Inheritance

*Thwack! Thwack!*

The greatsword bit deep. The massive dog howled and thrashed, black blood streaming from its wounds like a pair of small dark fountains.

*Strange color for a feral beast's blood.*

Thin tendrils of black mist were rising from the dog's body. As Lu Yuan watched, the mist thickened and condensed — then erupted, a writhing mass of Shadow bursting free from the carcass.

His pupils contracted. He yanked back his greatsword and retreated several steps, watching the air above with sharp, wary eyes.

"The Shadow?!"

He'd assumed a feral beast had slipped into the city from the wilderness. He was wrong.

*If the Shadow is behind this, its abilities have grown again. Before, it killed by entering a person's body and triggering sudden death. Now it's possessing animals and mutating them into something far more dangerous.*

Just then — a piercing, unearthly shriek. The Shadow launched itself at him, raking his body with its claws.

Sparks flew on impact, as though it had struck solid metal.

It couldn't harm him at all.

The Shadow twisted and wailed in the air, then dissolved into dispersing black mist. Without its host, the dog's corpse caught an invisible flame and crumbled into charred ash, scattering across the ground.

Lu Yuan scanned his surroundings, confirmed the Shadow was gone, and sheathed his greatsword. He stood over the char and the fading black haze, frowning hard.

*This is bad.*

This wasn't the near-deserted back alleys of the slum district — pedestrians were streaming past not far off, and more than a few had stopped to stare with open curiosity at the scene.

The two small-time thugs stood farther back, still too stunned to react, staring blankly at the pile of ash.

The pockmarked one slowly found his voice.

"That Gene Warrior..."

"No kidding," the other muttered. "He killed something that size like he was having breakfast."

Having watched Lu Yuan take down a creature that massive with her own eyes, the gaunt woman was visibly more on edge than before. She stood at a greater distance, clutching her child, her expression more guarded than ever.

Then both thugs snapped back to reality at once.

"Right — Lao Man!"

They bolted over to the burly figure slumped against the wall and crouched down to check on him.

They looked at each other.

A slow, grief-laden shake of the head.

"Dead."

"...Damn. Take him back. Give him a proper burial."

They were both grieving — but not undone by it. Joining a gang meant living in the shadow of constant inter-gang violence. Death came with the territory. They just hadn't expected it to come from a monster's claws.

Lu Yuan paid them no mind and turned back.

The gaunt woman stood at a distance with her child in her arms.

He walked over. She hurried toward him.

"Thank you so much, My Lord — thank you!"

Then she dropped to her knees again.

"Thank you for getting us out of there. If not for you, my child and I would have died in that alley tonight, and no one would ever have known."

Lu Yuan's mouth twitched. He pulled her firmly back to her feet.

"Come on," he said.

He walked her through the streets. Looking at her — the thin frame, the halting steps, the clothes washed so many times they'd faded to near-white — he found himself thinking of his old self.

*She's living even harder than I was.*

He couldn't help everyone in these slums. But when something was right in front of him, he could at least do what he could.

They reached the point where the street ahead brightened and foot traffic picked up.

"I'll see you this far," he said. "You should be safe from here."

She bowed deeply, child still pressed to her chest. "My Lord!"

She turned to go.

Lu Yuan stopped.

"Wait."

She paused mid-step and looked back. "My Lord? Is something the matter?"

He was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "Do you have a phone on you?"

"I do."

She fumbled awkwardly — baby in one arm, fishing her phone from her pocket with the other. The screen was badly cracked, dropped so many times it was a wonder it still lit up at all.

"Give me your bank account number."

She blinked, not quite understanding, but recited it quickly.

Lu Yuan tapped at his own phone for a moment.

*Am I being played?*

He dismissed the thought and transferred 100,000 yuan.

*...100,000, though.*

He had several million in savings now. Still, parting with a hundred thousand stung a little. Old habits from when he'd had nothing.

She checked the transfer notification.

Her eyes went wide.

She froze.

She stared at the number again. Her mouth moved — no sound came out. Her pallid face, drained first to white, flooded back to deep red.

"M-My Lord... you..."

"You're clearly not carrying much," Lu Yuan said, "and you have a child to raise. I hope this gets you through the rough part. Don't give it another thought — it's nothing to me."

She crumpled to her knees.

Eyes red. Tears running steadily down her face.

"My Lord — thank you — thank you so much—"

His mouth twitched again. He pulled her back to her feet.

"Don't mention it. Go on now — I need to head back as well."

He glanced at the child sleeping against her shoulder and smiled.

*Back when I had nothing, Sister Qinghe helped me. Now it's my turn to help someone else.*

*Does that count as passing something on?*

He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"Go."

She nodded through her tears, turned, and walked away — gradually disappearing into the crowd.

Lu Yuan shook his head and turned back toward the slum district.

Come to think of it, Pete — the one he'd asked to dig up information on the Shadow — had gone completely silent. The last he'd heard, the Black Rat Gang was gearing up for a clash with the Wild Dog Gang, and Pete had stopped responding ever since. But days had passed without that clash materializing. Something as explosive as a gang war would have spread through the slum grapevine without fail.

*Should I drop by the Black Rat Gang in person?*

He found himself thinking of the cat-kin trio.

*Hunters generally carry a lot of money on them.*

*Maybe I could flip the situation and actually profit off the next one who comes for me?*

His face twitched.

Even so, the odds of a Hunter targeting him had dropped considerably now. Killing him wouldn't yield anything close to the same haul as before. And if one did come for him, he wasn't particularly worried.

The mutant dog just now had been roughly equivalent to a Common Grade Feral Beast at 50% tempering — and its claws had sparked uselessly off his body like striking solid metal. Once he had his Moonstone Crest, Beetle Claw greatsword, and Black Iron Body all working in concert...

The only things left in all of Sandy Rock City that could genuinely threaten his life were probably Boss Grade Feral Beasts.

Barring any surprises, he could push his tempering above 90% within two days. Those 101 drops of Moonstone Spirit Essence would be fully absorbed in that same window.

The Land of Origin's Light Gate was shining again. The cooldown had reset.

Lu Yuan stepped through. Vision went dark — then cleared. He was standing outside the Residential Zone, same as before.

He'd already checked out of his room in advance when he'd last prepared to leave. With nothing left to settle in the Residential Zone, he walked out — and exited the Land of Origin.

He still had 101 drops of Moonstone Spirit Essence waiting to be absorbed, but he had no intention of lingering in Sandy Rock City any longer. He glanced at the Construct standing guard at the entrance and kept moving, heading toward the outskirts.

The rest of the journey was uneventful.

The streets ahead buzzed with evening life. He made it home without incident.

*What a day. So many things happened.*

It was eleven o'clock by the time he stepped back into his room. By now, after this much time had passed, anyone paying attention would know he'd made at least one run — but that was fine. As far as Land of Origin time went, the ruin was already several days behind him.

While Lu Yuan had been inside the Land of Origin, in an ordinary-looking room somewhere in the slum district —

Li Qinghe reclined on the room's only leather sofa, one leg crossed over the other. A cigarette rested between her fingers; she took a slow, deliberate drag and breathed out a thin curl of smoke, watching the six people standing before her with calm, steady eyes.

"The Shadow keeps getting stronger," she said, voice unhurried. "The situation is deteriorating. How is your investigation coming along?"