Vessel of Calamity

"Done. Everything's taken care of." In the afternoon, Lu Feng—who had been missing the entire day—finally strolled back with a grinning face. In the brief time it took Ji Jue to wash his hands, Lu Feng had unceremoniously sprawled across Ji Jue's hospital bed and begun picking at his toes. "Mom took Erniu and the little ones back to the village for a few days. The repair shop is closed for now; we'll reopen once things settle down. I swung by your place too. Fixed your door, but the fridge is a total loss. When you have time, just haul the one from the shop over and make do with it for now. Also, I drove your pink scooter into the hospital bike shed. You can pick it up yourself when you're discharged." As he spoke, he fished a set of keys from his pocket and tossed them onto the table. Using the exact two fingers he had just used to pick at his toes... Ji Jue's eyelids twitched furiously. He opened his mouth, then hesitated. *Can I just throw these keys away? Would you buy me new ones?* Then it hit him: that pink scooter had been a hand-me-down sold to him at a dirt-cheap 'bro rate' after Lu Feng upgraded to a motorized tricycle. It had supposedly been 'barely used by a girl,' but for all Ji Jue knew, Lu Feng's bare feet had rested on that seat dozens of times... *Is it too late to list it on a used-goods app?* After his customary disgust subsided, Ji Jue at least split half an apple with Lu Feng, watching in silence as the man chomped it down in two bites without washing his hands. Ji Jue could only salute a digestive system tempered by Mid-Continent military service. Then again, their constitutions really were built differently. Aside from getting electrocuted, Ji Jue had merely scrambled across the ground a few times and barely had any bruises, yet he was still shuffling along like an invalid. Lu Feng, on the other hand—that dog had brawled with those freakish monsters at knife-point and even taken a bullet at the end, covered in cuts and bruises all over. Yet after a single night's sleep, he was already bouncing around full of life. "Jealous, little bro?" Lu Feng flexed his bicep with a smirk. "I told you to work out, but you never listened. You're gasping for life after running a single kilometer! Regretting it now, aren't you?" Ji Jue rolled his eyes and ignored him. Seeing Lu Feng so energetic, it would be a lie to say he wasn't envious. But what he cared about more was whether Cousin Watch had shown any changes. Regrettably, there was a change, but only a minuscule one. Beyond gorging itself on aberrant spiritus and resetting the progress bar to ninety-nine, the golden digit 【0】 covering the watch face had finally shifted. If it had previously been covered about eighty percent, it was now around ninety-nine percent, leaving only a tiny speck untouched. Unfortunately, it still hadn't achieved the monumental leap from zero to one. The progress bar was stuck. No matter how anxious Ji Jue felt, it refused to budge, leaving that tiny sliver stubbornly unfilled. It triggered his obsessive-compulsive tendencies so badly that he was sorely tempted to pry open the watch glass and color it in himself. He could only pray inwardly that Cousin Watch hadn't picked up the nasty habit of certain shopping apps from before the Cataclysm Era, where behind ninety-nine percent lay another ninety-nine percent, stretching on into eternity. Otherwise, he was terrified he might be stuck as a zero for the rest of his life. "Also, take this. Hold onto it for now." Lu Feng reached into a cloth bag at his side, pulled out an object wrapped in two layers of black plastic bags, and shoved it under Ji Jue's pillow. When Ji Jue felt its outline, he sucked in a sharp breath. A gun! His face drained of color. "Big bro, this is a hospital! What the hell do I need this for?!" He kept his voice to a whisper. Midway through, a thought struck him, and he glared at Lu Feng with sudden vigilance. "Why are you dropping high-tier gear all of a sudden? Don't tell me you got drafted by the Security Bureau?" "Am I crazy? I barely crawled out of the Military Department's muddy ditch—why would I turn around and dive into the Security Bureau's rat hole? Without a transfer letter from the military, they can dream on if they think they can touch my personnel files in the Federation." Lu Feng waved his hand dismissively to cover his awkwardness. "I'm heading out to lie low for a bit... If a woman with a scar on her neck comes asking about me over the next couple of days, keep your mouth shut!" "What did you do this time?" Ji Jue eyed him suspiciously. "You think getting all that gear was free?" Lu Feng rolled his eyes and whispered, "The cheapest pistol bundled with twelve rounds goes for twenty-eight grand, and that's before the middlemen tack on their markups. Damn it, to get that stuff, I sweet-talked, conned, and practically prostituted myself. If I don't run now, they'll force me to sell my seed to pay the debt and drag me off into pleasure slavery!" Ji Jue fell silent. He stared at him blankly for a long moment before slowly patting his shoulder in solace. "Feng-ge, don't overthink it. Even gigolos need good looks and an education." *Ji, you little shit...* The unexpected dagger instantly pierced Lu Feng's pride. "If it takes looks and a diploma, why don't you go instead! It's all for this family anyway!" Lu Feng stopped midway, his eyes suddenly lighting up. *Wait, why didn't I think of that earlier?* "Isn't this how those melodramas always go?" Lu Feng urged earnestly. "The eldest brother racks up a mountain of gambling debt, the parents are sick, the younger siblings can't afford school... Erniu worked her ass off to get into Tianmen! As her older brother, shouldn't you show some support? You at least have to buy her a laptop and a phone! Schooling doesn't do boys much good anyway. Just loosen your belt, and all our family's problems are solved!" "Get out, get out, get out!" Ji Jue snapped, kicking him off his bed. Watching Lu Feng swagger out of the room, his tightly wound nerves eased slightly. Since Lu Feng was still in the mood to joke around, things couldn't be too dire—or at least, not that dire. *Always babbling about comrades-in-arms... Hah, probably the kind of comrades from the artillery division who regularly exchange 'techniques'!* "Those brothers have such a wonderful bond." In the adjacent bed, a scrawny old man with a cast on his leg sighed wistfully. "Ah, my own brother... we haven't spoken in years. And my two boys never get along either, fighting every single day." "Oh, kids are always rowdy. They'll understand once they grow up," an elderly woman in another bed consoled him. "My second and third were the same way. Once they grew older and realized how hard life is, they understood that family is the only thing you can rely on. I visited them a couple days ago, and they're so close they share a single quilt. The eldest even stays over with them from time to time." The old man sighed with admiration. "A harmonious family brings prosperity. You're truly blessed, big sister." Beside them, Ji Jue listened with wide eyes, opening and closing his mouth several times. In the end, he didn't dare say a word. He lay back down on his bed, dreaming of making that glorious transition from zero to one, and gradually drifted off to sleep. Outside the window, dusk began to settle. From far away, carried by the wind, came the thunderous roar of an explosion. A plume of dense smoke slowly rose from the foothills on the other side of Yacheng. *** "What is going on?!" Inside a violently shuddering office, smoke swirled through the air. In the courtyard outside, employees shrieked and screamed, transforming into inhuman monsters before swarming the intruders. Only the executive office, which had just received a brand-new nameplate, remained dead silent. Behind the window, an elderly man stood frozen in terror. He frantically dialed his phone again and again. When the busy tone finally cleared and the call connected, he could no longer contain his fury: "What happened?! Lawrence, what the hell are you doing?!" Lu Wending was on the verge of fainting, trembling with fright. "Didn't you say this was foolproof?!" "The experiment is indeed foolproof," a calm, genial voice answered from the other end. "Rest assured, your sacrifice will not be in vain." "What do you mean by that?" Lu Wending felt as though he had plunged into an icy abyss, screeching, "Don't forget who pulled you out of that gutter! If not for me—" "Are sixteen patents capable of generating long-term profits and multiplying your company's valuation several times over not enough?" Lawrence chuckled softly. "Besides, I have already done everything within my power to produce ten standard doses of the elixir of longevity for you, along with an abomination palliative free of side effects, all to ensure your meteoric rise. "As for the slight trouble this has caused, it is merely an inevitable side effect. As the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, do you never read the instruction manual? "Our contract has concluded, Mr. Lu. Thank you for your enduring support and dedication. In my upcoming paper, I will be sure to extend you my deepest gratitude. "After all, this is a monumental breakthrough destined to be etched into medical history!" "Breakthrough my ass!" Amid the approaching roar, Lu Wending bellowed into the receiver, "Don't forget! Without me, who was going to find you qualified test subjects?! All this time, you've produced nothing but scrap! The only decent result you had was that bitch, and she's already dead! "Wait, I can still—" *Snap!* Before he could finish, a crisp sound rang out. The golden outline of a chain manifested in midair, only to shatter into pieces. The Covenant of Tianyuan broke here and now. "Now, please make your final sacrifice for our shared, magnificent cause." In that instant, Lu Wending froze in place, gasping violently. Blood surged from his mouth and coated his lips crimson. Blue veins bulged across his flesh as his hands rapidly elongated into sharp talons. Right after, another twisted head sprouted from his shoulder. His body swelled—and kept swelling! In just a few breaths, he smashed through the confining walls, tumbling outward like a mountainous heap of flesh. Across his entire body, countless eyes opened, the despair within them fading until only bestial hunger and madness remained. Amid the drifting dust of the ruins, the voice from the phone continued to speak. "Oh, I forgot to mention. Please do not worry; the experiment will certainly bear fruit." Lawrence smiled, his tone brimming with delight. "I have already found a far superior 'womb.' No, perhaps I should say... a bona fide Vessel of Calamity!" Yet Lu Wending could no longer hear him. Weighing dozens of tons, the aberrant ghoul loomed like a hill. Limbs and appendages sprouted across its bulk, while a colossal maw split down the center of its torso, spewing venom and acidic bile. A mere shift of its body cast an enormous shadow. It slowly turned its gaze toward the intruder who did not belong here, opened its jaws, and lunged forward! Then, it flew backward on the exact same trajectory, crashing into the factory and smashing straight into the production workshop, where it was pinned to the floor by a massive pillar of crystal that materialized out of thin air. Wen Wen didn't even bother looking at what she had just swatted away. At this moment, surrounded by a siege of ghouls, her brows were knitted tightly. Listening to the newly connected call on her phone, her irritation flared. "Could you please speak human?"