At seven years old, on the Xianzhou Zhuming, a plague from the heliobi was quietly spreading.
The talk in the streets and alleys was no longer about mundane family matters, but about those people who had "changed."
"Old Li's daughter was still lively as could be yesterday, but today her eyes are blank, like a wooden post!"
"Isn't that right? Butcher Zhang from the south side of town was strong enough to flip a cow over. A couple of days ago, he suddenly went mad, biting anyone he saw and muttering incomprehensible nonsense!"
Panic spread rapidly through Zhuming, and more and more households shut their doors and stayed inside.
Possessing A'yun's body, you clearly "saw" all of this through your web.
Countless invisible Golden Threads silently clung to the city. They were your eyes and ears.
"Is the possession tide coming..." you sensed.
The heliobi's instinctive evolution proceeded through siphoning, possession, and devouring. When that instinct was unleashed without restraint, it became a catastrophic disaster for the hosts.
At eight years old, the information captured by your Golden Threads went far beyond street rumors.
You could already clearly hear the conversations among Zhuming's upper ranks.
"...Those possessed by heliobi are losing control of their behavior and pose a severe threat to Xianzhou order."
"Strong measures must be taken! At this rate, Zhuming will be in danger!"
"The Ministry of Industry is urgently developing weapons against heliobi. They must be deployed as soon as possible."
"The purge cannot be delayed!"
After hearing this, you understood that the Xianzhou higher-ups had already regarded the heliobi as a festering tumor that had to be removed. A purge was only a matter of time.
At nine years old, your Golden Thread network continued to expand. Not only could it monitor Xianzhou citizens, it could also lock onto other heliobi individuals.
You discovered that the heliobi which had completely taken over their hosts' bodies were indeed terrifyingly powerful.
They were no longer feeble sparks, but blazing flames that devoured everything their hosts had been, turning them into puppets.
Even through the Golden Threads, you could clearly sense that immense energy.
"Devour..." A powerful craving suddenly surged within you.
It was the heliobi's most primitive instinct—the hunger for your own kind.
Devouring your own kind was the fastest way to strengthen yourself. Especially powerful individuals; once successfully devoured, the increase in power would be explosive.
But reason told you that it was not yet time.
Those heliobi that had fully possessed their hosts were like roaring furnaces. If your little flame rashly approached, you would only be swallowed in an instant.
You needed to wait for an opportunity.
Possession
At ten years old, the Xianzhou's full-scale purge of heliobi began.
At first, there were only scattered arrests, targeting unlucky individuals whose abnormalities could no longer be concealed.
But before long, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Searches became omnipresent, and nearly everyone feared for themselves, seeing every passerby as someone possessed by a heliobus.
More Xianzhou Guards began patrolling the streets and alleys, their gazes sharp and their inspections thorough.
Once, a squad of guards was searching door to door, and they were about to reach the dilapidated shack where A'yun was hiding.
However, the Golden Threads had already conveyed their route, their conversation, and even the impatient voice of their squad leader.
A step ahead of them, you controlled A'yun's body and slipped into a dark alley piled high with junk.
The guards' brutal kicks against doors and angry curses came through the thin wall, then gradually faded away.
"Phew..." You felt the violent pounding of A'yun's heart and his fear.
To you, this was more like a game of hide-and-seek where you already knew the location of every trap. It was effortless, even boring.
And this perilous environment instead became your hunting ground.
The purge created a great number of injured, weakened, and even forcibly separated heliobi remnants.
They were all clearly marked within your Golden Thread network, their locations precise.
The urge to hunt began to stir. You realized it was time for you to make your move.
You drove A'yun's body through the night, skillfully avoiding stationary and roaming patrols.
The Golden Threads were the finest guides, and the most discreet eyes.
Before long, you found a dissipating green ball of light... a heliobus that had just been wounded by a Xianzhou weapon and had fled its host in panic.
You controlled A'yun to extend his hand, his fingertips touching that unstable mass of energy.
A cold, chaotic, yet extremely pure energy flowed through his fingertips into A'yun's body, ultimately being greedily absorbed by you.
Like a parched sponge soaking up water, you felt your flame grow larger. Your power became more solid, and your self-awareness clearer.
This feeling of growth through plunder was far more efficient—and far more satisfying—than slowly siphoning off A'yun's meager emotions as food.
You began actively searching for your next "supplement."
Devour, then devour again.
And naturally, the price of your gradual growth was the worsening decline of A'yun's mind and body.
He always felt cold, as though a chill were seeping out from the gaps between his bones. No matter how long he slept, he could not dispel that inexplicable exhaustion.
Mental fog became the norm. Sometimes he would stand blankly in place, his eyes hollow, completely unresponsive to calls from outside. He did not even notice when drool ran from his mouth.
That was because after devouring your own kind, your connection with this body had been forcibly deepened.
You could clearly feel the small flame deep within A'yun's soul rapidly going out.
Your control over this body was increasing at an astonishing rate.
Possession Progress: 60%, Villain Points +50
At eleven years old, the confrontation between the Xianzhou and the heliobi entered a new phase.
The Ministry of Industry developed more targeted weapons and sealing devices. Guards holding strange, flickering devices could be seen in the streets, and their ability to harm heliobi had increased significantly.
The Xianzhou's counterattack made the heliobi realize that fighting alone and possessing humans solely for individual gain was useless. Under the united purge of the Xianzhou people, they too needed to gather their strength.
Through the Golden Threads, you sensed a powerful heliobus consciousness integrating other individuals.
That consciousness was like a beacon in the night, drawing scattered heliobi toward it.
You knew that was the so-called Tinder Emperor.
It sounded intimidating, but he was merely an oversized heliobus.
The Tinder Emperor spread his goal among the heliobi: counterattack against the Xianzhou, seize living space, and even enslave these mortals.
Under his coordination, scattered heliobi began to gather. They were no longer solitary sparks, but merged into larger, more dangerous aggregates of energy.
The power of these fused entities vastly surpassed that of individual heliobi, bringing an unprecedented threat to the Xianzhou.
What Xianzhou Zhuming faced was no longer minor possession disturbances, but an organized war against heliobi swarms with immense destructive power.
At the same time, A'yun's body worsened by the day. His desire for immortality became pathologically twisted by his fear of death, turning into his sole obsession for survival.
He could no longer comprehend the horrifying changes happening to his body.
Under bone-deep terror, he began praying to you inside him more and more often, his voice lowly and trembling.
"Immortal Spirit... save me... I'm so cold... I don't want to die..."
"I'm begging you... grant me the immortality you promised!"
You watched it all coldly, even finding it a little amusing.
This was precisely the situation you wanted to see. This foolish mortal was voluntarily offering up everything he had.
Occasionally, you answered him in a profound, godlike tone, giving him false comfort and empty promises. You told him that the trial was about to end, and eternal life was right before his eyes.
"Do not fear, child. Endure this final trial, and you will receive everything you have ever desired."
The stronger A'yun's hope, the greater his emotional fluctuations, and the more abundant and delicious the "food" he produced.
Every false response made him more dependent and obedient, causing him to regard you as his only savior.
This shell was slowly and irreversibly becoming your puppet.
Possession Progress: 80%, Villain Points +50
At twelve years old, Xianzhou technology achieved another breakthrough, and its resolve to face the heliobi war became firmer than ever.
More advanced standard weapons were distributed, and an elite force specifically targeting heliobi swarms was assembled and sent into battle.
The Golden Threads captured the scene of that force gathering. They wore specially made armor capable of resisting heliobi attacks and carried spears that could harm heliobi. Their aura was calm and killing intent heavy. Leading them was a young man with eyes as sharp as a hawk's; rumor had it that he was a trusted lieutenant of some Xianzhou general.
Their target was the heliobi swarms gathered by the Tinder Emperor, which were causing chaos throughout the city.
It seemed the Xianzhou higher-ups were finally getting serious, preparing to solve the problem once and for all.
At thirteen years old, war erupted completely—brutal and fierce, dragging all of Xianzhou Zhuming into an abyss of blood and fire.
The once-prosperous city aboard a colossal ship was now filled with flames, smoke, ruins, and shattered walls.
Your Golden Thread web faithfully conveyed every detail of the battlefield, as though you were there in person.
Twisted illusions spread wildly through the streets. At times, they were horrifying grotesque monsters that devoured people; at other times, they were wondrous realms of bliss that lured people into ruin. This was the heliobi's primary method of corrupting reality and attacking the minds of Xianzhou citizens.
Xianzhou soldiers fiercely battled massive heliobi fused from multiple individuals. Explosions tore through the night sky without ever stopping.
Buildings collapsed in swathes, while heliobi and Xianzhou people fell without end.
A'yun had completely burned himself out... After having his life force siphoned away by you for so long, combined with the terror brought by war, he finally broke.
He could only curl up in a dark, damp corner, his consciousness muddled, sustained by the final breath of life through the energy you fed him.
He knew clearly that he was no longer "human."
Utter despair devoured the last of his sanity, making him see the "Immortal Spirit" within him—who had never truly helped him—as his only salvation.
Because other than believing in the "immortality" you had promised, he had no other choice.
The last resistance of this body completely vanished, and his soul fully submitted to your will.
The feeling of completely toying with another body, then controlling it—playing with its hope and despair... was truly incomparably exhilarating.
This vessel, inside and out, from flesh to soul, now belonged wholly and completely to you.
Complete Possession, Villain Points +100
Counterattack
At fourteen years old, you walked through war-torn Xianzhou Zhuming in A'yun's identity.
The war between the heliobi and the Xianzhou had reached its boiling point.
Under the call of the powerful heliobus known as the "Tinder Emperor," scattered heliobi began gathering on a massive scale.
You saw countless powerful heliobi individuals. Those flames that had once fought separately now streamed endlessly toward a single point above Zhuming.
They merged and devoured one another, forming a terrifying aggregate whose energy level continued to rise.
That aggregate gradually became so horrifying that, to the naked eyes of Xianzhou mortals, it appeared as a "Calamity Crimson Star" hanging in the sky and radiating an ominous red glow.
The appearance of the crimson star cast all of Xianzhou Zhuming beneath the shadow of apocalypse.
Naturally, the Xianzhou Alliance would not simply sit and wait for death.
Your Golden Threads captured the Xianzhou higher-ups launching a desperate, all-or-nothing plan amid extreme panic and despair.
The young, valiant general who had risen to fame during the war volunteered for the mission, gathering a suicide squad made up of the Xianzhou military's finest.
Their task was to carry a powerful siege weapon and launch a surprise attack on the not-yet-complete "Crimson Star," intending to destroy it from within.
It was a plan of mutual destruction.
You watched it all with cold eyes.
The Crimson Star's structure, the suicide squad's gathering point, their attack route, the weapon's properties... all the intelligence flowed ceaselessly into your consciousness through the Golden Threads.