Chapter 203
The beastfolk were not an alien species, but a branch of humanity.
More than six thousand years ago, as conditions on Old Earth deteriorated, humanity launched the Age of Interstellar Exploration under the leadership of the three great nations, searching the boundless universe for new homes.
Twenty colonial fleets set out in twenty different directions.
One of them encountered an exceptionally hostile environment. To survive, its people were forced down the path of biochemically modifying themselves with animal genes.
In the end, the beastfolk were born.
After countless years, the beastfolk faced the collapse of their entire race’s genes.
It was at that very moment that they discovered historical beacons left behind by other colonial fleets somewhere in space. Following the beacons, they found another branch of humanity—the one to which Jiang Cheng belonged.
Humans and the beastfolk waged war for years, and the beastfolk suffered a crushing defeat.
Considering that the two races shared common origins on Earth, human society accepted the remnants of the beastfolk.
Accepted them, perhaps—but how could they possibly be treated as equals?
Discrimination was everywhere. The prejudice against the beastfolk was much the same as that against demi-humans. Some people even harbored a particular hatred for them.
When Mo Li transformed in the World, he took on the appearance of an entirely ordinary human.
In reality, however, his true form bore unmistakable beastfolk traits: ears, a tail, and retractable claws on his hands and feet.
The trait for which the beastfolk were most criticized and despised was their refusal to wear shoes.
Nearly all beastfolk walked barefoot.
Humans considered this an animalistic, regressive trait—a sign that they refused to assimilate into civilized society.
It was also why humans believed the beastfolk were unfit to be called human.
As a defeated people, the beastfolk lived a difficult existence in human society.
“Look at him,” a security guard sneered. “With genes modified like that, is he trying to sell himself to men or women?”
A look of humiliation flickered through Mo Li’s eyes.
Thirty percent of his genes came from the feline branch, making his catlike features especially prominent. And because he was exceptionally handsome, people often looked him over with lecherous eyes.
As if he had been born to be someone’s plaything.
The guard laughed and raised his stun baton again, bringing it down viciously.
But it struck nothing.
The feline youth dodged the attack with ease.
The guard flew into a rage and swung the baton again and again, but every blow missed. He could not touch Mo Li at all.
A faint hiss sounded.
A beam of light sliced through the air, and Mo Li collapsed to the floor.
Another guard held a laser rifle. It was not lethal, but it could render a person incapable of movement.
The guards burst out laughing.
So what if a beastman was powerful? Could he really stand against advanced weaponry?
The first guard stormed over, stun baton in hand, determined to teach the beastman brat a lesson.
The heels of his black shoes clacked against the floor. He raised the baton high, preparing to bring it down hard on the beastman’s back.
At that moment, Mo Li lifted his eyes.
Who was the plaything?
Blinding speed. Keen senses.
He could cross flames barefoot. His skin could withstand electric shocks and lasers.
He possessed an innate talent for the hunt.
A recon operative!
A vanguard!
A warrior!
Amid the startled cries, everything changed in an instant.
Human eyes could not follow the beastman’s movements. He was simply too fast.
By the time anyone could see clearly, the guard was already being held hostage.
One of Mo Li’s hands had transformed into a claw, its razor-sharp nails pressed against the guard’s throat.
“None of you move!”
The guards shouted furiously, “Are you insane? Let him go!”
“You steal something, you steal something! Assaulting a person is a completely different crime from theft!”
“Let him go, now!”
“I’m not here to steal anything!” Mo Li insisted, eager to set the record straight. “I’m here to...”
Then he realized he could not explain himself.
In truth, it was not all that different from stealing.
So he said nothing.
Holding the guard hostage, he backed away until he reached the service desk—the lounge where everyone stopped before leaving for the day.
He had observed everything clearly. Whenever people emerged from the sleep pods, they had to scan their personal terminals here.
That meant the computer at the desk should contain everyone’s personal information.
Cui Haiyang had told him that the customer-service computer in a public lounge like this contained no confidential data and would be easy to hack.
Cui Haiyang had even given him the tool for breaking into it.
Cui Haiyang was obviously a habitual offender. But everyone was just scraping by at the bottom of society, and no one looked down on anyone else.
Zhao Yi did not want Gao Yuxuan getting too close to Cui Haiyang because Gao Yuxuan was still young.
His family was not in such dire straits, either.
The college student and the high school student were only working part-time. They were different from people like them, who were struggling simply to survive. They still had a future ahead of them.
Mo Li pulled a small, flat black box from his pocket and slapped it onto the service desk.
The computer activated, and a light screen unfolded above the desk.
Mo Li did not need to operate it. Cui Haiyang had already written the program.
Today, theirs was the only project involving a large-scale movement of people. The program automatically began searching the personnel records for women who matched the required criteria.
Photograph after photograph flashed by at high speed.
Mo Li’s pupils vibrated rapidly.
Images that moved too quickly for ordinary people to see clearly appeared perfectly distinct to him.
The hostage guard tried to struggle. Mo Li’s claws pierced the skin of his throat, and blood began to trickle down.
Terrified, the guard immediately stopped moving.
The other guards faced the beastman with their laser rifles raised, but they did not dare act recklessly. Clearly, the laser rifles that were effective against ordinary people had little effect on the beastman before them.
One guard quietly cursed to another, “What’s wrong with the security system? Why hasn’t it activated yet?”
Human guards were merely for show. True security relied on sophisticated high technology.
But technology was in human hands.
Far away in space, Uncle Jiang was controlling everything remotely.
He stole a quiet glance at Jiang Cheng’s profile.
Jiang Cheng stood with her arms folded, watching everything unfold on the light screen. She gave no instructions.
She had already read the reports.
According to them, Mo Li was one of the people who had come to the service desk asking about her.
He had nearly gotten into a confrontation with the staff there. Cui Haiyang had stopped him.
Afterward, he and Cui Haiyang had both boarded the last ship to leave.
The same ship carrying Song Jingshuo, Zhao Yi, and Gao Yuxuan.
She had watched him leave.
All right. She could admit it now: she had been a little angry at the time.
Of course, the service desk would not give them any information. They would not disclose anyone else’s information, much less Jiang Cheng’s.
But it would have been one thing if the others had given up.
How could this man give up so easily?
Who had been obsessed with being close to her, always clinging to her and holding her whenever they were alone?
Who had moaned beneath her, saying that he would remain loyal to her for the rest of his life?
Who had said he was willing to fight for her until the day he died?
How could he have abandoned everything so easily and boarded the ship?
Jiang Cheng had been selected from among countless embryos and raised through a program of targeted cultivation.
She had not merely been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. It would be more accurate to say she had been born with a diamond one.
The life of a top tycoon was beyond the wildest dreams of ordinary people. But every gain came with a loss. There were things Jiang Cheng was destined never to have—things ordinary people could obtain with ease.
Apart from Uncle Jiang, only two kinds of people surrounded Jiang Cheng.
Those employed by her.
And those who came before her seeking profit.
In the eyes of all these people, all they could see was her identity as the current operations executive of the Jiang Consortium.
They had all come because of that identity.
No one had come because of Jiang Cheng herself.
Jiang Cheng had been raised by a quantum cloud. From a young age, she had known exactly why she had been born and what she was meant to do when she grew up.
She had understood the meaning of money and power since childhood, and she knew the basic desires that drove human nature.
In the real world, she was destined to face everyone only as an executive.
Even those who were loyal to her or tried their best to please her were aiming at that identity.
No one followed her unwaveringly, refusing to leave her side, simply because she was Jiang Cheng.
Except for the people in the “World.”
And among those people in the “World,” Mo Li had been the first.
The first to interact with her.
The first to form a deep bond with her.
Her intimacy with him had even surpassed that which she shared with Song Jingshuo and Li Jiangbing.
Uncle Jiang had said, “That boy is the biggest bug in the ‘World.’”
Uncle Jiang had not originally needed to adjust the “World” so many times.
The fact that Jiang Cheng had not been given powerful combat abilities was, in itself, the greatest difficulty built into the virtual world.
In a world where the weak were preyed upon by the strong after a massive disaster, how could a woman without formidable combat abilities break through the obstacles and become a leader?
The difficulty had instantly shot up.
And yet, a beastman whose boundaries and definition were both extremely vague had managed to exploit a bug.
Although Jiang Cheng herself did not possess powerful combat abilities in the “World,” she held the strongest fighting force in her hands.
Mo Li had protected her every step of the way, causing the difficulty to plummet.
Uncle Jiang had been forced to recalculate the data and carefully readjust the balance.
Jiang Cheng naturally understood this.
She curled the corners of her lips. “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Then she suddenly realized what she had just said.
Those bits of personal bias had been forcibly stuffed into her mind by the others.
Jiang Cheng grew angry again.
Uncle Jiang said approvingly, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the executive smile.”
Jiang Cheng: “...”
Jiang Cheng raised one finger. “One day...”
“There will never be such a day.” Uncle Jiang told her calmly. “That sentence was written into my foundational code. No one can delete or alter it except the person herself.”
Jiang Cheng pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why is Great-Grandmother so fixated on that line? What’s so special about it?”
The tastes of an old woman from several generations ago were truly bizarre.
She had heard it so often since childhood that she was practically sick of it.
What a strange sense of humor.
In the hall, the information on the light screen raced past before finally coming to a stop.
No.
Mo Li had seen many familiar people, but the person he was looking for was nowhere to be found.
Mo Li gritted his teeth. His claws extended farther, piercing the skin of the security guard’s neck and making him cry out in pain. “Don’t—don’t!”
Mo Li barked, “Find someone for me. She also took part in the project that ended yesterday. A young woman—no, don’t filter by age or gender. Find this person in the project data. Her name in the virtual world was Jiang Cheng!”
She was straddling him, her entire body glowing.
She needed him!
She needed him!
It was because of her that his life had found meaning!
If she no longer needed him in the real world, then at the very least, she had to tell him to his face.
He would not pester her.
As long as she told him in person that she did not need him, he would turn around and leave.
“Calm down. We don’t have permission to access the experimental data. That data is kept at the research center,” the security guard said. “But everyone who took part in yesterday’s project passed through here and clocked in. This is the only exit. Whether they needed to leave or were going on to participate in another project, they all had to pass through here. We have records of everyone.
“If there’s no record, then she wasn’t here.”
Mo Li’s expression changed.
He shouted furiously, “Where did you lock her up!”
Killing intent surged from his body.
Jiang Cheng felt a faint ache in her heart.
What normal person would immediately assume that someone had been locked up?
Unless he had experienced it himself.
For example, a beastman born on a wealthy man’s private planet.
A beastman who had worn gravity shackles since childhood, with his combat abilities restricted.
A beastman born to be nothing more than a private toy.
A beastman who had escaped after surviving countless brushes with death.
In this country, the wealthy were the political donors behind the politicians.
The rich could do whatever they wanted.
When the scandal broke, so many politicians and wealthy people had visited that planet, yet not one of them had faced legal punishment.