Chapter 345: Retaliation

The effect of the Ape-Man Gun is to cause living things or objects to devolve dramatically — for instance, a solid-state drive devolves into a floppy disk, and the original *Three-Body Problem* novel devolves into the *Three-Body Problem* animated adaptation by YHKT Entertainment.

After being devolved five times in a row, Bei Xie went straight from a Ghost Infant into a thumb-sized, shriveled, dehydrated dried radish.

Li Cheng's left hand steadily caught the Xuanlei Qilin blood plasma falling from midair and stowed it back into his backpack slot.

At the same time, he flicked the dried-radish Ghost Infant off the ground with his toe, grabbed it with his right hand, activated the Patchwork Puppet effect, peeled open its outer skin and flesh, and flung it like a flatbread over the remaining Ghost Infants charging at him, bellowing: "Sky-Sweeping Cloak!"

Thud thud thud!

The Bei Xie shared the same root and origin, so they could make contact with one another. Under that single cloak, every Ghost Infant was snared.

Li Cheng's hands moved like lightning; two fingers pressed together, sealing the skin pouch like wrapping a dumpling, and beneath the cicada-wing-thin Ghost Infant skin, eleven savage faces were clearly visible.

He turned around, smiling, and held up the bulging Ghost Infant bundle, showing it off to the World Peace House crew in the observation room, as well as to the horrified Tiegu. "Congratulations — your Lady is pregnant. Eleven babies at once."

Really? That's wonderful, what a happy occasion.

My ass!

Changsun Yao's expression went rigid. She reached out and pressed the speaker button, saying to Li Cheng: "Does this count as cured?"

"I suppose so."

Li Cheng swung the limp Ghost Infant bundle back and forth like a water-balloon toy, saying offhandedly: "For now, all the Ghost Infants have been extracted. Would you like to keep one as a memento?"

Tiegu on the operating table and Changsun Yao's group said in unison: "No!"

"Tch, no taste at all. Look how cute and fun this is. Just like the silkworms that grew on the corpse of my living room's 60-kg, 1.7-meter-tall pet."

Li Cheng stretched the Ghost Infants long and squashed them flat as if pulling noodles, saying casually: "Since you don't want a memento, I'll send them to the Evil Science Alliance, or some other guild that does in-depth research on vengeful spirits, for transmigration."

"Understood."

You Anjian struggled to ignore Li Cheng's silkworm remarks, walked into the operating room on her own initiative, and nervously took the Ghost Infant bundle.

Suppressing the strong discomfort from the cold, slick texture, she sprinted all the way downstairs toward the Evil Science Alliance.

"All done, calling it a day. Surgery fee, a friendly 1,200 game coins — we're all friends here, so twenty percent off, friendship price 960."

Li Cheng spoke as he pulled off his gloves and mask, heading downstairs.

"Price is negotiable — Master Pi Fu, bro, could you put my organs back first?!"

Tiegu, always taciturn and inarticulate, finally couldn't hold it in anymore, ignoring the age gap between himself and Li Cheng: "And the blood on my body."

In the time it took him to speak, Li Cheng had already taken out a dish of salt and minced ginger, scallion, and garlic, preparing to pour it into the red plastic bucket.

"Huh?"

Li Cheng turned his head and gave him a strange look. "Putting everything back is a hassle. Besides, aren't you fine like this? Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys all running well — and in the future you won't have to worry about fatty liver, hyperlipidemia, or lung cancer."

Tiegu's face was written all over with a cringeworthy wince. "I still think the original organs are a bit better."

Beep beep beep.

Perhaps the surge of emotion activated the power source, the various small appliances inside Tiegu's body started running overclocked.

Especially the Nine Yang Soy Milk Maker serving as his stomach — its inner wall mysteriously began secreting salty soy milk to act as gastric acid.

On the Gree air-conditioner water pump, a faint portrait photo of Dong Mzhu surfaced.

"Tch, fine then."

Li Cheng shook his head, unplugged the small appliances, reinstalled Tiegu's original organs, and closed the sternum.

As for the big bucket of fresh hot blood on the floor, he used a soy-sauce funnel to pour it back into Tiegu's blood vessels.

"For one to two weeks after surgery, don't eat spicy food, don't do strenuous exercise, don't mix cephalosporins with alcohol, look both ways before crossing the street, stop on red, go on green, and if you run into trouble, find a policeman."

Li Cheng rattled off a pile of medical advice, real or made-up. Tiegu, caught between laughter and tears, could only nod repeatedly to express his thanks.

"Sorry for the trouble this time."

Changsun Yao took a deep breath, transferred a rounded-up thousand game coins to Li Cheng through the friends interface, then gave her subordinates a look.

Everyone present, Tiegu included, took the hint and filed downstairs.

"There's one more thing I feel you should know."

Changsun Yao's expression turned solemn as she said seriously: "Someone on the black market is putting up bounties to gather information on your identity."

"Huh?" Li Cheng raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"I don't know. Based on my informants, I only know that several factions are interested in your real-world identity. Useful information fetches 20,000 game coins."

"Verified, reliable information, or biological samples like hair, blood, or fingernails can fetch up to 50,000."

"Fifty thousand??" At the black-market exchange rate of one game coin to 16,000, fifty thousand could be converted into 800 million RMB.

Li Cheng smiled and shook his head. "They're willing to put real money down."

"Aren't you worried?" Changsun Yao couldn't help asking.

"I could be, but there's no need." Li Cheng said casually — even with his toes he could figure out which factions were secretly placing bounties on intel about him.

The Maniacal Laughter Troupe was surely on the list; equipment-manufacturing guilds with commercial competition against him, like Prometheus and European Heavy Industries, were very likely on it too; even the Global Paranormal Alliance, where Gouchen's brother Zhongtian Beiji served, might have a hand in it.

"A leader without news isn't a leader, a celebrity without scandals isn't a celebrity — by the same logic, a supernatural who doesn't carry a few bounties on his back isn't a high-level player."

Li Cheng's tone was light. On one hand, plenty of supernatural beings had bounties posted on them on the black market.

On the other hand, he was always careful in daily life, making sure every time he went on a script mission that not a single hair, body hair, or bodily fluid of his was left behind.

"Understood."

Seeing Li Cheng was mentally prepared, Changsun Yao said no more, nodding: "I'll keep an eye on the black market. The moment I hear anything, I'll let you know."

!

"Mm, thanks."

Li Cheng went downstairs to see Changsun Yao off, noticed the two Prometheus business representatives were still there, casually took out a cup of salty soy milk and a sweet coconut juice and handed them over. "Our shop is closing for the day. Please head back, gentlemen."

The two business representatives had long been tormented enough by Huiyu's bizarre train of thought. Since Li Cheng was showing them out, they took the cue, took a sip of their drinks, and hurried away.

After seeing off all the guests, Li Cheng pulled down the roller shutter, sat down at the computer desk, scrolled the mouse wheel, and leisurely looked over the artifact warehousing list.

The president of the Evil Science Alliance, By the Truth's Side, had once gone around the world stirring up trouble — the list of laws broken and people offended could "fill volumes." But once he hit Lv40, every bounty and old grudge vanished on its own.

In the end, you still need to grow stronger.

Li Cheng adjusted his glasses, rose slowly, and pulled out a small test tube containing formalin solution and shredded meat; he exited through the side door of Zhu Xing Zhen Tai and walked toward the black market.

The test tube held shredded meat collected during the Toy City mission—Gouchen and Zhongtian Beiji's modus operandi ensured they had no shortage of enemies in the Killing Grounds.

Taking blows without striking back was never Li Cheng's style.

————

In the real world, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at a high-end charity gala.

The Gouchen family was surrounded like stars circling the moon by wealthy and powerful figures from across Southeast Asia.

For the elite who controlled vast social resources, the existence of the Killing Grounds was no secret; everyone knew Zhongtian Beiji was now GOC's regional agent for Southeast Asia, and so they eagerly followed the trend, fawning and flattering.

Zhongtian Beiji politely and humbly navigated the social scene, leaving every conversational partner feeling as if bathed in spring breeze.

Beside him, Gouchen wore a forced smile, yet inwardly felt rising revulsion—dealing with these bloated, fat-headed mortals, whom he could crush with a single finger, was less entertaining than heading to the brawl gym in the Slums.

"Calm your mind."

Zhongtian Beiji noticed the unnatural twitching of Gouchen's facial muscles and transmitted a voice through the air: "The global order has not yet fully collapsed; money and currency still hold value."

The powerful need the transcendent, and the transcendent need them."

"Suppress your irritation now, stride forward as if stepping over that Master Pi Fu. The future ultimately belongs to us."

"Hmm."

Gouchen revered his brother as if he were a god, and obediently took a deep breath, readjusted his forced smile, and began chatting with a government official: "Our Zirui Corporation is eager to fund and build a new campus for the University of Malaya."

Before he finished speaking, Gouchen's face twisted—he vomited a torrent of yellow-brown bile, splattering it directly onto the official's face, where it trickled down his cheeks into a champagne flute.

?!

This sudden spectacle froze the charity gala mid-event.

Gouchen's eyes widened; he instantly realized someone had cast a remote curse or black magic upon him, and instinctively clapped a hand over his mouth.

Then—

Purlipurlipurlipulululululu—

Before every camera at the gala, Gouchen's nose, ears, and back erupted like fire hydrants, violently spraying.

Worse still, the cursed energy within the spray spread and propagated.

Every wealthy noble—man, woman, child—splattered by the fluid began vomiting simultaneously. One spread to ten, ten to a hundred. The scene became spectacular.

(End of Chapter)