S-Rank Aberration Object, The Grand Reveal

*A few minutes earlier.*

On the roof of a high-rise in the Liya District, a figure took shape.

Li Qinghe gazed down at the street below. When her eyes landed on Lu Yuan, surprise flickered through them.

*Yuan little brother? What's he doing here? Hmm? Wait a moment...*

She reached out with her senses—and something like shock passed across her expression.

*His aura... First-rank?! That fast?! And the intensity doesn't match what Elite Grade genes should produce...*

Her brow creased slightly. She snapped her gaze toward the distance.

Below, terrible bursts of black sword light detonated again and again, the air saturated with razor-edged killing intent.

Li Qinghe vanished.

More black sword qi erupted. The Shadow was cut into smaller and smaller fragments.

What remained was less than a third of the original—those remnants writhing and twisting, struggling desperately to reconstitute themselves. The Shadow had dimmed dramatically compared to when the fight began.

She reappeared: sword in her right hand, a cigarette between the fingers of her left. She exhaled a lazy ring of smoke and stared at the shredded fragments with cold, indifferent eyes.

*Could he have already inscribed Boss Grade genes? This fast? But even that alone shouldn't account for this level of intensity...*

Her gaze swept back toward Lu Yuan even as she vanished again.

Another cascade of black sword qi.

A piercing shriek—and the Shadow dissolved into a thin wisp of black mist and scattered completely.

*Terrifying.*

Back in the present.

The black fog above Xue Ren's corpse grew denser and denser.

Inside Lu Yuan, the Evolution Cube orbiting his Gene Chain had begun to tremble.

*I've felt this vibration before—when I encountered the Mirage Dragon.*

Just then, the black fog began to contract.

As it pulled inward, the trembling grew stronger and stronger—so intense that the surrounding white mist began to surge and churn around him.

The black fog compressed to its limit. From within, a black orb emerged.

The moment the orb appeared, the Evolution Cube's trembling peaked.

A jet-black bead floated above Xue Ren's corpse, wisps of dark fog curling ceaselessly from its surface.

*Xue Ren never actually fused with the Shadow.*

*What is this thing? Is this the so-called Aberration object?*

Lu Yuan stared hard at the black orb.

His consciousness grew hazy. He seemed to hear a voice calling to him—urging him forward, urging him to pick it up.

His eyes took on a glazed, distant look. He began walking toward the orb, one slow step at a time.

Then threads of deep blue radiance pulsed from the Evolution Cube within him. His mind snapped back to clarity in an instant.

Cold sweat drenched his back. He stared at the orb with wide, vigilant eyes and stepped back sharply—two paces.

*This thing is genuinely cursed.*

Just then, he noticed something: a faint tendril of energy drifting from the black orb—slipping into his body—and being absorbed by the Evolution Cube.

*...What just got absorbed?*

He composed himself and turned his attention inward. The Evolution Cube seemed... ever so slightly larger than before? And the trembling had stopped.

*Could the contents of that orb actually strengthen the Evolution Cube?! Or is this some hidden function it's had all along?*

His head was full of questions with no answers.

*That vibration—wasn't it the same one I felt back home? And that terrifying battle earlier—was that also what triggered it?*

*What is this Evolution Cube actually doing?*

Up on the high-rise, Li Qinghe's figure reappeared. Her gaze swept down at the street, and when it landed on Lu Yuan, a flash of surprise crossed her face.

*Yuan little brother? Why is he here? Hmm? Wait...*

She sensed his Spirit Power—and something closer to shock moved through her eyes.

Then she noticed the black fog condensing into a bead above Xue Ren's corpse, and a sharp, cold light passed through her gaze.

She had been preparing to descend when Lu Yuan took two steps toward the orb, and she froze.

Then he stopped himself, staring at it with unmistakable wariness. She froze again—staring harder.

*At S-rank, this thing's pull should have been irresistible for a First-rank Warrior. He shook it off on his own?*

"Hold on—" she called down. "Let me secure this Aberration object first. Losing it would be a real headache."

She dropped to street level and closed her hand around the black orb.

The instant she touched it, piercing shrieks erupted. The black fog surged and thrashed, trying to tear free from her grip.

Li Qinghe's expression didn't flicker. She produced a black metal canister, shoved the bead inside, and snapped the lid shut.

The world went quiet.

She tucked the container away and dusted her palms together.

"Well, well. Didn't expect to bag an S-rank Aberration object today. Not a bad haul—time well spent after all."

She glanced at Xue Ren's corpse, expression cool:

"So that's the Aberration object. Shame Xue Ren died so easily. He got off cheap."

Lu Yuan was still standing there in a daze when Li Qinghe vanished—and reappeared directly in front of him, grinning.

"Yuan little brother. Surprised? Were you expecting this?"

Lu Yuan: "......"

*The person who'd been fighting just now—that was Li Qinghe?!*

*The same Li Qinghe who always said she didn't understand anything, who kept saying 'little brother you're so amazing'—she's been a powerhouse this whole time?!*

He stared at her, mind completely blank.

"Oh, right—!" She clapped her hands together. "Now that the Aberration object's been secured, I can change back~"

A mischievous smile curved her lips.

Subtle shifts moved through the flesh and bone of her face. Her body followed.

Li Qinghe's previous appearance had been clean and pretty in a modest, understated way—but there was simply no comparison to what emerged now.

Her height climbed from around 167 centimeters to well over 170. The figure beneath her leather armor improved markedly: a slimmer waist, longer and straighter legs, and her chest was—well, considerably more.

But the greatest change wasn't her figure. It was her face.

A refined oval face. Long, elegantly arched brows. A straight, proud nose. Peach-blossom eyes with a languid, subtly alluring warmth—and a single teardrop mole at the outer corner of one eye.

She was a peerless beauty, every inch the equal of Yeye and Amy.

Li Qinghe caught his stunned, wide-eyed stare and let a sly smile play at her red lips.

"Well? This is Sister's real face. Beautiful, right? Did it scare you?"

Lu Yuan: "......"

He came back to himself. He looked at her grin, felt a helpless twitch at the corner of his mouth—and noticed, to his horror, that his face had gone slightly warm.

He thought about how he'd been so proudly running through all the money he'd made while talking to her, and felt the overwhelming urge to dig a three-bedroom apartment into the ground with his toes.

*Social death.*

He had always assumed Li Qinghe was... one of those women.

Though—who wouldn't have assumed that?! She'd always dangled her answers in front of him with *"This isn't something children should know about"* and *"Do you really want to know?"*—every single time.

If he'd actually known the truth about Li Qinghe's situation back then, he'd have agreed without a second thought.

As for now—a real man does not regret.

Li Qinghe studied him, eyes full of puzzlement.

She sensed his Spirit Power and couldn't stop herself from frowning:

"Yuan little brother's aura... First-rank?! That fast?! And the intensity—it's not what Elite Grade genes should have..."

She muttered, half to herself:

"Could he have already inscribed Boss Grade genes? How is it this fast? But even so—just Boss Grade alone still shouldn't account for this kind of intensity..."

Shortly after, she took a long drag of her cigarette and laughed:

"Forget it—must be fortune picked up in the Land of Origin. Figures, coming from my little brother. Not bad."

She was genuinely happy for him.

"Every powerful Gene Warrior gets their lucky break eventually, right? The Land of Origin is vast—too many opportunities to count."

Lu Yuan came back to himself fully and looked at her with a strange expression.

"Li Qinghe—you're a Gene Warrior?! And a strong one?!"

Li Qinghe waved a hand.

"What do you mean, strong? Sister's no Gene Warrior, I don't understand these things~ Just a weak little woman from the Slum District~."

Lu Yuan stared at her, deadpan.

She grinned:

"I came here specifically for this job. That guy was cunning—if I'd shown up openly in the Slum District, he would've bolted before I got near him."

Then she relented, with a smile that said she was enjoying herself immensely:

"Sister is probably just a *tiny bit* stronger than you. Just a Battle King, that's all."

Lu Yuan: "...Oh. Just a tiny bit stronger. Just a Battle King."

*Trainee. Warrior. Battle Master. Battle General. Battle Venerable. Battle King.*

*Battle King...*

Only four entire major ranks above him.

*You've got some nerve calling that 'a tiny bit.'*

He looked at her sunny, smug expression and felt his brain quietly grinding to a halt.

*Terrifying.*

"Sister, are you with the Night Watchmen?"

Li Qinghe thought for a moment. "You could say so."

"What do you mean, 'you could say so'?"

"Sister is an honorary elder of the Night Watchmen. Honorary only—I'm not actually under their command."

Lu Yuan turned to the matter of the Aberration object.

"What exactly was that thing?"

"Everything about what happened here looks like an Aberration Event. That thing is almost certainly what they call an Aberration object."

He didn't know much about Aberration objects.

Li Qinghe raised an eyebrow:

"This is a Soul-Devouring Orb. It fuses into a host's body and devours souls to raise the host's cultivation. As cultivation climbs higher and higher, the host eventually gets consumed and assimilated by the orb—transformed completely into an aberration. Their power keeps increasing all the while. Left unchecked, something like this could potentially grow to Battle Sovereign level, or even Battle Emperor. That would be a real problem."

Lu Yuan nodded slowly. He thought of Xue Ren's erratic behavior.

"So that man was being assimilated the whole time? His behavior sometimes made me feel like I was dealing with two different people inside one body."

"Exactly. The more the Soul-Devouring Orb is used, the closer to aberration the host drifts. He was just unlucky to have come across one."

Li Qinghe glanced at Xue Ren's corpse, expression cool.

"For a growth-type Aberration object like this, dealing with it early makes it manageable. The real problem is leaving it alone to develop."

She added dryly: "With its soul-devouring nature, staying hidden in the early stage would be nearly impossible for the host anyway."

Such a small thing—reaching Battle Emperor level if unchecked?

*Staggering.*

Lu Yuan recalled Xue Ren's dying words, and spoke:

"He said someone gave it to him."

Li Qinghe went very still.

Then her expression changed entirely:

"Yuan little brother—is that true?! He said someone gave it to him?! Who gave it?!"

"He mentioned it right before he died. Didn't say who, and I didn't ask."

Li Qinghe fell silent. Her brow drew together, expression darkening.

The silence stretched.

Then she exhaled, and a careful lightness returned to her face.

"Well—the Aberration object's been collected. I'll pass the rest to higher-ups and let someone else deal with the headache. Why should I stress over it?"

She looked at him:

"Based on this thing's capabilities, it's probably already at S-rank Aberration level. Yuan little brother is only First-rank—and yet you shook off the pull of an S-rank Aberration object on your own? This guy keeps surprising me."

"S-rank Aberration object?"

"For a growth-type Aberration object, early intervention is the key. The scary part is what it becomes if you don't intervene."

The atmosphere settled into a brief lull.

Then Li Qinghe smiled—that dangerous, catlike curve.

"By the way~" she said sweetly. "Remember when you turned down Sister's offer to help you into the adult world? Do you regret it now? Hahaha!"

She'd been joking at the time, but she still very much wanted to see that look of regret on his face.

A finger poked at his cheek:

"Now that Sister offers again—are you willing?"

Lu Yuan drew himself up and replied in a tone of impeccable gravity and sincerity:

"What kind of person does Li Qinghe take me for? Am I really that sort? I'm exactly the same as I've always been—all I want is for Li Qinghe to live happily. That's what matters most to me."

Li Qinghe narrowed her eyes. A cold smile surfaced.

She reached out and poked his cheek again, expression calculating.

"Oh really. Then—*still* willing?"

"Willing!"

The word left his mouth before he'd finished processing the question.

Li Qinghe blinked. It took her a full moment to recover.

*This little brat actually said yes?!*

"I was wrong! I was wrong! I'm not willing!"

She leveled a glare at him.

"What did you just say?! Sister didn't catch that!"

Lu Yuan kept his expression perfectly blank.

*She was the one who asked. What exactly is wrong with answering honestly?*

*As for now—a real man does not regret.*

Li Qinghe was not satisfied.

"Hmph—not willing? Am I not good-looking enough for you?!"

Both her hands seized his cheeks and yanked in opposite directions. Through gritted teeth:

"You've got some nerve!"

Lu Yuan felt the searing pain blazing across his cheeks. He tried to pry her hands free and discovered, to his dismay, that he could not begin to match her strength. He had no choice but to ride it out.

*Why is she still angry?! She's the one who asked!*

*And it was entirely her who kept nudging and hinting the whole time. How is any of this my fault?*

*So this is what women are like.*

She finally released him. After a brief pause, her expression dissolved into laughter.

"Hahahaha!! Yuan little brother, you are absolutely adorable."

She shook her head, clearly entertained with herself.

"All right—I came here specifically for this job, bagged the S-rank Aberration object, and it didn't turn out to be a complete waste. Good enough."

She tucked the canister away, took a final drag of her cigarette, and looked out at the street.

"I'll file the report and let someone else sort out the rest. That's enough thinking for one day."