novelraw Chapter 1265: Night Demon Cloud
Chapter 1265: Night Demon Cloud
In front of the observation room, Zhong Luochen frowned. “Why is this child constantly shaking the bell on his neck?”
The room was fitted with one-way glass, so those inside couldn’t see out. The researcher subconsciously pushed up his glasses. “It may be a sign of anxiety. Don’t be fooled by his young age—he’s as strong as an adult. It took several of us a lot of effort to catch him. We even used anesthetics. But right now we don’t dare go inside. He bites. Someone was bitten earlier, though after bandaging he’s fine. For now, we won’t enter unless we sedate him again.”
Zhong Luochen thought for a moment. “First calm him down emotionally and find out his family situation. His family situation is the most important thing.”
While they spoke, Piglet in the observation room looked on the verge of crying from fear. The bell around his neck shook faster and faster.
This bell was a gift from Miss Ink; not just him—every sibling in their little family had one. The bell looked ordinary, but inside it was a scale plucked from Heishui’s own body. It was meant to transmit a warning the moment the little ones were in danger.
“Big Sis hurry… Piglet is hungry… Everyone here is bad… They won’t give Piglet food… wuuu~~~”
Piglet’s cries were output in real time, and Zhong Luochen and the researcher heard everything. Zhong Luochen muttered, “So he does have family… Why is he shaking that bell?”
“What can a bell even do?” the researcher said reflexively.
But Zhong Luochen suddenly felt a very bad premonition. He didn’t know why—it just grew stronger. “Get some food. Calm him down first. And then figure out how to take that bell off him. I have a strong feeling that bell isn’t simple.”
“Understood.” The researcher nodded and hurried away.Food wasn’t scarce here—especially things children liked. They believed that keeping the children emotionally positive helped their growth. Most of these kids were orphans, or rescued from traffickers. Their previous lives were harsh, but here they received good care. Except for restricted freedom, they didn’t mind much and gradually formed bonds with the researchers.
But the unease in Zhong Luochen’s chest only grew heavier…
---
“Two left…”
Cheng Yun looked at two more mangled corpses being dragged out and shook his head. This time, 24 dragged them out himself. He had experimented on more than ten subjects in a row and had stepped out for a drink and a short rest.
Cheng Yun turned his gaze to the remaining two test subjects.
One of them was the bald young man he deliberately saved for last. Taking a closer look now, he realized the man had Western facial features.
“This guy looked dull and slow, but his body is incredible?” The guard who had carried the bald man frowned. “Assistant Cheng, this guy isn’t an ordinary person. Look at his muscles. Without years of systematic training, no one can develop a physique like this… practically perfect proportions.”
Cheng Yun didn’t understand training or anatomy, but he understood how to pretend he did. He knew his own strengths—flattery and bootlicking—and he always listened when experts talked.
“Will this cause trouble?” he asked.
“Hard to say. But normal people don’t train like this… or to this degree. No idea why he’s like a simpleton now.”
“I see…” Cheng Yun paced. “Hold him for now. I’ll ask how they found him.”
The guard nodded—until 24 returned from drinking water, face dark.
Everyone had long known 24’s cruelty. The guard holding the bald man instinctively backed away.
“M-Master 24… Master?” Cheng Yun called weakly.
24 squeezed the bald man’s arm, then his torso, as if examining him. Suddenly he smiled an eerie smile. “So you were hiding a good one. Why bring me all that trash first? This one is perfect.”
“You mean… this guy… will succeed?” Cheng Yun stammered.
“At least ten times higher success rate than the garbage you sent before.”
Cheng Yun gritted his teeth. “Why are you standing around? Send him into the room for the master!”
Moments later, the bald youth was thrown into the chamber. 24 followed with a pleased grin. The homeless man paired with him was ignored and thrown back into his room.
“Assistant Cheng, what if that bald guy has a background?” the guard whispered.
“If he succeeds, there’s no trouble,” Cheng Yun replied. “If he succeeds, any trouble—Young Master can suppress.”
The guard agreed. With the Zhong Family’s influence, it wasn’t an exaggeration.
24 didn’t care what others thought.
He examined the bald youth. “Hmm… online they say bald guys are strong. Maybe it’s true? Lost hair, gained power?”
“Idiot 24! Idiot 24!! That’s from a comic!! Idiot 24!!”
24 grabbed the crow on his shoulder and flung it—this time not at the wall but at the bald youth.
The crow dissolved into shadow, wrapping the man like a black cocoon.
24 murmured, “This one should withstand my consciousness…”
Soul modification?
24 wasn’t doing this for Zhong Luochen. Though he was an immortal-class curse-practitioner, soul-level matters required huge cost for minimal result. He wasn’t interested in giving someone else the ability to use curses.
He just wanted a better body.
His current host body was terrible, damaged when an overwhelmingly powerful being punched him. A foreign energy still lingered inside. Rather than spend time healing and purging it, he preferred replacing the entire vessel.
Finding a suitable vessel wasn’t easy—none of the previous vagrants matched.
The crow’s shadow analyzed the bald man.
24’s dim eyes brightened. “A treasure… this body’s potential…”
He only needed a vessel compatible with his soul. But high physical potential was a bonus—so he wouldn’t cough blood after one punch in a fight.
“Idiot 24, deconstruction complete!” the crow called.
24 grew even more satisfied. “Amazing… this body only has a simple consciousness. No soul. It was practically born to be a container…”
He grinned and stepped into the black cocoon, merging with it.
---
The ship had already left the dock completely. The city was now just a faint glow in the distant night.
“We’ve only sailed out for a little while. Missing it already?” In the sea breeze, ‘Tang Tianlin’ came over with red wine in his left hand and two wine glasses dangling from his right. He approached Nan Xiaonan, who was standing on the deck, and smiled. “Want a break?”
Red wine had relatively low sugar content… She looked at it, mentally calculating its calories. In truth, she preferred cola—she’d heard it had a cute nickname: happy water.
“No, I don’t drink.” She spoke calmly—sugar aside, alcohol also affected brain activity, which made it inconvenient when she needed to accelerate her thoughts.
‘Tang Tianlin’ didn’t mind. In his memory, Nan Xiaonan was indeed someone who almost never touched alcohol.
“Right, let me ask you something.”
She brushed back her windblown hair. “That night, besides House, you also took that clone with you, right? What did you do with him? Or did you… dispose of him?”
‘Tang Tianlin’ said, “I’m not sure… He disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” She analyzed the statement’s credibility.
‘Tang Tianlin’ said, “After I came out of the secret passage that night, I hid the test subject in a fake rock behind the exit, planning to retrieve him when things settled down. But when I went back later, he was gone. I never found him again.”
“He left on his own?”
“Maybe…” ‘Tang Tianlin’ said uncertainly.
“He seemed to have a bit of his own consciousness…”
She recalled how the clone had twitched on his own after the cultivation pod exploded.
“Probably.”
She looked at him and suddenly asked, “You seem more concerned about him not being found than about finding him. Why?”
‘Tang Tianlin’ spoke slowly. “How do we distinguish whether someone is truly a person… a living being who can be acknowledged by morality and defined as human?”
He gazed at the dimming city.
“A soul? What is that? I can’t see it or touch it… But as long as something has consciousness, it naturally learns to think. Isn’t that the essence of being human—thinking? If he left on his own, and if he can live a proper life from now on… wouldn’t that prove he’s already a real person?”
She smirked. “Because you sympathize with him… you, another House clone.”
‘Tang Tianlin’ said nothing. He simply smiled faintly, raised his glass, and murmured, “A toast to life.”
The wind picked up—a strong blast suddenly swept across the sea… toward the city.
…
“A toast to the sunrise~~~ a toast to the moonlight~~”
Bu Bugao’s tone-deaf singing buzzed in Wang Hu’s ears like a fly—once the headphones were off, that was the kind of… well, “singing” you got.
Wang Hu resisted the urge to punch Bu Bugao and moved farther away. Ever since they received the assignment to monitor the building, the machine room atop the building opposite had become their temporary base.
I want to fight that woman again…
The thought suddenly flashed across Wang Hu’s mind—the unbelievably powerful woman on the pet hospital rooftop!
Suddenly, every pore on Wang Hu’s body opened, and his body hair bristled. He abruptly stood up.
The movement startled Bu Bugao. “What’s wrong with you now?” he complained, pulling off his headphones.
Wang Hu didn’t answer. He walked out of the machine room, ran straight to the rooftop, and stared into the night sky. Bu Bugao followed with an annoyed look, also turning his eyes upward.
The night seemed to press downward; the moon was shrouded in a cloud, dimming the sky.
A strong gust blew past. Bu Bugao shivered. “Is it going to rain?”
“It’s Demon energy…” Wang Hu’s eyes brightened. “A powerful Demon energy… It’s coming!”
…
Above the building, at some unknown moment, a swirl of cloud had appeared—dark clouds visible to the naked eye.
At this hour, the night should have been pitch black. Being able to see clouds was already abnormal.
At the entrance security booth, the guard looked up in shock. The cloud seemed tinged with dark red—like a demon cloud.
He took out his phone to record it—when footsteps suddenly reached his ears.
The crisp tap of high heels against concrete.
He turned toward the sound and saw—walking slowly through the night—a woman.
Black clothes, black dress… black lips, cold eyes.
The guard froze. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but a chill shot through him. In the next instant, she blurred—appearing right in front of him as though space didn’t exist.
“You—”
He didn’t even finish before his throat was seized, his body lifted off the ground by this terrifying beauty.
“You people… where did you take Piglet? Speak!!”
Her hair lifted as if stirred by invisible wind…
In the sky, the demon cloud instantly deepened into pure crimson.
(End of Chapter)
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