Chapter 95
He didn’t want to see you back then, and now he doesn’t want you alive.
The moment the snake-like crimson thread of light pierced his brow, Shen Zhuo’s pupils seemed to freeze for an instant.
With a barely audible yet muffled thud, he collapsed against the mountainside, one hand pressing hard against his chest and his knuckles turning blue from the force.
“You…”
He closed his eyes, then reopened them, bloodshot and filled with confusion, as if he didn’t recognize the person he was looking at—Su Jiqiao.
“You are…”
Su Jiqiao then half-knelt down, and if one listened carefully, one could tell that even the tail end of his voice was trembling, which was the excitement that was being suppressed with all his might.
“I’m your favorite student, teacher,” he said, his voice dripping with sweetness. “I’m the person you love most in this world.”
Shen Zhuo’s right hand clutched his forehead, gloved fingers digging into his disheveled black hair. He appeared to be in some pain, but Su Jiqiao’s heart was pounding wildly, experiencing an uncontrollable, immense joy for the first time in his life. Kneeling on the ground, he forcefully pried Shen Zhuo’s hand away, staring intently into those usually cold, distant, and lofty eyes.
“Can you finally see me now, teacher?”
Su Jiqiao gazed at his reflection in Shen Zhuo’s pupils, his voice trembling with fervor: “From now on, your eyes will only see me. The moonlight will no longer illuminate those greedy fools in the world. All your radiance will forever be in my hands, never moving away.”
“No Fu Chen, no Bai Sheng, not even Rong Qi’s ambitions and orders can shake your resolve. The world admires your back, but you only love me.”
He stroked Shen Zhuo’s sweat-drenched, pale face like he was caressing a piece of extraordinary art, his obsession and focus terrifying.
“You only love me, Shen Zhuo.”
Each word carried the force of an S-class ability, irresistible and unshakable, planting itself in his mind like steel nails.
Shen Zhuo closed his eyes, bending over in pain.
Su Jiqiao, trembling with suppressed excitement, reached out to embrace him with reverence as if receiving a treasure, almost able to hear his own violent heartbeat. Just then—
A cold light flashed in Shen Zhuo’s palm, and blood spurted as flesh was pierced.
Su Jiqiao felt a chill in his abdomen, the dagger twisting viciously, hot blood gushing out!
Shen Zhuo moved as fast as lightning, pulling the dagger out and stabbing again, repeating the motion eight or nine times in the blink of an eye. He grabbed Su Jiqiao’s hair, stabbing downward into the side of his neck, arterial blood spraying like an arrow!
With a muffled thud, Su Jiqiao fell to the ground, the dagger clattering into the pool of blood.
“What were you thinking?” Shen Zhuo spoke through gritted teeth, lifting Su Jiqiao’s blood-soaked collar with one hand, his eyes clear. “Even Rong Qi couldn’t forcibly invade my mind. What made you think a mere Fatal Strike would work on me?”
Su Jiqiao met his gaze, his pupils contracting sharply.
Shen Zhuo wasted no more time, flinging Su Jiqiao to the ground and looking for the gun that had been taken by Shunsuke Noda earlier, but couldn’t find it in the dim light. Time was critical, and using just a dagger wouldn’t be enough to kill an S-class. He grabbed a nearby silver refrigerated case, gritted his teeth, and helped Yang Xiaodao up, staggering out of the cave.
However, just as he stepped into the dense grass, the roar of an approaching off-road vehicle reached his ears.
A gentle voice sounded from behind:
“Don’t move, Supervisor Shen.”
“…” Shen Zhuo closed his eyes.
After a moment, he turned around. A shadow invisible to ordinary people stood quietly not far away, slowly transforming into a tall, slender young man with fair, refined features and bright eyes. His black shirt and trousers outlined a body without substance.
It was Rong Qi.
The off-road vehicle screeched to a halt nearby, and several mid-to-low-level evolutionists rushed into the cave. Shortly after, one of them ran out: “Mr. Rong, Su Jiqiao is losing a lot of blood; his condition is critical. Should we proceed as you instructed earlier?”
Rong Qi stared deeply at Shen Zhuo, saying nothing.
In his non-corporeal state, only a very few people could see Rong Qi, and his other subordinates could only communicate with his spirit through dream abilities. In extremely urgent situations, he could also invade his subordinates’ minds, but if he made no movement, it meant silent approval.
Understanding this, the subordinates retrieved a refrigerated ice box from the car, inside which was a bluish liquid—blood from Rong Qi’s body.
With its powerful genetic resurrection capabilities and unimaginable abundance of meteoric energy, this method once revived Shunsuke Noda, who was reduced to just a head. Saving Su Jiqiao would be more than enough.
Birds flew across the sky in the distance, turning into tiny black dots, but no one paid any attention.
Rong Qi stepped forward, and Shen Zhuo retreated step by step into the dark shadows of the cave.
Several evolutionists kneeled on the ground, attempting to save Su Jiqiao. One of them got up, holding two test tubes filled with meteoric liquid, and bowed politely: “Supervisor Shen, please allow me to help you heal your wounds.”
Shen Zhuo was in very poor condition; he had already injected two doses of S-class serum and one anti-backlash agent in a short time. His left arm was severely dislocated and injured, and his white shirt was covered in bloodstains.
An ordinary human would have been at the end of their strength by now, but even as Shen Zhuo leaned against the wall, his posture remained tense and alert, his profile lean and cold. He didn’t even spare a glance: “Keep that trash away from me.”
“…” The evolutionist hesitated, looking to Rong Qi for instructions. The latter gave silent approval.
The evolutionist bowed his head to Shen Zhuo: “Apologies.” Then he quickly retreated.
“Sorry, I underestimated you,” Rong Qi said, his hands clasped in front of him, looking gently at Shen Zhuo. “I always thought that when you expelled my spirit back then, it was just a burst of coincidence. I didn’t expect that after all these years, you could still overwhelmingly prevail under S-class mental attacks.”
Shen Zhuo’s eyes were cold: “What? Do you want to reminisce about the past too?”
Rong Qi opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then only managed a self-deprecating smile.
“Although I’d like to, in human civilization, the death of parents and relatives seems to be one of the most insurmountable hatreds within the moral system. Reminiscing would only make you hate me more.”
“But I still want to say that it was humans who broke the agreement first. They violated their deal with me, which is why they were punished,” Rong Qi said with a calm and even tone. “And I never intended to kill you. Back then, I didn’t want to extinguish your soul; I just wanted to coexist within your body.”
Shen Zhuo said coldly, “Why wasn’t your spirit burned to death back then?”
“Do you wish I had been burned to death?” Rong Qi asked in return.
“…”
Fortunately, Rong Qi wisely didn’t expect Shen Zhuo to answer and just spread his hands.
“Actually, that radiation was almost fatal to me. Especially later, when I tried to possess you and was counter-killed by your mental power. The severe injury forced me to leave Earth and continue drifting in the universe. According to human time… it wasn’t until five years ago that I returned to this Earth with the meteorite.”
At this point, he sighed lightly, seemingly a bit regretful: “But by then, you had completely forgotten about me.”
In an instant, Shen Zhuo’s mind raced.
Twenty-three years ago, Rong Qi was forced to leave Earth, and it wasn’t until five years ago that he returned with the meteorite. How did his spirit heal in the universe during those years?
“—Mr. Rong.” Someone stepped forward, respectfully reporting: “It’s done.”
Not far away, Su Jiqiao was being propped up by several evolutionists. Although his face was pale from massive blood loss, the horrific knife wounds all over his body had disappeared as if by magic, and even his throat, almost severed by Shen Zhuo, had returned to normal.
He stood up straight, teeth clenched, covered in blood, looking somewhat pathetic.
Rong Qi glanced at him, looking down coldly: “This is the consequence of you scheming behind my back.”
Su Jiqiao panted heavily, his gaze sweeping over Shen Zhuo from head to toe with such intensity that it felt almost tangible, not sparing even a single hair or fingertip. Then he turned to Rong Qi with a sweet yet mocking smile:
“If it weren’t for the fact that S-class abilities can’t be lent, you would also be scheming behind my back. You might even break the agreement and kill me, wouldn’t you? We’re the same.”
When Rong Qi was in front of Shen Zhuo, he had a kind of avoidance towards Su Jiqiao that was imperceptible to outsiders, as if he didn’t want to reveal any information through his words. Thus, he ignored the provocations of the defeated.
“I have an important meeting coming up.” He glanced at the time, his hands politely folded in front of him. “This is your last chance; I suggest you act quickly. You have very little tolerance left with me.”
One of his subordinates retrieved a box of medicine from the car; its packaging was very familiar. In an instant, Shen Zhuo recognized it, his expression tightening.
It was the high-potency nerve agent he had previously given to Su Jiqiao!
“The strength of one’s mental power is directly related to the completeness of brain function. When a person is not fully conscious, their mental power will drop drastically, to less than one-tenth of its original strength.”
“I didn’t expect to have to resort to chemical means before launching an S-class mental attack,” Rong Qi said calmly. “But there’s one thing I can guarantee.”
“Only your emotions will be reversed; it won’t affect the future completeness of your brain functions. Under my strict protection, you will continue to complete the HRG research, helping all evolutionists undergo a second evolution. In the future, when my race rules this planet and humanity is eliminated through evolution, you will be much happier than you are now, caught between species and enemies on all sides.”
With a gesture, the subordinate holding the nerve agent quickly stepped forward, approaching Shen Zhuo.
No one understood the irresistible power of chemical drugs better than Shen Zhuo. Once this thing entered his bloodstream, it would take effect within minutes, rapidly paralyzing his brain neurons and lowering his consciousness to its minimum.
At that point, he would become a puppet on strings, with no chance of resisting Su Jiqiao’s Fatal Strike!
Shen Zhuo’s brow furrowed suddenly, and he reached for the case containing the serum—
“Don’t move!” “Stay still!” “Supervisor Shen!”
Everyone present was already on edge, wary of him injecting another dose of serum. In the blink of an eye, all the shouts rang out simultaneously. But, unexpectedly, in the next second, Shen Zhuo didn’t unlock the case. Instead, he threw it with all his might.
A silver arc traced through the air, and everyone instinctively lunged for it.
In that split second of distraction, Shen Zhuo dashed out of the cave, passing straight through Rong Qi’s ethereal body, and like an arrow, he leaped towards the cliff.
“Stop!”
In the blink of an eye, everyone realized they had been tricked, but it was too late to turn 180° and intercept him. They watched as Shen Zhuo leaped off the cliff without hesitation!
Weightlessness hit suddenly, and the wind howled past.
But during that meteoric descent, a steel cable shot down from above, catching up to Shen Zhuo like lightning and snapping around his right wrist with a “crack!”
Immediately, the steel cable yanked him back to the cliff, arcing through the air, and with a thud, Shen Zhuo hit the ground. Several evolutionists rushed over, pinning him down desperately.
The steel cable retracted, transforming back into the left hand of one of Rong Qi’s subordinates—a shape-shifting ability.
All the evolutionists were pale with fright. They quickly checked Shen Zhuo from head to toe before reporting to Rong Qi, still shaken: “No, no injuries!”
By this time, any chance of Shen Zhuo escaping was impossible. He was pinned down tightly, panting a bit helplessly.
Su Jiqiao impulsively took a couple of steps forward, only to be ruthlessly blocked by Rong Qi, who, in his anger, sneered venomously: “See? Every time you jump in, this is the result…”
“He didn’t want to see you back then, and now he doesn’t want you alive. If it weren’t for me intervening, you’d already be dead.” Rong Qi said coldly to Su Jiqiao: “Don’t thank me, because I too am eagerly awaiting the day you die.”
There was a poisonous glint in Su Jiqiao’s eyes, but Rong Qi ignored him. The nearby subordinates, not daring to delay, swiftly approached and kneeled beside Shen Zhuo, holding the high-potency nerve agent. They asked for instructions: “Mr. Rong?”
Rong Qi closed his eyes and nodded slightly.
At that moment, Shen Zhuo let out a cold laugh between breaths.
With the nerve agent right in front of him, there was no room left for struggle. Shen Zhuo didn’t waste any more energy, instead tilting his head to stare at Rong Qi and Su Jiqiao. From this angle, his long eyelashes didn’t hide the undisguised sarcasm in his eyes:
“Aren’t you two very close? How long are you going to put on a show in front of me?”
Rong Qi’s movements suddenly stopped.
“Stop blaming each other; you both disgust me equally.”
Shen Zhuo glanced at Rong Qi and rasped out each word: “Especially you, Fu Chen.”
So many twists
Aaaaah! Didn’t expect that!
I fuckin knew it