They say that when you can't decide what to do, you should just ask the AI.
So Zuo Zhengzong simply found an internet café and asked the AI, “Ranking of the most promising Transcendents.”
The answer came back at once. Number one, beyond any dispute, was Yu Xian. The moment he saw Yu Xian's name, he was so furious he nearly smashed the monitor. Number two was a certain so-and-so. Number three was what's-his-name.
Zuo Zhengzong didn't bother to remember the names of those two bit players, but the fourth place caught his attention, because fourth place was Zhang Shou.
It suddenly occurred to Zuo Zhengzong that Yu Xian still had quite a few classmates he was on good terms with.
He couldn't beat Yu Xian—but surely he could beat Yu Xian's friends?
Revenge didn't always have to be taken on the person himself.
You could go after his family and friends instead; that could even hurt him more than striking at the man directly.
Zuo Zhengzong worked this out, and then he began investigating Yu Xian's friends and classmates. The problem was that it really wasn't easy to investigate. Most of the classmates had left no trace at all afterward—they had simply faded into the anonymous crowd.
Only a few of them had ever been written up.
Zhang Shou, for instance, had been recruited by Yanjing Vocational and Technical College through special admission, exempted even from the entrance exams. It had made the news at the time. The internet has a long memory, so Zuo Zhengzong found that news report.
And then he showed up outside Yanjing Vocational and Technical College. His goal was simple: kill Zhang Shou and possess Zhang Shou!
“Tell me, do you like Zhang Jun?”
“Not telling.”
“Let's trade. You tell me, and I'll tell you who I like.”
“Keep your voice down.”
Zuo Zhengzong's thoughts were suddenly cut off by laughter from the next table.
He glanced at the girls at that table, and a stir ran through him. This body was still young, and he wanted to experience what it felt like to be young again—to take girls like these into his arms, for instance.
With the strength he had now, he could do whatever he pleased.
He licked his lips. His thoughts were filthy, but his face showed nothing; he even pushed the desire down again quickly.
Revenge came first.
If Zhang Shou had a girlfriend, then once the possession succeeded, he could put a cuckold's green hat on Yu Xian's friend.
Besides, even if he took Zhang Shou's body, he wouldn't show himself to Yu Xian again this year. He would wait until next year to go find Yu Xian, and let Yu Xian learn what it felt like to drag a friend down with him.
When that time came, Yu Xian's expression was bound to be a sight worth seeing.
Zuo Zhengzong could already picture the moment his revenge was complete. The corners of his mouth curled up around his milk tea, and his eyes shone with delight.
“Look at the guy at the next table. His smile is so creepy.”
“Don't talk so loud. What if he's a Transcendent too?”
“So what if he hears? It's obviously creepy.”
…
…
The girls' voices drifted over again, and Zuo Zhengzong's face went dark. If he hadn't been afraid of tipping his hand, he would have taught those two stinking women today what it meant to be truly ugly, and to have not a gentle bone in their bodies.
“Shallow women. The flesh is nothing but a bag of skin.”
Zuo Zhengzong cursed them inwardly, but then he thought of Zhang Shou's appearance in the interview video, and it left him rather annoyed. Too ugly.
In the future, he absolutely had to find a handsome body and make it completely his own. Even if it cost him one of his yearly possessions, he would keep a sufficiently handsome corpse as his main body.
The only thing his possession required was a corpse, so one corpse could actually be used over and over, as long as it wasn't too badly damaged.
Sooner or later, he would grow more and more perfect, and become a true divine spirit.
Just then, at the gate of Yanjing Vocational and Technical College, a man walked slowly out: long silver hair, a face of extraordinary beauty, a tall, slender figure that still did not look frail. He wore a white trench coat, and every movement carried a special quality, as if the whole street had become his runway—as if he were the center of the world.
“Linlin, look, so handsome!”
“Gulp. Is he a teacher or a student?”
“No idea, but this is the first time I've ever seen a guy that handsome. Should we go try to get his number?”
“You go. I wouldn't dare.”
“Then let's both go.”
“But he looks so cold and aloof. Maybe we should just forget it…”
“Don't be a coward.”
Hearing the girls' chatter, Zuo Zhengzong felt a bit of contempt. Had they never seen a man before?
Stinking sluts, shameless hussies!
But curiosity gets the better of everyone, and he still instinctively looked up. Then he saw the silver-haired man standing in the school gate, lost in thought about something, and he froze as well.
Even as a man himself, he was drawn in by this man's perfect image, and in the end he had no choice but to concede: this flashy bastard really was handsome. Drop-dead handsome.
In the past, he had envied only Yu Xian, who had not only tremendous power and a famous name, but an almost flawless face.
Now he had met a second man who made him jealous. After a moment, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Wasn't this the perfect body for him?
Yu Xian, he couldn't beat. But this flashy bastard surely wasn't stronger than Yu Xian, was he?
This perfect body would belong to him from now on.
Zuo Zhengzong set down his milk tea and even decided to give up on Zhang Shou for the time being. First he would seize this body—handsome beyond all reason—and worry about the rest later.
With this body, he could have as many women as he wanted in the future!
At that moment, the silver-haired man, who had been thinking, glanced lightly toward the milk tea shop. Across the glass, his gaze met Zuo Zhengzong's, and Zuo Zhengzong, still fantasizing about how good life would be once this body was his, suddenly jerked as if shocked.
The space around him abruptly went dark. All that remained were him, the table, and the chair. The whole milk tea shop was gone. The glass between him and the silver-haired man was gone.
Then, all at once, it began to rain.
Damn it.
What was going on?
Was the man a Transcendent?
Had his identity been exposed again? But he hadn't heard anything about being wanted, had he?
Zuo Zhengzong stared around in shock, panic stirring in his chest. He suspected he had fallen under an illusion; surely he hadn't been moved somewhere else? The trouble was, this illusion was far too real.
Cold rain pelted his body, and his soaked clothes clung to his skin. If he weren't a zombie, he would probably be shivering by now.
“A bug should stay quietly in the sewer where it belongs.”
At that, the silver-haired man's cool voice rang out. Zuo Zhengzong had just been about to activate his ability when he saw a deep blue blade.
He never saw the silver-haired man swing it, but he couldn't move. He stared at the man in terror as countless fine cracks gradually appeared in his pupils, more and more of them…
Seen from a microscopic level, every cell in his body had been split in two, every molecule cleft apart, every atom cleft apart—even every elementary particle had been split.
In an instant, Zuo Zhengzong's whole body came apart. He vanished cleanly and thoroughly, not even leaving dust behind.
He had thought he still had one chance at Life-Death Reincarnation, but unfortunately his ability never took effect at all. Without a sound, his life simply ended.
Elsewhere, Yu Xian was still wondering: could Zuo Zhengzong be dead? Otherwise, why couldn't anyone find him?
Chapter 384