Novels online

Chapter 312: Spread

However, Feng Buhui no longer had the luxury of pondering that question. What he urgently needed to figure out now was how to survive the impending manhunt.

Zhao Zhisheng's father, Zhao Lin Gang, was the mayor of Tianning City and also a Fourth Tier cultivator. As an ordinary person, Feng Buhui hadn't personally experienced how terrifying a Fourth Tier powerhouse truly was. He could only guess based on his own feelings and some experiences he'd had in the VR System.

His level in the game Endless Continent was quite high, granting him the privilege to experience a portion of a Third Tier cultivator's power. Relying on this, he attempted to simulate the power of a Fourth Tier in his mind, formulating a targeted plan.

As for his momentary impulse, for a young man in his twenties, acting impulsively after being bullied, especially under the influence of hormones, was quite normal. He wasn't some ancient tortoise who could achieve immortality through a hundred acts of forbearance, so this minor impropriety was quickly cast aside.

Using his phone, he watched from the camera installed in his home as, less than an hour after the incident, the police had already surrounded his rented apartment, forcibly breaking down the door and rushing in.

However, even after searching every corner of the room, they found nothing of use, save for a letter placed on the desk.

Opening the letter, they found only two large characters: "Idiot!"

Seeing the contents of the letter, Police Chief Li Jie was so enraged he nearly vomited blood. The pressure from Mayor Zhao was already immense; his orders were to apprehend the culprit at all costs. If he couldn't do it within ten days, he wouldn't be able to stay in Tianning City.

And now, to be choked by such blatant provocation, it naturally added fuel to the fire.

“Investigate! Where is the phone card registered under this guy’s name now?!”

“Reporting, Chief,” a subordinate said. “It seems the suspect has already discarded his original phone card along with the phone.”

“The criminal we’re facing this time appears to possess considerable anti-reconnaissance abilities. He wouldn’t possibly choose trains or planes that require identification. For an ordinary person, the only ways to leave Tianning City are by bus or self-driven car.”

Police Chief Li Jie forced himself to calm down, attempting to use the forensic knowledge he hadn't touched since becoming chief to analyze the suspect's every move.

Unfortunately, half an hour later, his subordinates' report once again slapped him in the face.

“Reporting, Chief! We found someone at Tianning train station who boarded a train using the suspect Feng Buhui’s ID card!” a police officer reported, panting as he rushed into the special task force command center.

“What?! He walked right into the trap?!” The Chief ignored the inference he had made half an hour ago about the suspect not taking a train. “Bring him in. I’ll make sure he thoroughly enjoys the consequences of provoking me.”

“However, according to the person apprehended in the security check area, he isn’t actually Feng Buhui. He’s just a common beggar from near the train station. Half a day ago, someone gave him three hundred yuan and an ID card, telling him to board a train at this specific time and explicitly reminding him to use that ID for inspection.”

“Is it fun to mock our police? Xiao Liu, report this assault case as an attempted murder. I’ll have all of Huaxia’s police force play with him.”

“But Young Master Zhao hasn’t...” The subordinate hesitated. His colleagues at the hospital hadn't yet sent news of Zhao Zhisheng's death, so classifying it as attempted murder seemed a bit inappropriate.

“I,” Police Chief Li Jie adjusted his police cap, stating each word distinctly to his subordinate, “am, the, Chief.”

“Yes, sir!” Even if he were dull-witted, he could guess that the Chief was in an extremely foul mood. One wrong move and he'd burn himself. He quickly exited the command center, preparing the report materials.

“Zhao Zhisheng’s turned into that... if he actually survives, I’ll eat my hat,” Li Jie muttered to himself after his subordinate left, sinking into his chair.

“The Spirit Devourer should have already infected Zhao Lin Gang. He’s currently in a state of continuously declining power and won’t choose to act personally.” Four hours later, Feng Buhui, having taken a bus to an adjacent province, sat in a fast-food restaurant, contemplating his future direction.

He still carried over a hundred thousand yuan in cash, enough for expenses for a long time to come. As long as he got through the initial period and the Spirit Devourer spread across the entire world, no one would have the mind to bother with him anymore.

Though Feng Buhui didn't pay much attention to current affairs, he was well aware of the immense contradictions between the upper and lower echelons of the colossal Huaxia Federation. Or rather, everyone was aware of the contradictions' existence, but the lower strata were powerless to resist, and the upper strata had no intention of changing.

And once the absolute military power maintaining the current balance collapsed, the global landscape would undoubtedly undergo drastic changes once more.

“Since I’m completely cut off from so-called cultivation, then everyone and every living thing can just join me,” Feng Buhui declared, finishing his last bite of hamburger before turning and leaving the fast-food restaurant. “Science is the answer to everything; mystical cultivation is heresy.”

In addition to spreading the Spirit Devourer throughout the Huaxia Federation, he also used various methods, including mail, to send letters containing small amounts of Spirit Devourer powder to every corner of the world.

The genetic similarity among humans was extremely high, and correspondingly, the Spirit Devourer, which spread through genetic similarity, found it even easier to proliferate.

Of course, humanity’s great enemy, the Sea Race, was not forgotten.

While Feng Buhui couldn't approach the coastline, the front line where humans and the Sea Race clashed, he nonetheless poured a portion of the Spirit Devourer into various major rivers, waiting for it to spread after all streams flowed into the sea.

The tenacity of the Spirit Devourer’s life force and the sheer number of species it could affect surpassed his imagination. Even if the genetic similarity between the Sea Race and humans wasn't high, they would still be infected after a period, provided they had once relied on Spirit Qi for evolution.

Feng Buhui, who had researched biology for many years, had never encountered a virus that could simultaneously infect all living creatures on this planet. Under a microscope, the Spirit Devourer couldn't be observed either; it seemed to be the natural nemesis of Spirit Qi.

Under Zhao Lin Gang's forceful suppression, the characteristics of the Spirit Devourer were not immediately disclosed. The official explanation was merely that Zhao Zhisheng had been attacked by highly corrosive chemicals, and all medical personnel were ordered to remain silent.

As he increasingly felt his power waning, Zhao Lin Gang had to guard the secret of the Spirit Devourer. Several second-tier families in Tianning City were quietly eyeing his position.

Once he revealed the fact that he was constantly weakening, it was highly probable that the Zhao family's influence in Tianning would be continuously eroded, until they eventually fell to the status of an ordinary family.

Relying on his super-fast regeneration ability and precious medicinal herbs to sustain his life, Zhao Zhisheng, lying in the intensive care unit, was still stubbornly holding on.

This arrogant young man was, in fact, quite afraid of death. Yet, it was precisely this intense desire for survival that kept him, now corroded beyond human recognition, clinging to his last breath.