Chapter 83: The Runaway Dog Ding Jie

In Yan's office, Ding Jie's eyes held fear and unease. "Sister Yan, Luohé City nearly fell to a genetic beast today—I want to leave for Yanjing early."

"Why the rush? Who even knows you're here? The Seleu gene incident is long over; you can reappear publicly after a while with no consequences," Yan said coolly.

"Sister Yan, I heard that little brat Ding Xiaotu has become incredibly powerful—is that true?" Ding Jie, though always hiding, wasn't completely ignorant.

Yan chuckled. "So what if he's powerful? Can he even find this place? The Gene Alliance is hunting him—he's barely saving his own skin."

Before Yan finished speaking, she saw Ding Jie suddenly rise. She was about to ask when she sensed something, turned around—and found the door had opened without her noticing.

Standing at the doorway was a young man in gray robes, his back laden with a large pack.

"Who let you in here?" Yan snapped sharply.

She assumed it was some student's relative who'd tracked her down.

But Ding Jie's eyes filled with terror; his whole body trembled.

"Long time no see, heir of Bai Yu Group," Ding Huan stepped into the room and kicked the door shut.

"Ding Xiaotu, you, you…" He had always been the one scolding Ding Xiaotu; now, seeing him, Ding Jie felt an inexplicable dread.

Logically, he should've held the psychological upper hand standing before Ding Xiaotu.

"You're Ding Huan?" Yan suddenly realized, staring at him in shock.

She naturally knew Ding Xiaotu was Ding Huan.

"That's right—I'm Ding Huan. A few months ago, I destroyed the Gene Alliance's main base and killed everyone inside. A few days ago, I wiped out every single member of the Washing Knife Society in Luohé."

As Ding Huan spoke, he smiled pleasantly, as if recounting an ordinary event.

Even though she knew Ding Huan was trying to frighten her, Yan couldn't stop trembling.

Normally, she looked down on everyone—even the principal didn't earn her respect. But now, facing death, she panicked.

"List everything I need to know. I'll ask you later—if you don't, you'll know the consequences," Ding Huan said, fixing Yan with a stare, then slowly walked toward Ding Jie.

After sizing up Ding Jie, Ding Huan spoke: "What kind of beast did you crawl out of? You don't even know gratitude—you betrayed your own savior."

Ding Huan knew clearly that when Ding Baishan saved Ding Jie, Ding Jie was about to be taken for genetic experiments.

When genes first emerged, countless people were destroyed by all sorts of genetic trials. Ding Jie was just one of them.

"I don't know, I know nothing…" Ding Jie had long seen from news reports how powerful this Ding Xiaotu—who'd changed his name to Ding Huan—had become.

Now, hearing Ding Huan had wiped out the Gene Alliance and the Washing Knife Society, he turned pale with terror.

"You have three seconds. If you don't speak, you won't speak at all," Ding Huan had no time for slow questioning of this Ding Jie.

"It was them—they forced me to betray Father…" Ding Jie's voice shook; as he spoke, he pointed at Yan.

"You have no right calling him Father. Speak—was it Seleu Gene?" Ding Huan's tone turned harsh.

Ding Jie hurriedly said, "Yes. Professor Wen Yuanfu, who served Uncle, developed Seleu Gene. Seleu Gene requires a herb called Mutated Qimá."

Mutated Qimá is a herb exclusively controlled by the Qin family of Yanjing, so Uncle took Professor Wen to the Qin family…"

He dared not call him Father anymore.

At this moment, Ding Huan understood why Ding Baishan had sought a marriage alliance with the Qin family.

It was all because of Seleu Gene.

Ding Baishan vanished in Yanjing; Seleu Gene later malfunctioned; then, a similar substance called Cocoon Gene appeared.

Cocoon Gene was jointly developed by Yongtang Biotech and Ocean Group—the truth was becoming clearer.

"I stole the data on Seleu Gene's formula, but the formula lacked the true gene-chain fusion component."

"Yan told me she brought the gene-chain fusion data. Later, I learned the data was false."

Ding Jie's voice trembled with fear—he worried Ding Huan would kill him.

After saying this, Ding Jie saw Ding Huan's face darken, and he rushed to add: "The Kuiyuan Pill given to Uncle was provided to me by Yan."

"Kuiyuan Pill?" Ding Huan frowned. His father, Ding Baishan, was just an ordinary man—why would he need a Kuiyuan Pill?

"Yes. Uncle was a Xuan-level martial artist. They feared he'd resist, so they had me slip him the Kuiyuan Pill in advance. The pill took effect two days later," Ding Jie didn't dare hesitate.

Ding Huan was stunned. Honestly, if Ding Jie hadn't shown up today, he'd never known his father, Ding Baishan, was a Xuan-level martial artist.

No wonder he'd built such a vast empire—he wasn't ordinary after all. But if his father was a Xuan-level martial artist, why didn't he teach Ding Huan himself? Why hire so many martial arts instructors instead?

Seeing Ding Huan's darkening expression, Ding Jie grew even more terrified, fearing Ding Huan might strike at any moment, and kept babbling:

"I didn't do any of this—I didn't even want to steal Professor Wen's data. They forced me…"

From Ding Jie's expression, Ding Huan knew he could know no more.

Ding Huan had no intention of sparing this scum. Even ignoring what he'd done to his father, the fake Seleu Gene this man helped create had killed countless innocents.

He raised his hand and hurled a fireball at Ding Jie. The fireball engulfed him, and Ding Jie let out a piercing scream.

In that moment, his deepest fears reached their peak.

It was real—the Sulu Oath was real.

Long ago, Ding Baishan had taken him to the Sulu Temple to swear an oath: if he ever betrayed Ding Huan or harbored ill will toward him, he'd be burned alive by flames.

Because of that oath, he'd dared not kill Ding Huan—and now, the oath had come true.

In that moment, the flames consumed Ding Jie's entire being with terror—but all regret was too late.

Yan's pants were soaked; though she struggled to control her body, her legs wouldn't stop shaking.

"You kept Ding Jie alive to use him as a scapegoat, didn't you? Speak—where is my father? Who did this?" Ding Huan fixed Yan with a calm gaze.

"I don't know, I know nothing, it has nothing to do with me," Yan's mind was crumbling.

"Then you have no value," Ding Huan said, still calm.

"I only know Da Tang Biotech was involved—Da Tang belongs to the Qiao family. I know nothing else. I was ordered by the Qiao family to wait here for your appearance…" Yan's voice grew even more frantic.

Sensing Ding Huan's icy killing intent, Yan quickly added: "I heard Ding Baishan was rescued—someone linked to the Sulu Temple. That's all I know."

Ding Huan raised his hand and unleashed a wind blade. "You have no value."

…

Leaving Luohé University of Martial Arts, Ding Huan wanted to visit Suoluo Temple, but he knew well that Suoluo Temple should no longer exist.

With the gene-monster outbreak, the city of Jinzhou, where Suoluo Temple stood, had been occupied by monsters years ago.

As for going to the Qiao family or Datang Biology, he had no time to go now.

A powerful beast capable of commanding all global monsters had appeared; he must find a way to boost his strength as soon as possible.

"Laoliu, why are you here so soon? Didn't I tell you to help the Great Ape General with his work arrangements?"

When Ding Huan returned to the entrance of Yujiang University, he found Laoliu staring at Tan Bei and Fei Tongtong, with several nervous security guards beside them.

The conflict between gene-monsters and humans had reached an irreconcilable point; for Laoliu to come to Yujiang University naturally made everyone feel as if under siege.

There simply weren't any guns here—if there had been, someone would have shot already.

"Teacher Ding, this is your pet…?" Tan Bei suddenly understood.

Laoliu gave Tan Bei a scornful look, thinking: You're the pet, your whole family are pets.

Ding Huan smiled and silently acknowledged it, not bothering to explain.

"Since Laoliu's here, let's go now."

Ding Huan hadn't expected Laoliu to arrive so fast—he was certain Laoliu hadn't completed the task he'd been given, but he couldn't ask here.

…

Ding Huan thought that with the monster surge, the high-speed trains from Luohé to Pǔhǎi might have all stopped running; even if they ran, there'd be hardly any passengers.

When Ding Huan arrived at the station, he realized how wrong he had been.

The entire high-speed rail station was packed—not only was the waiting hall for trains to Pǔhǎi overflowing, but every waiting hall for trains to safe cities was crammed with people.

This Luohé monster surge had affected everyone far too greatly.

Those with connections dared not stay in Luohé any longer; they feared the monster surge might strike Luohé City a second time, and were desperate to leave.

No one knew that Luohé City was now the safest place in the entire world.

Any monster wishing to attack Luohé City must pass through Qianluo Mountain; as long as Qianluo Mountain's Great Wilderness Jin Yuan refused, Luohé City would remain as stable as Mount Tai.

The high-speed train route between Luohé and Pǔhǎi had once suffered a catastrophic monster surge attack, during which the train was nearly annihilated.

Even so, it could not stop the trains from running back and forth between Luohé and Pǔhǎi.

Everyone understood that in this world, no matter where you were, even if you didn't take a train, you could still be swept up by a monster surge.

If that's the case, why fear it?

The larger the city, the stronger its defenses; living in a big city was always safer than living in a small one.

Although the train was packed, the journey passed without incident; the train made no stops and arrived at Pǔhǎi Station in just eight hours.

"Should we go to Haiyun Mutated Materials first?" As soon as they exited the station, Fei Tongtong asked.

"No, I'm short on time—take me straight to the Beast King Guild," Ding Huan had already decided.

First, retrieve what belonged to him from the Beast King Guild, and meanwhile, rescue Mu Tingyun and Zhao Quan.

Second, find out about the Gene Alliance—if their primordial experts are present, he'd use an ambush; if not, he'd storm in directly.

After going to the Gene Alliance, he would take Laoliu to the Kunlun Mountains.

"Alright." Fei Tongtong nodded eagerly, quickly driving her car out of the station to take Ding Huan to the Beast King Guild.