·
He waited until evening.
The school anniversary gala began right on schedule. Inside the grand auditorium, a thumping beat kicked in as Li Xiaoxiao, the head of the dance club, led a group of beautiful girls in a stunning performance that drew thunderous cheers and applause from the crowd.
At the very back of the auditorium, Zhou Chen watched the show intently. Every now and then, a few students would walk past him on their way to the restroom.
In the darkness, a group of seven or eight guys stood up and headed to the restroom together. As they passed Zhou Chen, he suddenly felt a slight stir in his jacket pocket.
He didn’t check it right away. Instead, he waited for more than ten minutes. Only when he casually slipped his hands into his pockets did he feel a small slip of paper in the left one.
Puzzled, he pulled out the note. In the flickering, multicolored lights from the stage, he saw one side was printed with the question, "Do you want to complete your Soul?" The other side had a web address.
’They finally took the bait...’
Zhou Chen felt a jolt of excitent, but he imdiately furrowed his brow and put on a wary expression. He glanced around instinctively, as if he was afraid soone had discovered his dark little secret.
"That’s a special URL for the dark web," Jiang Che reminded him.
Zhou Chen got up and left the auditorium. After finding a bench in a nearby park, he sat down, pulled out his phone, and typed in the address. The page imdiately loaded a simple chat window.
[Hello.]
There was no profile picture and no na. The other party had sent only a simple greeting.
"Who are you? What do you want? How do you know?" Zhou Chen typed.
[Who I am isn’t important. Where I got my information isn’t important, either. What matters is that I can help you repair your Soul. Zhou Chen, let guess... you must be in agony right now, right? The void left by your fragnted Soul tornts you constantly. That emptiness, doesn’t it make you want to kill yourself every night? Don’t you want to be free from it all?]
"You think I’d believe that?"
[I know you won’t believe , so I decided to send you sothing for free to show my sincerity. Go check the package station. There’s a delivery for you. Make sure no one else finds out about it, alright? It’s a Treasure that can repair your Soul. Here’s the tracking number...]
’Free? Nothing free is ever cheap. I’ve seen this sales pitch a million tis,’ Zhou Chen grumbled to himself. Outwardly, however, he pretended to hesitate for a long while before finally getting up and heading toward the campus package station.
And sure enough, there was a package waiting for him. The sender’s na, phone number, and return address were all gibberish; only the recipient field correctly listed his na.
Zhou Chen took the package to a secluded corner and tore it open. Inside was a crude glass bottle containing a single speck of azure dust. Looking closer, it appeared to be so kind of crystalline substance.
Just then, his phone vibrated. A new ssage had arrived.
[That’s a fragnt of Canaan Blue. Canaan Blue is a crystal from the Endless Ocean, found in Restricted Area 013. It has the power to heal the Soul. Try it. You’ll see I’m not lying.]
"Is that true?" Zhou Chen asked, seeking confirmation.
"It is indeed a fragnt of Canaan Blue. It might be from their private collection, or it could be part of the contraband from Xi Feng’s last shipnt."
Jiang Che paused for a second. "My analysis shows no toxins, Curses, or contamination. You can eat it."
Zhou Chen unscrewed the cap and tipped the single, azure fragnt into his palm.
In a daze, he felt a whistling sea breeze wash over him, carrying the damp, salty scent of the ocean. It was as if he were standing before an endless, azure sea. Blue sky, white clouds, soaring gulls... The sound of the waves was exceptionally gentle, and he felt himself involuntarily relax.
The magnificent aura of nature!
He popped the fragnt of Canaan Blue into his mouth and swallowed. Instantly, a cool sensation spread through him. It was like drinking ice water right after eating a mint—a chill that went straight to his core.
Amid the phantom sound of the waves, the cool Power seeped inward, nourishing his Soul. Zhou Chen couldn’t help but let out a groan of relief, sinking back onto the bench, dazed for a long mont.
Just a single fragnt had repaired two percent of his Soul.
’No, I have to find a way to squeeze more out of them...’
Just then, his phone vibrated again.
[How do you feel? Has your Soul been repaired a little? You believe now, don’t you?]
"I believe you. But are you watching ?"
Zhou Chen’s eyes imdiately started scanning his surroundings.
[Don’t bother looking; you won’t find . Now, let’s talk about our deal.]
’Heh. Not only do I know there are six people secretly watching nearby, but I also know soone’s on the roof of the next building with binoculars, and another person is two hundred ters to my left under a tree with their phone cara on...’ Zhou Chen reined in his thoughts and typed, "What do you want to do? And who are you?"
[You are not yet worthy of knowing my identity. You need only know that I belong to a powerful organization that can easily grant your every desire—be it Treasures to repair your Soul, money, Power, won, status... or even the chance to beco an Ascender.]
[Everything. Everything you could ever want, you can get from .]
[And the price... is rely doing a trivial little thing for .]
[Think about what you’ve suffered these past few days at the Star Association. First, a Corrupter devoured half your Soul. Then, as you languished in pain, they treated you like a lab rat, and they have shown zero intention of actually saving you. Do you know why that is?]
[It’s because you’re not worth saving. You have no value for them to even exploit. At the end of the day, the Star Association is nothing but a hypocritical organization. Compared to them, we actually keep our promises. We are far more trustworthy.]
’Mmm-hmm, yep, you’re absolutely right. Sure thing. Since you’ve already got terminal cancer, I’ll just go along with whatever you say...’
Zhou Chen rolled his eyes internally. You couldn’t trust a single word that ca out of these Cultists’ mouths, not even the punctuation.
These days, people fell for even the most obvious phone scams, and the Abyssal Cultists’ tactics were clearly far more sophisticated. They knew how to skillfully exploit a victim’s imdiate needs and stir up their inner resentnt.
The mont you showed even a shred of trust, they’d lead you into their trap, and you’d be in too deep to ever get out.
After a long silence, Zhou Chen typed, "What do you want to do?"
[Kill soone. A simple enough task, right?]
Zhou Chen’s fingers paused before he typed, "I won’t do sothing like kill soone."
’I’m supposed to be an upstanding young man worthy of the Star Association, after all. If I agree to kill soone this easily, it’ll definitely make them suspicious.’
[I’m not asking you to kill an innocent. This man is a wicked criminal who deserves to die. By killing him, you’d even be doing the public a service. Think it over. If you can complete this task, I can give you two more fragnts of Canaan Blue.]
’Deserves to die?’
’Two more fragnts?’
’Well, that’s just perfect...’
’If I’m not going to take their freebies, what’s the point of being a double agent?!’
After several minutes of silence—projecting the image of a man who had finally made up his mind after an intense internal struggle—Zhou Chen typed a short reply:
"Okay."
[Rember, don’t let the Star Association find out about this. It’s for your own safety. You don’t want to spend the second half of your life in prison, do you? Oh, my apologies. I forgot you don’t have a second half of your life.]
Zhou Chen’s eyebrow twitched.
[Don’t be angry. If you perform well, I can give you a whole Canaan Blue. It will let you completely restore your Soul, even beco an Ascender, and secure your place within the Star Association. Then, you will wield Power and authority you can’t even imagine right now.]
[Of course, you probably don’t believe any of this right now. I can guess you’re scoffing at the very idea. But you have to understand, Zhou Chen—you’re going to die!
How many choices do you have left? Seize this opportunity. Right now, I’m the only one who can save you.]
Zhou Chen lowered his phone and leaned back on the bench, staring blankly into space. After a long ti, he picked his phone back up and replied:
"I’ll trust you for now. Send the details of the mission."
[Excellent. You’ve made a wise choice.]
Through the screen, Zhou Chen could almost see the other person’s smile.
But then again, the corners of his own mouth were turning up into a smile as well.
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