Chapter 92
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Chapter 92: Parasite
The small team where Fresnel was stationed did not grasp the full picture. The orders from above were straightforward—no matter what transpired, defend the city.
They had never received such directives before, and since they were to defend the city, an attack was inevitable.
By whom? The humans from the outer city?
That made no sense.
With a sense of bewilderment, everyone took their positions.
It was early morning, and the outer city of Hope City was awakening from its slumber.
Standing on the city wall and gazing down, each person, like ants, was a vital component of this city.
They all emerged from their homes, heading to their respective work stations.
Everything felt so mundane, just like countless days and nights that had come before.
Meanwhile, in a house in the Eastern District, a man wore a pained expression as he spoke to his boss.
“Boss, I think I’m hallucinating.
“Last night as I was falling asleep, I felt like someone was whispering in my head.
“I didn’t think much of it then, but this morning, his voice grew louder, and the only problem is I can’t understand what he’s saying…”
Li Rui looked at his ordinary subordinate, unsure of what nonsense was being uttered.
“Must have taken the wrong medicine. Diagnosis complete.”
He waved his hand dismissively,
“Take a day off, okay? Lazy dog.”
Though he didn’t get what he wanted, there was still some gain.
The man nodded with a hint of fear and turned to leave Li Rui’s room.
One could say that every day for the gang members was repetitive and monotonous.
They enjoyed fighting, were carefree, and had no loyalty to the organization.
Any small profit would quickly make them abandon their nearly nonexistent allegiance and switch sides.
But Li Rui’s “Ash” was different.
Compared to the aimlessness of other similar groups, Li Rui made it clear from the start what he wanted to achieve:
He aimed to unify the entire underground world of the outer city, no matter how long it took.
This astonishing declaration made many once-confused delinquents feel a glimmer of hope.
However, due to their limited thinking abilities, they could not comprehend why Li Rui aimed to do this.
But it didn’t matter; at least he had a clear purpose compared to those who only sought to amass wealth, right?
So, over some time, the members of Ash showed great enthusiasm for the gang’s conflicts.
After witnessing that mysterious person take all their captives, they even believed their boss had some connections in the inner city, and their loyalty soared dramatically.
Now these guys have even started waking up early!
Although it was just to take leave in the early morning, at least they were getting up early, right?
As Li Rui marveled at how easy it was to fool these simple-minded people, another subordinate walked in, looking as if he had lost a loved one.
"Boss, you might not believe this, but this morning after I woke up… I couldn’t feel my right hand."
Li Rui frowned again upon hearing this. What kind of problem was this?
Though he was not pleased, the man’s symptoms reminded him of his own experiences over the past few years, and he felt a twinge of sympathy.
"Come here and let me take a look."
He said as gently as he could.
Seeing the burly figure of his boss, the subordinate, unable to move his arm, quickly approached and leaned his right side toward Li Rui.
"Slap!"
To everyone’s surprise, the right arm that had lost control seemed to be infused with some kind of energy and suddenly shot up, hitting Li Rui squarely in the face.
In that moment, Li Rui, his subordinate, and El, who was just walking in from outside, were all stunned.
The next second, the poor man said in a voice almost choked with tears,
"Boss, that wasn’t me!"
Li Rui, who usually had a calm temperament, felt a flicker of anger rise:
"The hand is attached to your body, and you say it isn’t you?!"
Just as he was about to push the man away, the mischievous right hand came at him again.
This time, the hand moved noticeably faster and grabbed Li Rui by the neck.
The sudden change left Li Rui momentarily stunned, forgetting to resist, as the muscles and veins in the arm bulged grotesquely, and the skin began to flush.
With an extraordinary strength in that arm, Li Rui felt he was running out of breath.
Meanwhile, the original owner of the arm was trying to move his right fingers with his other hand.
After several fruitless attempts, he even considered using his foot to help.
At that moment, El, who rushed in just in time, extended a hand, and together, they managed to pull the arm away from Li Rui’s neck.
Like an enraged beast, the uncontrolled arm instinctively redirected its attack toward El but hesitated for a moment before slowly dropping back to its original limp state.
Li Rui covered his neck and stood up from the ground, where deep crimson marks from the grip were slowly recovering due to his decent healing ability.
Meanwhile, the confused subordinate had already been restrained by others.
But…
El looked at the Ash members who helped restrain their frenzied companion:
"What’s wrong with your legs?"
The leading man scratched his head, saying,
"Maybe we twisted them a couple of days ago; they feel a bit sore and numb."
The others nodded in agreement, exchanging worried glances.
With symptoms so consistent, it was nearly impossible that they were due to external injury.
El and Li Rui quickly sensed something was wrong. After a silent exchange of glances, Li Rui, the visible leader, gathered all the members and began to ask each one about their symptoms.
When he asked, they discovered nearly everyone had some sort of issue.
Some felt like someone was talking in their heads, some had numbness in their limbs and difficulty controlling them, and others had been experiencing gastrointestinal turmoil since morning.
Had they done anything together in the past two days?
El’s mind raced; aside from having a group fight, there seemed to be no other group activities.
But…
He suddenly remembered Zhuang Mian, who had come to investigate the situation a few hours ago.
"Nutritional paste!"
El realized a blind spot he had never noticed before.
That stuff could be problematic.
He quickly got up and left the room where everyone was gathered, heading outside.
He planned to use a public phone to contact Zhuang Mian with the previously agreed-upon code.
Just then, the one-way communicator in the hidden pocket of his clothes vibrated again.
He swiftly answered the signal, only to hear another voice on the other end:
"[The Fire Thief], how long have you been consuming the batch of nutritional paste you obtained? How much is left? Have there been any adverse reactions?"
