Chapter 409: Mysterious Teammate |
Deep within a cave in the wilderness of Black Flag Country.
The Prophet sat alone on a stone platform, murmuring something under his breath.
"The ones I sent to assist Lu Cheng were all experts among the parasitized forms. Their failure proves this plan itself was flawed from the start."
"Your anxiety is useless; it cannot change the outcome."
The guardian standing in the shadows at the cave entrance looked inside.
This guardian understood clearly that the Prophet was not talking to himself, but conversing with those voices.
There were countless parasitized forms, and the countless voices they heard all conveyed roughly the same content.
Only the Prophet could engage in effective communication with those voices, and this was precisely why other parasitized forms revered him as the Prophet and were willing to follow his commands.
At this moment, the Prophet was still speaking.
"Now, do you feel it's necessary to listen to my suggestion?"
After saying a few more words, the Prophet fell silent, as if waiting for an evaluation.
A moment later, those voices said something to him.
He nodded: "Thank you. I will prove its feasibility with a victory."
Having said that, the Prophet stood up and walked towards the cave entrance.
Seeing him approach, the guardian in the shadows at the entrance cast an inquiring look.
"After lying dormant for so long, it's time for us to take the initiative. The Human Consortium's Joint Force has been winning consecutive battles, and their arrogance has grown significantly. Let's use that to defeat them."
"……"
"Go notify all the sleeper cells, have them prepare to follow my command for action."
"Yes." The guardian bowed. "All for the spread."
"All for the spread."
……
Lu Cheng's confession weighed heavily on Guan Tong's mind.
Back when Shi Jingyi was the first to break through and asked for his opinion, he had already advised against attempting to identify parasitized forms for the time being.
The reason was his concern that once she did so and her identity was exposed, she would become the target of relentless attacks by the parasitized forms.
Later, when he himself also broke through the thousand-point Mind Power upper limit and assisted the Countermeasures Research Office in using the Mind Network to identify parasitized forms lurking within the base, the person in charge, Gao Liangwei, had strictly kept it confidential for his personal safety, using temporary health check-ups as a pretext for the inspections.
The secrecy was so tight that even Silver Fox, who received Guan Tong, was unaware of the truth—and she was from a military background, part of Gao Liangwei's inner circle, her loyalty absolutely unquestionable.
Yet now, according to Lu Cheng's account, that leader of the parasitized forms, the Prophet, had long known the identities of both him and Shi Jingyi, the two who had broken through.
No, listening to Lu Cheng's description, the Prophet had also learned this from "those voices."
If "those voices" represented some kind of intelligence behind the spores, then how did they learn about Shi Jingyi's and his breakthroughs, and determine they would be threats to the parasitized forms even before they underwent testing?
This question was important, but Guan Tong was grateful he had discovered it early enough.
The Prophet's choice to use Lu Cheng to set up an ambush to eliminate Shi Jingyi was a plan without issues in theory, but it failed to account for several variables.
First, it vastly underestimated her strength.
Judging from the fight, Guan Tong believed that even without him, Shi Jingyi could have handled Lu Cheng plus those ten parasitized forms.
Second, it completely failed to anticipate the intervention of the "Shadow."
The relationship between Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi had never been exposed. Very few knew about their life-saving bond, mutual trust, and their long-term maintained contact.
In hindsight, this plan was doomed to fail from the start.
And not only did it fail, it also delivered a crucial piece of intelligence: the spore intelligence or lifeform behind the parasitized forms possessed awareness of those capable of identifying them.
In other words, when Ascendants in the world break through to the Second Stage of Ascension and restart the Mind Network, the spores would sense it.
But that wasn't the only important piece of intelligence.
Guan Tong also learned from Lu Cheng's mouth that the latter, back at the sports arena, had stated his reason for repaying kindness with betrayal was because he didn't want his consciousness to be replaced and transformed into a parasitized form.
The causal link here lay in Lu Cheng's belief that the Prophet was human, and the Prophet had also admitted this to him and made a promise.
This intelligence greatly surprised Guan Tong.
The leader of the parasitized forms, the Prophet, was actually a human?
Neither the frontline Joint Force nor the nations of the Human Consortium would ever believe this.
But Guan Tong believed Lu Cheng wasn't lying, and this intelligence led to a problem: if the Prophet was human, it meant he couldn't be identified through the Mind Network.
When parasitized forms couldn't be identified, they held the advantage over humans.
But once humans could identify parasitized forms, the parasitized forms would fall into a significant disadvantage.
So, after the failure of this assassination attempt, it was impossible to know what the parasitized forms would do next.
Continue assassinating Shi Jingyi… after this experience, she would undoubtedly be extremely vigilant, making it difficult to succeed.
Then change the target to Guan Tong?
… Even more impossible.
Guan Tong knew that between him and Shi Jingyi, these two threats, the Prophet chose to target Shi Jingyi first precisely because she was a world-famous figure with a highly fixed location.
Everyone knew Shi Jingyi was a Lecturer at the Beixing Academy, who basically taught classes every day, making her not difficult to find.
And Guan Tong? His whereabouts were always erratic. For parasitized forms to find him would be extremely difficult, let alone plan an assassination.
Under these circumstances, choosing to target Shi Jingyi first was the only logical course of action.
"I've told you everything I know…"
Lu Cheng's weak voice caused Guan Tong to pause his thoughts and look over.
"If possible, I'd like to ask Teacher Guan for one last favor…"
Guan Tong asked: "What is it?"
"I want to… inhale the spores one last time… just one last time…"
Lu Cheng's face twitched, his expression pained, his whole body trembling—clearly, his spore addiction was acting up.
His eyes were full of craving: "Please, Teacher Guan! Let me… before I die… I can't stand it anymore…"
"……"
Guan Tong looked at Lu Cheng, whose reason had been completely overwhelmed by the addiction, and shook his head slightly.
He manipulated the Shadow binding Lu Cheng's hands, keeping half of it solid while the other half dematerialized and drilled into Lu Cheng's body.
"Please! I can't—urk!!!"
Lu Cheng suddenly shuddered violently as a Shadow Blade pierced out from inside his chest, right at the heart's location.
Guan Tong had manipulated the dematerialized Shadow to materialize inside his body, piercing his heart.
The light faded from Lu Cheng's eyes, his head lolled to the side as he collapsed to the ground, his body quickly growing cold.
Guan Tong considered this keeping his promise. Since Lu Cheng had told him everything he needed to, he gave him a quick death.
Looking at the young man lying dead on the ground with unseeing eyes, Guan Tong felt no sense of satisfaction.
His predominant feelings were sorrow and pity.
If not for the spore rule, perhaps Lu Cheng could have had a completely different future. Perhaps he truly could have, as Dean Zhou Qinfeng said, been recommended to work at the Countermeasures Research Office as an outstanding academy graduate.
But those futures began to drift further away the moment he chose to accept the spores in a moment of poor judgment.
Guan Tong manipulated the Shadow to drag Lu Cheng's corpse deep into the valley bottom. After pondering for a moment, he contacted Shi Jingyi via the Mind Network.
He relayed all the intelligence obtained from Lu Cheng, along with some of his own speculations, to her.
After listening, Shi Jingyi also fell silent for a long while.
"So, we have both become targets of the parasitized forms," Shi Jingyi said.
"Correct. But I believe the parasitized forms will change their strategy after this failed assassination."
"Oh?"
Guan Tong said: "Because although we are slightly ahead of the main group, as time passes, more and more top Ascendants from various countries will break through the thousand-point Mind Power upper limit. Can the parasitized forms really assassinate all of them? If they possessed such formidable power, they wouldn't have been trapped in the deep mountains by the Joint Force, unable to break out."
Shi Jingyi agreed: "That makes sense."
"Even so, you still need to be extra careful yourself during this period."
"You too." Shi Jingyi's voice paused before continuing, "The handling of Lu Cheng…"
"He's dead. Even though he was once an academy student, after what he did, I couldn't possibly let him live."
"I know. It's just that this matter should have been handled by me, not left for you to do." Shi Jingyi said.
"… It's fine. It amounts to the same thing."
Ending the Mind Network communication, Guan Tong already had a plan in mind.
After this operation against the Fire Thief Worship Cult concluded, his next destination would be Black Flag Country.
Spores, the Prophet, parasitized forms… these had already posed life-threatening dangers to him and those around him, and had taken action… In his principles, as long as these conditions were met, they became enemies he must eliminate at any cost.
He had heard the Human Consortium's Joint Force had previously greatly suppressed the parasitized forms. The reason they hadn't been completely eradicated was because the parasitized forms had dispersed and hid in the deep mountains and old forests.
This tactic might work against ordinary soldiers, but for Guan Tong, it wasn't a problem.
His Shadow was exceptionally convenient for searching mountains.
……
Several more days passed in the blink of an eye.
Guan Tong didn't wander around aimlessly. Before receiving any messages from Zhang Minglu or Li Meng, he shut himself in for self-cultivation.
It wasn't until March 13th that Li Meng called him, asking him to come to the base for the first full team assembly with all members present.
Once again, Silver Fox escorted him into the base, then they went to Li Meng's office.
When they arrived, Chen Na, Bai Xuewu, and Yang Ran were all there.
Seeing only Guan Tong and Silver Fox arrive, Yang Ran scratched his red hair and asked, "Section Chief Li, isn't the team supposed to have seven people? We're still missing one."
Who that missing mysterious teammate was, among those present, seemed to be known only by Li Meng and perhaps Silver Fox.
Even Bai Xuewu, who had been selected into the official team not long after the rules descended, didn't know who that person was.
Li Meng smiled: "Heh, don't be impatient. The reason I asked you all here today is for everyone to meet. Come with me, I'll take you to see the last member."
Li Meng led the group out of the office to take the elevator.
On the way, he proactively brought up a case investigation he had been in charge of these past few days.
"That case about spreading Scarlet Fear through a game, you all know about it, right?"
At Li Meng's mention, Yang Ran immediately said, "I know, I know! I heard a lot of people were killed or injured, it was really serious!"
"Right. I'm in charge of investigating this case, and we've already identified the mastermind behind it. You can guess."
Among the group, Bai Xuewu chewed her gum, seeming uninterested. Chen Na pondered deeply but seemed unable to guess anything.
Silver Fox wore a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, as if she already knew the situation but wasn't saying. Yang Ran boldly guessed: "Was it the Fire Thief Worship Cult? This bunch attacked the Suroma Competition Arena first, now they're carrying out a second terrorist attack!"
Li Meng shook his head and looked at Guan Tong: "What do you think?"
"I don't know," Guan Tong answered truthfully. He genuinely didn't know who was behind this; without evidence, there was nothing to guess.
"Section Chief Li, stop keeping them in suspense, just tell them," Silver Fox said.
"Alright. After investigation, this case is related to the parasitized forms."
"Parasitized forms!" Yang Ran exclaimed, "Those simple-minded guys actually know how to crack game software?"
Hearing this, Li Meng frowned: "Yang Ran, who said all parasitized forms are simple-minded? Don't underestimate them just because most are transformed from ordinary people. Some of the intelligent minds among the parasitized forms are no less capable than top human scholars. Even more, with the assistance of spore-induced mutation, their brains can be further developed."
Chastised, Yang Ran looked embarrassed, forcing an awkward laugh before saying no more.
Li Meng continued: "A highly skilled hacker breached the game distribution platform and performed a remote implant after the game's release. Because of their superior skills, the development team didn't discover it promptly. Later, by tracking the IP, we found the address was within Black Flag Country, undoubtedly the work of a parasitized form."
Chen Na then asked curiously: "Uncle Li, there's one thing I don't understand."
"What is it?"
"Isn't the goal of the parasitized forms to transform humans? Their slogan is 'All for the spread'… But spreading Scarlet Fear only kills humans, which contradicts their goal."
Li Meng looked at Chen Na with an appreciative gaze and nodded: "You're very clever, Xiao Na. This is indeed somewhat contradictory. In the past, when parasitized forms captured humans, they wouldn't kill them. Instead, they would imprison them and use methods like brainwashing or forcing them to inhale spores to transform humans into parasitized forms… But perhaps the Joint Force has inflicted too many casualties on them, and out of a desire for revenge, they've also begun killing humans in retaliation."
Hearing this, Guan Tong's heart stirred slightly.
This Scarlet Fear propagation incident coincided with the time the Prophet sent Lu Cheng to set up the ambush to assassinate Shi Jingyi.
Perhaps, more than using Scarlet Fear to kill humans, what they truly wanted was to kill Shi Jingyi.
Because for the parasitized forms, the threat level of humans capable of identifying them must far exceed that of other humans.
And judging by the results, their objective was effective—aside from those directly involved, no one knew about Shi Jingyi's assassination attempt.
If the assassination had succeeded and Shi Jingyi had really died, then from the academy to the authorities, everyone would have been completely baffled, not knowing the specific reason or who the perpetrator was.
"Therefore, if the parasitized forms change their mindset, no longer seeking to transform more humans but instead pursuing the killing of more humans, then we humans must increase our efforts to subdue them."
As Li Meng spoke, the elevator reached the designated floor.
"We're here."
He led the group to the innermost room on this floor. Guan Tong looked up at the doorplate, which read "Yi Ge" (Go Pavilion).
As soon as the group entered the room, they were all taken aback.
They saw the spacious room was almost empty, with only a wooden Go board set in the middle. Black and white stones were arranged neatly on the board.
In front of the board, a girl with long, waterfall-like hair, wearing a black cloth shirt, sat in a wheelchair. She turned her head to look at them, her ethereal pupils reflecting the figures of everyone present.
"She is your last teammate," Li Meng introduced. "The World Go Champion, our Beixing's national Go player, Wenren Yizhi."
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