Chosen: Beyond Fate

Chapter 20: Domain

Vortex Cultivation Method was the technical description and overview submitted by the hospital to Wen Wen after cooperating with the Security Bureau. It was the theory used by Lawrence, the Ever-Changing Bug. Followers of the Supreme Benevolence Vortex, the Chosen Ones who governed all aspects of life’s birth, growth, decay, and death, had developed this bizarre technique through years of research.

It was just like farming. They planted all kinds of dangerous raw materials into living bodies, using the host’s life force and spirit matter to filter out aberrations, and completing fusion or extraction. Then, when the time was right, they harvested the results and essence.

Throughout this process, the one used as the container, the one being “implanted,” was called the “vessel,” and the resulting product was called the “fruit.”

“And just as you’ve guessed, among all organisms that can serve as a vessel, the simplest and most convenient option is, without a doubt, humans,” Mu Lei said over the phone. “After this technique was first developed, our hospital only conducted a few trials before permanently banning the use of humans as vessels. Even within Hope Hospital, this is considered taboo.”

Wen Wen, speeding along on her motorcycle, couldn’t help but sneer. “That’s rich. You lunatics actually decided to lock away a method this inhumane?”

“No, no, you misunderstand. We did this simply because rigorous analysis proved that using humans as vessels is far too inefficient and lacks cost-effectiveness. This results in an extreme waste of resources! Aside from being occasionally convenient, it’s practically useless. Anything a standard vessel can produce can be achieved through other techniques just as well. And using a higher-tier vessel for vortex cultivation... that would be a truly unforgivable waste!”

Mu Lei sounded almost indignant. “As you know, with the T5 Protocol in place, even our hospital doesn’t have enough resources to waste freely. So as early as forty years ago, the development direction of the Vortex Cultivation Method had already shifted toward plants and animals.

“This was also the main reason Lawrence got expelled. He didn’t have the guts or talent to single-handedly create a new field, and he refused to give up his little bit of specialty to start over. Instead, he just stubbornly stuck to outdated techniques and theories.

“After repeated warnings and corrections, the administration judged that he didn’t meet the standards required of Hope Hospital staff and dismissed him. As for him willingly joining the Dragonrite Society and hanging around that bunch of cultist beasts worshiping calamity, that had nothing to do with the hospital.”

After casually shifting the blame as always, Mu Lei couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander. “Ah... I still remember how furious he looked when he was expelled. He said he’d come back one day with brand new results and crush all of us old-timers under his feet. Honestly, I was kind of looking forward to seeing what breakthroughs he might make. What a pity... it’s probably not going to happen. Though after all these years, he must have honed his excellent talent to quite an extent, right?”

On the other end of the line, there was a faint, muffled sound, like someone swallowing saliva. The collaborator, who was undergoing some type of transformation, couldn’t hide their hunger. “If you could show a bit of mercy, please try to leave us some samples. Of course, it would be even better if he’s still alive. We can negotiate the price!”

“That’ll depend on whether he can survive,” Wen Wen replied coldly.

The roaring motorcycle tore through traffic, effortlessly leaving all pursuers and obstacles behind. Only thunderous echoes sounded in its wake.

Everything had become clear. The Dragonrite Society cultists pursuing aberration and calamity power, Lawrence being obsessed with vortex cultivation and Bloodlust Syndrome, and the long-term plan of secretly cultivating and spreading infection...

Everything they had done was for one purpose: to select the most suitable vessel from among countless people.

And now, as if by fate, the vessel he had been dreaming of—no, the vessel that felt like a gift from heaven—had appeared before him when he least expected it. It was the cursed survivor of the Seafire Day and the Tidefire Calamity from ten years ago, and the sole survivor of that catastrophe that brought despair, pain, and hatred to tens of thousands: Ji Jue. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

***

The dim light of dusk shone down in the deadly silent hospital plaza.

The moment the Vortex Cultivation Method activated, all ordinary people had already fallen unconscious, completely defenseless. In the sky above, strands of crimson twisted and snaked their way down, responding to the call of the commander.

No one heard the distant screams and howls. When the farmer decided it was time to harvest, the withered, unnoticed branches quietly decayed in the shadows, while the rotten fruit fell into the soil, fermenting into a dark and sinful sweetness.

At the hospital, under the light of dusk, Lawrence stared at the scene before him, almost lost in thought.

Back when he was expelled from that rigid, rule-bound place, he had been so disgraced. Now, he was just as high-spirited as he had been miserable in the past. After all these years of painstaking effort, his work was finally about to bear fruit. He could barely resist the urge to burst into song.

Unfortunately, there was a noisy voice constantly ringing in his ears.

“Damn, man, go easy, go easy. My hand! Will it get infected?!”

“Seriously, bro, there’s no need for that. Really, no need!”

“What did you even drink tonight to go this hard?”

“You can still run, you know. The people from the Security Bureau look insanely strong, and the leader is super powerful, gorgeous, and has huge tits. Trust me, you can’t beat her!”

“You’re not actually after my ass, are you? Please don’t, man, I piss myself when I’m scared. Really, oh, oh, I can’t hold it anymore...”

“Why are you even bringing tentacles into this? Man, you have weird tastes!”

The anesthesia should’ve been enough to knock this guy out until tomorrow. And yet, within ten minutes, he’d already woken up.

Countless strands of descending aberrant spirit matter twisted together, forming a massive tree that wrapped around him like a monster opening its gaping maw. Then, an endless flood of crimson spirit matter poured straight into Ji Jue’s body. The sheer volume of aberrant spirit matter was enough to instantly corrupt an ordinary person into something inhuman. In Ji Jue’s case, however, it only made him wake up from his dream.

Just this alone, this absurd level of resistance to corruption, was enough to rival even Transcendence Realm Chosen Ones.

Lawrence adjusted his glasses, now stained with crimson, and, unable to hide his admiration, said, “No wonder you survived the Tidefire Calamity! Ji Jue, you really are a one-of-a-kind Harbinger of Disaster! Absolutely flawless!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Ji Jue nodded in a daze, looking completely exhausted. “I can let you fuck me too, bro. I’m easy to get along with, really. Just spare my life, please, I’m begging you.”

Lawrence’s smile froze.

I’ll take that back. This guy is really fucking annoying.

Click!

With a wave of Lawrence’s hand, the grotesque “tree” woven from countless filaments surged in size. With the massive influx and qualitative shift of spirit matter, Ji Jue was swallowed entirely and could no longer make a sound. He felt like he was falling and drowning, consumed by endless crimson. The last thing he heard was a distant roar, like the sound of a motorcycle engine.

BOOM!!!

As the walls shattered, clouds of dust burst into the air. The barrier Lawrence had painstakingly constructed was punched straight through from the front by that one charging rider. Tires, nearly burning from the friction, crushed over broken flowerbeds and bricks, leaving behind scorched black marks. And then, with a harsh screech, everything came to an abrupt stop. The slender, tall figure finally stepped off the motorcycle.

“No need. I’ll handle things here. You don’t have to interfere,” she instructed her subordinates through the phone. “Tong Hua, you can’t operate independently, go assist Mr. Zhang first. As for An Ran, act on your own. Find every single node and parasite left behind by the Tidefire Calamity. Tear them all out!”

With that, she ended the call and stepped forward.

“I knew it. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” She glanced coldly at the man who had once kindly provided her with information, her expression unreadable. “And here you are... pulling off something this big right under my nose.”

Lawrence adjusted his glasses. On his shattered face, a smile slowly formed. “Now, now, that’s not a very fair accusation. I’ve been at Mercy Hospital for over six years, five years longer than you, in fact. You’re quite fast. Unfortunately, you’re too late.”

The monstrous, tree-like structure trembled once more. Its canopy, already vast enough to cover the sky, expanded yet again. Within the writhing mass of crimson spirit matter, countless speckles of light flickered like blooming flowers.

According to the data provided by Hope Hospital, Lawrence had spent years refining the Tidefire Calamity, a ritual with little room left for further development, pushing it forward, and iterating on it until he had nearly achieved a completely new breakthrough.

Back during the Empire’s Huayue Tragedy, he had already demonstrated wide-area interference on a massive scale, covering an entire town with his Tidefire Calamity and carrying out large-scale aberration and mutation.

Right now, the aberrant spirit matter that had been harvested and absorbed through the Bloodlust Syndrome strains erupted out of that giant tree in a massive surge, spreading outward to cover nearly half of the Northern Mountain District. Despair, agony, wails, cries, and numbness took over the region as countless groans of pain rang out.

This was the result of everything he had gathered and cultivated over all these years while hiding in the shadows of Cliff City, including the materials he had collected, and the gains extracted from the dead by the Bloodlust Syndrome-inducing strain and its parasitic organisms. Even more of it had come from inside Mercy Hospital itself. It was ridiculous, and yet so fascinating.

Lawrence wanted to applaud. No matter how many times he saw this kind of “performance,” it never got old.

They were short on doctors, medicine, equipment, money, and even blood. They were lacking everything needed to survive. In this hospital, barely kept afloat by donations, the only things you could see day after day were tragedies in the wards and corridors, as well as the patients themselves, who were the personification of tragedy. They wallowed in endless cycles of painful chemotherapy, endless moments of hopeful waiting, and endless despair when they were told there were no more slots for the medical procedures they needed.

They had no connections, nor savior, nor money. The so-called “lifeline” was nothing more than a mirage at the end of the horizon. For those who had nothing, the “possibility of recovery” was nothing but an endless, torturous hell.

And when everything finally reached its end, what was reduced to ashes in the crematorium was nothing but empty shells that had long since been drained dry by parasites.

What Lawrence ultimately took from the dead was the crystallized form of despair itself.

Now, suffering had taken root in the soil, and it bloomed. The giant tree expanded, swelling, extending like the palm of a dying hand reaching out from hell to futilely try to drag everything within reach down into the abyss.

And then, everything came to a sudden halt. It slowed, stopped, and reversed right in front of Wen Wen. She finally raised her hand and took off the wind goggles on her face. Within her eyes, a strange glow of cyan and violet flowed, as if she were gazing down upon all existence. As though something from another world had descended, countless crystals burst forth from the earth and bricks under her gaze.

Like jungle vines, crystals spread in all directions and wrapped around the entire hospital, crushing what little remained of the blockade and swallowing everything in their path.