ABFA Chapter 63

Severed limbs and broken arms rained down across the ground. The scavengers outside the small house were blasted away by the shockwave from the explosion, their bodies thrown high into the air before crashing heavily back down.

Someone shouted at the top of their lungs, “Run! That old bastard Pan Bu’en is trying to die together with us! He must still have plenty of explosives left—we can’t die here!”

Very quickly, the remaining scavengers, thrown into panic, tried to flee the area. Just as they were about to rush out of the courtyard, raging flames suddenly erupted around its perimeter. In an instant, scorching fire and searing shockwaves engulfed the tiny house.

The raging flames were reflected in their eyes. Black smoke produced by the burning waste oil billowed into their faces, and they suddenly remembered the ring of waste oil they had poured outside earlier to trap Pan Bu’en and that female Alpha wielding a black longsword.

Someone else shouted loudly, “The fire hasn’t fully spread yet—everyone, get out now!”

The scavenger squad at the outermost edge gritted their teeth. The pungent smoke stung their eyes so badly that they could barely keep them open, but they had no choice except to push their way out, because the thick smoke was deadly.

As long as they could break through, it didn’t matter even if they were burned beyond recognition.

Scavenger Number One broke into a sprint. Raising his eyes, he searched for the weakest point in the flames, only to spot a figure carrying a blade walking toward him through the thick smoke.

The scavengers trapped by the fire were all running about like headless flies, yet this person remained completely calm and unhurried.

The blade in her hand was exceptionally long. Her grip on it was steady, without the slightest tremor.

Gradually, the figure became clearer amid the smoke and firelight. She emerged from the rolling black smoke and walked toward them.

Scavenger Number One saw her face. It was a handsome yet indifferent face, with a pair of icy, gray vertical pupils that sent a chill straight to the bone. They were the eyes of Death itself.

Perhaps she truly was the Grim Reaper, come here to harvest lives with her scythe.

The figure stepped on a dead branch lying on the ground, snapping it beneath her foot. The long blade in her hand was as black as the night.

Scavenger Number One immediately turned and ran. Suddenly, something flew over and tripped him. Choked by the thick smoke, he could barely open his eyes. Struggling to force them open to a narrow slit, he looked closely and realized that a severed head had rolled to his feet and tripped him.

He let out a terrified scream, scrambled to his feet, and desperately ran forward. But after only two steps, he came to an abrupt halt.

Looking down, he saw the black tip of a blade protruding through his chest, blood dripping steadily from it.

Jiang Yue pulled Chang Geng free and stepped over the scavenger’s corpse.

Red threads spread across the palms of her hands, while her eyeballs drew oxygen directly from the air. She had no need to breathe and was completely unaffected by the thick smoke.

Taking lives had become so effortless for her. Each swing of the jet-black longsword sent up a beautiful spray of blood.

This was a one-sided massacre.

She had killed for so long that she had become numb to it. To her, killing people felt no different from chopping wood.

Before she knew it, everyone who had tried to escape had been dealt with. The ground was carpeted with corpses. Jiang Yue’s ears twitched, and amid the sound of the wind and the crackling and popping of the flames, she caught the rapid pounding of a heartbeat.

Gripping Chang Geng, she stepped over the severed limbs and mangled remains scattered across the ground and approached the area near the small house, where corpses had been piled on top of one another. Many of the bodies had been blown beyond recognition by the explosion.

Jiang Yue kicked several corpses aside with her foot.

A scavenger was hiding underneath them, trembling uncontrollably.

He kept his head lowered, still trying his best to play dead, but the trembling of his back and the frantic beating of his heart had already exposed him completely.

Jiang Yue raised her blade.

The scavenger finally panicked. Curling up into himself, he looked at Jiang Yue and pleaded, “Please, spare me. I won’t ever do it again. I’ll never do this kind of thing again.”

He begged desperately and repeatedly. Jiang Yue recognized him. He was a member of the first scavenger squad she had encountered after escaping the First Prison, the very person who had pointed her in the right direction.

“Sorry, I can’t leave any survivors.” Jiang Yue’s voice was calm and indifferent.

She raised her blade and thrust it down without a trace of emotion. The sharp edge sliced through the scavenger’s femoral artery, and his gray canvas trousers were instantly soaked red with blood.

The fire was steadily spreading in this direction. After dealing with the few fish that slipped through the net, Jiang Yue confirmed that there were no survivors left.

Only then did she enter Chubby Boss’s warehouse and climb down through the tunnel.

Pan Bu’en and the others were waiting for her beneath the entrance to the tunnel.

“No survivors?” Chubby Boss asked.

Jiang Yue nodded.

Pan Bu’en looked at her, his gaze both kindly and eager. “When I was your age, I wasn’t nearly as capable as you. The first time I killed someone, I threw up for a long time afterward.”

Zhang San looked somewhat puzzled. “Really? The first time I killed someone, I didn’t feel much of anything. Isn’t it even easier than eating or drinking?”

Jiang Yue shot him a glance.

She looked down at Chang Geng. Blood was still dripping from the blade, running down the tip and gathering into a small puddle on the ground.

Chubby Boss handed her a damp towel.

“Here, here, hurry up and wipe your face. Look at you, all covered in smoke and soot from the fire.”

Jiang Yue took the towel and wiped her face. Only after doing so did she realize just how much soot and grime had accumulated on it.

She handed the towel back to Chubby Boss, glanced at the others, and asked in a low voice, “Why were you all waiting here for me?”

Zhang San pursed his lips. “Because Chubby Boss and Pan Bu’en were worried that killing so many people at once would be too much for you to handle mentally. I thought it was completely unnecessary. Look at how well you’re doing now, you’re like a blade that’s just been drawn from its sheath.”

He then concluded with great conviction, “You were born for slaughter.”

Jiang Yue gave a wry smile and looked at Pan Bu’en and Chubby Boss. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Those scum deserved to die. It’s just that… the explosion blew the elders’ bodies apart, split into four and torn into five. Their intestines were strewn all over the ground. I’m just not quite used to seeing scenes like that.”

Zhang San pulled out a handful of candy from his pocket and offered it to her. “Have a piece of candy. I think the watermelon flavor is pretty good.”

Jiang Yue picked a mint-flavored one.

With the candy in her mouth, she spent the entire night without sleep.

The next day, she and Zhang San went out to inspect the scene.

After the fire, the area had become a scorched wasteland. Charred corpses lay scattered everywhere across the ground.

Zhang San gave a crooked, somewhat sinister smile. “You handled it pretty well.”

Jiang Yue said, “There are still a lot of flaws.”

Zhang San shrugged. “No one cares about that. The powerful people on Garbage Planet don’t care how many scavengers died. The scavengers themselves don’t care how many scavengers died here either. As for those people on the peacekeeping warships, they care even less about how many scavengers have died.”

He looked at Jiang Yue and found the situation a little amusing. “Even though you’re the one who killed them, the only person here who actually cares whether they lived or died is you.”

Jiang Yue stepped over a charred arm. Her hair had grown out a little, about the length of a finger joint. Before she knew it, three and a half months had already passed since she arrived on Garbage Planet. Time really did fly.

A fog had settled over the planet that morning. Even the fog on Garbage Planet was gray, carrying a faint acidic smell. If you stayed in it for too long, you’d feel a slight burning sensation in your throat and around your eyes.

Jiang Yue glanced at the fog in the distance and suddenly felt that her own future was no different—a vast expanse of mist.

She withdrew her gaze and asked Zhang San, “What are your plans for the future?”

“Plans?”

Zhang San folded his arms and, like Jiang Yue, looked out at the fog in the distance. In a quiet voice, he said, “I want to investigate what happened back then and find out exactly what Sacrede was researching. I want to fulfill my father’s dying wish, complete what he wanted to accomplish. That way, I can at least say I’ve done my duty as a son.”

The two continued walking forward. Jiang Yue said, “I didn’t expect you to be so filial.”

Zhang San smiled. “My childhood was actually a happy one. They both loved me very much. I’m a genetically edited person, I inherited the best genes from each of them. But, well… I think that was a mistake.”

Jiang Yue asked, “Why?”

Zhang San replied, “Because night and day cannot exist at the same time, and evil and justice stand in opposition to each other. That’s why I’ve always lived with a great deal of inner conflict.”

“Then you’re free now. On Garbage Planet, you can really do whatever you want. This place has always been chaotic and lacking order, you don’t have to be bound by anything.”

Zhang San sighed. “If I hadn’t met you and Pan Bu’en, I would’ve done exactly that. But you changed me. You made me feel that being a good person isn’t such a bad thing after all.”

Jiang Yue glanced at him and said calmly, “I don’t understand human hearts, but I can still tell truth from lies.”

Zhang San burst out laughing. “Hahaha, you’ve grown up. You’re no longer that silent, naive, clueless kid from the First Prison.”

The two walked out of the small house’s courtyard, stepping over the burned-out waste oil. The gray fog obscured their vision, and Jiang Yue could only rely on her hearing.

That explosion and the fire had created a certain level of deterrence, none of the scavengers dared to come near anymore.

After today, the peacekeeping warship would arrive here, and Jiang Yue would return to Beta Star together with those children.

She glanced at Zhang San. “Are you going to stay on Garbage Planet forever?”

“I’ll stay here for now to keep both myself and Old Pan alive. Without me, that old man wouldn’t even make it to today.”

“How do you keep him alive?”

Zhang San said, “Some human experiments. For example, replacing Old Pan’s lungs with those of a Zerg, or giving him an entirely new body. The lab from back then wasn’t completely destroyed, part of it is still buried underground. Some of the equipment down there still works.”

He looked at Jiang Yue, and his expression suddenly turned serious. “Before you return to the Federation, I need to tell you something.”

Jiang Yue had long been used to Zhang San’s carefree and unserious attitude, so when he suddenly became solemn, she felt unaccustomed. Her expression also turned serious. “Go ahead. I’ll listen carefully.”

Zhang San said, “There are certain human experiments in the forbidden domain. One of them involves stripping a person’s consciousness from their body and transferring it into another consciousness.”

Although the explanation was a bit convoluted, Jiang Yue still understood. “You mean someone might expel my consciousness and take over my body?”

Zhang San replied, “Yes. Your body is very unusual. What if someone cloned an identical body and used it to build a super army?”

Jiang Yue thought for a moment. Even someone as timid as her, after obtaining this body, could become what she was now—let alone what a powerful consciousness could achieve if it encountered such a formidable body.

“If they can clone it, that’s fine. If they can’t, your body would be handed over to someone more capable. If they’re merciful, they might find you another body. If not… hehe, then you’ll just wait for your consciousness to slowly dissipate.”

Jiang Yue asked, “If consciousness takes over this body, would they also inherit its mental power?”

Zhang San shook his head. “That’s hard to say. Mental power is a manifestation of the self, it’s part of the owner. The spiritual body is the embodiment of mental power.”

“Those who can materialize mental power have a different kind of consciousness compared to ordinary people. When their consciousness leaves the body, it can exist for a period of time in the form of a spiritual body. These spiritual bodies are exclusive, like two completely different souls that cannot be merged.”

“Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the famous Xiang family. Their spiritual bodies can merge. After fusion, the resulting spiritual body becomes extremely powerful. One of the Xiang brothers inherited their grandfather’s spiritual body.”

Jiang Yue said, “Then it must be Xiang Liu.”

Zhang San shook his head. “No. It was Xiang Yan’s youngest son, Xiang Sui.”

In the gray fog, Jiang Yue widened her eyes.

“It was actually Xiang Sui!”

Zhang San smiled. “But that kid suffered some kind of shock, and now he can’t summon his spiritual body anymore.”

“What kind of shock?”

“I only heard it vaguely, but it seems his brain domain is very special, his mental power can increase exponentially. So someone set their sights on his body.”

Jiang Yue clenched her fists. “Special brain domain? He’s the youngest son of a Federation admiral!”

Zhang San said, “How should I put it… an individual’s will is insignificant in the face of collective will.”

“Hmm. Speaking of Xiang Sui, it reminds me of another kid with a rather special brain domain.”

…Could he be talking about her?

Was Zhang San really that perceptive?

She hadn’t even released her spiritual body, yet he already thought her brain domain was abnormal.

Of course it was abnormal, her brain domain definitely had issues. The “Fat Eagle” had devoured something into a round, bloated form was the best proof of that. She didn’t even dare let Fat Eagle appear anymore.

Jiang Yue looked over warily, once again considering whether she should silence Zhang San.

Zhang San stroked his chin and said, “You know, human spiritual bodies only have three forms. One is animal form, and another is non-animal form. The non-animal type can be further divided into plant forms, object forms, and so on.”

Jiang Yue nodded. “I know this.”

Major Ye Qian’s spiritual body was a leaf. Lu Geng’s was an angelic halo. And Lei Xi, who had conducted mental extraction on her, had a lightning-shaped spiritual body.

“Then you must also know that humans can only have one spiritual body form.”

Jiang Yue rolled her eyes. “Can you skip the rambling and get to the point?”

Zhang San coughed lightly. “Alright, alright, I’ll cut it short. I’ve seen a child whose spiritual body had two forms at once, both an animal form and a non-animal form.”

Jiang Yue’s eyes widened.

It was as if Zhang San had told her someone had nine heads. Honestly, if she really met a nine-headed person, Jiang Yue probably wouldn’t be as shocked as she was right now.

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