume the higher we climb, the more valuable the books we can select from the panels become, correct?¡± Just to make sure, Virus pointed out this small detail that hadn¡¯t been mentioned during the entire course of the conversation. Although it was highly unlikely, he didn¡¯t want to climb all the way up just to realize that all the books were of the same worth, that would be a tragic outcome indeed. ¡°That is correct.¡± Releasing a pronounced sigh, Virus threw his final question to the table, ¡°I understand now. Can we begin?¡± ¡°Yes, you can, very soon. But wait a moment.¡± Just as the Archaic sound was done, abruptly, the two saw more light flashing as several figures materialized in front of them. They were respectively the two disguised participants who still had their cloaks on, Hadelia, the academician, and finally the third prince of the barbarians Ra who had just escaped from Virus¡¯ grasp a while ago. ¡°Huh?¡± Catching the sight of Ra, energy began to bubble within Virus¡¯ physique while he was getting ready to charge at him before ripping him into many pieces immediately. On the other side, Ra¡¯s face went ashen white instantly as he looked around nervously, trying to find any path he could escape to. Chapter 468 - Stay Your Hand! Alas, just as Virus was about to attack and annihilate the enemy, the ancient sound warned him, ¡°Stay your hand! No one is permitted to engage in battle on this sacred ground. Keep your grudges for when you are out of this place or you shall be expelled outside at once!¡± Listening to it, Virus clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction while Ra heaved a sigh of relief as all fear left him. Hellarose was also gritting her teeth so hard that it was a miracle they weren¡¯t breaking apart. Subsequently, the archaic being elaborated everything to the newcomers until they were also put in the loop. ¡°Hmm, out of the original eleven, seven trial takers survived this time around which is honestly higher than I had expected initially. Well, whatever, you shall begin!¡± As if it was mumbling to itself, the archaic sound uttered a few words before announcing the commencement of the trial. Immediately, Ra, the cloaked people, Hadelia, and the academician stormed toward the stairs as they initiated their trial. ¡°Shall we go as well?¡± Meanwhile, reaching out with his hand, Virus garnered Hellarose¡¯s attention who had been drowning in hatred glaring at Ra¡¯s rushing back. Virus¡¯ stretched-out arm swiftly brought Hellarose out of her enraged state to a more normal one as she extended her hand as well, trying to grab it. However, just as she was about to get it, Virus withdrew his palm and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Forget about your hostility for now. It appears like even the slightest bit of distraction can impact your final results since determination is involved. So, focus! Focus hard.¡± ¡°Hmph, I know.¡± Feeling mad about how she had been made a fool of, Hellarose dashed forward as she entered the trial of the staircase as well. ¡®Good thing she¡¯s back to normal.¡¯ Virus thought grinning while looking at her figure dashing through the stairs. Afterward, seeing everyone was gone, Virus also took one step after another as he launched into it. The instant he took his first step onto the stairs, Virus sensed a negligible burn at the back of his palm, thus, sticking out his hand, he examined to see if anything unusual was happening to the mark of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. And indeed, he could see an extremely meager amount of smoke gradually leaving the mark. ¡®So that means the maximum level of height one can ascend to is as far as this mark can last, in case the bearer of the mark has enough willpower and determination to last that far that is.¡¯ With that, Virus finally understood exactly how important the distinction degree of the mark was. As a matter of fact, that had been indeed one of the first few sentences the archaic voice had blabbered about in the first floor, notifying him that ¡®the final prize and rewards will be calculated according to how distinct, bold, and colorful one¡¯s mark of Invisible Ancient Fortress World becomes¡¯. ¡®Good thing I broke lots of records on the earlier trials.¡¯ Each time Virus had broken a record due to overachieving like in the trial of the fallen skin of the Emissary Flesh or on the first floor where he went against the smokey beasts several levels stronger than him, the final smoke reward he received were multiplied by several times the usual amount. And now, he was finally seeing the outcome of all the hard work and effort he had experienced on the way here. After that, no longer bothering himself with the mark, Virus took one step after another as he climbed the stairs at a moderate pace. For a while, he didn¡¯t feel any different than usual. But that was only until he started feeling a slight degree of unexplainable pressure that appeared to be weighing down on him in a way he quite could not describe. ¡®Maybe it¡¯s a pressure that directly affects the soul and precisely targets the willpower.¡¯ This was a theory he was coming up with randomly without much pondering. A theory that could be either be correct or incorrect. As the ongoing trial proceeded, slowly but surely, on some of the trial takers¡¯ foreheads beads of sweat began to gather. It looked like they were feeling the influence of the pressure now. The person with the worst condition amongst the trial takers so far was in fact Hadelia who was currently gritting her teeth as she persisted through one step after another. Apparently, her mark was also about to flicker out any second now. The people who were the most casual yet while treading ahead of everyone else, however, were the two cloaked people whose countenances were not visible. Truthfully, other than Virus, the group that had performed the best were those two who had gathered a lot of smokes as they had pushed through the trials one after another without any of them being even injured. That difference became even more obvious when one compared it to the other groups. Amongst the academicians, only one had remained alive. Between the two barbarians, Ra was the sole survivor who had barely escaped the claw of death that was called Virus. And when it came to the group of the monstrous beasts as well, thanks to Virus, Hadelia alone was going to leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. Last but not least, even the veiled lady¡¯s party had one person less since the supposed death bringer of the Invisible Fortress, Virus, had beheaded her as well. While the representatives continued with the two cloaked people at the front and the academician at their tail, Virus was currently at the very back as he gazed upon the panting figure of Hadelia who had yet to give up. ¡®It was good to see you again, Hadelia.¡¯ Briefly remembering his first visit to the Cultivation Earth, a strange feeling of nostalgia began to overwhelm Virus. He felt as if those were the simple days when his single worry was to steal some fruit from the sect¡¯s treasury before getting the hell out of there. Chapter 469 - Willpower And yet, that simple purpose had resulted in a lot of memories and encounters along the way which he was going to remember forever. When he recalled those memories, the person at the forefront of them all was his apprentice sister Astes and afterward came the pagoda master, Hadelia, the Sun and Moon Elders, and everyone else! True, many of those memories weren¡¯t anything quite worth recalling or even good memories at all, to be frank. But still, they had already become a part of Virus. A part of who he is today. After delving into that short nostalgia, Virus shook his head as he overtook Hadelia and walked toward the following person at the path ahead of him, Hellarose. Studying the condition of Hellarose in front of him next, Virus saw she still seemed to be quite comfortable as she resisted the pressure and went forward. As Virus increased his pace and slowly walked beside her, he looked at the several rolling sweats on her forehead and teased her, ¡°You look like you¡¯re about to shit yourself, want me to piggyback you?¡± However, much to Virus¡¯ incredulity, he realized Hellarose was absolutely focused on the task at hand, to the point she had yet to even notice Virus¡¯ existence beside him. ¡®Those eyes, they¡¯re terrifyingly concentrated.¡¯ Indeed, just as Virus was claiming, currently, Hellarose¡¯s eyes were exuding a strange illusion of light made of focus. If willpower could take a form, Virus would say it would probably be similar to those eyes. Everything beside her had no meaning at the moment, the only thing those eyes could see was the path ahead. Not wanting to disturb her in any way since she seemed to be in some sort of odd state, Virus took over her as he proceeded ahead once more. Now, the next participant in his line of sight was the third prince of the barbarians, Ra. Quickly charging beside his worn-out physique, Virus exclaimed, ¡°How can you live with yourself after running away from me like such a coward?¡± Spotting Virus beside himself, a shiver went down Ra¡¯s spine momentarily before he picked up his pace and overtook Virus. Unfortunately for him, Virus easily caught up to him and added, ¡°When you go home back to the barbarians, every time one of them looks into your eyes, don¡¯t forget that their prince was a coward who escaped for his life after having used one of his own people, the most loyal one, as a meat shield. Shame on you, trash!¡± Roaring that at his ear, Virus spat on Ra¡¯s path to the front. Ptooey! ¡°AHHHHHH!¡± Screaming out of exasperation and disheartenment, all of Ra¡¯s determination and willpower seemed to falter and crumble away at once as he was promptly propelled backward as the stairs expelled him out of the trial. Rolling back through the stairs one after another, when Ra returned to the feet of the staircase again, he stood up and started shouting and cursing in Virus¡¯ direction like a maniac, ¡°I¡¯ll fucking kill you! I¡¯ll fucking kill you, bastard! One day, I¡¯ll fucking kill you, just you wait! You hear me?! Wait-¡° Albeit, before he could even finish, his body vanished away as he was transferred outside the Invisible Ancient Fortress World at once! Just as the archaic voice had told them, everyone was given a single chance alone to climb the stairs and in case they didn¡¯t pick a book panel when they were at their utmost limit and fell off, they would simply lose their chance of gaining a book from the panels as they would be naturally teleported out of the trial worlds. ¡°Hahahaha.¡± Seeing that he had succeeded, Virus began laughing uproariously as pleasure and amusement tickled him. ¡®Who could have thought it was that easy to rip apart his willpower. Such a weak mentality.¡¯ After sending Ra away from the trial, immediately, all distractions left Virus¡¯ expression as he became absorbed and engrossed in the process of the trial itself. By now, Hadelia had reached the ceiling of her limitations, therefore, being wise enough, she stopped and entered one of the library panels beside the current height of her stair. Meanwhile, while the absorption degree of Virus had been elevated to a monstrous extent, he could feel some of the pressure that had been previously building up over his body disappearing. ¡®So, the more determined we are, the less the pressure will get, huh? Though the pressure was already very minor to begin with, which means it¡¯s not just the active concentration that matters but rather the passive level of determination and willpower one builds throughout one¡¯s life is even more essential.¡¯ Through logical analysis and comparison, Virus concluded quickly. As he reached that conclusion, a frown of seriousness took shape on his face as he proceeded with even more determination. One step¡­ Two steps¡­ One step after another! It didn¡¯t take him long to arrive right at the back of the academician he didn¡¯t even know the name of. Nevertheless, witnessing Virus about to catch up, the academician scoffed at him before picking up his speed. Clearly, he was in utter contempt of Virus¡¯ funny attempt of trying to move ahead of him. That, however, didn¡¯t draw out even a minor reaction from Virus. Virus just increased his pace as he gradually reached the same stair level as the academician before overtaking him and leaving him in the dust. Although he felt a little amused by how frustrated and offended the academician looked when he realized he was no match for Virus, it still wasn¡¯t to the degree where he would spare him a second glance since it felt beneath him to bother himself with a nobody. Thus, continuing the test, Virus locked his gaze on his last targets, the cloaked figures! At the same time, he also effortlessly determined that half of the smokes had left the mark by now, which meant he was closer to his limits by that much. Chapter 470 - The Peak ¡°Now then, shall we overtake these mysterious individuals?¡± Virus whispered while grinning from ear to ear before picking up his speed. As he got closer and closer to the two, they seemed to notice Virus¡¯ existence at last. ¡°Hmph.¡± However, with a harrumph of contempt, one of them reached out and grabbed the other one¡¯s hand. Then, as if they weren¡¯t even that serious before, they doubled their speed at once! ¡°Oh? Would you look at these two cuties?¡± With his smile widening even further, Virus was feeling even more amused now as he also sped up! Once again, he was following closely behind the two. Spotting him in their tail again, a look of momentary surprise could be seen in their body language. But they quickly disguised it just like their faces as they increased their speed again. After that, while Virus chased after them, the two continued putting more energy in their legs, concentration, and willpower as they were barely able to stay ahead of Virus. However, if one listened meticulously, he would be able to hear the panting breaths of the two cloaked participants. ¡°You two finally about to hit your limits?¡± Although Virus was saying that himself, some droplets of sweat were also occupying his forehead. Although he was confident about his willpower considering how he had lived for an astronomical amount of time, and during that period, he had confirmed his will again and again until he became the great rebel Virus, for some reason his willpower and determination seemed to be weakening or faltering as time ran by. Despite him having access to a lot of willpower, for now, noticing how his determination had been influenced by that much, he was taken aback. ¡®Let¡¯s see what¡¯s causing this.¡¯ As this notion and doubt flickered through his mindscape, while continuing his race with the two he had respectively named cutie number one and cutie number two, he also entered a deep state of analysis as he tried to figure out the possible source that might be affecting his willpower. At the same time, elevating his speed to another degree, Virus got closer and closer to the two until he was just about to go past them. That was when the one whose hand was being held forcefully let go and whispered, ¡°Go.¡± Since he was very close to the two, Virus could easily determine that the voice belonged to a woman. Nevertheless, as the woman let go of the other unknown figure¡¯s hand, suddenly, the other person¡¯s speed intensified to a great degree as that person stormed away, creating a considerable gap between them. ¡®Oh, as expected, cutie number one was carrying cutie number two before.¡¯ As he thought that, Virus immediately left cutie number two and chased after the first cutie. Meanwhile, as he had gone through enough data already after analyzing the current changes of his physique, Virus arrived at a possible cause of the slight suppression in his willpower. ¡®Prior to time traveling to the Earth of the past, I don¡¯t believe anything could have shaken my willpower. My willpower was all about what my mind desired and nothing else.¡¯ ¡®But now, my heart seems to have also truly joined the fray for some unknown reasons. This wasn¡¯t supposed to be possible, yet here it is happening to me.¡¯ ¡®Once again, it comes to my heart!¡¯ Indeed, just as Virus had confirmed his weakness of the heart before, now, he came to realize his heart might be suppressing or hindering his willpower to some extent again! ¡®Begone!¡¯ As he indoctrinated that to himself shortly, he also increased his speed even further. Once again, right at the back of the cloaked figure, Virus could hear the panting noise that had crept up by another notch! ¡®She¡¯s reaching her limits and this is getting boring now.¡¯ Determining that cutie number one was also a woman due to the tone of her puff and blow, Virus pushed every bit of speed he could muster at the moment, an amount of speed that could be maintained without being thrown off the staircase. Instantly, his frame was like that of a blur as he overtook the cloaked person! Behind Virus, the cloaked person seemed to have been startled beyond belief as she froze in her standing position. ¡°Hahaha.¡± Chuckling out loud for a second, Virus proceeded even higher, no longer paying any attention to his opponent who was never truly an opponent, to begin with. Now that Virus was the one ahead of everyone else, there were only two opponents he was competing with, one was the staircase itself, and the other was actually Virus himself. As he took continuous steps forward, internally, Virus was suppressing any interferences that might originate from the heart. The manner he was accomplishing this was by entering a high-speed perception almost close to his special time-freeze, because, every time he activated his time-freeze and focused only on his intelligence and nothing else, Virus had this slight sensation as if his heart was falling behind and couldn¡¯t react fast enough compared to his wit. Of course, Virus also knew that wasn¡¯t a permanent solution and that he needed to find a sustainable one in the future, or else this might become a big issue at some point. In the meantime, the higher Virus went, the slower his speed became since the pressure of willpower was heightening at a pace visible to the naked eye. Soon, the oppression was so much that Virus could no longer even sprint as he instead walked step by step. Meanwhile, behind him, gritting his teeth, cutie number one finally reached the utmost level of her limitations and conceded to a library panel beside her staircase. One footstep after another! Looking ahead of him, Virus attempted to make out the highest point of this trial of stairs. After a certain point onwards, Virus noticed that the number of books on each library panel and even the number of the library panels themselves was decreasing the more strides he took to the front. He also determined parallel to the stair he was currently at, there were only ten panels that have been installed alongside one another. Furthermore, there were only around a hundred books on each of them. Afterward, when he strolled even further, Virus soon came to be aware of the fact that the number of panels had decreased to eight and even more so, the book count on each panel was lowered to eighty. ¡®Hmm, the highest point I can see is¡­¡¯ In fact, since the participants had begun from the feet of the staircase, all they could witness was up to a specific point on the stairs and for unknown reasons, the clouds were barring their sight from perceiving any further, as if they were not eligible nor worthy enough to see past that point. Of course, according to the ancient voice, they weren¡¯t even worthy enough to be there and them being there was only a temporary allowance that would be soon redacted. Nevertheless, at the highest level of everyone¡¯s perception and eyesight, a single white dais, full of grandeur and ancientness had been planted as it spread its grandeur from the loftiest position of the staircase downward. Above the dais, only a single book was resting, waiting for its first worthy bearer to come to it! Chapter 471 - The End ¡°Would I be able to reach the end?¡± Gritting his teeth, Virus wiped away some of the sweat from the temples of his forehead as he took more footsteps ahead. By now, the coercive force was so heavy that Virus could not imagine a single person under a hundred years of age that could possibly endure it with sheer willpower alone. True, living longer didn¡¯t always mean having stronger willpower since willpower was even more dependent on the type of person one was and the resolutions that person had in life. As a matter of fact, when one lived for an extremely long period, it might even have a negative influence on their determination and mentality rather than a positive one since their willpower might crumble apart as they are driven to the brink of madness due to the passage of time itself! In fact, in his past life in the future, since humanity had long achieved immortality, one falling into a state of insanity had become a daily issue, much like a common cold in today¡¯s world. Most were bound to catch it from time to time. It happened every day all around the human race population. Fortunately, as long as you had enough credits or authority, they had their unique methods to help you avoid or even cure such circumstances. Therefore, stating that abnormally long life in fact has the opposite influence on most people¡¯s willpower wasn¡¯t totally wrong. However, for some unique individuals, the longer they lived, like the process of building a brick house, they would put one more brick on their construct every year as they became even more certain on the path ahead of them! Still, willpower was an extremely messed up and incomprehensible matter that mostly had to do with one¡¯s psyche, one aspect of which was said to be related to the soul itself which even the humanity of the future was powerless in understanding. Returning to Virus, what was making him speechless was the fact that unless one was an extremely old monster like him who had seen nearly every type of situation in life, it would be nigh impossible for anyone beneath hundred years of age to have any hope of treading to the stairs he was standing at currently. He was putting the criterion at a minimum of hundred years just in case some kind of horrifying freak of nature shows up when it comes to willpower alone, which was a nigh-impossible feat by itself. And considering one requirement for entering the Invisible Ancient Fortress World was that one had to be below thirty years of age, Virus just couldn¡¯t see how that was possible. ¡®Such a weird trial¡­¡¯ ¡®Unless it¡¯s someone ancient like me who has created a young body and entered it, or someone old probably similar to Hu Yuexin¡¯s new soul who has stolen Hu Yuexin¡¯s young physique, or some other phenomena similar to ours, I don¡¯t see how anyone could reach my current position. But even then, it¡¯s only possible if they have been successful in building a strong fortress of willpower in their life.¡¯ Frowning, Virus determined in some confidence. Still, when everything was said and done, Virus also knew anything was possible in this grand infinite world. Simultaneously, examining his surroundings, Virus saw that he had been successful in going to even higher grounds as he was currently at the spot where only five panels of books with each one containing fifty books were displayed at. However, checking the state of his Invisible Ancient Fortress World mark, Virus realized it was about to flicker out in the following few minutes perhaps! ¡®Damn it, I wanted to reach the height with one panel at least if not the top, what should I do?¡¯ Unconsciously, he concentrated even more as he picked up his pace by a negligible amount! The fire of will was so strong within his eyes that right now, nothing but the trial of staircase held meaning to him. Soon, he was at the location of three panels, alas, based on his following calculations, the mark was about to vanish any time now! ¡®Hee¡­ haa¡­!¡¯ At this point, Virus¡¯ t-shirt was drowning in his sweat while he could barely breathe. The exhaustion was so strange and heavy that no matter how hard he breathed, it was as if he was never going to get enough oxygen at least until the pressure ceased to exist! Earlier, when they had been about to leave the treasury room where Henna had been killed at, while Hellarose was saying her goodbyes, she had also recalled that Henna had been carrying some of her dress in case of an emergency, therefore, at the time, she had returned Virus¡¯ t-shirt after changing up. ¡®Just a bit more!¡¯ Taking more steps ahead, Virus barely reached the staircase of two panels! He was even closer to his goal! Meanwhile, soaring amongst the clouds, the shadow of a figure could be seen casually drinking a cup of tea while it sighed in utter amazement while watching Virus¡¯ struggling figure. ¡°Confounding! Who would¡¯ve thought that kid has so much willpower at such a young age. Heck, not even most of my peers have that much determination.¡± Putting the cup of tea on the floating table, the unknown figure began clapping while exclaiming in utter admiration. ¡°Incredible! Incredible beyond belief! If I recall correctly, just three people around his age ever reached the staircase of the sole single panel with ten books. And they are all legendary geniuses of their own generation today¡­¡± After briefly gazing at the second-highest stair with one panel and ten books placed beside it, the person¡¯s eyes fell upon the highest stair with just a dais and a book laid down above it next, ¡°And as to that one¡­ no one ever achieved it. And I don¡¯t believe anyone will ever achieve it as well, it¡¯s just impossible even if one has the willpower since the mark is bound to last at most until the one-paneled stair of ten books.¡± Indeed, just as the person was declaring right now, it didn¡¯t matter how bold and distinct one made the mark to be because, at the end of the day, the tattoo was adjusted in a way so it would run out of ink when the participant reaches the one-paneled stair. Shaking his or her head in some disappointment, the unperceivable person¡¯s eyes fell upon Virus¡¯ frame once more, ¡°Now, the question is, will you be also able to reach the one-paneled stair as well? Or is the stair with two panels the ceiling of your limit?¡± As the unidentified individual was done muttering to itself, with newfound zeal and anticipation, the person continued spectating silently after picking up the cup of tea again. In the meantime, at various locations in the panels of several staircases, Hadelia, Hellarose, the Academician, and the two cloaked people were intently watching Virus in utter stupefaction, looking forward to just when he would reach his limits and stop. Since they had yet to pick a book as there were a lot of options laid down in front of them, they had not been teleported out of the world of clouds just yet. Thus, currently, their attention had been drawn to the figure of the shouting Virus who looked as if he might die any seconds now! ¡°Come on, hot face, you can do it!¡± Hellarose screamed, encouraging Virus to succeed from the very bottom of her heart. Hadelia on the other hand was just quietly observing the situation. If one looked into her eyes, however, one would detect a strong urge to fight within those eyes of hers which she was directing at Virus¡¯ physique. The academician and the cloaked individuals, on the other hand, were gritting their teeth, asking themselves why it wasn¡¯t them that was in Virus¡¯ position right now. Alas, all they could do was to look at Virus¡¯ image filled with envy and other emotions blended together. ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± Meanwhile, completely absorbed in the journey of advancing even higher, Virus roared in resolution, breaking through his steel hard willpower before taking another step forward! Bam! With the distinct feeling of his footstep touching taller grounds, Virus was at last at the one-paneled stair! Woefully, the instant he planted his legs there, the ghost-like mark on the back of his palm which had been barely persisting so far puffed out of existence! Chapter 472 - When You Get Greedy The moment it was gone, having not entered the corner side of the one paneled staircase, a pressure, unlike anything he had felt so far hit Virus at once! As it pushed him back, Virus immediately rolled back to the area of the two-paneled staircase! Then, the third paneled staircase! ¡°Hahaha, that¡¯s what happens when you overestimate yourself and get greedy. Now he¡¯s not going to be able to get his hands on even an ordinary book.¡± The academician cried in laughter and happiness. Seeing others fail at what he could not possibly hope to achieve only made him feel happy. On the other side, both cloaked individuals heaved pronounced sighs of relief while a concerned look materialized on Hellarose¡¯s expression. Meanwhile, as Virus had been pushed back to the area of the five paneled staircases, he suddenly landed on his feet before crying out loud, ¡°AHHHHHHHHHH!¡± He was putting so much pressure on himself that the bloodshot vessels inside his eyes were dumbfoundingly about to explode! And indeed, the next moment, many of those veins within his eyes did indeed burst apart as blood started covering the whites of his eyes! It was indeed a shocking sight to look at as the whites of his eyeballs became entirely red and bloody as a demonic countenance exhibited itself on his face. And yet, even that kind of forceful resistance proved to be futile soon as Virus was about to be pushed back even harder next! All that struggle had resulted in was a brief period of stillness that lasted for less than a single split-second! By now, Virus had long felt something tear apart within his eyes as a stinging pain overwhelmed them. Then, in that bloody world of redness, an even more horrifying and unstoppable force descended upon him. HUAAA~ It was at this moment when the other tattoo which had the mark of a tree suddenly seemed to have been awakened out of its slumber as it began to shine in clear green! This was the tree mark he had received at the Bridge to Heaven from the living root that was the bridge itself. At the same time, a green aura covered Virus¡¯ entire body, instantly healing his wounded eyes and even pushing away all the pressure! Seeing the coercive pressure of willpower unable to do anything to him or even affect him in the slightest unlike before, a strange gleam of eagerness began to burn in Virus¡¯ pupils as he charged forward to the fourth panel at once! Almost instantaneously, Virus was upon the fourth-panel stair as he shot toward the third!!! Up to this point, Virus could sense that nearly fifty percent of the mark of the tree was gone. However, that made him realize he needed to rush even faster as he stormed at the second-panel staircase while the mark was gone by eighty percent! Subsequently, victoriously reaching the first-panel area for the second time, which was the peak height he had been at before, Virus had no intentions of wanting to stop at all as he pushed forward to the highest peak! To the dais that had never once seen a visitor! 92% 95% 97% Promptly, only the last three percent of the green aura was covering Virus¡¯ corporeal body now as it was doomed to disappear the following instant. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ As lightning and wind surrounded Virus¡¯ figure, he pushed forward one last time as he put one foot on the highest summit perceivable! 1% Alas, by now, the last spark of the tree mark was about to die out! ¡°AHHHHH!¡± Gathering every ounce of strength all over his muscles, body, and the core of his being, at lightning speed, Virus thrusted his other leg ahead as well! Shockingly, Virus realized he was now standing on the same level as the dais itself! Unfortunately, it was at this point when the tree mark hit zero percent and was gone completely! With that, the indomitable expulsion pressure was about to just descend upon Virus again when two lines went through his mind since he wasn¡¯t willing to give up just yet. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ Simultaneously, he threw his body to the corner side as he dived toward the dais! Boom! The compulsive force had just descended and hit Virus¡¯ stomach when he ingeniously utilized the force of coercion to barely propel himself to the dais even faster as he landed in front of the dais at last! All coercive force was gone swiftly while to his utter shock and stupefaction, Virus realized he had made it to the summit that was the dais! ¡°YESSSSS!¡± Releasing a roar of joy, Virus celebrated his victory! In the meantime, the eyes of all the participants had long gone so big and wide that they had even forgotten to breathe! One second, Virus was being expelled from the staircase completely! But the next instant, he was already charging to the front again and mind-blowingly reached the furthest dais! ¡®W-what the fuck! How is that even possible?!¡¯ That was the first line of deliberation that materialized within the participants¡¯ minds when they started feeling their own existence again. Pfffft! Meanwhile, amongst the clouds, the unidentified figure spat out all of the tea it was just about to swallow. That sudden one hundred and eighty degrees change and development had taken it so off-guard that even with its strong mentality, the shock made the individual lose control of its actions shortly. ¡°H-how is this possible?!¡± ¡­ Down below, beside the ancient dais, the wheezing Virus gradually regained his breath as his attention was fully drawn to the book above the dais. Right there, in front of him, there was an ancient-looking book, which despite all the years it had been left to eat dust, was still shining as brilliantly as the day it had been put over the dais. The cover of the book seemed to have been made out of some kind of metal as beautiful carvings of gold circulated all around it! Chapter 473 - The Book The book had no name, no description, and not a single hint as to what it could possibly contain. Nonetheless, just by looking at it and feeling that suppressive might of it, Virus could guarantee it was nothing ordinary. ¡®Do I just grab it?¡¯ Pondering that, Virus just reached out and touched the book. The instant his middle finger touched the book, however, the book seemed to have vaporized as it became a golden fog that launched into his forehead and disappeared! ¡°Huh? That¡¯s it?¡± Subsequently, Virus muttered in confusion. Even though the book seemed to have entered his being, for some reason, he could not sense any knowledge or difference anywhere in his body. While he was feeling lost and uncertain as to what was going on, a line, at last, revealed itself. ¡®The book shall materialize itself once during the time of breaking through to Sublimity Emergence.¡¯ That was the only piece of information that was dumped straight into his head. Afterward, there was nothing at all. To be truthful, now Virus felt even more lost, albeit, there wasn¡¯t really anything he could do except wait for the right time when he reaches the peak of Liberation and breaks through to the next stage. Soon, Virus¡¯ silhouette started to dematerialize since he had chosen a book. However, when he was about to fade completely, a voice directly traversed to his brain, ¡°Return once you think you¡¯re strong enough to at least defeat the Sphinx from your trial. This place might surprise you even more. At that time, I may even consider telling you about the Emissary Flesh you offended earlier. So long.¡± Virus quickly figured out that it was the archaic being transmitting a message straightly into his brain. He recognized it since the tone was just like the archaic voice itself. ¡­ When Virus¡¯s sight was restored, the first thing he discerned was that he was already outside the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. Following that, he was about to decide his next course of action when someone else took shape beside him. It was Hellarose. ¡°Hmm? You¡¯re out? Did you pick a book?¡± Virus inquired coolly. ¡°Yep. I had long targeted a book but didn¡¯t touch it since I wanted to see how you do in the staircase test first. Then, seeing you vanish, I also selected my book.¡± With fluttering eyelashes filled with excitement, Hellarose elaborated. ¡°I see¡­¡± Meanwhile, looking around in some expectation and suspense, Virus searched for any barbarian that may be around. ¡°Congratulations, by the way! I can¡¯t believe you reached the top, hot face! Damn, you¡¯re the hottest guy ever!¡± With her eyes slightly narrowed, she voiced flirtatiously. ¡°Thanks.¡± Albeit, Virus was too busy to pay her cheekiness any attention. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he examined the area, other than the party of the cloaked individuals, the monstrous beasts, and the academicians, there was no one else around. ¡°Hahaha, he must¡¯ve fled with his tail between his legs.¡± Virus uttered at Hellarose. Listening to him, Hellarose knew exactly who he was talking about, however, her focus had been locked on the monstrous beasts for a few seconds now. ¡°Look at the monstrous beasts¡­ they are glaring at us with unusually hostile eyes, hot face.¡± She notified while throwing sideways glances at the beasts. Indeed, currently, all the monstrous beasts were staring in Hellarose and Virus¡¯ way while some were growling even like they would lunge at them any moment now. ¡°Shit, that fucking Ra must¡¯ve already notified them of everything before taking off.¡± Virus inferred effortlessly. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what was happening. ¡°You need to leave as swiftly as possible then! They¡¯re probably waiting for backup, that¡¯s why they¡¯re not directly stampeding in our way!¡± Hellarose warned with a bad premonition alerting her heart. ¡°Hmm, what about you, then? Won¡¯t you be in danger?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, there¡¯s someone around that will protect me, furthermore, they won¡¯t target me since I¡¯m not the true culprit. Go!¡± Declaring anxiously, Hellarose urged Virus to leave. Quite casual, however, locking gazes with Hellarose¡¯s, a grin covered Virus¡¯ countenance. ¡°I guess this is goodbye then?¡± ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± As if Hellarose finally understood what that signified and how they were about to be separated from one another, there was a slight tremble in her tone. After going through all the life and death situations together with Virus, Hellarose didn¡¯t want to truly leave his side anymore. Since the day she came to be acquainted with Virus, she knew this moment of separation was bound to come, it¡¯s just that she didn¡¯t expect it to be here already. Although she had this slight urge to leave everything else behind and just tag along with him for a while at least. Still, being conscious enough, after taking her responsibilities and life into account, she knew she had to go back asap. ¡°Can¡¯t you just come with me?¡± Abruptly, before she had even realized, she spat that question out loud. ¡°Huh? With you? Nah, I have a matter I need to take care of.¡± With a wave of his palm, Virus rejected the invitation. ¡°Ah, right? Of course, you wouldn¡¯t want to come with me, you must have your own life waiting for your return, that was so silly of me.¡± ¡°Anyway, you saved my life and I need to repay-¡± Before she could even finish, however, Virus put his index finger on her lips from over the veil and reminded her, ¡°Did you forget how we met in the first place? You also saved my life at the time. I was just repaying the favor by saving you in the treasure room. So, don¡¯t talk about payback again since we couldn¡¯t be more even.¡± ¡°Ah, is that so¡­ so this is really goodbye.¡± A lopsided grimace was visible on her face as she said that. ¡°Yeah, see you when I see you, bye.¡± Patting her head once, Virus turned around and was just about to leave when his hand was grabbed, stopping him in his tracks. ¡°What is it? Did you forget about something?¡± Looking at Hellarose¡¯s expression, Virus queried. ¡°W-where are you going to next?¡± While tilting her head downward, the veiled Hellarose¡¯s clench became harder. After a little deliberation regarding his next plan of action, Virus opened his mouth and stated, ¡°Before I tell you that¡­ by any chance, do know where the Poison Deity Clan¡¯s situated at?¡± A contemplative light exuded from her pupils before she put a question of her own doubtfully, ¡°Poison Deity Clan? Are you talking about that clan that controls one of the islands in the wild islands area?¡± ¡°Hmm, that should be it.¡± Nodding, Virus affirmed. ¡°You should head north if you wanna get there. I believe it¡¯s in a city called Ricando on that same island they control. Why are you asking though? Are you going there? Why?¡± Full of curiosity, Hellarose was dying to know more details about what was up. ¡°Is that so? Okay, and yeah, I¡¯m going there to gather some intel before deciding any further on my next course of action.¡± With a gentle rub of his jaw, Virus pointed out his puzzlement, ¡°But why are you so curious about where I¡¯m going, woman?¡± Chapter 474 - Hohoho ¡°Hot face, that¡­¡± The question immediately made Hellarose hesitant but she still replied nonetheless, ¡°If I have the time in the future, I¡¯ll try visiting you some time! Who knows what kind of messed up trouble a weakling damsel in distress like you will get himself into if I¡¯m not around to save the day?¡± That answer, unfortunately, only forced Virus to rub his forehead in frustration. ¡°Sorry I even asked.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Then, guess I will see you when I find the time to visit.¡± Clasping her hands behind herself while fidgeting with them rather nervously, with breathy giggles, Hellarose called his name out loud, ¡°Stay safe, Vee.¡± Turning around, Virus began walking to the distance. Without looking back, he merely raised and waved his left arm while announcing, ¡°I¡¯m running away before you start acting any more like a normal woman. So long.¡± Watching his back, many complex emotions were passing through Hellarose¡¯s heart as she released a pronounced sigh. When she was on the way to the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, she had reached out a hand to someone in need and saved a random man being attacked by a group of barbarians. Experiencing everything that occurred afterward, frankly, not even in her wildest dreams had Hellarose expected that that one act of kindness would save her own life so quickly. If she had not stepped up that day and thus, wasn¡¯t acquainted with him, Hellarose couldn¡¯t even imagine what would¡¯ve happened to her in the Invisible Ancient Fortress World after Henna¡¯s betrayal. ¡®That¡¯s why kindness matters, goddess bless us all. One day it might all come back to us in the same or a different form. Thank you, my goddess, for putting him in my path.¡¯ By now, an expression full of grace had replaced her earlier cheeky behavior as if she was showing her other true self to a being that was always watching over her. Meanwhile, various notions such as where should he board his spaceship was going through Virus¡¯ head, when abruptly, a foreboding feeling of alarm, something that he had developed over the course of countless years, went off in his head. Someone was directing killing intent in his direction! Despite not understanding what was happening yet, Virus didn¡¯t hesitate to activate his time-freeze perception while also spreading his sense of awareness all around himself! The instant the time-freeze was turned on, however, much to his startlement, Virus spotted a person already materializing in front of him as an extremely terrifying punch was about to connect to his stomach. In fact, this sneak attacker was so fast that Virus¡¯ current physique could not even hope to keep up with the individual! Still, understanding the urgency and deadliness of the situation, Virus chanted two commands. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ Even though the two forms were activating quite slowly due to his monstrous perception slowing down everything, Virus predicted that by the time the punch was about to hit him, they would be successfully activated. Indeed, after a lot of time passed in his time-freeze perception, just as the fist of the unknown man was about to smash into him, both lightning and wind came to his aid. Of course, even with these two at his beck and call, Virus calculated that his movement speed was nowhere close to the opponent. Thus, he was powerless in dodging it. Fortunately, that wasn¡¯t his aim from the beginning. As a matter of fact, the two water turbines of the second form had not even been triggered at the front side of his body, rather, they were operating at his back as they pushed aside any air particles that may hinder his retreat. What Virus did after that was to forcefully propel himself to the back. BOOM! At the same time, the punch made contact with his stomach, sending him flying away into the far distance. Subsequently, like an arrow that had been released from the string, Virus¡¯ figure was thrust backward as it penetrated through one tree after another! Only when the fourth tree was cut off and he smashed into the fifth one did all the force behind the punch cease as Virus threw up blood before falling on the ground with his broken body! On the other side, watching this unexpected development and turn of events, Hellarose¡¯s pupils dilated as she stared at the spot where Virus had been standing earlier! It was a few moments later, when, finally having enough time to react, Hellarose screeched while veins were pulsing in her neck, ¡°Hot face!!!¡± Meanwhile, the unknown cultivator that was done attacking Virus raised his fist and whispered in some surprise, ¡°Hmm, I guess I couldn¡¯t land my fist on him as good as I thought I did.¡± At the same time, remaining fallen on the ground, every part of Virus¡¯ body hurt like hell! ¡®Ah, that was a close one. Good thing my bones were barely able to endure the damage.¡¯ Simultaneously, like a zombie that was impossible to keep on the ground forever unless its brain was penetrated, Virus¡¯ frame began to move as he stood up. ¡°W-who are you?¡± Glaring at the unidentified assaulter with his chilly eyes, Virus interrogated. Although he didn¡¯t recognize the other person¡¯s face, that didn¡¯t stop him from memorizing it. ¡®One more face on the list.¡¯ ¡°Me? Hmm, well, I kind of feel bad for killing you even though there is no hostility whatsoever between us, so I shall at least introduce myself before sending you off to the afterlife, Vee.¡± The golden-robed mature man said in a relaxed manner. He talked in a way as if he had already killed Virus. There was not a single ounce of doubt in his tone that he may fail today in his assassination attempt. He truly believed the instant he had targeted Virus, that was the moment his fate had been sealed. ¡°I¡¯m prince Elijah, remember, that¡¯s the name of the person who sent you on your eternal journey.¡± Holding his head high, Elijah introduced himself. ¡°Prince Elijah, huh? I¡¯ll remember that. And by the way, you¡¯re wrong about there not being any bad blood between us.¡± Glowering at the target of his hostility, Virus declared. ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Narrowing his eyes, Elijah was lost. For an instant, he even wondered if he had come across this person before in his life, but then shaking his head, he denied that possibility. There was no way he would forget such a handsome face. ¡°I mean, the second you took a strike at me and tried murdering me, was the moment animosity was planted between us.¡± Virus clarified at once. ¡°Oh, now that I think about it, you¡¯re right! I suppose I don¡¯t need to feel sorry for killing you then, wonderful, hahaha¡­¡±Maintaining eye contact between them, Elijah started cracking up. ¡®What an amusing target.¡¯ ¡°But, since I don¡¯t even recognize you, will you tell me who sent you to take my life?¡± In spite of being uncertain about the response he may receive in return, Virus threw this doubt of his into the conversation. ¡°Um, I wonder if I should be telling you that or not?¡± Touching the base of his neck, Elijah shortly deliberated. After a few seconds of contemplation, showing a contorted grin, Elijah concluded. ¡°Well, I guess he would be happier and appreciate it even if you were aware of the mastermind behind your death, so let me elaborate a bit.¡± ¡°The culprit who sent me to take your life is no one but,¡± pausing, he started making noise of suspense before revealing the truth, ¡°Adept Falcon!¡± The moment those two words left Elijah¡¯s mouth, he suddenly felt as if he was choking for some reason. It took him an entire second before realizing that the source of the suffocating killing intent was in fact Virus himself! ¡°I see, it¡¯s that fucktard, huh? So, he survived that night. What a cockroach. But it¡¯s better this way¡­¡± By the end of his sentence, Virus was grinning as if he had been just notified of some good news. Now, he was looking forward to the day he was strong enough to go looking for that bastard and disintegrate him into nothingness for possibly daring to go after his life and even harm the golden beauty. ¡®Impossible, did he just oppress me with his killing intent alone. No, more than that, what kind of murderous intent is that? It looks like it¡¯s not even intended for me but it¡¯s still so heavy!¡¯ ¡®Ridiculous, I, prince Elijah, was shaken by the murderous intent of a youngling at the Liberation Stage?¡¯ The further he pondered the question, the angrier it made Elijah. Therefore, grinding his teeth together, Elijah felt as if his pride as both a cultivator and a prince had been just trampled. As a result, blood began to gather in his eyes as he charged in Virus¡¯ direction like a madman, wanting to end him for real this time. In the meantime, seeing Elijah¡¯s frame vanish out of nowhere, without further ado, Virus¡¯ time-freeze and the two forms of his Peak-Human movement technique were called upon! Crackle~ Simultaneously, a shriek of terror resounded some distance away from Virus and Elijah. ¡°Priestess, please save him!¡± The anxious voice belonged to Hellarose who was apparently calling for someone¡¯s help. Albeit, even after her scream, no one magically materialized to save Virus. As Elijah was upon Virus once again, this time around, he reached out with his leg and unleashed a side kick toward his chest. ¡°Die!¡± BOOM! While raising his arms to block the strength behind the kick, Virus could only powerlessly endure and try his best in order to lower the damage by simultaneously jumping back just as the attack was about to make direct contact with his hands. Crack~ Alas, the noise of his bone shattering reverberated in the surrounding area as Virus was sent flying away like a broken kite! ¡°Hot face!¡± Screaming in utter horror, Hellarose no longer cared about anything as she charged toward the place Virus had been sent flying to just now. When she reached him at last, however, Hellarose could only cover her mouth while some traces of tears forced their way out of her eyes. That was because she saw that one arm of Virus was currently in an extremely sorry state. A bone was sticking out of his flesh followed by the considerable flow of blood! Meanwhile, determining Virus to be still breathing and alive, truthfully, Elijah was now feeling awestruck! Virus¡¯ endurance had already gone way beyond anything he had expected. This opponent of his was oddly resilient. ¡°Well, guess I just need to hit you until you die.¡± Muttering that, Elijah vanished again. Elijah¡¯s current philosophy was that if once wasn¡¯t enough, he would go at him twice, and if that wasn¡¯t enough as well, he would continue to do so until Virus draws his last breath. Opposite to Elijah, perceiving his movement and upcoming attack that was guaranteed to deal a fatal blow to Virus, without even considering the possibility of her own death if she tried to interfere, Hellarose stood in front of Virus like an immovable mountain and spread both her arms. Next, closing her eyes shut, she screamed, ¡°Stop!¡± ¡°Like hell, I will! You die as well!¡± Obviously annoyed very much by Hellarose¡¯s interruption, Elijah was just about to dash into her and end her swiftly before proceeding on his next target, when, without anyone¡¯s notice, an old woman materialized in the space between the two of them! The old woman had been so fast that neither Elijah nor Hellarose were capable of discerning or reacting to it in the least! ¡°Hohoho! Young miss, is he really worth that much to you for you to risk your life so carelessly for his sake?¡± Laughing weirdly, the old woman ignored the petrified Elijah entirely as she simply gazed into Hellarose¡¯s pupils and questioned. Chapter 475 - Priestess ¡°Priestess, he¡¯s my savior. I¡¯ll tell you the details later on, but please don¡¯t let any harm befall him for the moment. I shall be greatly indebted to you if you grant me this huge favor.¡± Hellarose requested humbly while the inside corners of her eyebrows were slanting upward. It was obvious she was truly worried about Virus¡¯ fate. ¡°Hooh? Is that so? Okay, don¡¯t forget your promise. I¡¯ll save him from this eejit right there, however, I already heard about him killing the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion, sadly, even I can¡¯t do anything about it when the monstrous beasts¡¯ backup gets here.¡± Indeed, having listened to the description of Ra from the shadows, the old lady had a rough picture of what had happened in the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. ¡°I understand.¡± Although she had difficulty accepting that the old lady would not step up to protect Virus in case the monstrous beasts caught up, honestly, she knew that the priestess indeed would be incapable of interjecting even if she tried. Hence, she wasn¡¯t going to pointlessly ask her to risk her life for Virus¡¯ sake. True, it was Hellarose¡¯s own choice to whether risk her life for his sake, but just as much as it was her right to make that decision, it also wasn¡¯t her place to ask someone else to risk their life for the sake of another. She considered that an extremely selfish act that deserved to be denounced and reviled. Furthermore, since the monstrous beasts weren¡¯t even there right now, first, she wanted to deal with the current issue at hand. ¡°Alright.¡± Turning toward Elijah at once, the old woman grinned gently and advised him like a kind grandma, ¡°Young¡¯un, the goddess condemns violence without a just cause, vengeance and grudges are the evil of your soul that needs suppression, not feeding.¡± ¡°Feed the good of your soul today, not the poisonous one.¡± Preaching at him up to this point, she also added in an even warmer manner, ¡°The goddess will look favorably upon you if you oppress that evil urge inside yourself and leave, if not, you may face the wrath of the goddess. Heed this advice from this experienced old lady.¡± On the other side, listening to everything the old lady was saying, a great deal of sweat was already showering Elijah¡¯s forehead who wondered to himself, ¡®Isn¡¯t that just a nice way of saying fuck off or I¡¯ll cut you into a thousand tiny pieces?¡¯ Indeed, looking into her unusually focused eyes which were currently locked on his figure, Elijah was quite certain he would die in case he insisted on taking Virus¡¯ life any longer, ¡®Damn it, there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll let this scary old lady here kill me today. I¡¯m leaving! But just in case, I¡¯ll continue keeping my eyes on this place, who knows, maybe I got an opportunity when they go their separate ways.¡¯ With that, smiling broadly, Elijah uttered in sheer respect, ¡°Elder, you are correct indeed, I¡¯ve been enlightened by your magnanimous advice today and it may change my life forever. I thank you for imparting such a valuable listen to me, what great wisdom you have! I shall take my leave now, farewell.¡± Afterward, not wanting to linger around a second longer, Elijah¡¯s silhouette retreated until further notice. ¡°Hmph, that was the most sincere fake speech I¡¯ve heard in a long time.¡± Letting out a harrumph, the old lady no longer bothered herself with Elijah¡¯s fleeing figure. Meanwhile, Virus finally sat on his hips before proceeding to put back the bone that was sticking out of his flesh back into his arm without even showing the slightest sign of being in pain. Crack! Beside him, witnessing that scene, Hellarose¡¯s face went pale in fright. She could not imagine how much it must¡¯ve hurt to do that, but Virus had done it without a single yelp of pain. ¡°Are you okay, hot face?¡± Sitting beside Virus, Hellarose inquired concernedly. Seeing him get hurt was making her heart ache. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just that the bleeding is rather serious and it¡¯s not stopping.¡± Indeed, even though his bone was at least temporarily moved to a better position, the cut that it had made on his arm was making him bleed nonstop. If it was the Technological Earth, Virus had various methods of stopping the bleeding and even healing the injury swiftly, unfortunately, he was not. Listening to that, Hellarose made puppy dog eyes as she gazed at the priestess pitifully, ¡°Priestess¡­ please help him.¡± Looking into those eyes, the old lady could only scratch her head in frustration as she took out a medicine pill from somewhere and threw it at her, ¡°Geez, that¡¯s a precious pill of mine, can¡¯t believe I¡¯m using it on someone I don¡¯t even know.¡± ¡°Thanks!¡± With her eyes shining brilliantly, Hellarose took it out of its container before extending it right in front of Virus¡¯ mouth, ¡°Hot face, say ¡®ahhhh¡¯.¡± That instantly forced a tic on Virus¡¯ forehead. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t anything else he could do to heal himself at the moment, thus, he opened his mouth helplessly. Alas, squinting her eyes, Hellarose didn¡¯t seem to be satisfied just yet. ¡°No¡­ don¡¯t just open your mouth. You have to say ¡®ahhhh¡¯.¡± ¡°I would rather die!¡± More veins were popping on his neck and forehead as Virus rejected stubbornly. He also confirmed for the zillionth time that she was crazy! ¡®How can someone continue behaving so cheekily in all kinds of grim situations?¡¯ Afterward, as she put the pill within his mouth herself, Virus swallowed it. Soon, a strange yet soothing type of energy began transmitting itself from his stomach to his arm area. Then, at a pace visible to the naked eye, the wound started taking effect. Frankly, the pill wasn¡¯t supposed to be working that quick.. The reason why it was like that mainly had to do with the fact that Virus¡¯ body had a special attribute that made it possible for him to absorb the full extent of a pill¡¯s potency. Chapter 476 - Fault When it came to the efficiency of the pills on other people, some would only absorb twenty percent of the potency of the pills while some better ones may take in more. Overall, it was dependent on the type of talent the said person¡¯s gene had in that regard. However, for Virus, one of the characteristics of the top-notch DNA core he had implanted within his biological body made it so that his stomach would behave like an insatiable sponge that could suck up a full one hundred percent potency of any pills. Although that sounded like a dream come true feature for a cultivator to have as it was bound to make the path of cultivation much easier for the said person, that, in fact, was not the case at all since there was a major flaw to that kind of physique, a kind of defect that would immediately turn the dream into a nightmare. The flaw had to do with the fact that each pill had a certain percentage of impurities within itself that were harmful to the body. Since that type of body was bound to absorb everything about a pill, it was also destined to merge with the bad parts of the pill just as well as the good parts. Hence, all things considered, at the end of the day, it was better for a cultivator to not have that kind of body, to begin with. On the plus side, however, that wasn¡¯t really an issue for Virus anymore since he had completely immunized his body to all impurities when he finished the Purifying pre-stage of cultivation. Thus, Virus had already negated that weakness and had no worries regarding it. As a matter of fact, that was one of the reasons why he was so adamant about completing the purifying stage as it was destined to be of great assistance to him during his entire journey of cultivation. Now, only the positive potency of the pills could influence his body while the negative influences were bound to be unable to affect, accumulate, or gather within his body. As the bleeding gradually scabbed, Virus raised his head and told Hellarose unceremoniously, ¡°Guess I¡¯m in your debt again. And here I was just saying we¡¯re even now.¡± Smiling in a friendly manner, Virus felt nothing but grateful to this woman that had been warm-hearted enough to extend her hand and aid him. ¡®I won¡¯t forget about this, I promise to return this to you a ten-fold at least.¡¯ With a simpering smirk, Hellarose reminded him, ¡°Geez, didn¡¯t I just tell you you¡¯re a powerless damsel in distress that can¡¯t last without me? I had just voiced it and you¡¯re proving it true already!¡± Holding her head high, Hellarose claimed full of pride in herself. ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Letting out a pronounced sigh, with a simple shake of his head, the only response Virus had to that was, ¡°You¡¯re probably the only person to ever think that. But¡­ you¡¯re right, I¡¯m still too weak, I need more strength.¡± Virus consoled himself by envisioning how Hellarose would react if she was aware of his background and back story about the terrifying [Virus] that nearly led to the fall of a humongous civilization. However, he was also aware that he was not that Virus anymore. That Virus was a nigh-unkillable being. On the other hand, a stronger cultivator was all that was required to finish him off right now. Or at least that is the case until he¡¯s strong enough to be even nigher unkillable than before, perhaps even remove the ¡®nigh¡¯ part and only leave the ¡®unkillable¡¯ part this time. Ultimately, that was also why cultivation was so much fun and worth it since it was the path that led to true power that uniquely belonged to its wielder alone. ¡°Right.¡± Confirming mercilessly, Hellarose rushed him up, ¡°Anyway if you¡¯re feeling better now, you better escape before the arrival of the monstrous beasts, you¡¯ll be in big trouble if they get to you!¡± ¡°Hmm, alright.¡± Rising to his feet, Virus was just about to say goodbye again before leaving when a yelp from Hellarose stopped him in his track. ¡°Ahh, I almost forgot earlier since I was so worried about the monstrous beasts¡­ do you know the way out of Chao Mundi, by the way? It would be too dangerous if you just wander around aimlessly here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I still recall the route we came from.¡± Although Virus was vocalizing that out loud, internally, he had another idea, ¡®No worries, my spaceship will get me out of here pretty safely.¡¯ Then, after exchanging a few words of farewell, Virus finally charged toward the path they had originally come from. Soon, when there was no one around, out of nowhere, a door briefly opened up in front of Virus as he vanished inside! In the meantime, Virus was just gone when the old lady abruptly materialized in his previous position. ¡°Huh? What was that? Where did he go to?¡± Albeit, no matter how hard the priestess contemplated the question, there wasn¡¯t a single clue that was going to enlighten her. After returning to Hellarose¡¯s side again, the priestess exclaimed in some amazement, ¡°Young miss, that guy is not a simple man. He just vanished into thin air. Just now, some gate cracked open in the fabric of space as he walked into it, and then poof¡ªhe was gone!¡± Listening to that description, however, Hellarose didn¡¯t seem to be shocked or even that surprised since she had already deemed Virus to be a mystery, an enigma, with a lot of secrets. ¡°Is that so? I¡¯m just glad that he¡¯s safe.¡± With sparkling eyes, Hellarose began humming a happy tune. She was genuinely feeling relieved now. ¡­ On the other side, after Virus was gone, another person adorned in a golden robe started cursing out loud, ¡°Where did he go? Fuck!!!¡± That was Elijah. ¡­ Quake~ Precisely a quarter of an hour later, around the region Virus had vanished at, an earthquake was felt as it was soon followed by the appearance of tens of thousands of one- and two-meters ants that swarmed everywhere! Furthermore, it was followed by a titanic ant that cast a terrifying shadow over the trees of Chao Mundi itself! Chapter 477 - Where Is He? ¡°Where is he?¡± Following afterward, shockingly, the titanic ant moved its mandibles and talked in human language to no one in particular, ¡°Find him!¡± it declared while the smaller ants dispersed in every direction! In case Virus didn¡¯t have his spacecraft, without the shadow of a doubt, he would¡¯ve been tracked down and slaughtered before he had the opportunity to escape very far. Meanwhile, inside his spaceship that was heading north, Virus commanded the spaceship to fly as high as possible in its invisible mode. Even though he could guarantee no one on this Earth would be capable of seeing past the invisibility of his spaceship, it never hurt to be more cautious. ¡®Now, until I reach my destination, I better rest and recuperate.¡¯ Examining the wound that was already mending itself, Virus decided. After inspecting the open injury and the state of his broken bone with his sense of awareness, Virus was confident that the pill he had taken was strong enough to gradually heal his bones over time. The only downside was that healing the bone was going to take a few days at least and during that period, it was advised that he doesn¡¯t use his arm and just sleeps and rests. ¡­ Eight days flew by at the snap of a finger. During these eight days, Virus did nothing but rest in hopes of getting better faster. And today, he was just stretching his hand out when the spaceship¡¯s basic Artificial Intelligence notified him of their arrival at the destination. That immediately attracted Virus¡¯ undivided attention as he stood up and looked out of the spaceship at the scenery below him. Currently, Virus could see a large ancient city beneath himself surrounded by nothing but desert in all directions. It was clearly noisy, energetic, and cheerful as people were walking around in all directions. ¡°So, this is Ricando. The city inhabited by the Poison Deity Clan.¡± Virus voiced coldly while glimpsing at the boisterous city down below. Ricando was surrounded by two layers of gigantic walls in the shape of rings that accommodated the city within themselves. The first ring wall that was covering the larger outer segment of the city was called the outer wall and it naturally lodged the outer area of the city. In order to enter the Outer Ricando, one had to pass through the gates of the outer wall. Moreover, deep into the city itself, there was a layer of another wall that had given rise to the Inner Ricando. As he was done inspecting the general picture of the city, Virus commanded the basic A.I. to descend. Afterward, landing some distance away from one of the four gates that were pasted to the outer wall, Virus got off his spaceship and ambled toward the closest gate. While strolling in that direction, he also continuously tested the functionality of his restored arm, making sure it had healed up to a perfect state. Swish! Also brandishing his sword around a little, Virus guaranteed that there was no problem with his arm anymore, the bones had been reverted to the state they were prior to the injury. ¡®Hmm, that must¡¯ve been a valuable pill.¡¯ He ascertained with a relaxed brow free of frown lines. He felt truly grateful, not for the priestess that had given him the pill, but rather Hellarose who had persuaded the old lady to step up by promising her probably something extremely valuable. Just as the thought flashed through his mind, Virus realized that he was already near the entrance. Inspecting the surroundings, Virus spotted a short line of people waiting to legally pass into the city. Virus as well, entered the orderly line as he bided his time until the people in front of him were gone. Around fifteen minutes later, when it was finally his turn, Virus was stopped by one of the city guards who shouted, ¡°Who are you? Show me your Identification that¡¯s been issued by the Ricando state.¡± ¡°Identification Stone? I don¡¯t have that. It¡¯s my first time visiting this place.¡± Since there was no need to lie, Virus simply told them the truth. Learning that he was a foreigner, the guard¡¯s treatment and tone worsened by a level. Apparently, the foreigners weren¡¯t perceived the same as the native ones. Therefore, he said dismissively, ¡°Huh? Then you need to pay ten Qi Ingots of the first grade so as to certify your identity by the Ricando governor¡¯s office.¡± Honestly, Virus was unbothered by the guard¡¯s tone and felt it was beneath him to even consider the idea of retaliating against the man since barking back at a barking dog only lowers one¡¯s own worth. Rubbing his chin, he casually answered, ¡°Hmm, but I don¡¯t have any Qi Ingots with me right now¡­ can¡¯t I enter the city and make some quick money before paying the city-state?¡± Sadly yet, hearing that Virus had nothing to pay for, the city guard¡¯s behavior experienced an even sharper turn for the worse. ¡°If you have no money, then get the hell out of the line and stop bothering us!¡± Even though the way he was treating Virus before wasn¡¯t that nice, to begin with, after hearing Virus was a poor person with nothing to offer, his gaze transformed entirely. Now, it was as if he was looking at nothing but a disgusting homeless peasant. On the other side, Virus calmly carved the other person¡¯s face while putting on his warmest smile, he may not bark back at the dog, but he can always kill it some time in order to stop the annoying noise. ¡®I suppose I can only hop over to the outer wall using my spaceship.¡¯ As that thought popped into his brain, Virus quickly returned to his spaceship. Then, the spaceship stealthily moved toward the open space above the outer wall. Bam! Suddenly, the spaceship crashed into something, sending intense tremors within the interior.. That immediately garnered Virus¡¯ focus as he looked outside to see what was up. Chapter 478 - Ricando Currently, outside the spacecraft, surrounding the entirety of Ricando, a silver shield had been activated while the invisible spaceship had directly collided with it, unable to break through inside. ¡°Damn, seems like they have some kind of defensive line to stop the intruders.¡± Exhibiting a half-smile filled with frustration, Virus discovered first-hand. Simultaneously, all around Ricando, figures of authority began to move as they started searching for the source of the intrusion or possibly attack attempt. Apparently, the activation of the city shield was a big deal. Fortunately, they were incapable of locating him. While the city went into a temporary state of chaos amongst its upper echelons, Virus landed the spacecraft on the ground once again. ¡®Guess I can only somehow earn some money before being allowed into the city.¡¯ In the meantime, getting off the spaceship, Virus discerned that covering the entire surface of the outer wall, various engravings were shining on them while they produced the sphere boundary that had prevented his entry earlier. ¡®Well, I reckon the only option left is to go through one of the gate entrances.¡¯ Returning to the gate once more, Virus began studying and inspecting the people passing by while wondering how he should earn some quick buck. ¡®Maybe I should beg?¡¯ Making this suggestion internally, a grin crept over Virus¡¯ face. Of course, he was merely joking when he was proposing that idea since it was just his way of pointing out the irony of how poor he was right now. His pride wouldn¡¯t let him beg. He would steal, but not beg. On the Technology Earth, he was so rich that whatever he desired was procured for him at the shortest notice. And yet, absurdly enough, the initial capitals for that wealth had been gathered through stealing from nearly everyone in the world! On this planet, however, he was ironically piss poor to the point that even gaining access to a single city was proving difficult. And yet, he was unwilling to beg. ¡®Should I display some of my cultivation and offer to work for a rich person as a bodyguard for a while?¡¯ This new idea had just gone through Virus¡¯ head when he noticed someone approaching him. It was a disguised figure hiding her face beneath a cloak. Still, that meant nothing to Virus as he merely released her sense of awareness and received a perfect image of the woman in his mindscape. Previously, when Virus was participating in the trial of the staircase, Virus had also released his awareness in order to figure out the identities of the two cloaked people, unfortunately, they seemed to be wearing special types of cloaks or something similar that prevented any kind of probing. And about the veil hiding Hellarose¡¯s countenance, to be honest, Virus hadn¡¯t even tried looking past it since he was unwilling to do that to his savior. In case she was ever intent on showing herself voluntarily, Virus may take a look just to see exactly what kind of person possesses such a cheeky attitude, but if not, he didn¡¯t really care. And of course, neither of those mentioned above was the case with this woman in front of him who was wearing a cheap common cloak. She seemed to be in her thirties while there was an extremely wild air about her that Virus discerned at once. Her tan skin together with the pronounced body parts also added further to that quality. ¡°Hey, do you need help getting into the city?¡± She said in the most tempting tone she could possibly make, just like a creepy uncle offering a kid a lollipop. ¡°Hmm? Who are you?¡± Furrowed in a frown, Virus queried. ¡°I just saw you were unable to enter Outer Ricando since you don¡¯t have any money. But I think I felt some cultivation qi in your body, which stage are you at?¡± Clearly excited at the notion of coming across someone with a good level of cultivation, the woman interrogated. ¡°Why would I tell you that?¡± Staring with half-lidded eyes, Virus could already anticipate her answer. ¡°I¡¯ll pay for your identity certification process plus ten more Qi Ingots as extra payment.¡± She said as expected. ¡°And what¡¯s the catch?¡± Since nothing was free in the world, Virus wanted to know just how expensive she was selling those twenty first-grade Qi Ingots to him. ¡°You will know when we get there, you just need to follow me. Anyway, I¡¯ll leave if you don¡¯t want to, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m trying to force you or anything.¡± However, those words only made Virus smile in mirth, ¡®Huh, using that strategy, eh?¡¯ ¡°Alright, leave.¡± Grinning from ear to ear, Virus didn¡¯t hesitate to tell her off. However, as he predicted, the woman did not leave, ¡°You sure? You¡¯re losing a great opportunity, you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure. Go away now.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ I¡¯ll give you fifteen first-grade Qi Ingots.¡± Her voice was reeking of anxiety at this point. ¡°Hmm? Is that so?¡± Obviously, Virus could see there was something fishy about this entire situation, but that only urged him to want to do it more, ¡°It sounds fun, I couldn¡¯t possibly say no to fifteen first-grade Qi Ingots, right? Alright, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡®Let¡¯s see where this little trip guides me to.¡¯ ¡°What? Are you sure? I can always just find another person if-¡° Speechless that she was still proceeding with that nonsense strategy of hers despite it failing once, Virus exclaimed, ¡°Cut the bullshit! I¡¯ve seen through that little trick of yours already. Why do you even keep saying that? I told you to leave if you wanna leave!¡± ¡®Is she perhaps slow in the head?¡¯ Virus deliberated, truly suspicious now. That response, however, abruptly startled the woman as her pupils dilated beneath the cloak. ¡°A-alright, let¡¯s go.¡± Subsequently, they set foot in the line until it was finally their turn. Seeing him return, the guard that had chased Virus away before started to get pissed off, ¡°Damn it! Didn¡¯t I tell you to fuck off? Do I have to beat you up before you understand?¡± Virus¡¯ countenance remained expressionless much like a buddha that could not be angered at all. Alas, that made the guard even angrier. Therefore, he was about to get his weapon and start beating up this peasant that didn¡¯t comprehend his place when the cloaked woman stepped up at last. ¡°I¡¯ll pay for him, here.¡± Offering him the ten Qi Ingots of the first grade, the cloaked woman declared. ¡°Huh? So, you found yourself a sugar mommy to pay for you, huh? Well, looking at your face, it¡¯s not a surprise.¡± Throwing another gaze full of contempt, the guard demanded next, ¡°What¡¯s your name, by the way?¡± Seeing Virus remain silent without introducing himself, the cloaked woman clarified the process, ¡°Your name will be carved on your identification plaque, so it¡¯s essential. Moreover, they need to make sure you¡¯re not an enemy of Ricando.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Vee. Simply Vee with no last names.¡± ¡°I see. Vee, it is then. What¡¯s the purpose of your visit?¡± ¡°Probably to live here.¡± ¡°Where are you from originally?¡± ¡°I used to live alone in a hut amongst the mountains, so nowhere really.¡± ¡°Just as I assumed, a country bumpkin with nothing at all. Okay, you two wait here and don¡¯t move until I return.¡± After jotting down every one of his replies, the guard vanished off to somewhere. In the meantime, Virus merely watched him leave his line of sight quietly. Chapter 479 - Two Although he continued looking down on Virus, he was still very clear about his duties and knew there would be unnecessary trouble in case he didn¡¯t properly do the paperwork for the newcomers. While they were left cooling their heels, the cloaked woman started mouthing all of a sudden, ¡°You know, a single first grade Qi Ingot is too much already for a common citizen, so don¡¯t mistakenly assume you would¡¯ve been able to find someone else to help you out if you had rejected me.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± A few minutes later, the guard returned with a plaque and threw it at him rudely. Two things were engraved on the plaque. The first one was his name, Vee and below that, there was a certain number that represented his identity. ¡°You two are permitted into the city, now go away.¡± With a wave of his hand, the guard shooed them away. ¡­ After entering the city, the first view Virus met with was a large river. Thinking back, it was in fact another significant detail Virus had witnessed earlier when he was looking down from inside the spacecraft. The river ran across the entire Ricando itself as it separated the city into two equal half parts. It was the water source of the entire city. As a matter of course, one of the reasons why Ricando had even formed in this location was supposedly due to the existence of this river in the middle of the dead desert which became the water source for everyone! Along the two sides of the river, there was a never-ending bazaar on both sides while a busy crowd was raucously commuting around. Noticing Virus¡¯ inquisitive gaze wandering around, the cloaked woman voluntarily stepped up and introduced, ¡°This is the main and the biggest market of Ricando.¡± The brief introduction seemed to only intensify Virus¡¯ thirst for more information. ¡°Hooh? Is that so? Tell me more.¡± Pointing at the river, she presented. ¡°Do you see that river? It separates both Outer and Inner Ricando into two equal parts. What you need to know about these parts, however, is that each of them is controlled by one of the two factions of the Poison Deity clan.¡± ¡°So, the Poison Deity clan consists of two factions, eh? What are they called?¡± An utterly sharp and serious glint was gleaming through his pupils. Since an opportunity to gather some rudimentary data had provided itself, Virus wasn¡¯t going to miss it. ¡°You don¡¯t even know that much and you came to live here? They are the Poison and the Deity factions obviously.¡± Without stopping there, she continued, ¡°The side we¡¯re at right now is the Poison-Half which is naturally controlled by the Poison faction while the other side is the Deity-Half controlled by the Deity faction.¡± ¡°I see¡­ and even Inner Ricando is managed like that?¡± ¡°Yes, actually, the clan itself resides in Inner Ricando while Outer Ricando is mostly inhabited by other people and cultivators that are not related to the clan.¡± ¡®Hmm, what an interesting city.¡¯ Deliberating shortly, Virus asked another question. ¡°Who are the nobles of this city?¡± ¡°Naturally, as long as they are at least an inner disciple, every member of the Poison Deity clan is considered nobility.¡± Lowering her eyebrows, she announced. ¡°I see. That makes sense if they are in total control of the city.¡± Nodding his head, Virus was satisfied for now. ¡°Yes, anyway, just remember this is the Poison-Half of Outer Ricando and our destination is also in this section of the town.¡± Afterward, a long silence descended upon the two until they decided to focus on the rowdy market and people instead. Subsequently, half an hour passed when the two finally arrived in front of a large colosseum. ¡°Huh? Why are we here?¡± Tugging on an earlobe, Virus squinted at the annoyingly secretive woman that refused to notify him of the services he had been hired for. ¡°This arena is called the Recreation Training Center. One of the major events of Ricando occurs in this place. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll explain everything else when we get there.¡± Next, Virus and the disguised woman sauntered into the colosseum together. ¡°You stay here. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Telling Virus to wait when they reached an empty reception, the woman left in a hurry. A few minutes later, she returned with a buffed-up middle-aged man who was exuding a strong qi from all over himself, he was clearly at least at the Sublimity Emergence stage. Virus was unsure whether he could defeat the newcomer if he went against him. ¡°Is this him?¡± Yawning, while half-closing his eyes, the man questioned. ¡°Yes.¡± Unusually respectful, the woman confirmed. ¡°I see, okay. You there, since you agreed to take her place in exchange for the identity plaque, follow me.¡± Picking his nose, the man urged Virus. ¡°Hmm? Where to?¡± Pursing his lips, Virus requested further clarification since he was still baffled about almost everything. ¡°Please just follow him, Vee, you¡¯ll understand the rest very soon. I¡¯ll stay here until you return.¡± She proclaimed with the saddest smile she could form. Although Virus knew this entire circumstance was too suspicious, having already made up his mind to see through this little ploy to the very end, he accompanied the man. Furthermore, analyzing where he was and how the situation had progressed so far, Virus had a rough picture of the most likely possibilities that were going to take place subsequently. What he could say for sure, however, was that accompanying the man was the sole option he had at hand right now. In case he tried retaliating and killing the middle-aged guy, the entire city would probably be after his head and that will prevent him from accomplishing the main purpose of his visit to this place. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t confident about escaping if things escalated that far ahead since his spacecraft couldn¡¯t even enter Ricando.. So, the most logical course of action was to go along with the person. Chapter 480 - Senior Citizen ¡®Ahh, I blame my poverty for this. Hope it¡¯s something fun though¡­¡¯ Grinning helplessly, Virus concluded. Indeed, not having the money to enter this big town was the sole reason why he was in his current quandary in the first place. ¡®Well, let¡¯s see what¡¯s up before coming up with a logical plan of action.¡¯ ¡®If I only had foreknowledge about getting stuck on this planet or some news about the destruction of Silver Sky sect, I would have made many preparations.¡¯ Precisely as Virus was claiming, in case he was aware that his spaceship would be assaulted and nearly rendered wrecked and useless, he would have taken and procured a lot of precautions and essential materials. Even the news of the annihilation of the Silver Sky sect would¡¯ve led to the same result. For example, there were many precious materials and minerals on Earth that he could easily buy and bring with him to exchange with some of the currency of the planet, and that would have solved the earlier issue at the gate. Unfortunately, despite being extremely intelligent with the ability to calculate and even predict a lot of possible events, he was still incapable of foretelling something he had no prior clues or knowledge about. All he could have done was to uselessly prepare for every type of situation that may or may not occur in his short visit to the cultivation planet, which was simply countless! If Virus truly did take that route, the list would be nearly endless while the devices and the other materials he required would not even fit into the small spacecraft, not even close. No, considering the level of technology he had available right now, his calculations advised him to not even ponder the idea of going to any type of multiversal and even universal trips at least until he achieves huge advancements in technology which was probably going to take decades if not centuries to develop. Furthermore, that wouldn¡¯t be just a one-time thing, rather, every time he wants to go on a journey, he would be coerced to keep arranging a lot of gadgets, instruments, items, materials, etc. which would be an extremely time-consuming and boring affair which was against Virus¡¯ current motivations. And yet, even with that infinite list of planning, the danger wouldn¡¯t be gone in a true sense, at least not until he was unkillable. Up to that point, there was always going to be a meager percentage of some random planet-destroying cultivator showing up one day and destroying the entire planet he was on with the snap of his fingers! Therefore, there wasn¡¯t really a point in coming up with a lot of futile arrangements for unknown situations. Hence, everything considered, all Virus could do was to perform a basic calculation of the possible situations that may arise based on the ¡®available information¡¯ he had at hand while presuming everything else he was ¡®left in the dark¡¯ about as irrelevant. Thus, the foundation of his calculations was always the ¡®available data¡¯ and not ¡®every possibility¡¯ which was basically asking for infinity itself. Frankly though, in case Virus changed the set data of his calculations from ¡®available data¡¯ to ¡®every possibility¡¯, the level of obsession in his judgment will be so high that he may even assume going to the toilet as dangerous, ignoring the fact that he would definitely wipe out the entire human population since they were an unpredictable race in their very essence. So, ending his futile pondering, Virus merely chased after the middle-aged man quietly. After striding behind him for a while, they finally reached a room as the man exclaimed, ¡°Go in.¡± Examining the interior of the room, Virus spotted a few people sitting in there silently. Furthermore, all over the room, there were various weapons such as swords, axes, spears, etc. attached to the walls, but they were all common mortal weapons that couldn¡¯t really be effective against cultivators. ¡°When everything¡¯s ready, the other door will be unlocked on its own.¡± The instant Virus stepped inside the room, leaving that vague sentence behind, the middle-aged guy shut the door close and left. By ¡®the other door¡¯, he was talking about a second door that existed on the opposite wall within the small space of the chamber. ¡°What do you mean-¡± Click~ Thud! Attempting to open the doorway, Virus realized it had been tightly locked. Bam! The door didn¡¯t budge in the least despite him kicking it using all his might. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. The door is specially fortified to last against strong cultivators. You won¡¯t be able to break it open.¡± Suddenly, one of the people that was sitting in a corner notified Virus. Turning toward the source of the voice, Virus spotted an old man, however, not lingering on him alone, he quickly inspected the faces of everyone present in the room. Right now, other than him, four varying people were sitting on the seats of the chamber. Two of them were old people while the other two were teenagers. However, what garnered Virus¡¯ attention was the fact that all four of them had extremely dark and ashen white expressions as if they were in an extreme state of despair. Those blank and hopeless eyes of theirs were clearly waiting for the death reaper to come and reap their lives. ¡°Hmm, I see. But who are you guys? What¡¯s this place?¡± Putting on a rigid expression, Virus asked. That question of his, however, made the old man dumbfounded, ¡°You don¡¯t know where you are?¡± ¡°No? I know it¡¯s an arena and it¡¯s called the Recreation Training Center, but nothing more to be truthful. I just¡­¡± Afterward, Virus elaborated everything that had occurred so far about how he had been brought over by that cloaked woman here in exchange for paying for his identity plaque. When he was done explaining, the old man started laughing uproariously like he had gone crazy. ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s so funny, old man?¡± Virus said with a squint. Chapter 481 - Recreation Training Center ¡°Hahaha, your situation, of course! You must have one shitty luck to be put in here the moment you showed up in Ricando.¡± To the old man, Virus¡¯ luck was a cause of much hilarity. ¡°Can you talk in a way we both understand?¡± Internally, Virus was now thinking about whether to smack this senior citizen to kingdom come if he continued behaving so tiresome. ¡°Sigh¡­ well, we¡¯re all going to die soon anyway, so let me just do you this little favor as a final act of grace, who knows, maybe the heavens blessed me after my death due to my kindness.¡± Releasing a pronounced sigh, the old man¡¯s mood sunk further. Then, with a vacant stare, he proceeded, ¡°You see, the so-called Recreation Training Center is famous and known for another name amongst the ordinary people of Ricando living in the outer section.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± His eyes wide open, Virus anticipated the incoming retort. ¡°The Arena of Death.¡± Tilting his head downward, the old man¡¯s depression seemed to have elevated to another degree, ¡°It is the Recreation Training Center for those inner disciple bastards from the Inner layer since they just come here to have some fun and train their techniques on the unlucky citizens of the outer layer.¡± ¡°What do you mean? Can they do that? Is there no law in this city to prevent that kind of treatment toward the ordinary citizens?¡± Virus was bewildered immediately. He could not comprehend how such a city would even last until now. Swiftly denying it with a wave of his wrist, he corrected Virus¡¯ misunderstanding. ¡°Of course not. Don¡¯t get me wrong, the inner disciples can¡¯t touch the citizens ordinarily, it is forbidden and those who disobey it will be punished severely.¡± The dark circles under his eyes together with the pronounced lines over his face signaled the fatigue of the old man who added, ¡°Well, there is a bit of history behind that. In the past, there were no laws to stop the inner disciples from committing all kinds of atrocities in the outer layer, however, seeing that it was getting out of control as it was harming the overall development of the city itself, the previous governor forbid the disciples and everyone else from harming the common people of the city.¡± At this moment, while clenching his jaws, veins were pulsing on the elder¡¯s temple who exuded a horrible hostility aimed at his next sentence¡¯s target, ¡°Alas, the Poison Deity clan required living dummies to at least hone their disciples, thus, that same governor put down another rule, a law if you will.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Immersed in the story, Virus asked for more details. ¡°Every month, ten people will be randomly chosen and sent to the colosseum and the disciples can use those chosen ones in whatever way they desire.¡± By now, the elder¡¯s body was trembling due to the rage that was coursing through his veins and heart. ¡°Damn¡­¡± Fascinated, Virus muttered. Gnashing his teeth, hatred was boiling to the climax within the elder¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yeah, they can do whatever they feel like doing to those ten people every month be it testing a new poison they¡¯ve developed or a technique they¡¯ve learned recently, it doesn¡¯t matter. They can dismember, poison, and even kill those ten people in the most horrific manners imaginable.¡± ¡°Anyway, that woman you¡¯re talking about, I believe she was one of us unlucky people, and yet, she was clever enough to fool you into this situation.¡± Raising one brow, he didn¡¯t fail to mention this particular part as well. By now, a contemplative glimmer was occupying Virus¡¯ countenance. ¡®Hmm, it¡¯s not that she was clever enough to fool me though, rather, I chose to be fooled on purpose.¡¯ Though he didn¡¯t open his mouth to deny it out loud since there was no significance in doing so. ¡°I have a question, old man.¡± Promptly, a razor-sharp glint gleamed through Virus¡¯ sight. His following question was going to determine his next course of action. ¡°Go on.¡± Initiating and maintaining eye contact, the senior citizen said. ¡°Are you insinuating we can¡¯t retaliate against the disciples? Are we supposed to just watch them murder us like chickens?¡± A hell-freezing coldness was radiating off of Virus¡¯ being at this point as he patiently waited for the old man¡¯s response. The elder¡¯s answer was going to dictate the difficulty of his subsequent plan. Listening to his question, the old man cracked up once more before replying in a single breath, ¡°Of course not, to make it ¡®seem¡¯ fair, the governor declared that the chosen ones are also permitted to retaliate and kill the disciples and even vowed that there won¡¯t be any repercussions or grudges held from the side of the clan. Ah, actually, they encourage it even and reward the chosen one that succeeds in killing a disciple with a hundred first grade Qi Ingots.¡± ¡°Oho, this just got much more entertaining, then!¡± A vicious grin abruptly crept over Virus¡¯ visage. Meanwhile, feeling irritated, a notion was flickering through his brain, ¡®To hell with that bitch. If she had just described the situation from the get-go, I would¡¯ve willingly jumped at the idea of coming here and raking in some money! I can¡¯t believe she left me in the dark, making me worried for nothing all this time. What a bitch, payback is in order for her.¡¯ In the meantime, the old guy merely scoffed at Virus¡¯ na?ve bravado, ¡°That¡¯s impossible though, mortals like us can¡¯t possibly dream of going against cultivators, that¡¯s an unshakeable truth of this town.¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see about that, anyway, old man, I¡¯ll be the first one to go out first when the door opens, are you four okay with that?¡± ¡°Sure, who am I to stop a fool¡¯s death.¡± Although the old man was happy to agree and live a bit longer, the other three didn¡¯t exhibit any reactions whatsoever. They didn¡¯t really care. ¡®I suppose that means yes.¡¯ ¡­ ¡®How much longer will it take?¡¯ Virus was just starting to get drowsy when the noise of the door unlocking itself traveled to his ears. Click~ ¡°That¡¯s it, old man. See you soon.¡± After some hesitation, pushing it open, Virus walked out. ¡°Haha, I don¡¯t think you will, but I sure as hell hope you do.¡± Was the elder¡¯s only words in return. In the meantime, just as Virus passed through the small entry, his pupils went into overdrive trying to adjust themselves to the abrupt light that had just flashed into his eyes, thus temporarily leaving him sightless and blind. The source of the light was of course the sun of the planet. CLAP! CLAP-CLAP~ CLAP! CLAP-CLAP~ BUZZ! CLANK~ BOOOO~ CHEER~ CHEER! Much to his stupefaction, while Virus gradually regained his sight, he found himself in the middle of the colosseum with tens of thousands of spectators cheering and clasping in harmony! ¡°What the¡­?¡± With his pupils shrinking, Virus was confused, ¡°Why are they cheering so excitedly? Weren¡¯t the common citizens supposed to abhor the Arena of Death?¡± Due to the tone and the way the elder explained the Recreation Training Center before, Virus had mistakenly surmised that everyone in the outer layer loathed it. ¡­ but maybe he was wrong? Chapter 482 - Binn As Virus found himself in the middle of the colosseum filled with a smooth ellipse of sand, speechless, Virus gazed at the thousands of spectators screaming and cheering for the one-sided match to begin. Focusing on specific voices, Virus listened to some of the conversations they were having. ¡­ ¡°How do you think Binn will kill his prey this time?¡± ¡°Well, I put all my Qi Ingots on him dismembering all his limbs before taking out his heart, that¡¯s how he usually does it, so there is a high chance I¡¯ll make a fortune out of this!¡± ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°Me? I feel like he will scoop out the eyes first, honestly, I heard someone claiming to be Binn¡¯s aunt¡¯s grandmother¡¯s father¡¯s brother¡¯s son was a distant cousin of his, according to him, Binn personally told him he would scoop the eyes out first this time!¡± ¡°Is that so? Damn, why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± ¡­ From another direction, he perceived a new conversation. ¡°I wagered one of my houses on him poisoning the chosen one! I got inside intel that he will do that. I can guarantee it!¡± ¡°Are you an idiot? Why would you do that?¡± ¡­ ¡°Woah, I¡¯m so thrilled to see some blood spilled, it¡¯s the best feeling ever, watching someone die via the most horrific methods imaginable.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah! At first, it nearly sickened me, but now I don¡¯t think I can do without coming here every month!¡± ¡­ Observing the abnormal mania nearly everywhere, Virus was amazed. ¡°Have these people gone mad in excitement and euphoria?¡± Honestly, the behavior of the crowd seemed insane to Virus. At the same time, he concluded that there were probably two kinds of people in the city, the people who secretly thought the monthly random pick was a hateful and terrifying event and the people who assumed it to be an ordinary event, something that had nothing to do with them and was probably never going to. The belief had sunk into their root that the monthly ten deaths were just like a fatal disease everyone may catch in their lifetime but the fate was probably never going to implicate them per se. A transparent instance would be the numerous deadly car accidents that happen every day on Technology Earth. Until the moment one experiences that accident, that person may have the false impression that in all probability, it wasn¡¯t going to happen to him. True, the person might have fear of a car crash or something similar, however, they still continue driving, accepting the risk because deep down, they don¡¯t truly believe they will be involved in a car accident as long as they are careful enough. Or the same example of catching an incurable illness. Up to the realization of having it, although the individual was always aware of the existence of such an illness, he just didn¡¯t think such tragedy would befall them. People just determine that when there is a low probability of them being afflicted with certain rare sickness, they aren¡¯t going to be ever entangled with it. Thus, it¡¯s simply better to ignore it or don¡¯t even care about its existence. Virus mused that was perhaps what was happening here today in this arena. The old man and the three others had truly awakened to the realization of how bad this event was in essence, now that they had been involved personally, while everyone else was still deeply asleep. While such notions were passing through his mind, Virus¡¯ eyes spotted someone standing at some distance from him as he smirked evilly toward him. He had long orange hair and a pizza face filled with acne. All around him was surrounded by various weapons such as spears, swords, etc. ¡°Hahaha¡­ you must be the chosen one, you should feel proud to be lucky enough to get picked for this event.¡± ¡°Huh? What the fuck is he talking about? He¡¯s not just a pizza-face, but also a pea-brain? A retard, huh?¡± Declaring that out loud, Virus checked and saw that the opponent¡¯s cultivation was merely at the twelfth level of Energy Disentanglement, which was still too much for a mortal citizen. ¡°Did you just insult me?¡± His eyes wide open in instantaneous rage, all feeling of casualness left the man. Now that he was insulted as a retard, the pizza face wielded two spears on both hands as he was about to charge in Virus¡¯ direction. Meanwhile, cheers and boos reverberated everywhere. ¡°Yes! He¡¯s going to turn that dude into a sieve! It¡¯s my lucky day today! Heck yeah, my gamble paid off at last!¡± ¡°Boooo! Poison him! Poison the bastard, come one!¡± ¡°Noooo! My whole life depends on this bet, please cut off all of his limbs!¡± As everyone was mentioning, supposedly, the colosseum had a betting section where everyone could bet on a few options such as the various methods the disciple would use to murder his prey. Of course, there was also the choice of the chosen one winning as well but no one was foolish enough to burn their money on that one. ¡°I was going to show you some mercy and kill you a bit more gently, but now that you seem not to understand your situation, let me send you off by making you experience the feeling of tens of holes being forced on your body!¡± Gripping the shafts of both spears tightly, the pizza face put one foot ahead of himself. He was about to dash forward, like an arrow that was released from the string! ¡°Would you look at this bitch?¡± Smiling broadly, Virus¡¯ image promptly vanished before his reappearance behind pizza face. BOOM! It was only after his reappearance that a sonic boom reverberated in the arena as it was followed by silence. ¡°What just happened? How did he-¡° Before confusion could even spread as to what was happening, like a broken doll, pizza-face¡¯s head, arms, and legs abruptly detached from the trunk of his body as they all fell on the ground while massive blood covered the sand! ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Chapter 483 - Silence Utter silence. Like a miracle, despite the existence of thousands of spectators, an unexpected quietness descended upon the arena to the point you could hear a pin drop! Dumbfounded, dazed, startled, and lost, every single one of those feelings mingled together, resulting in the birth of many complex emotions. No one could comprehend the event that had taken place before them for a long time. It was as if they had just witnessed something impossible. ¡°What now? Do I just go back?¡± Virus murmured, scratching his head addled. Meanwhile, in the most luxurious area of the colosseum which had been designed solely for the nobility of the Poison Deity clan, several dark faces were scowling as they stared down at the scene of pizza face getting beheaded so easily. ¡°That trash! How could he die like that and leave a stain on the names of the disciples of Poison Deity?¡± One of the individuals sitting in that VIP area claimed indignantly. ¡°Well, trash like that better be dead.¡± Sitting on the best available seat, the person with the most expressionless countenance remarked. He was adorned with an extravagant robe engraved with dragons and tigers. ¡°True. You are wise, senior brother.¡± The same indignant person calmed down at once and complimented the extravagant man before proceeding, ¡°But we can¡¯t let the name of our Poison Deity clan be seen as anything less than the name of a god in the hearts of these filthy citizens or they may grow arrogant, that is our responsibility to the clan as its loyal disciples¡­ so we better prove it to them by ripping that person who killed the orange-head to a thousand pieces.¡± However, shaking his head, the extravagantly dressed man rejected the proposal. ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Every chosen one is required to fight just once and they can leave afterward if they desire to¡­ that is the law and there¡¯s nothing we can do about it.¡± Gnashing his teeth, the other man asked, ¡°Then, what do we do, senior brother?¡± ¡°Nothing we can do to him unless he¡¯s unlucky enough to be picked as a chosen one again in the following months¡­ that or we wait for¡­¡± Stopping at that point, the man didn¡¯t proceed, however, his meaning was delivered perfectly clear. ¡°I see. But we should do something to at least alleviate the mess that idiot created for us, what do you offer?¡± ¡°Simple, just finish off the next chosen one using the goriest method.¡± As if nothing was ever going to disrupt his relaxed body language, the extravagant man advised. ¡°Alright. You, go! You know what to do.¡± Pointing at one of his own few lackeys tagging along with them, he ordered coldly. ¡°Yes, boss.¡± ¡­ On the other side, after Virus was finished defeating the opponent, he returned to the waiting space in a laid-back manner. However, the moment he stepped into the room, he was faced with four pairs of eyeballs that were about to pop out of their sockets. ¡°W-what? Hh-h-how are you still alive?¡± The old guy was the first to question him in utter disbelief and astonishment. He was bowled over. ¡°Huh? Was I supposed to die to a weakling bitch like that? Didn¡¯t I tell you I¡¯ll see you again soon? Did you think I¡¯d break my promise? I¡¯m a man of my word, old man.¡± Smirking at the senior citizen in amusement, Virus commented. ¡°W-what? Y-y-y-you¡¯re not a mortal, are you? You¡¯re a cultivator!¡± Comprehending what was up, at last, the old man shouted awestricken. ¡°I suppose I am.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Faced with the silence of their stupefaction, Virus merely suggested, ¡°Well, anyway, can I go instead of you next, old man? Since I¡¯m in need of some urgent cash. That¡¯s doable, right?¡± Exhaling a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves, the old man remarked. ¡°Phew¡­ yes, it can be done¡­ but are you sure?¡± ¡°Yep, I told you I need some Qi Ingots. Just don¡¯t come denying later on saying it was your cash.¡± Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Virus declared. ¡°T-there is no way I would do that! In fact, I swear to call you boss if you do me that favor!¡± ¡°Alright, then guess that¡¯s that. Though no need to go as far as to call me boss.¡± Virus stated with a relaxed brow free of frown lines. ¡­ Around fifteen minutes later, the door unlocked itself for a second time since Virus¡¯ arrival. ¡°That¡¯s my cue I guess, see you soon, old man.¡± Waving the elder goodbye, Virus ambled toward the entrance. ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Bowing respectfully, the senior citizen greeted and escorted Virus to the door. ¡°Huh¡­ you¡¯re a funny one, old man.¡± Click~ Pushing the door open, Virus materialized in the middle of the arena once more. The instant he was in everyone¡¯s line of sight, however, a brief silence and then nonstop noise of chatter filled the surroundings. Meanwhile, in the VIP section, the extravagant man felt surprised, yet, no emotions were exhibiting on his face. ¡°Oh, so he came back on his own. I suppose that makes things easier.¡± ¡°Hahaha, yes, this is great for us!¡± The previously indignant man was now all smiles and sunshine. ¡°What¡¯s the cultivation level of the man you sent down?¡± Next, the extravagant man threw a simple question at the beam of sunshine beside him. ¡°No worries, my lackey¡¯s definitely going to win since he¡¯s already in¡­¡± ¡­ In the meantime, examining the cultivation level of his opponent, Virus realized it was a stronger one this time. ¡®The third level of Liberation, huh?¡¯ ¡­ As for the crowd, already having the knowledge that the new disciple was on another league compared to Binn, they began muttering confidently, ¡°I don¡¯t know why he returned, but that chosen one is overestimating himself after one lucky win, he should¡¯ve left when he had the chance. Now that he¡¯s against Lim, he¡¯s dead for sure!¡± ¡°Yep, anyway, what did you bet on in this round?¡± ¡°Well, since they said Lim, the famous skinner, was going up next, I thought he may display another one of his ¡®skin the chosen on alive¡¯ kind of view for us, so I betted on that.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. Knowing Lim, that¡¯s not unlikely.¡± ¡­ While Virus was studying the opponent¡¯s weapon which was a machete, Lim talked, garnering Virus¡¯ undivided attention. ¡°Huh? We thought it¡¯s a pity since you¡¯d surely be too scared to return anymore¡­ but it seems we were sorely mistaken, who could¡¯ve known a foolish one has shown up this time.¡± ¡®We? So the disciples have a gathering of a sort somewhere, huh?¡¯ Simultaneously, Virus examined the surroundings until he spotted the most luxurious section of the colosseum. Gazing into the eyes of the extravagantly dressed man, he determined, ¡®There, so that¡¯s their little gathering and that man seems to be the most respected one amongst all of them.¡¯ ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s wonderful news for me anyway. Now I can put on a grand show for everyone to appreciate and fear.¡± Spreading both arms, Lim started laughing out loud, ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± ¡°Another retard, huh?¡± Shaking his head in some disappointment, a line was inflamed in him. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Chapter 484 - Of Course Not! Immediately, Virus¡¯ silhouette was gone at once as he approached Lim at a lightning-fast pace, took his sword out of his spatial container, and slashed at his body a dozen times! When he was done and stopped, much to the stupefaction of the spectators, Lim¡¯s body transformed into a pile of meat that fell on the sand. Virus¡¯ sword was also stored in his container already. Up to this point, amongst the mortal crowd, no one had been even able to catch a sight of Virus¡¯ weapon. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡­ Meanwhile, in the VIP area, a frown of displeasure had, at last, crept over the extravagant man¡¯s forehead who commanded the previously all smiles and sunshine guy who was once more the indignant man. ¡°He¡¯ll come back again, go and kill him yourself.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t ask for more, senior brother. Just watch me skewer him for our barbecue night tonight!¡± With rage contorting his face, the indignant man exclaimed. ¡°Ew, that¡¯s disgusting, do you want me to eat human meat? Wait, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been doing that all this time? Is that where you got all that meat from?!¡± The extravagant man¡¯s eyelids were about to snap as he questioned the indignant man in disbelief. ¡°Ah¡­ o-of course not, senior brother. I was just saying a sentence to make this sound more horrible.¡± Beads of sweat were long rolling down the indignant man¡¯s forehead who thought in retrospection, ¡®Phew¡­ I nearly revealed it myself, this mouth of mine¡­¡¯ ¡°Is that so?¡± Glaring into his pupils in some doubt, the extravagant man asked rhetorically. ¡°Absolutely!¡± ¡­ Returning to the waiting area again, funnily, Virus was against the bulging eyes of oldies and teenagers. ¡°Stop that already!¡± Yelling in frustration, Virus was getting sick of this repetitive reaction now. ¡°Oh, my great boss! Thank you for saving my life! I, Archie, shall be your most loyal servant until my last breath!¡± Kowtowing in worship, Archibald, smashed his forehead on the ground and swore allegiance to Virus. ¡°Oi, oi, oi, old man, don¡¯t be like that, why are you swearing to follow me out of nowhere without permission! I don¡¯t need an old man following me around so stop. It¡¯s not like I did it for you, I just need the money, so¡­¡± ¡°Ah, is that so? Then, if you don¡¯t need an old guy like me, just kill me here and take the life you granted yourself.¡± ¡°Have you gone senile, old man?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never been more enlightened in my life, sir! Boss!¡± ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Letting out a helpless sigh of annoyance, Virus decided to just ignore the guy. Instead, looking elsewhere, he wanted to jump on his next course of action, when he was faced with three more adoring stares that already had stars shining in them. ¡°Boss! Please save us too! We swear allegiance as well!¡± All three, one old and two teenagers, smashed their foreheads on the tiled floor so hard that a wound cracked open there. By now, the three others who were despairing earlier were looking at Virus with eyes filled with vigor and hope! They had miraculously discovered an opportunity at life! Although Virus was initially just about to ask whether he could take their place and participate in their stead for some quick buck, now, seeing their worshipping gazes as if they were looking at some god, Virus felt hesitant. In the end, though, shaking his head powerlessly, he agreed, ¡°It¡¯s not because of you guys I¡¯m doing this, it¡¯s because I require the money.¡± ¡°Yes, boss!¡± All four screamed from the bottom of their hearts, so happy they didn¡¯t care about the bleeding wound on their foreheads. ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Rubbing the back of his neck in exasperation, Virus shook his head and left the room without further ado. Returning to the colosseum, Virus noticed that the man that had been sitting the closest to the extravagant person was standing in front of him this time. ¡®So, the second-strongest person around is here.¡¯ At the same time, excited cheers and exhilaration were heating up the arena as the spectators looked forward to the upcoming show of slaughter. ¡°I-It¡¯s Wae for real! Wae is here to personally take care of the chosen one!!! Damn! I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d get to see him show up for real!!!¡± ¡°Yes! Dammit, now I¡¯m looking forward to how he deals with the chosen one, it¡¯s gonna be a great show.¡± ¡°Yeah, I would¡¯ve been uncertain whether the chosen one would win the next match as well if it wasn¡¯t Wae, but now that Wae is here, the chosen one is dead for sure!¡± Observing Wae together with a yawn, Virus determined his opponent was someone that had just broken through to the Sublimity Emergence stage. ¡®Well, I admit this one¡¯s better.¡¯ That notion had just transmitted through his mind when Wae faded away like someone that had just vaporized! ¡°Die! You disgusting citizen!¡± Boom! The following second, he was already beside Virus as he tried kicking Virus¡¯ body to the side. Merely raising a single-arm, however, Virus easily blocked the kick without budging from his place in the least. Simultaneously, a contemplative notion was passing his mind, ¡®Hmm, it doesn¡¯t hurt, not even a bit. This dude is nothing compared to the enemies I faced in the Invisible Ancient Fortress World. It¡¯s as if they¡¯re on totally different realms of power.¡¯ ¡°What?¡± Briefly shocked silly by the act of Virus effortlessly defending against his foot strike, Wae was just about to slash at him using his saber when Virus beat him to it by internally activating three forms one after another. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ Swish! Abruptly, Wae froze still, no longer moving in the least. Watching this scene, everyone was confused as to why Wae had suddenly stopped moving altogether instead of assaulting the chosen one even more savagely. However, that was only until Wae¡¯s head rolled off his neck as it fell on the ground. At the same time, a fountain of blood shot up from his headless frame that had yet to fall on the sand. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Chapter 485 - Complement ¡°Damn¡­¡± ¡°The chosen one did it again. Just who is he?¡± ¡°Are such strong citizens even allowed to participate in the monthly competition?¡± ¡°What then? Should only weak citizens be sent to be slaughtered like chickens? Did you forget about the fair clause of the event? It doesn¡¯t matter, as long as it¡¯s a citizen, it is fine.¡± ¡°Right?¡± ¡­ Concurrently, while everyone was expecting Virus to retreat into the resting room again, Virus suddenly stupefied everyone by yelling toward the VIP seats. ¡°I don¡¯t need to go back, I¡¯ve already gotten permission to replace the other two remaining chosen ones, but enough of the weak-ass opponents.¡± Indeed, the previous times Virus went back to the room, it was only because he didn¡¯t have consent to replace the chosen ones, and that¡¯s why he had to go back. But now that they had all approved of him participating in their place, Virus didn¡¯t need to waste more time. Instead, directly pointing a finger at the extravagant dude, he provoked, ¡°You! Get down here and face me, fool! Or are you going to continue sitting there while every one of your fellow disciples gets hacked down into pieces?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Immediately, everyone felt their heart was about to burst into their mouths as they realized who Virus was signaling at. ¡°I-I-It¡¯s Cray! He¡¯s talking to Cray!¡± ¡°Damn, just what kind of balls does he have to instigate Cray¡¯s hostility¡­ Cray¡¯s the most bloodthirsty warrior that is present today!¡± ¡°That idiot, just when I was thinking he¡¯s unstoppable, he had to go and offend Cray!¡± ¡°Whatever happens, that chosen one has earned my respect today.¡± Meanwhile, Virus urged the extravagant individual, Cray, to come and battle him. The sole reply that derived from Cray, however, was, ¡°Huh?¡± Then, standing up on his feet, much to the bewilderment of everyone, Cray straightly threw himself off that VIP balcony without a second thought. Pssst! Landing on the sand of the colosseum, Cray began walking toward Virus in an easy-going and cool style. When he was upon him at last, keeping his bearing, he said. ¡°You¡­ dare challenge me?¡± After a short pause, he continued, ¡°You think you are worthy?¡± ¡°What the fuck? Another retard? Why can¡¯t I just get a single normal dude to fight against?¡± Grabbing his head using both hands, Virus messed up his hair faking intense frustration. Seeing Virus¡¯ act, darkness disguised Cray¡¯s expression. Never once in his entire life had he been treated as a fool, but here it was, someone who didn¡¯t bother answering his question while outright addressing him as a retard. ¡°What I was trying to say is, you are not-¡° ¡°Why? Why can¡¯t I get a single adversary with a few brain cells.¡± Stumping one foot hard on the sand, Virus shouted further. By now, many tics of wrath were pulsing on Cray¡¯s face who opened his mouth again after being interrupted. ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is, it¡¯s going to be one-sided beating and not an actual fight where-¡° ¡°Is this the doing of the so-called heavens cursing me with idiots? Moreover, it¡¯s a talkative retard at that, just when will he shut up, I wonder.¡± ¡°At least listen to me!¡± Angered to the point of speechlessness, giving up on his little speech, Cray picked the hammer from his back and instantly vanished from every mortal¡¯s sight. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Subsequently, with his sudden emergence behind Virus, he heavily smashed the hammer at Virus¡¯ back! Bam! As the force of the impact made contact with his body, Virus was thrust toward Cray¡¯s earlier position. To be honest, it would be a lie to say Virus wasn¡¯t surprised by this sudden development. ¡®He¡¯s not just a newbie in the Sublimity Emergence stage! It must¡¯ve been a while since he broke through.¡¯ Until now, ¡®nearly¡¯ all of the opponents Virus was capable of defeating were cultivators that had been newly introduced to the Sublimity Emergence. However, now receiving the great blow from Cray and calculating the burst of speed, Virus concluded he was incapable of reacting to it with ¡®Impulse¡¯ alone! While being thrust through the sand like a broken doll, various contemplations were going through Virus¡¯ brain. At the same time, Cray didn¡¯t seem to be finished as he vanished more. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form ¨C Friction!¡¯ Prior to the arrival of Cray, before his physique was even done sliding over the sand, Virus landed on his feet forcefully and activated both forms of his movement technique. Simultaneously, his sword became visible for everyone to see at last as he raised and blocked! BAM! Suddenly, Cray¡¯s hammer connected to Virus¡¯ sword before his frame gradually emerged in everyone¡¯s line of sight! Bam! Bam! Boom! Following quickly, an intense battle ensued as wave after wave of sand was erupting all around the colosseum. Unfortunately, the clash was happening so quickly that none of the common citizens were able to witness the fight firsthand. All they could observe were some afterimages and collision noises happening all over the place. One time an eruption of sand rose from the left side of the arena while the next instant the right side of the arena turned into an utter mess! ¡°Damn¡­ I can¡¯t see anything, can anyone tell us what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not catching a single thing as well.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a battle we can understand or perceive anymore.¡± In the meantime, Virus dodged the hammer and finally decided to attack for the very first time! So far, he had done nothing but defend while gauging the limits of his opponent, but now he was getting bored. ¡®Fountain Bow Cut!¡¯ ¡°Hmph!¡± As the bow cut unleashed right at Cray¡¯s neck, letting out a harrumph filled with contempt, Cray immediately pulled back his hammer and blocked! Wham! ¡°You thought that¡¯s enough to-¡± ¡®Fountain Arrow Cut!¡¯ Pierce~ Alas, before he could even finish the sentence, the complementary strike was perfected in that window of opportunity as a sword full of energy penetrated through Cray¡¯s heart. ¡°Guess it was enough, eh?¡± Virus said grinning viciously. ¡°Argh¡­¡± Feeling a sting in his chest, Cray unconsciously tilted his head down to see the source of the sting that was getting worse by the second. The moment he caught the sight of the sword, however, fear overwhelmed him while his eyelids went wide open and his pupils dilated to the extreme. Of course, that state of shock didn¡¯t persist for long as Virus pulled out his bloody sword and watched Cray drop on the sand floor before starting to bleed mortally. It only took seconds before death overcame Cray as he drew his final breath in the world. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Even though no one was capable of seeing the process of confrontation, everyone was perfectly clear as to what had occurred at the final moments as Virus easily pierced Cray¡¯s heart and killed him! ¡°Fuck! He killed Cray as well! We¡¯re talking about ¡®that¡¯ Cray! ¡®The¡¯ Cray!¡± ¡°I must be dreaming, damn!¡± ¡°Today¡¯s monthly battle is something else¡­ I¡¯m mind-blown.¡± ¡°Just who is that person? What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°He¡¯s like the god of slaughter in the arena. Everyone expected him to be a sheep, but he was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing all along!¡± Chapter 486 - Archibald Now that he had won, instead of leaving, seemingly proud, Virus raised his head and shouted in a provoking tone, ¡°Is there no one else? No one courageous enough?¡± Indeed, since there was still a chosen one¡¯s slot remaining, Virus attempted to arouse a disciple¡¯s honor in hopes of another one stepping up to confront him. He wasn¡¯t just going to miss the opportunity to earn an additional hundred first-grade Qi Ingots. Unfortunately, even after an entire minute was gone, not a single disciple was stirred into motion. Apparently, Cray had been the strongest disciple to be present in the Recreation Training Center today. Meanwhile, seeing no one daring to volunteer to go against this charismatic dark horse, the crowd was filled with sensations of admiration and amazement while a loud cheer of applause targeted at Virus boomed the colosseum! CHEEER~ WOOOOAAAH~ YEAAAAAH! Nonetheless, seeing no one daring to accept his challenge, releasing a disappointed sigh, Virus concluded, ¡®Seems like I can¡¯t earn the final one hundred Qi Ingots.¡¯ Hence, since no one plucked up the courage to come forward, it meant the last chosen one could return home without even participating in the event today. He was passively saved. Since everything had been dealt with, there was no point in remaining in the middle of the arena, thus, Virus retreated into the waiting section. When he returned, four zealots greeted him, ¡°Welcome back, boss!¡± Gazing at the fanatical glimmer within the four¡¯s pupils, Virus only let out a helpless sigh and announced, ¡°You four are all saved now, you may go back to your homes. But the money is all for me to take, so don¡¯t go back on our earlier promise.¡± ¡°Boss! Not talking about money, even this old Archie is for you to take. I belong to you now.¡± An uncompromising shimmer glaring back at Virus, Archibald declared stubbornly. ¡°Get the fuck out! What would I need an old bag of bones for? Also, why do you make it sound so wrong!?¡± Virus was on the verge of slapping the old dude dead any seconds now. ¡°Just kill me then, boss!¡± Kowtowing on the ground, like a servant asking his king for death, Archibald implored to be murdered exaggeratedly. Immediately, Virus unleashed some of his murderous intent and urged the oldie, ¡°Then come here, Imma slaughter you for real!¡± ¡°Have mercy upon this fragile underling of yours, Boss!¡± Comically, while remaining in that kowtowing pose, Archibald retreated instead of getting closer. ¡®Should I kill him and be done with it?¡¯ By now, veins were pulsing through Virus¡¯ neck, when abruptly, the other door was unlocked and pushed open. Click~ Subsequently, the same buffed-up middle-aged guy made an appearance as he throw a pouch in Virus¡¯ direction who caught it effortlessly. ¡°You killed four disciples; therefore, you¡¯ll be rewarded with four hundred first-grade Qi Ingots. Take it and leave.¡± Then turning toward the other four, he commanded, ¡°You four are also permitted to leave. So, leave!¡± Then, without looking back, the buffed-up guy left. Inspecting the items inside the pouch, Virus was faced with the view of hundreds of small stones, radiating slight Qi from themselves. ¡°So, these are Qi Ingots.¡± Truthfully, Virus was already aware of the existence of this famous currency of the Cultivation Multiverse of Qi prior to even returning to the past. Alas, the Qi Ingots in his possession were only the trashiest first-grade Qi Ingots in existence. Above the first grade, respectively, there existed the second grade, the third grade, the fourth grade, and so on. However, one detail worth mentioning about the term ¡®Qi Ingot¡¯ was that it was just a general and an overarching term used for a ¡®variety¡¯ of Qi Ingots in existence. If one looked at it in a more specific manner, there were various types of Qi Ingots with their own particular names and tags. Albeit, no one wanted or cared enough to waste their precious time on memorizing the title of each specific Qi Ingot in the world which were simply too many! Thus, the cultivators came up with the universal name of ¡®Qi Ingot¡¯ which encompassed all types. All they had to do was determine the level and the quality of Qi the mineral possessed and then proceed to grade it accordingly. The variety of Qi Ingots was such a broad field that even when it came to the first-grade Qi Ingots alone, apparently, there were several types of minerals that formed in nature while each had its own specialized title. For example, when Virus visited the Cultivation Earth for the first time, at the final match between him and Rossefin, many disciples had gambled various types of gemstones such as Peridoto Qi Gemstone and Jasper Qi Gemstone on the probability of Rossefin winning and becoming the champion of the Martial Contest. Those gemstones were in fact generally incorporated as first-grade Qi Ingots. ¡°My heavens! Never in my entire pathetic life have I seen so many Qi Ingots together! You¡¯re a nouveau riche now, boss!¡± Suddenly, an additional old head popped right beside Virus¡¯s ear, gasping in astonishment. Feeling annoyed, Virus transferred the pouch into his spatial container much to the shock of Archibald. ¡°Boss, where did the Qi Ingots go to? Did someone steal it?¡± Being ignorant about spatial containers, Archibald screamed in alarm. ¡°Who! Who dares steal my boss¡¯s money?!¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Irritated by the old man, Virus left the room and moved toward the outside of the colosseum. Tap~ Tap~ As he got closer and closer to the exit, however, more veins covered Virus¡¯ forehead as he paused at last and queried, ¡°Why do you four keep following me? Don¡¯t you have any family members or a home waiting for your return? Just go back.¡± To that, Archibald was the first one to tilt his head down in some sadness before proclaiming, ¡°Sigh¡­ boss, this old man is all by himself, my dear wife has long since left me alone in this cruel world. Moreover, there had been no children between us. You¡¯re all I have now, so don¡¯t abandon me please.¡± Even though it was hidden well from the other three, when Archibald mentioned his wife, Virus spotted a tinge of sadness accompanied by rage which confused Virus.. Obviously, there was more to the story of his wife than meets the eye. Chapter 487 - Thats That Then Afterward, it was the two teenagers¡¯ turn to talk, ¡°The two of us are brothers. Our parents exchanged us for some cows with a slave trader who in return auctioned us off as slaves to other rich chosen ones who needed a replacement to die in their stead. So, we don¡¯t really have a place to go back to since we were supposed to die today.¡± ¡®What shitty parents.¡¯ While deliberating that line, out of curiosity, Virus interrogated, ¡°Huh? What about your parents, don¡¯t you wanna go back to them?¡± Gritting their teeth, however, the two rejected at once, ¡°They are better off and much happier with the cows.¡± It was clear they could not forgive them just yet. Furthermore, who could say for sure they wouldn¡¯t we sold off for a second time if they went back. As for the last old guy, he merely said, ¡°Ah, I¡¯m actually a homeless guy, I was just sitting beside my bonfire when I felt sleepy all of a sudden and passed out, when I came to my senses, I was already in that damned room, waiting to die.¡± Listening to their stories, Virus felt speechless at their tragic stories while murmuring, ¡°How can they all happen to be living such miserable lives?¡± Still, he didn¡¯t comment about accepting or denying them and instead proceeded on his path to the outside. However, if there was a difference in his behavior, it was the fact that he no longer told them to stop chasing after him. Following that, when Virus finally reached the previous spot where the cloaked woman had handed him over to the buffed-up guy, Virus couldn¡¯t discover any shadows of the cloaked female. However, he could easily see a woman with tan skin at some distance who was anxiously and yet sadly waiting for something or someone. Her eyes were full of guilt. Subsequently, the woman¡¯s eyes went wide open in shock when it fell upon Virus¡¯ frame. She could not believe Virus had returned alive! Promptly realizing something, however, a glint of relief seemed to occupy her eyes at last as she turned around and was about to leave. Right before her departure, however, Virus¡¯ figure promptly dissipated before materializing beside her. Bam! Grabbing her by the neck next, Virus pushed her into the wall. ¡°Argh¡­!¡± ¡°W-what are you doing?!¡± After the initial state of stupor, the woman voiced in surprise. ¡°You really think I won¡¯t recognize you without your cloak?¡± Getting his face closer to hers, Virus¡¯ icy stare locked into her pupils. ¡°Y-you¡­ how?¡± While her gaze was directed downward, nonstop beads of sweat were dripping from her forehead as she looked at Virus in terror and confusion. The tan lady was incapable of comprehending how Virus had come to be aware of his identity. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that you had enough balls to try to deceive me. And now, you¡¯re going to face the consequences of your actions.¡± Wearing a smile full of contempt, Virus sneered at the female in his grasp. ¡°I-I¡­¡± ¡°Go on¡­ try coming up with an excuse, I¡¯m listening.¡± His smile transforming into a quizzical one, Virus waited patiently. ¡°I-I¡¯m so sorry. That¡¯s the only thing I can say. I just can¡¯t die yet since I¡¯m all my little sister has left in this world.¡± Maintaining minimal eye contact, she notified him. ¡°Huh? Am I supposed to care?¡± Tightening the grip around his fingers at once, Virus choked her so hard that her face turned red and purple. Argh~ Crrhgh! There wasn¡¯t a shadow of any doubt that she was doomed to die soon in case Virus¡¯ palm remained tight around her neck. Tch! Clicking his tongue, at last, Virus let go of her neck, dropping her trembling figure which was trying her best to catch her breath on the floor. Hee! Haa! Hee¡­! Haa¡­! ¡°Count yourself lucky I made a huge profit out of this. Believe me when I say this; if this encounter of ours was anything but beneficial in the end, it would¡¯ve been your lifeless corpse that would be on the floor right now.¡± In all honesty, just as Virus was claiming, he had every intention of eliminating the cloaked woman after he was done seeing this little scheme of hers to the end. And yet, since the outcome had been nothing but positive, he decided against that temporarily. ¡°Hmph, just pay the rest of the promised Qi Ingots.¡± ¡°I¡­ I apologize, but those ten Qi Ingots I bought your Identity Plaque with were my entire fortune, I could barely get my hands on that much alone after selling all my properties.¡± Her voice breaking up due to both fear and guilt, the sole course of action she could take was to beg for further forgiveness, ¡°I-I¡¯m really sorry.¡± ¡°Hmph, you being sorry isn¡¯t worth shit. Begone this very instant or I may just change my mind and take that worthless life of yours.¡± Listening to everything Virus had to say, the tan female briefly locked gazes only to realize those eyes were dead-serious. If she delayed any longer, he may truly go ahead and kill him. ¡°O-okay¡­!¡± Therefore, with the horrific image of her lonely sister overwhelming her heart, the tan woman rose to her feet in a rush and walked away in a wobbly manner. Observing her unsteady amble to the distance while holding her painful neck, Virus merely let out a harrumph of indifference. Meanwhile, behind him, seeing his cruel attitude toward the tan woman, a shiver went down all four¡¯s spine as they unanimously agreed, ¡®Ah, I better remember to never deceive or lie to the boss¡­ unless I have a death wish.¡¯ With his face returning to its expressionless state at once, Virus started walking again while casually inquiring, ¡°So, what are your names? I know that annoying oldie¡¯s called Archibald. But what about you three?¡± At once, one after another, the two brothers replied, ¡°I¡¯m the older brother and my name is Luca, boss.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the younger brother. Please call me Luna, boss.¡± ¡°Hmm, Luca and Luna, eh? Good names!¡± Virus exclaimed with an unceremonious nod. ¡°What about you? Are you ever going to introduce yourself or not?¡± Targeting the second old man who had been the quietest one so far, Virus questioned. ¡°Please address me as Augustus, boss.¡± ¡®Augustus, huh? I wonder what his background was before becoming a homeless person.¡¯ ¡°So¡­ Archibald, Augustus, Luca, and Luna.¡± Contemplating for a bit, Virus became resolved at last. ¡°Alright, you four may follow me as my servants and aids from now on, do you consent?¡± ¡°Yes, boss!¡± All four nodded in agreement without any signs of dissatisfaction whatsoever. ¡°Bear in mind, now that you are my servants, you have to loyally serve me to death. However, before that, I¡¯ll give you one final chance to go away right this instant.¡± ¡°You better think this through, it¡¯s your sole opportunity to quit alive. Henceforth, only death will be your retirement plan.¡± Afterward, Virus proceeded to walk silently, giving anyone who wished to quit to depart at once. Albeit, none desired to part ways with him as they chased after him tacitly. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s that then, I suppose. Now¡­¡± Chapter 488 - We Need... ¡°Alright, that¡¯s that then, I suppose. Now¡­¡± Pondering his following immediate course of action, Virus looked back at the four, ¡°We need a place to stay at before anything else¡­ do any of you have a place we could temporarily occupy?¡± To that, feeling somewhat embarrassed, Luca and Luna were the first ones to answer, ¡°We were sold so¡­¡± As it was Augustus¡¯ turn to respond, all eyes were focused on him. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m a homeless person¡­ but I know this great spot we could stay at while enjoying nature at the same time.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Virus didn¡¯t even need to consider that suggestion as he turned toward Archibald at once. Most of his hopes were directed at Archibald since the beginning. ¡°Ah¡­ I¡­ I live in the slums right outside the city. It¡¯s a warm single-room cottage, I guess we can go there?¡± Archibald answered. Feeling totally numb at this point, Virus merely gazed at the sky above and decided, ¡°Forget about it, we¡¯ll stay at an inn for now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great idea!¡± Archibald and Luca agreed enthusiastically. Afterward, the company of five walked through the streets of the city while searching for any nice quality inn that might pop up along their path. While they continued ambling in a random direction, the quiet Augustus suddenly opened his mouth, ¡°Boss, if it¡¯s not rude of me to inquire¡­ can I ask why you agreed to accept us? Are you taking pity in our circumstances perhaps?¡± The second he threw that question, the countenances of Luca, Luna, and Archibald also turned completely serious. Apparently, they were also curious about why Virus was receiving them. ¡°Huh? Take you in out of pity? Me?¡± That inquiry, however, dumbfounded Virus briefly before he burst into a peal of uncontrollable laughter, ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± Sometime later, wiping the corners of his eyes, he answered amusedly, ¡°That was one of the funniest jokes I¡¯ve heard in a while, haha.¡± ¡°Ah, if not pity, then why, boss?¡± It was Archibald this time. ¡°Hmm, well, that¡¯s because I need some people to run errands for me and follow my commands.¡± Touching the base of his neck, Virus¡¯ reply was immediate. Clapping his palms together, Archibald felt enlightened. ¡°Ah, so you basically need someone to do the chores?¡± ¡°Yeah, pretty much, I¡¯m going to need extra hands for my subsequent plans since I hate to do the boring stuff myself, and since you guys just happened to wish to follow me, I said why not.¡± Wearing a gentle smile, Virus patiently expounded. He had to be honest about these matters so there wouldn¡¯t be any misunderstandings in the future. ¡°So, don¡¯t mistakenly believe I¡¯m welcoming you guys out of the sympathy of my heart. I solely plan on using and taking advantage of you four.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I-I see.¡± Listening to Virus¡¯ elaboration, instead of becoming sad, the four became oddly jovial and happy. They would appreciate this kind of reason much more than being looked at with pity. ¡°I understand, boss! I¡¯ll work hard so you don¡¯t ever regret taking me in!¡± Luca was the first one to bark in motivation. ¡°Haha,¡± Patting his head, Virus felt satisfied, ¡°you better keep that promise.¡± Then it was followed by the determined vows of the other three who were adamant about keeping Virus happy with their services. ¡°Hmm, although there were a few inns along the way, I wasn¡¯t really satisfied with any of them.¡± The moment Virus muttered that, as if he was long prepared for it, Archibald interfered, ¡°Boss, I know a decent inn, it¡¯s just that it¡¯s in the Deity-Half of Outer Ricando, so we need to pass to the other side of the river.¡± ¡°Is that so? Lead the way.¡± Afterward, led by Archibald, the small party went toward one of the bridges that connected the two halves of the city. Just as they stepped to the other side, however, Virus paused without any warnings. After nearly bumping into him, the other four felt lost at this sudden stop until they realized where Virus was staring at. ¡°That¡¯s this city¡¯s branch of the Blacksmith Alliance, boss.¡± Archibald clarified. Indeed, currently, Virus was staring at the huge building that¡¯s been purely made out of metal alone. There was no timber or even stone used for the construction of the great building in front of him, all that was utilized were various types of metal alone. Subsequently, examining its entrance, just as Archibald had announced, Virus located a big signboard stating the ¡®Blacksmith Alliance, Ricando Branch¡¯. ¡°What¡¯s the Blacksmith Alliance exactly?¡± Since this was the first time Virus had come across such a term, Virus queried casually. ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t know, boss?¡± Stunned, Archibald didn¡¯t know how to brief the target. Instead, it was Augustus who stepped forward to explain in a detailed manner, ¡°The blacksmith alliance is a kind of organization that controls all the Blacksmiths over the lands. They are rooted almost everywhere in the world. The organization was initially formed in ancient times when the best blacksmiths came together and agreed upon creating a place for all blacksmiths. Ever since then, new generations of top blacksmiths have always controlled the alliance.¡± ¡°Anyway, in order to become an official Blacksmith accepted by all, one needs to pass the tests of this organization and receive their certificate of rank and identity.¡± In a single sitting, Augustus opened up the matter. ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes, there is also a Pillsmith Alliance which is very similar to the Blacksmith Alliance.¡± ¡°Pillsmith? Are you talking about alchemy?¡± ¡°Yes, Alchemy masters, chemists, or pillsmiths, they¡¯re all the same. But they are most famously known as pillsmiths in most regions.¡± ¡°I see, it was the unique construction design that intrigued me really. Anyway, let¡¯s get going then.¡± Picking up his pace again, Virus was on the move. Soon, they were standing in front of a poor-looking inn titled Decent Inn. Squinting at Archibald, Virus proclaimed, ¡°This is the decent inn you were talking about? A wrecked inn called Decent Inn?¡± Chapter 489 - Decent Inn ¡°Boss¡­ it¡¯s not that bad inside, let¡¯s go in for now.¡± As if he was in a rush to escape, Archibald charged inside. Sighing, Virus rubbed the temple of his forehead while resolving to check the interior of the inn first. He wasn¡¯t in a mood to berate the old guy anyway. However, the instant he set foot into it, he was flabbergasted. ¡°Hahaha, old buddy! How have you been doing recently?¡± Currently, Archibald was harshly slapping the backside of a hunched old man while greeting him. ¡°Oh, oldie Archie, what a great day! Why are you here, my friend?¡± Genuinely jovial about his arrival, the other elder cheered. ¡°Huh? Why else? Of course, because I brought you some customers! I¡¯m a customer myself as well.¡± Spotting Virus at this point, Archibald began waving and introducing him. ¡°Boss! Here! This is the innkeeper and he¡¯s a good mate of mine, I guarantee he will give us the best services possible!¡± The more he heard Archibald talk, the more tics were showing up on Virus¡¯ forehead, he was getting on the verge of his limits as he was about to swat this old guy dead. It was at this time when a rather young woman, walked out of somewhere as she greeted Archibald, ¡°Old man Archie? You¡¯re here to visit?¡± ¡°Nah, Pira, I¡¯m a customer,¡± Archibald claimed proudly. Surprised to actually hear that, Pira exclaimed, ¡°Huh? Did you become rich by any chance?!¡± ¡°Ah! Uncle Archie, you¡¯re here!¡± At this point, a young boy also made an appearance as he jovially talked to Archibald. ¡°Anyway, guys, enough with the greetings, see this great man here? He¡¯s my boss from now on, he wanted to stay at an inn and I recommended yours since I trust you will take care of us the best!¡± Thrusting his jaw forward, Archibold displayed a gentle smile. Meanwhile, while the three were done catching a glimpse of his profile, Pira¡¯s sight remained locked on Virus¡¯ devilishly handsome face. Still, it was a short pause before she disguised it swiftly. ¡°Hahaha, welcome, welcome, dear customer! No worries, since oldie Archie put the word out, we¡¯ll provide you with the best treatment you could possibly imagine!¡± Bowing respectfully, the hunched old man signaled Virus to walk beside the counter. ¡°We usually take twenty gold coins a night for each person, however, since you¡¯re the boss of a friend, ten gold coins a night would suffice.¡± The hunched elder declared. The so-called gold coins were in fact the currency smaller than Qi Ingots. Every first-grade Qi Ingot was equal to one hundred gold coins. In fact, outside Ricando, in the areas mainly occupied by mortals, the common people¡¯s main currency was in the form of copper, silver, and gold, as they mostly never came into contact with Qi Ingots unless they were very rich. However, in the areas controlled, inhabited, or governed by cultivators, currencies below Qi Ingots usually lost their value as the relevant region would mostly function with Qi Ingots instead of lower forms of futile currency. Casually placing ten Qi Ingots over the counter, Virus mouthed, ¡°No need for discounts or anything, money¡¯s not an issue with me, just offer us the very best services possible.¡± While rubbing his hands, the sight of ten Qi Ingots made the old man¡¯s eyes radiate joy. ¡°Yes, yes, yes! You won¡¯t be dissatisfied!¡± Gathering the Qi Ingots, the hunched senior citizen deliberated, ¡®This old bastard Archie brought me a rich customer this time, I¡¯ve gotta treat him to something nice sometime.¡¯ ¡°Please follow my son, he¡¯ll guide you to your rooms.¡± ¡­ While on their way to each of their rooms, pretending to be incensed by Archibald¡¯s earlier stunt, Virus glared at him, ¡°You want to die? You bring me to your friend¡¯s inn when I tell you to bring me somewhere nice?¡± ¡°B-boss,¡± Terrified of invoking Virus¡¯ wrath after having just witnessed him nearly kill the tan woman, Archibald elaborated, ¡°it¡¯s because I truly believe he¡¯ll tend to us better than a complete stranger, please believe me. He, his wife, and this son of theirs will give you the best experience of your entire life! The three of them are the best!¡± ¡°His wife?¡± Noticing their age difference, Virus had previously assumed her to be the hunched old man¡¯s daughter and not actually her wife. ¡°Yeah. Her name is Pira. She¡¯s quite a beauty, right?¡± ¡°Huh? That young woman is the mother? But your friend is so haggard he may die any seconds now, and you¡¯re telling me he married such a young woman?¡± Even though Virus wasn¡¯t one to judge since he didn¡¯t care enough to judge, the stark divergence of age interested him shortly. As if he couldn¡¯t be more eager to gossip on the subject, getting closer to Virus¡¯ ear and pointing at the little kid that was guiding them, he uttered, ¡°Ah, yes, and this boy you see is really theirs and not from a past wife or anything like that. My friend has great vigor, right?¡± When each of them was shown into their rooms and settled down, Virus ordered a cup of tea to be brewed and served to him together with his lunch. He wanted to taste the tea and the food of the inn. While waiting for his food, many contemplations occupied Virus¡¯ mind. ¡®Hmm, what should I do now?¡¯ Now that Virus was in Ricando, one might expect him to actively start digging up information on the Poison Deity clan in order to estimate their overall power, weaknesses, and the details regarding what had happened to the Silver Sky Sect and the whereabouts of its survivors. However, that wasn¡¯t Virus¡¯ precise plan since it didn¡¯t require a genius to know that an active investigation would only result in consequences that would endanger his life at the shortest duration of time possible.. Obviously, that course of action was bound to put him under the Poison Deity clan¡¯s negative radar, which was something he wanted to avoid at all costs for now, at least not in that way and not until he was strong enough. Chapter 490 - To Be Relevant The reason why he was here, to begin with, was to tread the safer route of passively gathering information, denoting he won¡¯t go out foraging intelligence without sound justification which may make the clan feel threatened. Rather, he would wait until the information comes to him naturally by itself while he gradually becomes relevant to the city and the clan that controls it. In order to accomplish that goal of becoming relevant to the city, amongst the several options Virus had come up with, Virus determined the most logical and efficient one was the path of earning a lot of money by becoming a businessman within the city boundaries. Overall, money and the level of authority that came with it were going to open many paths and connections for him all over the city. Furthermore, without money, there wasn¡¯t anything he could do really. Even if he wanted to actively dig up some information right now or even later on, that required money, money that he did not have at the moment. Without money or in this case Qi Ingots, he was no different from a beggar and no one cares enough to talk and share information with a beggar! By the time he was over going through some of his surface plans, Virus heard a knock on the door. His food was prepared and they were now asking him to come to the dining table to eat it. Rising to his feet, Virus casually went down to the dining hall as he sat at a random table. Soon, Luca, Luna, Augustus, and Archibald who were long since starving joined him as well. Looking at the food on the table, other than the cup of tea, Virus could see roasted mutton and boiled fish together with two tankards of cider prepared. Nodding in approval, Virus tasted the roasted mutton while the two oldies beside him each took a sip of their cider. ¡°So, boss, what is your following plan? Are we just going to sleep in this place and do nothing?¡± Archibald questioned all of sudden. ¡°You must love freeloading like this, eh? But no, we¡¯ve got so much stuff to do, that¡¯s why I¡¯m down here to tell you about it.¡± ¡°Oh, what is the plan?¡± With his pupils emitting light, Archibald exhibited his passion. He was looking forward to the adventure and fun this new boss of him would bring to the table. ¡°I need you four to do one thing before I decide on my following plans.¡± Ripping a bite off a piece of mutton, he continued, ¡°Get me the rough cost of buying and renting a shop in the various parts of the city, come back and report to me when you¡¯re done.¡± ¡°Hmm, is that all, boss?¡± ¡°For starters, yes.¡± ¡°But what are you going to sell by renting or buying a shop?¡± Feeling lost about Virus¡¯ intentions, Archibald interrogated. He was having difficulty understanding the picture Virus had fixed his sight on. ¡°Just do as you¡¯re told. You¡¯ll naturally come to be aware of everything later on.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Afterward, sitting around the same table, the party of five devoured their food before Virus returned to his room while the four left the inn in order to dig out the basic pricing of the stores. ¡­ A few hours later, sitting on a chair in his room, Virus closed both his eyes as he sunk into deliberation. What he was contemplating right now was about whether he should consume the Absolute Liberation Leveling pill right now and breakthrough to the ninth level of Liberation or rather leave it for a later time and only use it after he successfully breaks through to the ninth level. Frankly, to Virus, both options had their advantages and risks. The advantage of taking the Absolute Liberation Leveling later on when he elevates his cultivation to the ninth level was that he would have a good chance of directly breaking through to the Sublimity Emergence stage. Of course, that wasn¡¯t guaranteed since it was said the Absolute Liberation Leveling pill was useless beyond the Sublimity Emergence stage so it may just elevate the synthesis rate to one hundred percent in the ninth level and stagnate there. On the other hand, since the fusion process of the pathways gets harder after each level, it was crystal clear to him that keeping the pill for later on would be a good option. However, the risk of doing so was connected to the topic of his current whereabouts. Right now, Virus was on an extremely hazardous planet with danger lurking in all directions. Furthermore, he was at the very heart of the city that was bound to become his enemy and the target of his vengeance considering that they had annihilated the sect and probably harmed one of the few people in the world that Virus cared about, therefore, the level of danger was even higher. All those aspects considered, the rational approach for Virus was to take the pill right now and be ready for any kind of unpredictable danger that may pop up along the way. Thus, while one choice was more beneficial for his cultivation, the other could make his life more secure immediately. ¡®Which one should I pick?¡¯ Truthfully, there wasn¡¯t much for Virus to sleep on as he made a decision swiftly, ¡°Well, increasing the chances of my survival matters the most, even if by a tiny amount.¡± ¡®Moreover, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to be stuck at the ninth level. All I need are more monstrous beasts and Origin will assist me in breaking through fast! So that little bit of inefficiency doesn¡¯t really matter at the end of the day.¡¯ That also further dissipated any second thoughts. Then, taking the pill out of the spatial container, Virus was just about to open the case when his doorstep was knocked. Targh! Targh! ¡°Hmm, who is it?¡± ¡°Boss, we¡¯re back to report.¡± Luca¡¯s muffled sound came over from the other side of the door. ¡°Okay, come in.¡± Storing the Absolute Liberation Leveling case within his spatial container once more, Virus allowed the four to enter. ¡°So, how were the prices?¡± ¡°Ah, sir, first about the rent costs, one detail about the rents was that other than the monthly payment, they all required a rather substantial amount of deposit money as well,¡± Archibald reported calmly. ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°And as for the overall pricing of renting, they varied from place to place. At the cheapest districts that we discovered in this short duration, the rent was set at a hundred first-grade Qi Ingots a month plus a deposit of a thousand of them. However, these shops were extremely remote with no crowd to be found anywhere. The shops around that place were totally empty of any potential customers.¡± Shaking his head in disappointment, Archibald was absolutely against such districts. ¡°And in regards to the uptown and the main market of the city, the most expensive shops could be rented at the prices of ten thousand Qi Ingots of first-grade a month plus a deposit of a hundred thousand Qi Ingots of the same grade.¡± Inferring from his tone, Archibald was more inclined toward the potential of the expensive stores. ¡°As for the selling price of those locations, just quadruple their deposit cost and there you have it.¡± Acting like he was an experienced businessman already, Archibald advised further, ¡°Ah, boss, if you want to have a profitable business, you better rent a shop at the crowded areas where there would be customers around.¡± Chapter 491 - Stumped ¡°Be quiet. I¡¯ll decide that myself.¡± Initiating the process of his contemplation, Virus began considering the various dilemmas. His first dilemma was whether to buy or rent a shop. However, considering his capital, it was clear he could not afford even renting the cheapest store right now, not talking about buying a shop from a crowded market district. Thus, Virus was more inclined toward raising his capital before renting a shop somewhere. As for whether he should rent it in a remote or busy area, that was a decision for another time. For now, turning toward Luca, while throwing a single Qi Ingot at him, he ordered, ¡°Bring me a pen and a few notebooks.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Exiting the room, Luca was gone for around half an hour. When he returned, he had procured a pen and several empty notebooks. ¡°Here you go, boss.¡± Nodding in contentment, Virus opened a page of the notebook as he started writing and scribbling on it. When he was finished, he casually closed the notebook before adding some words on its cover. ¡¸Twisting Tempest Thrust¡¹: Then opening the first page which he had initially left blank, he added a brief description. [Description: Twist like tempest a hole in your enemy! The first form requires one pathway as it focuses on the word ¡®Thrust¡¯, the second form requires two liberated pathways as it concentrates the ¡®Tempest¡¯, the third form¡­] When he was done, after a brief deliberation, he also skipped to the later pages and added another section called ¡®Cultivation Trust¡¯s Insights¡¯. In that segment, Virus described his own experience with the technique using the simplest terms he could express. Now, anyone who tried this particular technique would only require around twenty percent of their original efforts in order to learn it. Then, going back to the cover he jotted down ¡®Source: Cultivation Trust¡¯. Since the technique originated from the future itself, there wasn¡¯t really anyone to claim copyright or ownership over it, not that there was copyright in the cultivation multiverse, to begin with. The reason why no one dared infringe the techniques of other organizations was mostly that it was considered taboo other than the possibility of such actions incurring the wrath of the said organization if found out. Throwing the notebook at Archibald next, Virus declared, ¡°Alright, that¡¯s it. Let¡¯s go auction it off.¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this, boss?¡± Out of curiosity, Archibald inquired. ¡°Can¡¯t you read? It¡¯s a mid-human class longsword technique, we¡¯re going to auction that off and then use its money to rent a place.¡± To be frank, the reason why Virus was willing to sell off this technique of his was that it was no longer of any use to him. Other than the fact that his current weapon of choice was a sword and not a longsword, Virus was confident even in case he had a longsword, he would¡¯ve long abandoned this weak mid-class technique. ¡°Ah, I see! Let¡¯s go then, I know an auction house that is held on this very day every month.¡± Even though Archibald and the other three had several questions, assuming Virus may not appreciate their inquisitive questions, they remained silent. ¡­ ¡°Halt!¡± When the five reached the entrance of a rather large building with a big signboard stating Esteemed Luxury auction house, a guard stopped them in their tracks. ¡°The Auction has already started, leave.¡± The guard mouthed arrogantly. ¡°Hmm, your supervisor probably wouldn¡¯t like that.¡± Keeping his cool, Archibald replied. At the same time, taking out the notebook, he waved it in front of the guard¡¯s profile, nearly rubbing it on his face. ¡¸Twisting Tempest Thrust¡¹: ¡°We¡¯re here to do business, so go call your boss if you don¡¯t wish to be blamed for losing such a valuable item.¡± Caressing his beard, Archibald advised. Although he was utterly bald in the head, he had a long beard on his face. ¡°Ah, please follow me.¡± Reading the name and class of the technique briefly, the guard knew he had probably made a mistake by attempting to send them away without even checking why they were here. Therefore, changing his behavior a one hundred eighty percent, he respectfully told them to go after him. Subsequently, while the other guard remained at the entrance, that guard guided them to the doorstep of a particular room before pointing out, ¡°Please wait a moment.¡± Afterward, he knocked and entered the room. ¡°You guys can go inside. Branch chief is expecting you.¡± A few minutes later, returning, the guard urged them to enter before scurrying away. When the five ambled into the room, they spotted the frame of a plump woman probably in her early thirties sitting behind a desk. The instant she caught them entering, she stood up and greeted them with a warm smile, ¡°Welcome to Esteemed Luxury, dear clients. I¡¯m Ports, the branch chief of this place, please come and sit.¡± Pointing at the comfortable chairs in front of her desk, she humbly invited them. After that, when the five sat down, without further ado, she jumped to the main question, ¡°how may I be of service today?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Examining this plump woman that was full in all the good areas and slim in the unnecessary areas like the waist, Archibald was dazed. He had expected a man to be the chief of this place and not such a stunning woman. ¡°Yes?¡± Awaiting his response patiently, Ports simply exhibited a professional smile. In the meantime, she was also inspecting the countenance of each and every one of these five unknown people at her presence. After her gaze briefly remained on the profiles of Luca, Luna, Archibald, and Augustus, her next target was Virus. Alas, the second she took a glimpse of Virus¡¯ features, she felt a little bit stumped. ¡®Damn, this has got to be the most devilishly handsome face I¡¯ve witnessed my whole life. Though what¡¯s even more peculiar is the fact that I can¡¯t read his expressions..¡¯ Of course, she still maintained her bearings and did not forget about her professionalism. Chapter 492 - Birds Of A Feather... ¡®I wonder who he is, though? And why do the other four seem so conscious of his existence? He must be the leader.¡¯ Being shrewd enough after dealing with all types of clients so far, Ports accurately determined. ¡°Ah, right¡­ we¡¯ve brought a Mid-Human class Longsword Technique we want to auction off, here it is.¡± Extending his arm, Archibald placed the Twisting Tempest Thrust book on the desk. At the same time, he could not stop sneaking a peek at her great figure. On the opposite side of him, witnessing this scene, Virus was tongue-tied. ¡®Birds of a feather flock together indeed. That old friend of his marries someone around his daughter¡¯s age and now this oldie¡¯s shamelessly eyeing this woman.¡¯ Since she had been notified of the merchandise already, Ports promptly reached out and grabbed the book. Then, opening it, she skimmed through it for around five minutes before she closed it at last and let out an impressed gasp. ¡°Amazing!¡± She said without holding back. ¡°And there is also an insight section which is going to make learning the technique so much easier!¡± ¡°Hahaha, of course, what else did you expect?¡± As if Ports was complimenting him per se, Archibald proudly held his chin high. ¡°Can you sell this to me? I¡¯ll pay a thousand first-grade Qi Ingots this moment if you agree!¡± Excited about the prospect of getting her hands on the book, she offered. However, looking at the direction of her gaze, it was clear she wasn¡¯t asking Archibald that question, rather, she was negotiating with Virus. Although that act of being ignored promptly made Archibald annoyed, there wasn¡¯t anything he could do except forget about it. ¡®Hmph, does she think she¡¯s a big shot just because she has a big butt and huge cow-like breasts?¡¯ On the other hand, seeing that Ports had figured out he was the leader, truthfully, Virus wasn¡¯t surprised since the other four¡¯s body language was screaming they were his lackeys and that they were merely tagging along. Thus, locking gazes with her, Virus outright rejected her, ¡°No need. Just auction it off for us. I heard you¡¯re holding an auction event right now, sell it there.¡± That was all Virus had to say to this strange woman. Unfortunately, sitting with locked ankles, Ports shook her head. ¡°Ah, about that¡­ except the main surprise merchandise, we usually spread a list of our items that will be sold a week prior to the auction itself, so I don¡¯t think we can do it.¡± ¡°Ah, is that so? Guess we¡¯ll just go to another auction house, then. Goodbye.¡± Standing up, Virus honestly wanted to go try the other auction houses and see what they had to offer. He wasn¡¯t just faking a strategy to prompt the branch chief to change her mind. Nonetheless, observing his abrupt course of action, feeling restless, Ports vocalized, ¡°Please stop!¡± ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± A simpering smirk creeping on his mouth, Virus vocalized. ¡°Okay, w-we¡¯ll sell it in today¡¯s auction!¡± Fidgeting with the corner of her dress, in a tremulous voice, she exclaimed. ¡°Hmm? What? You don¡¯t really need to though. Don¡¯t change the rules of your auction house for us alone. Honestly, I can see where you¡¯re coming from, if it can¡¯t be done, there¡¯s no helping it, so we¡¯ll leave.¡± Insisting on leaving much to the frustration of Ports, Virus was about to turn around and walk away again. That reaction, however, only made Ports¡¯ eyes go wide open as she pondered speechlessly, ¡®I just agreed to sell your book for you so why are you the one rejecting now?!¡¯ Luckily, she provided a logical answer outwardly, ¡°No worries, I wouldn¡¯t be really breaking the rules of the auction house if I sell it as the second surprise merchandise.¡± ¡°Hooh? There was such a thing too? Okay then.¡± Smirking, a mocking tone was clear in Virus¡¯ sentence. ¡­ After going through a few processes, Ports personally led them to a private client area and left them alone there. Meanwhile, down below, one item after another was being auctioned off by the auctioneer. There was a variety of items and equipment such as weapons of First- and even Second-Tempering, there were also many types of pills. Alas, so far, there was no technique whatsoever. Apparently, techniques were much rarer compared to equipment and pills. Meanwhile, since none of the items were garnering Virus¡¯ focus, he began inspecting his surroundings while looking at the various other private cabins that could be perceived from his position. Beside him, discerning Virus¡¯ passing curiosity, Archibald introduced the few people he could identify. ¡°That guy is a famous disciple of the Poison Deity clan¡¯s Poison faction.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know that one.¡± ¡°No idea who that is as well.¡± ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t seen that person in my entire life.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the notorious drunkard younger son of the Deity faction¡¯s leader. Everyone knows about him.¡± After speaking about the so-called drunkard younger son of the Deity faction leader, Archibald was expecting Virus¡¯ eyesight to move to the next target when much to his surprise, he realized Virus¡¯ eyes remained fixated on the drunkard. ¡°Tell me more.¡± Came Virus¡¯ casual prompt of curiosity. ¡°Ah, well, some call him the ¡®dreg¡¯ while some others address him as the ¡®drunkard¡¯.¡± ¡°The dreg title is because, unlike his older brother, his talent is very mediocre in cultivation, therefore, people have marked him as the undesirable dreg of his father. Everyone believes his father passed all the good seeds to his older son and pumped all the remaining dregs into making the younger son.¡± Agreeing with everyone else himself, a glimmer of contempt was beaming in Archibald¡¯s pupils as well. ¡°As for why they call him a drunkard, obviously, that¡¯s because he¡¯s a drunkard who¡¯s always hanging out in the brothels of the city, tch, garbage.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see.¡± With his thoughts totally unknown to the other four, Virus focused on the ongoing auction again. After a few items were sold, the auctioneer suddenly started announcing the part that was relevant to Virus. ¡°The next object is going to astonish you all¡­¡± Afterward, the auctioneer kept complimenting the technique until the book was pushed onto the stage. ¡°And here is the amazing Twisting Tempest Thrust! A rare Mid-Human class longsword technique that¡¯s extremely potent for all those who are in the Liberation stage!¡± With entertaining observations, the auctioneer was chucking, snorting, and even cackling at times. ¡°Furthermore, according to our branch chief, there is even an insight segment which will help you comprehend and grasp the technique in the shortest duration imaginable! Bear in mind, our branch chief has personally stepped forward to guarantee its quality! Do not lose this rare opportunity.¡± Like he was about to sell his wife, a painful and reluctant light started emitting from his eyes and face. ¡°Let¡¯s begin then, the bids will start from a hundred first-grade Qi Ingots! I repeat, do not lose this chance, even if you are above the Liberation stage already, you could always buy it for your children and other family members! This will be a top-notch Human technique for you!¡± Shifting his weight from one leg to another, he spread his arms before pointing them both at the book on the board. When the auctioneer was finally finished elaborating and tempting, the first bid reverberated in the house. ¡°Two hundred!¡± By that, the bidder meant two hundred first-grade Qi Ingots. ¡°Five hundred!¡± Chapter 493 - Missed ¡°Eight hundred!¡± The auction continued for around a few minutes until the price went as far as a thousand Qi Ingots. ¡°Thousand and ten!¡± ¡°Thousand and twenty!¡± Now, all the bidders believed the price has surpassed the technique¡¯s cap worth. Thus, only those that truly desired the technique increased their bids. Nonetheless, even those competing people added ten Qi Ingots alone in each bid. Finally, after the value hit a thousand and fifty Qi Ingots, all the biddings stopped as the auctioneer announced the winner and moved on to the main surprise merchandise. Soon, the auctioneer pushed a cart with a spear on top of the platform and started elaborating excitedly, ¡°Behold today¡¯s main item called Spear Holder, a weapon of Third-Tempering!¡± In the meantime, the crowds¡¯ cheers and murmurs also wildly surged. It was clear most of the cultivators present today were anticipating this weapon very much. Listening up to that point, woefully, Virus was no longer interested as he rose to his feet immediately and urged everyone, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯re done here.¡± He could pinpointedly determine that his own sword, Steel of Darkness, was much more superior compared to this low-quality Third-Tempering Item. In case his sword was a high-quality Third-Tempering Item, then that spear put on exhibition was certainly a low-quality one. Afterward, followed by the other four, the party strolled to the previous room of the branch chief before knocking. ¡°Come in!¡± As the muffled sound transmitted over, the five barged inside. ¡°Ah, you guys are here¡­ I¡¯ve prepared your Qi Ingots already, please sit.¡± Maintaining her professional act, Ports notified. Afterward, she explained how the auction house¡¯s commission was around five percent, and therefore, the final price that will be given to them was around thousand Qi Ingots of the first grade. She also didn¡¯t forget to add with a helpless and somewhat frustrated sigh, ¡°See, it wasn¡¯t any different than the price I offered you guys initially. The only difference is, if you had sold it to me, you could¡¯ve saved some time and I would¡¯ve kept it for the next auction event and would¡¯ve advertised it till then, then according to my predictions, the price would have been elevated to a thousand and five hundred Qi Ingots at the bare minimum. What a pity.¡± Regretful and filled with remorse at the loss of such a great opportunity to earn some easy profit, Ports could not raise her head as she kept it tilted down. ¡°Hmm, I admit, you are really good at your job,¡± Since Virus truly was not aware of the pricing data of the market for analysis, he was not sure if a thousand Qi Ingots was a loss or not, thus, he wanted to see for himself and be the judge of that. However, at the very end, that wasn¡¯t the whole picture as well. ¡°however, I do not regret my decision. In fact, I still believe I made the right call due to some factors I can¡¯t talk about. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll take our leave now.¡± Rising to his feet, Virus signaled Archibald to get the pouch of money as he walked to the door. However, right before he was about to vanish for her sight, Ports¡¯ voice traveled through, ¡°If you ever have anything else you wish to sell or buy, you are always welcome to our Esteemed Luxury Auction House.¡± ¡­ Exiting the auction house, now that he had some capital at hand, Virus notified those behind him, ¡°Let¡¯s go see the shops that are up for lease with a monthly rent of a hundred and the deposit of around one thousand Qi Ingots.¡± ¡°Ah, boss, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll make a profit out of this if you do that¡­¡± Confident about his own belief, Archibald advised Virus against leasing such a cheap place. The last thing he wanted to see was his boss going bankrupt due to an unwise business plan. ¡°Just take me there.¡± His hands clasped behind his back, Virus wasn¡¯t in any mood to justify his actions to his servants. Seeing Virus¡¯ persistence, there wasn¡¯t really anything else the old Archibald could do except adhering to the order and do as he was told. Subsequently, it took them around half an hour before they finally arrived at an extremely remote area in the Deity-Half of Outer Ricando where there wasn¡¯t a single fly to be found anywhere. Of course, there were several open stores with a variety of merchandise in them, however, not a single one of them had a visitor or a customer except the owners themselves. ¡°Boss, this district here is the cheapest location in the city.¡± Gazing into the eyes of the various owners as he bypassed their shops, Virus couldn¡¯t discover an ounce of motivation or hope within the eyes of any of them. It was clear this region was the trashiest location in the entire Ricando. ¡°The region is notoriously recognized as the ¡®dead pool district¡¯ amongst the businessmen due the guaranteed financial death and bankruptcy of any businessman who is foolish enough to pick this location.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see, which shops are up for rent anyway?¡± Turning toward Archibald, Virus inquired. It was as if everything Archibald had said was entering from one ear before exiting from the other one, he simply ignored all warnings. Forlorn, while pointing at the several unoccupied stores in their surroundings, Archibald stated. ¡°Ah, there are a lot actually, the owners of all these empty and closed shops you see wish to either sell or rent their shop, you just need to pick whichever one you desire and we¡¯re good to go.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± By now, an odd gleam of anticipation was brightening Virus¡¯ pupils which annoyed Archibald so much that he began pondering in utter disbelief. ¡®I say he¡¯s going to die and he¡¯s happy about it? Did I perhaps take a madman as my boss?¡¯ Inspecting the surroundings, Virus got to work as he meticulously considered the location of each shop. In order to make a rational pick, Virus needed to take into account, calculate, and analyze several factors. For instance, the position of the shop, quick accessibility of the shop to the incoming customers, etc. Fortunately, it took Virus a few seconds alone before he was finished with the process of contemplation as he easily ranked the potential of all stores from the best to the worst one. Obviously, the best ones were closer to the very entrance of the district which was easily accessible while the longer the distance got, the worse the position became. Subsequently, wanting the four to also grasp a rudimentary understanding of the potential of the shops, he logically elaborated which ones were the best options while also emphasizing the ones that were of poorer quality. Virus¡¯ purpose in doing so was because he wished for them to quickly get the hang of how the business functioned since he had every intention of leaving the management chores to them. Albeit, needing to explain even the most basic details made Virus miss the four uglies and appreciate them more than ever. If they were around, they could¡¯ve swiftly connected to the world database or he could¡¯ve transmitted the overall data in less than a blink of an eye.. They were greatly missed indeed. Chapter 494 - Tastes Like... ¡°So, boss, since that store right there is the best one, no doubt you are targeting it, right?¡± Feeling proud of his intelligence, Archibald concluded the obvious. ¡°No, follow me.¡± Denying his assumption with a wave of his arm, Virus sauntered far into the district. The deeper they walked into the district, however, the more lost the four felt. That was because according to Virus himself, with each step they took deeper into the district, the customer potential also decreased by that much. According to them, Virus was acting completely irrational right now. Nevertheless, Virus continued on foot until he reached the most distant shop, which based upon Virus¡¯ claim itself, was the worst one in the entire district itself. ¡°We¡¯ll rent this one.¡± He mouthed casually as if he was stating the most obvious fact in existence. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Utterly speechless, the four¡¯s jaws only remained wide open until Archibald asked tongue-tied. ¡°B-but boss, you said it yourself! This is the most inferior point! Isn¡¯t it natural to pick the best place instead of the worst one? Or have I gone senile without realizing it myself?¡± That question, unfortunately, only incurred in a somewhat disappointed sigh from Virus who merely replied with, ¡°Just rent the damn shop, you¡¯ll understand when the time is right.¡± Simultaneously, a notion flickered through his brain, ¡®I miss the goddamn CEO ugly¡­ that bastard would¡¯ve guessed my whole plan the instant I¡¯d notified him I wanna open a store¡­ heck, he would¡¯ve come up with everything himself while I enjoy a cup of tea!¡¯ Now that he had picked the shop he wanted, there wasn¡¯t really anything else for Virus to achieve around here, hence, turning around, he left the district and returned to the Decent Inn alone. Meanwhile, Archibald and the other three remained in the district as they went ahead to find the owner of the chosen shop before going through and signing the contract beside other miscellaneous chores. On the other hand, entering the inn, Virus was faced with the sole presence of the wife, Pira, who was sitting behind the counter with no one else to receive Virus¡¯ return. The instant she caught sight of him, Pira jumped on her feet before beaming a warm and welcoming smile at Virus. ¡°Welcome back, Mr¡­?¡± ¡°Everyone calls me Vee.¡± Expressionless, Virus introduced himself. ¡°Oh my, Vee.¡± Gazing at his face left and right, a shade of red was clear over Pira¡¯s cheeks as she complimented him. ¡°Your name is just as dashing as your face.¡± A coy smile was apparent over Pira¡¯s profile. ¡°Thank you. I would like a cup of tea to be brought over to my room.¡± Not in the mood to entertain this woman, Virus requested before moving toward the stairs. Meanwhile, Pira¡¯s delighted voice traversed from behind. ¡°Alright, just wait a moment please, I¡¯ll personally brew our best tea and bring it to you in a few minutes.¡± Afterward, going up to his room, Virus collapsed over the chair in the balcony that was facing the view of the ancient city in front of him. The buildings and the overall architecture of the city were oddly similar to that of ancient Greek with pillars and beautiful designs with a variety of innovative sculptures here and there. Taking out the pill case of the Absolute Liberation Leveling, Virus decided, ¡°I¡¯ll ingest it after enjoying a cup of tea.¡± Since Virus wasn¡¯t sure how long the process will be, he wanted to at least drink a glass of tea. Knock! Knock! ¡°Come in.¡± Subsequently, the door to his room was pushed open as Pira brought over a cup of freshly brewed tea. Ambling to the location of his seat, however, Pira bent over right in front of Virus while placing the tea on the small tea table beside him. What was interesting about this situation though, was the fact that Pira was bending over while adjusting the angle in a way so her cleavage and her bare nipples beneath her dress were right in Virus¡¯ line of sight. ¡°I prepared the tea myself using a special recipe, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll like it, Vee.¡± Opening her mouth with the tip of her tongue showing on the side, Pira maintained that position. ¡°Okay.¡± Picking up the tea, Virus was about to gently take a sip of it, when he realized Pira was still standing in front of him while continuing to smile. ¡®What the fuck¡¯s wrong with this thot?¡¯ ¡°Hmm? Is there anything else?¡± Frowning, Virus queried. ¡°Ah! N-no, then I¡¯ll leave you alone.¡± Exclaiming that, Pira finally left the room after much hesitation. Even while walking to the door, she kept sneaking a peek back at him. Alone, at last, Virus took his time to drink his tea. Unfortunately, the second the taste of the tea hit his tongue, he cursed out loud, ¡°Fuck, this tastes like shit! I miss my Lil Belle¡¯s tea so fucking much!¡± Putting the tea aside immediately, Virus had a change of mind and was resolved to consume the pill instead of torturing himself with the shitty tea. Therefore, sitting cross-legged, Virus opened the case at long last ensuing the revelation of a purple pill that was shortly put on display. ¡®Ah, if I only had the tech to analyze it before eating it.¡¯ If there was one thing Virus regretted about taking the Absolute Liberation Leveling pill right away, it was the fact that he could not study it thoroughly enough. ¡°Now¡­¡± Grabbing the pill, after a brief hesitation, Virus went ahead and swallowed it. ¡®Well, there¡¯s no helping it, my survival matters the most.¡¯ Gulp! Closing his eyelids next, Virus sank into a meditative state while focusing every bit of his concentration inside his internal world. For a few minutes at least, there was no reaction whatsoever until his stomach started heating up while waves after waves of warmness traveled through his organs until they came to a halt on his eighth pathway that was only one or two percent synthesized. Chapter 495 - Absolute Liberation Leveling Following shortly, the percentage of the fusion experienced a gradual rise. In one hour, the fusion rate increased to nine percent. By the third hour, the synthesis was elevated to thirty-five percent. Compared to Origin¡¯s absolute and instantaneous escalation speed, this so-called Absolute Liberation Leveling pill was still like a joke. When the tenth hour elapsed, the fusion rate finally climbed to one hundred percent synthesis as the eighth passage became a complete and connected whole! At the same time, the last vestiges of the pill efficacy that refused to die out tried pushing themselves to the next level in order to initiate the synthesis process of the final ninth pathway! Alas, while he stayed at the very brink, just as the remaining potency of Absolute Liberation Leveling was about to push him beyond the eighth level to the ninth, an intense resistance, unlike anything Virus had experienced so far hindered the path of the last traces of the energy from the pill! ¡®The third taboo!¡¯ Sensing it, Virus concluded at once. Right now, out of nowhere, at the blocked entrance of the seventeenth and eighteenth passages, an intense quiver that was shockingly dealing internal damage within him had materialized! Cough! The vibration force inside him was so unbelievably potent that it didn¡¯t take long before Virus puked blood due to a part of him being damaged. When he was about to break through to the seventh level, the first taboo, the easiest one, had attempted to block his path. Albeit, it was utterly incapable in the end. Subsequently, at the time of his breakthrough to the eighth level, the second taboo was an even raspier barricading force that had temporarily hampered his way. And yet, in the end, Virus came out on top in a rather laid-back style. And now, he was against the Third Taboo! ¡®The inhibiting force from the heavens must be at least a few hundredfolds more severe than the second taboo which honestly makes it scary even for me.¡¯ It was at this time that Virus finally realized just how much the Heavens were against the Ninth Level of Liberation! If they ¡®disliked¡¯ the seventh level and ¡®hated¡¯ the eighth level, they didn¡¯t just ¡®abhor¡¯ the ninth level, rather, it was so bad that they simply ¡®did not allow¡¯ the existence of the ninth level! Calculating the possibility of him triumphantly shattering the restriction and forcing his way to the ninth level without any assistance, Virus noticed that his chances were initially less than five percent. And that five percent existed only because it was him, Virus! ¡®Damn, that would¡¯ve been extremely hard! And time-consuming!¡¯ With some beads of sweat covering his forehead, Virus felt like he had just dodged a bullet. However, soon, he felt as if a second bullet was shot at him! Cough! Puking more blood, much to his disbelief, Virus noticed that despite having swallowed an absolute type of pill that could assure the breakthrough eventually, he may not survive that long in case the breakthrough process took long enough. ¡®This damn pill is too slow! My insides will be messed up to death before it can actually help me fucking breakthrough!¡¯ One rudimentary scrutiny was all it took before Virus knew for sure he could not sit still any longer or what awaited him at the end was nothing but death! ¡®I can¡¯t remain passive anymore!¡¯ Pondering that, Virus entered a deep state of meditation before gathering his entire focus at the ending point of his eighth pathway! Next, assembling every bit of his cultivation energy, together with the undying force of the Absolute Liberation Leveling, he bashed everything into the vibration force! Bam! The wall of obstruction shook wildly. But sadly, it did not shatter! ¡°Again!¡± Shouting that out loud, Virus pushed all his energy and assimilated it with the undying energy of the pill before crashing them all to the wall once more! BAMM! Cough! Pfft! Frankly, this time it was his own violent attack on the barrier that harmed him. And worse yet, the invisible wall set up by the heavens had only shown a few cracks on itself! Gritting his teeth and ignoring the internal damage and pain, a pure rage was shooting off Virus¡¯ being as he collected every bit of energy from every corner plus the undying force and assaulted the wall with bloodshot eyes behind his closed eyelids. ¡°BEGONE!¡± BOOM! The entire world within his physique was shaking so hard that Virus had no sensations left anywhere in his being as he passed out! And yet, although gravely impaired and wrecked, the wall of the heavens was standing tall, the heavens had come out on top! Despite Virus¡¯ active efforts together with the assistance of the surefire pill which was known to nearly break all common sense as it had an absolute effect of raising the cultivation level of the consumer to precisely one percent fusion rate of the following level, Virus had still failed as he was forced into unconsciousness. Although Virus had failed and one may assume that to be the end of the road for him, that was not the case at all. As a matter of fact, even while Virus remained unconscious, the Absolute Liberation Pill¡¯s heaven-defying undying force continued eating away at the seriously weakened third taboo as it gradually made it weaker and weaker. Moreover, on the plus side, due to Virus¡¯ unstoppable strikes, the wall had grown so feeble by now that it could no longer worsen Virus¡¯ injuries. So, in a way, it was Virus who had been the winner! Meanwhile, the heaven-defying undying might of the pill proceeded to slowly but surely erode the taboo until finally, it was so fragile that it naturally crumbled away like wet thin paper. Boom! Internally, a thundering noise reverberated in Virus¡¯ physique inside his pathways as wild energy charged into his seventeenth and eighteenth single passages and promptly fused them to the state of one percent! Ninth Level of Liberation, broken through! Now, Virus was at the very peak level of Liberation, having achieved something that was nothing but a myth, a never-seen-before legend, in his past life in the future! Chapter 496 - Boss After an unknown duration of time, Virus¡¯ eyelids suddenly jumped open while his pupils dilated to the extreme! Gazing around next, he was faced with the concerned faces of Luca, Luna, Augustus, and Archibald. ¡°Boss! You woke up at last!¡± Catching the sight of Virus regaining consciousness, Luna shouted in utter happiness. ¡°Boss!¡± The other three were also glad Virus was seemingly fine. In the meantime, examining the surroundings, Virus noticed that he was lying down on his bed inside the inn¡¯s room. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Intending to move into a sitting position, a harsh pain overwhelmed Virus, catching him off-guard. Concentrating his unique sense of awareness within himself, Virus realized that he was suffering from a serious form of internal injury. As a matter of fact, there was internal bleeding occurring concurrently which needed to be handled at once since it was guaranteed to threaten his life if left untreated. ¡®I need to heal up.¡¯ Although that notion went through his head, looking at the four people surrounding him, he demanded a question to be answered first, ¡°Why are you four here in my room?¡± ¡°Ah, boss, let me tell you.¡± Volunteering to respond, Luca added, ¡°After leasing that shop you selected, we returned. However, then we noticed that no matter how hard we knocked on the door, you would neither reply nor open the door!¡± A concerned gleam radiating his pupils, he picked the rest of his description. ¡°In the end, we were just about to leave when we heard you yelling ¡®begone¡¯ or something, so left with no other choice, we barged in only to see you puking a lot of blood before fainting!¡± As if that bloody scene was repeating itself for the second time in his mind, Luca¡¯s eyes went wide open while color left his profile slightly. ¡°That nearly scared us to death since we had no idea what to do¡­ but good thing you¡¯re conscious again.¡± While maintaining his awareness of Luca, simultaneously, Virus was busy checking his cultivation as he discerned the clear achievement of the ninth level of Liberation. ¡®Even though I failed, the Absolute Liberation Leveling pill still carried on with its task and helped me breakthrough in the end. Magnificent!¡¯ A grin crept over Virus¡¯ face while he felt extremely gratified and happy about consuming the pill in order to break through to the ninth level. Imagining what could have happened in case he had not eaten the pill for his breakthrough, a shiver went down Virus¡¯ spine. He could clearly see that if he had attempted to accomplish that feat on his own alone, the third taboo would¡¯ve most likely put an end to his frail life before he even had a chance of elevating his cultivation to the ultimate level. ¡®Phew, I dodged a bullet indeed. Guess I should thank my own wits and circumstances which made me take the pill right away.¡¯ ¡®Thanks to me and no thanks to heavens, I survived while achieving the nigh impossible!¡¯ Promptly snapping out of his reverie, while patting Luca¡¯s head, a broad smile exhibited on his profile, ¡°I see, I appreciate your concern, I truly do, but for the moment at least, I¡¯m fine.¡± Turning toward Archibald after that, he interrogated, ¡°Anyway, did everything go well with the leasing task?¡± Catching the question, a shimmer of excitement brightened Archibald¡¯s countenance as he joyfully notified him. ¡°It couldn¡¯t go any better, boss! In fact, it went wonderfully well!¡± ¡°Hmm, why do you say that?¡± Confused, Virus waited for further clarification. ¡°Well, since that place was the least sought shop in the district, we noticed its owner had put it up for lease for a measly price of fifty Qi Ingots a month plus a deposit and five-hundred Qi Ingots and that¡¯s it!¡± ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± ¡°Yes! And now the shop belongs to us for a year.¡± ¡°Alright, that¡¯s good I guess.¡± Unlike Archibald¡¯s enthusiasm, Virus seemed entirely relaxed about the situation, like he did not care about that little bit of discount at all. ¡°But boss, what should we do now? Can you at least tell me what you¡¯re going to be selling at that shop? Perhaps fruits? Food? Clothes? What?¡± Feeling curious, Archibald tried shedding some light on Virus¡¯ mysterious plan. ¡°About that, I¡¯ll tell you soon, but before that, although I¡¯m fine temporarily, there is an open internal wound in my body bleeding as we speak, I need to take care of that.¡± Virus announced with visible sweat covering his forehead. ¡°Ah, my sincere apology, sir. I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Luna, give me a pen and paper.¡± Commanding Luna, Virus waited for a few seconds before they were delivered. Subsequently, writing the name of some materials, Virus turned toward Augustus before ordering, ¡°Augustus, you go buy the list of materials and other stuff written on this paper.¡± ¡°Alright boss.¡± Adhering to the command, Augustus didn¡¯t delay at all as he took his leave swiftly. Since the most urgent matter had been mentioned, Virus locked eyes with Archibald and gave further instructions. ¡°Now, about the shop, before we get to the part about what we¡¯re going to do with it, you prepare and install the signboard.¡± ¡°O-oh, okay, what should I write on the signboard though?¡± Sneering at the old man for not having realized the name up to this point, Virus proclaimed, ¡°Of course, the words on the signboard will be¡­ Cultivation Trust. Go now!¡± Observing Archibald depart as well, only Luca and Luna were around now. ¡°Luca.¡± Virus opened his mouth, again. ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Nervous from the pit of his stomach, Luca shouted. He didn¡¯t know what his new boss¡¯ instructions were going to be, but whatever it was, he vowed to accomplish them to the best of his capabilities! ¡°You and your little brother, I want you two to do something for me.¡± A grave expression was also clear on Virus¡¯s face while he said that sentence. ¡°I swear we¡¯ll do precisely as you tell us to do, boss! Whether you want us to cross a sea of flames or a mountain of swords does not matter!¡± Resolution forming inside his eyes to the point of fanatical and blind faith, Luca made the oath. ¡°Good! I want you two to tail someone. I wish to know every location that person visits whether it¡¯s to eat, drink, fuck, or sleep. It does not matter where. In other words, I want you two to unravel all the places that person goes to usually during both day and night.¡± ¡°Your wish is my command, boss. Who should we follow?¡± ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m still unaware of his name, however, he¡¯s notoriously known as the dreg or the drunkard by everyone in the city.¡± Afterward, Virus went ahead and described the drunkard¡¯s exact profile without missing a single crease on the said person¡¯s face. When he was done, Virus didn¡¯t forget to warn the two as well, ¡°Be absolutely careful not to be discovered. This task needs to be accomplished without you two getting caught. So, always maintain your distance and do not approach the target no matter what, do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Heeding the command, both Luca and Luna bowed respectfully before going out to do their boss¡¯ bidding. Chapter 497 - In Motion Left in the room all by himself, Virus¡¯ expression contorted slightly while his nerves received and transmitted the sensation of sharp pain to his brain. ¡°Now that everything is in motion, I better rest until Augustus comes back.¡± Murmuring that sentence out loud, Virus closed his eyelids as he sank into a deep sleep. Hours escaped by. Knock! Knock! Knock! A repetitive knock suddenly awakened Virus out of his brief slumber. ¡°Come in!¡± He said in a hurry since dealing with the internal issue of his physique was his top priority. Pushing the entry open, Augustus walked inside and placed a bag filled with various materials on the table. ¡°Everything you need is here, boss.¡± Tilting his head respectfully, Augustus mouthed. ¡°Where is the special metal pot with a lid I asked for?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡­ please wait a second.¡± Going out momentarily, Augustus returned together with a small pot and a lid on top of it. ¡°Here it is. Its owner promised me it¡¯s an extremely endurable piece of pot since it was made using a special metal. He sold it to me for one-hundred Qi Ingots.¡± Since everything he had asked for was indeed ready and accessible now, nodding in sheer satisfaction, he dismissed Augustus. ¡°Alright, you may leave. Oh, right, don¡¯t let anyone disturb me until I say otherwise.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡­ Left in the room with a variety of plants and herbs, a strange type of wood, and a lidded pot, Virus forced himself into a sitting position while the intense pain flooded his brain again. Amongst the three categories of items procured, the object that was especially garnering Virus¡¯ focus was the unique bar of wood that had strange yet beautiful engravings on itself, engravings that were the result and work of nature itself. Regardless, he did not linger on it longer than necessary. Hence, standing up, ignoring the affliction completely, he picked everything up and moved to where the fireplace was located in his room. Then, he was just about to grab the water container filled with drinking water and pour some of it into the pot when an idea bubbled up, ¡®Hmm, what if I use that instead of this?¡¯ Immediately, having decided on his following course of action, he was already on the move as he left outside. ¡°Boss! Why are you on your feet instead of resting?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve something I need to fetch, so I¡¯ll be departing briefly.¡± In spite of his face being ashen white due to damage, Virus ignored his condition and continued taking one step after another toward the exit. ¡°Ah, boss, you shouldn¡¯t do that¡­ how about this, I¡¯ll do it for you, just tell me-¡± Alas, before he could even finish his sentence, shaking his head, Virus rejected Augustus¡¯ kind intentions, ¡°I need to do this myself.¡± ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ll follow you.¡± ¡°No, not this time, just stay here in the inn until my return.¡± Persisting stubbornly, Virus pushed ahead unhindered. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°No buts, stay!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Afterward, despite every step transferring a piercing pain all over his being, Virus kept taking one step after another until he vanished from the vicinity of the inn entirely. ¡­ One hour later, Virus¡¯ silhouette materialized near the inn again. However, instead of returning empty-handed, there was an additional item on his hand this time. To be precise, it was a bottle of water. Nevertheless, ambling back to his room slowly, Virus closed the door and released a sigh of relief, ¡®Water of Life, procured!¡¯ Indeed, as he was claiming, when Virus was gone just now, he was away to fetch some Water of Life from his spaceship floating invisibly outside the city dome. When the idea of using ¡®that¡¯ instead of drinking water had stroked him, by ¡®that¡¯, he was obviously referring to the Water of Life. Luckily, he had brought some Water of Life to this journey of his since he wanted to keep his promise of letting the Pagoda master experience and taste the true top-quality tea. Anyhow, the Water of Life was why Virus had to be the one to go get it himself since the spaceship was a top-level secret of his that he didn¡¯t want any else to be aware of. Nonetheless, since he had the Water of Life now, Virus went ahead and poured some of it into the pot in the fireplace before proceeding to place the bar of wood beneath the pot. Next, using something similar to flint and steel, Virus made sparks and ignited the single bar of wood beneath the pot. The moment the wood was ignited, strangely, red fire was inflamed. Soon, the terrifying heat began boiling the Water of Life inside the pot. On the other side, seeing that the water was boiling already, Virus threw one plant after another into the container at a variety of intervals. At last, when every single ingredient was dumped inside, locking the lid, all Virus had to do now was to wait. Unfortunately, as time passed, cracks began forming on the pot itself, apparently, the container was too fragile to tolerate the steam pressure locked within it as it was about to explode any seconds now. ¡®Just a few more seconds! Endure it a bit more!¡¯ As if he was praying to the pot itself, Virus urged it to last a little longer. Crack~ Crack! One crack after another extended on the pot as it was getting closer and closer to its detonation point. By the time the third second passed, the automatic timer within Virus¡¯ head went off, indicating the procedure to be over. Pssst! Emptying the drinking water of the room on the fireplace with no delay whatsoever, Virus extinguished the flame. Then, opening the locked lid of the pot, wild steam escaped it, relieving all the pressure at once. Albeit, that sudden release of pressure seemed too abrupt to the poor pot since its upper frame suddenly broke through as a huge chunk of it fell inside it. However, none of that mattered to Virus, what mattered to him at the moment was the single transparent orb of green that was standing alone in the middle of the broken pot. After the flame had elevated the heat within the pot to the extremes, the water within the pot had gotten so hot that all of it had vaporized and turned into steam within the container itself. But when that happened, due to the horrendous pressure from the steam plus the factor of the special design and shape of the pot Virus had demanded, the herbs within the pot itself were forced into the very center itself as they had all melted before being jammed into one another until the eventual formation of the current perfectly fused orb. ¡®Finally, my Basic Angel Tear pellet is ready!¡¯ As Virus was saying, this pellet in his line of sight was called the Basic Angel Tear which was one of the most miraculous healing pellets of the future amongst medicines of First Refinement. What made this pellet so special and worth creating today was the fact that it was the result of accumulative knowledge and research from the best scientists of the Technology Earth in the future based on the alchemy or pillsmithing field of the Cultivation Multiverse. Despite it merely being a pellet of First Refinement which was the weakest type of pellet the pillsmiths can produce, Virus knew that wasn¡¯t the case at all since the scientific planet had put it together in a way so, in spite of being merely a medicine of First Refinement, it would have the potency and strength of a pill of Second Refinement! Therefore, one could even say this pellet was a miracle that technology had brought forth, a miracle that absolutely did not exist in the current Cultivation Multiverse of today. ¡®It sucks to not have the MDA with me.¡¯ Indeed, in case Virus had access to the Maker Device Apothecary right now, this entire money-burning procedure which was usually utilized by the so-called First Refinement Pillsmiths of the Cultivation Multiverse would have been easily avoided. Unfortunately, since the MDA wasn¡¯t with Virus at the moment, left with no other choice, Virus could only go back to the basics and use the alchemy methods of the Pillsmiths. Nonetheless, now that the remedy was ready at last, without any ado, grasping the ball of green crystal, Virus throw it into his mouth before swallowing it directly. Chapter 498 - Basic Angel Tear Once the Basic Angel Tear hit the pit of Virus¡¯ stomach, it seemed to instantly melt as it turned into streams of healing energy that transmitted all over his internal body. Seeing the pill already about to take effect, sitting cross-legged, Virus shut both eyes and entered a meditative state. Focusing his sense of awareness on the section where it was injured, Virus observed the wounds healing up and closing at a breakneck speed. Still, despite the swift pace, it was going to take a few hours at least before the injuries mended. In the meantime, not wishing to just stand still without doing anything useful, Virus retreated into his mindscape before checking the state of the decryption of the movement techniques in his database. ¡®The decryption procedure is over already. Now, all I need to do is to develop the third and fourth forms.¡¯ Indeed, precisely as Virus was claiming, the deciphering phase of the movement techniques was finished. In fact, it had been some time since the process was over, however, being busy with a variety of affairs, Virus didn¡¯t start the development phase of the third and fourth forms as of yet. However, now, having nothing else to do, Virus figured it was perhaps the best timing to put together the next two forms. In the first form, using five of his liberated pathways, Virus took advantage of electricity to stimulate his muscles and nerves as he came up with the ¡®Impulse¡¯ form. In the second form, provided by six liberated passages, Virus designed two water turbines and placed them side by side to create the ¡®Friction¡¯ form which resisted air particles of the environment. However, coming to the third form, against expectations, Virus didn¡¯t want to come up with an entirely new concept and attribute that had nothing to do with the first and second forms. That was mainly because, although each form can be strong on its own, if Virus continued designing and adding new attributes in every form, at the end of the road, when everything was said and done, each form was sadly destined to be shallow in the overall depth of their utilization, thus resulting in a weaker technique that just encompassed a variety of innovative attributes that were not developed beyond their basic fundamentals. Virus wanted to evade that at all costs, and the method of doing so was to expand and reinforce the already established forms further than their current limits. Thus, for his third form, Virus wanted to augment either ¡®Impulse¡¯ or ¡®Friction¡¯ by improving his comprehension, understanding, and utilization of one of them. ¡®The question is¡­ which one should I refine first?¡¯ Contemplating the question for a short period, Virus quickly set his gaze on ¡®Impulse¡¯. ¡®Impulse it is.¡¯ In the first form, when Virus designed ¡®Impulse¡¯, he used five of his liberated passages in order to generate the weakest type of electrical pulse that could be supported by those five pathways to generate a faster reaction and movement speed. Now, for the third form, there were two adjustments he wanted to make. The first one was obviously to increase the source of ¡®Impulse¡¯ from five to seven liberated pathways. Although that sounded uncomplicated and simple, that could not be further from the truth. As for the second, it was to improve the potency of the electricity by a notch since the energy of seven pathways could also support stronger lightning now. However, doing so required an even deeper knowledge of electrical pulses than the first form. Fortunately, as the scientific knowledge of the future backed Virus up, that was not an issue for him since he was already aware of the orderly listed knowledge of a variety of electrical pulses from the worst to the best based on chronological eras. Therefore, the only difference now was that if he had used the weakest type of first-grade electrical pulse the first time, this time he had to supply and install the second-grade lightning which was a level stronger than the first one. Alas, doing so was bound to put much more pressure on his body, but that was a side-effect Virus was willing to accept in exchange for more speed. ¡®Well, in spite of it putting some strain on my body, the next level lightning pulse is still not powerful enough to actually deal permanent damage to my physique.¡¯ As a matter of course, after a rudimentary analysis, Virus had noticed that even though the usage of a more advanced pulse of electricity may exhaust him faster, that was all it could accomplish. Therefore, having made up his mind, Virus started laying the foundation of ¡®Impulse¡¯ once more while setting down seven liberated pathways as the source that produces the electricity. One hour after another passed quickly. Although the whole operation sounded quite easy, increasing the number of Liberated pathways for the foundation and development of a technique was an extremely difficult and complicated endeavor. In fact, the only reason Virus could achieve such a task was because he had deciphered tens of thousands of Human-class Techniques which resulted in him comprehending the very essence of how liberated pathways were connected and transformed for the sake of certain techniques. On the other hand, in case it was a normal cultivator who was trying to construct a Human-class Technique on his own, sure, he may be able to design a technique that functioned via a single liberated pathway rather effortlessly. However, when the requirement increased to two liberated pathways, the difficulty rises by tenfold at least. And that was just for the second liberated passage alone. By the time he wishes to invent a technique through the usage of three pathways, that cultivator may get stuck for years before he succeeds in his endeavor. Hence, the higher the number of liberated passages, the more complex and demanding the criteria and requirements of the technique-creation assignment turns out to be which means even if one spends decades trying to develop something, success was not guaranteed in the end. Chapter 499 - Toxison Normally, the cultivators were not expected to create their personal technique in their lifetime since technique-creation was an absolutely disparate field of ability compared to simply learning, grasping, and using an already developed one. The difference between the two was like that of an automotive engineer and a driver. While the driver could drive the car with no issues whatsoever, he was totally incapable of designing or inventing new car models since that was normally the job of a genius engineer and not a driver. Notwithstanding, as hours went by, Virus triumphantly achieved the fresh foundation of seven liberated meridians plus the upgraded electrical pulse before moving on to the procedure of redesigning and going over every part of his anatomy once more while recalculating the risks and errors that may have popped up after increasing the overall input and output of energy. Subsequently, fixing a couple more issues here and there, at last, Virus was finished with everything! The Third Form was complete! ¡®Now, it¡¯s time for the fourth form.¡¯ Since Virus was already into the ninth level and therefore had access to ¡®eight¡¯ liberated pathways rather than ¡®seven¡¯ alone, he wanted to upgrade the second form to that of the fourth one as well. However, doing that was easier said than done since the difficulty level was much higher than the third form. If the difficulty percentage of associating seven meridians was one, then for the eighth passage, it experienced a sharp jump to a full one hundred! ¡®Hmm, now¡­¡¯ Just as he was about to spark the following procedure inside his mindscape, the repetitive bangs on the door brought him out of his reverie. ¡°Who is it?¡± Hence, opening his eyes, Virus questioned. The violent manner of knocking on his door immediately forced a crease on Virus¡¯ forehead. ¡°I-It¡¯s Luca, boss! Sob¡­¡± Listening to Luca¡¯s muffled and nasal sound, Virus noticed something was probably wrong with Luca, thus, he allowed him to enter at once. ¡°Come on in!¡± Next, perceiving his bloody face and red eyes filled with tears and snot, Virus was now certain something bad had happened. As a result, he interrogated calmly, ¡°Why are you crying? Where is Luna?¡± ¡°B-Boss¡­ sob¡­ L-Luna, they¡­¡± Albeit, unable to restore his composure, Luca seemed to be in a state of shock. ¡°Calm down first. Take a deep breath. Yes, that¡¯s great.¡± Watching Luca do as he was told, Virus complimented him a little before urging him again, ¡°Now, tell me everything in detail.¡± ¡°Boss, per your orders, we were outside trying to uncover that drunkard¡¯s daily schedule, we even came to know that his name is Blaze Detox.¡± Clenching both fists hard, Luca elaborated. From the nonstop movement of his hands and head, it was clear he was extremely restless right now. ¡°But?¡± Pressing his index finger against his cheek and propping his chin on the rest of clenched fingers, Virus questioned. It was at emergency moments like these when Virus was the calmest and most concentrated. ¡°B-but then when we were just about to return and call it a day, a particular cultivator of the Poison Deity clan blocked our path! He was the one who had delivered us to the colosseum earlier.¡± Ashen white, Luca unconsciously tilted his head down before picking up the rest of his explanations. ¡°After recognizing us, he r-respectfully notified the person he was following, some guy called Gander Toxison, about our identities while also announcing the fact about you representing and saving us at the Recreation Training Center before, hence, saying we must also be a-aware of your whereabouts.¡± Due to him grinding his teeth so hard, Luca¡¯s face was contorting now. Every second that passed felt like pure torment to the current Luca who was standing alone in front of Virus without Luna to be found anywhere. ¡°Anyway, the instant that guy Gander l-learned about us, he started beating and cursing at both of us¡­ and he just wouldn¡¯t stop.¡± ¡°In the end, refusing to let Luna go, he decided to keep him hostage and told me to bring you to him if I want to see Luna alive ever again. If I don¡¯t do per his orders, he vowed to torture Luna to death!¡± Biting his lips at the mere thought of his little brother¡¯s death, his lips began to bleed. ¡°B-Boss, what do I do?¡± As tears flowed down his face, Luca¡¯s only hope now was Virus¡¯ next words and possible solution. Of course, he had not even considered the idea of betraying Virus since he knew both he and Luna owed Virus their lives. If they did indeed betray the trust of their benefactor and savior, then he assumed death to be a better option rather than living such disgraceful lives. That is also why he had not hesitated to describe everything so detailedly. At this point, however, furrowing his brows, many deliberations were passing through Virus¡¯ hyperactive brain. Virus was aware that due to him accomplishing something unheard of, he was extremely well-known in Ricando right now, therefore, the common people presumed Virus to be like a being that had made something that had been an impossible feat so far a tangible reality. ¡®I knew the clan would retaliate against me one way or another, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be so fast.¡¯ Since the immovable authority and control of the clan over the city and the common citizens had been brought under question by the indirect result of Virus¡¯ act of slaughter, Virus had already predicted some retaliative measures of action to be taken against him! More accurately, by winning against the disciples of the Poison Deity clan, many of the common citizens of Outer Ricando who were originally dissatisfied with the cruel Poison Deity clan earlier now had some hope burning in their hearts, a hope that had been inflamed as a consequence of them personally verifying and witnessing that the clan was not truly unbeatable. Unfortunately, the clan absolutely would not permit such rebellious thoughts to fester or grow within the mind of its citizens, and that meant retribution was bound to hit Virus, hence making an unforgettable example out of him for everyone to see and learn! However, Virus also understood the clan could not act against him in broad daylight since it was one of the clan¡¯s rules for the monthly competition to be completely fair as they even encouraged the chosen ones to kill and win the event without any worries of the clan taking offense. And that¡¯s exactly why Virus didn¡¯t anticipate such a quick reaction from the clan. ¡®No, it is not the clan that is retaliating, rather it¡¯s probably an independent course of action taken by one of the disciples alone.¡¯ Indeed, just as Virus was concluding, as of yet, the clan had not come up with any steps to deal with Virus at all and the so-called Gander Toxison was perhaps just a disciple who felt offended on his own after hearing about everything. And yet, the clan was most likely already knowledgeable about this playful act of Gander Toxison, however, according to Virus¡¯ analysis, they were probably not going to interfere. ¡®In fact, the figures of authority in the clan may even be encouraging such strikes against me from behind the shadows.¡¯ All the Poison Deity clan promised was that they were not going to take offense or publicly act against the chosen one who wins, which meant only the top figures of authority in the clan would not pursue the matter or prosecute the winner publicly using the clan itself. However, although the clan would probably not act against him, it did not mean the solitary disciples who had their own free will would not feel displeased or insulted. So, if a disciple stepped up to make a move, the clan would most likely pretend as if the grudges of their disciples had nothing to do with them. Suddenly patting Luca¡¯s head gently, Virus beamed a smile that reached his ears and started comforting the anxious teenager, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, kid, just leave everything to me. Now, let¡¯s go save your little brother. Take me there.¡± Subsequently, the second Luca turned around and was on the move to guide him, with his eyes half-lidded, a chilly glint went past his pupils. ¡®What great timing.. Just when I was thinking I lack a training dummy to test my new power, this dude shows us.¡¯ Chapter 500 - Gander Watching Luca already on the move to the door, Virus didn¡¯t rise to his feet immediately. Instead, releasing his awareness, he checked how much of the damage within his body was healed up. ¡®Hmm, I¡¯m almost back at my peak state again. That¡¯s great.¡¯ Grinning in satisfaction, Virus jumped to his feet before chasing after the anxious Luca who was rushing outside. The mere imagination of what kind of fate awaited his little brother if he was late a bit and thus, Gander concluded he was not going to return was like a pricking needle at his heart. He had to guide Virus to him before it was too late. Subsequently, after they exited the inn, despite Virus¡¯ continuous progress earlier, he didn¡¯t seem to be that pleased even now, therefore, retreating into his mindscape, he initiated the process of developing the fourth form of his movement technique as a backup. Because who knew what kind of unexpected circumstances he was going to encounter at his destination? ¡®Let¡¯s see. Since Impulse is updated to the third form and now has the weaker first form and the stronger version that is the third form¡­ I better get to doing the same to Friction as well and add one more to my trump card count.¡¯ Raising one brow, Virus made a decision, ¡®Unfortunately, there isn¡¯t much time left. Even if I trigger my time-freeze perception and dedicate all the processing speed to developing the fourth form while maintaining the fastest speed possible, I doubt I could put it together in time.¡¯ ¡®Well, it never hurts to try though, so let¡¯s just do it and see how it goes.¡¯ Now that the decryption routine of the movement techniques was over, Virus already had access to all the necessary information and knowledge required in order to design a Peak-Human class technique that uses up to nine liberated pathways. Of course, most of the information came from only decoding and interpreting Low- to High-Human class movement techniques since, in his database, there were no peak ones available. That implied while from the low- to high-human class techniques, aka from the first liberated pathway to the seventh or eighth one, all the knowledge and data were already ¡®applied and practical¡¯, for the absolute peak or the ninth pathway per se, that was not the case at all as there was only ¡®theoretical¡¯ information that had been interpreted from grasping the lower grades. As a consequence of that absence of practicality, at the time his current technique goes through the operation of evolving to the absolute peak of Human-class, due to the lack of that applied knowledge, the development activity was doomed to inevitably slow down. ¡®Hmm, initially I wanted to start the decoding phase of the attack techniques while gradually putting the fourth form together, but I suppose I¡¯m coerced to make some temporary adjustments to that plan.¡¯ With that notion flickering through his brain, he was resolved to maintain his top pace for the course of designing the fourth form which was configured to be the boosted version of the second form, Friction. In regards to Friction, other than the increase in the number of pathways, naturally, Virus desired to strengthen the water turbines¡¯ spinning power to the point of not only negating the air resistance but also increasing his overall speed further. By increasing the revolving power of the water turbines, not only would he bypass the resistance swiftly, but in order to force him through the air particles even faster, the air particles themselves were bound to push him forward harder if the rotation was quick enough, denoting the eventual augmentation of his speed by another notch. Meanwhile, outwardly, Virus continued following Luca¡¯s directions without any pauses until they reached a vacant alley where two people seemed to be patiently waiting for them. The moment Virus arrived at this quiet alley where the two brothers were dragged to earlier, ignoring the two cultivators entirely, with a simple release of his awareness, he checked the current tragic state of Luna in depth. ¡°L-Luna!!!¡± Beside Virus, ashen-faced with tears flowing down his eyes, Luca shrieked before running over to his brother. Currently, in the two newcomers¡¯ line of sight, they could see a legless Luna whose both legs were completely chopped off. However, although there was a puddle of blood on the floor, Luna¡¯s legless physique was not bleeding anymore as the wound had strangely scabbed already. ¡°L-Luna! Wake up! Lil bro! Wake up! Please¡­¡± With his eyes bloodshot, Luca shook his brother¡¯s unconscious physique violently, trying to discover any signs of life on his motionless body. Discerning up to this point, Virus easily determined everything that had occurred in the alley prior to their arrival. Clearly, the two cultivators in front of him had cruelly tortured Luna and had even gone so far as to cut off both of his legs. However, knowing they cannot truly kill a common citizen without facing heavy punishment from the clan, after chopping off both his legs, they had probably given him some kind of healing pill that could at least scab the bleeding and prevent the injured from dying. Regardless, after confirming Luna¡¯s life was not in mortal danger at least, Virus¡¯ bone-chilling gaze was directed at the two cultivators before him. Facing Virus¡¯ cold glare, however, the cultivator in the lead, the person called Gander Toxison, started laughing uproariously. ¡°Hahaha, who would have thought you¡¯d actually show up? Woah, what¡¯s with your look though? Are you perhaps angry that I harmed your little friend here?¡± Bam! Suddenly turning toward Luna¡¯s inert physique at the end of his little speech, Gander kicked him hard, sending both Luna and the nearby Luca flying away in return. Alas, without any words, Virus still continued staring at the guy expressionlessly, which inevitably sent a shiver down Gander¡¯s spine while cold sweat began pouring down his forehead with each passing second filled with a deadly silence. ¡®What¡¯s this? Am I scared of him? Impossible!¡¯ Promptly, Gander was in utter disbelief at the mere idea of being scared of this nobody.. That, of course, immediately hurt his pride so bad that his countenance contorted into an angry one. Chapter 501 - Funny ¡°I guess I¡¯ma just gouge out those eyes of yours so you never dare stare at anyone like that!¡± Grinding his teeth and pressing his lips together, Gander voiced helplessly. That was his vain attempt at trying to convince both himself and Virus that he had not been afraid. ¡°But before we get there,¡± In the meantime, turning toward the other disciple in the corner, he signaled him to attack Virus, ¡°let me explain to you why you¡¯re going to turn into a cripple today. Go, beat the crap out of him¡­ at the bare minimum, I want two of his limbs gone.¡± In the meantime, having received his orders, without delay, the other disciple charged at Virus. But Virus¡¯ profile remained as unreadable as ever until the disciple was just about to land a punch on his face. It was at that point when Virus triggered the first form. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form ¨C Impulse!¡¯ Having judged the cultivator to be slightly weaker than Cray, Virus activated the first form. His purpose was to test the waters first. Of course, since Virus¡¯ cultivation was an entire level lower while going against Cray, not only was he compelled to use both of his forms at the time, he also had to reveal the complementary form of his attack techniques as well. Right now, however, after having successfully broken through to the ninth level of Liberation, Virus wished to know whether the first form of his movement technique would suffice in dealing with the opponent in front of him. His aim was to calculate the extent of his growth after the breakthrough. Thus, at his urge, scarcely visible arcs of electricity came to life within his physique while one chain of limit was shattered apart. Subsequently, right when the punch was about to touch his face skin, Virus¡¯ figure vanished abruptly! ¡°Wha¡­?¡± Instantly dumbfounded, the disciple gazed around, albeit, he was incapable of finding a single trace of Virus. That was until a cleaving palm connected to the back of his neck, impelling the cultivator to faint at once! Surprisingly, the disciple had not realized Virus was standing behind him up to the moment of going unconscious. Raising his palm, however, after gazing at it for a while, an honest opinion left Virus¡¯ mouth, ¡°Too inefficient.¡± What Virus was connoting by those two words was the fact that since the first form used five liberated pathways alone, now that he had access to eight routes of releasing the energy, it was absolutely ineffective in exhibiting the true extent of his level of cultivation. True, due to the increment in the overall level of his energy after the breakthrough, the first form had gotten stronger than before, however, during the entire utilization of the technique, three of his liberated meridians were left dormant and futile, which meant that much of his energy had gone to waste. Regardless, now that the first opponent had passed out, Virus¡¯ pupils were fixed on the second culprit. The reason why he only made the previous guy faint and avoided actually killing the man was that if he did indeed eliminate him right here in the middle of the city, the Poison Deity clan that was most likely actively searching for any excuses was bound to officially persecute him that way. Therefore, since he had much bigger plans and goals to achieve in the city, Virus was dead set on controlling and restraining his actions for now. ¡°Oh? You were able to defeat him that easily? Well, guess it¡¯s because he¡¯s ¡®that¡¯ useless.¡± Looking at the passed-out man in contempt and derision, Gander announced. ¡°You were the one who did that to Luna, right?¡± Finally opening his mouth for the first time, Virus interrogated. Frankly speaking, Virus did not care about the unconscious cultivator since the main culprit behind the injury of Luna was most likely Gander himself. ¡°So what? What are you going to do about it?¡± With his chest puffed out as if he was nothing but proud of what he had done, Gander provoked. ¡°You¡¯re trying to incite me into making the first move, the first strike, aren¡¯t you?¡± Having long seen through Gander¡¯s little silly trick, Virus smirked at the man in disdain. ¡°Your purpose is to have a solid justification for our battle so later on you can defend yourself and say the one that had initially assaulted you first was me and that your only sin was to defend yourself which accidentally led to my death.¡± Elaborating up to this point, Virus also added, ¡°You are solely after an excuse to kill me, if you wanted to just beat me up and teach me a lesson, you would have acted already.¡± Listening to Virus, a frown crept over Gander¡¯s face. Indeed, precisely as Virus was stating, provoking Virus into attacking him was Gander¡¯s plan from the very beginning. In fact, that had been the sole reason why he had gone so far as to cut off both of Luna¡¯s legs, a cruel scheme to incur Virus¡¯ wrath which was going to justify his following action of murdering Virus. In his mind, so far, Gander had been deliberating that in case he succeeded in his endeavor, the clan elders may even recognize him as a hero of some kind that had brought out great merit to the clan. However, now that Virus had seen through his game of conspiracy and deception, he was confident the chance of killing him today was gone. ¡°Tch, you lucky motherfucker, so you figured it out¡­ I presume you have some brains after all. What a pity, I reckon you won¡¯t be taking the initiative then. And here I was-¡° Alas, before Gander could even finish his sentence, a vicious grin crept over Virus¡¯ countenance out of nowhere while a line transmitted through his brain at lightning pace. ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Third Form ¨C Reinforced Impulse!¡¯ Simultaneously, intense electricity covered his flesh and blood before he was upon the dumbfounded and completely off-guard Gander as he sent a heavy punch right at his face. ¡°Wai-¡° WHAM! ¡°Gah¡­!¡± A few of Gander¡¯s teeth were shattered apart while his figure was sent flying away as it hit the wall and left a deep human-size hole inside it. Bam! ¡°It¡¯s funny how you are so confident about being able to kill me off as long as I make the first move¡­ well, here we go, I attacked you first, let¡¯s see just how you plan on eliminating me.¡± Chapter 502 - Little Brother ¡°You!¡± Shouting in rage, Gander rushed out from the debris of the wall while simultaneously grabbing the hilt of his sword from his waist! ¡°Die!¡± Slashing the sword at Virus¡¯ face, it was clear he wanted to directly behead Virus! ¡®Unnamed Virus Technique, Third Form ¨C Reinforced Impulse!¡¯ Without even bothering to equip the sword, Metal of Darkness, Virus did a quick maneuver before dodging out of the opponent¡¯s path! ¡°Huh, you seriously think you can kill me, don¡¯t you?¡± Raising one foot at the same time, he did a swift side-kick, sending Gander flying as a result! Since the kick had harshly hit the pit of Gander¡¯s stomach, he uncontrollably puked everything outside. Furthermore, clearly, there was some blood mixed together with the content of the stomach. Apparently, the kick had been so harsh that he was now suffering from a mild form of internal injury, the kind that would heal on its own with some rest. ¡°Fucking hell!¡± Wrath inflaming his eyes, Gander dashed at Virus with no hesitation whatsoever. ¡°I swear I¡¯ll fucking rip you into a thousand tiny pieces! Just wait and see!¡± This time, even though Virus was totally capable of dodging out of the way, he did not do that. Instead, with the materialization of his weapon in his grasp, all he did was raise his sword and block! Bam! As the two swords clashed and locked heavily, Gander could helplessly watch as another blooter thrust him into the wall! Boom! Not even pausing to witness the result of his strike, Virus followed the man inside before continuously connecting one kick after another to his fallen figure. Bam! Bam! Wham! The floor of wherever they were at currently cracked deeper inside with each kick straightly into the target¡¯s stomach and even face. Bam! Boom! Bam! One kick after another. ¡°St-¡± At first, Gander¡¯s profile was as tough as it could get. However, as more wild hits touched his stomach and face, while his flesh got black and blue covered in livid bruises and injuries, at last, that tough profile of his melted away, like it was never there, to begin with. ¡°What did you say?¡± Nonetheless, pretending to not have understood, Virus proceeded with his nonstop kicks, impelling even more wounds on his helpless target. ¡°S-Stop¡­¡± Mustering every bit of his remaining strength, Gander barely stuttered the word out while embracing his head using his arms. ¡°I can¡¯t hear you. What did you say?¡± Unfortunately, Virus was still not comprehending the meaning behind Gander¡¯s message as he requested further clarification. Bam! Boom! ¡°P-Please¡­¡± Flinching at every movement, Gander begged. Bam! Wham! ¡°S-stop.¡± Wham! Wham! It was at this point when, as if he finally comprehended the meaning behind the implorings, Virus paused. ¡°Oh, so you were saying stop. Hmm, alright.¡± When Virus declared that he was going to finally end the bashing, by now, Gander¡¯s condition was so tragic that his already pig-like countenance couldn¡¯t even show any human expressions. ¡°T-thank you.¡± With horror clear within Gander¡¯s eyes, he thanked him while displaying a sigh filled with relief. Of course, that was his external reaction alone since internally, a venomous notion was going through Gander¡¯s mind, ¡®Okay, I can¡¯t defeat you? Fine! But you will regret doing this to me today. I promise you that. Now, I better act humble, or else he might just as well kill me.¡¯ Despite his schemes, Gander was at least smart enough to realize he was not Virus¡¯ opponent. Hence, continuing to behave in the same scared manner, Gander was now looking forward to his departure and further planning. ¡°Alright, you can leave.¡± As that sentence left Virus¡¯ mouth, Gander was just starting to feel completely relieved, when Virus¡¯ following proclamation garnered his attention, ¡°Luca, come here.¡± Soon, a confused Luca gradually walked over beside Virus and queried, ¡°What is it, boss?¡± Apparently, the earlier kick from Gander had resulted in some shallow wounds all over Luca¡¯s body. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to avenge your little brother?¡± Offering his sword to him, Virus questioned before adding, ¡°Cut off all his fingers, for your brother¡¯s sake.¡± The instant Luca heard Virus¡¯ urging command, as if he had been waiting for this moment since the beginning, red veins blinded his sight while his glare locked at Gander¡¯s shivering frame. ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Grabbing the hilt of Virus¡¯ weapon, Luca approached Gander step by step. ¡°N-No, stop! Don¡¯t l-listen to him, don¡¯t do something you¡¯ll regret later on, you know my clan won¡¯t be taking this lying down.¡± Scared of Virus¡¯ order, ashen-faced, Gander tried persuading Luca with threats. And indeed, hearing him, Luca stopped before looking back at Virus worriedly. ¡°Boss, you won¡¯t get into any trouble for this, will you?¡± In reaction to that, a kind smile crept over Virus¡¯ face as he elaborated, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if it was me who was cutting off his fingers, we all may have gotten in some trouble, but since he was the first one to chop off two of Luna¡¯s legs and since you¡¯re his brother, your retaliative act of vengeance will be completely justified.¡± ¡°So, just go ahead and separate those dirty fingers of the bastard that dared harm your brother, make it so he can¡¯t hurt others ever again. If the clan still wants to keep up their fair act, they won¡¯t do anything to us in return.¡± Indeed, just as Virus was claiming, if the clan wanted to punish someone, that would have to be Gander who was preposterous enough to initiate the attack and cripple a common citizen. With that, a glint of resolution torched Luca¡¯s eyes as he arrived at Gander¡¯s fallen figure at last. ¡°B-but you said I can leave!¡± Turning toward Virus, feeling wronged, Gander protested with a yell while his spit flew around everywhere. ¡°Hmm, yeah, I¡¯m a man of my word, you can go away indeed, but only after leaving all your fingers behind.¡± Grinning viciously, Virus announced. Tongue-tied, a shiver went down Gander¡¯s spine as he urged Luca again. ¡°N-No! Wait!¡± Swish! With a simple wave of the sword, one of Gander¡¯s fingers was no longer attached to his hand. ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡± Ignoring the tragic wails of the pig, Luca went ahead and took another one of Gander¡¯s fingers. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for doing that to my brother, bitch!¡± ¡°N-no, don¡¯t do this, you¡¯ll regret it!¡± That was all Gander could say in this situation. Slash! ¡°Just die already, bitch!¡± Rigid cords showing on his neck, Luca kept hacking using the weapon again and again. Alas, already consumed in his hatred at the horrible sight of his brother acting as fuel, Luca had no intention of ending this streak of vengeance. In fact, each time Gander opened his mouth, he became further resolved to see this through to the end. Slash! Swish! Slash! Followed by the reverberation of continuous shrieks of pain and despair, one finger after another fell until ten pieces of flesh were on the ground at last. All ten fingers of Gander¡¯s hand was no more! It was at this point that Luca seemed to have calmed down slightly as he stopped the butchering. ¡°Hmm? Why did you stop?¡± And yet, in spite of having accomplished his boss¡¯ instructions, he still faced his confused inquiry. ¡°Ah, boss, he has no more fingers left.¡± Feeling lost, Luca responded. ¡°Huh? That¡¯s not true¡­ what about his foot fingers? Cut them off as well!¡± Maintaining his expressionless yet icy image, Virus mandated. There was no way he was going to end the bastard¡¯s suffering that easily. ¡°Ah¡­ okay!¡± Realizing there were indeed the fingers of his feet left as well, Luca proceeded with brandishing the finger cutter sword more. Once again, horrendous howls of Gander filled the area. Albeit, this region was so empty that there wasn¡¯t even a single fly to be found anywhere. When picking this region, Gander had precisely chosen it so no one would interrupt his butchering game, however, now, the location itself was the reason why no one was around to rescue him. Nevertheless, a minute later, ten more fingers were added to the previous count. Again, wiping the droplets of sweat from his forehead, Luca paused. Woefully for Gander, however, Luca faced the same question for the second time, ¡°Eh? Why did you stop?¡± ¡°B-boss¡­ that was truly all his fingers, I guarantee you.¡± Slightly speechless, Luca notified. By now, all the boiling rage that had been building up earlier had been emptied out on the currently fingerless Gander. ¡°No, there is one more finger left.¡± Pointing at Gander¡¯s groin, Virus declared seriously. ¡°That trashy thing of his is not big enough to be considered a leg¡­ it¡¯s a finger, so cut it off as well! Also, since he dared hurt your little brother, it¡¯s only fair you do the same and harm his little brother too.¡± Listening to Virus, a tremor went through the despairing Gander¡¯s being who was lying on the ground motionlessly so far. ¡°N-no, please¡­no. Anything but that. I beg you!¡± At this point, tears and snot were flowing down his face as he begged most humbly yet. If there was anything he treasured and valued as much as his life, it was the well-being of his little brother. ¡°Why is there a finger still attached to his body?¡± However, frowning, Virus did not show a single trace of sympathy to the guy who had harmed something that had belonged to him. ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Understanding that Virus was dead serious, Luca went ahead before waving the sword at the little brother wiggling in Gander¡¯s groin. Swish! ¡°Nooooooooooooooo! Arrghhhh!¡± The most tragic scream by far boomed the surroundings, leaving behind a hopeless Gander who saw nothing but bleakness for his upcoming future. ¡°Alright, now you can leave.¡± Vocalizing that, Virus was no longer in the mood to waste any of his attention on his broken guy. Therefore, turning around and picking Luna¡¯s legless physique, he urged Luca, ¡°Let¡¯s go tend to your brother.¡± ¡­ After returning to the inn, the first course of action Virus took was to bring the unconscious Luna to his room before placing him on the bed gently. ¡°Rest.¡± Leaving that command behind, Virus departed from the room. On the way to the inn, they had visited an infirmary and had already bandaged his open injuries. Walking outside, he also told Luca, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about anything and just take care of your brother.¡± ¡°Boss¡­¡± With a lump in his throat, Luca could barely hold in the urge to cry. Today¡¯s events had been even more traumatizing to Luca than being abandoned by his own biological parents. Patting his head, exhibiting a kind smile, Virus simply advised him, ¡°Don¡¯t cry.. Now that your brother¡¯s going through a rough time, you have to be tougher than ever and show that you are there for him.¡± Chapter 503 - Go Ahead Wiping the wetness around his eyes, Luca held back the tears while sniffing his nose. ¡°Yes, boss. I will do that.¡± Afterward, watching him enter the room to take care of his hurt brother, Virus nodded in satisfaction. He was content with Luca¡¯s sense of responsibility. If his follower had not cared enough about his little brother¡¯s condition, Virus would¡¯ve been truly disappointed in him since who was to say a kind of person who couldn¡¯t even remain loyal to his suffering brother would maintain loyalty to a stranger like him? Then, turning around, he was about to take his leave, when Archibald¡¯s silhouette attracted his full attention. ¡°Boss! It¡¯s done, I bought and installed the signboard!¡± He exclaimed jovially. For the first time in a long time, there was a light of youth burning within his pupils as he was feeling excited about every upcoming second. ¡°Good job, the shop also has its own shelves installed already, right?¡± Touching his chin, Virus asked. ¡°Yeah, I asked the property owner, he said those shelves belonged to the previous person that had rented the store. Unfortunately, that individual went bankrupt a while after opening the shop to the point he couldn¡¯t even pay the rent, eventually, the shelves were able to repay a little bit of his debt to the owner at least.¡± Half-closing his eyes, Archibald explained with an unfocused gaze. ¡°I see.¡± Rubbing his chin, Virus contemplated a little more before uttering, ¡°Oh, right, go call Augustus over for a moment.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Soon, when Augustus came to him, Virus passed new instructions to the old man, ¡°Augustus, you are to replace Luca and Luna¡¯s duty of digging some basic stuff about a person, go ask Luca about the details and their findings so far, he will tell you everything.¡± With his fingers crossed, Virus was absolutely serious when he suggested. ¡°Just pretend to be a beggar when you go tailing the guy, I bet you¡¯re good at it since you were a homeless guy.¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Initiating and maintaining eye contact, Augustus bowed approvingly. ¡°Good, just get me his schedule as quickly as possible.¡± Watching Augustus¡¯ departure, Virus turned toward Archibald next, ¡°let¡¯s go see how the shop has turned out.¡± ¡­ A while later, entering the gloomy district empty of customers, Virus reached the very last shop which was his Cultivation Trust store. Subsequently, after Archibald unlocked the gate, the two walked inside while Virus inspected the tiny shop in the meantime. ¡®Hmm, everything necessary in order to run a shop is here, a seat, a desk, and the shelves, all that¡¯s required now are the goods alone.¡¯ After that brief inspection of the empty shelves and the cracked walls behind it, Virus turned toward Archibald and commanded. ¡°Now, I want you to go and buy a dozen notebooks, I¡¯ll wait for you to come back.¡± Declaring that, Virus retreated to the seat of the shop. Although that request confused Archibald, he knew it probably had to do with what they were going to sell. Of course, for a brief moment, he suspected that Virus may want to sell techniques just like he had at the auction house, however, merely the thought of that made him feel foolish to even presume it, ¡®Huh¡­ I must be truly going senile, just because he sold one technique for some quick cash doesn¡¯t mean he has more available.¡¯ Afterward, exiting the shop, Archibald disappeared for around fifteen minutes while Virus patiently awaited his return. When he returned with a stack of notebooks and a pen, waving his palm, Virus urged him to bring the notebooks over. ¡°That was fast, did you perhaps buy the notebooks from the Dead Pool district?¡± Raising one brow, Virus was slightly curious. ¡°Yeah, actually, since there are no customers around, the shop owners are really desperate to sell their merchandise, so when I went to one of them and said I want a dozen notebooks, that guy was so happy that the sparkle within his eyes nearly burned me alive, I swear he was literally walking on air.¡± Furrowing his brows, Archibald held his chin high while acting like a hero that had done a great favor to a commoner. ¡°Hmm, okay. Anyway, give me one of the notebooks.¡± Not really interested in knowing whether another dude was over the moon or not, Virus jumped over to the main subject he was here for. Handing over one of the notebooks immediately, Archibald gazed at Virus intently while curiously awaiting his next course of action. Following that, Virus grabbed the pen and started scribbling without any delay or pause in between. Nearly an hour later, after he was finished writing the instructions, he went ahead and added the section called the Cultivation Trust¡¯s Insight. Next, closing the notebook, he added a few words on its cover before adding the description segment as well on its relevant page. ¡¸Delirious Judgment Slash¡¹: [Description: A madman thinking him God! The first form is a vertical hacking attack using two liberated pathways, the more ¡®delirious¡¯ you are, the stronger the attack in both forms and vice versa. The second form is a horizontal slash and needs¡­] By now, Archibald felt a little bit surprised, however, that level of surprise wasn¡¯t worth mentioning, to be honest. ¡®Well, this one seems to be a weaker technique than the previous one, it is probably another one of his techniques that he¡¯s learned prior to grasping that Twisting Tempest Thrust technique we auctioned off earlier.¡¯ Even though he felt it was completely normal for a cultivator like Virus to have access to a few ordinary techniques, there was still an aspect of this situation that was confusing Archibald, therefore, after some hesitation, he inquired. ¡°Ah, boss¡­ can I ask a question?¡± ¡°You just did.¡± Smiling humorously, Virus joked around. Shifting from one leg to another, Archibald nearly cursed out. ¡°Ah, come on, boss!¡± ¡°Haha, go ahead, oldie..¡± With his brows elevated, Virus permitted the senior citizen to make his inquiry. Chapter 504 - Not Done Yet ¡°Hmm, so, isn¡¯t the real owner of this technique you¡¯re jotting down and selling going to be upset that you¡¯re copying his technique and even profiting out of it? And worse yet, if it¡¯s some kind of sect that owns it, you¡¯re going to be in big trouble.¡± Kneading his face, Archibald was truly concerned about this issue. In reaction to his worries, however, a burst of laughter ensued. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s so funny, boss?¡± Archibald grimaced seeing his boss ridiculing his concerns. ¡°Hahaha, nothing, oldie. Don¡¯t worry, all the techniques I write, I have sole ownership over them since I¡¯m the only one to possess them in the first place.¡± Waving his hand, Virus assured the old man. ¡®Huh? Could he have perhaps found the techniques in some ancient site or something?¡¯ Although that new question popped into his brain, Archibald was smart enough to not dig too deep into the matter. ¡°Alright, I understand boss.¡± Bowing respectfully, another notion crept into Archibald¡¯s mind, ¡®Well, having one or two ownerless techniques isn¡¯t really that amazing though and I don¡¯t believe he has anymore, so¡­¡¯ On the other hand, after having finished the first technique, Virus grabbed a new empty notebook and started scribbling in it. When he was done, once again, after adding the description and Cultivation Trust¡¯s Insight pages, he naturally put the title on the cover too. ¡¸Trash Lash Bash¡¹: [Description: No place for trash! The technique only has one movement and that is to concentrate all energy on the sword using two liberated energy pathways to bash trash with a lash¡­] At this point, Archibald was even more surprised. But to be honest, it still couldn¡¯t be called an unbelievable event. Thus, he simply remained silent by the side. Alas, Virus had just started the process of writing as he completed one book after another! Three books¡­ Five books¡­ Seven books! By the time Virus had concluded the seventh technique, Archibald¡¯s eyeballs were nearly bulging out. But still, the operation wasn¡¯t over just yet. Ten books¡­ Fifteen books¡­ And shockingly, twenty books! ¡°Fuck!¡± Unconsciously yelping that out loud, Archibald¡¯s jaw was about to hit the floor at this point. He was utterly stupefied. ¡°Hmm? Did you just curse?¡± Smirking in amusement, Virus didn¡¯t even bother to raise his head. ¡°Ah, boss, how do you know so many cultivation attack techniques?¡± Finally unable to control his curiosity, Archibald questioned. ¡°Huh? I was born knowing them.¡± Putting on an earnest tone, Virus vocalized. ¡°What the¡­¡± That response of Virus, unfortunately, did nothing but frustrate Archibald. ¡®Can¡¯t you just say you don¡¯t want to answer!¡¯ ¡°What?¡± ¡°Ah, nothing. But wow, boss, you wrote about seventeen Low-Human class techniques and the rest are Mid-Human class ones. I seriously can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve memorized so many attack techniques!¡± Truly in awe of his accomplishments now, Archibald didn¡¯t hold back the compliments. ¡°Well, just sit in a corner and watch, I¡¯m not done yet.¡± Observing outside the shop, Virus noticed it had gotten dark outside and it was the middle of the night actually. As even the shortest book had taken him around twenty minutes to finish, a lot of time had elapsed unknowingly. ¡®Since the previous twenty books were attack techniques, the following ones are going to be movement types.¡¯ Having made this choice before even starting the entire operation, Virus started picking several techniques that were most suitable for the current situation. Afterward, he went ahead and registered twenty Low-Human movement techniques too. Right now, Archibald was so numb that he could merely stare at Virus blankly. ¡®I can¡¯t even comprehend what¡¯s going on at this point.¡¯ Since he had finalized the writing procedure, at last, yawning, Virus noticed that it had already gotten bright outside, an entire day had gone by unbeknownst to him. Sinking into the process of book writing has temporarily distracted his focus from the passage of time itself. Nonetheless, standing up, Virus randomly selected two shelves in the shop and wrote ¡®Movement Techniques¡¯ above one and ¡®Attack Techniques¡¯ on top the other one. And then, after planting the books on the shelves in an organized manner, he attached a price tag beneath each book. Underneath all the Low-Human techniques, he put a price of five hundred Qi Ingots while below the Mid-Human ones, a price tag of one thousand Qi Ingots of first-grade was visible to the naked eyes. ¡°Okay, my job¡¯s done here, the rest is up to you before we officially open the shop.¡± Letting out an exhausted sigh, Virus now desired nothing but to return to the inn and sleep the whole day. ¡°Huh? Is there anything else left before we can inaugurate our ¡®cultivation technique¡¯ shop?¡± Finally getting a gist of what they were going to trade in this location, Archibald confidently called it a ¡®Cultivation Technique¡¯ shop before querying about their inauguration date. Stroking his jaw, Virus neither rejected nor confirmed the title. Instead, he calmly replied in regards to the matter of inauguration, ¡°Hmm? Yeah, of course, you still need to write another copy for each of the books I¡¯ve written so far. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to be selling each technique only once, we¡¯re going to keep selling them over and over again, oh, we also better notify our customers about that so there would be no misunderstandings later on.¡± ¡°Umm, we should just write the rule in another signboard stating that ¡®the customers reserve the right to the bought books alone and not the techniques and content engraved within the books per se¡¯ and also ¡®other copies of the sold books will continue to be sold in our shop and that we do not consent to the buyers making any more copies of the books on their own¡¯. Those two rules should suffice, if they agree, they can buy, if not, the gate is wide open.¡± With gleaming eyes and a face-wide smile, he made a declaration. ¡°I see. Alright, I got it, boss..¡± Wearing a broad smile and nods of encouragement at Virus¡¯ pride which was a source of his own arrogance, Archibald concurred. Chapter 505 - Contempt ¡°Then, I¡¯ll be going back then, I¡¯m kinda tired after jotting down techniques the entire day.¡± Yawning again, Virus was impatient to withdraw to the inn now. ¡°Yes, boss. Leave everything else to this old man.¡± ¡­ Leaving the shop, Virus returned to the inn at once. When he entered the inn, what he witnessed was the profiles of Pira and his boy laughing together. When Pira noticed Virus¡¯ arrival, her eyes went wide momentarily before a shade of red covered her cheeks. Nevertheless, she greeted him respectfully, ¡°You¡¯re back, Mr. Vee. Do you need anything in particular?¡± ¡°Thank you, and no, I¡¯ll be sleeping now, so please don¡¯t send any food or something else to my room.¡± Uttering that, Virus had no desire to remain in her presence any longer and began strolling toward his own room. However, recalling Pira¡¯s earlier inappropriate behavior, a thought was exhibited in his mind. Thus, turning toward Pira¡¯s son shortly, he engraved every detail of the boy and even locked his awareness on him while comparing the little boy to both Pira and the old owner of the Decent Inn. He was analyzing to determine whether the boy was the biological son of Pira and the old owner. However, when the result of his analysis showed up next, contempt overwhelmed Virus¡¯ mind while he couldn¡¯t help but sneer at this woman called Pira. Just now, the result of his analysis had determined that although the boy definitely belonged to Pira, the likelihood of him also being the biological son of the old guy was extremely slim. ¡®This whore has probably slept around with other customers before.¡¯ Now, extremely disdainful toward Pira, Virus left to his chamber. Disloyalty was one of the attributes that Virus disliked very much. After getting onto his bed, not in the mood for anything else, Virus closed his eyes, promptly sinking into a deep sleep. ¡­ In the next three days, while Augustus was busy fulfilling the responsibility that had been imparted to him, the exhausted Archibald was occupied with the task of copying one book after another. In fact, in these three days, having nothing else to do while taking care of his little brother, Luca had requested Archibald to bring some of the books over to him so he can copy them throughout the day while taking care of Luna. He absolutely did not wish to be a burden to Virus since he had promised Virus he would not regret accepting them as his servants. At the same time, his little brother, Luna, had also regained consciousness while he was gradually on his way to full recovery. Albeit, with no legs attached to his torso anymore, Luna was already bound to be a cripple for life. And today, having nothing better to do, Virus was lying down on his bed while various contemplations were passing through his head. ¡®Ah, I wonder what my Lil Belle is doing right now? I hope the development of Virusia is progressing without hiccups.¡¯ As a matter of fact, thinking about the golden beauty and Virusia drew out an odd form of excitement and eagerness for the upcoming future. ¡®What about Amara¡­? I mean, I didn¡¯t even notify her that I was leaving, she must be going crazy trying to contact me, haha¡­ well, whatever.¡¯ Honestly, imagining Amara going crazy on the other side only made Virus feel amused as he chuckled. ¡®Ah, messing with detective Lock was kinda fun¡­ maybe I should do it again when I return.¡¯ Remembering detective Lock due to Amara as well, Virus itched to tease the detective further. Having arrived at that line in his deliberation, a sudden knock on his door brought him out of his reverie. Knock! Knock! Knock! ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s me, boss.¡± Augustus¡¯ voice came from the other side of the entrance. Feeling bored, however, a grin crept over Virus¡¯ eyes as he inquired, ¡°And who is ¡®me¡¯ exactly?¡± ¡°Boss, it¡¯s me.¡± Came the same response, albeit seemingly a little lost this time. ¡°I know no ¡®me¡¯, go away!¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Augustus, boss.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so from the beginning, come in!¡± Pretending to be absolutely serious, Virus mumbled, ¡°What¡¯s with introducing yourself as ¡®me¡¯?¡± ¡°I apologize, boss.¡± Wearing a rigid and serious face, Augustus proclaimed. That reaction, however, only made Virus feel bored again, ¡°Ah, you¡¯re so dull, anyway, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°I accomplished the task I¡¯ve been handed with.¡± Augustus passed over the news humbly. ¡°Oh? You¡¯ve figured out his schedule? So quick?¡± Frankly, Augustus¡¯ efficiency came as a surprise to Virus since for a normal person the duration should¡¯ve taken at least twice the time. ¡®Well, this old man keeps getting more mysterious, isn¡¯t he?¡¯ ¡°Yes.¡± He confirmed. ¡°I¡¯m all ears.¡± Leaning back, Virus listened to him in a leisurely manner. ¡°Well, as you know, the target¡¯s name is Blaze Detox, aka the dreg or the drunkard.¡± After a brief pause, he picked up the rest of his elaboration. ¡°His father, Kin Detox, is the chief of the Deity faction. Blaze also has a genius brother called Mon Detox. Those are the basic information that¡¯s available to everyone.¡± ¡°I see¡­ and? What about his daily schedule?¡± Since that was the main information that Virus had requested in the first place, he skipped to it promptly. Handing over a piece of paper to him, Augustus started elaborating without any ado, ¡°As you can see specifically in this paper, it¡¯s like he doesn¡¯t want to stay in the Inner Ricando even for a single second and keeps leaving the area early in the morning. If he¡¯s not busy with anything noteworthy, he usually attends a variety of events throughout the city during the morning and the afternoon.¡± ¡°But the emphasis of his schedule is that he visits a brothel in the Outer Ricando nearly every night, that¡¯s like a regular event for him, hmph.¡± Clear contempt exuding from Augustus¡¯ eyes, he ended his sentence together with a harrumph. ¡°And when he¡¯s done, in case he hasn¡¯t fallen asleep due to his drunkenness, he returns to the Inner Ricando late at night.¡± With a shake of his head, Augustus ended his report, ¡°That is all.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Observing the piece of paper that contained more detailed information in it, Virus sank into deep contemplation. Still, that only lasted for a few seconds before he raised his head again and declared, ¡°You did a wonderful job, Augustus.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir. Is there anything else I can assist you with in this regard?¡± Politely asking for further instructions, Augustus maintained his humble appearance. ¡°No, you¡¯re done here. Instead, you can just go and help out with the shop from now on. Also, the inauguration event of our Cultivation Trust store is today, so Archibald will most likely appreciate extra hands.¡± Recalling how busy Archibald was nowadays, he suggested Augustus join Archibald. ¡°I understand.¡± Bowing respectfully, Augustus took his leave and retreated. ¡­ One hour later, standing in a corner of Outer Ricando in an unknown location, Virus simply observed a certain building without making himself stand out or seem suspicious. Of course, since his face itself was too strikingly handsome to not stick out, he had to cover his face using a hoody he was wearing at the moment. He casually sat in a corner and for the next three hours, did nothing but just watch his surroundings seemingly without any aim or purpose. That was until the sky darkened and the silhouette of a mature man with Viking-gold hair and bristly eyebrows made an appearance. The way he carried himself gave the newcomer a devil-may-care outlook while his defined cheekbones elevated his mature aura to another level. He ambled with a tiger-like tread while his nomad-blue eyes twinkled in indifference. Furthermore, his dishy quality, ritzy dress, and overall dashing profile implied that he should be adored by the fairer sex unless there was a particular reason that stopped them from doing so. Nevertheless, watching the man walk in the direction of the brothel at sight, having already laid eyes upon his features back in the auction house, Virus knew his target had arrived. ¡®Here he comes.¡¯ Virus pondered without making any sudden movements or an abrupt change in his line of sight. Keeping him under strict watch, Virus remained relaxed until Blaze was gone, having vanished into the brothel. ¡®Let¡¯s see how exactly you spend your time in there.¡¯ Chapter 506 - I Hope So A few minutes later, acting like a normal customer, Virus followed him into the building. When he was inside, a woman full of elegance and respect came to greet him as she led him through the corridor. Throughout the whole journey into the brothel, Virus released and maintained his sense of awareness so as to get a full image of the interior of the brothel. Gradually, a basic map of the structure of the brothel was exhibiting itself in his mindscape. The brothel space was divided into various equal compartment rooms while within each one the customers were either busy drinking with the company of beautiful ladies or they were occupied fucking them. However, none of that attracted Virus¡¯ attention. Rather, his target was Blaze as he continued searching for his current position until he found him sitting in a particular luxury room while drinking. Immediately, he went ahead and focused his awareness on the left and right sides of Blaze¡¯s compartment only to realize that while the left side was occupied, the space on the right was empty with no one inside. ¡°I want to sit there.¡± Pointing at the space, Virus said. ¡°Ah, I apologize dear customer, but all those rooms in that area are specified for VIP customers who pay a monthly membership fee.¡± Unfortunately, the woman guide rejected him. Apparently, that section was for the rich. After the refusal, inspecting the area more attentively, Virus noticed that the services and the women there were of higher quality compared to the ones on the regular side. Afterward, the two tread through the corridor until the lady pointed at an ordinary compartment with nothing worth mentioning about it. ¡°Since you¡¯re a common customer, you can sit there.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± As it was his first time, Virus didn¡¯t want to insist on taking the space beside Blaze since doing so may expose him. Thus, entering the shown room, Virus sat behind the small table. All around the table, a soft mattress was laid down for the customers to sit down, eat, drink, and have fun. ¡°Umm, sir, what would you like to have?¡± Slightly tilting her head, she awaited her reply. ¡°Just bring me a cup of tea.¡± Virus¡¯ choise was simple. ¡°Yes, would you like one of our women in your lodging?¡± Since most men that paid a visit to this location had only one purpose in mind, the female guide didn¡¯t need to sleep on the matter before asking. ¡°No, I¡¯ll just drink a cup of tea before leaving, though I¡¯ll be back again. I¡¯m here to gauge the brothel¡¯s quality and see whether it¡¯s worth my time and money. ¡± Coming up with that random excuse, Virus rejected. ¡°I understand.¡± Confirming his orders, the guide was about to turn around and go away when Virus stopped her in her tracks. ¡°Oh, wait. I¡¯ve got a question.¡± Remembering something, Virus forced the guide to pause again. ¡°I¡¯m all ears, dear customer.¡± ¡°How do I become a VIP customer, how much does it cost?¡± In reaction to Virus¡¯ inquiry, a glint of interest was inflamed in the lady¡¯s eyes as she began elaborating at once, ¡°Ah, the monthly fee for the VIP membership is five hundred Qi Ingots of first-grade, that¡¯s the only requirement.¡± ¡°Since you asked about the VIP membership, let me tell you about its major benefits.¡± When she mentioned the possible advantages of being a VIP, Virus perceived an odd glimmer of joy flickering inside her pupils. In great enthusiasm, the lady elucidated the topic. ¡°If you become a VIP customer, as a bonus you will receive the best treatment in our facility taking from food to your sitting space, but the main benefit is that our VIP section has its own unique women which are of top-quality. Furthermore, we can even prepare new and fresh women according to your desires and fantasies.¡± ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± ¡°For instance, if you are interested in your neighbor¡¯s daughter, we can get her for you, or even if you like your friend¡¯s wife, we can bring her to you as well.¡± Maintaining her kind and straight face, she was able to utter such brutal and savage words. ¡®Hmm, there must be a dangerous gang or organization backing this place.¡¯ Concluding that, Virus voiced. ¡°Got it, thanks for the explanations.¡± ¡°You¡¯re most welcome, dear customer.¡± Knowing that he may be a potential VIP client, the receiver lady¡¯s attitude had become a lot better now. ¡°I¡¯ll send your tea to your room.¡± ¡­ After the arrival of his ordered tea, Virus proceeded to drink his tea quietly. His goal for tonight was partially accomplished and the rest was left for another day since rushing in the task of stalking someone was a big no and a huge giveaway. Nonetheless, it took him only a single sip to realize the tea of the brothel wasn¡¯t really anything good, though it was still better than the tea of the Decent Inn. Thus, emptying the cup halfway, Virus stood up and left the place. After leaving, instead of going back to the inn, Virus¡¯ next destination was the opening ceremony of his store. When he got there, however, he noticed that Archibald and Augustus had long opened the door to the general populace and right now, they were sitting behind the counter silently. ¡°Hmm, what¡¯s with the silence? Don¡¯t you two know how to talk?¡± With that, Virus ambled inside. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re here!¡± Archibald rose to his feet as he rushed forward to greet him. At the same time, releasing a helpless sigh, he started reporting an issue, ¡°Phew, boss, it¡¯s been several hours since we inaugurated the shop, but not a single customer has visited so far. None at all!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, old man, it¡¯s just the first day.¡± Assuming this phenomenon to be entirely normal, Virus reassured the old guy. ¡®We only need one person to come, buy something from us, and then spread the word to everyone else.¡¯ ¡°I seriously hope so¡­¡± Chapter 507 - Cultivation Trust In the upcoming two days, Virus returned to the brothel and even spent five hundred Qi Ingots of first-grade to purchase a VIP membership. As a matter of fact, those five hundred Qi Ingots were the entire capital Virus had at hand and now he was nearly broke. Furthermore, even after two days had gone by, not a single customer paid a visit to their shop, not even for window shopping. ¡°Boss¡­ I don¡¯t believe this is going to work.¡± Feeling down, Archibald seemed to have lost all hopes of their business somehow surviving because, at this rate, bankruptcy was like an inevitable prophecy. On the other hand, scowling, Virus remained on his seat before sinking into deep contemplation. ¡®Since no one¡¯s willing to stop by, I have to make them do so.¡¯ A while later, he opened his mouth at last, ¡°It¡¯s clear we lack advertisement, no one knows about this wonderful shop filled with a variety of techniques¡­¡± ¡°Of course, all of this is happening since no one bothers coming to this shitty district, but what is ¡®advertisement¡¯?¡± Totally unfamiliar with the term, Archibald¡¯s curiosity was inflamed. ¡°Well¡­¡± Sinking into another streak of silence instead of responding, Virus started deliberating on some issues and how to resolve them. Around a few minutes passed when he finally decided, ¡°Okay, I thought of an idea. Here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do¡­¡± Listening to Virus¡¯ rough plan, Archibald was full of doubt. Still, he did as he was told and vanished somewhere briefly before returning with a stack of sheets. Meanwhile, abruptly picking one paper from the stack, Virus started scribbling on it at a fast pace. ¡®Reach the apex with us, Cultivation Trust.¡¯ Jotting that sentence down in a large and easily perceivable font, Virus began describing that one Low-Human attack technique was to be given to one lucky winner after drawing lots fifteen days from now on. During these fifteen days, anyone who wished to be the lucky winner had to personally visit to sign up so they could participate when the lots were drawn. Beneath the paper, he also wrote the exact address of the shop. Then, behind the same sheet, Virus wrote the name, class, and price of every book they were selling in the shop. Following that, he told Archibald to copy everything to all the other sheets as well. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m leaving for the day.¡± Since it was going to take a while before all the papers were done, Virus exited the store before his immediate departure. ¡®Let¡¯s go to the brothel, shall we?¡¯ In the past two days, after elevating his position to that of a VIP member, Virus had gone to the brothel two times overall, once every night. Unfortunately, he came back fruitless every single time. And tonight, he wanted to try his luck once more. Therefore, strolling to another district that was filled with brothels and prostitutes, Virus straightly walked to the one that was Blaze¡¯s hang-out. The instant he was there, a receiver woman came to warmly guide him through the corridor. While in there, all of Virus¡¯ awareness was focused on the various compartments trying to find his target. And luckily, this time, he indeed came across Blaze¡¯s profile that was occupying a splendid room. ¡°I want to sit there.¡± Pointing at the empty room beside Blaze¡¯s, Virus notified the guide. ¡°Yes, please follow me, dear client.¡± Due to him being a VIP already, no one could refuse his request unless the space was occupied. After being led to the room, as always, the guide queried, ¡°What kind of woman do you desire tonight, dear customer?¡± ¡°Just bring me anyone to accompany me while I drink my tea.¡± Voicing that impatiently, Virus signaled the guide to leave. The reason why he had asked for a woman besides his usual order of tea was that he did not want anyone to get suspicious. In case he kept coming here to drink a cup of tea alone, it was bound to draw some suspicion and that may lead to unwanted consequences he wanted to avoid at all costs. ¡°Both your tea and one of our finest women will be in your presence soon.¡± With that, the guide took his leave. Alone, at last, Virus released his sense of awareness and focused it all in his neighboring compartment. Subsequently, the clear image of what was happening inside it revealed itself to him. ¡°Ahh¡­ Uhm¡­ Uh¡­. hell y-yes Blaze¡­¡± Slap! ¡°Fuck me! Ah¡­ right there¡­ fuck my b-brains out¡­¡± Currently, putting the woman on four legs, Blaze was busy pounding it into her nonstop while slapping her ass from time to time. ¡°Do you like that?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ yes¡­ yessss!¡± It was at this point that a woman strolled over to Virus¡¯ room while carrying a cup of tea with herself. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Aily, I-I¡¯ll be serving you tonight, dear customer.¡± Locking his gaze on the newcomer, he briefly inspected her. She was a petite woman, with fiery-red yet oddly shiny hair very neatly arranged, and her round brown eyes together with her long face were giving off an aura of extreme alertness. Although she tried hiding it, she was shivering like a scared cat about to jump high into the air at the slightest of provocation. The most noteworthy detail of all, however, was her voice, clear, lustrous, and without declension; it touched his ear like the gentlest melody, and yet it was lust-inducing to the point one just wanted to jump on her and mess her up to kingdom come. ¡°Aily? Alright, I¡¯m Vee, come, sit here quietly.¡± While patting the empty mattress beside himself, Virus signaled the lady to take a seat right beside him. Meanwhile, all of Virus¡¯ focus was once more locked on Blaze¡¯s compartment as he observed the goings-on. Alas, that only made him feel surprised. In the meantime, after Blaze was done fucking the other woman¡¯s brain out, he ordered another one to be brought to his lodging. Afterward, the next round of intercourse was initiated. In fact, even with that new woman, he still wasn¡¯t finished as he kept requesting more and more. ¡®Huh¡­ I¡¯ve come across a degenerate.¡¯ Shaking his head, Virus determined. ¡°A-are you perhaps dissatisfied with me, dear customer?¡± Catching Virus shaking his head repetitively, Aily who was currently leaning onto him trembled. She was utterly horrified of the consequences that may follow in case she failed to satisfy this client of hers. ¡°No. I¡¯m just pondering another matter of mine.¡± Drinking a mouthful of his tea, Virus was no longer in the mood to keep watching Blaze. So, standing up, he proclaimed, ¡°That¡¯s it for me tonight, goodbye.¡± Then, before he could even take a single step forward, a hand grabbed his wrist. ¡°W-what did I do wrong, dear client? P-please don¡¯t do this to me.¡± ¡°Huh? What the hell are you talking about? I¡¯m not doing anything to you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be punished if you leave without doing something to me tonight.¡± That instantly forced an annoyed scowl on Virus¡¯ face. However, understanding the degree of cruelty that could be inflicted upon unfortunate souls like Aily in facilities like these, after some hesitation, exhaling a sigh, Virus advised her, ¡°I see. Just say we did it then, it¡¯ll be a secret between the two of us.¡± Rubbing his chin, he reckoned. ¡®Hmm, this is good news actually. No one will suspect me with this.¡¯ Turning around, he was about to truly depart this time, when he realized Aily was still holding his hand and refused to let go. ¡°What now?¡± Now he felt lost by this woman in front of him. In response, she spoke a sentence with a stutter. ¡°T-they¡¯ll notice we didn¡¯t do anything s-since¡­¡± ¡°Since what? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re a virgin, haha¡­ ha-¡­ha¡­? Wait, you¡¯re a virgin for real?¡± At first, Virus was merely saying it as a joke since the thought of a virgin prostitute tickled him. However, seeing how Aily was blushing like a monkey¡¯s ass, he was speechless. ¡°Huh, a virgin in a brothel, and it¡¯s not a joke?¡± Murmuring that, Virus¡¯ eyelids were wide open. ¡°I-I¡­ my parents sold me to the brothel in exchange for ten cows.¡± ¡°What the actual fuck is wrong with the people of this city? Why do they all seem to love cows more than their children?¡± Grabbing his head using both hands, Virus felt like he was going nuts. Chapter 508 - Aily Noticing him standing still facing the exit, like a hare, Aily tossed herself forward before locking her arms and embracing his legs. ¡°What are you doing?¡± His brows elevated, Virus asked. ¡°Please don¡¯t leave just like that. They¡¯re going to punish me if you do. Do it with me!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I beg you¡­¡± Tears covered the corner of Aily¡¯s eyes as she implored. The fate that awaited her in case of failure was so horrible that honestly, she preferred death over it. On one hand, she desired nothing but escaping from this nightmarish house of terror, on the other hand, she was horrified at the mere imagination of being punished so savagely as the other disobedient prostitutes had been so far. ¡°I got it, so let go of me now. I¡¯ll help you.¡± Seeing Aily in that weak and vulnerable position, Virus¡¯ mind jumped back to the scene of him nearly getting killed by the gang of barbarians only to encounter a cheeky woman who deemed herself the hero on a grand quest of saving the damsel in distress. That instantly forced an amused grin over Virus¡¯ profile as he accepted to aid Aily a bit. And yet, filled with doubt and hesitation, she refused to let go. ¡°I promise.¡± Only after listening to him promise did Aily gradually let go of Virus¡¯ leg as she looked up at him with puppy eyes. ¡°Just watch me resolve this issue.¡± Vocalizing that, Virus shouted, ¡°Stewardess!¡± In reaction, Aily¡¯s countenance went ashen white since she assumed Virus was about to betray her trust and notify the stewardess about her clinginess and everything else. Soon, the stewardess in charge of guiding the customers to their allocated space arrived at the scene before asking, ¡°Yes, dear client, is there something you¡¯re displeased with?¡± Simultaneously, he glared at Aily, furrowing her brows. It was obvious she was threatening Aily with the look in her eyes that screamed, ¡®You¡¯re dead meat if you did anything wrong, bitch!¡¯ ¡°I realized you sent me a virgin, is that correct?¡± His expression absolutely grim and dark, Virus inquired. Putting her slim hand over her lips, the stewardess misunderstood him. ¡°Ah, are you perhaps not into virgins? Since it¡¯s your first girl, I thought we should offer you a memorable one.¡± ¡°No, that is not the case, what I¡¯m trying to say is that I¡¯m very content with this woman, wonderful taste! However, I¡¯m not going to deflower her just yet.¡± With his brows raised and pulled together, Virus proclaimed. ¡°However, I want her alone to serve me from no onward. Moreover, I want her to remain chaste and get ready to accompany me every time I pay a visit.¡± Slightly unsure about this development, the stewardess didn¡¯t know how to respond. ¡°Ah, dear client, that is¡­¡± To be frank, in the past, the stewardess had come across several such cases where a client madly fell in love with one of their prostitutes and tried having a monopoly over them as they even paid extra fees so the brothel won¡¯t face any loss due to one girl less. Alas, the stewardess knew that never ended well for the client since some of the trained prostitutes eventually just couldn¡¯t tolerate the lack of dicks and betrayed with the other customers. On one occasion, one client fell head over heels for a certain prostitute and in fact, that prostitute was infatuated with the man as well. Woefully, one night, seeing her resist the advances of several powerful clients, the annoyed clients had gang-banged her until the madly in-love client came only to witness that prostitute screaming in utmost pleasure while being filled with cum in every one of her holes. Sadly, that seemed to break the man apart completely as he left the scene with tears and hatred in her eyes. Most noteworthy of all, however, was the fact that later on, she received the news that the madly in-love man had suddenly gone insane as he attacked those group of gang bangers somewhere. Albeit, at the very end, all his rage was capable of eliminating one of them alone before the remaining ones mercilessly executed him in his standing position. What followed afterward was nothing but wave after wave of headaches for the brothel. And that was why she was hesitant to accept. Mistaking the silence as a sign of rejection, Virus¡¯ profile went extremely dark. ¡°I can at least ask for that much with my special membership privileges, right?¡± ¡°Y-yes, if you insist, we¡¯ll do per your request.¡± Despite confirming, internally, another line was bubbling through her brain, ¡®Well, what can if he desires to be a moth madly in love with the flame?¡¯ ¡°Good. Then I¡¯ll see you soon again.¡± Grabbing the stewardess¡¯ shoulder all of a sudden, without any warnings, he unleashed his cultivation energy and concentrated it all on her. ¡°You truly understood my meaning, right?¡± Being put under that much pressure, beads of sweat began rolling down the stewardess¡¯ already pale face who admitted, ¡°Yes, I understand. She will be only yours, dear customer. She will neither serve another client nor will other men touch her, I¡¯ll try my best to keep that promise.¡± Vowing that sentence, a helpless countenance dominated the stewardess¡¯ face, ¡®Let¡¯s hope my best effort is enough.¡¯ Meanwhile, another thought sent a shiver down her spine, ¡®But he was a strong cultivator all along. I shouldn¡¯t do something to incur his wrath or hostility or it will be tricky to resolve the situation in case he goes mad like that poor bastard in the past.¡¯ ¡°Good! I couldn¡¯t be more pleased with this place, see you later.¡± With that, turning toward the relieved Aily, he merely winked at her before going away. ¡­ As time elapsed, the fliers were finally ready for distribution. ¡°Grab the fliers, also, get one copy of that Low-Human attack technique ¡®Delirious Judgment Slash¡¯.¡± Pointing at a specific shelf, Virus instructed.. After a brief explanation of what they were going to do next, Virus, Archibald, and Augustus closed and left the shop. Chapter 509 - Watch And Learn ¡°We¡¯re going to only visit districts that are inhabited by cultivators or rich families.¡± Announcing their relevant destination, Virus signaled them to chase after him. Following that, Virus and the two by his side visited the first known district of Outer Ricando that was famously inhabited by cultivators. The area was considered one of the most expensive living locations in the city that housed several powerful and yet rich families of Outer Ricando. ¡°Watch how I do it and learn.¡± When they reached their destination, Virus ordered them to pay attention since he wasn¡¯t going to be the one to do the distribution chore after this. Anyhow, searching his surroundings for a split-second and spotting a random passer-by, Virus approached the guy before handing him a flier. ¡°Here, this is a message for you.¡± Abruptly being approached by a stranger who apparently had some type of message addressed for him, the other person was dumbfounded, ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Alarmed, the man questioned with a frown. Being approached by a total stranger for this type of random reason made the other person rise his guard to the extreme. Now, he was prepared for any type of sudden movement or heavens forbid, an unannounced assault. ¡°Read the letter first, you¡¯ll naturally understand everything.¡± Instead of elaborating, however, Virus simply urged the man to go through the flier before continuing the conversation. Although the creases in his forehead didn¡¯t vanish, the other guy still extended his arm and got a hold of the flier before reading it. When he was done going through everything, however, filled with disdain, he sneered at Virus. ¡°Hmph, are you trying to scam me or something? Why would you give away a technique for free?¡± ¡°Well, despite it being hard to believe, we¡¯re just trying to give back to the society and the people.¡± Exuding a saintly aura from all over his being, Virus replied righteously. ¡°Huh? Is this some kind of joke? You think I¡¯ll trust you want to give something away for free?¡± Scornful, the passer-by was about to turn around and distance himself from this scammer as soon as possible. On the other hand, since Virus had brought the book over precisely for this situation, he immediately offered the book to him. ¡°Here, see for yourself.¡± Unless it was some kind of cultivator with a great photographic memory, Virus wasn¡¯t concerned the passer-by would memorize the whole thing in the short period of his access to the book. As a matter of fact, he merely allowed the guy to skim through a few pages before taking it back. ¡°Now, do you believe me? Even if you¡¯re not a cultivator or even if you¡¯re not in the Liberation stage, you can still sign up and possibly win. Let me tell you, if you were lucky enough to win by some heaven bestowed chance, you can easily sell it at some auction house and get a lot of free money on your hands.¡± Exaggerating the worth of the book as much as he possibly could, Virus proceeded to tempt the guy. By now, the other man¡¯s eyes were burning in zeal and anticipation, already imagining what he could do with the money in case he won, thus, with newfound vigor, he told Virus, ¡°Sign me up!¡± Shaking his head, however, Virus respectfully informed him, ¡°You can only sign up by coming to the store.¡± Subsequently, since the stranger was holding the flier like it was his most valuable possession, Virus and his two followers took their leave. ¡°Wow, boss! That was amazing! He will definitely visit our shop now. What kind of trickery is this!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called advertising.¡± Grinning from ear to ear, Virus notified them in some awkwardness. That also made him realize that the cultivators were too easy to scam if one had the means to do so. Even though many forms of advertisement did exist in the Cultivation Earth, the people here mostly did it intuitively in order to attract more customers. Furthermore, they had yet to come up with innovative methods of doing so since no concrete term had been invented for it. They just weren¡¯t there yet. Therefore, Archibald¡¯s astonishment was honestly understandable. After that, handing the fliers to the two oldies, Virus concluded the instructions, ¡°Now, just imitate me and do as I did.¡± ¡­ Afterward, while Virus followed them quietly, Archibald was the first one to start the distribution operation which he called the ¡®Grand Scheme¡¯. Virus¡¯ response to that, however, was ¡®it¡¯s just advertising so stop making such a big deal out of it!¡¯. As the distribution continued, one flier after another was gone. The trio visited nearly all the cultivation and rich districts without missing nearly a single one. Several hours later, just as the advertisement papers were about to end, trouble ensued. ¡°Huh? What are you saying? This was my technique, to begin with! Why are you telling me to give it back?¡± Currently, after Archibald had handed the technique over to a cultivator to examine the authenticity of the prize, that person suddenly refused to give it back and was even shameless enough to declare the book as his own possession. ¡°What? Are you for real? Give it back, you shameless thief!¡± Extending his palm, Archibald was about to take the book back forcibly, when an intense pressure of cultivation immobilized the old man. The First Level of Liberation! ¡°Huh? This oldie! You¡¯re really bold and daring, aren¡¯t you? Aight, Imma put some dirt in your eye.¡± Subsequently, raising his leg, the cultivator was about to kick the senior citizen right in the gut, when another heavy energy which happened to be many times stronger and more intolerable descended upon the man that was about to assault Archibald. Completely petrified at once, the cultivator gulped down before turning toward the source of that energy in utter horror. ¡°Fuck off if you¡¯re not tired of living yet..¡± A chilly glimmer freezing his sight, Virus commanded the individual to get lost. Chapter 510 - Here We Go! ¡®Damn it, I thought they were all mortals.¡¯ Realizing he had probably offended someone much stronger than himself, behaving like an obedient boy, he returned the book before fleeing the scene at once. ¡®This is why I bothered enough to waste my precious time and tag along.¡¯ Indeed, having long anticipated such a development due to how unreasonable cultivators behaved most of the time, Virus didn¡¯t need to utilize any of his processing speed in order to figure out that trouble was destined to knock on their door sooner than later. In the meantime, they proceeded with the distribution task of the remaining fliers. During the entire process, in spite of a few individuals looking for trouble, none of them actually succeeded in their attempts since the cultivation level of none of them really exceeded the Liberation stage itself. That was because those with a cultivation base higher than Liberation didn¡¯t need a mere Low-Human level technique and even the money they could earn through selling it didn¡¯t really garner their greed since they could earn even more if they wished to. In fact, they deemed it far beneath themselves to make a move for such a trashy technique. Albeit, one¡¯s trash was another¡¯s treasure. ¡­ During the next fifteen days, all Virus did was commute between the shop, the brothel, and the inn. While his main reason and concern for going to the brothel was to stalk Blaze, it would be a lie to say he did not enjoy the company of the seemingly innocent yet unlucky Aily. Nonetheless, in these past fifteen days, Virus had observed Blaze so much that he could easily predict how he was going to behave and respond in a variety of circumstances. That was how well he had gotten to know the guy by occupying the empty room beside him. And in regards to the inn, Virus only went there to sleep. In fact, a week ago, Luca and Luna both decided to watch over the shop together with Archibald and Augustus. They did not want to remain a burden any more than they had been already. As for how Luna could go back and forth to the shop, that had to do with the wooden wheelchair Virus had constructed specifically for him. How he could accomplish that was extremely easy, to be frank. All he had to do was to draw its precise blueprint and there were numerous skilled carpenters throughout the city to bring life to the blueprint. Last but not least, in the past half a month, one person after another came to the Dead Pool district with the sole motivation of signing up in the lottery that was going to be held today. Amongst the participants, while most of them were common people, a lot of them were cultivators as well. ¡°Boss! It¡¯s amazing! Look at our crowded store! I bet most citizens of Ricando have heard of our shop already.¡± Pointing at the tens of clients window shopping in their store, Archibald could barely prevent himself from screaming in sheer joy. Indeed, not only did they have a lot of regular customers and sales now, but a week ago, having obtained enough capital, Virus had purchased the shop for three thousand Qi Ingots of first-grade which was frankly a thousand Qi Ingots more expensive compared to the initial selling price the desperate owner had demanded. Nevertheless, not really minding the shop getting a mere thousand Qi Ingots more expensive, Virus outright bought it. Furthermore, two days ago, after his earnings touched the ceiling of twenty thousand Qi Ingots, Virus commanded Archibald and Augustus to buy the cheapest shops he could in the Dead Pool district without any ado. Overall, Virus now had nine more empty stores in the Dead Pool region without anyone occupying them. ¡®Alright. Everything¡¯s going according to the plan. To be truthful, things have progressed so smooth so far that I¡¯m gradually starting to get worried.¡¯ Although he was pondering that internally, outwardly, he was busy putting his hands inside a dish filled with thousands of names. ¡°Here we go, everyone! With you few people as everyone¡¯s trusted representatives, we¡¯re going to start the lottery now. Let¡¯s see who¡¯s the lucky winner of this event.¡± He stated. Messing up the names inside the bowl, Virus mixed them up again and again until everyone was reassured that there was no possibility of intentionally picking a specific name out of the bowl. Next, closing both eyes, Virus pushed his fingers through the bowl before randomly picking a small piece of paper out. Unwrapping it next, he took a sneak peek at the name before making a declaration. ¡°And today¡¯s winner is¡­¡± Intending to add more suspense to the event, Virus stayed quiet for a while before opening his mouth at last and announcing, ¡°The winner is no one but¡­ Yejil with the identity number of 52365! Congratulations!¡± ¡°Damn! Why was it not me?¡± Messing up his hair, in absolute frustration, one of the customers that had been busy praying to heavens earlier vocalized. ¡°Fuck, I was sure I was gonna get it. Ahhh!¡± Another was disappointed to the point of despair while shouting out loud. Most others, however, were chill about their loss. ¡°Ah, I kinda knew I had no chance considering there were thousands of other participants, but I still had some hope, sigh¡­¡± Every kind of reaction ensued in the shop. However, the vital detail was that none of the people present right now was the winner. Of course, after the word spread around soon, it didn¡¯t take long before the awestruck Yejil rushed over. ¡°I-I really¡­ won?!¡± ¡°Yes, you lucky bastard, haha. Here¡¯s your reward.¡± Uttering that out loud, Archibald brought and presented the promised book to Yejil with an envious look in his eyes as if he couldn¡¯t be more jealous of him. Internally, however, Archibald was busy laughing uproariously at all the fools in his surroundings.. ¡®Hahaha, you fools! We¡¯re the true winner of this game.¡¯ Chapter 511 - What A Joke! ¡­ Now that Cultivation Trust was pretty well known in the city, every day, there were at least a few cultivators that came to get a look at the techniques or even buy one in case they had the capacity to do so. In fact, the price of the techniques in the shop was pretty much equal to that of every other place in the city. However, the unique advantage this shop had over others was the existence of a special segment called the Cultivation Trust¡¯s Insight which lowered the period of comprehending and grasping the techniques by more than half. And that alone was enough to tempt everyone to prefer this place over the others. No one could deny that the Cultivation Trust¡¯s Insight section was a huge boon to pretty much all cultivators who always used to struggle over a simple technique. ¡°Wow, how does this shop add the Cultivation Trust¡¯s Insight section within every book, I wonder?¡± Right now, two cultivators were going around inspecting the titles and descriptions that were available for window shoppers as they whispered to one another. ¡°Tell me about it! There must be a powerful cultivator backing this store who is so powerful that Human Techniques is considered nothing for him! That person must be writing the insights casually for us to buy and learn.¡± The other guy murmured. ¡°Yep, that must be it.¡± Right now, Archibald was sitting in the shop alone watching over the two who seemed to have come to do nothing but gossip to each other. However, it was at this moment when a man who was holding his chin high up entered the shop. ¡°Shop owner! Give me one copy of every single one of the techniques in your possession!¡± The man voiced in an arrogant tone while crossing his fingers behind himself. ¡°Huh? Are you sure?¡± Archibald voiced, feeling doubtful toward this newcomer. ¡°Yes!¡± The man exclaimed conceitedly. ¡°But do you have the money in order to pay for everything?¡± Without seeing the money with his own eyes, Archibald wasn¡¯t going to move and prepare a bunch of books in vain. Somewhat annoyed and yet full of himself, the customer vocalized. ¡°Just tell me how much they¡¯re all worth for.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± despite being suspicious of whether this customer wanted to truly buy everything, Archibald still calculated the overall price of every single book in their possession. ¡®Hmm, thirty-five Low-Human Techniques and five Mid-Human Techniques¡­¡¯ after a simple pause, he concluded, ¡°It is twenty-two thousand and five hundred Qi Ingots of First-Grade. Do you still plan on proceeding with the purchase?¡± ¡°How much do I need to tell you this, old man? I¡¯m buying! Now, stop annoying me and just bring me everything!¡± Announcing that, the haughty man threw a rather big pouch over the counter. However, refusing to do that just yet, Archibald first grabbed the pouch containing the Qi Ingots and started counting them carefully. When he was done, at last, he realized they precisely amounted to twenty-two thousand and five hundred. Apparently, this man had known how much everything was going to cost prior to coming here. Nonetheless, since he had paid, Archibald stood up and went behind every shelf and grabbed one copy of each and every one of the books. He did not know why one person desired everything, but it wasn¡¯t really his place to question the foolishness of others as long as they paid. ¡®Maybe he wants to found a sect or something.¡¯ Afterward, bringing all the books to the counter, he offered them to the customer. ¡°Here you go, dear client.¡± Getting a hold of the merchandise, however, the arrogant guy harrumphed in contempt before taking his leave. ¡®What a peculiar customer.¡¯ After thinking that, Archibald no longer pondered the man. Instead, feeling jovial, grasping the pouch containing all the Qi Ingots, he closed the shop and was on his way to bring the good news to his boss. ¡­ Meanwhile, on the other side, Virus was fast asleep enjoying his afternoon nap. However, it was at this time that the door of his room was slowly opened without making any sudden noises. Next, the silhouette of an inappropriately dressed woman became visible in the room as she closed the door shut behind herself and ambled toward Virus on her foot fingers. Subsequently, after much internal struggle, fully determined, she carefully put the deep asleep Virus¡¯ pants down while panting breathlessly. When she was done, the grand sight of a sleeping dragon became visible in her view. Spotting the sleeping dragon that was so magnificent despite being asleep, the daring woman, Pira, gasped in utter astonishment while her cheeks turned completely red. She could not believe one could be so perfect in every aspect. Talking about top-notch looks, he had it. Mentioning muscles, he had the most well-toned muscles she had ever seen! And talking about his snake, it couldn¡¯t even be considered a snake anymore since even in its sleep, it looked like a transformed and fully awakened dragon already! She could not even imagine how big it would be if it was completely awakened now. ¡®An awakened dragon that goes beyond awakening, a super awakened dragon!¡¯ As that notion went past her mind, no longer able to contain her desire, reaching out with her fingers, she got a grip over the dragon in her perception. Since the dragon was touched and played with, slowly but surely, it began to throb as it gradually grew into a new phase, the so-called super awakened form! This was a natural reaction. ¡®Woah!¡¯ With her eyes wide open in astonishment, Pira was nothing but stunned! ¡®This is the biggest dick I¡¯ve seen my entire life, I want to feel it inside me so bad!¡¯ Concluding that contemplation, she began moving over the bed without making any abrupt movements that may awaken the master of this dragon. Indeed, if any killing intent or a sharper touch was inflicted upon Virus¡¯ skin, he would¡¯ve been fully alert and immediately awake. Alas, it seemed the woman was extremely experienced and knew what she was doing. Following that, as she was standing above his groin, at last, pushing her own underwear aside, she forced her own slit to be in full view. Then, getting a hold of Virus¡¯ dick, Pira made it gently touch her own wet pussy. She was just about to slide it deep inside herself gradually, when the sleeping Virus suddenly sensed the touch in his throbbing dragon as both of his eyes became wide open! Catching the sight of this familiar woman about to push his dick into her repulsing vagina, Virus asked coldly, ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing, bitch?¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Yelping out loud in surprise, Pira was stunned seeing his eyes fully open! She was just about to say something to defend herself when Virus slammed both his palms into her slim figure, sending her shooting off the bed violently as her figure crashed into the wall. Bam! ¡°You cunt! Who the hell do you think you¡¯re touching, you fucking cheap whore!¡± The more Virus imagined what would have ensued if he had not woken up, the more disgusted he felt. Thus, as a result of his shout, his voice thundered so loudly that it reverberated throughout the entire inn, attracting everyone¡¯s undivided attention instantly. Slap! Ambling forward next, Virus took a hold of her and slapped her face so badly that her mouth was washed in blood. Slap! Virus landed the second heavy slap when finally, the door of his room was pushed open as a few people barged inside. They were respectively, Luna, Luca, Archibald, Augustus, and the owner of Decent Inn himself! ¡°Ah, what do you think you¡¯re doing to my wife, you bastard!¡± The owner was the first one to open his mouth and curse Virus out loud. Beside him, all the other four were so bewildered that they had been incapable of uttering a single word so far. ¡°Huh? What ¡®I¡¯ am doing to your wife? Oh, you blind poor old cuckold, didn¡¯t you hear me yelling? Don¡¯t you see how weirdly she¡¯s dressed and therefore, getting slapped in my room? This bitch just barged into my room and tried doing unspeakable things to me while I was asleep.¡± Refusing to have any of it, Virus notified the old man of what had happened earlier. But it was at this point when the bleeding Pira looked at the inn owner and cried, ¡°Sob, husband, he¡¯s lying, he was the one who tried to rape me, I swear on our marriage.¡± The instant the old man witnessed his wife¡¯s crying and bleeding face, his heart melted away as he gazed in Virus¡¯ direction, totally enraged now. ¡°Get the hell out of my inn!¡± ¡°Huh? You don¡¯t deserve any pitying, do you? Anyway, I¡¯d already decided to leave this messed up inn whether you told me to or not!¡± Turning toward the four others within the room, he commanded with no delay, ¡°Grab everything boys, we¡¯re leaving!¡± Of course, since he deemed the geezer irredeemable and not worth his pity at all, he strolled beside him, put his palm over his shoulder, and notified him, ¡°I wonder, why doesn¡¯t your son take after you at all? Could it be he¡¯s not yours at all and your wife has been doing this to other customers as well?¡± That was all he was going to pass on to the old man, which was to merely plant a seed of doubt within his heart. Now, Virus knew the old guy was bound to live feeling suspicious and never sure whether their son was truly his own blood or not. Although he wouldn¡¯t abandon or discard his kid since there was a big chance of him being his own blood, thinking about the slight probability of that not being the truth every time he looked at the dissimilar features of the kid, the old codger was destined to go crazy and all of that craziness may be targeted at this shameless woman in front of him. ¡°You fucking bastard! What are you trying to imply here?¡± However, his face going completely dark, the oldie seemed to have reached the absolute limit of his tolerance as he tried punching Virus. Albeit, due to the owner being a simple mortal, Virus simply dodged out of his way and counterattacked with a simple slap that sent the old owner flying away. Wham! Then walking beside his fallen frame, Virus sat down beside him and proclaimed, ¡°You deserve being a cuckold, to raise the son of another as your own without being aware of it, and living in doubt for the rest of your life.¡± Then, standing up, no longer bothering with the old cuckold, he exited the door while commanding his followers, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯re not staying in this sickening inn for even a second longer! Decent Inn? what a joke!¡± Chapter 512 - What Friend? No longer bothering himself with the old cuckold family, Virus and his group left the inn. The moment they were outside, Archibald was the first one to talk, ¡°Boss, I apologize. I¡¯ve made an unforgivable mistake.¡± ¡°Huh? You believe me? Don¡¯t you also have faith in that woman, like that cuckold idiot friend of yours?¡± With an inquisitive glint shimmering through his sight, Virus questioned. ¡°Hmph. What friend? They dared to behave that disrespectfully toward you. Henceforth, I, oldie Archie, have no such friend in this world.¡± A supercilious gaze exhibiting through his half-lidded eyes, Archibald announced. ¡°Also, you ask if I don¡¯t believe his wife? Hell, there¡¯s no fucking way that¡¯s true. Despite your situation clearly being the more logical and honest one back there, I don¡¯t really care even if that wasn¡¯t the case. Just like my friend biasedly believes his wife, I, too, will always trust boss in spite of how illogical and dishonest you may sound.¡± With his nose high in the air, he added, ¡°It¡¯s not only about belief¡­ but unwavering trust in you as well!¡± ¡°Yes, boss! We all trust and have faith in you!¡± Luna on his wheelchair was the next one to open his mouth. It was followed by the nodding countenances of the other two as well. ¡°How could that bitch try to do that to our boss? She absolutely deserves to die!¡± Enraged, Luca disdained the existence of such a woman. Who was Virus? The person they would be dead without! The person they owed everything to, including their lives! So, it didn¡¯t matter even if Virus wished for the destruction of the rest of the world, Luca would follow orders since it wasn¡¯t the rest of the world that was there for him and his brother when they needed it the most, it was Virus alone! ¡°Alright, calm down you all. It doesn¡¯t matter anymore, they¡¯ll suffer alive more than dead. Now, let¡¯s just forget about such disgrace ever happening.¡± Virus uttered that with resolve, ¡°What we need to do right now is to find another place to stay at.¡± ¡°How much capital do we have right now, oldie Archie? Six thousand? Seven thousand?¡± Rubbing his chin in contemplation, Virus looked back at Archibald. ¡°Ah, boss, about that, prior to what happened earlier, I was just on my way to report back to you. Someone bought twenty-two thousand and five hundred worth of books from our shop earlier!¡± He said with elation. ¡°The guy literally demanded me to bring him one copy of every single technique in the shop. That plus our other earnings, we precisely have thirty thousand Qi Ingots in our hands now.¡± In reaction to that account of events, however, a deep frown crept over Virus¡¯ profile. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, boss?¡± Discerning the furrowing brows and the accompanied silence, Archibald wondered if he had done something wrong again. Shaking his head, Virus answered in a relaxed manner, ¡°Nothing. Anyhow, that means we can afford a place of our own now. Tell me, how much is a normal courtyard with a four-room abode nowadays?¡± ¡°Well, that depends on the area and requires further inquiry. But generally, the places inhabited by the cultivators are the most expensive ones.¡± Archibald described. ¡°We don¡¯t need that kind of location. Just go buy a ¡®decent¡¯ abode from a cheaper site in the city. But preferably, select somewhere that¡¯s closer to our shop. But let me emphasize again, purchase a decent one, this time decent for real.¡± Glaring at him grimly, Virus maintained it for a while. ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Archibald vowed to finish this task perfectly. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll be staying at the store until you¡¯re done, go now!¡± ¡­ While Virus was waiting in the shop for his new house to be purchased and prepared, time quickly elapsed. And around four hours later, Archibald returned and guided everyone to a new destination. Sometime later, entering a rather big courtyard, Virus spotted the sight of a hut with probably four rooms. With no delay, opening the entrance of the hut, the five went inside as they faced the image of a neat home. ¡°How is it, boss? Is it to your liking? Only paid ten thousand Qi ingots for it which is honestly a great deal for such a neat home.¡± Like he was on top of the world, Archibald held his head high and relayed the news of his noteworthy achievement. ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s not bad.¡± Nodding in satisfaction, Virus approached a random room and decided, ¡°This¡¯ll be my room from now onwards, you four divide the rest between yourselves.¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± All four replied in unison. ¡°Archie, we have twenty thousand of our capital left, right? As always, use them and purchase more stores in the Dead Pool district.¡± Recalling the matter of the rest of the Qi Ingots at hand, Virus passed along the relevant orders. ¡°Your wish is this oldie¡¯s command.¡± Butler bowing at him, Archibald approvingly adhered to the order. ¡°Oh right, how many do we own at the moment?¡± ¡°Hmm, I believe nine, boss.¡± ¡°Good. Alright, I¡¯m going somewhere, we¡¯ll talk more later on.¡± Muttering that, Virus took off soon. ¡­ Arriving at the brothel, as usual, Virus sensed the existence of Blaze inside a particular private room. Hence, he was about to reserve the space on his left side when Blaze suddenly walked out. Subsequently, noticing Virus about to enter the room beside his own, a friendly smile crept over his countenance as he approached Virus for the first time ever. ¡°Hello, I¡¯ve seen you in the brothel a lot as of lately. You must be a man of culture like myself.¡± Now that Blaze had come forward and initiated the conversation himself, Virus had no reason to avoid direct contact any longer. ¡®This could be a good opportunity to get a better grasp of his personality.¡¯ Pondering that, grinning from ear to ear, he extended his arm and proclaimed, ¡°Hello, in my town, when two men of culture met, they used to shake hands.¡± Chapter 513 - The Degenerate ¡°Ah? Is that so?¡± Bringing his hand forward in some doubt, Blaze shook hands with Virus while thinking, ¡®What a weird etiquette for saying hello.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m Blaze by the way, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°You can call me Vee.¡± Now that they were done introducing themselves, Blaze suddenly fell into a burst of uproarious laughter before exclaiming three times, ¡°Hahahaha, great, great, great! I have come across a comrade in arms this time, let¡¯s appreciate the culture side by side tonight if that¡¯s okay with you.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure, why not! Hahaha¡­¡± Since it was an impeccable chance, Virus quickly accepted the offer. Following that, as the two entered the same space, the stewardess came to visit them as she inquired, ¡°I assume you want to order the usual?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Understanding exactly what the stewardess was speaking about, both Virus and Blaze didn¡¯t hesitate to confirm their orders. When she was gone, Blaze was the first one to give voice, ¡°So, tell me your story, Vee. Why are you in Ricando?¡± Facing the question, internally, Virus was completely serious. However, outwardly, beaming a kind smile, he uttered, ¡°Well, I used to live amongst the mountains in some remote area inhabited by a few.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, as the years passed, those neighbors and friends of mine left to the bigger world outside of the mountain one after another until I was the only settler in the middle of nowhere.¡± Tilting his gaze downward, it appeared as if the reminisces of the past were greatly paining him. ¡°At that point, I figured I can¡¯t continue living by myself if I want to stay sane. Thus, I partook a journey to the world beyond the mountain until my eventual stop in Ricando.¡± Listening to his intriguing story, a glint of doubt flickered past Blaze¡¯s eyes. ¡°Hmm? But if you were living amongst the mountains, how can you afford the VIP membership now?¡± ¡°Ah, truthfully¡­ that¡¯s because on my way to Ricando, I had a lucky encounter and through the gains of that lucky encounter, I made a fortune in Ricando. Do you know about a shop called Cultivation Trust?¡± ¡°Hmm, to be honest, I don¡¯t.¡± Being cooped up in limited locations every day, Blaze wasn¡¯t that aware of the happenings in the city. ¡°I see. Well, that¡¯s my store, if you ever had the chance to, you should visit.¡± Beaming a warm smile, Virus invited him. ¡°Hahaha, sure!¡± ¡°What¡¯s your story by the way?¡± Since the opportunity had offered itself, Virus wasn¡¯t going to miss the chance of digging more information regarding Blaze. ¡°Mine?¡± Wide-eyed, Blaze was slightly surprised by the question. Still, tilting his head downward, he replied, ¡°Well, you see, you may have heard of me by now¡­¡± Abruptly puffing out his chest and thrusting his chin forward, he proudly declared, ¡°You must¡¯ve heard of my famous name already! Who am I, you say?¡± ¡°It is I, the great drunkard, the handsome dreg, and the irresistible womanizer that has no equal throughout Ricando!¡± Thrusting his jaw forward while maintaining eye contact, Blaze established his identity. ¡°Let me tell you, every time I visit this place, I can go five to ten rounds before I voluntarily decide to stop fucking all the women in the brothel since they can take it no more!¡± He pronounced in great enthusiasm while his chin remained elevated. ¡°I, your father, am the unparalleled everlasting gentleman.¡± Apparently extremely haughty and prideful of his own titles, Blaze announced. ¡°A gentleman?¡± Inspecting the boastful man, that was all Virus could say. ¡®More like an everlasting degenerate.¡¯ ¡°You know what they say¡­ culture makes all men gentle!¡± Showing his white teeth, Blaze defended his title. Although Virus had nearly let his guard down to the point of almost cursing this weird, shameless, and boastful guy out loud, he still succeeded in withholding his swears to himself and instead exhibited a chuckle. ¡°Hahaha, what a great man I¡¯ve come across today! Magnificent, truly magnificent! I, Vee, have made a true friend today!¡± It was at this time when the door of their private section was pushed open as two ladies were brought over. Obviously, one of them was Aily while the other one was someone Virus had seen Blaze fuck many times before. ¡°Dear clients, the women that¡¯ll be warming your beds tonight will be these two, please enjoy your day.¡± Afterward, tea, alcohol, and several dishes were also placed on the short-legged table as the stewardess left. Subsequently, both women walked to their night partners and joined them. While Aily awkwardly sat beside Virus and locked her arms to his, the other woman was doing the same to Blaze. ¡°Let¡¯s celebrate the beginning of our true companionship, shall we, my friend?¡± Raising a glass of alcoholic beverage, Blaze suggested. Displaying a happy smile back at the degenerate, bringing his cup of tea forward, he clinked them together, ¡°Cheers. Let¡¯s dig in!¡± Since Blaze seemed to be shortly distracted by his partner, Virus turned toward Aily and inquired, ¡°How have you been? Is everything going fine?¡± In response, a gentle smile crept over Aily¡¯s profile who leaned her head over his shoulder. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all thanks to you, thank you.¡± ¡°Well, as long as everything¡¯s okay, it¡¯s enough.¡± Whispering into her ear, Virus was just about to mention something else when Blaze interjected, ¡°Oh, that beauty beside you, I don¡¯t seem to have ever seen or tasted her¡­ how is that possible?¡± Apparently stupefied at this occurrence, Blaze queried. Meanwhile, Aily¡¯s face went pale in some fear at the thought of this degenerate violating her. Virus, however, didn¡¯t show any external reaction. Instead, he calmly clarified his special relationship with Aily. ¡°Well, she was my gift for becoming a VIP member, though I haven¡¯t touched her yet and they¡¯ve promised me no one else will be permitted to touch her as long as I haven¡¯t done the deed with her.¡± ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± Raising one eyebrow, Blaze seemed to be greatly intrigued, ¡°So the moment you fuck her, everyone else can fuck her as well?¡± Falling into a peal of laughter next, feeling greatly aroused, Blaze decided, ¡°Hahahaha, interesting, so interesting! I¡¯ve decided! The moment you¡¯re done with her, I will be the second one to put my rod in her before the rest of the men get to have all the fun in the world with her!¡± Chapter 514 - Is That So? ¡°Is that so?¡± Reacting to that claim, deeply gazing into Blaze¡¯s eyes in some interest, that was all Virus had to say. ¡°Hahaha, yes. That doesn¡¯t offend you, does it, my friend?¡± Locking eyes with him in return, Blaze inquired out of curiosity. Since debauchery was his greatest merit and the source of his pride in life, Blaze truly meant what he said and was now looking forward to the day of enjoying and savoring this beauty in front of him. ¡°Well, as long as you get the opportunity, go for it! You¡¯ll just have to see how things progress from thereon.¡± Virus was just finished stating that sentence expressionlessly when, with no warning whatsoever, Blaze pushed the woman beside him forward as she was forced on four legs with her buttocks facing him. Ripping her clothes to shreds next, Blaze pulled down his own pants and slid his already rock-hard rod into her right in front of Virus and the pale-faced Aily. ¡°Ah¡­¡± A yelp of surprise followed by intensifying moans resounded within the private room next. ¡°Well, since we¡¯re done talking for the night, we¡¯ll take our leave since I¡¯m not really comfortable watching or doing that in front of other people.¡± Standing up, Virus grabbed the ashen-faced Aily¡¯s hand and dragged her out of the private VIP space. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s such a pity, and here I was hoping to watch you handle that newbie bitch first-hand, hahaha.¡± Catching the reverberating sound of laughter behind him, Virus paid him no need and proceeded to his own reserved space. When he was back, looking at Aily¡¯s corpse-like countenance, patting her head gently, Virus reassured her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, as long as I¡¯m around, I wouldn¡¯t let him touch a single hair on you or he¡¯ll see what¡¯s coming for him.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Influenced by his warm reassurance, a shade of red returned to Aily¡¯s profile as she directed his adoring eyes at him. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going back home.¡± Standing up all of a sudden, Virus announced. ¡°Ah, is that so?¡± Feeling downcast due to the news of his departure, she disappointedly murmured. ¡°See you again tomorrow.¡± ¡­ Going back to Cultivation Trust, Virus was about to enter when a panicking Archibald rushed out. ¡°Boss! Bad news! Grave news! Someone copied all of our techniques, opened a shop in the best location of Ricando, and is now selling them at half the price of ours! What do we do?¡± Reacting to this news, a deep frown covered Virus¡¯ profile while his mind jumped back to the earlier event of Archibald notifying him regarding the good news of someone buying a copy of every single book in the shop. ¡®So, my suspicion turned out to be correct.¡¯ ¡°I bet it was that guy who bought a copy of everything before, isn¡¯t that right?¡± A glint of seriousness passed through Virus¡¯ pupils as he questioned. ¡°Ah, how did you know that, boss? After learning about the rumors, I left Luca in the store and personally went to confirm and get behind the matter.¡± With a brief pause, Archibald picked up the rest of his elaboration. ¡°When I got there, imagine my shock when I noticed that same guy sitting behind the counter.¡± ¡°Did you go talk to him?¡± ¡°You bet I did! I went over and started cursing that shameless guy for stealing our hard work and unscrupulously putting it under his name. I was even about to pull and pluck every strand of hair on his nearly bald head. Woefully, it was then when a few guards threw me outside.¡± Letting out a sigh that seemed to materialize the saying ¡®It¡¯s such a pity!¡¯, Archibald explained. ¡°And what did the guy say in his own defense?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the most infuriating part, boss! That creep said, is there some kind of law stopping or incriminating him from doing what he did?¡± His eyes bloodshot, Archibald was so infuriated he was about to pluck his nonexistent hair out of its roots and elevate himself to a new level of baldness if possible. In response, deeply furrowing his brows, Virus sunk into a session of contemplation. Indeed, just as that person had claimed, plagiarism wasn¡¯t a thing on this planet. All that stopped others from stealing and copying other people¡¯s hard-earned or developed techniques in broad daylight was the fear of retaliation by the owners themselves or their strong backing. Other than that, no one really cared. And now, seeing how the other person had dared to do just that, it meant that guy feared none of those two cases stated above, and that once more, denoted the possibility of him having a strong backer. That instantly pushed his mind back to how there had been guards protecting the shop who had stepped forward to throw Archibald outside. ¡®Hmm, so there is someone else behind the matter, most likely someone with a powerful organization backing them up¡­ or an individual that is strong himself.¡¯ ¡°Alright, I understand the situation.¡± ¡°What should we do now, boss? No one is willing to buy anything from us now! Ever since the rumors circulated throughout the city, we haven¡¯t had a single purchase!¡± Archibald pronounced another piece of unwanted news. Deliberating on the topic more, Virus tried coming up with possible solutions, however, it was clear to him that none of it was completely bulletproof as there were ways to bypass them again when all things were considered. Shaking his head in the end, Virus remarked, ¡°Call everyone over, I wanna hear all of your suggestions and opinions.¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± ¡­ A while later, Luna, Luca, Augustus, and Archibald were present in the shop while Virus sat on the chair behind the counter. ¡°And that¡¯s what happened.. Do any of you have something that could help us?¡± Since Virus¡¯ database in the current Cultivation Multiverse of Qi was everything but perfect, Virus decided to consult his minions that may or may not be able to think outside the box or even provide him with an essential piece of information that could resolve the issue altogether. Chapter 515 - Augustus? Following that question, Virus faced a deep silence. In return, he was just about to let out a helpless sigh, when he spotted a minute change in Augustus¡¯ profile which seemed to indicate that he had thought of an idea. Sadly, in the end, he refused to open his mouth and continued remaining quiet. Nonetheless, having already discerned that adjustment in his expression, Virus wasn¡¯t willing to let go of any viable options. Therefore, he stepped up and asked, ¡°Augustus, you seem to have come up with something. Tell me about it.¡± Seeing that Virus had astonishingly read his general course of thought, frankly, Augustus was tongue-tied. Still, after some hesitation, he opened his mouth. ¡°Okay, boss. So, based on my knowledge, all of the stronger clans and sects use a special type of item to limit the access of their disciples to some techniques to a specific period of time.¡± ¡°Oh? Tell me more.¡± Looking at him with interest, Virus awaited the anticipated reply. ¡°Um, you see, in order to distinguish and test the comprehension capabilities of their students and disciples, clans and other organizations only allow the usage of a particular book for a limited period.¡± ¡°What that signifies is that during that time, whether the student can grasp the technique is completely up to the talent of that individual because when the time is up, they have to return the book regardless of their accomplishments in the said technique.¡± ¡°You guys must be thinking can¡¯t the disciples just temporarily copy the book somewhere for a comprehension session later on¡­ and that is exactly when the item I¡¯m talking about comes to play,¡± Augustus said with perception. Rubbing his chin, Virus was all ears. ¡°What¡¯s the item called? And what does it do?¡± Staring with half-lidded eyes, Augustus answered in solemnity, ¡°The name of that item is the ¡®Forgotten Pen¡¯, boss. And as the name suggests, it is considered a special type of pen since everything that¡¯s written using it cannot be expressed externally in any manner.¡± ¡°Hmm, what does that mean?¡± Furrowing his brows, Archibald was the one to open his mouth this time. He couldn¡¯t quite comprehend where Augustus was going with this. With the weight of his gaze aimed at Archibald this time, Augustus proceeded. ¡°That connotes despite the reader being able to memorize or grasp the text of a book written using the Forgotten Pen, they cannot express its content outwardly in any way.¡± ¡°The readers cannot recite or jot it down somewhere since whenever they try to do that the knowledge will simply leave their minds temporarily and they¡¯ll feel stumped over it.¡± Tilting his head downward, Augustus added, ¡°In fact, not only is that method helpful in gauging the disciples¡¯ talent, but it¡¯s also useful in preventing the uncontrolled spread of the techniques and secrets of a particular organization to other factions, clans, sect, etc.¡± ¡°I mean there are always stronger organizations out there somewhere that doesn¡¯t fear stealing your techniques and secrets, and the Forgotten Pen is the only surefire method of countering and resisting such vile schemes.¡± He culminated in a peaceful tone. Listening up to this point, Virus promptly thought of another occurrence that was quite similar to the effects of this unique Forgotten Pen. A while back, when Virus was just about to enter the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, in its gate, Virus had come across a set of ancient engravings which simply couldn¡¯t stick to his memories because the moment he looked away, it was as if the knowledge escaped his mind. ¡®Although the effects of this Forgotten Pen Augustus is talking about is quite similar to the characteristics of those ancient letters, all this considered, there is a major difference between them.¡¯ Virus brooded over the matter. He judged, ¡®While those engravings at the entrance could neither be memorized nor expressed, this one is different since you can still memorize the content of the books written by the Forgotten Pen and only external expression is restricted.¡¯ ¡®So, in a way, the Forgotten Pen is a weaker version of whatever that was utilized to engrave those unknown ancient letters to the gate of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World.¡¯ Nodding his head, Virus surmised the whole picture. By now, he was amazed at the existence of this particular item called the Forgotten Pen. According to his database, in his past world of the future, there wasn¡¯t a single mention of anything similar to the so-called Forgotten Pen, denoting anything related to it had probably long gone extinct by that time in the future. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a wonderful piece of intel actually, Augustus. It is precisely what we require right now. So, tell me, where can we get such an object from?¡± That was Virus¡¯s following question. ¡°Ah, about that, boss¡­ I¡¯m not quite sure where ¡®we¡¯ can get our hands on such a thing. However, I know for a fact that a clan as strong as the Poison Deity definitely has a few of those Forgotten Pens in their possession since they need it to secure their own techniques and secrets using them.¡± Augustus divulged with certainty. Listening to Augustus, touching his chin, Virus pondered the subject for a while, trying to reach an immediate solution. ¡­ ONE MONTH LATER In the blink of an eye, a month passed. During this past month, all Virus had done was to passively gather more information about Blaze while mostly commuting between his simple courtyard house and the brothel. Of course, he had yet to touch Aily in any way so she was still pretty safe in the brothel. However, Virus also knew that several wanton clients there were already eyeing Aily like she was some forbidden fruit of heaven that the brothel didn¡¯t allow them to touch. Alas, the more the brothel protected Aily from such people, the more they desired this forbidden fruit of temptation. As for the Cultivation Trust, during the entire month, there hadn¡¯t been a single sale of any of their forty techniques in stock. Chapter 516 - Too Late As a matter of fact, Virus could¡¯ve injected more techniques from his database into the shop. However, Virus knew doing so would result in the same outcome unless he came to possess the Forgotten Pen. Hence, refusing to commit the same mistake twice, he employed a wait-and-see strategy until further notice. On the plus side, since he was the legal owner of both the shop and his house, Virus didn¡¯t need to pay a single Qi Ingot as rent during the entire month. Not only that, many of the shops in the Dead Pool district that remained as dead as a doornail belonged to him now. That was why Virus wasn¡¯t in any immediate rush to do something careless that wasn¡¯t going to work. And tonight, Virus was on his way to the brothel again. In the past month, going to the brothel had become a natural habit that Virus had to follow like a mandatory schedule. ¡­ Visting the brothel like every other night, Blaze Detox entered and was greeted by the stewardess as usual. ¡°Welcome, dear client. Let me guide you to your room.¡± Full of respect, the stewardess bowed before turning around to guide him to his private space. Albeit, before she took a single step forward, Blaze stopped her. ¡°No need. You can go away. I¡¯ll pick a girl from their waiting area before going to a private section myself.¡± ¡°Ah, is that so? Alright then.¡± Since Blaze was a daily customer and a VIP one at that, the stewardess didn¡¯t mind him roaming around the brothel on his own. In fact, this had happened many times before as Blaze would go and select a girl himself before dragging her into his private space and start fucking the woman until she was numb to all feelings in the world. And tonight, assuming it to be like any other night, without bothering to double-check, the stewardess left. ¡®Well, this is better for me anyway, I can go attend to the other clients.¡¯ The moment she was gone, however, a wanton glint of desire covered Blaze¡¯s eyes as he sauntered to the prostitute¡¯s waiting section. When he arrived, he spotted the silhouette of several girls and women waiting to be called over to the rooms of certain clients. However, none of them garnered Blaze¡¯s attention. Instead, it was the image of the tempting girl sitting alone all by herself which attracted his undivided focus. That was Aily! In the past month, seeing Aily remain a virgin without anyone touching her, all the other prostitutes had come to learn of how she had a VIP client adoring and protecting her from all the hungry wolves in the brothel. And that naturally made all the prostitutes look at Aily with looks of envy and jealousy due to the special treatment. Alas, except mocking her here and there, they couldn¡¯t really do anything excessive to her since she was under the protection of the stewardess herself. The pain of loneliness and isolation was their primary strategy to get back at her. Nevertheless, as Aily sat in a corner all by herself, her eyes were drawn to the approaching figure of Blaze which made her squint recalling his words from a month ago. ¡°W-what do you want?¡± Stuttering a bit, she inquired. ¡°Haha, how are you? Umm, don¡¯t be so alert. I¡¯m here on behalf of Vee to take you to him.¡± Beaming a kind smile, Blaze displayed a genuine expression. ¡°Are you telling the truth?¡± Lowering her guard at the mention of Vee, a brilliance of expectation inflamed her eyes. Still, some of her suspicions persisted. ¡°Why would I lie? He sent me over to bring you to him. We¡¯re going to have a double date outside the brothel tonight. You, him, me, and my date who I left with him. They are waiting for us to join them.¡± Acting as unthreatening as possible and full of patience, Blaze replied. ¡°Really?¡± Frowning, Aily had difficulty believing him a hundred percent. ¡°Of course! Don¡¯t you know Vee and I are friends? Frankly, he was the one to invite me in the first place, saying he wants to show me his Cultivation Trust shop as well.¡± Afterward, initiating a casual conversation with the subject being Vee himself, Blaze spoke to her like a gentleman while gradually forcing her to lower her guard fully. At last, confident about having convinced her enough, he suggested, ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s not keep them waiting any longer. Think about it, he may misunderstand why it¡¯s taking us so long, wouldn¡¯t that be bad for you?¡± At the mention of Virus misunderstanding, Aily¡¯s last line of defense shattered apart and was gone. Thus, observing Blaze going toward the exit step by step, gritting her teeth, Aily followed after him. Subsequently, while the stewardess was busy with another client, without her realizing it, the two left the brothel. ¡­ Sometime later, ending up in a dark alley devoid of any people, Aily stopped at last as a dreadful sensation of fear gripped over her heart. ¡°Where are you taking me? Vee isn¡¯t waiting for us, is he?¡± Pausing in his tracks, a burst of evil laughter resounded and filled the dark alley. ¡°Hihihihi¡­ it¡¯s too late now.¡± Turning around, with a wide grin displaying two rows of white teeth, Blaze confessed, ¡°You see, I¡¯ve been dying to fuck you for over a month now. At first, I thought Vee would be done with you in a few days at most before my turn to train you into the filthiest whore he had ever seen would come.¡± Shaking his head, frustration dominated his tone. ¡°But it¡¯s been over a month now and yet he refuses to touch you for some reason¡­ and I¡¯m sick of waiting already!¡± ¡°You know, I¡¯m even suspecting he¡¯s fallen for you at this point and that¡¯s why he refuses to make you bleed¡­ since doing so would turn you into the worst prostitute that is destined to be fucked day and night by all the wanton bastards that cannot stop imagining filling every hole in your body with their dicks and essence..¡± Licking the corner of his mouth, Blaze was dying to jump on her. Chapter 517 - Blanket ¡°Well, I truly consider him a good friend though, that¡¯s why I want to make him see how much of a mistake he¡¯s about to commit by falling for a woman that is bound to descend into the madness of lust and pleasure.¡± The more he talked, the more Blaze was aroused by his own words. ¡°Y-you¡­!¡± Truly terrified of Blaze¡¯s horrifying descriptions, Aily¡¯s body was shivering so badly that she was on the verge of peeing herself. That¡¯s how frightened she was. ¡°A-aren¡¯t you claiming to be his friend¡­? If you do this you¡¯re going to upset Vee and it may even end up ruining your friendship! Don¡¯t you s-see that?¡± Mustering every bit of her courage, Aily forced herself to utter those words out loud. ¡°Huh? It¡¯s exactly because he¡¯s a friend that I want to stop him from treading the wrong path though? You may not know this, but every time someone fell for a prostitute in the brothel, it led to a bad ending. All I¡¯m doing is to stop another tragic ending from occurring again since it concerns a friend of mine.¡± Holding his chin high up, Blaze was proud of himself. ¡°W-what a hypocrite you are! Disguising your lust as an a-act of justice for the sake of friendship! Never have I s-seen such pretense in my life! You deserve to die!¡± Understanding there was no persuading this guy, Aily cursed him out loud. ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯m not a hypocrite though? You think friendship is to not do anything that may upset the friend while I think it is to do what¡¯s best for his future. We have different definitions for friendship, is all.¡± Blaze said with unshakable belief. ¡°Well, think what you want. It won¡¯t change a thing. I¡¯m still going to fuck your brains out in this alley until you start moaning in joy and even start accompanying my movements on your own. Let¡¯s begin!¡± With his nostrils flaring, Blaze¡¯s heart was beating faster and faster. On the other hand, all blood seemed to have been drained from Aily¡¯s scared countenance who no longer hesitated to turn around and flee toward the other end of the alley. Meanwhile, a burst of energy at the entry-level of Sublimity Emergence was unleashed from Blaze. In spite of being considered nothing but a dreg in his clan, recently, Blaze had managed to break through to the Sublimity Emergence stage. Still, considering his age, that only qualified him to remain a dreg since other talented people around his age were in a much higher level of cultivation compared to him! Nevertheless, as his energy released and covered certain parts of his physique, his figure suddenly vanished before reappearing behind the escaping Aily. Grabbing her from the back using both arms, Blaze embraced her, thus forcing her to a halt. ¡°Ahhhh! Let me go! You disgusting pig, let go of me!!!¡± Screaming with veins pulsing in her neck, tears flowed down Aily¡¯s face. Notwithstanding, forcibly pushing her to the wall of the alley, Blaze turned her around so her mesmerizing features would be facing him when he was doing the deed. Subsequently, paying her persistent struggles no heed, Blaze grabbed the two sides of her clothes and ripped them apart! Rip~ Now, the alluring view of a red-haired petite body in nothing but a layer of undergarments exhibited itself in Blaze¡¯s line of sight. Whistle~~~ Taken aback at the scenery of her snow-pale skin and top hourglass body shape, Blaze couldn¡¯t prevent himself from gulping down in pure desire. Observing her frame that was quite similar to that of an hourglass, Blaze determined Aily¡¯s waist to be the most gorgeous section of her petite body. Therefore, in an attempt of highlighting it, he imagined himself turning her around before pounding her hard from the backside taking into account how her buttocks were bigger than her hips as that multiplied her beauty to a crazy extent! ; Moreover, the addition of her shoulders that were a little round plus her proportionate body and well-shaped legs only made him go crazier at every passing second. ¡®Damn, this is the hottest girl I¡¯ve seen so far! I feel like I could fuck her over and over again without ever getting enough of her or feeling the need to ever swap to other girls ever again. I swear¡­ this girl is another level of heaven altogether!¡¯ Lost in his lust, Blaze¡¯s breathing rate increased. ¡°I want you!¡± Stating that with his heart palpitating in desire, Blaze forced her to face the wall once more since he was adamant about appreciating her backside first. ¡°I finally understand what kind of valuable gem Vee was aiming for!¡± Subsequently, targeting her underwear next, Blaze extended his arms toward it. ¡°Stop! Please, don¡¯t do this to me! Sob¡­ Stop!!!¡± Tears and snot long having flooded her face, All Aily could do was to yell and cry. In the meantime, while Blaze¡¯s bloodshot eyes were locked on Aily¡¯s underwear, his hand was just about to grab and pull it down before thrusting his rod into her at last, when, abruptly, a murderous intent, unlike anything Blaze had ever experienced descended upon him. Boom! Next, out of nowhere, a leg connected to his face, smashing all of Blaze¡¯s teeth apart as his mouth was washed in blood. ; He was sent flying away to the other end of the alley. Since Blaze had been dealt with momentarily, determining the priority, Virus walked over beside the tearful Aily who was currently wearing nothing but undergarments that only covered her most private parts. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Putting his palm over Aily¡¯s cheeks gently, Virus voiced in concern. ¡°V-Vee, I s-swear I thought you were here, that¡¯s why I-I followed h-him¡­ sob¡­¡± Seeing how she was still trying to clarify the situation to him despite her pitiful condition, Virus felt bad for her. ¡°You silly girl, you don¡¯t need to explain anything to me, I already know what happened.¡± Taking out a blanket from within his spatial container next, Virus covered her body using it.. Although being in undergarments was a completely normal matter in most cultures of Earth, especially on the beach, that was not the case here.