No way out

After dealing with the corpse, Meng Huai ordered it cremated as quickly as possible. This Wormless Gu was different from other Gu Arts—it was contagious to a degree.

Zhao Zhen dared not delay for even a moment and immediately ordered the corpse wheeled away and burned. As for anything else, who had time to worry about all that?

They headed outside, but Meng Huai suddenly stopped and looked in a particular direction.

Curious about his reaction, Yun Zimo looked that way too and froze.

"That woman looks like He Huaying," she said in astonishment. "Didn't they say she'd died of an illness? What's she doing here?"

Meng Huai frowned. "That's not He Huaying. It's Ye Yao. I really underestimated him. He actually succeeded twice, which gives him two extra lives. What a headache!"

Zhao Zhen looked at Meng Huai in confusion. The mention of the Night God Church made his scalp prickle as well. The two sides had clashed once before, and the Special Affairs Bureau had suffered badly.

Meng Huai hesitated before saying, "If the Night God Church gets involved, things will become much more troublesome. Judging by those dried corpses last time, they can extract people's vital essence.

"That means the caster can use someone else as a substitute, drawing on another person's vital essence to fuel the spell. It's considerably weaker, but it's safer."

"Which is more powerful," Yun Zimo asked curiously, "this Wormless Gu or the orthodox gu worms you mentioned?"

Meng Huai's expression turned stern. "Wormless Gu is an experimental branch of the Gu Arts. It's hard to say which is stronger. That mostly depends on the person using it.

"Generally speaking, orthodox gu worms offer more variety and finer control. Wormless Gu can harm people invisibly, making it almost impossible to guard against.

"But to a Gu Master like me, it does much less damage than orthodox gu, because we have Life-Bound Gu that can devour and absorb vital essence.

"If it's used on outsiders, though, Wormless Gu is far harder to treat than orthodox gu. You have to tailor the cure to the problem. If I can see the worm, I know what to do. If I can't, I can only guess.

"Or I can use the most direct, brutal method, like I did just now. But the victim is certain to die, so the other side still gets what they want."

Everyone present was dumbfounded. They had never imagined there were so many intricacies involved.

Zhao Zhen frowned. "You haven't found a way to counter it. What should we do next?"

"Keep waiting for people to die," Meng Huai said without hesitation. "Wormless Gu may be invisible, but its user has habits. Once we figure out the pattern, we can deal with him.

"Under our agreement, he only has seven days. With so little time to finish his revenge, he can't take everything into account. That makes him more likely to give himself away."

Yun Zimo thought for a moment. "But if he gets the Night God Church to help, wouldn't he have plenty of time?"

Meng Huai wagged a finger. "Absolutely not. I can sense how deeply he loved his wife. Put yourself in his shoes. If it were me, I'd insist on taking revenge with my own hands.

"If we can't kill him before he kills his final target, he'll have nothing left tying him down. Dealing with him then will be almost impossible."

Zhao Zhen looked utterly miserable. This was his responsibility, after all. If those people really died, he would certainly face disciplinary action.

Meng Huai paid them no further attention. Taking Yun Zimo's hand, he said, "Let's head to the Chang Corporation. If you take someone's money, you have to solve their problems. They've paid me, so I have to do the job.

"If that fellow breaks his word, loses his head, and kills Chang Yanping, I'll be saddled with a karmic debt. I'd have nowhere even to cry about it."

The two arrived at the foot of Chang Tower. Qin Xiuying, who had received advance notice, was already waiting for them.

"We've prepared everything according to your instructions, Mr. Meng," Qin Xiuying said with a smile. "We'll hold a press conference shortly and make this matter public."

Meng Huai smiled and nodded. He was about to follow her inside when he suddenly heard a scream. Looking up, he saw a figure plummeting from above.

A fat man hit the ground and burst apart. His head rolled like a bowling ball, coming to rest right in front of them.

The head's eyes were open, and it let out a sinister cackle. "A life owed must be repaid. You thought you could hide? No one can escape. You're all going to die."

Seeing the head speak, Qin Xiuying turned deathly pale. She had enough courage not to faint outright, but her legs went weak and she began sliding toward the ground.

After everything she had been through, Yun Zimo had become much braver. She caught Qin Xiuying and barely kept her upright.

Meng Huai kicked the head back, then glanced at the blood and flesh on the ground. Sure enough, it was Wormless Gu again, but the execution was much cruder. It seemed his earlier fears had become reality.

"That fat man jumped from your building," he said to Qin Xiuying. "Don't tell me you don't know him!"

"He was the head of our engineering department," Qin Xiuying said shakily. "His department had full responsibility for the development where the incident happened."

"We were supposed to hand over the Project Manager in charge of that development today. I never expected this to happen to him. What are we going to do?"

Meng Huai's expression darkened. "Apparently Chang Yanping doesn't value his life. He let everything I said go in one ear and out the other. Don't bother donating the money we discussed yesterday. Save it for coffins!"

Qin Xiuying knew what he meant. Downplaying major incidents and glossing over the real issues were standard tactics for wealthy people. They had hoped to do the same this time, but it now seemed to have backfired.

"We know we were wrong," she hurriedly said. "Please don't abandon us, Mr. Meng. We'll increase the donation. One billion! One billion!"

Meng Huai glared at her. "This isn't about money anymore. Tell me the truth. What position does the person most directly responsible hold in your company?"

Qin Xiuying led them aside. "The person most responsible this time is the company's second-largest shareholder. We can't let him go to prison, or the company will be finished."

"If our corporation collapses, Mr. Chang's current assets would still let him live in luxury for the rest of his life. But tens of thousands of workers are involved!

"We really were thinking of those workers. That's why we had to resort to this. We knew it was wrong, but we simply had no other choice."

Meng Huai weighed it up. Choosing the lesser of two evils, he said, "You'd better keep your word. Donate one billion to the Foundation within three years. If you're even a cent short, you'll answer for it."

Qin Xiuying hurriedly nodded in agreement. When it came to money or life, any wealthy person knew which to choose.

An almost imperceptible smile touched Meng Huai's lips. With information like this to offer in exchange, he believed the other party would oblige him. Otherwise, finding the mastermind behind it all would not be so easy.