Chapter 236: Plague Seed

As the blood-colored last words filled with unwillingness appeared, Wu Chang's consciousness pulled free from the resentment.

Farell's resentment displayed how, in this life, he had ceaselessly climbed upward, how he had come from one mire to another, larger mire.

Most of it was his unwillingness toward the status quo; the secrets of Hymn Company were mentioned only sparingly.

But one thing Wu Chang noticed was that, within Farell's resentment, a faint, elusive blackness had always hovered around him.

That blackness resembled the "evil" from which divinity had coalesced when he transformed into a Disqualified Monster.

Perhaps Farell's "evil" was too pure, or perhaps the divinity within him was too strong — before this, Wu Chang had never seen similar black qi in anyone else's resentment.

From the moment Farell came to understand the world, the black qi representing "evil" had circled him, and it kept growing as his age increased.

Drug peddling, gang-mixing, gunning down competitors — these were all small-time scraps. Farell's flood of "evil" truly began when he joined Hymn Company.

Especially when he confirmed he could never complete a full psionic activation surgery, operate a Primordial Armament, or be promoted to a Level Seven Supervisor, and heard Schultz say he was destined to become a Level Nine Partner — reaching the two highest nodes of Hymn Company.

Both of these nodes caused a qualitative change in the "evil" swirling around him.

Wu Chang had a premonition that this was no coincidence, nor Farell's doing — it was Hymn Company's atmosphere and operating mechanism that awakened and amplified the "evil" in many employees' hearts.

The technology that transformed people into Disqualified Monsters could draw out divinity from the "evil" in a person's heart; the denser the "evil," the stronger the divinity, and the stronger the resulting Disqualified Monster.

It would be stranger if Hymn Company, possessing such technology, did not deliberately stir up the "evil" within its materials.

Wu Chang even suspected Farell's fate had been sealed the instant he entered Hymn Company, or from the moment he began planning the campus shooting.

Even the incomplete psionic activation surgery might have been a plan by Hymn Company's upper echelons, its purpose being to test just how far Farell could blacken.

What Schultz valued in him was not his ability or his black-hearted ruthlessness, but his capacity to grow in "evil."

Thinking of this, a trace of pity entered Wu Chang's gaze as he looked at Farell.

You set your heart on reaching the very top of Hymn Company — but once you got there, what truly awaited you was a partnership?

Much like earlier, when everyone looked forward to the lavish New Year's Eve dinner — the fat, sturdy New Year pig looked forward to it too, even more eagerly than the farmer, which carries a certain dark humor.

Wu Chang sighed and walked toward the Fly King, who was on his last breath.

By now some time had passed since the Fly King broke free of his chains; the seal on his divinity had been undone, letting him begin rapidly repairing himself.

But what Wu Chang had been waiting for was precisely the recovery of his divinity.

The thunder spiritual power within Wu Chang gathered in his hand, transforming into the Divine Thunder of the Five Throws, and he slammed his fist into the blood hole Fei Guang had earlier torn open.

The Divine Thunder's extra damage against divinity, combined with Wu Chang's title of God-Defiler, instantly killed the Fly King, who had only a sliver of health left.

Wu Chang's True Self devoured the Fly King's vitality, gaining 62 points of Strength.

For the Sea Giant's Infinite Growth, the Strength gained from devouring vitality depends only on the target's physical strength.

Setting aside divinity, the Fly King's pure physical strength had reached the standard of Abyss Layer Two — at least stronger than the Abyss Layer Two player called Scalpel, though still some gap behind Helmet Man.

With Game-Breaker Master and Sea Giant Transformation stacked, Wu Chang's Strength attribute when entering the instance was 148; adding 62 points of Strength, and accounting for the diminishing bonus after exceeding 200 points...

Wu Chang's current Strength value is 207 points.

With its vitality all devoured, the Fly King was clearly dead beyond doubt; what remained was to complete Farell's blood-colored last words.

Wu Chang dismissed Golden Light and brought the Fly King's corpse out.

By then Fei Guang and Chiba had already left the scene to treat the Mist, giving Wu Chang plenty of time for what came next.

Fei Guang and Chiba had gone, but Lei Mengde had not left. The instant Wu Chang appeared, Lei Mengde hurried over, looked at the enormous Fly King corpse on the ground, and asked;

"Where did you just take it?"

Wu Chang said, "To a place you've been before."

Lei Mengde pursed his lips, assuming Wu Chang simply didn't want to say.

In his understanding, his hypnosis and the drug that turned people into monsters could, barely, be explained away — but Wu Chang carrying a person through space with his bare body, appearing at the sea one moment and in a palace the next, couldn't be explained by science at all.

"So what do we do with this big guy now — leave him here, or put him somewhere more conspicuous?"

Wu Chang looked toward the distant Hymn Tower. "I'm planning to put him somewhere more conspicuous."

Lei Mengde pulled out his phone, ready to hire a large freight truck.

"Then we'd better hurry — the commotion we just made was too big; the compound has already sent several squads of guards to check it out."

Wu Chang shook his head and said:

"No need for that much trouble."

His left hand pressed on the Fly King's corpse; his right hand's index finger and thumb spread into a right angle, forming a figure-eight gesture, the tip of his index finger pointing at a spot slightly above the top floor of Hymn Tower.

It was a fine day today, with no clouds in the way, letting him see the top floor directly.

Lei Mengde asked, puzzled, "What are you trying to do?"

Wu Chang didn't answer, and directly activated long-range teleportation. A massive teleportation array materialized around the Fly King's corpse; the next instant, the Fly King vanished into thin air, traversed several kilometers, and appeared in the sky Wu Chang's fingertip was pointing toward.

The Fly King's corpse fell, the sharp top of Hymn Tower piercing straight through it, the body skewered on the tower.

In his top-floor office, Schultz was at that very moment listening to symphonic music playing from a record player and reading the book in his hand.

He read very fast — ten lines at a glance — and combined with his photographic memory, his reading speed rivaled quantum reading.

But this particular book in his hand, he read very slowly.

Not only slowly, but he often returned to earlier passages to reread them.

After twelve o'clock each day was his reading time; barring special circumstances, no one could disturb him.

A message arrived on his enormous desk — his life assistant, Peggy, was entering the office, right on time to bring his daily coffee.

Peggy was a twenty-two-year-old young woman who had skipped grades to complete her master's degree; unwilling to keep wasting her life in academia and research institutes, she had come to Hymn Company.

To quickly become a Level Six employee, she had not refused Schultz's invitation and had become his life assistant.

An ambitious girl, Peggy, though only a life assistant, was busier than many managers; through her own permissions, she reviewed the performance files of every department and rapidly mastered how each one operated.

Schultz had no doubt that, if Peggy were dropped into any department right now, she would make a competent Level Seven Supervisor.

But he had no intention of doing so.

Because Peggy was neither good enough nor bad enough — she could only bring results.

Pure performance metrics are now useless to him.

Peggy, wearing thin-framed glasses and a black business suit, placed the coffee on Schultz's desk.

"Thank you."

Schultz closed the book and set it aside; the cover bore the title *Virtue and Vice*.

As he lifted the coffee, Peggy had already moved behind him and began massaging his shoulders.

"Chairman, the HR manager just submitted an application. Due to the Songbird Hunters, there has been a massive number of managerial vacancies—he hopes to promote a batch of Gold-ranked employees before next week." Schultz replied coolly, "I understand."

Peggy fell silent. The answer she wanted did not come, leaving her slightly disappointed, but she quickly recovered and continued:

"Mr. Mo Ke just paid a visit. He asked me to pass on a message: it's time to choose your final partner."

Schultz looked out the window. "The final partner was decided long ago—Farrell..."

As he spoke, a sudden *pfft* echoed, as if something had struck the Songbird Tower—the entire office shuddered.

Peggy steadied herself amid the shaking. Before she could process what had happened, she saw a massive, half-rotted, fly-like creature dangling down and crashing against the office's floor-to-ceiling window.

The giant compound eye on the fly's head locked directly with Peggy's gaze—she screamed in terror.

In contrast to Peggy's panic, Schultz remained calm. He frowned slightly and resumed his previous thought.

"Go tell Mo Ke to cross off Farrell."

Hearing Schultz's order, Peggy fled the office as if escaping, daring not to glance another second at the giant fly outside.

After Peggy left, Schultz stood and walked to the window, murmuring to himself:

"Will this affect my plan?"

Then he closed his eyes, as if listening. After a moment, he asked again:

!

"Then does the one who killed Farrell affect my plan?"

After another pause, Schultz received his answer, sat back down in his chair, and resumed reading.

On the other side, Wu Chang felt uneasy after successfully delivering Farrell to the highest level of Songbird Corp—he wasn't sure if this method counted as fulfilling Farrell's Blood Testament.

Though the method and outcome differed slightly from what Farrell had envisioned, he had sent Farrell to the true highest level—even higher than Schultz's position. The positives and negatives canceled out; it should count as a pass.

A few seconds later, Farrell's Blood Testament—*I must reach the highest level of Songbird Corp! *—faded slowly from his vision.

He had truly passed!

No way, buddy, if you were this easy to satisfy, you shouldn't have been a department manager—you should've been in janitorial, cleaning high-rise windows.

Fulfilling Farrell's Crimson Resentment granted him two Life points, two Inspiration points, and one Will point.

It also granted him a pair of miniature fly wings.

The wings resembled those on the Fly King's back—composed entirely of flesh and membrane.

"Item Name: Seed of Plague"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Description: A divine seed imbued with plague power. Currently in dormancy. Activated by proper means, it grants Plague Divinity."

"Note: Flies are always accompanied by plague. Never underestimate the horrors such small creatures may carry."

Wu Chang hadn't expected that fulfilling Farrell's last wish would drop the Seed of Plague.

Among Divinities, there are differences.

As Divinity, that awakened by lesser deities usually lacks a prefix—it is pure Divinity alone.

Its function merely distinguishes a semi-god or lesser deity from mortals; in rank-based combat, it holds little power.

But Divinity with a specific prefix is different—Plague Divinity, for instance, signifies it possesses unique abilities in a particular domain.

If the domain expands further and the Divinity's abilities are not weak, evolving into a Sovereignty is not impossible.

Plague Divinity—just hearing the name suggests it's potent. Combined with the "Plague Walk" in the Calamity, it could make someone expel their own organs from simple diarrhea.

Wu Chang was certain: if he placed the Seed of Plague in the Abyss's Second Layer, the veteran players who had already gained Divinity would fight over it like mad.

Farrell brothers, you're too generous.

In the Songbird Corp dimension, if Schultz was his godfather, then Farrell was his blood brother by different fathers.

Wu Chang tucked away the Seed of Plague. He turned his head and saw Lei Mengde staring at him with wide eyes and an open mouth, his expression exaggerated like a Disney character.

Lei Mengde pointed at him, then at the Fly King's corpse hanging from the top of Songbird Corp, and exclaimed:

"How did you do that?"

Wu Chang shrugged. "Simple spatial movement."

Lei Mengde stammered, "That's not what I mean! You're from Mao Xiong or the Rabbits, right? Your abilities should come from brain development, right? But how do you explain this? It doesn't make sense!"

Wu Chang looked at Lei Mengde with an innocent expression. "Don't your Federation people achieve similar effects after developing your Talent Zone?"

Lei Mengde shook his head violently. "No. I've never even heard of such a thing."

Wu Chang sneered. "Then it's definitely your problem—Songbird Corp is hiding things from you. The human body is incredibly mysterious. Look at the Degenerate Monsters and Primordial Armaments Songbird Corp creates—their effects are even more outrageous than our abilities."

Lei Mengde wanted to argue, but then he recalled the abilities of the Degenerate Monsters and the Fly King's display—and realized Wu Chang might have a point.

Tonight, those who died weren't just Farrell—also members of the Iron Armor Squad.

It wasn't Youwu who died; he had barely survived thanks to Qianye's ability and constant Blood Potions. The dead were the ordinary members of the elite combat teams.

Feiguang, Youwu, and Qianye had originally thought the commotion was caused by Bu Ke's group. This time, to eliminate them thoroughly, they summoned every Iron Armor Squad member for a full-scale assault.

Feiguang's three leaders were held back by the Fly King. Wu Chang, Zhenwo, and Lei Mengde watched from afar—where had Bu Ke and his three gone?

The answer was simple: they had ambushed along the route, slaughtering Iron Armor Squad members rushing to reinforce Feiguang's group.

As core members of the four major organizations, Bu Ke's group was inherently stronger than the Iron Armor Squad. Now, with ambush advantage, and since the Iron Armor members were scattered and arrived in batches, they often faced outnumbered odds.

If two words described this ambush, they were: brutal.

Twelve elite combat team members were cut down—half of them. Had Youwu and Qianye not returned, Bu Ke's group would have annihilated every last elite member within another half hour.

Feiguang and Qianye abandoned their struggle with Booker and rushed to find Wu Chang, begging for his help.

Wu Chang could be certain that Feiguang and the others held more than one trump card—even the contract they had used was not their largest one.

Keeping them alive would be immensely useful for his dungeon runs; without Feiguang and the others, who would stand at the front when the next Mosquito King or Cockroach King appeared?

Wu Chang did not hesitate—he immediately granted them access, sending Youwu to the Equipment Department to use the best healing devices to sustain their lives.

This move once again won over Feiguang and Qianye; in ancient times, the two would have already prostrated themselves in instant devotion.

At this moment, Manager Xiao En was the perfect leader who had led them out of their predicament—don't ask how they got into it in the first place.

After a busy night, Wu Chang's performance metrics surged again.

As yesterday, Wu Chang failed to return home; after a two-hour nap in his office, his secretary woke him to inform him of an emergency meeting called on short notice.

After a quick wash and shave, he marched to the upper floors of the building, frowning—this kind of work was truly not fit for a human.

On the elevator ascending to the upper levels, he encountered Mo Ke.

Mo Ke said to him with a mysterious expression: "Manager Xiao En, I extend my congratulations in advance."

(End of Chapter)