VAP - Chapter 159
Chapter 159: The Intersection of Illusion and Reality (24)
The plan wouldn't have been put into action so quickly, but not long after it was decided, a team of hunters happened to wander into their nest.
Naturally, the Scarlet Beasts wouldn't pass up such an opportunity. They trapped every last one of them without breaking a sweat.
And so, these hunters who walked right into their grasp became the first batch of test subjects.
Quite a few high-level Scarlet Beasts were involved in the plan, but only one took on the task of creating the mixed-blood offspring itself. It had a vile personality and was infamous even among Scarlet Beasts for its love of toying with prey. While other Scarlet Beasts disdained humans, this one reveled in it.
It was Ji You's biological father, and also Gulun's brother.
What Ji Ruying knew was merely the tip of the iceberg. This nest had existed ever since the Scarlet Beasts arrived in this world. While it couldn't be called their main base, it held a special significance.
She had assumed there was only one high-level Scarlet Beast here, and that the little monster in her womb had killed every living thing nearby, allowing her to escape... but in truth, this was all just her own speculation.
The memories displayed by the crystal showed that thousands of Scarlet Beasts had lived in this nest back then, including five high-level ones. The two brothers, Gulun and his sibling, seemed to be emerging as the leaders.
Of course, the unborn Little Gluttony couldn't devour that many. She had greedily eaten a little extra, which was why she slept until she was three. Even so, three high-level Scarlet Beasts and nearly half of the grunts had managed to escape.
As for why Ji Ruying hadn't encountered any other surviving Scarlet Beasts during her escape, or why there were no signs of pursuit later, the visions didn't reveal.
Perhaps they hadn't been in the nest, or perhaps they were too frightened to make a move. Whatever the truth, there was no way for them to know.
After that, the mixed-blood creation project came to a standstill. The accident during the first experiment left all the Scarlet Beasts with lingering fears, and they didn't dare to try again.
Seven years passed before their vigilance finally faded. A second round of experiments was launched in the same location. This time, everything went smoothly, and the Scarlet Beasts got the humanoid mixed-bloods their plan required.
They only had to wait for the mixed-blood offspring to turn three, then they could bring them to be baptized by the clan's sacred relic, creating absolutely loyal assassins. The only price they had to pay was a little time and some human food.
It was a surefire deal.
The memory showed the first mixed-blood undergoing the brainwashing, then a second, and a third. They were all the same bewildered, red-eyed toddlers, who in the blink of an eye became puppets with a morbidly pious look in their eyes.
The scenes shifted faster and faster, rapidly advancing from thirteen years ago to the present, finally freezing on the young children who had come with them today. Yue Du's visual decomposition ability allowed her to see each child's face clearly and count them accurately.
Five hundred and twenty-nine.
Honestly, the number was much lower than she had anticipated. There should have been far more mixed-bloods created over thirteen years, but in the end, only five hundred and twenty-nine had survived to complete the "baptism."
To humans, however, that number was horrifying enough.
However, the oldest among them was only thirteen, far from the age where they would become noteworthy hunters. Since Yue Du hadn't heard of many assassination attempts on Reality ability users, it meant the situation was still salvageable.
The red crystal's projection ended. It probably knew what a despicable thing it had done, as it began to tremble timidly.
It couldn't hear it, but in the mental space of the two women before it, the Main System had just issued a mission completion notice. This meant their investigation into Ji You's origins was complete.
This was everything.
With the full story laid out, Ji You raised an eyebrow. "So, this thing remembers me. No wonder it's so scared." It was already planning how to play dead before they even faced off.
The crystal: "..."
It didn't dare to object.
Ji You, who had devoured half the nest before she was even born, was indeed the sacred crystal's only nightmare in the past century. If it hadn't sensed that a being like her was unique and impossible to replicate, it would never have continued to cooperate with the high-level Scarlet Beasts' plan.
Isn't it nice to be alive!
Who could have imagined that this nightmare would actually return!
Yue Du was thinking about how to resolve this matter.
The mixed-bloods who had already infiltrated human society had no contact with the Scarlet Beasts unless they successfully assassinated a Reality ability user. To find the other five hundred and twenty-eight of them, Reality ability users would be no help, and relying solely on Ji You was unrealistic.
"Is there a way to distinguish the mixed-bloods in a crowd?" Yue Du asked.
The crystal wanted to say no, but Ji You's long, elegant leg seemed to be twitching as if about to rise, so it quickly projected another scene.
In the vision, Gulun placed a claw on the crystal's faceted surface and said in the Scarlet Beast tongue, "Our clan's sacred relic remembers every one of our people. It will respond to the hopes of any descendant. As long as it senses our bloodline approaching, it is certain to grow warm."
Simply put, the crystal would heat up whenever a Scarlet Beast descendant was nearby—a standard-issue Scarlet Beast bloodline detector.
Ji You said thoughtfully, "We can't just haul this thing from one stronghold to the next. Tell me, do you have to be in one piece to work as a detector?"
The crystal vibrated frantically, trying to convey a "yes."
But Ji You just gave it a sinister smile. "Think carefully before you answer. You can either live in pieces or die in one piece. Your choice."
A moment later, the crystal arduously chose to live in pieces.
Ji You nodded, turning to her sister with a smile. "Use the lightsaber. Don't worry about making the cuts too even, Sister. Just enough to be useful will do."
The lightsaber was already in Yue Du's right hand. She pressed the button on its hilt, activating the pale blue blade of light.
The crystal wanted to burst out crying.
Cutting the crystal with the lightsaber was easy, as smooth as slicing through butter with a knife. Before long, the enormous, cone-shaped red crystal was gone.
Hundreds of small, perfectly square crystals lay scattered on the ground, every facet radiating a sense of utter despair.
The crystal was an aggregate of the Scarlet Beasts' spiritual consciousness; even if its vessel was diced into sugar cubes, it couldn't die.
Yue Du gathered the small cubes into her system space.
The only source of light was gone. Although both of them could see in the dark, Ji You still took out a paper lantern and lit it. She held it before her, and the lantern and its tassel swayed gently with her light steps.
Watching the path ahead illuminated by the warm light, Yue Du let out a soft laugh for some reason.
Ji You found her hand and laced their fingers together. "What are you thinking about, Sister? Your laugh is so beautiful."
Yue Du said, "In the small world where I grew up, there was a story about a kind of sprite that lived in caves. They were petite and delicate, carried bright little lanterns, and would fly over to guide any lost explorers they saw. Just like you right now." She paused.
Ji You puffed out her chest slightly. "I'm not the least bit petite and delicate."
Yue Du shook her head. "I wasn't finished. Those sprites are actually carnivorous. They don't lead explorers out of the cave. Instead, they lead them back to their deeper, darker nests to be hoarded, fattened up, and eaten."
Ji You blinked. "Take them home? They're not planning to slice them up and share, are they?"
"No," Yue Du's smile deepened. "Sprites are a very possessive species. Their prey is theirs alone to eat—they won't tolerate so much as a single hair missing. If another sprite were to steal even a tiny bite, it would be grounds for a duel."
"That does sound a lot like me," Ji You said, deliberately swaying the lantern so that a hazy orb of light danced on the stone walls. "Stick close to me, Sister, and I'll lead you out."
"Hmm... you're not planning on taking me back to your nest?"
"My nest is just outside. I'm sure you'll love it, Sister."
Yue Du was the first to break, letting out a laugh that shattered the strange, dark fairytale atmosphere around them. Ji You stubbornly stuck to her persona. "What are you laughing at, Sister? Are you that eager to come back with me?"
"I am. I want to go back. Let's go home."
Yue Du said, quietly tightening her grip on her host's hand.
Sprites, after all, weren't necessarily all petite and delicate.
And she happened to like this big one.
It was early morning when they left the Scarlet Beast nest. In the light of dawn, the faint, warm orange glow of the paper lantern was nearly invisible, but Ji You carried it for a while longer before finally putting it away.
Yue Du had seen many things in the crystal's memories, including the number of high-level Scarlet Beasts.
Nineteen years ago, there had been five. Two had died, and after various comings and goings, there were now a total of eight tied to the mixed-blood creation project in that nest.
That number wasn't difficult for them to handle, but Yue Du had no intention of staying to clean up.
Little Gluttony had devoured most of the crystal's energy and was sleeping soundly. If Jealousy were to unleash a large-scale illusion to hunt down the Scarlet Beasts, there would likely be another sleeping beauty at the bottom of the subconscious waters in her mental space.
Therefore, the glorious task of wiping out the Scarlet Beasts fell to the human strongholds.
One stronghold alone couldn't handle it. It would take a joint effort from the hunters of at least ten strongholds to completely annihilate the Scarlet Beasts in the nest, leaving none behind.
As for the two of them, they would, of course, play the part of the righteous heroes who had exposed the Scarlet Beasts' earth-shattering conspiracy and been gravely injured in the process, and would now be recuperating at home.
The crystal was the boss of the Scarlet Beast horde. After taking down the boss, you leave the mini-bosses and grunts for everyone else. Any problem with that? Nope.
Today, the System was slacking off in broad daylight once again.
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