novelraw Chapter 29 : The Puppet Master’s Curtain Call
Chapter 29 : The Puppet Master’s Curtain Call
Chapter 29: The Puppet Master’s Curtain Call
The newly established Longxi Republic Bureau of Transcendent Affairs, Jiang City Headquarters.
“Report! We’ve received an anonymous intelligence package!”
A technician’s voice shattered the calm of the command center.
Chen Mo immediately stepped forward. “Who… who sent it?”
“No idea. Surveillance shows that a pigeon flew directly into the building’s ventilation duct and precisely dropped the package through the mailroom window.”
“A… pigeon?”
“Yes, sir. Therefore, we suspect the existence of an Transcendent whose abilities are related to ‘biological manipulation’!”
Chen Mo instantly understood everything. It must have been an Transcendent from the hostile faction—trying to use them as a tool.
Chen Mo gave the order at once: “Maximum security protocol! Decode the contents of the USB drive immediately!”
Soon, the contents of the USB appeared on the large display screen.
It was a horrifying video shot from an extremely low angle.
The camera raced through a dark, damp sewer before emerging from an inconspicuous drainage outlet and slipping into a dimly lit underground room.
Inside the basement, a man in a white lab coat, his face deathly pale, sat before an operating table, waving his hands as he installed a glass eyeball into a crow.
At the end of the video, there was also a hand-drawn map, precisely marking the location of the basement—an abandoned underground dissection lab at the old Jiang City Medical College, in the western part of the city.
“An Transcendent…”
Chen Mo gazed at the pale man on the screen and slowly exhaled the word.
“Lock onto the target’s location immediately!”
He ordered decisively. “Alert all operational units—prepare for action!”
“Yes, sir!”
Then Chen Mo turned toward the figure standing silently behind him—a tall, broad-shouldered man.
“Comrade Zheng Wei,”
Chen Mo’s tone was steady and powerful. “It’s your turn to take the field.”
Hearing this, Zheng Wei slowly raised his head, a flicker of complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
Since joining the Bureau of Transcendent Affairs, not only had he gained a new identity, but his daughter Xiaoxiao had also received the best possible treatment, her condition visibly improving day by day.
He knew he had no other choice.
“Yes, Director,” he replied in his deep, muffled voice.
“Remember,”
Chen Mo patted his shoulder. “Your mission is to eliminate the threat—but more importantly, protect yourself.”
“We absolutely cannot afford to lose you.”
Looking at Zheng Wei, Chen Mo felt a surge of emotion. He would prove to everyone that only by using the Transcendent to fight the Transcendent could the right path be found.
……
However, while Chen Mo was making his plans, every one of his moves was being transmitted through a channel he would never have imagined.
In Lin Lan’s office, the “Deputy Bureau Chief,” who had successfully been transferred into the Bureau of Transcendent Affairs, relayed Chen Mo’s entire operational plan to her word for word.
“Biological manipulation… a Beast Tamer, then?”
Lin Lan’s eyes gleamed faintly as she studied the intelligence report.
It seemed that the intelligence core of the 【Radiance】 faction had finally surfaced.
But she needed to inform Wu Ce immediately, so Lin Lan connected the communicator.
“You’ve been exposed.”
Her voice was cold and devoid of emotion. “The officials have locked onto your position. At most two hours from now, they’ll launch a raid.”
On the other end of the line, silence lingered for a long time.
Then Wu Ce’s calm, unruffled voice came through: “Understood.”
“You must evacuate at once!” Lin Lan’s tone held a trace of urgency.
“Evacuate?”
Wu Ce’s voice carried a hint of mockery. “If they can find me once, they can find me again.”
“I hate living like a rat—skulking from hole to hole.”
“Miss Lin Lan, it seems our cooperation ends here.”
“I’m glad I met you. Because you and I—we’re the same kind.”
His tone suddenly turned solemn. “I know you, like me, despise this foolish world.”
“So, please—win this game.”
“Then crush those arrogant, self-righteous mortals, and their laughable order, beneath your feet!”
With that, he ended the call.
Lin Lan quietly listened to the busy signal on the communicator, her eyes complex.
……
Abandoned Medical College, underground dissection room.
After hanging up, Wu Ce stood calmly, surveying his “workshop,” heavy with the stench of formalin.
All around the basement stood enormous glass tanks, each containing various animal specimens he had modified.
Cats, dogs, birds—even wolves and crocodiles smuggled from the zoo.
Bats with metal wings, hounds with eight spider legs, and countless other grotesque creations stitched together from disparate creatures—indescribable in words.
These were his “works” of recent days—his most perfect creations.
He had intended to turn them into a flawless puppet army to greet the final act of the Game.
But now, there was no time.
He walked to a massive glass tank, staring at the animal carcasses soaked in formalin within.
“So be it…”
A sickly yet liberated smile crept across his face.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“This is my world. I won’t abandon my creations.”
“Let me begin the grandest performance… the one that will mark my curtain call.”
Then he raised his hands like a conductor and began his final composition.
Countless corpses churned, collided, and fused within the solution.
Muscle and bone reassembled; nerves and blood vessels intertwined.
A monstrous abomination, stitched from the remains of countless beasts, was slowly taking shape within the tank.
……
“Target locked! This is the place!”
“All units, ready to breach!”
Two hours later, the abandoned medical college was surrounded by an impenetrable wall of military and armored vehicles.
Heavily armed soldiers sealed every exit, and snipers occupied all surrounding vantage points.
A vast web had silently unfolded.
Inside the command vehicle, Chen Mo watched the monitor displaying Wu Ce’s life signal. He picked up a megaphone and shouted toward the morgue entrance below.
“Listen up down there! You’re surrounded!”
“We are the Longxi Republic Bureau of Transcendent Affairs! We know who you are—and we know about the ‘Game of Gods’!”
“Lay down your weapons and come out now! Cooperate with our investigation!”
“The state can guarantee your safety—and grant you the respect and treatment you deserve!”
But the only response was a rasping, hysterical laugh echoing through the loudspeakers.
“Hahahaha… Cooperate? Guarantee my safety?”
Wu Ce’s voice rose from below—thick with undisguised mockery and hatred.
Chen Mo’s words pulled his mind back to that rain-soaked night which had changed his life forever.
……
Three years ago, Wu Ce had been the youngest genius surgeon in Jiang City.
His colleagues had called him a “prodigy doctor,” for his hands were preternaturally nimble and steady—“hands kissed by God”—capable of performing the most intricate surgeries in the world.
He loved his work.
He relished the sense of achievement that came from dragging a life back from the edge of death, and the tearful gratitude in his patients’ families’ eyes.
He once believed this was his lifelong ideal.
He imagined himself spending his entire life before the operating table, retiring one day to be remembered as “a great doctor.”
But fate loved to mock those with ideals.
That night, he had just completed a ten-hour conjoined-twin separation surgery.
Exhausted, he left the operating room, ready to receive flowers and applause.
Instead, he was greeted by a knife gleaming with cold light.
It was a relative of another patient he had once saved from a car accident—furious over the high medical bills—waiting for him at the hospital entrance.
“You blood-sucking vampire! Heartless doctor! Give me back my money!”
Amidst the man’s venomous screams, the sharp blade plunged into the right hand that had once created countless miracles.
That slash did more than cut Wu Ce’s wrist.
It severed his faith in the world, his devotion to saving lives, and every dream he had for the future.
Though he underwent the finest reconstructive surgery and regained basic function, he could never again wield the scalpel that had been his life.
His nerves had been permanently damaged; he would never again perform any operation requiring precision.
Forced to leave the hospital, Wu Ce fell from heaven to hell.
The one who had ruined him, however, was deemed to have “intermittent psychosis” and sentenced to only three years in prison.
From that moment on, Wu Ce’s world collapsed.
He became an unemployed drifter—a man discarded by society.
He grew to hate the world, to despise all the hypocritical, selfish, ungrateful humans.
He began to drink, to wallow in despair, to believe there was no reason left to live.
He locked himself in this abandoned morgue, spending his days among corpses and specimens.
Until the day the Game began.
【Welcome to ‘Game of Gods’】
【Matching player identity and faction】
【Identity match complete】
【Faction match complete】
【Player: Wu Ce】
【Identity: Puppet Master】
【Faction: Shadow】
【Flesh is your string, bone your marionette; life shall be reborn beneath your fingertips】
……
“You high and mighty ones—since when have you ever cared about the lives of ordinary people like us?”
“When I was betrayed, when I was hurt, when I was completely abandoned by this society—where were you then?”
“Do you know? I was once a surgeon! A doctor who saved lives!”
“I loved my work—I saved countless people from death.”
“Because I once believed this world was worth living in.”
“But what happened?”
“The family of a patient I brought back from death—dissatisfied with the medical fees—stabbed my hand after work!”
Wu Ce’s voice became hysterical.
“My hand was ruined!”
“I could never hold a scalpel again!”
“And the one who destroyed my life—because of a so-called ‘mental disorder’—was sentenced to only three years!”
“From that moment on, I understood—there is no fairness, no justice in this world!”
“Humans are the most selfish, ungrateful, irredeemable creatures on this planet!”
“They do not deserve salvation!”
“Only puppets that obey absolutely—only they are perfect creations!”
“They do not betray, do not deceive, do not harm!”
Hearing Wu Ce’s venomous, despair-filled tirade, Chen Mo’s heart sank.
“Since you’re all so fond of saving the world,”
Wu Ce’s voice came again—this time eerily calm, a calm so profound it was terrifying.
“Then allow me to present you with a gift.”
“Behold—my most perfect creation.”
As his words fell—
“Boom——!”
The floor of the underground morgue exploded!
A monstrous creature—ten meters tall, stitched together from the corpses of countless animals, shaped like a grotesque tumor of flesh—crawled out from beneath the ground!
It was assembled from the mutilated bodies of dozens of cats, dogs, rats, and even pigs and cattle.
Countless limbs—of varying lengths and forms—supported its bloated frame.
Its body was covered with countless eyes, still twitching and rolling, exuding a nauseating stench of decay and death.
This was not a creature that should exist on Earth—it was a nightmare dragged straight from the depths of the Cthulhu Mythos!
“Open fire!”
Chen Mo gave the command without hesitation.
A storm of gunfire instantly engulfed the monstrous mass of flesh.
However, the bullets, striking its body of rotting flesh and bone, only splattered foul, blood-stinking fluid—unable to inflict any real damage.
The creature let out a roar unlike any sound a living being could make—a fusion of the screams of countless animals—and charged toward the army’s position on its many uneven legs!
Its immense body easily toppled an armored vehicle in its path.
The sharp bone spikes on its body slashed through soldiers like blades, gutting them where they stood.
It was a massacre straight from the abyss of nightmares.
The soldiers watched in horror as their comrades were torn apart before their eyes—their will to fight completely collapsing.
“No! Don’t come any closer! Don’t come near me!”
“What the hell is that thing!!”
At that moment, Zheng Wei moved.
He charged forward like a heavy tank, heading straight for the abomination!
The monster seemed to sense him—hundreds of eyes turned in unison, locking onto Zheng Wei before it let out another roar, a piercing shriek of agony from a hundred beasts at once!
It swung down several massive appendages—made from cow legs and steel rods—toward Zheng Wei’s head with hurricane force!
But Zheng Wei did not dodge.
He let out a thunderous roar; the muscles in his arms bulged like granite.
He caught the massive appendages in both hands—forcing them to a halt!
“Boom——!”
With a deafening crash, the ground beneath his feet cracked and sank—but Zheng Wei’s towering form stood unmoved, like a mountain.
“Break——for——me——!”
The veins in his neck bulged as he summoned every ounce of strength!
“Crack!”
A bone-splitting sound rang out—the appendages, thicker than a grown man’s thigh, were snapped clean in two by sheer brute force!
Black, foul-smelling blood sprayed like a waterfall.
Inside the command vehicle, and among all the soldiers watching via screen, mouths hung open in disbelief at the sight before them.
A single human—using only the strength of his flesh—was battling a ten-meter-tall monster!
“This… this is the power of the Transcendent?”
A young soldier murmured, nearly dropping his gun.
On the battlefield, Zheng Wei’s assault continued.
Like a raging bull, he plunged into the jungle of limbs that made up the monster’s body—fighting in the most primal, bloody way possible.
Each punch he threw carried crushing force, blasting gaping holes in the creature’s body.
Each time he tore, chunks of flesh and bone were ripped free.
Blood and gore flew; the stench of rot filled the air.
Zheng Wei was drenched in blood, yet seemed tireless—his eyes burning with pure battle will.
The monster, in turn, retaliated furiously.
Its sharp bone spines slashed across Zheng Wei’s body, carving deep wounds to the bone.
But Zheng Wei appeared not to feel pain—his blood only drove him into greater fury.
Finally, after taking a direct hit from the monster’s whipping tail, Zheng Wei seized the opening, rushed forward, and locked both arms around the creature’s tumor-like core!
“Die——!”
Channeling every ounce of power into his waist and arms, he tore the monster clean in half!
“Boom——!”
With one final roar, the massive creature of flesh was ripped apart mid-body by sheer force!
A torrent of viscera and black ichor rained from the sky.
Zheng Wei stood amidst the downpour of blood like a demon god risen from hell.
The battle was over.
“Assault team! Enter the basement! Target—Wu Ce! Remember, we want him alive!” Chen Mo roared into the communicator.
Several special-operations soldiers immediately rushed into the blasted opening.
But when they entered, they found only a still-warm corpse.
Wu Ce sat quietly at his operating table, still wearing his spotless white lab coat.
There was an eerie, satisfied smile on his face—like an artist who had just completed his life’s masterpiece.
In his hand was a sharp scalpel, still stained with fresh blood.
A thin crimson line stretched from his neck downward.
At the moment before capture, he had ended his life in the way he knew best—calmly, precisely.
【Shadow】 faction player 【Puppet Master】 has died
【Current remaining players: 【Radiance】 5, 【Shadow】 2】
The cold system notification echoed simultaneously in the minds of all surviving players.