"This discussion has been truly insightful," the female reporter said at last. "I just have one final question, if you don't mind."
Dr. Haoran Li inclined his head slightly.
"What is this organization's end goal?" she asked. "Why operate through illegal trade when they could establish a legitimate business and test their performance-enhancing drugs legally?"
She gestured faintly toward the footage still looping behind them.
"With the strength their products grant—and with their medical knowledge and technical skill—surely any government would be eager to fund their research, if these results are real."
Dr. Li nodded slowly.
"It's true," he said. "Any governing body would attempt to claim them now."
He folded his hands.
"But that is only possible after they proved their worth. In their early stages, they would have been dismissed as madmen—given the extreme death rates of their initial trials and the unpredictable side effects of even their current formulations."
He paused, his eyes lowering briefly, as if choosing his next words with care.
"As for their true objective…"
Silence stretched.
"In India," Dr. Li said quietly, "there is a legend of a warrior who could not be killed."
The reporters leaned in.
"He was granted immortality—his body incapable of dying. Endless stamina, unmatched might, and mastery of weaponry. But he wasn't perfect. Though his body was akin to a god's, his wounds never healed."
He exhaled softly.
"He could live forever, but suffered in endless pain. Condemned to wander the world without end."
He looked up at the camera.
"The syndicate believes this figure—Ashwatthama—was not a myth."
A beat.
"Only an unfinished experiment."
The reporter's breath caught.
"They believe immortality has already been achieved once," Dr. Li continued. "But imperfectly. Bound to pain. Bound to decay. Bound to madness."
His gaze hardened.
"And their goal is not strength alone. Not endurance. Not domination."
He spoke the final words evenly.
"They seek to perfect immortality—without suffering, without decay, without limits."
The screen remained silent.
Those words hung in the air.
"Ashwatthama?" Qiren murmured. "Haven't I heard that name before… high school, maybe?"
He frowned faintly.
"A child born to a mother of divine lineage and a father who excelled in warfare—martial arts, weapons, strategy…"
A pause.
"Hm. If I remember right, he was blessed by Shiva… or cursed by him."
A quiet scoff left his lips.
"I should've paid more attention in foreign literature class."
His expression darkened.
"All I really remember is that he was condemned to walk the world forever… punished for his sins."
"An immortal who couldn't die… and couldn't be forgiven."
He smiled, tapping his steering wheel. "If this drug syndicate's philosophy is grounded in truth…" His eyes narrowed with amusement. "Would I be able to meet an actual immortal in this lifetime~"
Ding.
The phone he had completely forgotten about chimed.
He checked his pockets and fished it out. "You're finally done loading up my Dao…"
He opened the flip phone, seeing an unfamiliar UI on the screen.
Status: (Deceased)
Race: Demonic Wraith
Main Physique: Spirit of Reflection
(This form is a physique you obtained through the cursed echo born from your intense desire for self-reflection—the Cursed Spirit of Reflection binding with your soul in hopes of preventing your untimely demise.)
Physical Attributes:
Strength: 8 (Common)
Speed: 6 (Common)
Agility: 13 (Uncommon)
Spiritual Intent: 50 / 134 (Heroic)
Subcategory: Aura of Death · Demonic Intent
Third & Fourth Spirit Core: Artificial Nodes (Parasites)
Total Negative Karma: 1,618 / 31,000
Fourth Spirit Core: Artificial Node (Parasite)
Total Refinement Qi: 2,367 / 52,410
Refinement Realm: Middle Stage / Beginner
Current Lifespan:
0 Years · 0 Days · 0 Hours (Suspended)
(Warning!)
Due to your deceased status, this is not an accurate assessment of your current racial longevity brought on by spiritual intent.
Take caution!
It is highly essential to keep your lifespan above seven hours to mask your new wraith identity and prevent death through exorcism, purification, or banishment from declining further.
More icons lined the bottom of the screen. He was currently on Messages, but Notes, Camera, Personas, and Device Transfer were also present.
"Am I a wraith? Hm. Makes sense," Qiren smiled, half-focused on the road. "It also seems I have a new grading system integrated into my status—Common, Uncommon, and Heroic."
He turned slightly to glance at the imp sitting in the passenger seat, then checked the rearview mirror.
"How ironic that I got a Heroic stat after all the atrocities I've committed."
He stared at the screen for a while, flipping and twisting the phone in his hands.
"…It's weird holding a phone after this long."
"Can I change this back into a scroll?" he murmured, flipping it open again.
He reread the warning, then lowered his eyes to the icons below and navigated to Notes.
Applicable Curses & Blessings
Unnamed Bad Luck Spirit Curse (Truly Fragmented)
Despair: 147
Hope: 30.7
Fear: 1,578
Pain: 1,680
30 Years of Life Experience
Plus the amalgamated life experiences of over ten other souls.(Certain emotions, conditions, knowledge, experiences, spirits, blessings, or curses may be transferred.)
Treasures
• Penalty Deck (Tier 4 – Cursed Object)
• Carnival Imps (Tier 3 – Cursed Object)
• Red Flags Weapons Arsenal (Tier 1 – Mortal Creations)
Dao Authorities:
Authority: Contract Manifesting
Authority: Mortal-Grade Occultism
Authority: Toxin Secretion
By infusing Qi through your frame, natural poisonous gases will secrete from your pores, mouth, or internal organs at will. With this Infernal Bite Dao, it is possible to trigger medium- to large-scale toxic detonations.
Authority: Hive Father
A lesser authority granted to male demons with the Infernal Bite Dao, allowing male insects to propagate selected genetic traits—strengthening, refining, and optimizing the hive over successive generations.
Rituals
Bad Luck Cleansing (Incomplete)
Imparting Rite (Incomplete)
Demonic Vessel Imparting (Incomplete)
Doppelganger (Incomplete)
By extracting your own or another person's memories—primarily of the entity you wish to incarnate aspects of—and supplementing them into a body, object, or spiritual matter, you can create a vestige operating under predefined principles.
Sub-Rituals
Cursed Berry Vessel
Abyssal Rift
Persona Forging · Imp Creation · Phantom Art
All three fall under the Doppelganger subclass, utilizing its principles as discovered by the Demonic Wraith Qìrén Vhal'Zerath to create personas, imps, and conjured constructs.
Titles
Dark Embryo
Bearer of the Blue Sea & Azure Flames
Hive Lord Zerath
Mad Jester
"This shows my complete status—including what was split in Messages," he muttered, scrolling. "But I still have the same problem. If I'm in a hurry, I can't scroll through all this just to find one section."
It was the same dilemma he'd had with his scroll—except with that, he could will a specific part to appear instead of manually scrolling.
His eyes drifted to the lower icons and stopped at Search.
"Can I use this as a shortcut?"
He tapped it. A browser appeared, with a mic and keyboard enabled.
"Can it talk back? Or is that technology too advanced?" he asked aloud. "Show me my authorities."
He clicked the mic.
It listened—then responded instantly, displaying an emoji before linking directly to the Authorities section.
"I guess that could come in handy. But what else can I search for?"
His gaze shifted to the Camera icon.
"Can you give me a link to download an editor capable of altering anything around me?"
He asked lightly, not expecting much—just testing the limits. If it merely linked him to the camera, that would be fine. But if it generated a custom app…
That would be delightful.
The screen buffered.
Loading… Integrating Hive Lord, Occultic, and Qi Authorizations.Please impart memories of your desired creation.
He began imagining how it should operate and sent the thought through—only to realize seconds later that part of his memory was missing, leaving a brief gap he couldn't recall.
Data integrating… Success rate: 12%.
Suddenly, a row of editing apps appeared.
"…It really worked?"
He stared, flabbergasted.
Is my shamanic Dao really that strong?
Unable to resist, he tapped one of the links.
A download icon appeared.
Excited, he clicked—
This device cannot support editing software. Please transfer to another device before installing.
Qiren stared at the screen.
"Haha… I can't believe I got my hopes up."
"The second I got a phone almost became dependent on it."
He closed the flip phone and rolled it between his fingers.
"Let's forget about this for now."
The car rolled forward as he drove toward the junkyard.
Rows of fencing came into view, warped metal stitched together like a scar. Heavy machinery scraped iron faintly in the distance.
Qiren reached into the back seat without taking his eyes off the yard and pulled out a semi-automatic rifle, passing it to the imp in the passenger seat.
His gaze locked onto the entrance booth.
How should I get in? he mused.
He stuck his free hand out the car window, palm facing downward, signaling the procession of enforcement vehicles behind him to slow.
No need to scare his new friends so soon.