novelraw Chapter 1264: From Then On, Fate Was Clearly Arranged
Chapter 1264: From Then On, Fate Was Clearly Arranged
(Note: Changed Piggy to Piglet)
Li Zi actually moved in that very night.
Ren Ziling said that it was something bound to happen sooner or later, something she would eventually need to get used to—so the earlier she adjusted, the better.
Shortly after dinner, she received a text from Nan Xiaonan saying she had to leave for a while and couldn’t accept her invitation. A bit of a pity.
Li Zi stayed in the guest room Nan Xiaonan had used for two days—the room had already been prepared.
As someone belonging to the demon kind, she was naturally sensitive to the world’s spiritual energy. But after Nan Xiaonan’s previous mishap with the warm jade hidden under Auntie Ren’s mattress, nothing unusual happened this time.
No one would notice it in the future either—unless Auntie Ren someday overcame her terminal laziness and decided to clean beneath the mattress.
After this night, only three days remained before the date Luo Qiu had publicly declared he would go abroad.
He still had no intention of opening the shop to do business. He simply let the days pass quietly.
Since childhood, Luo Qiu had always preferred acting according to plans… and in these last few days before leaving, he intended to properly plan out the next year or two.The Lord God game would soon launch in other sub-worlds, which meant he might soon be able to stop worrying about most things—for a full year.
Around this time last year, he had become the club’s Boss.
A full year had passed, and he had gotten used to this life. For him, this year felt incredibly long. Luo Qiu recalled the customers he had made deals with—story after story flowed through his heart, leaving behind gentle warmth.
Like warm spring water washing through a winter ravine…
And he knew that throughout a year of resisting emotional deprivation, he had not failed.
But he was still in that stage where rationality expanded and emotion was suppressed.
“Almost time to personally experience all sorts of strong emotions.”
Sitting at his desk, Luo Qiu picked up his pen and slowly wrote two extremes of the strongest human emotions—love and hate—on a blank sheet of paper.
He could never truly hate anyone. Zhou Yusheng’s matter was settled, and he had no reason left to hate. At the moment, there was nothing in the world that could make him hate.
“That leaves only… love.”
Luo Qiu paused, then erased the word hate from the paper and slowly expanded on the idea of love.
Stroke by stroke, he wrote:
—Love the world,
—Love life,
—Love living,
—Love everyone who loves me.
Once written, the words seemed to leap from the paper… His thoughts stirred, recalling the Star Creation ritual Nan Xiaonan had written down.
He didn’t need to study it—its rules and variations were already clear to him. This was a temporarily purchased state, like attaching a buff to himself.
It didn’t need to last long. As long as he could use the Star Creation ritual at this moment, that was enough.
Corresponding Star Creation marks appeared from thin air and fused into the written words. Thus, they took on another kind of life.
After thinking for a moment, Luo Qiu took out a string of Buddhist beads—given to him last Golden Week by A Li on the cruise ship.
The words leapt one by one into the beads and disappeared. He wore the beads once more.
This was his own warning to himself.
When the buff faded later, he would again return to merely understanding the Star Creation ritual without being able to use it. Luo Qiu lightly smiled and turned off the desk lamp.
Outside the room, Ren Ziling and Li Zi seemed still awake, whispering to each other.
In the quiet, Luo Qiu lay down fully clothed. His thoughts rippled gently, listening to the voices of all things.
…
In the living room, chatting idly with Auntie Ren, Li Zi suddenly sat upright and slapped a mosquito flying past, killing it instantly.
The sharp sound startled Auntie Ren awake, and she shot her an annoyed look.
Li Zi blinked and smiled. “Sister Ren, do you suddenly feel really comfortable? Really happy?”
“I feel really sleepy…” Ren Ziling grumbled. “Why am I staying up late watching a food show with you? If you want late-night chaos, go stir up your company group chat…”
“Heehee.”
Her soft voice sounded as though something precious was gently cupping it.
…
…
Under the same night sky—
When the terrifying screams—muffled by layers of soundproofing—finally stopped, two burly men forced themselves to enter the room and drag out two mangled corpses.
Then two frightened, struggling homeless men were shoved inside. Outside, Cheng Yun, scalp numb, recorded the number of dead test subjects.
He wasn’t the only one shaken—several recruited folk experts and Master Huang’s disciples, including Chen Er, who now served Master Chen, were just as terrified.
Chen Er rarely did evil things, but not never. Years ago, he had followed Master Huang around Southeast Asia. Master Huang originally came from Hong Kong, where many tycoons and underworld bosses sought him for fortune-telling… even for black magic.
The head-dropping sorcery Master Huang used wasn’t part of his own lineage—it was something he learned while traveling in the South Seas.
Chen Er had seen him use it several times and thought it was the most vicious thing in the world… yet even that paled before what was happening in this sealed room.
But if Number 24 succeeded, then everyone here—including himself—would gain a chance at real power.
Chen Er knew only a little about geomancy, yet had already benefited greatly. Naturally, he longed for an even greater ‘power’.
Everyone desires power—whether the power of wealth or the transcendent power of the extraordinary.
Most of those whom Zhong Luochen recruited shared the same desire as Chen Er… otherwise, no one would dirty their hands with something so damaging to their karmic virtue.
“How many left?”
Remaining calm amidst the periodic screams, Zhong Luochen asked Cheng Yun.
“Second Young Master, there are… eight left.” Cheng Yun swallowed. “At this pace, Master 24 can try four more times. If he still fails, we’ll have to wait a few days to bring in new stock.”
Zhong Luochen tapped the table lightly, then nodded and stood. “You stay here and watch the tests. I’ll go check on the children.”
The “children” referred to the kids with micro-abilities discovered by the research lab before they encountered 24.
He would never put all his eggs in one basket. Risk diversification was something all heirs like him were taught early.
The experiments of 24 and the research institute had proceeded in parallel. 24 had shown intense interest in the micro-ability children and had repeatedly suggested using them in experiments—but Zhong Luochen always suppressed the idea.
“Don’t worry, Second Young Master. The moment something happens, I’ll report to you!”
Zhong Luochen nodded casually and quickly left the area, entering another part of the research facility… Meanwhile, Cheng Yun covered his ears with his fingers and stayed far from the test chamber.
This spot was actually closer to the rooms where the captured homeless were kept. From behind a curtain, Cheng Yun peeked inside and saw the remaining vagrants pacing nervously within the room.
Some of these people might have been born with intellectual disabilities, or they may have become mentally unstable or even numb after years of wandering… yet their innate sense of danger seemed intact, so subconsciously they still knew fear.
But there was only one bald young man, completely without eyebrows, sitting motionless, observing the actions of everyone in the room.
Cheng Yun felt no trace of fear from this bald, browless youth and couldn’t help but click his tongue in astonishment… a sudden curiosity arose, and he wanted to see just how indifferent this bald youth could remain. He decided to leave him for the last experiment.
Hey… the place was so oppressive that cruelty began to breed unconsciously. Listening to another scream, Cheng Yun’s gaze gradually turned cruel.
…
Compared to the hellish place occupied by 24, the other side of the superpower research lab was very peaceful—here, more gentle methods were used.
Each room was designed in pure white, and the children with minor abilities wore white clothes, shoes, and socks… they were placed in rooms with different decorations.
Some rooms had ocean themes, some had amusement park themes, and others had cartoon themes—to soothe the children’s anxieties.
Each room had two researchers dedicated to helping the children train and develop their abilities—but these researchers had no actual experience with superpowers.
They only had extensive knowledge in physics, chemistry, and other applied sciences… at least for the zero-background Zhong Family Second Young Master, this was the only direction for development.
Besides the in-room guides, an additional researcher was assigned outside each room to record the children’s performance.
Zhong Luochen vaguely felt this was the correct research direction.
But the research progressed extremely slowly… so slowly that these children with minor abilities had shown no progress so far—they were the same as when discovered.
At some point, the Zhong Family Second Young Master had developed a sense of urgency—the other world was known to him, visible yet unreachable.
This led to his compromise with 24.
He asked Cheng Yun whether he preferred Wei Xiaobao or Heshen, which was almost like asking himself—the answer was the same: he wouldn’t abandon either research path.
At that moment, a researcher hurried to Zhong Luochen’s side, bringing him new news.
“We’ve discovered a new child with abilities!”
“Oh?”
This indeed surprised Zhong Luochen… minor abilities could vary greatly and might not yet be classified, so additional samples and data were valuable. “Take me to see… what ability is this?”
The researcher said excitedly, “I think it can be called an animal transformation ability… this child can freely switch between pig characteristics and normal human form!”
“Animal…?” Zhong Luochen was momentarily stunned.
He was quite interested in transformation abilities—though, regrettably, only into a pig… his initial excitement sank slightly.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look, a way to relieve the irritability he felt after dealing with 24. Accompanied by the researcher, he approached the room where the new child was housed.
As the researcher said, through the observation glass, Zhong Luochen saw a four- or five-year-old child, now with a partially beast-like pig head, anxiously looking around.
Not just the head—his limbs were also pig-like—but he wore children’s clothing.
“How did you find this child?” Zhong Luochen frowned.
The child wore normal clothes and seemed to have a family—perhaps his family was aware of his condition.
The researcher said, “Among our children, one can briefly communicate with insects. We planned to take him outdoors to connect with nature and awaken his potential. Later, we discovered this child in a test forest park, digging up and eating carrots in the plantation…”
“Was anyone else there?”
“No one else,” the researcher said cautiously. “We only acted after confirming, and no one saw it…”
Zhong Luochen shook his head. Most children previously brought in were adopted from orphanages or rescued from human traffickers. Bringing someone back directly… it was the same as with the homeless.
Compared to those homeless people, there was no difference—Zhong Luochen wouldn’t apply double standards; what his subordinates did, they did.
“Have you asked about his family?” he asked, thinking about how to handle him later.
“Yes, he said his name is Zhu Luozzi (Piglet)…”
At that moment, inside the room, Piglet suddenly shook a bell-shaped necklace violently.
…
Sister Heishui hadn’t returned home until late—but the family wasn’t left hungry.
As the big sister to all, little rabbit demon diligently prepared dinner for the younger children and then began putting some of them to sleep.
It wasn’t until late at night that Sister Heishui returned, bringing with her a small bird.
“Sister Heishui, is this…”
Heishui carefully held the bird and smiled kindly: “Found it by chance. I just partially activated its intelligence. I need to care for it as some may almost become demons, which is why I returned late.”
Many of the young ones were already asleep. Little rabbit, quietly but happily, said: “Great! Another new child!”
“By the way, what about Piglet?” Heishui rubbed little rabbit’s head casually.
Usually, the first to rush over when she returned was Piglet—hungry or not, he was never satisfied.
“I picked some fruits on the way back; they taste good,” Heishui said with a laugh.
“Eh… what about Piglet?” Little rabbit noticed. “No wonder it’s so quiet today. I haven’t seen that glutton since morning. He must have sneaked out to find food!”
“That child,” Heishui shook her head, more amused than annoyed. Her tolerance for the children could be described as a mother overly indulgent to her children.
The sound of the bell suddenly rang by her ear.
Her expression darkened; her straight black hair scattered in disarray as sharp demonic energy suddenly erupted…
“Sister!?”
“Piglet is in danger…” Heishui took a deep breath, suppressing the violent demonic energy. His voice turned cold as he commanded: “Stay here and guard the house. I’ll be right back.”
(End of Chapter)