Chapter 614: Debt and Dilemma

Burdened by huge debts, Lu Xin couldn’t even muster the will to go to work—his mind was solely focused on making money.

He didn’t even feel motivated to head to the office.

How could someone already saddled with millions in debt give a second thought to a company that barely paid any dividends?

It seems that a person’s appetite grows in proportion to the size of their debts…

……

……

But when it comes to half a million, it’s hard to muster the energy to pull it off all at once…

What kind of operation would require such an enormous effort?

Just tallying up his ventures since he entered the game, he had only managed to secure a few half-million deals.

There was the incident with Black Table’s god-making stunt, the Technology Church’s clash with the Queen of Happy Town, and his stint as an external agent for Heichao City. Other missions, even if they stirred up quite a commotion, never reached the half-million mark.

Half a million of pollution—if only there were a bit more…

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than Lu Xin began to second-guess himself.

Could it be that the pressure of making money had gotten to him, making him actually yearn for a major operation?

Isn’t peace and order what truly matters in this world?

Money really does corrupt people…

But, to be fair, he’d almost gathered enough parasitic items already. If push came to shove, he could always ask Qinggang—after all, in their eyes, Cangzhang Sect, representing one of the thirteen ultimate mental facets, was invaluable when sold.

Just kidding.

How could anyone sell the Cangzhang Sect? Hardly any faction would dare put out a wanted poster on ‘God’…

……

……

With nothing much going on, Lu Xin could only count his money and occasionally cast a wary glance at the progress of the renovation crew.

He was initially a bit worried about the construction team handling the makeover of his old building.

Was there really something lurking inside that building?

Could whatever it was endanger or harm the construction workers?

Even now, Lu Xin wasn’t sure. He only had a nagging feeling that the building might be hiding some ‘neighbors’.

And one thing was for sure—these neighbors wouldn’t be as friendly and kind as his own family.

Of course, Lu Xin didn’t mind encountering these neighbors.

Since they were all living in the same building, if they did turn up, he wouldn’t object to having them help shoulder some of the renovation costs.

However, after observing for a few days, he realized that the team was working methodically and smoothly.

They didn’t seem at all affected by the old building; if anything, whenever Lu Xin passed by, they looked on high alert.

That was odd…

How could the old building be so quiet? Had the neighbors really hidden away to dodge renovation fees?

……

……

What Lu Xin didn’t know was that the construction team—or rather, the professionals from the Special Weapons R&D Department—had, after several days of work, already handed over a secret report to Professor Bai. It contained the results of their desperate search:

“It’s very safe.”

Professor Bai, along with Mr. Su, Minister Shen, and other high-ranking officials, reviewed the report.

The contents, however, left them all somewhat taken aback, even astonished:

“After three days of investigation and information gathering by the Special Investigation Team, we finally reached a conclusion…”

“The old building is extremely clean.”

“Unusually clean—there isn’t any secret hidden within…”

“……”

That was the entire report from the renovation team.

This was nothing more than an ordinary old building, with many rooms seemingly abandoned for a long time.

Testing for mental radiation showed all indices were normal—it was even considered one of the safest places in Qinggang.

Safer than the Special Cleaning Department’s territory.

In short: This is just an old building—nothing more!

“It hardly differs from the initial tests you did…”

Professor Bai looked toward Chen Jing. When she was first tasked with assessing Lu Xin’s living environment to decide whether to recruit him, her tests also indicated that the building was nothing more than an uninhabited old structure.

The fact that only Lu Xin’s family lived there was probably just because the building’s poor lighting gave it a gloomy aura.

“If it’s merely an ordinary old building, then what was he aiming for with such a hefty price?”

Chen Jing and the others couldn’t help but wonder: “The money he spent on this ‘renovation’ could have built a professional army.”

“It’s too early to jump to conclusions.”

Professor Bai pondered in silence for a moment before adding, “A clean test result doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no problem.”

“Perhaps the issue isn’t the building at all, but the people living in it?”

“……”

Suddenly, the topic of the Single Soldier—the one who had managed to enrapture and terrify all of Qinggang—struck them all, prompting glances of uncertainty:

“Then what should we do?”

“What do you mean—do what?”

Professor Bai shot them a look and said, “Wasn’t our principle set long ago?”

“We won’t probe into the Single Soldier nor pry into his secrets if he refuses to share.

If he comes to us with a problem, we’ll clarify his intentions and decide whether to cooperate or not. But after any collaboration, we must maintain a polite boundary and avoid interference…”

“Old Bai, haven’t you noticed…”

Mr. Su couldn’t help but interject, “You’ve always been overly cautious about the Single Soldier.”

Minister Shen added, “Based on the data and current cases, the Single Soldier seems quite favorable to Qinggang. It appears that embracing his goodwill and forging deeper ties might be the right choice. Yet at this critical juncture, we set a line. Have you considered that this very boundary might create distance between Qinggang and the Single Soldier?”

“That line isn’t a barrier—it’s a rule.”

“And in such circumstances, rules exist to protect the vulnerable.”

Facing the group’s doubts, Professor Bai whispered, “Besides, this line wasn’t drawn for the present moment…”

“It’s meant for the future.”

He paused, seemingly weighing his words.

After a moment, he stood up and reached over to the data rack, pulling down the top row of files.

A thick stack lay before them. He then softly explained, “These files document recent severe pollution events from various locations. Some incidents have led to tens of thousands of people descending into madness or disappearing…”

“Our people in Qinggang seem to be experiencing fewer hallucinations—as if special pollution has decreased.”

“But in reality, at the same time, similar events in other parts of the world are escalating at a terrifying pace. It’s as if a long-suppressed force is erupting like a volcano.”

“And the source of it all traces back to the early-stage experiments of the Sea Country’s Heaven’s Kingdom Plan.”

“……”

Hearing this, the others’ faces grew grim as they whispered, “That has nothing to do with us…”

but they couldn’t deny that it all began after our plan.

Professor Bai continued, “Whether it’s people spreading crucial information based on the initial success of our Heaven’s Kingdom Plan experiments, or if our success emboldened some to take reckless steps…”

“There’s no denying that special pollution incidents are on the rise, accompanied by a number of bizarre phenomena.”

“These things don’t seem to be of this world, nor do they follow natural laws…”

“Human madness, the unpredictable changes in pollution, and the sudden surge of strange events all remind me of something ominous.”

He spoke slowly, his face now lined with worry.

The others, growing alarmed, quickly asked, “What is it?”

Professor Bai looked up toward the wall directly opposite his desk, where a painting hung.

It was a photo of a red moon—a constant reminder he had hung there for himself.

Staring at the image, Professor Bai whispered, “The Second Descent!”

……

……

Make money! Make money! Make money!

Lu Xin was singularly focused on making money and wondered why there seemed to be so little special pollution in the world these days…

It was at that moment he received a call from Han Bing.

The call informed him that there were preliminary results from the investigation into that memory-type special pollutant.

Although the suspect had scattered his soul during capture by resisting and his grocery store had been thoroughly cleaned—with hardly any useful information uncovered—the Special Cleaning Department had, by analyzing the pollution traces and questioning those who self-destructed mentally at the time of his capture, roughly deciphered his objective:

This man was trying to collect complete mental entities by this method.

This was evident from Cao Ye’s interrogation and the in-depth investigations of others who had self-destructed.

These individuals had all, in one way or another, received handsome rewards before their mental collapse.

Some suddenly became erudite—though only elementary school graduates, they could discuss astronomy and geography fluently, with no detail overlooked.

Others received unexpected promotions, earning the deep affection and recognition of their female superiors.

And then there were those who inherited vast fortunes because several tycoons insisted he was their illegitimate son.

……

……

In short, those affected by the memory-type pollutant suffered terribly.

Yet those who paid for these pollutants seemed to escape any cost before their mental explosion.

It was only when these memory-type pollutants tried to flee from Lu Xin’s grasp that they were struck by a surge in mental power, leaving their bodies empty shells—paying the maximum price they could.

“So, this is very likely linked to the soul trades that have been rampant in the black markets lately.”

Han Bing concluded, “In Heichao City, while Xia Chong’s team was investigating soul trades, it turned out not to be a new phenomenon. Many places have reported similar trades, all hinting at a location people refer to as ‘Hell.'”

“Our Qinggang is relatively safe, thanks to the presence of the Doll as a deterrent; those people dare not act too boldly.”

“Elsewhere, there are reports of several settlements being completely harvested…”

“……”

Lu Xin found it odd, remarking, “It’s somehow related to Xia Chong’s mission…”

But then he thought that this one was far inferior to that Hell’s Messenger in almost every way.

Especially when it came to price…

After hanging up the phone, Lu Xin, with the wary looks of the construction workers on him, padded into the old building. He tiptoed throughout, careful not to step on the expensive renovation materials, until he finally reached the untouched fourth floor, then returned home.

His sister was once again humming a tune like, “Little Doll, come be my guest; I’ve set four or five tables for one,” amusing herself.

His father hid away in the kitchen, silent, occasionally letting out a strange laugh.

Lu Xin suspected that his father might have dashed off to Heichao City again to exercise his “Tyrant of Terror” prerogative…

Bored, Lu Xin sat down on the sofa and switched on the motor—it had no signal.

He patted it lightly, but still no signal.

Perhaps the renovation crew had disturbed the antenna during work…

Lu Xin decided to ignore it and sat back on the sofa, pondering his life’s big issues.

“Beep beep……”

After an unspecified time, strange electronic sounds suddenly filled the room.

Surprised, he searched around the room until he discovered the noise was coming from his Black Bag.

It was the communicator he had taken from the Research Institute that was ringing.

Curious, he swiped the screen and logged into the Red Moon Club chat group on the device.

Normally, the chat group saw little activity—occasional information exchange and file sharing.

But this time, Lu Xin noticed not only a surge in messages, but also that Dracula—self-proclaimed as the Big Brother—was using a special message mode that alerted even those who rarely checked their communicators.

Even more intriguingly, the chat was centered around one topic: an offline meetup!!