Chapter 20: Is That Cub-cub’s Baba?
The deep-sleeping cub didn’t notice at all that the Ghost Vine had bristled its thorns and spikes toward the door, facing a formidable enemy. Like a kitten encountering a natural predator, its fur stood on end as it hissed at the foe.
Several peripheral Ghost Vine branches charged first. When they retreated, their tips had vanished, the cuts were smooth, and charred mold spots rapidly spread downward. The Ghost Vine decisively discarded the branch parts, not even wanting the nutrients produced by those branches. It was clear how much of a crisis the dark shadow standing at the door posed to the Ghost Vine.
When Shen Lin woke up in the morning, he found the main branch of the Ghost Vine wrapped around his wrist was wilted, like a small cabbage that hadn’t received water for a long time.
“En-ying~”
How did you get yourself into this state?
Shen Lin mumbled a few words in a low voice and linked with the Ghost Vine’s mental sea. A large area of black pollution came into view. A pink light-strand emerged from between his brows, turning into a pink broom and a pink dustpan, sweeping away the trash in the Ghost Vine’s mental sea. Packed, crushed, and ground into powder, it turned into nutrients and was absorbed by the light-strand.
The Ghost Vine regained its vitality and affectionately rubbed against the cub’s finger.
Creak—Bang!
The door was violently burst open.
“Bingbing, are you alright?!”
“Little Master, are you okay? Does your body feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
Shen Zexi and the butler, followed by a crowd of people, rushed in. Shen Lin blinked his eyes, the whole cub looking dazed.
Shen Zexi grabbed Shen Lin and scanned him up and down. There were no obvious wounds on the outside. She let out a heavy sigh of relief in her heart, but her mouth asked: “Where is the healer?”
“Here, I’m here!”
The healer squeezed out from the crowd, his hands turned into snow-white wings. As the wings flapped, several feathers drifted down.
Shen Zexi said, “What happened to you?”
“I was just accidentally swept by the bloodline energy left behind by the Marshal. I’ll be fine in a moment.”
Shen Lin’s round eyes stared at the healer’s mouth, which had turned into a long bird beak. He could even see the long tip of a tongue inside the opening and closing beak as he spoke.
“Fortunately, the Little Master was not affected.”
The healer’s words made everyone present let out a long sigh of relief. Shen Zexi ensured the cub was fine, told the healer to keep a constant eye here, and led the others away.
At this time, the interior of the Shen household was in chaos. The patrolling guards and working servants had all beastified; they had all turned into irrational beasts, savage and violent. Shen Zexi, along with the butler Uncle Chen, was capturing the beastmen who were causing the chaos.
It wasn’t until nightfall that the Shen family completely quieted down. Collapsed houses could be seen everywhere, and deep pits were left in the ground. Flames licked the buildings, and the scent of scorched energy from the use of energy guns lingered at the tip of the nose.
Several robots slid out from the corners, diligently cleaning. Looking like mechanical insects magnified several times, they repaired the damaged areas according to the builder’s instructions. Before the sky had fully darkened, the buildings inside the Shen estate were refreshed, as if the previous scene of ruin had never occurred.
Shen Lin only learned the details from the head maid A-Mei’s snippets of conversation the next day. The source of all this was caused by the legendary Father, Marshal Shen, who had appeared.
It turned out that in the early hours of yesterday, Uncle Chen discovered that the medical team and the captain of the guard, who were taking care of Marshal Shen deep within the Beast Blood Pool, hadn’t come out for a long time. Sensing something was wrong, Uncle Chen immediately took people to check.
As they approached the entrance to the Beast Blood Pool, they saw the doors wide open. The guarding soldiers had beastified and gone into a frenzy, killing each other. Marshal Shen, who was supposed to be deep in the pool, was nowhere to be found. Uncle Chen immediately contacted the Second Miss, the only one currently able to take charge.
Shen Zexi found that her father’s residual bloodline power had been heading toward the small castle to the east. Her heart skipped a beat. When she rushed over, she found a pile of moldy vines at the door, with her father’s bloodline power attached to them. She recognized these as the cub’s “companion” Ghost Vine.
In the moment she pushed open the door, Shen Zexi thought she would see a mangled cub corpse. However, her younger brother was perfectly fine.
At the same time, Shen Zexi felt it was strange. Logically, her father’s reason had reached its breaking point. In the words of the healer specifically in charge of treating her father, it wouldn’t be long before her father completely turned into a bloodthirsty monster.
Yet, the strange part was here: seeing the images transmitted via hologram, her father had gone straight to the younger brother’s residence, but he didn’t kill him. He only stopped at the door for a few seconds before leaving.
It defied logic.
The healer, who had just recovered from the influence of the bloodline power, was baffled, nearly scratching the feathers off his head.
“Hiss, the Marshal’s emotions have been very stable recently. Only this one time, it was as if he was triggered by some kind of external stimulus and left the Beast Blood Pool.”
Shen Zexi stood three meters away from the light-screen. While listening to the healer’s shocked and puzzled ramblings, her gaze looked into the light-net where the mechanical insects were making repairs.
At the center of the light-net, which covered the area like a cage from all angles, lay a mountain-like, massive creature. Its fur was black as ink, automatically standing up like steel needles to shoot at enemies when danger was encountered. Its limbs were long and sturdy, its claws like steel blades, and a thunderous purring sound came from its belly. The sonic waves carried by the sound were eerily distorted into whirlpools with black spots, looking like moth-flies clinging to the retina.
It looked like a silent stone statue, with no apparent danger. However, the black, steel-whip-like tail behind it frequently snapped through the air with sonic booms. The ground built from energy stones was smashed into horrifyingly deep pits.
The incomprehensible, unspeakable monster-beast before them was the Federation’s God of War—Marshal Shen Zhengtu.
“Councilor Shen, Marshal Shen’s current state is already uncontrollable. I suggest sending him to the Abyss of Blood to avoid irreversible consequences.”
Inside the White Tower, the holographic projections of the council members frequently changed on the light-board before Shen Zexi. Their appearances were diverse. Some were exceptionally handsome, like gods. Some could no longer be called human, looking more like monsters. With no features, their tentacles were molded into human shapes, and the tips of the tentacles split into mouths. Voices were emitted from their limbs, perfectly achieving a 360-degree surround-sound mode.
Although their appearances were vastly different, they all wore the silver-white councilor robes. Every announcement and opinion they made was related to the future direction of the entire Federation.
“Fifth Council Elder, does your proposal carry personal emotions? Marshal Shen has fought his life out for the Federation for so many years. Just a month ago, he drove away the Zerg for the Federation and reclaimed thirty-six star cities. He is a hero to all beastmen in the Federation. Now you want to exile the hero? What will the beastmen of the Federation think? If the White Tower Council tacitly agrees that once a hero’s time is over, they should crawl into the Abyss of Blood to wait for death, then will our warriors still be able to fight without worries in the future?”
Shen Zexi’s words were powerful and resonant, like stones creating ripples in a calm pool. The councilors whispered to each other.
Seeing the situation deviate from the expected path, the Fifth Council Elder couldn’t sit still. At his age, losing a verbal battle to a younger generation was worse than going home to farm. Especially with those of similar age looking on with mocking eyes.
That gaze was undoubtedly a silent slap to the face.
“Councilor Shen, please do not be unreasonable! I am speaking based on the facts!”
A smile blossomed on Shen Zexi’s cold, elegant face, like a sea-demon in the world.
“Me, unreasonable? Fifth Council Elder, you seem to have forgotten the bounty you spent a large amount of star-coins on to hire bounty hunters to harm my younger brother. It’s still hanging on the bounty list right now. Do you really think you did it flawlessly?”
The Fifth Council Elder’s face changed slightly, but he quickly hid his emotions and cold-snorted: “Councilor Shen, we are now discussing the reasons and consequences of allowing Marshal Shen to stay. I admit, Marshal Shen’s contributions to the Federation are supreme, but his bloodline beastification has reached its collapse point. Marshal Shen is an SS-grade top-tier Fierce Beast. If his bloodline goes berserk and he runs out of the Shen residence, who will be responsible for the lives of the hundreds of millions of people in the Prime Star City?!”
The Third Council Elder nodded in agreement. “Old Five’s words, though a bit blunt, are well-intentioned. Currently, Marshal Shen’s bloodline power has begun to affect others. It’s hard to guarantee he won’t lose control again. Sending him to the Abyss of Blood is the best choice.”
“Since ancient times, the end of beastmen bloodline development has always been turning into irrational beasts. Even a very gentle herbivorous sheep beastman is no exception. Councilor Shen’s strong opposition to sending Marshal Shen to the Abyss of Blood… you aren’t harboring the naive idea of letting Marshal Shen regain control of the Ninth Legion, are you?”
The Fifth Council Elder’s last sentence was loaded with meaning, undoubtedly sounding an alarm for some. Soon, those who were coldly observing jumped out:
“I agree with the elders’ words. A beastman after going berserk is just a wild beast; they can no longer possess human reason.” “I also agree. Marshal Shen’s existence is too dangerous. The Abyss of Blood is his home!” …
The Federation Prime Star Chief Executive, who had been sitting in his seat with his eyes closed to rest, finally opened them to give the final verdict on this meeting.
“Councilor Shen has a point. Marshal Shen has bled for the Federation. It would be too heartless to just send him to the Abyss of Blood like this, and it would chill the hearts of the warriors. How about this: the healer said Marshal Shen still has three months left. Let him stay in the Prime Star City for three months. If after three months, Marshal Shen’s injuries haven’t improved, it won’t be too late to send him to the Abyss of Blood.”
The meeting ended, and Shen Zexi returned home with a cold face the entire time. Although she knew her father being sent to the Abyss of Blood was a foregone conclusion, the cold attitude of the council still made her heart feel chilled.
Shen Zexi rubbed her aching temples. Catching sight of her lips in the mirror turning pitch black, her eyelashes trembled. She found a suppressor and stabbed it into her neck.
The Black Mamba’s venom was incomparably potent; the suppressor could only serve to block the toxin near the venom sac. However, possessing the top-tier Black Mamba bloodline, there were times she still couldn’t control the toxin’s effect on herself.
Yesterday, the Second Sister didn’t come to his place. Shen Lin felt a trace of hidden unease in his heart.
A-Mei, the head maid who had been taking care of the young master, saw him riding the Xingma Beast out and lifted her skirt to follow with a group of servants.
“Little Master, you’ve come at a bad time. The Second Miss has just gone out.”
Shen Lin didn’t see his second sister and could only return the way he came. He thought yesterday was a special case, but unexpectedly, he didn’t see his second sister for several days after that. The cub felt that even his favorite food wasn’t fragrant anymore.
A-Mei saw this but had no way to help the cub.
Fortunately, Shen Zexi came back to accompany the cub to sleep a few days later. A-Mei saw that the young master’s appetite had returned to normal and was happy for several days.
This night, the cub was resting as usual when a sharp, stabbing pain suddenly came from his mind. That was the alarm issued by the Ghost Vine sensing danger.
The cub opened his eyes and looked around alertly. In the darkness, he touched something. It was cold to the touch, with a special granular texture…
It was snake scales!
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