Chapter 37 - 34: Kill Me

The next night, a thin layer of clouds veiled the stars and moon.

Far from the hustle and bustle of the city center, it felt as if the entire World had fallen silent.

Outside the Bliss Gardens residential complex in the old district.

Zhou Chen stopped on the street, his gaze fixed on one of the apartment buildings.

He had changed into a generic set of casual clothes and wore sunglasses, a face mask, and a hat—a simple disguise.

After confirming the locations of the security cameras near the complex, he vaulted the wall under the cover of darkness. He approached the building without a sound, recalling the intelligence report in his mind.

The moment Eternal Fire sent the mission target’s details, Jiang Che had already dug up every piece of information on the man, from birth to the present day.

—Li Guangjun, male, thirty-five years old, a Jinzhu City local. He attended Jinzhu Third Experimental School, then later Jinzhu Fourth Middle School.

An introvert, not good with words, and socially anxious. He had always been the invisible kid in class, the type everyone forgets the moment they graduate. His grades were consistently average—neither good nor bad—and he ended up at a third-rate university in a neighboring city.

After graduating, he bounced between jobs: hotel receptionist, greeter, complex security guard, courier, delivery driver, warehouse manager, truck driver... In an apparent attempt to better himself, he even tried sales, only to be fired after two days for his social anxiety and poor communication.

Eventually, he found a relaxed office job at an internet company. His daily task was just filling out spreadsheets. It was a standard nine-to-six with weekends off and full benefits, but the salary was only 2,800 yuan. He stayed there for five years, and in all that time, his salary only increased by 500 yuan.

Average personality, average family background, average looks, average grades, average job. Just like the vast majority of people in the World, he was an utterly ordinary person.

But also like most ordinary people, he was unwilling to accept his mundane life. He dreamed of getting rich overnight or having a windfall drop from the sky. He bought a two-yuan scratch-off ticket every day and a lottery ticket every week, a habit he’d kept up for six years.

Beyond that, he also published novels on a web-fiction site, writing out the kind of cringey fantasies only a teenager would have. The key part was that it was all self-indulgent drivel with an off-the-charts cringe factor, so painfully awkward it was physically agonizing to read.

It was a mystery how Jiang Che managed to stomach reading all of it and still analyze his personality from the material.

’She must have a terrible stomachache right now.’

In any case, this ordinary man had an unexpected stroke of fortune a year ago. He underwent a Transformation from an obscure employee into a member of the company’s management, received several more promotions within a month, and finally became the boss’s Secretary. This was also how he met his current girlfriend.

It was a classic underdog story, a zero-to-hero tale of reaching the pinnacle of life.

It’s not unheard of for people to make a comeback in middle age, but the key was this guy. No matter how you looked at him—from the left, the right, above, below, sideways, upside down—he just didn’t seem like the type who could ever pull it off.

But when all of this was linked to Eternal Fire, the picture became much clearer.

As for why Eternal Fire claimed he had committed numerous evils and deserved his fate, that remained unknown. Perhaps Li Guangjun had been involved in some shady dealings behind the scenes.

By now, Zhou Chen had reached the apartment building. He crept upstairs, light-footed and silent.

Once at the door to Room 402, he pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket, put them on, then took out his lock-picking tools. With a few twists, he easily opened the door.

The instant the door cracked open, Zhou Chen froze, his eyes narrowing slightly.

’There’s the smell of blood.’

The room was pitch-black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. But for an Ascender, this was no problem. Zhou Chen’s pupils adjusted, and he quickly adapted to the Darkness. He gently closed the door as a sharp steak knife slid from his sleeve into his firm grip.

The smell of blood in the room wasn’t overpowering; it seemed to have lingered for quite some time. Recalling the report that Li Guangjun and his girlfriend hadn’t left the apartment in days, a theory began to form in Zhou Chen’s mind.

He moved silently through the living room, scanning his surroundings. The walls, furniture, and floor were spattered with large patches of blackened blood. A long drag mark smeared with blood led from the living room to the bedroom. Besides the scent of blood, a foul stench permeated the air.

Like... rats in a sewer.

"Jiang Che, are you seeing this?" he asked mentally.

"I see it."

Jiang Che glanced at a screen beside her. "Since Eternal Fire specifically sent you to kill Li Guangjun, the deceased is most likely his girlfriend. Also, you’re currently under Eternal Fire’s surveillance. My detectors have picked up over a dozen micro-cameras nearby. Do not blow your cover.

And one more thing: there’s a source of contamination near you."

"I can sense it."

In Zhou Chen’s intangible perception, a familiar, non-human creature resided in that bedroom.

It was constantly emitting a sense of Twist and contamination, along with that nauseating aura...

A Corrupter!

Zhou Chen tightened his grip on the steak knife and walked toward the bedroom door.

The door was ajar. Peeking through the gap, Zhou Chen was met with a visually shocking and grotesque scene.

In the dark bedroom, a hunched, human-faced rat was slumped on the bed, cradling a rotting head in its arms. On the floor beside the bed lay a headless female corpse. Her body was mangled, as if torn apart by something, and the floor was covered in dried, blackened blood.

Maggots squirmed on the decaying flesh, flies buzzed, cockroaches swarmed, and rats scurried about. The entire bedroom was a horrifying dance of vermin that made one’s skin crawl.

Zhou Chen’s vision momentarily went black. He could even hear someone from command sharply drawing in a breath. If the situation allowed, he would have liked to take a gasp or two himself to calm his nerves.

’My God, what a scene from Hell.’

After quickly composing himself, Zhou Chen studied the human-faced rat. It had long whiskers and a tail, its skin covered in grayish-black fur. Its claws were long and sharp, its eyes blood-red. At first glance, it looked like a giant, mutated rat-demon, but a faint human-like form was still discernible.

The most crucial detail was its face—it was undoubtedly Li Guangjun himself.

"He turned into a rat-man after being corrupted... Is it because he lived his whole life like a rat?"

"That’s a possibility. A Corrupter’s appearance and Ability are often related to their personality."

Jiang Che warned, "Be careful. All those rats are mutated creatures. It might be able to control them."

"Fuck... Did Eternal Fire figure out I’m a mole?" Zhou Chen instinctively thought his cover was blown. ’What a joke,’ he thought. ’How could an ordinary person possibly kill a Corrupter that controls a swarm of rats?’

’Not even with a gun.’

Just then, the human-faced rat in the bedroom snapped its head around. Its two large, crimson eyes shone like lanterns.

Every muscle in Zhou Chen’s body tensed. He tightened his grip on the steak knife, ready to strike with lightning speed and catch it off guard, but then he saw the human-faced rat begin to tremble, its body wracked with choked sobs.

It was crying.

Tears streamed down its face. Li Guangjun’s voice was hoarse as he pleaded in the most pitiful, trembling tone:

"Please... kill me..."