Chapter 135: The God of Vengeance

Dr. Du’s hairline was high, making his forehead appear broad and his face stern, his beard thick and lush.

He shaved his chin clean but left two thick mustaches on his upper lip.

They were trimmed like two black centipedes, extending beyond his cheekbones, slightly curled and trembling.

Back in Chang’an, he would never have grown such a beard—his appearance, clothing, and demeanor were all ordinary, like any ordinary researcher.

But when he realized he could not promote his years of research through the Chang’an Science Park, he began to consider starting anew.

For that, he needed a strikingly distinctive image, one that would help establish authority and spread his name.

After fixing his mustache by the window in the sunset, he turned and flicked his left one.

“What do you think? Aren’t these mustaches unforgettable? One glance, and you’ll recognize me next time.”

Around the long conference table sat three figures.

One sat at the head, two on the eastern side of the table.

One of the two on the east wore a red silk Tang suit, energetic, his hair dyed jet black, his eyebrows streaked with gray, his figure well-proportioned.

The other, around fifty, had sallow skin, a narrow forehead, narrow eyes, a wide mouth, and wore a custom-tailored suit, his belly still prominently protruding.

It was this suited elder who had just mentioned Wang Bo.

“Why not just shave your head and tattoo a full-length centipede on it?”

The suited elder tapped his short, thick fingers on the table. “My mind received several strongest impressions from the Guchong ’s feedback.”

“The one who captured Wang Bo was a young man, but when he died, Feng Jianhua and Yuan Chongxiao were both nearby.”

The Tang-suited elder sipped tea and smiled. “Old friend.”

“All these years, we’ve kept our distance from them, afraid they’d notice something. Now we’ve drawn their attention anyway!”

Watching their reactions, Dr. Du felt increasingly strange.

After leaving Chang’an Science Park, filled with resentment and lacking a source, he inquired everywhere—and discovered a batch of white-bone centipede eggs in the Ghost Market.

Though many in the Ghost Market understood Gushu , none could hatch those centipedes; they merely sold them as medicinal herbs.

Du Chen went to them himself, won their trust through effort, and helped them hatch and breed the centipedes.

At the time, Du Chen thought: if the authorities wouldn’t accept his project, at least getting it circulating underground wouldn’t be bad.

But after the centipedes were raised, the Ghost Market’s top three directors took notice.

The three top directors were brothers.

Mo Shengyi, Mo Wuyi, Mo Bixing.

The youngest, Mo Bixing, excelled in raising Guchong ; he infected his subordinates to prevent betrayal.

But over the years, several Ghost Market members had been captured by martial arts masters who, using the Guchong , traced back to the caster.

Fortunately, Brother Mo was alert—he immediately fought back, severed the connection, and avoided any trace.

White-bone centipedes had one major advantage over ordinary Guchong : once integrated into the body, they were nearly impossible to detect.

Outsiders couldn’t even sense their aura; even if held in hand, no secret technique could detect the link between the Chong and its caster.

Brother Mo immediately decided to refine these centipedes into Guchong and replace all previous Guchong used by Ghost Market members.

He then informed Du Chen to distribute live white-bone centipedes as an internal benefit.

Subsequent bred centipedes were to be processed into medicine and sold externally.

In the treacherous Ghost Market, buyers who purchased live centipedes would surely process them themselves—or even try to breed them.

What was sold to outsiders was inferior-grade medicine, and dead matter.

This better secured the Ghost Market’s monopoly and increased users’ frequency of drug purchases.

But this clashed with Du Chen’s original intent.

He had wanted to rapidly spread white-bone centipedes widely, so his achievements would have profound impact.

The Ghost Market’s maneuver, though for different reasons, produced nearly the same result as Chang’an Science Park’s rejection.

At that time, Du Chen had already considered secretly stealing a batch of the finest centipedes and fleeing.

But before he found a suitable opportunity,

change occurred.

Guangling began snowing early this year.

Many southern regions were snowing, freezing into disaster.

One day, Brother Mo suddenly arrived at the centipede breeding facility.

As usual, he showed deep affection for the centipedes.

But on one matter, he broke his norm—he greatly praised Du Chen’s idea of propagating white-bone centipede breeding.

Others might not have noticed why Brother Mo changed.

But Du Chen, who had once led projects in Chang’an, immediately sensed why.

It was the power of the spirit-world gods.

A spirit-world god, sensing the cold disaster, had reached into reality and influenced Brother Mo through the centipede Guchong .

Du Chen’s mind spun with thoughts—he seized the opportunity, using Brother Mo’s aura to sculpt an image of that spirit-world god.

He conspired with Brother Mo, exploiting the brothers’ trust, and quietly implanted Guchong into the second and eldest brothers.

Indeed, all three began supporting the promotion of white-bone centipedes.

This was perfect!

White-bone centipedes had extremely low intelligence; their only clear desire was to grow their population and have more companions.

But humans also had this desire.

Aside from this subtle shift in mindset, the brothers’ personalities and experiences remained unchanged.

Though the implanted centipedes exposed them to the spirit-world god’s influence,

it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Du Chen had originally proposed: if a spirit-world god first seized control over all white-bone centipedes,

then these centipedes would not submit when encountering other spirit-world auras.

Most spirit-world gods acted by instinct, unlike human understanding of wisdom.

Some received massive blood sacrifices merely to turn humans into trees.

Such beings, with strong malice toward humans, were clearly unsuitable.

But this spirit-world god, having contacted the white-bone centipedes, was fundamentally driven by vengeance.

A spirit, yet also a god!

He didn’t care whether those who sought his power sought revenge against humans or against spirit-world species.

Even if the spirit-world launched a full-scale invasion, this god could still be a force usable by real-world humans.

But the Gu -refined centipedes amplified their ferocity, and under the god’s aura, they became easily agitated.

This was problematic.

Better to let unrefined centipedes undergo a purification by pure spirit-god energy.

Then breed them, and spread their offspring widely.

Du Chen was currently preparing for this.

“Chang’an Science Park called me too—their tone was full of suspicion.”

Dr. Du chuckled. “They wanted me to join a new project. I took a year-and-a-half leave and never returned—of course they’d grow suspicious.”

Dr. Du didn’t feel particularly worried.

Back in the Science Park, some of his proposals weren’t even supported by his own research team.

Now, he had a large group of people fully backing him.

Some of the white-bone centipede project’s flaws had been partially resolved.

Even if trouble came, it couldn’t be worse than the day a single document terminated the entire project.

“Then…”

Mo Shengyi, seated at the head, closed the file, revealing thin eyebrows, long eyes, a high nose bridge, and a jawline carved like a blade.

“Let’s move up our plan.”

Du Chen’s heart tightened.

When he and Brother Mo conspired, they had convinced Brother Mo: after so many years of blood ties, implanting the two elder brothers with centipedes would make their bond even closer.

So they first ambushed the second brother, then all three together ambushed the eldest.

Incense, tea, carpet, documents—all infused with secret medicines, working in concert.

Their goal: first suppress Mo Shengyi’s power, then restrain him together and implant the centipedes.

Even so, after Brother Mo succeeded, his body trembled slightly—he couldn’t believe it had worked.

Du Chen, of course, wasn’t as weak as Brother Mo.

But he still felt that with the centipedes still newly implanted, Mo Shengyi might still expel them.

Yet Mo Shengyi simply accepted it.

Thus, Du Chen always kept a measure of caution and wariness toward this eldest brother.

“According to the chairman’s wishes, how much earlier?”

Mo Shengyi didn’t answer directly. “According to this document, Li Guangzong’s group was the first to fall, then Wang Bo and his people.”

“Wang Bo’s position is unusual. Though his public identity has no connection to our company, some personnel he’s tied to are also from our Ghost Market.”

“And with this cold disaster, flights, trains, and highways have all halted. The time it takes them to gather and reach the martial school will expose far too much.”

Brother Mo was startled: “Brother, are you saying they’ll realize our headquarters is inside Guangling City?”

"That's right. If their target is the Jianghuai region, they might search until next year and still find nothing—but if they focus only on Guangling, with official forces plus all the connections of the Golden Knife Martial Academy..."

Mo Shengyi said calmly, "Even if someone suspects our company tonight, I wouldn't be surprised."

Du Chen thought for a moment, then said, "Then let's strike tonight."

"The sun has already set—doesn't that count as night now?"

Mo Shengyi stood up, pulling on a gray-black fur-collared coat, sleeves hanging loose, then picked up a pair of jet-black gloves from the table and slipped them on.

"The goods we stockpiled this year couldn't be shipped out, so we used them all for this ritual. Even without bringing in more, our reserves are sufficient."

"The Mirror Ape—the god of vengeance."

"That's an ancient ghost, starving for hundreds of years. We're offering him so much—how could he not give his all?"

(End of Chapter)