Chosen: Beyond Fate

Just like that, Ji Jue casually stood up from the chair, calmly straightening the collar Lian Cheng had crumpled earlier and brushing back the hair that had fallen across his forehead.

“Not bad, I guess,” the Ember craftsman said. “Honestly, it’s not that bad. Why did that other guy sound like a screaming chicken[1]?”

Lian Cheng clenched his jaw and forced down his rage without saying a word. In reality, he was already pouring everything he had into suppressing the spread of the Undying Disease within his body.

Endure. Endure it. I have to lie low and endure[2]. After all that preparation, it’s almost time... Tonight... tonight, you’re all going to die.

A flash of viciousness disappeared beneath his lowered gaze.

Beside him, Ji Jue was talking nonstop, but he seemed like a completely different person. After circling Lian Cheng for a moment with an expression of deep admiration, he suddenly began praising him outright. “Oh wow, I was too narrow-minded to see the bigger picture. I didn’t expect this treatment method to actually be so effective. Impressive. Truly impressive. Absolutely astonishing!”

Lian Cheng didn’t even bother responding anymore. He was afraid Ji Jue would pull out some other bizarre trick, so he flicked his sleeve and turned to leave.

From behind him came that eerie, hellish echo. Facing all the physicians, Ji Jue, still smiling, said, “I have a new treatment method I’d like to propose. May I try something?”

Lian Cheng’s steps came to an abrupt halt. With some difficulty, he turned back, only to see Ji Jue pull a box from his pocket. The box was engraved with layers upon layers of spirit matter circuits that sealed its interior and exterior. When it opened, it revealed a syringe filled with a drug.

A crimson even deeper than blood surged within the syringe, churning fiercely. Just looking at that strand of crimson alone was enough to make one’s spirit tremble uncontrollably. Rage, hatred, resentment, disgust, and countless malicious emotions rose unbidden from the heart. A single thread of it was enough to drag any living being into an irreversible demonic state.

A crack finally appeared at the corner of Lian Cheng’s eyes despite his furious glare. A hint of crimson surfaced, like a tear about to fall in tragic despair.

That’s... That’s... That’s the fucking essence extracted from an aberrant soul, the impurity of the Nine Abominations refined through unknown amounts of spirit matter cultivation and purification, Rampant Slaughter Poison! You little bastard, you...

“NO!” Lian Cheng screamed, barely realizing how panicked his voice sounded. “Absolutely not!!!”

The Lord’s medium was in the process of merging with the Undying Disease. If a new Nine Abominations toxin were injected into it now, nobody knew what kind of monstrous thing this whole mixture would turn into.

Don’t even think about it. Dream on. As long as I’m still alive, I’ll never allow it.

“No, absolutely not. Everyone, do not believe a word of this newcomer’s nonsense! The treatment is at a critical stage right now. Using something so dangerous without verification... If it worsens the condition...”

“So what if it worsens?” Ji Jue asked, the mockery in his smile growing wider and wider. “No matter how much it worsens or spirals out of control, the end result is just... death, right?”

All the confused doctors froze in shock. Then, a strange, excited light appeared in their eyes, as if they were starving.

Death.

For many people, death was the most terrifying thing in the world. But not here. Here, death was the most luxurious blessing one could ever receive.

Under the infection of the Undying Disease, the patient’s soul and flesh were fused into aberration, forced to wail until the moment of complete annihilation. There was no escape or release, only eternal suffering.

But now, a shortcut to death had appeared before their eyes? It was practically ‌gospel.

Yes. They had already witnessed the newcomer’s capabilities. And that syringe clearly radiated extreme lethality. So why not try it? What if it worked? What if the patient really could die?! Why not give it a try?! After all, only by trying could one pass on.

Starting with the hospital director, physicians stepped forward one after another, bowing their heads in reverence. They stared at the syringe in Ji Jue’s hand with fanatical intensity, almost ready to worship it.

“NO!” Lian Cheng’s veins bulged, his face twisting with rage. He still tried to object. “What if the treatment methods conflict?! Without proper verification, abruptly changing the approach will only cause everything to fall apart at the last moment! I disagree with...”

A chill suddenly coursed through his heart, and he shivered uncontrollably. It felt as if he had just made a critically wrong decision, with no path left to turn back. With that one step, he had finally stepped off a cliff.

Ji Jue smiled again, looking so gentle and pleased, as if looking at a piece of material that was lying on the operating table, waiting for its blessing. He raised the syringe in his hand, pointing it at the dumbfounded Lian Cheng. At last, the hidden blade was revealed. “That’s exactly why we need verification. Before we actually use this on a patient, don’t we already have a perfect clinical test subject?”

Inside the Time Ruin, aside from the patients themselves, wasn’t there another person who had also been infected by the Undying Disease and subjected to the same treatment?

A deathly silence enveloped the area.

The moment the syringe in Ji Jue’s hand pointed forward, all the physicians stiffened like puppets. The smiles on their faces remained, and their crimson eyes lit up with eerie brilliance. They all turned their gaze toward the now critically important test subject, the living sacrifice who had willingly stepped onto the altar—Lian Cheng!

Yes. Yes. Yes!

The doctors erupted in ecstatic joy. The aberrant beings cheered, choked with emotion. They even shed tears of relief. There was still one left, wasn’t there? There was still a one-of-a-kind experimental subject, wasn’t there?!

Under Ji Jue’s guidance and push, step by step, Lian Cheng had climbed onto the altar and turned himself into an experiment. In utter despair, he suddenly realized that he had become, quite literally, irreplaceable.

From the very beginning, this had been Ji Jue’s goal. The moment he’d agreed in that conference room, his fate of utter ruin had already been sealed.

“Guh...” Lian Cheng’s face alternated between fury and fear. He swallowed with difficulty. When he glanced back at Ji Jue, he could no longer hide the fear in his eyes. There was even a trace of pleading there.

Massive shadows covered his face, blocking out all hope and illusion.

Ji Jue raised the syringe in his hand, flicking it slightly as air bubbles pushed through the liquid. “Were you about to ask if there’s still room for reconciliation? You can ask. You can even hold on to hope. Unfortunately, no matter how many times you ask, there will only ever be one answer.”

Sorry. No. It’s impossible. It’s already too late. From the moment your little band of clowns sent the Time Ruin to Cliff City, the express train to hell has already set off for you. And look, this train has arrived on time. Please collect your belongings, disembark in an orderly manner, and receive the warm welcome of the locals, along with unending despair and torment.

“Let’s begin.”

At Ji Jue’s smile, the swarming physicians surrounded Lian Cheng. They cheered and praised him, thanking him for his continued contribution and sacrifice.

Ignoring his struggles and resistance, they forcibly strapped him back onto the chair, tying up his neck, hands, and feet, until he couldn’t move an inch. The old restraints and shackles clicked shut once more, locking him down completely.

Finally, the raised syringe pushed out the last trace of air, and a grotesque shadow fell across that distorted face.

“Don’t worry. No need to be afraid,” Ji Jue said, offering a final, soothing reassurance. The cold needle pierced the flesh and blood vessel in Lian Cheng’s wrist. “After this injection, you will only think about dedicating yourself to others and treating patients from now on.”

The plunger was pushed all the way down, and the Rampant Slaughter Poison was completely injected into Lian Cheng. What echoed through the room was a symphony of screams, more horrific than anything even hell could produce.

1. 惨叫鸡 is referring to “screaming chicken” (also called a “stress-relief chicken”), a plastic squeaky toy that became popular among office workers and students in the late 2000s. When squeezed or kneaded, it produces a sound that imitates a human-like scream. Here’s a picture for your reference. ☜

2. “Lie low and endure with claws and fangs hidden” comes from a classical reference in the literary novel Water Margin (Water Margin / Shuihu Zhuan), from Song Jiang’s rebellious poem “Xijiangyue” written at Xunyang Tower. The full line reads, “Like a fierce tiger lying on a barren hill, hiding its claws and fangs while enduring.”

Meaning-wise, it uses the metaphor of a tiger forced to crouch in desolation despite its strength and ambition. It describes someone with great talent and plans who, due to unfavorable circumstances, must restrain themselves, hide their sharp edge, endure humiliation, and wait patiently for the right moment to rise again. ☜