Lord of Prayer

Chapter 39: Chapter 35: Shattered Happiness

“Ah, I remember now. You’re the guy from the lottery station. Enjoying that three hundred thousand?” the cavalier man on the other end of the line asked with a laugh.

“I-It’s great. I bought new clothes, paid off my loans, and sent a lot of money to my parents… Thank you. I’m so, so grateful,” Li Guangjun said with a sheepish laugh, expressing his heartfelt thanks.

“So, why are you calling me?”

“Are you an Ascender?” Li Guangjun asked cautiously.

“I am.” The man didn’t hide it at all.

“Then… then why did you notice me back then?” Li Guangjun’s voice was filled with confusion. He knew his own worth—he was just an ordinary man who had accomplished nothing.

“It was just a whim. You looked pretty pathetic, so I thought I’d help you out,” the man answered truthfully.

“But you left me your contact information…” When Li Guangjun got nervous, he would start to stammer. “W-What do you really want?”

“Hmm… To be honest with you, I was planning on cultivating an agent. You barely met some of my requirements, but I have a better candidate now, so…”

“W-Wait, please wait!” Li Guangjun didn’t want to let this opportunity go, so he said hurriedly, “I can definitely still do something for you!”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line before the man suddenly started laughing. “You’re the one who said it, Li Guangjun. Are you sure you want to work for me?”

Li Guangjun suddenly chickened out. He asked in a small voice, “Will it be dangerous?”

“Of course not.”

The man said with a laugh, “Not only will there be no danger, but there will also be many benefits. Everything you desire can be realized through me. Of course, this all comes at a price. You’ll need to obey my orders and work for me.”

Tempted by such alluring conditions, Li Guangjun agreed to work for the man.

The very next day, something miraculous happened.

The hot-tempered department head sought him out, his face all kindness, and told him he was getting a promotion and a raise. Li Guangjun was promoted to team leader, then to deputy department head a week later. Before long, he was promoted again and became the department head.

After that, his good fortune continued. First, he closed a million-dollar deal and was recognized and promoted by his boss, becoming the boss’s Secretary. During this time, he also met a female colleague at work. They hit it off and would talk late into the night every day.

His heart, which had been still for over thirty years, now rippled with emotion.

It was the feeling of being in love.

Her name was Zhou Yi. She was a cute young woman, twenty-three years old and more than ten years his junior, so she called him “Uncle.”

“Uncle, you need to shave your beard.”

“Uncle, what are we having for lunch today?”

“Uncle, why are you smoking again? It’s bad for you.”

“Uncle, y-y-you… you really quit smoking?”

“Uncle, there was so much work today. I’m so tired my shoulders are aching. Quick, give them a rub.”

“Uncle, let’s have hotpot tonight…”

She was playful but not pretentious, kind and optimistic. She was like a warm ray of sunshine that pierced through his gloomy heart. For the first time in over thirty bland and tasteless years, his soul tasted the unforgettable sweetness of love.

Li Guangjun was determined to change himself. He started sleeping early and waking up early, eating a balanced diet, and exercising. He read every day to broaden his horizons and spent half an hour talking to himself in the mirror to improve his social anxiety.

After half a year, he seemed like a different person. He went from being introverted and reserved to open and talkative. His relationship with Zhou Yi heated up quickly, and they entered the honeymoon phase, stuck to each other’s side all day long, never wanting to be apart.

He loved Zhou Yi, loved everything about her. He loved feeling the evening breeze by the river with her, strolling across the great bridge together, eating Old Chuandu hotpot together, watching the sunset from the suspended monorail together…

Li Guangjun felt this was the happiest time of his life. He hoped with all his heart that these days could last forever.

But things did not go as he wished.

Over the course of a year, Li Guangjun did many things for the man and received many rewards. He also learned that there was a mysterious and powerful organization behind him.

But he no longer wanted any part of it, nor did he want to get any deeper. He just wanted to live a quiet life with Zhou Yi.

Until one night, not long ago, when the mysterious man contacted him and told him to kill someone.

“Kill someone? You must be joking…” Li Guangjun shook his head, thinking the man was teasing him.

“I’m not joking.” The man’s voice became stern and low. “Li Guangjun, don’t forget who gave you everything you have. You said you would work for me. You don’t have the right to refuse.”

“But that doesn’t include murder!” Li Guangjun said. “You told me working for you wouldn’t be dangerous.”

“You won’t be in any danger if you kill him. Are you going or not?”

“N-no… M-murder…” Li Guangjun was, after all, an ordinary person. He simply couldn’t do something so cruel. He began to beg humbly, “Please, I’m begging you, I really can’t do something like that… Let me do something else. I promise I’ll complete the task!”

“…”

A long silence came from the other end of the line, followed by a cold sneer before the call was disconnected.

Zhou Chen knew exactly what that cold sneer meant.

’You’ve failed the test.’

’So, take all your secrets to Hell!’

In fact, Li Guangjun wasn’t an idiot. When he vaguely sensed something was wrong, his first instinct was to call the police. But he had only half-dialed the number when an excruciating pain erupted from the depths of his heart.

Maddening whispers raged like a storm in his mind. An uncontrollable, violent killing intent surged within him, and the string of his sanity snapped in an instant.

An evil monster devoured the man and was born from his shell.

Its first target was Zhou Yi, who was under the same roof.

“Uncle? Uncle, what’s wrong? Uncle…”

The maddened Li Guangjun couldn’t hear a word. In its eyes, his once beloved girlfriend had now become delicious… food.

It lunged, and the sound of tearing flesh and blood followed.

Zhou Chen closed his eyes, unable to watch any longer.

After a long time, Li Guangjun stopped in a daze. He stared in disbelief at the hellish scene before him and broke down in despair:

“What have I done… What have I done…”

All his happiness and his beautiful future were shattered in that single moment.

·

Zhou Chen opened his eyes, waking from the vision. It seemed only a few seconds had passed.

Li Guangjun was dead on the bed.

The writhing blanket of flesh and blood quickly decayed to a grayish-white, losing all vitality. The rats created by the fleshy incubator all died, but the maggots, flies, and cockroaches still swarmed around the room.

“Jiang Che, I just saw…”

“It’s Essence entanglement.”

Before Zhou Chen could continue, Jiang Che explained, “The camera is a special Alchemy Creation. It captured the dispersing Essence, and after processing and conversion, it allowed us to see the images as well.

For you, your Essence had a brief entanglement reaction with Li Guangjun’s dispersing Essence after his death, which allowed you to passively read his life’s record.

You can just chalk it up to having high spiritual perception.

Also, thanks to that contaminated Essence, you’ve been infected with a corrupting tendency. It’s not a big deal, though. You should self-heal in a few hours.”

“That’s good…” Zhou Chen had no desire to be captured and quarantined by the Star Association.

He stood there, looking at the bodies of Li Guangjun and Zhou Yi, silent for a long time, his heart inexpressibly heavy.

“Time to go,” Jiang Che reminded him.

The Corrupter fluctuations here had reached a level that could be detected by the Star Association’s systems. Zhou Chen needed to leave as soon as possible.

Just then, a synthesized, electronic voice spoke from a corner of the room.

“Congratulations, Zhou Chen. You have passed the test. From now on, you are one of us.”

“I hope you won’t betray the organization. After all, traitors don’t tend to meet good ends, as you’ve just witnessed.”