Hey! Control Yourself! - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Trembling

Before their departure, the mentor re-equipped them with upgraded light-brains.

“If necessary, we will pull you back,” he stated.

“What is the objective this time?” Royce asked.

“The Enigma gland you obtained last time possessed almost no mental energy. We hope you can acquire a new Enigma gene. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a gland; even a single strand of hair will do, but it must ideally come from a mental energy user.”

Royce voiced a concern: “We aren’t certain we can resist the deterrent pheromones of an Enigma mental energy expert. Ignoring Bruton’s pheromones last time was likely just a stroke of luck.”

The mentor produced three thin membranes. “These are our latest pheromone buffer patches. Applied to the gland, they can effectively block the influence of other pheromones, though they lose efficacy once the internal energy is depleted.”

Since Sha Mo was a Beta, he didn’t need one. The others applied their buffer patches.

“The goals remain the same as last time: understand the Gaya people’s apocalyptic survival strategies, obtain the Enigma gene, weaken the Federation’s strength, and protect yourselves. These four points.”

The Federation’s escort ships arrived at the scene almost simultaneously with them. Four individuals—roughly the same age as them—disembarked; it seemed these were actual students this time.

“Looks like the Federation has plenty of S-class users. They’re dropping in like dumplings, rushing to their deaths,” Lei Yi mocked.

Several pairs of eyes glared back. One person spat, “Don’t get cocky. You only succeeded because of a mental energy pistol.”

Lei Yi shrugged, tilting his head. “If you’re so capable, why don’t some of you go to Gaya and snatch one? No one’s stopping you…”

The hot-headed Federation students were ready to scrap with Lei Yi on the spot until their mentor’s voice thundered, “Get back!” Terrified, they beat a hasty retreat.

Gaya.

In a vast wilderness of jungle, countless birds took flight in panic.

“Wait, did we mess up the transition again?” Lei Yi spat out a mouthful of leaves.

“The year is…” Sha Mo checked his light-brain. “4218!”

“Last time we went to 4222. That means we’ve gone back four years.”

“Wait! Where’s Shen Ji?!” Lei Yi suddenly shouted.

Royce quickly opened the tracking system. It showed the distance between them and Shen Ji was… “Twenty thousand kilometers!”

On the other side.

Shen Ji stared at the dense forest and the biting cold, silently tapping his light-brain. According to the positioning, he was in the largest forest region of Gaya civilization, located in Country D. It was a remote area inhabited only by a few primitive villagers.

He trekked through the neglected woods, following the light-brain’s guidance. After roughly a hundred kilometers, he finally found a small tavern.

By the time he pushed open the ajar glass door and stepped into the dilapidated establishment, night had fallen. The interior was pitch black; he reached out and flicked on the light. He discovered the place had likely been closed for at least two days.

The bread on the tables had begun to mold, fruit wine had left stains across the surfaces, and two cold corpses lay on the floor. There were more bodies behind the bar, on the sofa, and near the refrigerator.

Shen Ji turned and opened the still-running fridge, finding a fruit juice-like beverage. The fridge door groaned as it closed automatically. After that, the world went silent, save for the sound of Shen Ji swallowing his drink.

He tossed the glass bottle into the wall-mounted trash chute and sat on a booth sofa. Because of the dip in the cushion when he sat down, the corpse of a middle-aged man nearby nearly slumped onto his shoulder. Shen Ji calmly reached out and pushed the man back.

Because of the cold weather, the bodies hadn’t started to smell. Is Gaya’s police system this incompetent? No one has come to collect the bodies.

Outside the window, the sky grew darker. The wind howled, whipping a bell decorated with a mermaid tail ornament back and forth. Shen Ji looked at the silver-blue mermaid tail; though small, it looked real. Even in the future interstellar era, mermaids were extremely rare. To think a tiny tavern would use a mermaid tail as a bell charm.

Mermaids… Sheng Lu…

He had walked for too long, and his narcolepsy was acting up again. It was that cursed time for sleep. In this boundless forest, where was he supposed to find Sheng Lu?

With that thought, Shen Ji closed his eyes.

He slept until noon the next day, the sun bringing a hint of warmth. He hadn’t slept comfortably. He picked up a newspaper from a table.

“Shaxing Leader Sheng Lu Predicts the Destruction of Seventeen Villages in the Kayat Forest. Country D Government Requests Support from the International Union to Evacuate Nearby Residents to Safety.”

Judging by the date, this was already a week old. According to The Sacred Path, there was indeed a period where Sheng Lu massacred civilian villages—men, women, young, and old, leaving no survivors. This was where the title “Demon” originated.

The newspaper included a map marking the distribution of villages in the Kayat Forest, all situated near the sea. The tavern Shen Ji was in sat on the outer edge of these villages.

Perhaps Sheng Lu was here.

Shen Ji stepped out of the tavern, looking up at the dark green sky. There were larger villages deeper in the forest. After crossing a stretch of low hills, suspended tracks and buildings finally emerged through the trees. Suspended rails curved around the woods, green buildings were built into the mountains, and high-altitude maglev buses were still running.

It appeared that within the Gaya civilization, this was a very wealthy village—one could even call it a small town. Now, however, this prosperous town was eerily quiet. Shen Ji pressed a button at a bus stop; a maglev bus drifted to a halt before him. When the doors opened, blood dripped down rhythmically.

Inside were only dead people—all drained of blood until they were shriveled husks. The interior was a sticky mess of gore. Shen Ji had seen this method of death before in the Twin Cities; a mental energy expert in Shaxing possessed this eerie ability.

There was no need to look further; this was already a ghost town. This meant Sheng Lu was definitely nearby.

Shen Ji followed the newspaper map toward the second village. Along the way, every inhabited area had been slaughtered. They hadn’t been dead long; some were still twitching in their final throes. Even the usually emotionless Shen Ji frowned as he stood in this world of interwoven green and crimson.

There, he saw more ornaments made of mermaid tails—a long string of them. He couldn’t count how many there were; they were strung together like kites, like ribbons in the sky, like celestial tracks, extending into the distance until they vanished from sight. Tails that once belonged to the beautiful deep sea were now hung to flutter in the wind.

As he walked, Shen Ji perceived that this massacre had shifted from revenge to pure, bloody bloodlust. It had started with using abilities to take lives in an instant; later, it became blades, knives, and hammers… like gutting fish.

They were like black ghosts, drifting between the trees and humans. Richly dressed men and women, and plump children raised on mermaid oil—all were slaughtered.

He followed the map to the last village. There, a hand reached out from the lush woods.

“Help! Save me…”

Shen Ji walked over and saw a boy trembling violently, his face pale with terror and his eyes vacant as he clutched Shen Ji’s hem. “Mom and Dad are dead! Big brother, save me! Mom and Dad were killed by the demon!”

Shen Ji saw no wounds on him; he must have survived by hiding in the woods. The boy pulled at him: “Please, save me! I’ll give you lots of money!”

Shen Ji knelt before him. “You have to tell me who wants to kill you.”

“The Great Demon! It’s… Sheng Lu! The mermaid race despised by God! He’s the greatest demon among the mermaids! They have no humanity; they killed my parents! They killed everyone!”

Shen Ji noticed a beautiful bottle pendant around the boy’s neck, containing something that looked like a gland. A child wearing a gland around his neck? Was this really just a child?

“What is this?” Shen Ji asked.

The boy suddenly clutched the bottle in his palm, backing away in panic. “I can’t give this to you! My parents left this for me!”

Shen Ji glanced at him, turned, and walked away. The boy followed, shaking like a leaf, his face ghostly. “Please, take me out of here.”

“Go call the police yourself.”

“They used abilities to jam the signals here; our messages can’t get out. Once you enter the great forest, you get lost. Outside support can’t find us. And he’s a demon—they even kill government people.”

Shen Ji felt no sympathy. This was a grudge between Sheng Lu and humanity, a hatred between mermaids and humans. “Then what makes you think I can take you out?”

“You’re an ability user. You can definitely take me out.”

Shen Ji ignored him. He released his mental energy to sense the surroundings; the Shaxing members were just ahead.

In the thunder-streaked night, he climbed to a high point and saw the dark silhouettes of Shaxing members and the blood-soaked town. In the instant lightning struck the earth, he saw Sheng Lu’s cold profile. He looked down at the humans crawling on the ground; the terrifying lightning was not even a third as fierce as the cruelty in his eyes.

Compared to the Sheng Lu from four years later, he seemed to be in a completely different state. Shen Ji hid behind the bushes. Given the current blood-frenzied state of Sheng Lu and Shaxing, going out now would likely just result in handing over an extra head.

The boy hid on the other side, watching all this. Seeing Shen Ji’s indifferent attitude, he suddenly burst out in anger: “Why don’t you kill them? Don’t you have mental energy abilities?”

Shen Ji looked up at the night sky above the forest. “I have no grudge against them. Whoever has a grudge should go kill them.”

“But… I’m just a child! Shouldn’t you protect me?”

His voice caught the attention of a Shaxing member. A hunched figure darted toward the boy. “There’s a little one we missed.”

The boy immediately lunged at Shen Ji. “Big brother, save me!”

Shen Ji reached out to block his lunging body. “Don’t claim relatives, you’re an orphan now…”

He immediately felt two sharp gazes on his back. Sheng Lu had looked over.

The hunchback said, “Looks like we missed two.”

“Wait, he’s the local. I’m just passing through,” Shen Ji clarified, trying to distance himself.

A pale, large palm suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“!” Shen Ji instinctively attacked. Mental energy sharpened within his body and pierced through that hand.

“You’re back…” An excited face appeared before him, starkly different from the fierce, numb Sheng Lu of a moment ago.

Hearing this, Shen Ji wondered why the guy acted like they were old friends everywhere they met.

Sheng Lu didn’t spare a glance for his injured hand. His hand bled, yet it continued to slide up Shen Ji’s forearm, completely unafraid of the pressure brought by his mental energy.

“Darling… you were looking for me too, weren’t you?” He still carried the scent of blood. Within his pomegranate-red pupils was the numbness of a fresh massacre, mixed with the frenzy of surprise.

It was as if the more he was hurt, the more excited he became. Shen Ji felt it wouldn’t be surprising if Sheng Lu actually swallowed him whole in the next second. He condensed his mental threads; if they moved another inch forward, Sheng Lu’s heart would be shredded into countless pieces.

“Yes, I’ve been looking for you.”

Those words caused Sheng Lu to suddenly burst into tears, crystal droplets wetting both sides of his face. It was as if something was overflowing from his heart. For the first time, Shen Ji saw an emotion a normal person should have: joy so great it led to tears.

However…

“You’ve misunderstood. I mean, I was looking for you because I want to kill you,” Shen Ji felt he should clarify.

Sheng Lu’s pupils froze. One second he was streaming tears, and the next he revealed a pathological smile. “Oh? Darling, is this a new game?”

“No, it’s for real. I have to kill you.”

D*mn it, he’s starting to tremble again.