"Finally out..."
At the northern border of Beixing, several figures in trench coats pulled back their hoods, revealing youthful faces.
"Fortunately, the official forces stationed here aren't many, otherwise getting across the border would probably be difficult."
"Right. After all, we escaped from the academy. The authorities must be taking it very seriously and are investigating everywhere."
"It might also be related to many border guards being redeployed. I saw online that Suroma and Beixing have both been frequently mobilizing troops recently."
As they spoke, they noticed one person remained silent and asked him.
"Lu Cheng, what's wrong with you?"
"Exactly, you haven't said a word since leaving the academy. Are you regretting it already?"
"You couldn't possibly not know the consequences of being discovered by the academy as spore addicts!"
Facing their gazes, Lu Cheng remained silent.
He knew the consequences of being discovered, which was why he decided to escape the academy with several fellow addicts.
It was just that thinking about all his past efforts going to waste inevitably gave him a feeling of being worlds apart from his forr self.
He had studied so diligently before, dreaming of graduating with excellent grades, getting assigned to a good departnt, and later learning he had a chance to be assigned to the Counterasures Research Office...
Lu Cheng's heart sank, and he couldn't help but feel so resentnt towards Dean Zhou Qinfeng.
If Zhou Qinfeng hadn't told him about the Counterasures Research Office assignnt, perhaps he could have reined himself in at the precipice, sought help in ti, and wouldn't have fallen to this point.
But now it was too late for anything. He was already a spore addict, so severe he couldn't pretend to attend classes like a normal person.
Staying at the academy any longer would definitely lead to exposure. He could only flee.
"Forget it, ignore him. He probably can't accept reality yet, still thinking he's the academy's top student!"
"Once we reach Seli Divine Nation, isn't that better than being any top student? No matter how top you are, facing the Doomsday Rules, you can only wait for death! The Divine Nation is different. If we can go to the Mother Planet, we won't have to suffer the Fire Thief's tornt at all."
"Absolutely right!"
The group enthusiastically discussed topics about Seli Divine Nation and the Spore Mother Planet.
They believed the official rhetoric about spores and parasitized forms was deliberate demonization, slander derived from a backward society's fear of an advanced society.
Yes, in their view, human society was the backward one.
And spore society, with everyone gathered together peacefully and happily before magnificent palaces, that dreamlike scene was what an advanced society should be.
What they needed to do now was escape this backwardness and head to Seli Divine Nation, that advanced place.
And hope that one day they could leave Tianshui Star for that Spore Mother Planet with countless magnificent, splendid palaces, thereby escaping the rule-nightmare created by the Fire Thief and obtaining true liberation.
Lu Cheng was different from them.
He knew he was consciously falling.
He wouldn't beautify himself. He knew he was just an addict with weak willpower who took the wrong path.
He also didn't believe that Seli Divine Nation was so utopia or promised land. He was going there not on a pilgrimage, but simply to obtain more spores, nothing more.
So he fundantally couldn't see eye to eye with these other fanatics.
Now the group started talking about Beixing and Suroma mobilizing troops again, their expressions full of disdain.
"Just overestimating themselves. How could a re Divine Nation be destroyed by these ordinary mortals?"
"If they really send a large army over, they'll only bring humiliation upon themselves!"
"The advanced will definitely defeat the backward and barbaric. Let's just watch."
Not even at Seli Divine Nation yet, they already considered themselves its citizens. Lu Cheng had nothing to say to them. Tornted by spore addiction, his whole body ached unbearably. He just wanted to hurry on his way and started walking without a word.
His haughty, dismissive attitude completely enraged the group. They ran a few steps to catch up and surrounded him.
"Lu Cheng, still putting on that academy air?"
"You're not planning to be a spy in the Divine Nation, are you!"
Lu Cheng looked at them. Initially, his eyes showed anger, but slowly his gaze beca sowhat strange and craving.
This was the first ti he spoke to them since leaving the academy.
"How could I forget... so of you are more severely addicted than . It's been ten days since the rule ended. Not thinking about obtaining spores, yet still having the mind to chat... soone among you must already be a parasitized form...?"
This sounded less like speaking to them and more like talking to himself.
Hearing this, so of their expressions changed slightly, as if Lu Cheng had hit the mark.
The next mont, blood sprayed.
"Pfft!"
One person clutched his neck, kneeling on the ground in disbelief.
The others were also stunned, not expecting Lu Cheng to attack without warning, and to kill!
"There must be a parasitized form among you... that's right..." Lu Cheng gripped a Mind Power item blade in his hand, his face fierce, "Instead of seeking far, I might as well get so spores from you first!"
"St-stop!"
"Lu Cheng, are you crazy?!"
"Ah!!!"
The screams mixed with the sll of blood only lasted a mont before quieting down.
Only a few corpses remained lying on the ground.
And Lu Cheng, squatting down, making a snorting/inhaling motion.
Not long after, Lu Cheng stood up, looking satisfied.
His judgnt wasn't wrong. Among these people, there indeed was a parasitized form. Absorbing the spores from the parasitized form finally gave him so relief from the addiction symptoms tornting him these days, pulling him back from the brink of collapse.
"Ugh... ugh!"
Regaining his senses, Lu Cheng looked at the grueso corpses on the ground and couldn't help but retch a few tis.
But he quickly stopped, his eyes turning cold.
These guys brought it upon themselves.
Since they rembered he was a top academy student, they should also have rembered that a top academy student's combat power far exceeds that of ordinary students.
Knowing the gap yet still provoking him, they already had a death wish.
"Although I've temporarily relieved it a bit, the symptoms will definitely reappear in a few days... I need to reach Black Flag Country's territory quickly. Only there are there inexhaustible spores."
Lu Cheng quickly tidied up and continued towards his destination.
...
Upon arriving in Sakura Prayer Country, Guan Tong could see many Beixing soldiers and armored vehicles on the streets and alleys.
Probably since the Yuzawa Family's destruction, the chain of people implicated was far too many, so many that after throwing all those people into prison, Sakura Prayer Country's entire administrative apparatus had reached a point where it couldn't function properly.
Moreover, Sakura Prayer Country's parasitized form problem was equally severe. Even though so left imdiately for the newly established "Seli Divine Nation" upon hearing the news, many still remained behind.
These factors combined had brought Sakura Prayer Country as a nation to the edge of a cliff.
One more step forward, and this country would follow in the footsteps of most nations on Tianshui Star. That is, the political system would dissolve, and the remaining citizens would all beco refugees joining other countries.
According to the Human Consortium's principle of nearest reception, if this situation occurred, these refugees would undoubtedly be received by Beixing, becoming new Beixing citizens.
However, judging from Beixing's current practice of sealing its borders, the decision-makers didn't want this outco.
Logically, gaining many additional people should be sothing every country desperately wanted in this era.
Guan Tong speculated that the reason was there were too many parasitized forms mixed among Sakura Prayer Country's population. If Beixing accepted them, it would be like eating a chocolate containing poison pills. The disadvantages might outweigh the benefits.
He t Uenoshi at the forr Basong's estate, which the two currently used as a temporary base for their small organization.
As soon as they t, Uenoshi first told him so news.
"Three days ago, Sakura Prayer Country entered a state of martial law. The troops enforcing it were a unit transferred from Beixing."
"Mm, I saw them when I entered the city. That's normal, right? Sakura Prayer Country's military was basically controlled by the Yuzawa Family. They can't be allowed to hold power again."
Uenoshi nodded: "After the evidence was exposed and a large number of relevant personnel were arrested, Sakura Prayer Country's military was disbanded. Now only the Peace Office remains, and the Headquarters Director has been replaced by Suzuki's forr superior, soone nad Yoshino."
"Also, Suzuki was promoted to Head of the Physical Evidence Division... I think this might be related to you."
"Related to ?"
"Since Beixing knows the whole story, they'd naturally lean towards letting people connected to you hold power. And Suzuki contributed as part of the investigation team before. This is also a kind of repaynt."
"Hmm... Did she tell you what she wants to talk to
about?" Guan Tong asked.
Uenoshi shook her head: "No."
"Forget it, I'll find out when we et this afternoon."
"Guan Tong, if she's a parasitized form, what will you do?"
"Eliminate." Guan Tong didn't hesitate, "Parasitized forms are no longer human. They're just monsters retaining the host's mories. This was decided the mont they attacked humans."
Guan Tong believed the parasitized forms displaying aggression towards humans was absolutely the worst misstep.
If parasitized forms could appear, or pretend to appear, peaceful and coexistent with humans, they might have been able to lull humans into a false sense of security, even cultivate so "human traitors."
But when parasitized forms attacked humans for refusing to transform, any human with a normal brain would never consider coexisting with such monsters.
Humans won't stop until parasitized forms are completely eliminated from this planet.
Hearing this, Uenoshi seed to relax slightly.
Noticing this, Guan Tong asked curiously, "Did you think I would have other options?"
"Yes. I was indeed a bit worried you might go soft because you worked with her before."
"...You must know that the mont soone becos a parasitized form, the original host is already dead. Eliminating it in that situation isn't heartless. On the contrary, it's avenging the host."
"If I were a parasitized form taken over by spores, and I knew about it from the underworld, I would definitely thank the person who could destroy the monster occupying my body."
Uenoshi: "I agree."
Guan Tong looked at her face, his gaze falling on the scales on her chin.
"Starting to spread upward again?"
Noticing Guan Tong's gaze, Uenoshi raised her hand to touch her chin: "The scales hadn't grown for a long ti. But after Yuzawa Jun died, they started growing again, and very quickly."
"...So manifestations of your bloodline abilities are very similar. Could there be so unknown connection?"
"I think so too, which is why I want to get so confidential materials the Yuzawa Family had. There might be related records among them."
"Those materials should have all been confiscated. Beixing's relevant departnts would definitely have backups." Guan Tong thought for a mont, "I'll contact people from the Counterasures Research Office later, see if I can get a copy for you."
"Thank you very much."
"Since we're both part of the sa organization, helping each other is only natural. No need for thanks."
Hearing Guan Tong say this, Uenoshi asked, "This organization... have you thought of a na for it yet?"
"Not yet. Do you have a suggestion?"
"You're the founder. You should choose a na related to you and the organization's goals."
Guan Tong pondered for a mont: "Life is like a journey against the current; we are all travelers hurrying along. Since the end of the path we've chosen is the truth, let the organization be called 'Trace Origin Travel Troupe.'"
"Trace Origin Travel Troupe."
"What?"
"Nothing. I thought you'd choose sothing like 'Shadow Corps,' a na more fitting to you personally."
Guan Tong was speechless: "Establishing an organization is to find like-minded people, not to find bodyguards for myself. What you said is too absurd."
Uenoshi was clearly joking, then beca serious: "From today onward, I am a mber of the Trace Origin Travel Troupe. Please guide
well from now on, Troupe Leader."
"Troupe Leader... that's acceptable." Guan Tong accepted it, "Alright, let's work hard together from now on."
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