One Week

South City Security Bureau, next door.

The Qilin had offices in every city, and Silver City's office was located in South City, right beside the Security Bureau.

Yu Xian and Jin Sheng sat in the office. Through the window, they could see Zhang Shou undergoing a physical examination by several doctors in the next room.

In the era when web novels flourished, Chinese people's imaginations had been expanded more and more by online authors.

Systems were nothing new.

As early as several hundred years ago, someone had taken a Forbidden Fruit and wished for a system, intending to use it to become a god or progenitor. His wish came true, but the side effect was that he himself became the system, able only to parasitize other people. Once his host died, he would perish with them.

The final outcome was obvious: he and his host died together, and neither became a god.

Logically speaking, Zhang Shou's wish was similar to that man's, so his fate should have been similar as well. Yet Zhang Shou had not only failed to turn into a system, but was still lively and kicking. That was strange.

After the examination ended, the results would not be available until tomorrow.

When Zhang Shou came out of the room and saw Yu Xian waiting for him in the corridor, he asked nervously, "Xianyu, are my side effects serious?"

"We'll know after we see tomorrow's physical examination report," Yu Xian answered.

Zhang Shou nodded, then smiled optimistically. "Looking on the bright side, maybe it's because I'm blessed by heaven that I got such an overpowered ability?"

"Impossible. You'd better put away that wishful thinking. Your ability may only be Insect Level—Lower Tier, but its potential is far too great. There is no way gaining an ability of this level by taking a Forbidden Fruit came without side effects." Jin Sheng emerged from the office and looked at Zhang Shou.

After Zhang Shou left the room, Jin Sheng had been able to see the doctors' expressions through the glass. Although the report was not out yet, he estimated the result would not be good.

He took back what he had just said. Sure enough, Yu Xian was the only freak. This fat guy was merely an unlucky man with good luck.

The smile on Zhang Shou's face instantly froze. He had thought he had been quite restrained when making his wish. He had not expected Jin Sheng to rate it so highly.

"Captain, can I transfer my merits to Old Zhang and ask the state to save him?" Yu Xian could not help asking.

Jin Sheng said calmly, "He'll stay here tonight. You can stay with him, or you can go home and rest. We'll wait until tomorrow's report comes out before deciding anything."

A Forbidden Fruit could be called an opportunity, but it could also be called the source of disaster.

The overwhelming majority of animals that consumed Forbidden Fruit became threats to human safety. When humans consumed them, those with good luck soared to great heights, while those with bad luck harmed both themselves and others.

The Zombie Progenitor, the Hǎnba Progenitor, the Ghoul Progenitor, and the rest had all consumed Forbidden Fruit. Not only had their self-awareness completely vanished, but they had also become sources of calamity that ravaged the world.

Take the Zombie Progenitor, for example. After dozens of Qilin squads joined forces to kill him, his body erupted with enormous amounts of corpse qi.

This corpse qi could not be completely cleared away, and it spread across the globe with the wind. Once a corpse became infected with it, it would mutate and eventually become a zombie.

The Qilin had been clearing out newly emerged zombies all along. Humans could also reduce the likelihood of zombies appearing by cremating bodies promptly, but animal zombies were extremely troublesome and simply could not be killed off completely.

For that reason, whenever a new Forbidden Fruit consumer was discovered, the Qilin arranged a physical examination, and they were not allowed to leave without permission until the report was released.

"I'll stay with Old Zhang," Yu Xian said.

Jin Sheng nodded. "Mm, it's good that you're staying. It will keep him from overthinking and making an irrational choice in the end."

There had once been a person who consumed a Forbidden Fruit and was invited to an office for a physical examination. That night, he was alone and sank into an internal spiral. The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became of learning the results. Coupled with his lack of trust in the authorities, he secretly ran away.

By the time they found him, he was already at death's door due to his ability's backlash.

That night.

Yu Xian and Zhang Shou shared a double room.

"Xianyu, I can't sleep." Zhang Shou closed his eyes for quite a while, then opened them and looked at Yu Xian.

Yu Xian was upside down on the ceiling. "Don't overthink it. At worst, I'll turn you into a vampire. Either way, there'll be a way for you to survive."

"I was overwhelmed by the Forbidden Fruit at the time. It would have been better if I'd asked you first," Zhang Shou sighed.

Yu Xian controlled Blood Energy to form strands of thread. Red blood threads and silver threads formed from the Blood of Silver intertwined into a net. He dropped from the ceiling into the net and lay down. "Impossible. The Forbidden Fruit itself has an immense allure for living creatures. Your reason wouldn't have held out long enough for you to ask me."

If two people discovered a Forbidden Fruit in the wilderness at the same time, even if they were friends willing to die for each other, they would kill one another under the fruit's influence. There had even been cases of fathers and sons turning on each other.

That was why people called Forbidden Fruit fruit from the abyss.

Any living creature that encountered a Forbidden Fruit would gradually lose its reason. Zhang Shou could not possibly have held out for long, so taking the Forbidden Fruit quickly while he still retained his reason had been the correct choice.

The next day.

Yu Xian and Zhang Shou sat on chairs in the corridor. Zhang Shou looked like a suspect awaiting judgment, his face filled with unease.

At that moment, Jin Sheng emerged from another office with the report in hand, his expression grave. He walked over, sat beside Yu Xian, and handed him the report.

Yu Xian took the report and passed it to Zhang Shou, but Zhang Shou waved it off. "You read it first. Let me brace myself."

"All right."

Judging from Jin Sheng's expression, Yu Xian had already guessed that the result was not good.

Once he finished reading the report, his brows furrowed deeply, and his face was filled with worry.

"What? Is it really bad?" Zhang Shou asked painfully when he saw Yu Xian's expression.

Yu Xian pursed his lips before answering, "It's worse than we imagined. Your body is filled with a special kind of energy, and your telomeres are aging hundreds of times faster than those of an ordinary person. Every time you exert yourself, you're essentially burning your own lifespan. Based on the telomere test results, you probably only have about one week left to live."

"What if I become a vampire?" Zhang Shou immediately pressed.

Yu Xian shook his head. "The energy in your body is extremely exclusive. Vampire blood would probably turn to ash the moment it entered your body, so you can't be transformed into a vampire at all. Likewise, other supernatural powers capable of extending one's lifespan probably won't work on you either."

"So I... am going to die in a week?" Zhang Shou asked, his face pale.

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

What use were three lives? If the King of Hell wanted you dead by midnight, even a hundred lives would not save you.

A Forbidden Fruit had never been a magic lamp or a wish-granting pearl. Gaining something through it inevitably came at a price.