Chapter 9: Roll King Yuan Zhu, Delivering His Head From Miles Away
“I’m back, all back.”
Once the [Boss Template] was hidden, the human side fully took the upper hand.
Just by seeing everyday familiar items with the naked eye and doing some simple thinking, a massive amount of related information would automatically trigger deep in his brain, even forcing his thoughts to diverge, conducting a brainstorming session, combining more knowledge and perspectives to re-digest and absorb this information.
The more associations, the more related knowledge it triggered. Then it set off a chain reaction, unleashing an avalanche of knowledge inside his skull!
At this moment, Yuan Zhu felt an unprecedented sense of power. Not physical strength, but the power of his brain, thinking reactions, comprehension, and fusion of knowledge!
As expected of the ‘three-core integrated’ soul processor, forcing mental overclocking and transforming into a super genius. Every minute and second engaged in high school student mock exam-level [pig brain overload computation].
Memory fragments and knowledge fragments from his predecessor’s lifetime were all drawn to Yuan Zhu’s soul, surging toward it like moths to a flame, re-understood and absorbed according to his Earthling three views and thought patterns, turning into his own knowledge and common sense.
In other words, it shattered the worldview, outlook on life, and values that his predecessor had built over 18 years into tiny knowledge points, then re-infused and reshaped them according to Yuan Zhu’s current Earthling mold, becoming a new Yuan Zhu.
…Just like what the [Great Desolation Immortal Scripture] originally wanted to do to him.
“With these knowledge points and life common sense, you’re becoming more and more like a native.” The game sprite felt gratified by Yuan Zhu’s changes as well.
Yuan Zhu pressed his temples with one hand to soothe the excruciating pain in his head; while recalling and sorting out his situation: “I remember now, today is the weekend. I’m a part-time employee at the Fire Fang Cleaning Company. For the high remuneration, I took on a suburban order alone involving the outskirts.”
“I came here with main duties to maintain and trim the lawn, fertilize the garden, and clear out the rampant rabbits and mice in the nearby woods. I arrived at 9 a.m., had a luxurious all-meat feast at noon, and then nothing in the afternoon?”
As Yuan Zhu recalled his identity and background, the Fire Fang company information immediately decompressed in his mind and displayed.
Although Fire Fang claimed outwardly to be a cleaning company, Yuan Zhu was not just a cleaner or sanitation worker doing dirty jobs. Fire Fang’s employees should strictly be called scavengers.
Besides providing basic cleaning services to rich people and great nobles on a daily basis, they more often provided shady services to the upper class, such as helping rich people clean up servants, lovers, enemies… etc., who died unexpectedly, to maintain decency.
In addition, Fire Fang’s business was extensive, involving black market fencing stolen goods + corpse destruction, professionally cleaning up traces from gang fight scenes and murder scenes, with expertise in recovering corpses and clearing bloodstains.
Besides these businesses, the company was even more famous citywide for its complex and complete ‘professional exorcism rituals, haunted house consecrations, ghost capturing and shock recovery.’ It had cooperative relationships with multiple religious institutions in the city and official recognition from the city government, making it a well-known ‘model exorcism company.’
Finally, Fire Fang had a gray pillar industry: exterminating ‘pests,’ often bundled with exorcism packages and forced on clients. Hunting range from cockroaches, fleas, bedbugs; to goblins already rampant in sewers, underground caves, and tunnels; up to earthbound spirits, evil spirits, vengeful spirits—nothing they couldn’t handle.
Among them, goblin hunting was the most profitable job. Though a bit dangerous, goblin corpses had seen steadily rising market prices in recent years. It was said that several big pharmaceutical companies had successfully developed ‘large-scale, low-cost, high-efficiency pharmaceutical technology to extract [Longevity Biomass] from pseudo-intelligent life forms.’
This technology had actually existed in earlier years and was praised by the rich. But it wasn’t mature enough, with too high a threshold, only producible in small quantities in laboratories. Plus, the ‘drug’ raw materials involved intelligent beings, once causing widespread negative public opinion.
If traced back over three hundred years to ancient times, the Xi State royalty in the distant east, in the process of outwitting alien magic races, had first introduced the classical external alchemy method using overseas immortal mountain Qi refiners as raw materials, freshly squeezing Elf to refine ‘longevity spirit medicine.’
Nowadays, after over three hundred years of adaptation and generations of reproduction, Elves, Orcs, Dwarves… had gradually integrated into various parts of Du Ling Star, no longer hated and viewed as enemies as ‘aliens,’ but treated as ‘intelligent species minority ethnic groups’ and racially discriminated against.
Racial equality and harmonious coexistence were the correct public opinion; no big company dared to massively harm them against the tide.
Especially the Elf, with the highest appearance and generally long lifespans, plus low racial fertility, who were first recognized and accepted by native humans two hundred years ago. After all, in that era, the only highest-value supernatural system (magic) was mastered by the Elf.
Although the magic system has now completely declined, the Elves had long transformed, accumulating enough capital to mix into human society, holding key positions with mutual cooperation and benefit binding, deeply integrating into human internals, hard to separate.
After the Elves, it took a century of reproduction over generations, extensive intermarriage and mixing with native humans, fully adapting to the Du Ling Star environment, becoming indistinguishable ‘Crystal Wall Human Race.’
For this group whose bloodline origins were completely different but appearances and living habits not much different from ‘Crystal Wall humans,’ native humans had no good countermeasures. After all, though biological origins differed, there was strangely no reproductive isolation, which was heaven-defying.
Over several centuries, the Crystal Wall Human Race had learned local Du Ling languages and scripts, fully changed living customs, integrating very smoothly. They even established nations on the New Continent with ‘Crystal Wall humans’ as the main ethnic group. Native humans weren’t monolithic and could only reluctantly accept it.
Crystal Wall humans, no matter how bad, were better than Dwarves and Orcs, right? At least they matched in style, barely acceptable.
After fully localized humans, the third race globally recognized by major nations was the Dwarf Race, about 150 years ago.
Compared to humans and Elves who actively integrated into Du Ling, the crossing Dwarves were few in number and very low-key. They proactively avoided conflicts with humans, wandering world regions, either digging caves in mountains or mining underground, then trading with humans using magic-side metallurgy technology.
Over time, humans sensed their goodwill, plus Elves and Crystal Wall humans had successively reached reconciliation, so Dwarves became the third intelligent race recognized by native humans, enjoying the same rights.
As for the other famous magic world race: [Orcs]. Due to ugly appearances and barbaric, brutal civilized habits, they were never accepted or recognized by Du Ling human race.
Instead, over the past centuries, they faced continuous hunting, captivity, enslavement, designated reserves, internal division and checks, selecting the strong to sell to farms, plantations, factories… Except no scalping, basically everything was done.
Orcs’ emergence greatly eased contradictions among different races within humans and made indelible contributions to alliances between humans and other magic races.
Ever since there were top-tier three, Orcs who could work harder than large livestock, the originally not-yet-popular black trade completely cooled off. Internal racial discrimination in Du Ling human race was paused, even discrimination between Du Ling human race and Crystal Wall human race was overshadowed by Orc racial conflicts.
After all, this thing really didn’t look human at all! Together with blue-skinned Ogres and green-skinned Trolls, they were known as the beast three brothers. Must discriminate against it harshly!
Even so, the Orc race shouting “Kings, generals, do they have noble birth? Orcs will never be slaves!” gradually awakened racial consciousness under certain people’s guidance over the past century, erupting in several racial movements of increasing scale and fervor, ultimately striving for equal rights as ‘intelligent species.’
Now, the only population with massive scale on Du Ling Star not classified as intelligent species, nominally not treated as ‘people,’ were the goblins rampant globally like cockroaches and rats.
Du Ling Star’s goblins weren’t the goblin cartels from Warcraft mastering goblin engineering, doing business and selling arms everywhere.
This planet’s goblins were barbaric, backward, low-intelligence, unsanitary, with reproduction ability as strong as rats, more like goblins who imprison female adventurers in caves.
…
This manor in front had long-term and large ‘goblin orders’ demand from Fire Fang. Company employees came to deliver once every one to two weeks on average, with scavengers arranged the next day to clean the site.
Both sides maintained tacit understanding; whenever fresh goblins were harvested, they were washed clean and disinfected in advance. So even part-timer Yuan Zhu knew this manor’s luxury, thus proactively grabbing this order today to secretly transport a batch of ‘goblin express delivery,’ easily and enjoyably earning a sum.
Plus routine lawn maintenance, garden care, rat and rabbit extermination… another wages + tip. And every visit, the owner provided meals, unlimited big fish and meat—simply delightful!
One day’s earnings here exceeded what an ordinary worker family made in a week.
Looking back now, where in the world are there so many bargains to pick up?
Why did he join Fire Fang? Because Youngster Yuan Zhu was inherently an ambitious striver with strong drive. Ambitious, craving success, wealth, power, and even more so power!
He wasn’t satisfied with high school, this extremely valuable qualification. Du Ling differed from Earth; productivity stalled at Earth’s late first industrial revolution, not entering the second, yet supplemented by various deities and supernatural powers, even surpassing Earth in some fields.
In such a world with relatively backward productivity, educational resources were scarce. High school qualification was equivalent to an Earth university bachelor’s, and a key university at that.
Yuan Zhu having this qualification embodied his overachiever personality. Not only did he complete high school as a bottom-level commoner, but he also worked and saved to support his younger brother through middle school.
Additionally, at a steam factory producing lighting fixtures, he part-timed as technician, maintenance engineer, and warehouse keeper simultaneously, taking only 1.5 times wages, and even proofread the boss’s accounts for free.
Besides this main job, he part-timed in underground black boxing at an abandoned warehouse nearby. Though losses outnumbered wins, the organizer was rule-abiding, referee skills top-notch, at worst bruised face and broken ribs, no risk of severe injury or disability.
Such an overachiever naturally wouldn’t settle for the status quo. On the contrary, Yuan Zhu always seized one opportunity after another, seeking chances to rise and advance in this era of rigid class solidification.
After much searching, Fire Fang Cleaning Company caught his eye. It was a low-class, low-prestige company, always dealing with bottom-level commoners and the underground black market.
The work was all dirty and tiring: collecting corpses, cleaning murder scenes, goblin hunting in sewers, cockroach and rat extermination… Though low prestige, it allowed contact with circles beyond ordinary people.
For example, the famous exorcism and evil expulsion services really involved cleaning and eliminating the weakest anomaly pollution. Also intersected with temples, Daoist temples, churches, allowing contact with those mastering supernatural powers.
Coincidentally, Fire Fang wasn’t a stable, easy company; employees often got seriously injured and quit voluntarily, or simply vanished. So the company frequently recruited externally, and Yuan Zhu wanted to contact higher circles, so they hit it off.
And then… he was indeed too naive.
Really thought orders that were easy work with big money were so easy to grab? In the end, not only did he deliver the goblins, he successfully delivered himself too!
…
In his mind, Yuan Zhu connected all the past events, clues, and oddities in a chain, finally realizing he wasn’t unexpectedly caught in this tragedy.
There was destiny in the dark; his restlessness with the status quo, craving wealth and opportunities, led him to join Fire Fang, aiming to easily earn several days’ wages, coming to this manor and losing his head. Somewhat seeking hammer and getting hammered.
While linking this information, he also toured this manor, discovering many past sacrifice traces and large numbers of specially made goblin mummy specimens.
The manor owner had a wicked hobby, secretly doing live sacrifices and treating goblin sacrifices and torment as entertainment. Afterward, with a sense of achievement, making goblin sacrifice specimens for display in the exhibition hall to show off to friends.
Probably this pathological pursuit led to increasing spiritual emptiness, so sacrifices escalated, expanding prey to his own kind.
Yuan Zhu had caught a good time.
If he delivered a week earlier, he would have retreated unscathed. If a week later… this delivery employee would inevitably vanish unexpectedly, but next time it was his turn, the secrets here might not be exposed.
This group of believers played off completely thanks to the [Immortal Scripture]. Without ‘mutated spiritual root’ or Boss Template, whoever came would die, and as long as money was paid, Fire Fang would even actively cover up, providing top cleaning services.
Then all sins would be covered; please next lucky delivery youngster to come deliver head.
“Damn, this world is so dark! Brother Zhuzi, such a motivational, hardworking inner volume striver, ended up striving away his own head?”
Yuan Zhu felt full of regret and indignation for his predecessor’s fate. Why, why does effort = delivery? As long as you can endure hardship, there are endless heads to deliver?
“This is the price for class leap. To contact supernatural power, naturally need awareness to pay the price. Ha, collect all these; at least proves this manor’s owner is a habitual offender. His invited friends all have black history.”
The game sprite began instructing Yuan Zhu how to organize the information in hand, and which places to pry open cabinets to find valuable and easy-to-hide treasures…
Soon, Yuan Zhu found a parchment full of names in a hidden compartment in the study, but couldn’t see it clearly, understand, or read it.
Unlike other information, the game sprite clearly sensed residual ‘pollution traces’ on the parchment scroll; it was a list imbued with power, providing secrecy, binding, and counter-curse multiple effects.
“Good stuff, preserve it quickly, hand it to Uncle Police later!”
While digging out this parchment, Yuan Zhu found another piece of information, finally understanding the identity of this sacrifice ritual’s organizer.
It was an amateur organization called White Feather Wish Association; the manor owner was the deputy cult leader, providing sacrifice venue and responsible for purchasing sacrifices. The cult leader mastered mysticism knowledge, knew sacrifice and prayer techniques to unspecified targets (deities), and evaded their attention.
This [Wish Association] didn’t worship any one real and specific target. Once the sacrifice object was set, a connection formed, and afterward could only serve that one lord.
White Feather Wish Association’s goal was uncertain sacrifices, frequently and massively randomly calling evil god attention, while hiding themselves, randomly completing one-time transactions with strangers.
The [Wish Association] used this ‘no-responsibility sacrifice method’ to attract many like-minded people who didn’t want believer duties but wanted benefits.
Then heavily collected membership fees, randomly seducing evil god descent, emphasizing random luck, with touching success probability. But cult leader and deputy cult leader both profited.
As time passed, members realized success rate too low, fees too expensive. Though no deity responsibility, still a loss.
Thus, the deputy cult leader, long dissatisfied with abusing goblins, decided to upgrade sacrifice specs, targeting humans. This both raised evil god ‘draw’ probability and satisfied his own perverse needs.
Seeking votes, seeking recommendations, seeking follow-up reading…
