Chapter 79 - Offspring

As a professional mercenary with a strong sense of professional ethics, Li Cheng was keenly aware of the importance of punctuality.

He carried his backpack and left the residential complex with his usual demeanor, found a public restroom in the park, and began his procedure of disguise in the stall as usual.

Using worm genes to change his facial features, putting on a dental crown to alter the shape of his teeth, wearing contact lenses to cover his irises, wearing a wig and glasses, changing his clothes and pants, taking drugs to accelerate his heartbeat, pasting silicone fingerprint films on his fingers to prevent fingerprint leakage, spraying odor remover all over his body, and placing small stones in the soles of his shoes to alter his gait…

After this tedious process, Li Cheng, completely transformed in appearance, left the restroom and used various modes of transportation such as intercity buses, taxis, and his own motorcycle, eventually arriving at Wudun Town by evening.

The address provided by the client was a little far from the town.

Li Cheng rode all the way and as soon as he drove out of the tree-lined road, he saw a Chinese-style villa nestled among the trees.

The villa’s exterior was traditional with white walls and black tiles, and the interior included a garden, courtyard, rockery, fish pond, and other landscape elements, reflecting the considerable thought that had gone into its design.

In front of the villa was an iron fence.

Li Cheng parked his motorcycle and pressed the doorbell button next to the gate to announce his arrival, “I was referred by Miss Zhangsun.”

“Cough cough, please come in!

Xinglang, go and meet him.”

A coughing voice came from the intercom; the gate automatically opened, and a round-faced young man in a butler’s uniform hurried over to greet Li Cheng, leading him to the villa’s main building.

In the main building’s hall, there were already three people sitting on the sofa waiting.

One was a hoodie-wearing girl with gray hair and eyebrows, seemingly suffering from albinism.

One was a serious-faced, muscular, dark-skinned strong man.

One wore a top hat and sunglasses, his style strongly resembling Abei from the World Nuclear House—a long gown-clad young man known as “Slash of the World Nuclear House.”

“Good evening.”

Having met briefly in the back alley before and being referred by Zhangsun Yao, Slash of the World Nuclear House greeted him with a friendly wave of his hand, removing his hat and cheerfully saying hello.

The other two also revealed their IDs; the girl with albinism was called “Bai Zhi,” and the dark-skinned strong man was “Wang Beipo.”

They were all strangers meeting by chance, not even matched together for a mission, so naturally, no one revealed their player level or title abilities.

As the saying goes, beware of fire, theft, and teammates.

Li Cheng had not spared browsing the essential posts on forums these days, among which were posts mentioning teammates who stealthily eavesdrop and collect information on other teammates during a mission, then compile it into a dossier to secretly sell to interested organizations and individuals.

Including the Special Affairs Bureau, all major guilds publicly decry such behavior that undermines trust among Summoners, but privately, they would still buy intel,

and they instruct their operatives to pay extra attention to more famous players when teaming up, especially in gathering their information.

(This is also one of the reasons why Li Cheng changes his alias with every mission, not just because of his personal quirky hobby.)

As Li Cheng observed the other three, they were also observing him.

Since the mission took place in the real world and there were people he knew, Li Cheng did not wear bizarre attire or cosplay, simply dressed in jeans, and a plaid shirt.

The overall style…

very programmer-like.

Able to blend in perfectly at the Zhongguancun subway station type.

Fitting with the theme of the Global Internet Conference being held in town the next two days.

“I’m very grateful that the four of you are willing to lend a hand.”

A tall figure slowly emerged from the right corridor of the hall.

He looked to be in his late forties, dressed in loose home wear, full-faced, very much the image of a successful entrepreneur.

He was the client, the forty-seven-year-old founder of a well-known furniture enterprise, Feng Youyun.

Following behind Feng Youyun were his son and daughter-in-law.

His son, Feng Chengwang, appeared to be just over twenty years old, an age where many of his peers were still in college.

He inherited his father’s handsome features, but as a diamond heir, there was a certain frailty in his expression and his physique did not seem robust.

Feng Chengwang’s wife, Fu Jirong, seemed around the same age.

She was not exceptionally beautiful but could be considered a gentle beauty of modest charm.

She was holding an infant, not yet a year old, who was Feng Chengwang’s son and Feng Youyun’s grandson.

All of this information could be found in the mission briefing sent by Zhangsun Yao.

Feng Youyun’s net worth was nearly a billion, and his son and daughter-in-law had heard some supernatural rumors to some extent, faintly aware of the existence of the Special Affairs Bureau and otherworldly beings.

Thus, the sudden appearance of four strangers in their living room did not shock them overly; they were more nervous—the kind of nervousness one feels when encountering another world.

“Xinglang, you go back and rest first.”

Mr.

Feng waved his round-faced butler off, then motioned for his daughter-in-law to bring the infant over and displayed the baby’s arm and back skin to the group of players.

The tender infant skin bore large bruises, faintly forming a pattern.

It looked both like a palm and a grotesque face.

You Anjian stood up from the sofa, flipped his hand, revealing a device similar to those used by the Special Affairs Bureau, and swept it over the baby’s back, “No abnormal fluctuations detected.”

World Nuclear House had a good relationship with the Yin City Special Affairs Bureau, therefore they had access to the equipment and weapons of the Special Affairs Bureau’s Mobile Task Force.

Bai Zhi also stood up and approached, closing her eyes and gently touching the bruises on the baby’s body.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and shook her head: “I also don’t sense any traces of ‘malice’ or ‘curse’ markers.”

Detecting abnormal fluctuations through touch?

Some kind of reconnaissance skill?

And what’s with ‘malice’ and ‘curse’?

Is she a spirit medium or a witch?

Li Cheng pondered for a moment, then stood up and approached next to Bai Zhi, taking the infant into his arms.

He suddenly widened his eyes as if he sensed something.

Then, under the curious and expectant gaze of everyone, he looked up and said, “Nineteen jin and seven taels.”

People were momentarily stunned before realizing that nineteen jin referred to the weight of the infant, involuntarily feeling the urge to roll their eyes.

So you’re acting as a scale now?

Seeing that his two teammates seemed professional, he felt the need to show off as well?

Li Cheng, completely oblivious, handed the baby back to his mother and sat himself down on the sofa with a serious and earnest expression, as if to say, “I’ve done my best.”

After this interruption, Mr.

Feng almost forgot what he was going to say.

It took him a while before he let his son and daughter-in-law go back to their room to rest and stayed in the living room to explain the situation to the four Summoners.

“My grandson’s bruises started appearing a month ago.

But the root of the problem was planted ten years ago.”

Old Feng took a deep breath and said solemnly, “Ten years ago, I was cursed with a hex meant to cut off my progeny.

Now, the curse has come to my doorstep.”