Chosen: Beyond Fate

Unfortunately, Ji Jue didn’t even get the chance to act cool. Before he’d even finished counting to four, a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the far end of the corridor.

In the middle of his frantic sprint, An Jiexiu suddenly stumbled and crashed to the floor. Dazed and reeling, he tried to push himself back up, only to discover that his left foot had come loose from his leg, dropping away like an overripe piece of rotten fruit.

Then his skin began to split apart. Layer after layer peeled and crumbled from his hands and limbs, as if a powerful acid had been unleashed inside his body, surging through him, eating away at his organs, flesh, and bones from the inside out. By the time his sluggish nerves finally registered the agony, it was far too late.

“What... is... this...”

He stared blankly, eyes wide open. Everything went dark, and his eyeballs cracked apart and slipped from their sockets.

He never got to see his body twisting into a grotesque, corrupted form. The large amount of bone ash mixed within the shrapnel and mercury had already been activated, and the corruption began to spread.

In other environments, he could have clung to life for another two or three days before dying slowly in torment and despair. But inside a Time Ruin, a place saturated with corrupted aura, the process accelerated beyond belief.

His blood became contaminated under the erosion of corrupted aura, rapidly breaking down flesh like corrosive acid. In the clash between his matrix and blessing, large portions of blood and metal fused together, forming sharp prisms that burst out from the corpse.

Before long, amid the foul stench and hissing clouds of smoke, all that remained was a twisted metallic shell, like some piece of postmodern art, riddled with grotesque crystalline prisms jutting through it. He looked like a silhouette torn straight from hell, or a condemned sinner, trapped in eternal torment.

The cart bumped into the corpse, and it shattered into countless pieces, scattering across the floor.

Ji Jue looked up at Tong Hua, who was excitedly flailing around the corner, and couldn’t help but shake his head. “Done?”

They’d only managed to take down two enemies by relying on invisibility, poison, and support abilities. How was she this thrilled over it? Could it be that in her daily work at the Security Bureau, she had never even gotten a single kill? Look how excited she had become.

In reality, not getting kills was the norm. An excellent Aether specialist like Tong Hua was too valuable to risk. After finishing reconnaissance and investigation, someone like her would be carefully tucked back into a safe house and locked up with two extra padlocks. Only then would the rest of the squad feel comfortable charging into the enemy stronghold and hacking everything in sight.

Going to the front lines personally? Had she lost her mind? The tiring dirty work was what the Ruins, Swarm, White Deer Chosen Ones, and the other field operatives were for, wasn’t it?

Ji Jue sighed. Looking around at the aftermath, he still couldn’t quite believe it. It was just... so boring.

Wasn’t this kind of unexpected encounter supposed to be a tense battle of wits? A desperate fight while falling back, probing the enemy over and over until you finally spotted an opening and turned the tables with a last-minute comeback?

Instead, there hadn’t been any challenge at all. They had defeated a team consisting of a damage dealer, a control mage, and a tank as easily as chopping down vegetables. Once they were done, they weren’t even out of breath, as if they were just on a leisurely retirement stroll. Was this really what everyday life at the North Mount District Security Bureau was like?

They had it way too easy! How were they supposed to level up if every mission was this relaxed?[1] There was no way he could let a tool—no, a teammate this capable slip away.

Ji Jue’s thoughts spun rapidly, and his gaze toward Tong Hua softened as well. His eyes, shimmering with warmth and brimming with a sweetness he could no longer hide, were gentle enough to melt hearts. He had to seize the opportunity and find a way to get a little more leverage over her!

Miss Tong, you wouldn’t want...

Just as Ji Jue was mulling it over, Tong Hua, who had been grinning, suddenly turned around with a wary look.

“You’re plotting something again, aren’t you?”

Ji Jue clicked his tongue. He smiled as he applauded enthusiastically. Even the monster fetus on the floor started clapping its four tiny hands along with him. “Of course not. I’m just happy for you! Congratulations, Tong Hua. You’ve improved!”

The cold wind howled through the corridor.

A man in a white lab coat and a grotesque, unrecognizable ghostly abomination stood there clapping around Tong Hua. Blood from the nearby corpses pooled across the floor, while another guy, completely fried from overdosing on drugs, lay foaming at the mouth and convulsing.

She couldn’t feel a trace of heartwarming encouragement from the scene. Instead, she felt only a chill that crawled down her spine.

“You’re getting weirder by the day!”

The sound of a soft pair of footsteps drifted down the corridor. The two exchanged a glance.

In one smooth motion, Ji Jue finished reloading Tong Hua’s pistol and tossed it back to her. The moment she caught it, she vanished into thin air. Ji Jue, now “alone,” turned toward the source of sound.

Amid the low, disjointed shuffling, one stiff figure after another emerged and advanced straight toward them like a pack of walking corpses, drawn by the scent of blood. When they rounded the corner and spotted someone they hadn’t expected to find, they all stopped in unison.

Their pale, expressionless faces looked like those of corpses. Their eyes had rolled back until only the whites showed, lacking any spark of awareness. Every one of their movements was stiff and mechanical, while drool slowly trickled from the corners of their mouths.

More importantly, every single one of them was alive, but even though they were still alive, they behaved like corpses. They were completely unresponsive, reduced to mere puppets. They were walking corpses in the literal sense.

As if sensing something was off, a muffled voice came from within the crowd. “Hm?”

Among the shambling, corpse-like puppets, a slightly hunched figure slowly stepped forward. He lifted his ashen face and glanced at Ji Jue. Soon after, his gaze shifted to Tong Hua, who was stealthed nearby.

After a long pause, he nodded in understanding. Calmly, he said, “Please don’t be nervous. I’m just a researcher passing through.”

Ji Jue smiled. “What a coincidence. Me too.”

“I know. Cute little thing, isn’t it? How’d you make it?” The newcomer crouched down and, on his own accord, began poking at the ravenous monster fetus, examining it carefully. “Hm... although the biological structure is a complete mess, the preservation of spirit matter is quite ingenious. Ah, I see... Same style as those spiders from before. You made those too, didn’t you? I thought insects had somehow gotten into the sterile lab. Had me irritated for quite a while.”

As he spoke, he absentmindedly let the monster fetus bite down on one of his fingers. It was instantly crushed and swallowed, but he simply waved it off without concern. Soon, a new finger grew back in its place. Just like that, he casually set the monster fetus aside and kicked it away, then he extended a hand toward Ji Jue in greeting.

Ji Jue waved it off, not accepting the handshake. He studied the man carefully. Although he couldn’t sense any hostility, he still remained cautious and did not act. “How should I address you?”

“I’m Xie Lan. The ‘Xie’ stands for gratitude, and the ‘Lan’ stands for mountain breeze.”

The stranger showed no hesitation and made no attempt to hide anything, stating his name plainly. He even pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it over with both hands. On it were a string of titles: Chief Physician of Cliff City Sports Medicine Center, Director of Evergreen Rehabilitation Institute, and others.

Ji Jue’s eyebrow twitched as he read the long list.

Why does this guy have so many titles?

In front of Ji Jue, the hunched figure slowly straightened his back. With a series of cracking bone sounds, his facial features shifted, like old wallpaper peeling away. His flesh wriggled and reassembled itself, forming a completely new face, one that carried a gentle, friendly smile.

“In Cliff City, there are only a handful of Ember successors. You don’t look like a gigolo[2], nor do you seem like a noble lineage disciple. Hmm, could it be that you’re a student of that master from Tidesound Workshop?”

He nodded as if everything made sense and concluded decisively, “You must be Mr. Ji, correct?”

Ji Jue’s face twitched uncontrollably. “Am I that famous?”

Xie Lan grinned. “Well, you’re a genius who rediscovered Fluid Alchemy. I’ve done similar research myself, so I’m quite interested in your deeds. I look forward to reading your paper soon. Don’t worry. I’m not trying to use you to get ahead. I’m technically a junior from the same lineage as Mr. Zhang. I won’t go as far as to fight someone from the Security Bureau here.”

He paused. His strangely shifting eye, a pupil that seemed to split and recombine continuously, looked behind Ji Jue. A mischievous smile curled on his face.

“Though I didn’t expect someone from the Tong family would end up as unlucky as an ordinary Chosen One like me.” He had looked toward Tong Hua’s position twice already, and both times, he had stated her origin with absolute certainty.

“You know Tong Hua?” Ji Jue asked, tilting his body slightly.

Without revealing herself, Tong Hua said, “We met once.”

She originally wanted to say, This Vortex-type is a lunatic, you have to be careful. But after thinking it through, she had second thoughts. Damn, aren’t you also a lunatic? If you two are in the same room, you might just cancel each other out.

A normal, harmless bystander like herself was barely holding it together from sheer secondhand anxiety; she didn’t have time to worry about anything else.

Xie Lan glanced at the corpses on the ground with a half-smile. “You really helped me out this time. When those guys came to my door trying to convince me to join some Holy Spirit faction, they were pretty aggressive. If it weren’t for you, they probably would’ve come straight to me to attack. I’m not very good at fighting.”

With an exaggerated sigh, Ji Jue nodded in deep agreement. “Exactly, exactly. Me too. Us intellectual types always get bullied.”

They were both researchers. How could they possibly be good at fighting? Usually, they performed research on people, not fight them.

During this brief exchange, Tong Hua had gone completely speechless. After confirming they were allies, these two lunatics immediately started exchanging friendly compliments next to the corpses. Xie Lan praised Ji Jue’s “kid” for being cute, while Ji Jue praised his companion for being friendly. Somehow, their mutual goodwill kept skyrocketing.

After a round of pleasantries, they deepened their understanding toward each other, strengthened their bond, and even exchanged contact information, insisting they visit each other to learn from one another someday.

“We must have been fated to meet, Mr. Xie,” Ji Jue said, gripping his hand reluctantly. “Any interest in joining forces?”

Xie Lan shook his head decisively and turned to glance at the “zombies” behind him.

“Sorry, I really don’t have the time. There are so many rare cases here. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this since I came back from advanced training at the hospital. I don’t even have time to finish studying them, let alone do anything else. Besides, since I’m using them as experimental subjects, I have to make sure I bring them out in one piece. If anything gets damaged before the research is complete, that would be a real shame.”

Ji Jue sighed regretfully. “True.”

Before leaving, Xie Lan glanced down at the only surviving person still twitching on the ground. “By the way, if you’re only trying to get out, you just need to wait a bit longer. Thanks to these guys, this Time Ruin won’t hold much longer. But if you plan to go to the inpatient building, you should be careful. That area is heavily contaminated. And there’s also a group of insane cultists from some Heretic Cult. No one knows what kind of chaos they’ll stir up.”

“Safety first, safety first. Of course we wouldn’t just rush in recklessly,” Ji Jue agreed.

The two exchanged knowing smiles, waved goodbye, then, after taking a few steps, turned back at the same time to wave again. This happened several times. They looked back every three steps until they finally reached the elevator.

The moment the elevator doors closed, before Tong Hua even had time to complain about how absurdly fast these two lunatics had bonded, she saw Ji Jue’s face immediately fall.

At the same time, Xie Lan’s expression also darkened in the corridor. Two synchronized tuts echoed through the ghostly hospital. So many materials, and not a chance to get their hands on any of them.

“Such a pity...”

1. The original raw goes like this: “How could anyone grow in such a comfortable greenhouse?” "温室" (greenhouse) is a metaphor that works naturally in Chinese, but "greenhouse" feels a bit forced in English unless the author is deliberately invoking the phrase greenhouse environment. The meaning here is simply that they’re too sheltered and comfortable to improve. ☜

2. In Sichuan and Chongqing dialects, “卖钩子” (“selling hooks”) is a vulgar slang term meaning to sell one’s butt, i.e. to engage in sex work (specifically receptive anal sex for money) or more generally to engage in prostitution in a crude, insulting way. ☜