Chapter 408: The Results of the Interrogation

Forty-Nine Doomsday Rules

When Lu Cheng opened his eyes, he was met with a pair of fierce, gleaming jade-green pupils.

He was startled. Looking closer, he saw an unknown black beast right in front of him, its sharp fangs glinting coldly within its slightly parted jaws.

What kind of fierce beast was this?!

At first glance, it resembled a black panther, yet there were many subtle differences.

Seeing him wake, the beast seemed to become more ferocious, opening its jaws wide as if to bite down.

Just as Lu Cheng was horrified, a voice from afar came, stopping its action.

"Coal Ball, stop."

"Grrr..."

Lu Cheng recognized it as Guan Tong's voice. The beast before him immediately retracted its head upon hearing the latter's command, abandoning its attack, but it still arched its back, its eyes filled with restless intent.

My mission has failed... Where am I now?

Lu Cheng's mind raced with countless thoughts. He tried to move but found his hands and feet were bound behind his back, powerless to break free.

"If you bite him to death, how am I supposed to ask questions?"

Guan Tong walked over and patted Coal Ball's head.

Lu Cheng looked up at Guan Tong, recalling the events that had just transpired, feeling a sense of unreality.

The ten powerful parasitized forms sent by the Prophet had actually been wiped out by Guan Tong in an instant—and Guan Tong, this lecturer he had always been somewhat jealous of, who was a year younger than him, was actually the legendary Ascendant, "Shadow."

This fact was even harder for Lu Cheng to accept than the failure of the plan.

"Since you're awake, start talking," Guan Tong said.

"...I have nothing to say. Just kill me directly!"

"If you were a parasitized form, I would indeed kill you directly. But you're still human, so there's still something to be asked."

"I won't say anything!"

Guan Tong looked at Lu Cheng's stubborn, defiant face, pondered for a moment, and said, "Lu Cheng, I had some impression of you during those few months I was substitute teaching. Your grades were among the top. The academy and the teachers gave you plenty of care. No one wronged you, so how did you become an ungrateful, backstabbing wolf?"

"..."

Lu Cheng's face turned ugly. Being called a backstabbing wolf by Guan Tong in such a calm tone, he wanted to refute but had no grounds to do so.

Just as Guan Tong said, no one at the academy had wronged him. Dean Zhou Qinfeng had even specially made an exception to give him a key to a self-study room, allowing him to study diligently in the classroom anytime.

And his repayment, judging from this incident, could indeed be called that of a backstabbing wolf, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration.

"You were responsible for luring Shi Jingyi out. Then those ten parasitized forms that teleported in were supposed to kill her. Judging by your performance at the time, you should have known the inside story. Speak up. Being straightforward will be better for both of us."

Lu Cheng retorted, "What if I do talk? Will you let me go if I talk?"

"No," Guan Tong said seriously. "Some betrayals can be forgiven; some cannot. What you've committed this time is unforgivable. Even if Shi Jingyi forgives you, I won't let you go."

Lu Cheng sneered, "No wonder she recommended you to be the substitute lecturer back then. It seems your relationship really isn't ordinary!"

"Correct. So to eliminate her worries, you must die. But how you die is another matter."

"Want to torture me? Hahahaha!"

Lu Cheng laughed heartily, his laughter filled with mockery.

"Guan Tong, you underestimate me too much! Don't you know I'm a severe spore addict? Do you know how agonizing a spore addiction flare-up is? It's more terrifying than any torture! I've endured that kind of pain, so why would I fear you torturing me?!"

Guan Tong silently watched the laughing Lu Cheng.

A few seconds later, Lu Cheng stopped laughing.

He realized Guan Tong hadn't wavered at all, which puzzled him.

"You think I'm lying?"

"No, I know you're telling the truth," Guan Tong said. "Spore addiction flare-ups are indeed very painful. I also had a friend who was a spore addict. She's dead now."

"..."

"However, you seem to have forgotten one thing."

A sense of foreboding rose in Lu Cheng's heart. "What thing?"

"What is the Doomsday Rule we are currently experiencing?"

"The current rule...!!"

Lu Cheng was shocked, his face showing astonishment.

"It seems you understand," Guan Tong said. "That's right. I want to try and see which pain is more intense: the pain brought by the Scarlet Fear or the pain of a spore addiction flare-up. You happen to be an excellent test subject."

A week had passed, and the world had gained quite some understanding of the Scarlet Fear. People knew that ordinary humans might convulse and die after staring at Scarlet Terra for just a few seconds, or suffer some other permanent damage.

But Ascendants, especially those with higher Mind Power, had stronger resistance to fear.

This was also why Guan Tong felt comfortable letting Lu Cheng stare at Scarlet Terra: Lu Cheng, as a top student at the academy, originally had a not-low Mind Power upper limit. Coupled with spore enhancement, his resistance to Scarlet Fear definitely existed.

This ensured that Lu Cheng could be tormented by fear without worrying that this guy would be too "fragile" and die immediately.

And now, Lu Cheng finally couldn't afford to dismiss Guan Tong's threat as nothing.

During this period, he had also gained some understanding of the latest rule, having seen many descriptions of the miserable states of those who stared at Scarlet Terra—those extremely exaggerated, distorted expressions on their faces proved those people were scared to death!

While spore addiction flare-ups were painful, they weren't to the extent of killing someone. But that Scarlet Fear...

Guan Tong raised his left hand, on his wrist was the item watch Chen Na had given him for his 20th birthday.

"It'll be dark in about an hour. Before that, you still have time to make a choice. Once Scarlet Terra appears, I'm afraid you won't have a choice anymore."

After saying this, Guan Tong turned and entered the shelter, leaving Lu Cheng lying on the ground outside.

He wasn't afraid the latter would escape or try to commit suicide. This guy's hands and feet were bound by Shadow and he couldn't move at all.

Even if he wanted to imitate people in movies and TV shows by biting his tongue to commit suicide, after trying, he would find that was just a movie effect. People don't die that easily, let alone an Ascendant.

"Grrr..."

Coal Ball was still pacing around Lu Cheng, occasionally emitting low, rumbling sounds.

Cold sweat broke out on Lu Cheng's forehead.

He was both worried that this beast raised by Guan Tong might suddenly pounce and tear into him, and terrified of Scarlet Terra.

Guan Tong said he didn't know which was more painful: a spore addiction flare-up or the Scarlet Fear. Lu Cheng didn't know either!

And the most terrifying thing was undoubtedly the unknown.

As time passed bit by bit, the sky gradually darkened.

Should he talk?

Lu Cheng's heart was in turmoil.

Guan Tong had made it clear: whether he talked or not, he couldn't escape death.

The only difference was that if he confessed honestly, he might die more quickly.

If he didn't confess honestly, he would suffer various tortures.

Lu Cheng's initial thought was: Since death is certain either way, why reveal the intelligence?

But that unknown fear was also tormenting his mind.

He would rather have been like those ten parasitized forms, cut into pieces on the sports field and be done with it—or rather, he wished he had already transformed into a parasitized form by now, so he wouldn't need to struggle with these questions.

Precisely because he hadn't transformed yet and was still human, he was still struggling. A true parasitized form wouldn't struggle at all because the brain neurons modified by the spores would never betray any intelligence unfavorable to the parasitized form race.

So, should he tell Guan Tong about the Prophet ordering him to deal with Shi Jingyi?

Lu Cheng couldn't make up his mind.

The sky grew darker and darker. When Scarlet Terra appeared, he still hadn't been able to make a choice.

"Time's up."

Guan Tong's voice came from behind. Lu Cheng couldn't turn his head to look back and shouted loudly, "Bring it on! I'm not afraid of you!"

He had ultimately chosen to tough it out until death.

He knew Guan Tong, Shi Jingyi, and the academy hadn't wronged him, but he just couldn't accept it. He believed his fall to this point wasn't entirely his own fault.

Now, even knowing he was doomed, he wouldn't reveal the intelligence. He wasn't that loyal to the Prophet; he was doing this just to spite Guan Tong!

"Then as you wish."

After saying this, Guan Tong himself didn't leave the shelter. He merely manipulated Shadow, making it adjust Lu Cheng's body angle, lifting his chin, forcing his face to face directly with that scarlet orb in the sky.

Lu Cheng initially tried to keep his eyes tightly shut, wanting to tough it out to the end. But he couldn't hold on for more than a few seconds before Guan Tong manipulated shadow lines to forcibly pry them open.

When his eyes were pried open, Scarlet Terra immediately filled his vision.

Scarlet Fear spread into his body intangibly.

In an instant, terrifying images formed in his mind.

He saw the future he currently feared the most: a "Lu Cheng" stood among a group of parasitized forms, raising his arm and shouting with the others, "All for the spread!"

He knew that what he feared most right now was his consciousness being replaced by the spores, his body completely becoming a puppet controlled by it.

When this scene appeared in his mind with unparalleled realism, he almost broke down completely.

Everything that "Lu Cheng" did after becoming a parasitized form seemed so terrifying and disgusting to him. That extreme sense of discomfort was almost impossible to describe in words.

Anyone who personally witnessed another consciousness occupying their own body, while they could only watch like a wandering ghost... that feeling was unimaginable.

Just as Lu Cheng was in extreme mental agony, his consciousness on the verge of collapse, his eyes were suddenly forcibly closed again.

When he opened them again, he was already indoors.

"Ugh!"

He couldn't help but retch. Even though the time was brief, those images just now had left a huge psychological shadow on him.

"How was it?" Guan Tong asked with a half-smile. "Which is more painful: the Scarlet Fear or a spore addiction flare-up?"

Lu Cheng's mind was still reeling in horror from the images he had just seen, his reactions several beats slower. It took him several seconds to understand what Guan Tong was asking.

Seeing him silent, Guan Tong thought he could still endure and wasn't in a hurry.

"It's fine. There are still about twenty days until the rule ends. We'll take it slow. I'll let you rest for an hour first, then take you out to look again. We'll do it again tomorrow, the day after, all the way until the rule ends."

Upon hearing this, Lu Cheng's psychological defenses completely shattered!

This one time had already brought him indescribable agony. If Guan Tong tortured him like this every day for the over twenty days remaining in the Rule Period, the mere thought made his entire body tremble uncontrollably. It was a shudder from the depths of his soul.

"No! Give me a quick death!"

Guan Tong's gaze sharpened. "Tell me what you know, and I'll give you a quick death."

"What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything..."

Lu Cheng said in a low voice. He had already resigned himself to fate.

He never had any loyalty to the parasitized forms or the Prophet to begin with. At this point, there was no need to suffer endless torment just to spite Guan Tong.

"The night is long; there's plenty of time," Guan Tong said. "Start from when the rule 【Extraterrestrial Parasitism】, which brought the spores, was announced. I want you to clearly explain how you got addicted and everything that happened after leaving the academy."

"...Starting from the academy time? Back then, I..."

Lu Cheng's eyes held confusion and regret.

He recounted how, during his academy days, due to anxiety about his strength and wanting to advance further, he ended up addicted to the spores. He also said he had once wanted to seek help, but after Dean Zhou Qinfeng inadvertently mentioned that "outstanding graduates have a chance to be assigned to the Countermeasures Research Office," he gave up seeking help to achieve this goal.

After that, his addiction grew increasingly severe, and he knew Shi Jingyi had discovered it. The latter hinted discreetly and expressed a desire to help him, but he couldn't accept the consequences of his addiction being exposed, so he didn't accept her helping hand.

He endured like this until the rule ended. Just when he thought dawn was breaking, a blow to the head plunged him into utter despair.

When Lu Cheng reached this point, Guan Tong had already guessed what that "blow to the head" was.

"I never expected..." Lu Cheng said painfully, "that after the rule ended, the spores didn't disappear from this world! My addiction symptoms didn't disappear either!"

Yes, this was the characteristic of the rule 【Extraterrestrial Parasitism】.

The rule had ended, but the rule's byproduct had not disappeared, continuing to harm humanity.

However, this wasn't without clues.

As early as when the rule was announced, its failure punishment had already hinted: survive in the form of a parasitized form.

Before this rule, failure in survival-type rules meant death.

But for this rule, failure meant surviving in the form of a parasitized form—this foreshadowed that the spores wouldn't disappear after the rule ended.

Logically, with a clever mind like Lu Cheng's, there was no reason to overlook this key point. But even the cleverest mind, if it chooses to deceive itself to escape reality, can become incredibly foolish.

Lu Cheng continued.

After the rule ended, the spores didn't disappear, but he was already severely addicted. To alleviate the pain, he could only leave the academy and head to the territory of the Black Flag Country, where the parasitized forms had declared statehood.

After enduring countless hardships to get there, he obtained spores, but because he had a high Mind Power upper limit, his transformation speed wasn't that fast.

This created a bug for him: although he was still human, because of his severe spore addiction, to easily obtain spores, he could only pledge loyalty to the parasitized forms.

The parasitized forms' leader, the "Prophet," used this, employing a bitter flesh strategy to have him pretend to be an Ascendant resisting the parasitized forms, infiltrating the Human Consortium Joint Force, and extracting much intelligence.

According to him, there were more than one sleeper agent like him. The Prophet had deployed many sleepers, infiltrating the Joint Force, important departments of various member states of the Human Consortium, and so on.

As for this operation, he felt his transformation was imminent. To seek a way to retain his human consciousness, he sought help from the Prophet. The Prophet gave him the task of creating an opportunity to meet Shi Jingyi alone.

"The Prophet said... those voices told it there were two threats. One of them was... Lecturer Jingyi."

Hearing Lu Cheng's words, Guan Tong was slightly taken aback.

There were two threats, and one of them was Shi Jingyi.

To his knowledge, a little before that time point, there were also two people who had broken through the one-thousand-point Mind Power upper limit and entered the Second Stage of Ascension.

They were him and Shi Jingyi.

Moreover, after the breakthrough, they discovered the Mind Network had been rebooted and could use it to identify parasitized forms.

So that meant...

The other threat is me?