Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Liu Xiaolu felt somewhat troubled by Gao Peng’s request. As a low-ranking government worker, she had no authority to provide Gao Peng with such information.
Just then, her earpiece buzzed to life. After receiving her next set of instructions from her superior, Liu Xiaolu said, “Follow me please, Mr. Gao.” She then led the way to their next destination.
As implied by her name, her gait was akin to that of a meek deer. Every time she took a step forward, she would let the tip of her foot lightly touch the ground first before letting her heel fall behind it. Her ponytail bounced rhythmically behind her head with each step she took.
Soon, they reached a closed-down hospital. Another hospital? This was the second hospital Gao Peng had visited that day.
“The first case of the plague happened here, in the Nanxiang Orthopedic Hospital,” said Liu Xiaolu.
The hospital was closed down, with yellow tape put up around it. Its windows were caked with dust, some of them even shattered.
“This was where the plague originated. When everyone realized what was going on, it was already too late. Almost everyone in the hospital was infected, including most of its doctors,” explained Liu Xiaolu.
Gao Peng nodded, quietly inspecting the hospital that stood dark and empty.
If this hospital was the origin of the plague, one of the patients back then must have had something to do with it, thought Gao Peng. Or perhaps…
“We’ve actually found something else, but we’re still not certain of its accuracy due to a lack of evidence,” said a man in shades who was now walking towards Gao Peng from the streets. He was already holding out his right hand for a handshake.
Gao Peng shook his hand and said, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Name’s Li Meng. I’m in charge of Hanzhong City’s Forensic Division. Truth is, we already have a suspect in mind. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough evidence against him. There’s also a strong possibility that even if we do manage to take him down, the pandemic would still persist,” explained Li Meng with a toothy grin.
He then handed Gao Peng a folder that he’d had clasped in his right armpit.
When Gao Peng opened the folder, the first thing that immediately caught his attention was the picture of an ugly, pockmarked man with a pair of bushy eyebrows and black-framed spectacles propped up on his nose. The man also seemed slightly hunched. He didn’t strike Gao Peng as the popular kid in school.
Why does he look so familiar? Gao Peng couldn’t help but feel like he had seen this face somewhere, but he just couldn’t remember where he had seen it.
“He’s the doctor who received you in the hospital earlier. Real name’s Zhu Xiaoliang, before he changed it to Zhu Buliang. Graduated from Yuzhou Medical University…” Apparently, Li Meng had read the file so many times he was able to repeat every sentence in the suspect’s profile verbatim without even looking at it.
So that’s where I saw him.
…
It was nighttime. Before leaving the hospital, Zhu Buliang had slipped out of his white robe and into a yellow goat-skin coat. When he finally reached home, he took off his mask.
Zhu Buliang had a sickly complexion. He coughed twice, pressing one hand against his chest and holding the other out against the wall. Feeling his chest relax a bit, he went to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. From the kitchen came the sounds of kitchen utensils clanging against one another.
After a while, he came out of the kitchen, looking a bit bored. He laid down on the couch and rested for a bit.
When he grew bored of lazing around on the sofa, Zhu Buliang stepped out onto the balcony on the second floor and idly viewed the scenery outside while smoking a cigarette.
Then he returned to the living room. After snuffing out his cigarette, he went to the storage closet and cleared away a few things to reveal an underground passageway.
Zhu Buliang had come from a well-off family. His father was a businessman, who, despite his son’s reserved disposition, still gave him a place to stay in the city.
Zhu Buliang began walking down the underground passageway until he finally reached a room. It was somewhat spacious. At times, a humming sound could be heard from the darkness of the room. There was also the sound of feet clacking against the concrete floor and walls. He turned on the light.
A dusky yellow light illuminated the room. In the middle of it lay a 16-foot-long creature that looked like an oversized maggot. It was a sickly green, and it had what appeared to be a yellow-colored mouth on top of its head. The room was filled with a faint green mist. The queer humming sound seemed to be coming from the mist itself.
Looking at the creature in the middle of the room, Zhu Buliang’s face broke into a gleeful smile. “This is my power. Those who dared to mock me, belittle me in the past, I can kill them all with just a thought!” said Zhu Buliang, chuckling.
No one has found me out yet. As the crownless king of Hanzhong City, I now have the entire city in the palm of my hand!
Maybe if I wait a bit longer and let my familiar’s larvae infest everyone, the whole city will soon be mine! thought Zhu Buliang.
Or maybe I could pretend to have found a cure for the plague? Who knows, I might even be honored as a hero of the city. Zhu Buliang shook his head, dismissing this foolish fantasy of his.
Nah, the world has never been short of geniuses. Someone will figure out a cure. Eventually.
How about I just have my familiar kill off those who dare stand in my way? The plague has already resulted in some casualties; no one would raise an eyebrow if a couple more died.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding,” said a voice behind him.
Zhu Buliang didn’t turn around to see who it was. His first reaction was to run to his familiar’s side. Turning around would mean certain death. His safest course of action was to run to his familiar.
However, before he could take another step, he suddenly felt a chill in the room. He could feel himself slowing down until finally, everything went blank before him. His body was frozen solid to the spot.
The Desolate Frost Lion, which was perched atop Gao Peng’s shoulder, narrowed its eyes at the fat green bug in the middle of the room. If it dared make any sudden movements, the lion cub would immediately kill it.
“Can’t believe how easy it was to track this guy down,” said Gao Peng. It felt a bit too easy…
This Zhu Buliang had thought that he covered his tracks well enough, when in reality, he had long been suspected as the mastermind behind the plague. The government officials simply didn’t want to force him into doing something drastic by capturing him too soon.
From the start, Zhu Buliang had underestimated just how quickly the government could mobilize its resources to root out low-level terrorists like himself. Before he even realized what was going on, the powers that be had already listed him as the primary suspect behind the plague.
Gao Peng suspected that the Hanzhong government had feared that Zhu Buliang’s capture would set off a more severe pandemic across the city. He was, after all, just a suspect, as those in the government’s Forensic Division couldn’t find sufficient proof connecting him to the plague.
[Monster Name]: Green Plague Queen Bug
[Monster Level]: Level 40 (Commander-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Poison
[Monster Ability]: Accelerated Reproduction Level 2, Reinforced Infection Level 1
[Special Characteristics]: Insect Queen’s Venom Sac (A venom sac formed within the Green Plague Queen Bug as a result of a mutation that endowed it with enhanced reproductive ability. This unusual organ is also equipped with the ability to enhance its offsprings’ innate traits.
Passive Effect 1: Grants its offspring the ability to camouflage itself, including, but not limited to, masking its own presence and shapeshifting.
Passive Effect 2: Grants its offspring the ability to reproduce asexually. Even after finding a host to infect, said offspring can still make more copies of itself in its new home.)
[Description]: A type of parasite that somehow merged itself with a virus when the Cataclysm happened. It’s physically weak. However, it more than makes up for its weakness with its ability to endow its offspring with high combat power.
The Green Plague Queen Bug reeled from the negative Feedback induced by the rupture of its Blood Contract with its master, who now stood frozen solid in the room. Glaring at Gao Peng hatefully, it ordered all of its offspring in the underground room to attack Gao Peng.
However, before its offspring could even reach Gao Peng and company, an unseen force swept through the room, wiping the green critters’ psyches clean in an instant.
The Growing Brain was silently bobbing in the air above the building while all this was happening…
