Chapter 00019: The Vessel of Calamity
# The Vessel of Calamity
Chapter 19
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 19: The Vessel of Calamity
“It’s done. Everything is arranged.”
In the afternoon, Lu Feng, who had disappeared for an entire day, finally returned with a cheeky grin.
While Ji Jue was washing his hands, he didn’t notice that Lu Feng had already flopped down on Ji Jue’s sick bed, casually picking at his toes without a care.
“Mom took Er Niu and the others back to the village for a few days. The auto repair shop is closed for now; we’ll fix things up once this blows over. I’ve also been to your place and repaired the door for you, but the refrigerator’s completely ruined. You might want to bring the one from the shop back for now to make do. Oh, and I had a parking shed built for your little sheep at the hospital. You can pick it up when you’re discharged.”
As he spoke, Lu Feng pulled out the car keys from his pocket and tossed them onto the table.
With his fingers that had just been busy digging in his toes...
Ji Jue’s eye twitched as he wanted to voice his thoughts.
Could you please get me a new one instead? But then he remembered that his pink little sheep had already been passed around like used goods after Lu Feng exchanged it for a small tricycle.
Who knows how many times those toes had been all over the seat...
Is it too late to hang a sign out at the seafood market?
After some customary complaints, he begrudgingly shared half an apple with Lu Feng, watching as he devoured it without washing his hands.
Ji Jue couldn’t help but admire Lu Feng’s resilient digestive system after training in the Middle Land.
But then again, their bodies were different.
Aside from feeling a jolt of pain, Ji Jue had only managed to roll around a couple of times after his injuries, and he bore few bruises.
The result was that even now he could only shuffle while walking.
On the other hand, Lu Feng, that rascal, had been in close combat with those creatures and ended up taking a hit.
Despite his various wounds, he was bouncing back after just one nap.
“Are you jealous, little brother?” Lu Feng flaunted his bicep, grinning. “I told you to work out sooner, but you didn’t listen. You can hardly run a thousand meters, and now you regret it, huh?”
Ji Jue rolled his eyes and ignored him.
Seeing Lu Feng so full of energy, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t envious.
However, he found himself more focused on whether there had been any changes in his cousin.
Unfortunately, there had been, but only a slight one.
Aside from having extracted his mutation’s essence rather smoothly, the progress bar had reset back to 99. Moreover, the number on the dial that had been covered in gold, which was still a **0**, finally showed some change.
If it had originally been 80 percent covered, it was now nearly 99 percent; only a tiny bit remained untouched.
Regrettably, he still hadn’t made the significant breakthrough from 0 to 1.
It was stuck.
No matter how anxious Ji Jue was, it wouldn’t budge an inch, leaving just that small segment incomplete, causing him to feel an urge to tear off the cover and fix it himself.
He could only burn incense in his mind, hoping that his cousin had not picked up some bad habits from shopping websites before the Calamity Era.
After reaching 99, did it mean there was still more 99? It felt like a distant dream.
Otherwise, he might be stuck as a mere 0 for the rest of his life.
“Oh, and here’s something for you. Just hold onto it for now.”
Lu Feng pulled out something wrapped in black plastic from a cloth bag and shoved it under Ji Jue’s pillow.
As Ji Jue recognized its shape, he couldn’t help but gasp in shock.
A gun!
His face went pale.
“Big brother, this is a hospital! What do I need this for?!”
He lowered his voice and asked, but halfway through, he suddenly realized, eyeing Lu Feng suspiciously. “Why the sudden haul of gear? You haven’t been drafted by the security agency, have you?”
“Have I lost my mind? I just crawled out of the military’s quagmire; why would I dive headfirst into the security agency’s den? Without a summons from the military, trying to mess with my personnel record in the federation is just dreaming.”
Lu Feng waved his hand, hiding his embarrassment. “I went out to avoid some trouble for a while... And if a woman with a scar on her neck asks about me, don’t you dare say anything!”
“What have you done this time?” Ji Jue stared at him incredulously.
“You think all these things just come for free?” Lu Feng rolled his eyes and whispered, “The cheapest handgun with twelve bullets costs twenty-eight thousand, and that’s before the middlemen hike up the price. Damn it, just for this little bit, I had to trick and sweet-talk to get by. If I don’t hurry, I might have to sell myself to pay off my debts and get dragged into becoming a star!”
Ji Jue fell silent.
He stared at him for a long moment before finally patting his shoulder and trying to comfort him. “Feng Ge, don’t overthink it. Those who work in the brothel also need degrees and looks.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
Lu Feng abruptly fired back, his defenses down.
“If it takes a degree and good looks, then you should just do it! After all, it’s all for this family!”
Lu Feng’s words trailed off as a light clicked in his mind.
Right, how did I not think of that?
“You see, isn’t that how they portray it in those sad dramas?” Lu Feng earnestly advised, “The big brother gambles away debts while the parents are sick, and the little siblings can’t afford school fees. After all the struggles, can’t you show some support for Er Niu since she managed to get into Tianmen? You should at least buy her a computer or a phone! Boys don’t really need education; all it takes is for you to loosen your belt a bit, and the family will be alright!”
“Get lost!” Ji Jue, annoyed, kicked him off his bed.
As he watched Lu Feng sway away, the tension weighing on his heart lightened a little.
Seeing that he was still able to joke, it didn’t seem that serious, at least not too serious.
Their banter felt more like something out of a camaraderie of soldiers; certainly wouldn’t be the kind that routinely traded tech tips in the artillery camp!
“Such a close brother relationship, huh?”
An old man, all frail and with a leg in plaster, sighed from the adjacent bed. “Ah, my brother hasn’t been around for years. My two boys also never got along, always fighting.”
“Oh, they’re just kids; they’re bound to be mischievous. They’ll understand once they grow up,” chimed in a kindly aunt from another bed. “My second and third ones were the same. They knew how tough life was once they grew up and realized family is still the most dependable. I visited them a couple of days ago, and they were all cuddled up in one blanket. The eldest even occasionally stays over!”
The old man expressed his feelings, “A harmonious family means prosperity; you’re lucky, dear sister.”
Meanwhile, Ji Jue stood there, dumbfounded, many times wanting to say something, but ultimately choosing silence.
He lay back on the bed, dreaming of one day achieving a leap from zero to one, and gradually drifted off to sleep.
Outside, twilight settled in as the evening approached.
From afar, the sound of an explosion echoed like thunder in the wind.
Thick smoke slowly began rising from the foot of the mountain on the other side of the Cliff City.
“What’s happening?”
In a violently shaking office, filled with swirling smoke, employees outside screamed in terror, transforming into grotesque creatures as they charged at invaders.
Only inside the newly branded president’s office was there a chilling silence.
An elderly man hidden behind the window was frozen in shock.
He was frantically dialing the phone in his hand, over and over.
Finally, he got through amidst the busy signal and couldn’t suppress his rage. “What’s going on? Lawrence, what in the world have you done?!”
Lu Wendong was nearly fainting, shaking in fear. “Didn’t you say it was foolproof?!”
“The experiment was indeed foolproof.”
On the other end, a calm and warm voice replied reassuringly, “Rest assured, your sacrifice will not be in vain.”
“What do you mean?”
Lu Wendong felt like he had fallen into an icy pit, screaming, “Don’t forget who pulled you out of that mess. If it weren’t for me…”
“Sixteen patents capable of bringing in significant long-term profits and multiply the valuation of your company, isn’t that enough?”
Lawrence laughed, “Besides, I’ve invested my full effort and created ten standard longevity pills for you, and a no-side-effect calming agent to help you rise to great heights. As for the minor troubles that have arisen from it, they are just inevitable side effects. As a CEO of a pharmaceutical company, don’t you ever read instructions? Our contract has ended, Mr. Lu. Thank you for your support and contributions all this time. I will happily acknowledge you in my future papers. This is a significant achievement etched in medical history!”
“Go to hell!”
Amid the approaching thunder of explosions, Lu Wendong roared, shouting into the phone, “Don’t forget; without me, who would help you find qualified test subjects? In all this time, you’ve only produced so many failures, and the only one worth anything has died. Wait, I can still…”
Crack!
The words hadn’t even left his lips when a crisp sound echoed.
A golden chain manifested from midair, then shattered into pieces.
The Covenant of the Yuan has been broken.
“Now, please make the final sacrifice for our great shared undertaking.”
In that instant, Lu Wendong stood rigid, gasping heavily, unable to stop himself from spitting blood as the crimson stained his lips.
Veins bulged and hands quickly elongated, turning into sharp claws.
Then, another twisted head sprouted from his shoulder.
His body swelled, and swelled again!
In just a few brief moments, the barriers of the walls were shattered, as if his flesh-like form rolled out, and the eyes covering his body glimmered with despair, replaced with animalistic hunger and madness.
Amidst the falling debris, the voice on the phone still echoed through the ruins.
“Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, don’t worry, the experiment will definitely yield results.”
Lawrence smiled, filled with joy. “I have already found a better ‘vessel’—no, it should be said, a genuine ‘instrument of calamity’!”
But Lu Wendong could no longer hear.
The colossal abomination, weighing tons, appeared as a mountain range, with limbs and arms extending from its form—a massive mouth opening at the center, spewing out toxins and acid.
With a mere twist of its body, it cast a massive shadow.
Turning slowly, it gazed at the intruders who did not belong here, opened its mouth, and lunged forward!
Then it flew back the same way, crashing into the factory, landing directly in the production workshop, pinned down by a suddenly appearing crystal pillar.
Wen Wen didn’t even notice what she had casually thrown out.
At that moment, amidst the swarm of ghastly monsters attacking, her brow furrowed as she listened intently to the call she had just received, growing more agitated. “Could you please speak plainly?”
(End of Chapter)