Chapter 423: True Soul (Two in One)

Ding Xunchun bowled over the law enforcement officers stepping through the door, sending them tumbling. He charged into the interrogation room, stopped in front of Zeng Qing, and grabbed her hand.

"What are you holding?!"

With a clatter, a Miniature Camera fell to the floor.

Ding Xunchun bent down in disbelief to pick up the camera, then turned back to the panicked crowd. "What is this?"

"Minister Ding, this—"

The man in charge rushed into the interrogation room, only to be met by Ding Xunchun's weird energy-covered fist.

The terrifying force slammed into his stomach, sending him flying against the interrogation room wall. He spat a large mouthful of blood, his eyes bulging and bloodshot.

Ding Xunchun still hadn't vented his anger. Ripping his tie loose, he lunged forward and kicked the man mercilessly. "Fuck! Is this—is this how I taught you?! Huh? Is this how I taught you?!"

The man in charge only avoided being kicked to death when the others finally reacted, swarming forward to hold Ding Xunchun back and plead for his life.

"I was wrong! I was wrong, Minister Ding—"

Still coughing up blood, the man in charge hugged Ding Xunchun's leg, snot and tears streaming down his face. He hurriedly ordered his subordinates forward to search Zeng Qing.

Slap! Someone tried to unbutton Zeng Qing's shirt. When she refused to cooperate, they slapped her so hard that half her face instantly turned red.

"Fuck, you bitch! Hide anything else and I'll beat you to death!"

Someone delivered a flying kick, knocking Zeng Qing to the ground.

Lying on the floor, Zeng Qing let anger flash in her eyes to mask the quiet calm buried beneath.

In her mind, the memory of Luo Sheng finding her replayed.

"I have two plans."

Luo Sheng had stood with his back to her, hands clasped behind him.

On her face was the makeup Luo Sheng had personally applied.

It was enough to keep her from being recognized, provided she didn't show her face in public too often.

"One is relatively dangerous, but the payoff is bigger."

"The other is safer, but the payoff is smaller."

"I discussed this with Mao Si. He disagreed with the first plan, but I want to hear your thoughts."

She had listened quietly to Luo Sheng's two plans and ultimately chose the first.

She even had a huge argument with Mao Si over it.

The first plan was indeed much more dangerous, but it was the only one she could choose.

Not just because she wanted to win big.

But because she didn't want to fall too far behind Mao Si in the future.

Mao Si could already kill a Seventh Rank.

And her?

Ever since she was kicked out of the Zeng Family, she had nothing.

So, only by proving her worth could she obtain what Luo Sheng had promised her.

She didn't want to lag too far behind Mao Si because she didn't want to lose him as a friend.

Friends with a massive disparity in standing could still be friends, of course, but she refused to accept that.

As a child of a plutocracy, she understood this reality more deeply than most.

As for any potential injuries or so-called violations, none of it mattered to her.

She just wanted to win.

The intense, continuous pain radiating through her body made her bite down on her lower lip just to keep from crying out.

The act had to be convincing; she deliberately shielded her right arm.

The beating continued for an unknown length of time before someone finally forced open the compartment on her arm and found the USB Flash Drive.

"Minister Ding, we—we found it—"

Someone placed the USB Flash Drive in Ding Xunchun's hand.

Ding Xunchun glanced at Zeng Qing, who lay twitching on the floor. Her eyes were swollen to the size of fists, her eyelids bruised purplish-blue, and her mouth filled with blood.

He scoffed coldly and plugged the USB Flash Drive into the Information Component on his wrist.

"This mutation is guided by the Origin Plants. There are three Origin Plant locations in total. Once the mutation finishes its infection, this country will be ours."

Mao Si's voice rang out from the Holographic Screen.

"Hide and keep your head down. If you get caught, destroy this USB Flash Drive. I'll come save you."

The voice recording ended there. The moment it finished, the USB Flash Drive initiated an automatic formatting program. But it was useless; Ding Xunchun's Information Component was no cheap street-stall knockoff, and he had already had his staff back it up.

A flash of joy crossed his face.

Although he didn't know what an Origin Plant was, the recording revealed a massive amount of intelligence. That meant as long as they found these so-called Origin Plants, it was highly likely they could solve the current crisis.

He grabbed Zeng Qing by the hair, pulling her head up. Seeing the tears welling in her eyes, he chuckled coldly. "You should have listened to him."

"Bring the Truth Serum!"

He barked at the people beside him.

But at that moment, he noticed a strange white light glowing in Zeng Qing's eyes. His expression shifted instantly. In the next second, he delivered a sharp chop directly to the back of her neck.

Buzz— A low hum, like a machine failing to boot, rang out, and Zeng Qing fell unconscious.

Ding Xunchun stood up, his expression grim.

He hadn't expected Zeng Qing to choose self-destruction.

Forced to act quickly, his only option had been to temporarily knock her out.

But this only strengthened his resolve to dig deeper into whatever secrets she held.

If she didn't harbor some massive secret, why would she attempt self-destruction just out of fear of the Truth Serum?

"Watch her closely."

He issued the order, then hurried out the door.

Soon, Zeng Qing was carried out of the interrogation room.

This time, the man in charge didn't return her to a standard cell, but instead took her to a room that was barely a few square meters in size.

The walls of this room were several meters thick, and over a dozen people were stationed to guard the door, including a Seventh Rank expert.

About half an hour passed after Ding Xunchun left.

Suddenly, the entire lobby of the Law Enforcement Bureau lit up with flashing red lights, and sirens began to blare madly.

Inside the room, Yan Jing—in his Mao Si identity—heard the blaring alarms and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Blink is a lot less useful once people know about it."

Clearly, this was a trap.

The Minister of Media must have recorded his battle with the Magician, so they had added extra precautions.

He could feel some kind of magnetic field rapidly taking shape. It seemed capable of reinforcing spatial stability. If his teleportation distance was compressed by this interference to less than the thickness of the walls, his only option would be to walk out the front door.

Outside, a premeditated ambush was almost certainly waiting for him.

It wasn't even out of the question that an Eighth Rank expert might be out there.

This Ding Xunchun.

He was far from simple.

"But you still miscalculated a bit."

A pitch-black feather materialized in his hand and floated into the air.

Like a gentle breeze blowing or a willow leaf settling on a pond, ripples spread outward through the air.

The magnetic field that was almost fully formed instantly failed.

Praying for Death Evolution—Nullification.

The feather drifted downward, slicing through the air like a sharp blade to open a black rift. A pitch-black door instantly yawned open.

Yan Jing carried Zeng Qing in his arms and stepped inside.

Peerless: Crown Trait—Void.

In the next instant, the pitch-black door sealed shut, and the entire room returned to silence.

Inside the space, visibility was extremely low.

Yan Jing placed Zeng Qing on the ground. Using the soft pads of his paws, he gently rubbed her swollen eyes as threads of light materialized around him to begin healing her.

Hearing Zeng Qing's unconscious, pained moans, he sighed and lightened his touch.

This had not been his plan.

His plan had been for Zeng Qing to be injected with the Truth Serum, at which point she would reveal a "secret" he had told her.

But Zeng Qing hadn't spoken.

She had chosen self-destruction instead.

He stared blankly for a moment, his gaze growing unfocused. For some inexplicable reason, he thought of Papa Rat.

He finally understood why he always felt a barrier existed between him and Papa Rat.

Just as Zeng Qing had once told him, a sheer cliff lay between him and Papa Rat. The two of them could converse and bare their hearts from opposite sides of the chasm, but neither could take that final step forward, lest they plummet off the edge.

He hadn't known why before, but now he finally grasped the reason.

It was because of that angry remark he had snapped at Papa Rat: "The two of us are exactly the same."

He and Papa Rat were cut from the same cloth. For the sake of their goals, they could sort the people around them into first-, second-, and third-tier categories, then push forward those who weren't their absolute closest companions as pawns.

Because he knew what kind of person he was, whenever he interacted with Papa Rat, he constantly worried that Papa Rat saw him as someone expendable too.

He would never put the current Mantou or Shen Youran in the position Zeng Qing was in right now. Nor would he subject Fei Yu, the Old Man, or Chen Nian to it.

Yet this position Zeng Qing occupied was the exact same one Rose had once been in. Bi Jie had been there too, and even Papa Rat had inadvertently stood there—along with all the fully plant-mutated residents of Peace Heavenly Kingdom.

Even Mantou and Shen Youran had occupied it in the very beginning.

But in reality, perhaps none of them deserved to be put in that position.

He was deeply despicable. Before confirming someone's loyalty, he would gladly place them in the most dangerous of situations.

And he was deeply greedy. Once their loyalty was proven, he would clutch them tightly and never let go.

When he felt his grip slipping, he would simply put others in the most dangerous places again to secure what he wanted.

"Perhaps the most crucial aspect of any parent-child relationship is simply learning to distinguish between what is love and what isn't."

Enlightenment washed over Yan Jing's mind, and several chaotic thoughts suddenly clicked into clarity.

Only one thing mattered most.

That was love, or the lack thereof.

He looked down at Zeng Qing and sighed softly. "Zeng Qing, you'll get everything you want."

"I'm sorry."

He gently rubbed Zeng Qing's eyes, his gaze tender.

[Your True Soul is returning.]

"Who said that?"

Yan Jing blinked, only then realizing it was the system notification prompt of the ghoulish game, which he had previously muted down to a whisper.

True Soul—

What was that?

Outside, Ding Xunchun stood smiling by the door of Zeng Qing's cell.

He certainly hadn't left.

This was a trap.

If that guy genuinely cared about Zeng Qing, he would definitely show up.

And reality had played out exactly as he predicted.

What he hadn't anticipated was how quickly the intruder would arrive.

Had they received some sort of message? Was there a mole? Or had they hacked the surveillance feed?

He pursed his lips.

He would find out as soon as he caught them.

"Sorry for the trouble," he said, looking at an Old Man beside him wrapped in a black cloak.

The Old Man's head looked incredibly gaunt, nothing but skin stretched tight over bone. His eye sockets were deeply sunken, and the few sparse strands of hair on his scalp fluttered in the breeze. He looked no different from a dying man—an exceptionally ghastly sight.

"Ah—"

The Old Man rasped, serving as his answer to Ding Xunchun.

Receiving the Old Man's response, Ding Xunchun nodded, then turned to the law enforcement officer standing by the door. "Open it."

"Yes, sir."

The officer pulled out a keycard and, with a slight tremble, pressed it against the iron door's scanner.

Click. The iron door unlocked.

Everyone instinctively held their breath.

The officer who had scanned the card wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then, gritting his teeth, he yanked the heavy door wide open.

"Do it!"

Ding Xunchun roared. Instantly, countless gun barrels materialized from the arms of the law enforcement officers, all aimed directly into the room.

Firepower poured out frantically like a raging flood. It was like a dam breaking, instantly inundating the tiny space.

Ding Xunchun, the Seventh Rank expert in charge of guarding the room, and the Old Man—three bursts of weird energy erupted simultaneously, sweeping outward with majestic force. A massive dark cloud seemed drawn by this terrifying energy, gathering in the sky above the Law Enforcement Bureau. It spread out in a gloomy haze, blocking out all sunlight for several kilometers in every direction.

But a few seconds later, watching the completely motionless room, Ding Xunchun realized something was wrong.

"Cease fire!"

He shouted the order, and the barrage of gunfire immediately died away.

As the thick smoke cleared, he walked inside and looked around. Instantly, a surge of pure fury rushed straight to his head.

Gone!!!

He had gone to such massive lengths to set up this grand trap, and his target was simply gone!

Hot on the heels of his rage came a faint chill that rippled through his heart.

First, the fact that the enemy could come and go freely within the heavily guarded Law Enforcement Bureau proved their strength was far greater than he had imagined.

Second, he had lost Zeng Qing. He had no way to explain this to Quan Dazhong.

Several hours later.

"Useless trash!!!"

Quan Dazhong grabbed the documents and books on his desk and viciously hurled them at Ding Xunchun.

Ding Xunchun stood bolt upright, head bowed, not daring to speak.

"How did she escape?! I'm asking you how she escaped!"

Quan Dazhong was jumping mad. "You've been the Minister of the Central Intelligence Department for so many years! Are you an idiot?! I gave you an Eighth Rank expert! I gave you troops! And this is what you show me?!"

"My apologies, Mr. President!"

"'My apologies, my apologies, my apologies!' What the hell is the use of that?!"

Quan Dazhong roared. He marched around from behind his desk and stopped in front of Ding Xunchun. "Look up. Look at me."

Ding Xunchun kept his face taut and lifted his head.

The next second, a wad of spit landed directly on his face.

"Trash!"

"My apologies, Mr. President."

Keeping his head bowed, Ding Xunchun said, "Although we lost track of the enemy, we still managed to obtain some intelligence regarding the plant disease. After sending out personnel to investigate, we have made some progress."

"What progress?"

Quan Dazhong's expression didn't soften in the slightest.

Ding Xunchun quickly explained the matter regarding the Origin Plants.

"Based on our investigation, these Origin Plants should be the cause of this outbreak of the plant disease. As long as we find them, we can completely resolve the situation."

Ding Xunchun noted in a deep voice.

"Then why aren't you out there searching? What are you waiting for?"

Quan Dazhong kept his dark scowl.

"Reporting to Mr. President, we have already investigated. Furthermore—we have discovered something extremely important."

Only then did Ding Xunchun finally pull a report from his breast pocket and hand it to Quan Dazhong.

This was why he had delayed his report to Quan Dazhong by several hours. If he wanted to endure less criticism, the only strategy was to hold back the good news until he had weathered the worst of the storm.

Quan Dazhong snatched the report and swept a cold glance over it, his pupils suddenly contracting.

Seeing this, Ding Xunchun took the opportunity to say, "We had our technicians analyze the data, and they discovered that the flow of these invisible spores is divided into several groups. However, the strange part is that despite being in different groups, the spores all share the exact same life signature."

"These life signatures share the exact same origin. That means even if there really are three different Origin Plants like the USB Flash Drive claimed, they are essentially the same single lifeform."

"Because of this, there must be a connection between them. We spent some time tracking it and locked onto a single signal source."

"According to our analysis, the Origin Plants appear to be controlled by a specific lifeform. This lifeform can directly control the Origin Plants, and the Origin Plants can control all the plant-mutated residents. What we mean is that as long as we eradicate the signal source, we can eradicate the Origin Plants, and consequently eradicate—"

"Good!"

Before Ding Xunchun could even finish, Quan Dazhong had started laughing. "Good! Good, good! You've done extremely well, Xunchun!"

Hearing this, a look of joy surfaced on Ding Xunchun's face. "I don't deserve such high praise, Mr. President."

But before he could enjoy the feeling for long, Quan Dazhong spoke again in the very next breath. "Alright, you don't need to worry about the rest of this. I'll arrange for others to conduct the investigation into the signal source."

Others—

Ding Xunchun froze. Before he could speak, Quan Dazhong continued, "What? Are you unwilling? Now that this matter is close to being resolved, we naturally need to shift our focus to treating the residents who have already undergone plant mutation. Isn't that exactly what you want to see?"

"You mean to say...?"

Ding Xunchun asked, delighted.

"Yes. Starting now, all our resources will be pivoted toward treating the afflicted."

Quan Dazhong said, "Once I eliminate the signal source, this outbreak of plant disease will be over for good."