With agile leaps through the complicated forest, staying alert for mutated plants that could attack at any moment, Lian Qiguang followed the seed he had planted inside Ji Renlin and raced forward.
For Lian Qiguang, once he decided that a target had to die, he would never leave any possibility of survival.
Ji Renlin might not deserve death, or perhaps he was not even worthy of being killed by Lian Qiguang, but unfortunately, this person had already been written into Lian Qiguang’s book of life and death.
Lian Qiguang moved through the forest for roughly an hour before faint sounds of fighting reached his ears from not far away.
His eyes darkened. His speed remained unchanged, but he deliberately softened his movements and quietly approached the source of the disturbance.
As the sounds gradually became clearer, Lian Qiguang quickly saw several figures entangled in battle.
He slowed his body, leapt up, and landed between the branches of a tree. Through the dense foliage, he observed the scene below.
Zuo Jing had already collapsed unconscious on the ground. Zhang Qi was covered in wounds, with a fist-sized hole through his left shoulder, blood continuously flowing out. His pale face was filled with fear.
Ji Renlin’s condition was slightly better. Although his body was covered with wounds, they were only superficial injuries and none were fatal. At this moment, Ji Renlin’s face was pale and his entire body was disheveled. He was completely different from the gentle and refined man he once appeared to be.
And the person who had injured them was none other than Ye Chengcheng—or rather, the mutated Ye Chengcheng.
At this moment, Ye Chengcheng’s body was completely naked. Her originally fair and crystal-like skin had turned bluish-purple. Her protruding veins covered her body densely, terrifyingly resembling earthworms.
Her back was split open, with two rows of sharp spikes protruding outward. Her hair hung messily around her face, her eyes sunken deep into their sockets, her red lips cracked open, revealing rows of crocodile-like teeth.
She crouched on the ground like a beast, glaring fiercely at Zhang Qi.
‘She came for revenge?’
A trace of pleasure rose in Lian Qiguang’s heart. He had not forgotten the moment when the ground collapsed and Zhang Qi pushed Ye Chengcheng away.
“ROAR!!”
Ye Chengcheng suddenly let out a sharp, ear-piercing cry. Her entire body shot toward Zhang Qi like an arrow.
Zhang Qi’s expression changed in panic. He hurriedly dodged, but with his severe injuries, how could he possibly be a match for Ye Chengcheng, who had mutated and no longer felt pain?
As he dodged, a deep wound that exposed bone appeared across his back.
Zhang Qi screamed and collapsed onto the ground, his entire body trembling from the pain.
“ROAR!!”
Ye Chengcheng turned around, opened her split mouth, and roared at Ji Renlin. The two rows of crocodile-like teeth looked especially horrifying.
“Chengcheng! Don’t! I’m Ji Renlin! Your senior Ji Renlin!”
Ji Renlin’s face was pale. He continuously retreated while looking at Ye Chengcheng in terror.
“Ugh…”
It seemed that Ji Renlin’s words had some effect. Ye Chengcheng’s attacking motion slowed. Her sunken eyes flashed with confusion and struggle.
Watching this scene, Lian Qiguang tilted his head slightly, feeling puzzled.
Was Ji Renlin really that important to this woman?
Although Lian Qiguang did not understand mutated beings very well now, he assumed that since they had evolved from the former zombies, they should be similar to them.
Once someone became a zombie, not only would they lose their sense of pain, but they would also lose all human emotions.
They would become nothing more than beasts that only knew killing and satisfying their hunger.
Unless they evolved into high-level intelligent zombies.
But Ye Chengcheng had clearly only just evolved. It was absolutely impossible for her to possess her own intelligence.
Everything she did now was driven entirely by instinct.
Yet from the current situation, Ji Renlin was clearly an extremely important existence to Ye Chengcheng—important enough that it had already been carved into her bones and become part of her instinct.
Even after becoming a beast, she still instinctively refused to harm Ji Renlin.
“ROAR!!!”
A miserable scream interrupted Lian Qiguang’s thoughts.
He immediately looked downward, and his expression tightened.
He saw Ji Renlin had transformed water into a sword and stabbed it into Ye Chengcheng’s body, pinning her firmly to the ground.
Ye Chengcheng struggled desperately. The water sword twisted inside her body, turning her flesh into a bloody mess.
Although she could not feel pain, her sunken eyes stared at Ji Renlin, filled with indescribable sorrow and grief.
Perhaps feeling uncomfortable under Ye Chengcheng’s gaze, Ji Renlin sneered coldly. With a wave of his hand, a water blade spread out and pierced deeply into Ye Chengcheng’s sunken eyes.
“ROAR!!!!”
Lian Qiguang’s hands tightened.
For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt a faint tremor in his chest.
It was the same feeling he had experienced in his dream when he learned that he and Xiahou Shaoxuan would completely separate and never meet again.
A feeling that appeared without reason.
“Ye Chengcheng, I know that living like this is painful for you. Let me free you.”
Ji Renlin looked at Ye Chengcheng, who was pinned to the ground by the water sword, her eyes destroyed. His voice carried a trace of pity, but his eyes were filled with cruelty.
“Rest peacefully.”
A water blade slowly formed in his hand and gradually grew larger.
Lian Qiguang’s eyes darkened.
A drop of water slowly spun at his fingertip, gradually transforming into an ice bead.
A vicious glint flashed in Ji Renlin’s eyes. The water blade in his hand stabbed directly toward Ye Chengcheng’s head.
At the same time, the ice bead in Lian Qiguang’s hand shot forward.
Just as the water blade was about to pierce through Ye Chengcheng’s head, the ice bead collided with it.
The water blade instantly shattered, scattering into droplets of water.
Ji Renlin’s expression changed drastically.
Before he could react, Lian Qiguang severed the water sword that pinned Ye Chengcheng down.
Ye Chengcheng immediately leapt up, transforming into a blur as she rushed toward Ji Renlin.
“AHHHHHHH!!!!”
A miserable scream rang out.
Ji Renlin fell to the ground, clutching his face with both hands, howling in madness.
“No! No! My face! My face!!
Where is the doctor? Where is the healing device? Come save me!!”
“Ugh…”
Ye Chengcheng turned around and glared viciously at Zhang Qi.
Zhang Qi kept retreating, his face filled with fear and despair.
“Don’t come over! I know I was wrong! Let me go! I know I was wrong! Please…”
“ROAR!!”
Ye Chengcheng let out a sharp cry and leapt forward, knocking Zhang Qi to the ground.
Amid Zhang Qi’s desperate screams, she bit down on his head.
With a violent snap—
His skull was crushed.
His brain matter splattered across the ground, leaving behind only a headless corpse.
Zhang Qi was dead.
Ye Chengcheng turned around and locked her gaze onto Ji Renlin.
“Chengcheng! Let me go! Please, let me go…”
Ji Renlin watched Ye Chengcheng slowly approach him and continuously moved backward.
“Chengcheng, I know you like me.
Actually… actually, I like you too. Really!
You’re cute and beautiful. I have always liked you.
Let me go. Don’t kill me…”
“ROAR!”
Ye Chengcheng had already been deceived once. How could she believe Ji Renlin’s lies again?
His words only made her even more furious.
With an angry roar, Ye Chengcheng lunged toward Ji Renlin.
“BOOM!”
A wall of ice suddenly appeared in front of Ji Renlin.
Ye Chengcheng was thrown backward by her own enormous force, crashing onto the ground and unable to get back up for a moment.
“He is mine.”
Lian Qiguang jumped down from the tree and looked at Ye Chengcheng expressionlessly.
“Xiao Guang!”
Seeing Lian Qiguang, Ji Renlin’s face lit up with joy.
“Xiao Guang!! Kill her! Kill this monster! Hurry!!”
“Ugh…”
Ye Chengcheng flipped herself over and glared angrily at Ji Renlin.
Her sunken eyes contained not only rage but also a faint trace of pain.
“Didn’t you like her?”
Lian Qiguang tilted his head and asked emotionlessly.
“If you liked her, why did you want to kill her?”
“I…”
Ji Renlin froze.
A flash of panic crossed his face, but he quickly hid it.
“Xiao Guang, the person I like is you. You’ve always known that.
When I said I liked her just now, I was only deceiving her.
How could I possibly like this monster?”
“ROAR!!”
Ye Chengcheng roared angrily.
Ji Renlin shrank back instinctively.
But seeing Lian Qiguang standing beside him, he quickly regained his courage.
He pointed at Ye Chengcheng and spoke viciously, his eyes filled with malice.
“Xiao Guang! Hurry and kill this disgusting monster!”
Looking at Ji Renlin’s face covered in blood yet completely unaware of his own ugliness, Lian Qiguang slightly frowned.
“SWISH!”
An ice blade pierced straight through Ji Renlin’s legs.
A scream immediately followed.
“AHHH!”
“Dual-element ability?”
Ji Renlin widened his eyes in disbelief.
“Xiao… Xiao Guang, why… why?”
“I originally wanted to kill you.”
Lian Qiguang raised his hand.
Two more ice blades shot out and pierced through Ji Renlin’s arms, completely crippling all four of his limbs.
“But…”
“You’re too dirty.”
“Xiao Guang, why? Why are you doing this?!”
Ji Renlin screamed sharply.
“I understand now. I know! You must have been bewitched by this monster, right?!
Xiao Guang, you love me. Wake up! Wake up quickly and kill this monster. I won’t blame you.”
“You’re about to die, yet you still refuse to repent. You’re just like those people in the laboratory. Disgusting.”
“Xiao Guang…”
“Although I don’t understand why you still retain your memories and humanity, but…”
Looking at Ye Chengcheng, who was staring at him cautiously, Lian Qiguang slowly gathered a faint green glow in his hand.
“I’ll give you this favor.”
“ROAR!!”
“Didn’t you like him?”
Lian Qiguang looked at Ye Chengcheng.
“I’ll leave him to you as your husband.”
“No!!”
Ji Renlin let out a miserable scream.
His eyes widened until they nearly split open, and he stared at Lian Qiguang with hatred and venom.
“You can’t! You can’t do this!!
I’m a noble! You’ll be arrested! You…”
“A noble?”
Lian Qiguang narrowed his eyes expressionlessly.
“A bastard child?”
Although he did not understand what a bastard child was, from the information Ji Renlin had hidden from him, it was clearly not something good.
“You…”
Ji Renlin’s voice trembled.
His expression was filled with disbelief.
“You still… remember?”
“Remember?”
Lian Qiguang was confused.
But after turning his thoughts around, he immediately understood what Ji Renlin meant.
“Looks like back then, you had Lian Qiguang killed because he discovered this secret of yours, didn’t you?”
“No, I…”
Ji Renlin tried to explain something.
But Lian Qiguang no longer gave him the chance.
The green glow surrounding his hand slowly entered Ji Renlin’s head.
Having seen what happened to Qi Ying, Ji Renlin naturally knew what Lian Qiguang intended to do.
The cruelty in his eyes was replaced by fear.
He struggled desperately, trying to escape.
But with all four limbs crippled, he could not move at all.
As the green light entered his body, screams echoed throughout the forest, sending chills down anyone’s spine.
After roughly ten minutes, Lian Qiguang withdrew the green energy.
Ji Renlin no longer had the strength to scream.
He stared blankly at the sky with a pair of terrifyingly empty eyes.
His breathing was weak, almost nonexistent.
This time, when Lian Qiguang removed Ji Renlin’s ability, he deliberately slowed down the process.
He allowed time to slowly wear him down, extending the duration and increasing the suffering.
“I planted a seed inside his body.”
Lian Qiguang turned back and looked expressionlessly at Ye Chengcheng.
“Unless you cut open his heart and lungs and destroy the seed, he will not die.”
“This seed feeds on flesh and blood.”
“It will bloom and bear fruit after ten years.”
“Whether ten years of this suffering can ease even a little of the hatred in your heart…”
“Only you know.”
Ye Chengcheng stared at Lian Qiguang.
The viciousness in her eyes slowly faded away.
After a long silence, Ye Chengcheng let out a low growl.
She rushed forward, grabbed Ji Renlin, and leapt deep into the forest.
Watching Ye Chengcheng’s disappearing figure, Lian Qiguang remained silent for a long time.
Then he lightly tapped several times on his optical brain and sent a message.
‘Shaoxuan, I did something bad.’
A metallic sound rang out as Xiahou Shaoxuan replied.
‘I know. Don’t get hurt.’
Looking at the message displayed on his optical brain, the corners of Lian Qiguang’s lips slightly curved into an almost imperceptible smile.
He put away the optical brain.
Then his gaze fell onto the unconscious Zuo Jing nearby.
Eliminate the roots completely.
Kill the person and destroy the nest.
This had always been Lian Qiguang’s principle.
An ice blade formed in his hand.
Just as it was about to pierce through Zuo Jing’s head—
Suddenly, an inexplicable pressure struck from behind.
Lian Qiguang’s eyes sharpened.
The ice blade in his hand changed direction and shot toward the figure behind him.
The ice blade shattered in midair.
A man wearing a black cloak appeared behind Lian Qiguang.
“It’s you.”
Lian Qiguang stared expressionlessly at the man.
A seed cracked open in his hand and wrapped itself around Lian Qiguang’s body.
Facing Lian Qiguang’s question, the man remained silent.
A gloved hand extended from beneath the cloak.
Black mist gathered in his palm.
It grew larger and larger, gradually enveloping the man’s entire hand.
Lian Qiguang’s eyes tightened.
For the first time in a long while, shock appeared in his usually emotionless gaze.
‘Corrosion ability!!’