Chapter 246: Chapter 11: Mutation
The coast, the Golden Beach, a coastal hotel.
Seventh floor, Room 709.
The recent Spiritual Qi burst had sent the energy churning through Chen Zhicheng’s body, leaving him feeling rather unwell. He lay on the bed, tongue lolling out. His internal organs felt as if they were being gently massaged, an ambiguous sensation that was neither pleasant nor painful.
A sudden increase in Spiritual Qi density was, of course, a good thing for all life on Earth, but for individuals with higher sensitivity to Spiritual Qi, it could feel like an allergic reaction.
Chen Zhicheng was one such individual. The instant the Spiritual Qi burst, his organs seemed to spring to life, greedily and spontaneously absorbing the dense energy around them. This was certainly a good thing, but his organs, now preoccupied with their task, had somewhat forgotten their day jobs. As a result, he was now completely drained of strength, unable to even stand.
"You’re certainly in better shape than I am."
In stark contrast, Flower Fairy Xialan was so energetic she was practically glowing. The little one was cheering as she zipped all over the room. Her speed reached an astonishing thirty-plus meters per second, and that wasn’t even her fastest.
"Happy! Feels good!"
Seeing Xialan’s wide, happy smile made Chen Zhicheng feel a bit happier himself.
But just then, the entire room suddenly darkened. The sunlight outside faded within seconds, and the sound of pattering rain followed.
"Is the weather changing because of the shift in Spiritual Qi?" Chen Zhicheng turned his head to look out the window, which had already grown gloomy. He was starting to feel some strength return to his body, and a bit of life returned to his eyes. "Hmm, speaking of which, I’m getting a little hungry."
He hadn’t eaten lunch, and on top of that, his organs were consuming nutrients for self-enhancement as they absorbed Spiritual Qi. For a moment, his body’s nourishment was heavily depleted, creating the illusion of extreme hunger.
However, thanks to the official cultivation guide, Chen Zhicheng knew that unless one had an incredible digestive system, it was best not to actually eat anything at a time like this. The stomach and intestines simply didn’t have the energy to digest food and convert it into nutrients.
"Thanks!"
Just then, Xialan thoughtfully brought him a glass of warm water with Spiritual Honey, which warmed Chen Zhicheng’s heart. After drinking the honey water infused with Spiritual Qi, he felt much better. A warmth spread through his chest and abdomen as wisps of power diffused throughout his body.
But at that moment, a heavy THUD suddenly came from the next room.
"What in the world was that?"
The thirty-two-year-old sighed. ’How could I not recognize that sound?’
CRASH.
Strangely, after the crash, he heard a door open and close... ’What on earth is that young couple next door doing? Why did they go out into the hallway?’
Even with an Awakener’s hearing, all he could make out was the sound of heavy breathing.
’What’s going on?’ Chen Zhicheng, who was starting to feel his strength return, had been planning to go out for a meal anyway. ’It’s not that I want to interrupt their fun, but this is a public area. Am I supposed to let my stomach suffer just because they’re being inappropriate? I don’t think so.’
’Even in the American Federation, people aren’t this brazen! I’ll have to give them a piece of my mind.’
Muttering to himself, Chen Zhicheng held out his hand for Xialan to land on his finger. He then placed her on top of his head, stretched his arms and legs, and walked out the door.
In the dimly lit hallway of the coastal hotel, under the pale yellow lights, a long-haired girl and a young man with his head lowered were locked in an embrace. The girl was nestled against his chest, and they held each other so tightly it was clear they were very much in love.
’Okay, it’s just a hug.’ At first glance, nothing seemed amiss. Chen Zhicheng, who had raised a hand to cover Xialan’s eyes, nodded in relief and lowered his fingers. He grumbled, "You young people are just too reckless. If you’re going to kiss..."
The scent of blood.
Chen Zhicheng stopped mid-sentence. The cloying smell of fresh blood filled his sensitive nostrils.
For a moment, his fluid movements froze. A thick, coppery scent was spreading through the hallway, and a dark spiritual light began to glow from where the couple was embracing.
The man who had been ’tightly embracing’ the girl went limp, his hands falling lifelessly to his sides. His body, as if it had lost all support, tilted and slumped to one side. His eyes were vacant, and there was a hole in his throat that looked as if it had been gouged out by hand. Bright red blood was gushing from the wound.
And from his chest, through his shredded shirt, was a cavity the size of a human head. A girl, like an evil ghost, was pulling her head out of it.
SPLAT.
The woman, her body flashing with a deep gray, dark spiritual light, turned her head mechanically. Her eyes flowed with an almost tangible, ravenous hunger. She released her grip on the man, and his hollowed-out corpse fell to the floor with a thud.
GULP.
He swallowed hard, with extreme difficulty.
The overwhelming scent of blood and the spiritual pressure hit him like a gale, bearing down on the thirty-two-year-old man.
Chen Zhicheng swore this was the first time in his life he’d felt the overwhelming urge to piss himself anywhere outside of a bathroom.
"Heh—"
The next instant, the long-haired woman, looking like an evil ghost and burning with a deep gray, dark spiritual light, charged straight at Chen Zhicheng, her spiritual pressure causing the surrounding lights to flicker on and off!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Then, gunshots rang out, and the evil ghost fell to the ground.
Even though his legs were shaking uncontrollably, Chen Zhicheng’s hands, holding the gun, were perfectly steady.
He was an Awakening Tier Cultivator, after all, so a pistol’s recoil was nothing to him. And with an enemy charging at point-blank range, he didn’t have to worry about accuracy. Staring at the man and woman lying motionless in a pool of blood, Chen Zhicheng took a shaky deep breath. "Whew... Luckily, high-level official researchers are issued guns and Spiritual Bullets for self-defense," he said, the fear hitting him after the fact. "Otherwise, this would’ve been a scene straight out of a horror movie."
"But what the hell is going on?! Why did she suddenly start eating someone?!"
As this thought crossed his mind, Chen Zhicheng saw the female ghost still twitching. He instinctively aimed for her head and fired again. ’To be honest, I regretted it the moment I pulled the trigger,’ he thought. ’What if she’d just lost control because of the Spiritual Qi burst? What if she could have been saved? But this is no time to get sentimental. What’s done is done. It was self-defense, anyway.’
"Shit, what do I do now... Right, I need to notify the authorities!"
He took the dazed and confused Xialan from the top of his head and tucked her into his clothes for protection. At the end of the day, Chen Zhicheng was a researcher at the National Center for Rare Plant Cultivation—and a decorated one at that. Even on vacation, he was authorized to carry a gun for self-defense. They had even been trained in shooting and evasion techniques by specialized military personnel.
’But honestly, no one ever taught me how to deal with a man-eating evil ghost!’ he thought. ’Other than reporting the situation, I really can’t think of anything else to do.’
By now, someone had heard the gunshots in the hallway and was nervously calling the police—only a fool would open their door to check things out. This saved Chen Zhicheng the trouble of explaining himself. He immediately returned to his room and dialed the emergency number from his employee handbook. After a long wait, his call was finally transferred to an available operator.
Without wasting any words, Chen Zhicheng reported the situation, explaining that he had shot and killed a suspected out-of-control Cultivator in self-defense.
The person on the other end of the line gave him direct and simple instructions for his next course of action.
"Secure your room and wait for rescue."
「Meanwhile, in mid-air.」
Inside a speeding helicopter.
Amid the roar of the violently spinning rotors, Su Zhou, alone in the cabin, had already changed into a full protective suit. It wasn’t Exoskeleton Armor, but it was the most advanced full-coverage Three-Defense Suit in the world.
Beside him rested a strangely shaped Spirit Iron Long Staff.
[Multiple cases of Cultivators mutating and going berserk have been reported along the coast. These are accompanied by a large-scale outbreak of an acute plague.]
[The mutated Cultivators exhibit consistent symptoms. They are all Cultivators who had not yet undergone Spirit Awakening but possessed a certain degree of Cultivation Talent. After mutation, they lose control of their minds, their Spiritual Light converts to the Yin Attribute, similar to an Evil Spirit, and their bodies transform into something akin to a zombie—their flesh becomes rigid, but it does not affect their movement.]
[The strength of the mutated is close to Mid-stage Awakening. They have a craving for flesh and blood, and their appetite is nearly limitless—they will continue to eat even after their stomachs burst. They can essentially be classified as having undergone ’Hungry Ghost Transformation.’]
Su Zhou listened to the analysis and instructions coming through his earpiece, his expression grim. [Some of the mutated have become even stronger, possessing the ability of short-term Spiritualization, which allows them to evade attacks from ordinary firearms loaded with non-spiritual ammunition.]
The middle-aged man’s voice was calm. [According to our current analysis, a large, multinational clandestine organization is responsible for instigating these riots.]
[This time, their seven Leaders attacked seven regions around the world simultaneously, creating seven major disturbances at almost the exact moment of the Spiritual Qi burst.]
Video feeds showing scenes of chaos from around the world appeared on the cabin’s digital screen.
The coastal regions of the European Federation were engulfed in a sea of fire, where a Fire Attribute Ability User was on a rampage.
In the Southeast Asian Countries, thousands of people lay unconscious on the streets, their faces frozen in terror, as if trapped in an inescapable nightmare.
On the West Coast of the American Federation, enraged crowds were shooting at each other, their emotions spiraling out of control as they vented their frustration and anger through destruction.
And on the Fusang East Coast, suicide rates were hitting a new high. Among the skyscrapers, Evil Spirits that did not fear the sun could be faintly seen wandering—they were amalgams of the dead’s Soul Spirits.
Chaos was erupting all over the world.
