Above Destiny

Chapter 589 The Wolf's Temptation
"Wolf."

Ji Jue lowered his eyes, glanced at the screen, and continued what he was doing.

On the workbench, the parts that have just been finished on the lathe are sorted and categorized. The workpieces that have not yet been chamfered have sharp edges and corners, and the initial assembly has been completed.

After undergoing dozens of reinforcements, the metal's color had turned from black to red. Its mere existence continuously eroded and devoured the surrounding spiritual matter and matter.

Beneath the surface framework of the Triad Alchemy lies a wealth of applications of demonic alchemy, which complements the inherently ferocious aura of the materials themselves.

There are no blessings or complex structures. If anything, it's just ordinary materials whose physical properties have been forcibly enhanced to the limit. There's no need to cherish or be careful with it. Just make sure that the consumables can function properly.

It was a folding revolver.

Unlike other models, the central chamber only holds three rounds.

With a very small magazine capacity, it was enough to increase the bullet caliber to almost the size of a 10-gauge shotgun shell, which is close to two centimeters in diameter.

The bullets also needed to be specially made, but this was not a big deal for Ji Jue.

It's nothing more than a matter of patience and perseverance.

In the midst of a work that was far too tedious for the average person, Ji Jue flicked his fingers, triggering a deus ex machina that once again took control of the server deployed in Tacheng. Instantly, the screens on the silent screen wall in front of him lit up one after another.

The scene revealed distinctly different landscapes around Tacheng, and soon the camera began to move rapidly, speeding towards the same destination.

At this very moment, in the city of Ta, in the sewers, on rooftops, in garbage cans, in ditches, in construction sites... in the mud, tiny mechanical spiders suddenly started up, their eyes glowing red, and with a slight tremor, they were infused with souls.

Under the control and command of the server, they nimbly crawl through the sewers, drift with the current, or climb up the walls and leap between buildings at incredible speeds.

In less than ten minutes, just as the police officers left, they had completely surrounded the entire crime scene.

Then, it began to penetrate inwards, leaving no stone unturned.

As the rookie policeman's car started and drove away, it had already arrived inside the empty villa. Moving nimbly across the walls, floors, and ceilings, a detailed scene model quickly rose from the flowing mercury beneath Ji Jue's feet, recorded by a series of high-powered cameras.

An extinguished fireplace, a blood-stained carpet, a floor infested with maggots, and even a half-rotten, gruesome corpse.

one two Three……

Master, wife, daughter, son, maid, gardener...

Six people died.

On the screen beside Ji Jue, a report summary based on the house address and social media search results had appeared—the owner of the house was the boss of a real estate company, mainly operating mid-to-high-end residential and apartment rental and sales business for employees dispatched from many large companies in Tacheng.

A blank criminal history is to be expected; in a godforsaken place like Tacheng, nobody's past is clean, and nobody's resume or criminal record is impeccably clean. Having a little money to remotely erase someone's identity is not a valid basis for judgment.

However, the deceased was relatively clean during his lifetime... because he didn't have much power, his account balance wasn't much, and he was at most a high-class garbage collector who followed behind the behemoth and picked up scraps.

Compared to warlords, arms dealers, pharmaceutical agents, brokers, and other professions that are considered extremely dangerous, they can be described as innocent and harmless.

There's nothing suspicious about it.

If I had to pinpoint its outstanding feature, it would be nothing more than... the good texture and taste of the meat.

Ji Jue waved his hand, and the blurry areas in the projection rapidly magnified, the nauseating corpses quickly becoming clear, one after another flashing before Ji Jue's eyes, finally settling on his son and daughter.

Based on the time of decomposition, the time of death should be around the time the typhoon arrived, when the entire city of Tacheng was in chaos.

Based on the scene, it is inferred that the attackers broke in through the back door, first killing the gardener who was repairing the water pipes in the garage basement, and then the maid who rushed to the scene. When she broke into the living room, the male homeowner had already found the gun, pulled the trigger, and left bullet holes in the wall.

Then, his body was separated from his head.

Next was his wife.

In the end, the two children who were dragged to the dinner table to be enjoyed died.

One was mature and tender, the other firm and chewy; on the two rotting, mutilated corpses, amidst the shattered bones, a faint tooth mark remained…

The heart and brain were both eaten.

This is the most direct evidence besides the staining from the Lord of the Flies.

At that moment, Ji Jue couldn't hold back any longer and took a deep breath.

They were suppressing their long-lost excitement and anticipation.

Finally, I've managed to grasp a real clue!

He had become almost numb to the constant stream of false reports over the past few days, and never expected to find such concrete evidence.

This is the symptom of the white deer's depravity—cannibalism.

Even wolves cannot avoid it, no, rather, they become even more ferocious... Their ever-expanding appetite will constantly urge the mutated beings to prey on flesh and blood, thereby temporarily alleviating the hunger originating from their souls.

This cannibalistic urge can be restrained or delayed, but it can never be eradicated. When the chosen one succumbs to the deep hunger for their own kind within their heart, this deep-seated depravity becomes inevitable.

Wolves are born from this insatiable hunger, so how could they betray their own nature?
The stronger the wolf, the stronger its appetite, and the more it craves stronger prey.

But... the other party must be having a hard time holding back, right?
To have reached such a point of indiscriminate hunger, it's likely that they have no opportunity to unleash their cruelty or satisfy their thirst on a daily basis, and can only futilely restrain themselves and suppress their true nature.

Perhaps they had already chosen their target and were just waiting for the right opportunity.

So, just as the typhoon was approaching, a hungry wolf, disturbed by the scent of a white deer in the storm, could no longer suppress its hunger and, taking advantage of the raging wind and rain, began its unrestrained feast.

Unfortunately, the indulgent meal didn't seem to be quite satisfying.

Perhaps something happened, or perhaps they were disturbed by some unexpected factor, and had to end the matter hastily and leave in a hurry, perhaps even without having time to completely destroy the scene or cover up their actions.

They simply poured a layer of gasoline on the ground, but couldn't find a lighter. None of the homeowners smoked. Fortunately, they eventually found a cheap lighter among the gardener's body.

I wonder if he ever marveled at his good luck.

After hastily lighting it, he turned and left, disappearing into the raging storm.

Sadly, the gardener who died in the basement was unable to finish his work. The water pipes burst, the sewers overflowed, and the increasingly violent wind shattered the windows. Misfortune never comes singly.

The scene was not completely destroyed.

Instead, it left traces of its spiritual dye on the lighter.

That was far too careless.

The broken lighter, thanks to the mechanical spider's recycling, quickly came to Ji Jue's feet.

More spiders had already swarmed out through the broken window, spreading into the night, silently following the faint, indistinct trails.

They scaled the walls, crossed the barbed wire, and stretched all the way outside the city.

Then, they discovered that the other party's trail had vanished into the slums swallowed by the flood...

The traces that could have been traced were thus lost as the disaster engulfed everything.

"They're really vigilant."

Ji Jue pinched his chin and clicked his tongue in amazement: "Even at a time like this, they're still deliberately taking detours?" Wolves really do have the tendency to be overly suspicious of others ingrained in their very bones.

No wonder Anjia's two fingers looked disgusted when they mentioned wolves. At the slightest disturbance, they immediately changed their identities and disappeared. When they went into hiding, they were more and more like normal people than the others. Unless you carry out a large-scale massacre, who knows how long it would take to catch these monsters using legitimate methods?

Perhaps, Hunter's Finger still possesses some secret tracing methods that cannot be revealed to outsiders.

But that's okay, there's a good thing about the clumsy method.

The effort wasted here might be useful somewhere else!
Ji Jue had gone to such lengths, meticulously laying down his net in Tower City, all for this very purpose. If one door closes, another will open; as long as the enemy remained within Tower City, they were destined to be hunted down by the Fly King's Plague…

If you ask why, the spiritual hue left on the lighter by the other party is enough for Ji Jue to compare with the massive number of 'false alarm' cases in the database one by one!
The Lord of the Flies will self-destruct upon encountering the scent of wolves, leaving behind a stain that is difficult for anyone other than its own kind to detect for tracking purposes.

The nature of the Fly King's remnant fragments is constant, but that of wolves is different, which means that different wolves can leave behind different colors!

No matter how similar a wolf may be, it is not a fake human from the White House and could not possibly possess the exact same spiritual remnants.

In the past, amidst a massive number of false alarms, Ji Jue couldn't distinguish which traces were actually left by the wolf. But once the crucial baseline was found, the rest was nothing more than a tedious process of comparison and piecing together.

It was faster than expected.

Soon, similar hue results and collection locations appeared on the map.

They appeared sporadically in various corners of Tacheng.

The most concentrated and frequent gatherings are located in the western part of Tacheng's outskirts. Besides Yuanshan Port, this is one of only two large-scale ports in the entire city of Tacheng—the near-sea port!

In an instant, my passionate heart cooled down.

"Tsk..."

Ji Jue lowered his eyes, staring at the two overlapping maps and the large areas marked on them, and sighed silently: "This is going to be a bit troublesome."

It wasn't because the location was remote and hard to find, or because the transportation was too convenient to track, but because of... that bright red warning area on the map.

Now, he can pinpoint the wolf's hiding place.

"—The Empire's military base."

Two hours later, dusk began to fall.

Outside the Imperial military base, in the bustling market where people come and go, Ji Jue, disguised as a local, wearing a headscarf and beard, hunched over and weakly pushing a cart full of inferior fruit, moved forward step by step.

Just like the old man selling fruit that you can see everywhere.

Tired from walking, I sat on the ground, tilted my head, and smoked a hookah, glancing intentionally or unintentionally at the brightly lit and heavily guarded military base.

After comparing the two samples in the vicinity, he is now completely certain that the other party is hiding in the military base.

Moreover, judging from the other party's desperate appearance, it must be an important position with strict requirements, high attention, and where one cannot easily leave the standby area.

So here's the problem: as a lackey of the federal garrison, a military representative of Haichao Military Industry, a notorious scoundrel who recently almost dragged everyone down with him, Shi Xuanfeng of Tacheng... how am I supposed to get in?
It's impossible to even think about it with your heels.

In particular, his own abilities are no secret; they have long been known to all. There is no need to elaborate on the threat he poses to a violent system like the military.

I reckon that if I show even the slightest trace of myself near the Imperial military base, the Imperial Security Service will probably sound the alarm immediately.

Ji Jue's face fell, and he couldn't help but sigh.

Still too young.

They played their cards too early; otherwise, they could have let the cult launch another attack, fished in troubled waters, and sought another opportune moment...

Lu Changsheng's pseudonym is too complicated to use.

This kind of thing must be resolved as quickly and safely as possible before anyone can react. Rushing into things and alerting the enemy will only cause us to miss a golden opportunity.

We need to consider this further...

He hesitated for a moment, then limped around the corner, pushing his cart, intending to go back.

But then I suddenly felt a gust of wind behind my head.

It landed on her neck.

A chill ran through me.

Then, a reasonable but belated reaction of terror appeared on his body. The hunched old man frantically pulled his collar shut, only to discover that what had fallen into his collar was an imperial copper coin.

"Oh, Neroden, you, you, come here..."

Not far away, at a brightly lit and bustling pilaf stall in the Central Plains, several burly men, still wearing Imperial military uniforms and flushed from drinking, looked over. One of them, who was playing the toss game, was waving at him: "Fruit, how much is the fruit?"

"Oh, oh, the master is here."

The hunched old man quickly forced a fawning smile and pushed his cart over: "They're all fresh, fresh! I just picked them from my own garden this morning. There are apples, persimmons, durians, grapes, golden berries, and lemons. They're mixed with chilled yogurt and honey. This is how the Victory Army ate them!"

"Stop your damn nonsense, the Victory Army has been dead for ages." The person who asked the question waved his hand and impatiently interrupted him: "Get to the point, how much?"

The old man hurriedly raised his hand: "Five, four, four As!"

"Alright, I'm happy now, no need to look anymore, just pick one."

The tattooed man pulled a handful of copper coins from his pocket and tossed them over, acting very generously and as if he had plenty of money.

"Alright, alright, thank you, sir!"

The old man, overwhelmed with gratitude, leaned closer and accepted the gifts with both hands, only to find himself wanting to curse... There were only five or six of them in this hand, not many at all. He's so stingy, yet he put on such a show!
more importantly……

In the dim light, Ji Jue couldn't help but squint as he scrutinized the other person's face: "Hmm?"

"Ok?"

The large group of mercenaries with dreadlocks, hiccuping from drinking, noticed the change in the old man's gaze and subconsciously looked over. They frowned, only to realize that they had never seen this old man before.

Why do those eyes make people feel uneasy?
Oh no, could they be here for revenge?

"Um……"

Ji Jue scrutinized the other person's increasingly familiar appearance, his gaze becoming more and more meaningful. Suddenly, he grinned from the bottom of his heart.

So familiar.

"Um?!"

At this moment, Tang Qian, who was still grinning foolishly, finally realized that something was wrong.

Subconsciously, I widened my eyes.

Suddenly, my vision blurred...

You dog surnamed Ji, I only took a dozen or so extra gold coins, why did you chase me all the way to the Central Plains!
(End of this chapter)