Chapter 436: Taking Over Mao Si's Life

"What peach?"

Quan Dazhong seemed to realize something. Intense fear welled up in his heart, and he stared at Yan Jing in sheer disbelief.

After a few seconds of thought, however, he let out a cold sneer. "Worthy of being raised by that Rat. You sound exactly like him."

"Are you saying you're using the power of Mutation as the peach?!"

"Ridiculous!!"

"Do you even know what Mutation is?!"

"If this thing were released to the outside world, countless people would fight over it. And you're using it as a peach? Heh, you might have learned from your Pops, but unfortunately, you didn't understand a thing."

"What didn't I understand?" Yan Jing asked with a smile.

Faced with Yan Jing's question, Quan Dazhong was naturally happy to stall for time. He sneered, "You're referring to two peaches kill three warriors, right? But didn't your Pops ever tell you the true meaning behind that idiom?"

He struggled to sit up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and said mildly, "The peaches Duke Jing of Qi offered were the most worthless things he had, yet three men fought over them and lost their lives."

"Are you saying you and Luo Sheng are now using the power of Mutation as the peach?"

"Don't you find that ridiculous?"

"If this power of Mutation was truly unleashed by you, and if it's something you can actually control—"

He looked at Yan Jing with disdain. "Then why did Luo Sheng expose himself? Once the Mutation infected more than half of the Heavenly Kingdom, he would become its de facto ruler. Would he still need to use you as a scapegoat?"

"Clap, clap, clap—"

Sudden applause echoed beneath the night sky.

Yan Jing clapped, looking at the man across from him. "A near-perfect deduction, Mr. President."

"Unfortunately, you missed one small detail."

"No one wants to be the actual ruler of this domain."

"Especially Mr. Luo."

Quan Dazhong's expression turned ugly. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Yan Jing replied mildly. "Mr. Luo only wants a few things. First, for you and the conglomerates to die. Second, for Papa Rat and Crocodile to rise to power. And third, to find a so-called 'savior' for the muddle-headed fools of this country."

"As for anything else, he doesn't care. And as it happens, neither do I."

Quan Dazhong's expression twisted further. "What kind of bullshit are you spouting?"

"Are you telling me Luo Sheng wants to use this method to overturn the fundamental logic of this country?"

"He did all this just to change the actual structure of this nation?"

"Worthy of you, Mr. President. You catch on quick," Yan Jing sighed in admiration.

The man opposite him was indeed incredibly intelligent. Every time Yan Jing spoke, Quan Dazhong accurately deduced the deeper meaning he wanted to convey.

Yet precisely because of this, Quan Dazhong refused to believe him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

He was furious.

This wasn't because he felt Yan Jing was messing with him. Quite the opposite—it was because Yan Jing had presented a possibility that terrified him.

Fear bred anger, leaving him with nothing but blind rage. "Are you telling me that you did all this, went in such a massive circle, just to save the Heavenly Kingdom? You risked being sent to the Great Prison just to change the world?"

"What do you think you're doing? Shooting a movie?! And what is he supposed to be? A Saint?!"

"Fuck, it's ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous!!!"

Quan Dazhong's body trembled slightly in fear.

But Yan Jing sighed softly. "To some extent, he really is a Saint."

"However, I don't think I have any obligation to explain these things to you, Mr. President."

"This is where it ends."

"As for the so-called truth you're so obsessed with—"

He raised his hand, and the power that had once sent Quan Dazhong into ecstasy burst from his palm once more.

Chaos, disorder, evil, frenzy, distortion, depravity—all these sensations erupted from the cluster of green light in Yan Jing's palm, sending a bone-deep chill through Quan Dazhong.

"This is the truth."

"Goodbye, Mr. President."

Yan Jing reached out. Quan Dazhong was finally out of options. In his panic, he tried to beg for mercy, but before he could utter a single word, his neck was brutally snapped.

In his palm, that transparent Crystal Stone emitted an intense light, recording Yan Jing's face.

It was registering Yan Jing as a criminal. From this moment on, every citizen of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom would have the right and duty to hunt down the man who murdered the president.

A few seconds later, his face was forcibly uploaded to every website, every software application, and everyone's Information Component.

Even the Information Component on Yan Jing's own wrist vibrated violently, flashing with red light.

Yet Yan Jing's expression remained perfectly calm. He tore open a rift and brought Papa Rat back out.

At this moment, Papa Rat's face was just as placid as Yan Jing's. Keeping his head lowered, he tried his best to open his bleeding eyes to look at the vibrating Information Component, wanting to see clearly who was being hunted.

Yan Jing sighed and smiled. "No need to look, Pops. It's me."

Papa Rat said nothing.

Until Yan Jing spoke once more.

He suddenly lost his temper.

"I know, I know!!!"

He roared at Yan Jing, then twisted his body around in Yan Jing's palm and muttered, "I'm not blind yet."

After that, neither of them said another word.

Suddenly, Yan Jing felt Papa Rat's body trembling slightly in his palm.

He blinked and spoke in the gentlest tone he could manage. "Pops, you can't blame Mr. Luo for this. I asked for it myself."

"When he guessed what you were trying to do, he originally wanted to play along and help you achieve your plan. But I thought about it. Between the two of us, it's better for me to go to the Great Prison. At least my bones are still sturdy."

"You don't know shit," Papa Rat retorted right off the bat, in no mood to reason with Yan Jing right now.

"I looked into it," Yan Jing said with a smile. "Going to that place doesn't mean certain death. The criminals in that Sin Live Broadcast last time didn't look as strong as me, and weren't they living just fine? Don't worry, Pops, I'll definitely make a name for myself in there."

"You don't understand shit," Papa Rat said.

"I don't understand, but aren't I waiting for you to teach me, Pops?"

"Teach you my ass."

Yan Jing really couldn't hold it in anymore. Half-laughing and half-crying, he turned the hand holding Papa Rat around, only to find that Papa Rat simultaneously twisted his body back the other way. The two of them ended up acting like two spinning tops rotating in opposite directions.

Finally, Yan Jing gave up and stopped his hand with a smile.

He thought for a moment, then spoke softly. "Pops, I know some things are hard to accept, but this is just how it is. You told me before that a person never knows which day they'll stop walking, or where the ending of their own book will be."

"Everyone keeps on living because they're looking forward to the next page."

"I didn't want your ending to be in that cold prison, Pops."

"I know Second Brother is fine. I even visited that noodle shop he opened a few days ago."

"He said he overheard you talking with Uncle Crocodile."

"You said you were willing to wait another five years, and Uncle Crocodile said that your five years are equivalent to thirty years for us."

"Pops, you raised me for twenty years."

"Twenty years... how many of our years is that equivalent to—"

"Thank you, Pops."

Yan Jing spoke in a hushed voice. "That prison won't be my ending. I hope everything goes well for all of you."

In his palm, Big Rat was already crying uncontrollably.

He couldn't turn around.

A father couldn't let his son see him shed tears.

It was a fact carved into biological genes.

An unwritten rule universally accepted, no matter the domain.

He recalled a perfectly ordinary afternoon when he and Mao Si were sitting on the couch, bored out of their minds.

The television had been broadcasting a mess of news reports. The two of them went from discussing what to eat for dinner, to the livelihood of the people, and finally to what the future of this country would look like.

Then his son suddenly jumped up from the couch and shouted, "My goal has never changed! I want to change everything that needs to be changed in this country!!"

This was the best possible ending to the book of their time as father and son.

Several hours later.

After the group finished their discussion, Crocodile acted according to the plan and brought Yan Jing "to justice."

The scene of Crocodile capturing Yan Jing spread like wildfire.

Following that, Crocodile stood at the podium and announced, "A cure for the botanical disease has been found."

Zeng Qing also stepped forward, declaring her full support for Councilman Crocodile's work.

The entire political sphere of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom completed a cycle of collapse, upheaval, and reconstruction in just a single day.

Everyone knew that this crocodile wearing a worn-out suit would be the next president.

Yet very few people knew that behind that crocodile stood the shadow of a rat.

[Based on the projection and judgment of the future, you have fulfilled Mao Si's established long-cherished wish. In this country, in such a domain, this was certainly no easy task.]

[But you successfully accomplished it.]

[This is nothing short of a miracle.]

[You will now take over everything belonging to this black cat.]

[Please select the ability you wish to acquire.]

[Please select a segment of memory you wish to alter.]

The choice this time wasn't difficult.

Among Mao Si's abilities, only the traversing ability was worth taking. As for the memory to alter, Yan Jing chose the segment in Papa Rat's memory of seeing him defeat two Seventh Rank experts in the Anthill.

He keyed in Luo Sheng's arrival to alleviate some of Papa Rat's suspicions.

And after taking over the life, the next step was—

[Big Rat's favorability has reached the maximum value.]

[No matter how you look at it, he cannot be considered a good person.]

[He is not a good leader, nor a good friend, and even—it's hard to call him a good father.]

[But this is understandable. After all, he has never been a father, nor has he ever had one.]

[In his world, "father" is a missing noun. Raising Mao Si was just a small accident.]

[No one can clearly say what he was thinking when he chose to infiltrate the heavily guarded Nuochen Biotech to steal that bottle of Ancient Biological Potion just to save the child of the man who had backstabbed him, which dramatically caused a white cat to turn black just like his father.]

[This was the consequence of a genetic disease caused by supplementing a genetic deficiency.]

["Theft," "deception," "ruthlessness"—it seems he has relied on such insidious methods every step of the way. These methods are his protective shell, as well as the root of his inferiority complex.]

[You have successfully torn through all of it and walked right into his heart.]

[Of course, before that, some of your own defenses were torn open as well.]

[The salvation between a father and child will always be reached at some point in a lifetime.]

[Fortunately, the two of you are so alike.]

[Please select Big Rat's ability to inherit.]

Yan Jing quietly finished reading the system broadcast, then browsed through Papa Rat's abilities.

There were many good abilities among Papa Rat's toolkit, such as:

[Verbal Deception: The words you speak will become far more deceptive, and your sanity will drastically increase.]

[Strength: Exhibit physical power entirely disproportionate to your body size. The massive enhancement is beyond your imagination.]

[Liberation: Using your own body as the price, complete a liberation to cleanse all current negative statuses, restoring the weird energy in your body to its peak level for a short duration.]

Yan Jing skimmed past them one by one until he finally stopped on a single ability:

[Theft: Stemming from the blood of a Great Entity, you can activate this to steal an opponent's "important possession." Note: This ability can only be used a maximum of three times a day, and it will inflict some backlash upon you depending on the difficulty.]

According to the system's description, this was the exact ability Papa Rat relied on when he stole the traversing potion for Mao Si.

And when Papa Rat fought the Seventh Rank expert back then and stole their heart, he must have used this ability as well.

Looking at the description of this ability, Yan Jing remembered the severed skeletal finger in his hand.

In the end, he selected it.

As the system prompted that the takeover of Mao Si's life was complete, Yan Jing exited the Inner World.

Mao Si would still be locked up for a period of time before being sent to the Great Prison, so he could take this chance to relax a bit.

Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of his hotel room.

Because this dive into the Inner World required more time than the duration of his flight, he had made an excuse to stay back at the hotel after getting off the plane.

By now, it was already past midnight.

After taking a short nap until daybreak, Yan Jing took a shower and went downstairs.

At this moment, quite a few people were already waiting in the lobby.

The size of the group had expanded once again, growing from three teams to four.

However, compared to the previous two trials, no conflicts broke out this time.

This was primarily because everyone in the first three teams had been left with a deep impression of Yan Jing's performance at the Long Family. When the fourth team arrived, Yan Jing happened to be absent. As everyone gradually familiarized themselves with one another, the earlier arrivals amiably leaked some details about Yan Jing to the fourth team.

Against this backdrop, neither logically nor emotionally did the fourth team have any reason to butt heads with Yan Jing.

Yan Jing didn't feel anything particularly special about it either.

He felt he had always maintained a very low profile. If he hadn't run into abnormal people, conflicts wouldn't have happened in the first place.

The guide leading the fourth team was a somewhat short "man."

To describe him more accurately, this team's guide looked like a "Youth."

With delicate, handsome features and bright, lively eyes, he was the picture of a standard adolescent youth.

But the moment he opened his mouth, all of that changed.

"Everyone in the team! Report in!!!"

Quickly, the members of his team—seed contestants who would be treated like absolute treasures anywhere else—began to call out their presence one by one.

One of them was a bit slow to report and was even grabbed and furiously chewed out by the "Youth."

People from the other teams had already witnessed this scene yesterday, but seeing it again today still made them quietly marvel.

It could only be said that the four guides each had their own unique quirks. None of them were ordinary people.

Of course, the most unique of them all was still that single person—

"Miss Sheng, aren't we having the hotel buffet for breakfast today? What are we eating then?"

Yan Jing looked toward Sheng Xia and asked.

"We're going to eat a local specialty of the Second Ring Domain, Mr. Yan," Sheng Xia replied. "It's called Qiangbang cuisine."

"Sounds like it has a lot of historical flavor," Yan Jing smiled.

"It's a very interesting place." Just as Sheng Xia finished her polite smile, she suddenly remembered something. Her face stiffened slightly, and she immediately added, "Of course, Mr. Yan, if you'd like, you can actually eat something else."

This was a breakfast combined with their trial; Sheng Xia didn't want any unexpected trouble cropping up.

Perhaps Yan Jing had been a bit too quiet yesterday, making her almost forget his unique nature.

"No need, this is fine."

Yan Jing smiled and asked, "Do they have ice cream?"