Suspicion

The matches followed one after another, averaging about half an hour each. Yu Xian and Zhang Shou thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. Above all, every beast gladiator who entered the arena was formidable. Even if their strength and speed were not necessarily superior to Yu Xian's, their experience was immense. Every footwork maneuver, angle control, pacing adjustment, and anticipation made the fights thrillingly dynamic. It was a completely different experience from watching a video; in particular, the subtle details of how they generated and focused their force were almost impossible to catch without being there in person. "Ladies and gentlemen in the audience, was that last fight exciting or what?" "Hahaha! Fei Quan also thought our beast gladiators put on an incredible show that got everyone's blood pumping!" "And now, it's time for tonight's grand finale! This is a super-monster captured by our hunting squad just today—a Transcendent white ape possessing human intelligence!" To the host's announcement, a cage slowly rose, containing a burly, three-meter-tall white ape. With its head hung low, its eyes hidden in shadow, the mere sight of its back cast an immense sense of oppression over the audience. Though it was clearly a low-tier Transcendent creature, no one dared underestimate it. "And our contender is the Thousand-Win King, the Iron God, Bai Jinlong!" From the other side emerged a burly man standing 1.9 meters tall. Gazing out at the spectators around him, he cracked a smile and raised a hand to wave across the stands. In an instant, the entire arena erupted with chants of "Iron God!" In the box, Yu Xian was reading through Bai Jinlong's profile. The profile was provided by the arena and could easily be viewed on a tablet plugged into the arm of the chair. Bai Jinlong, 32 years old, Bee rank, superpower user. His ability turned his entire body into a black ferrous alloy. Not only was he battle-hardened, but his physical power was tremendous. Against opponents whose abilities he countered, he could even fight above his rank. *This guy is strong!* Yu Xian thought as he reviewed the profile. He estimated that even if he exhausted every method at his disposal, he would probably fail to breach Bai Jinlong's defense—though Bai Jinlong wouldn't be able to kill him either. Then, the match began. Once the power was cut, the electric cage slowly swung open. The giant white ape lifted its head and glared at Bai Jinlong. Zhou Tai had never dreamed such a thing could happen. One day he had been daydreaming of world domination, and the very next, he had been effortlessly captured by a hunting squad of Transcendents. What was worse, the other bodies he had used to cover his true body's escape had been slaughtered like nothing by those bastards. Now, his nine personalities were lodged across weak creatures like rats, rabbits, his original body, sparrows, and the like. His strongest host body had instead ended up as a captive of humans, forced to perform like a circus clown. "Come on, big guy!" Bai Jinlong beckoned toward Zhou Tai with a grin. A surge of fury erupted from Zhou Tai's chest. He wished he could tear every human being to shreds. Among all the personalities, Number Three was the most overbearing, dreaming of ruling the world. Unlike the idiots who only cared about killing or playing games, he knew full well that only by becoming the king of the world could he do whatever he pleased. Whether skinning people alive, slaughtering, burning, or doing anything else, no living creature would dare stand in his way! With an enraged roar, he threw a punch straight at Bai Jinlong. But Bai Jinlong had already anticipated his movement the moment he leaped and effortlessly dodged the strike. What was more, to show off his skill, he didn't even activate his superpower while evading. Zhou Tai's punch rattled the ground, prompting a round of cheers from the spectators—sounds that felt like nothing but mockery to Zhou Tai. "Again!" Bai Jinlong called out with a chuckle. It was worth noting that what Zhou Tai controlled was not an aberrant worm, but a brain-hugging neural worm. Thus, the white ape was actually still alive, with every move thoroughly subjugated to Zhou Tai's will. "Human, you have thoroughly angered me!" Zhou Tai growled, his voice rough, garbled, and bizarre. Bai Jinlong froze in surprise. The next second, Zhou Tai's arm swept across, sending him flying. He slammed hard into the superalloy cage and spat out a mouthful of blood. "Die!" Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Tai charged forward, launching a flurry of heavy blows to finish Bai Jinlong off while he was down. Yet he quickly realized something felt wrong on impact. Stepping back, he saw that Bai Jinlong had already turned into a pitch-black iron man. His recent assault hadn't even tickled him. "You can actually talk? That was genuinely unexpected!" Bai Jinlong rose from the ground and looked at Zhou Tai's hulking frame before addressing the audience. Plenty of Transcendent creatures could indeed speak human tongues—some parrots, for instance, could not only talk but spoke with extraordinary fluency, and weasels seeking human conferring could also speak human speech. Bai Jinlong had simply not expected a white ape to speak, and the shock had allowed the ape's surprise attack to land. Now that he was on guard, the white ape posed no threat to him whatsoever. In the box, Yu Xian and the others were also taken aback when the white ape spoke. Yu Xian in particular felt an odd sense of familiarity when the white ape spoke, though he couldn't put his finger on why. No. While it sounded somewhat familiar, there was also a distinct difference. It was roughly like two brothers: having heard the younger brother's voice, the elder brother's voice sounded familiar. Frowning, he racked his brain trying to remember where he had heard that voice before. Yet the ape's voice was so gruff and bizarre that none of his memories matched up. It felt more like intuition; directly cross-referencing it in his memory yielded nothing. "Yu Xian, do you have a feeling that its voice... sounds like we've heard it somewhere?" Nora asked, frowning as her eyes remained fixed on the white ape. Yu Xian paused, surprised. "You feel that way too?" "Yeah, but I just can't remember where," Nora nodded. Staring at the white ape, Yu Xian hazarded a guess. "Zhou Tai?" He and Nora had met many people together, but there was only one suspect. That was why Zhou Tai was the first name that sprang to his mind. "Zhou Tai? The voice doesn't sound like him, but the feel... does seem a bit like it..." Nora said uncertainly. Yu Xian watched the white ape clash with Bai Jinlong. With suspicion planted, the more he watched, the more suspicious the ape seemed—especially since the ape's fighting style relied primarily on sneak attacks and catching the opponent off guard. If Bai Jinlong hadn't turned his whole body into a ferrous alloy, he might not have been a match for the ape. Yu Xian's gaze grew solemn. A silvery glint flickered deep in his pupils; confirming that there were no tentacles beneath the white ape's skin, he couldn't help thinking, *He's definitely Zhou Tai. Could this white ape have already been taken over by a brain-hugging neural worm?* In the past, there had never been a recorded case of an aberrant worm parasitizing a Transcendent creature. If this white ape truly was Zhou Tai, the situation was grave. Once the match ended, he would definitely go inspect the white ape's corpse. If it was confirmed to be Zhou Tai, he would immediately report it to the Qilin General Bureau.