139: Chapter 139 From Demonic Cultivation to Environmental Fines

Icy rain mixed with mud splashed onto Su Yang's face.

He opened his eyes abruptly; his vision was still blurry, and his head was buzzing as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. Before he could mobilize the last trace of Devilish Qi in his body, a strong electric current surged through him, causing his muscles to spasm and a strange "cluck" sound to emerge from his throat.

"Don't bother struggling. This is the latest polymer restraint net, woven with high-strength conductive fibers."

Gu Changan's voice came from above, carrying that calmness that made people grit their teeth in hatred.

Su Yang raised his head with difficulty.

At this moment, he was wrapped tightly like a silkworm cocoon, and even his mouth had been covered with special sealing tape. He could only glare at the man in front of him with bloodshot eyes.

The abandoned chemical plant, which had served as the spell-casting site, was now completely surrounded by warning tape. Beside the pool churning with foul-smelling bloody water, the atmosphere was no longer eerie and terrifying; instead, it seemed... rather lively.

A group of personnel in bright yellow protective suits, carrying various instruments, were busy at the scene. They stirred the blood pool with sampling tubes, pointing at their instruments from time to time and clicking their tongues.

"Director, this is too exaggerated."

A middle-aged man with thick-rimmed glasses, holding a freshly printed long data sheet, trotted up to Gu Changan. Judging by the badge on his uniform chest, he was the captain of the Environmental Inspection Detachment of the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

"Our city's industrial emission standards are already strict, but this guy... this pool of unknown liquid is practically a biochemical bomb."

The captain handed the sheet to Gu Changan, his tone exaggerated. "The chemical oxygen demand exceeds the limit by 12,000 times, the ammonia nitrogen content is off the charts, and the most ridiculous part is this phosphorus content. I don't think he's practicing cultivation; I think he's refining fertilizer! And this soil, the penetration depth is at least three meters. The groundwater system in this area is probably doomed."

Gu Changan took the sheet and glanced at it, nodding with satisfaction. "So that counts as a special-grade environmental pollution accident?"

"Absolutely special-grade!" the captain said decisively. "With this level of pollution, just soil replacement and groundwater purification will start at twenty million, and that's not even counting subsequent ecological restoration costs."

"Did you hear that, Mr. Su Yang?" Gu Changan held the long data sheet and squatted in front of Su Yang, casually tearing off the tape on his mouth.

With a crisp "rip" sound, Su Yang's mouth twitched in pain, but he couldn't care about that. He stared at the Environmental Protection Bureau captain as if he had heard something absurd.

"What environmental pollution? What twenty million?"

Su Yang roared, his voice hoarse like a broken gong. "This seat is refining supreme Devilish blood! It is a Heaven And Earth Treasure! You mortals actually compare it to sewage? That is blasphemy! Blasphemy!"

"Blasphemy my foot."

Gu Changan backhanded the mud-stained data sheet and "slapped" it onto Su Yang's forehead.

"In the eyes of the law, this stuff is just hazardous waste. Did you think that by engaging in feudal superstition, you wouldn't have to follow the basic law?"

Gu Changan stood up and patted the dust off his hands. "In addition to suspected intentional homicide, illegal medical practice, and illegal possession of controlled weapons, there is now a charge of serious environmental pollution. This twenty-million fee for treatment will be added directly to your name, or rather, to the account of the Su Group."

Su Yang was trembling with rage, his chest heaving violently.

"Gu Changan! This is extortion! This seat does not accept this!"

"Whether you accept it or not is your business." Gu Changan turned and waved to Chen Xiaobei, who was nearby. "Drain all his precious bloody water from that pool, put it into hazardous waste treatment tanks, and take it away to the incineration power plant. Remember to have the Young Master of the Su Family settle the treatment fee as well."

"Pfft—!"

Su Yang finally couldn't hold it back and spat out a mouthful of old blood.

His lifeblood! The essence blood of thirteen people he had painstakingly collected! That was his hope for returning to the Foundation Establishment Stage!

It was actually going to be taken to generate electricity?

"A scholar can be killed but not humiliated! If you have the guts, kill me now!" Su Yang's eyes were blood-red, roaring like a madman. "Gu Changan! Kill me! If this seat frowns even once, I am not the Old Ancestor of the Blood River!"

Gu Changan stopped and looked back at Su Yang, who was wriggling on the ground like a maggot.

"Want to die?"

He sneered, his eyes devoid of any warmth.

"In this society ruled by law, death is the cheapest way to escape. You need to live, to stand in the dock, to listen to the prosecutor read your indictment that is dozens of pages long, to look into the eyes of the victims' families, and to pedal a sewing machine in prison for decades."

"That is the rule of this era."

Gu Changan waved his hand. "Take him away. Don't let him bite his tongue to commit suicide; seal his mouth back up for me."

The Special Police swarmed up, roughly sticking the tape back over Su Yang's mouth, and threw him into the armored transport vehicle like a dead dog.

...

Donghai City Public Security Bureau, interrogation room.

The blinding white light shone on Su Yang's face, making his face, pale from excessive blood loss, look even more ghastly.

This was his second time in this place, but this time, the situation was completely different.

"I want to see my lawyer." Su Yang leaned back in the interrogation chair. Although his hands and feet were cuffed, his eyes were still venomous. "The Su Family supports the top legal team in all of Donghai City. I have plenty of money. If a one-billion bail isn't enough, then two billion, fifty billion! As long as I have money, you can do nothing to me."

As long as he could get out.

As long as they gave him even half a day.

He would definitely tear this Gu Changan into a thousand pieces and refine everyone in the police station into blood fiends!

The iron door was pushed open.

It wasn't Gu Changan or the recording officer who entered, but Attorney Zhang, who had previously been respectful to him.

Su Yang's eyes lit up, and a hideous smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Attorney Zhang, you finally came. Hurry, process the bail! This time I want to go to the best private hospital, and I also want to sue them for violent law enforcement!"

Attorney Zhang stood at the door, neither sitting down nor opening his briefcase.

His expression was cold, even carrying a hint of unavoidable disgust.

"Mr. Su Yang, I am not here to handle bail for you this time."

Attorney Zhang took a document from his bag and placed it on the table, pushing it over.

"This is a resolution just passed by the board of directors of the Su Group. In view of your recent series of... anti-social behaviors, which have seriously damaged the group's reputation and caused the stock price to hit the limit down repeatedly, with market value evaporating by more than 30 billion."

"The board of directors has unanimously decided to dismiss you from all positions, freeze all assets under your name, and formally file a lawsuit with the court, demanding you compensate the group for its huge losses."

The smile on Su Yang's face instantly froze.

"What did you say?"

"There is more." Attorney Zhang took out another document. "This is the termination agreement that I and my team have just signed. From now on, we will no longer serve as your defense lawyers. After all, no law firm is willing to defend a terrorist who conducts a bloody murder sacrifice under a live stream across the entire internet."

Su Yang was stunned.

His brain buzzed, as if he had been struck on the head.

The money was gone?

The lawyers ran away?

The Su Family kicked him out?

"You bunch of snobs..." Su Yang struggled violently, the handcuffs hitting the table with a loud noise. "I am Su Yang! I am the only heir of the Su Family! How dare you treat me like this! When I get out, I will kill you all! Kill everyone!"

Attorney Zhang took a step back and pushed up his glasses, his eyes full of pity.

"Mr. Su, I suggest you save your energy. No one can bail you out this time. The chain of evidence submitted by Director Gu is very complete, including on-site videos, victim testimonies, and that twenty-million environmental fine."

"You will most likely spend the rest of your life in a maximum-security prison."

After speaking, Attorney Zhang took one last look at this former financier, turned around, and walked out of the interrogation room, closing the heavy iron door behind him.

Bang.

The world went quiet.

Su Yang slumped in the chair, his chest heaving violently.

Anger, humiliation, despair.

Various emotions gnawed at his heart like poisonous snakes.

"No money... no power... everyone has betrayed me..."

Su Yang lowered his head, his messy long hair covering his face.

Suddenly.

A creepy low laugh squeezed out of his throat.

"Heh... hehehe..."

The laughter grew louder, finally turning into hysterical maniacal laughter.

"Hahahaha! Fools! A bunch of fools!"

Su Yang raised his head abruptly. Where was there any trace of despair in those eyes? Instead, it was replaced by a kind of extreme madness and cruelty.

"Gu Changan, do you think that by cutting off my financial path and catching my people, you have won?"

"You underestimate a Devil Head who has lived for a thousand years."

He glanced at the electronic clock on the wall.

23:45.

Fifteen minutes until the Hour of the Rat.

Su Yang licked his dry lips, his gaze passing through the iron window, looking toward the direction of Donghai City Central Hospital.

As early as three days ago, during that "visiting relatives" operation, he had already planted a Devil Seed in that corpse.

That was the core fuse of the Asura Blood Puppet Technique.

As soon as it reached the Hour of the Rat, when the Yin Qi was heaviest, that seed would sprout. Through the resonance of Death Qi between corpses, it would instantly infect the entire morgue.

In this era where Spiritual Qi is exhausted, the living might rely on technology for armament.

But what about the dead?

Those monsters that don't know pain, are infinitely strong, and will never stop attacking unless they are chopped into pulp—what are you going to use to block them?

"Gu Changan, you just said that death is the cheapest way to escape."

Su Yang's mouth split into an exaggerated arc, revealing white teeth.

"Then tonight, I will let you see what it means to be unable to live and unable to die."

"My army... wake up."

...

Donghai City Central Hospital, Basement Level 3.

This was the quietest place in the entire hospital, with only the buzzing of the air conditioner.

In the duty room, Old Wang was wrapped in a military coat, huddled in a chair listening to midnight ghost stories on the radio, clutching the stainless steel thermos he had just bought.

"Static... that was... an embroidered shoe..."

The radio signal suddenly became poor, emitting a harsh electric current sound.

Old Wang frowned and reached out to pat the radio. "This piece of junk, I have to get a new one someday."

Thump.

A muffled sound came from the end of the corridor.

Old Wang's hand froze in mid-air.

He was too familiar with this sound.

It was the sound of metal hitting metal. It came from inside the morgue.

"Who?" Old Wang's heart skipped a beat. Could it be someone stealing corpses? Or had a wild cat gotten in?

He plucked up his courage, picked up his flashlight, walked to the iron door, and looked in through the grease-stained glass.

The flashlight's beam was deathly pale, sweeping over rows of freezer lockers in the dark space.

Everything looked normal.

Except...

The locker door in the corner seemed to have opened a crack.

"Damn it, that latch was a bit loose last time." Old Wang muttered, took out the key, opened the iron door, and walked in.

The temperature here was lower than usual, cold enough to drill into his bones.

Old Wang walked to the locker and reached out to push the drawer back in.

Suddenly.

A pale, stiff hand with blackened nails shot out from the gap in the locker door, tightly gripping Old Wang's wrist.

"Ah!"

Old Wang screamed, trying to break free, but the hand's strength was terrifyingly great, like an iron pincer.

Immediately after.

The locker door was kicked away by a huge force from inside, slamming against the opposite wall with a clang.

A burly corpse with a huge surgical scar on its chest slowly sat up from the locker.

It opened its eyes.

There were no pupils in those eyes, only deathly gray whites, faintly glowing with an eerie green light.

"Corpse... corpse reanimation!"

Old Wang was so terrified that he experienced Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and he turned to run.

But before he could run two steps, all the freezer lockers around him suddenly made violent crashing sounds at the same time.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was as if countless hands were frantically pounding the sheet metal from the inside.

Those originally sleeping dead were all waking up at this moment.

Some had broken legs and were crawling on the ground; some were missing half their heads but still stood up shakily; some had their stomachs cut open, their intestines dragging on the ground, making a wet, frictional sound.

They only had one goal.

That was the call from deep within their Bloodline.

Go to the police station.

Save the master.

"Help! Zombies!"

Old Wang's screams echoed in the corridor, but they were quickly drowned out by a teeth-grinding sound of tearing and biting.

The deep night in Donghai City was destined to be sleepless.