Chapter 130

Chapter 130

It was 3:30 AM on the 11th.

Lu Zhi stood atop the central CBD's highest building, her eyes narrowed to slits against the night. She wore a black evening gown, the slit running high up her thigh, the fabric adorned with diamond-studded fringe.

This was the tallest structure in all of District X.

Some twenty years ago, the district’s permanent population had still been over sixteen million. This commercial hub wasn't just a landmark; it was a calling card presented to the world. Countless luxury brands had flagship stores here, their bright, pristine windows displaying dreams of decadent wealth.

Few knew this commercial tower was part of the Lu family's holdings.

"My father was a very famous businessman," Lu Zhi said, drawing on a slender cigarette. Her gaze was distant. "Pity he had oligospermia. Mistresses by the dozen, but in this lifetime, only one daughter—me. From childhood, he expected me to be second to none. I was raised like a son. Wearing a dress would earn a scolding. Long hair, a reprimand. Academic grades, extracurricular talents… I was always first. My father always wanted me to be the best. To prove I wasn't inferior to a man. You men probably never had such worries."

"No one tells you men aren't suited for the sciences, for business, for making your way in the world. Even if you fail, people will find countless excuses for you. Me? I was allowed only one failure. A single misstep would prove them right. That I was… unsuitable."

01 rarely dredged up memories from his time as human.

But since Lu Zhi seemed in a talkative mood, he gave it some thought. "My grades were average growing up. My parents didn't demand much. Still got into military academy. Though my family didn't have a building like this for me to inherit."

Lu Zhi's lips curled in a mocking smile. "It's not about inheritance. All my glory ended at university. I thought I was being groomed as the successor. Then, during a summer break, I returned home to find my cousin—who'd been inferior to me in every way since childhood—already working in the company."

"I told my father I wanted in too. He said, 'Daddy has found several good families for you. Your cousin… he's the one who will carry my spirit bowl after I die.'"

Lu Zhi was born here. She loved this place. As a child, her father held her hand, bringing her to meetings in this very mall. She sat beside him while others addressed her with deference as "Young Miss." Lu Zhi took it for granted that all of this would one day be hers.

She would stand on her father's shoulders and build a commercial empire even greater than his.

This department store was her father's life's work. So, Lu Zhi built a slaughterhouse nearby, until the entire commercial district reeked of decay. As the slaughterhouse grew, District X's permanent population dwindled.

Her father had shattered the belief he'd instilled in her.

So, she shattered his heart.

In the Otherworld, the department store still blazed with light. The merchandise was no longer goods, but livestock—pigs of flesh Lu Zhi had collected from all over the world.

From the First District, from others. Ordinary people. Awakened.

And employees from the Special Operations Department sent to hunt her. Lu Zhi had made specimens of them, displayed in the first-floor lobby for exhibition. The storefront sign no longer read "Lu's Department Store," but "Good Taste Slaughterhouse."

01 was silent a moment. "I thought we were here to discuss battle plans."

Whether Awakened or pollutant, no one liked signing contracts outright. Better to fight first and see.

Win, and you walked away rich. Lose, and you ceded territory.

The number of high-level Awakened who had come to District X was greater than they'd anticipated.

Though the slaughterhouse had recruited over a hundred new Butchers for the hunt, they still seemed insufficient against such opponents.

Lu Zhi dropped her cigarette butt and crushed it under her heel. "Of course I know. But most pollutants I meet are stupid things that only know how to eat. Impossible to talk to. Rare to meet one who can hold a conversation. Couldn't help saying a bit more."

4:00 AM. A notification broadcast across all major districts of X.

"This is the District X Pollution Disease Prevention Center. All surviving citizens, proceed to the nearest emergency point if you can do so safely! If unable, please shelter in place and await rescue!"

Because District X bordered the slaughterhouse, the Prevention Center conducted an annual drill. They never thought they'd actually get to use it.

Lu Zhi didn't move, her serpentine tail swaying gently. "I do like these clever little pigs. However, they've killed many of my employees. That pains me greatly."

From a drawer behind her, she produced a stack of contracts. "My slaughterhouse employs 418 workers. In just the last four hours, 217 have died. Fourteen of those were senior staff with pollution values over 6000."

The contracts for the dead were black.

01's eyebrow lifted. "That many?"

If not for Lu Yan obtaining a Butcher's license, the casualties among the senior Butchers wouldn't have been so severe.

They were bloodthirsty, but not stupid. If they couldn't win, they could flee, or band together to pick off enemies one by one.

Pity a traitor had slipped into the Butchers' ranks.

This traitor, capitalizing on the low suspicion other Butchers held for one of their own, had quietly eliminated many senior staff. It greatly eased the pressure on the Awakened.

"For the slaughterhouse, these losses are devastating. The ones signing the contract are the Hound Base and the Awakened Headquarters." Lu Zhi's expression was icy. "If you don't find a way to compensate my losses, I'll have to collect payment from you instead."

The soul contracts established by her innate ability were binding.

But the Hound's pollution value was higher than hers. Lu Zhi worried about backlash. Hence, this room for negotiation.

01 laughed, the sound echoing across the empty rooftop. "And here I thought you sought me out for something sudden!"

"If you hadn't contacted me, I'd have several corpses by now." 01 interlaced his fingers, stretching his arms, his expression utterly casual. "But since you put it that way, I suppose I should get serious."

"I'll bring you Tang Xun'an's corpse. That should cover the value of your Butchers."

"Confident, are you?"

01 replied, "No. 10 should be difficult to defeat. Unfortunately, he now has a fatal weakness. He fell in love with someone weak."

"For this transaction, I specifically had Headquarters bring No. 10's little lover along. Once I find him…" 01 recalled some unpleasant memories—being betrayed by an ally at the First Research Institute. "My price isn't high. One set of dragon bones in exchange for Lu Yan's life. Fair trade."

"And my little dog is already on the way."

Lu Zhi blew a smoke ring. "Is that so? I often feel this generation of men is lacking. I hope you won't disappoint me."

*

Lu Yan twisted the faucet handle, exposing a section of his hand. The fourth finger wouldn't retract fully yet, the tip dangling shreds of flesh. His hand was so covered in blood it seemed the stain would seep into his very skin.

Despite his extreme caution, he'd still taken some damage.

Little Rabbit used the cotton from its own body to plug the gaping hole in Lu Yan's abdomen, its voice thick with worry. "Daddy, are you okay?"

Minutes ago, the Horned Bull Butcher had driven the spike on its head straight through Lu Yan's gut.

Though Lu Yan had finished the hunt, his wounds showed no sign of self-repair.

[You've been injured too many times today. Exceeded the regeneration limit. Probably need to wait a few hours for the cooldown.]

Lu Yan's spiritual power threshold had reached A-Class standards, but the slaughterhouse's senior Butchers weren't pushovers either.

Moreover, Lu Zhi had recently spent heavily to recruit some new staff. These employees had fearsome reputations and impressive records from all over the world.

Put another way, in normal times, eliminating a single pollutant of this caliber would have been cause for the Prevention Center to set off fireworks for three days.

Lu Yan had slaughtered six in one go.

Since midnight, the slaughterhouse's metallic scent had grown thick and cloying.

Overuse of his abilities left Lu Yan slightly dizzy, his complexion pallid.

He drew the dagger from his waist and drove it deep into the Horned Bull's neck. Crimson blood gushed from the wound. Lu Yan smeared the pollutant's blood all over himself.

This blood would mask the scent of his own.

The Horned Bull Butcher's blood reeked. It had probably eaten its fill of meat-pigs before dying.

Lu Yan decided to go home and lie down, wait for the wounds to close before venturing out again.

Though the reason wasn't entirely clear, his blood held a potent attraction for pollutants. With his wounds unable to clot, he worried about attracting unwanted attention.

Lu Yan stood, stuffing the Rabbit Butcher into his pocket. On the mental map in his mind, a white dot suddenly flared—an Awakened nearby.

The map's range was ten kilometers. Plenty of distance for Lu Yan to hide somewhere safe, avoid conflict with others.

That's what he'd done every previous time a white dot appeared.

This time, however, the dot moved with shocking speed. Covering ten kilometers in an instant.

The system, never one to miss a spectacle, chimed in with glee. [Well now. Bad news: you've been spotted. Good news: the one who spotted you is Tang Xun'an.]

Lu Yan froze. Then he felt a rush of air whip up behind him.

According to the Otherworld's rules, Awakened couldn't clearly see Butchers.

He turned, just in time to see Tang Xian’an touch down, his dragon wings folding behind him as he surveyed the courtyard.

The Horned Ox Butcher had lived in a villa district, the architecture traditional. Where a koi pond should have been, a blood pit had been dug, filled with the bloated corpses of countless meat pigs.

A butcher shrouded in a haze of black light stood in the center of the courtyard, its features obscured, nothing but a smudged silhouette against the gloom.

Signs of a struggle scarred the ground. The horned ox’s body lay nearby.

Tang Xian’an tightened his grip on Huang Chen, his nostrils flaring slightly.

Back on the mermaid island, even across miles of ocean diluted by seawater, he had caught the scent of Lu Yan’s blood.

Now, a Lu Yan drenched in that same blood stood right before him. He couldn’t miss it.

But Tang Xian’an hadn’t expected to see Lu Yan radiating that ominous black glow.

He stared for a long moment, his voice strangely flat. "You're hurt."

His expression was odd. The kind of look a man wears when a paternity test reveals the child isn't his, but he loves his wife too much to say a word.

Lu Yan gave a soft "Mn."

Tang Xian’an stepped closer. "Where's your medical kit?"

"Used up."

Tang Xian’an fished a can of coagulant spray from his pocket and handed it over, followed by a roll of bandage.

Lu Yan unbuttoned his shirt, peeling the blood-soaked fabric from his skin, and sprayed the edges of the wound.

It stung. Badly. Lu Yan had a high pain tolerance, but he couldn't suppress the faint tremor in his abdomen.

Rabbit Butcher poked its head out from Lu Yan's pocket, whispering with curious concern, "Daddy, who is he? He smells… dangerous."

Golden fish scales traced the line of his hip, right up to the edge of the torn flesh.

Tang Xian’an knelt, his gaze fixed on the wound for a long time before he finally asked, "Why are you black?"

"Number 07 gave me a slaughterhouse work permit," Lu Yan explained slowly. "The rules identified me as a butcher. I was pulled into the inner world a day early."

Tang Xian’an seemed to wrestle with his words. "Eleven years ago," he began, his voice low, "headquarters wanted to deal with the slaughterhouse. We managed to capture a low-level butcher."

"Pollutants from the slaughterhouse, even the imperfectly evolved ones, display… more humanity than others. It talked. We found a work permit on it. The Research Institute theorized we might use such permits to infiltrate the slaughterhouse."

Through the swirling black haze, Tang Xian’an’s eyes found Lu Yan’s. "Our experiments concluded that only a pollutant can be recognized by the slaughterhouse as a butcher. Only a pollutant can enter."

Lu Yan felt a cold shock. …System. Explain.

[I knew, of course. But I can’t explain it. The pollutant being recognized is your brother, not you.]

In hindsight, there had been signs. The first time he entered Pork Alley, the pollutants had treated him as one of their own without question.

Back then, Lu Yan had assumed it was because of his scales and Wang Yu.

Anything involving his brother was a topic both Lu Yan and the system preferred to avoid.

"Then why would Zong Yan give me the permit?" Lu Yan asked.

[The slaughterhouse employs some humans, but not as butchers. Holding a permit does make the butchers ignore you.]

Lu Yan suddenly found himself at a loss for words. All he could manage was a quiet, firm denial. "I am not a pollutant."

Tang Xian’an remained crouched before him. He reached out and began fastening Lu Yan’s shirt buttons, starting from the waist and working his way up to the collar. His hands, the hands that wielded a blade, were surprisingly graceful.

"Alright," he said, his voice quiet but steady. "I believe you. Be careful."