Super Gene

“What’s going on with Han Sen?” Qing Le asked Cheap Sheep, as he walked inside.

Cheap Sheep looked at the spirit with disdain and answered, “His brain had problems. We chased him off, seeing there was no point keeping a simpleton around. Having an idiot running the place would be silly.”

“Yeah! Yeah! He became so dumb! He cannot even tell the difference between men and women now. No one would even accept him as a slave,” Green Cow added.

“That makes sense. Do you know where he is right now?” Qing Le asked.

“Who knows? I sometimes seem him skulking around the alleyways, munching on leftover food. He knows they’re just bones devoid of meat, but he still ravenously gnaws away at them.” Cheap Sheep was saying a lot.

After Qing Le heard this, he didn’t want to know any more about Han Sen. “Who asserted leadership over the shelter, then?”

Cheap Sheep and Green Cow played dumb, and just said, “You’re the boss now, eh?”

“Before I arrived, I mean. Who was the boss?” Qing Le stared at the two.

“There was a female spirit leading us, called Moment. She left a few days ago, but she has yet to return. No one dared ask her where she was off to,” Cheap Sheep said.

Qing Le asked a few questions regarding Moment, but Cheap Sheep and Green Cow kept saying they didn’t know.

Qing Le was satisfied, regardless. Cheap Sheep and Green Cow were being polite, after all. He walked around Shadow Shelter for a bit and came to quite like the place, and after that, he went to wait inside the spirit hall. He asked for the two to gather everyone the next morning, so they could announce who their new leader was going to be.

Cheap Sheep and Green Cow agreed to do this, but eventually, they sneaked off into a stone house together. Han Sen, Moment Queen, Bao’er, Little Silver, Red Pony, and Galaxy Beast were all there waiting.

“Boss, we’ve calmed him down. What do we do now?” Cheap Sheep explained what had occurred to Han Sen.

“Why don’t we kill him in his sleep?” Green Cow spoke with a hushed voice, one that harbored contempt.

Han Sen shook his head and said, “Qing Le is from Outer Sky Shelter. We don’t have the strength to combat such a place, and killing Qing Le would only draw trouble from there. You guys continue the charade for a few more days while I figure something out.”

Cheap Sheep and Green Cow patted their chests and said, “Don’t worry, we are loyal to you. Even if we stand next to Qing Le and look faithful, at heart, we are forever yours.”

“Good. For as long as I breathe, I’ll take care of each of you the best I can.” Han Sen’s voice turned cold, and he went on to say, “Go back for now. Do as he commands and keep up the act. We can’t afford him growing suspicious.”

When Cheap Sheep and Green Cow left the house, they began speaking to each other.

“Cheap Sheep, should we follow the old boss or the new boss?” Green Cow’s voice dipped even lower. She was close with the sheep, and she trusted his judgment.

Cheap Sheep rolled his eyes and said, “We follow the strong one, of course!”

“Does that mean the new boss? He is from Outer Sky Shelter, after all. He must be stronger than Han Sen.” Green Cow made her opinion clear.

Cheap Sheep touched Green Cow’s leg and said with a smirk, “You don’t know anything. No matter how strong Qing Le is, he is still the slave of someone else. There is no use in following a slave. Do you really want to become the slave of a slave?”

“I thought you said we should follow the strongest?” Green Cow asked for clarification.

Cheap Sheep sighed and shook his head. “Are you stupid? Are you really not able to tell how powerful our boss is? If Qing Le did not already belong to Outer Sky Shelter, I guarantee the boss would have killed him by now.”

“The boss is that strong?” Green Cow’s eyes opened wide.

“That is why I called you stupid. For as long as the boss is around, the shelter will still belong to us. Of course, if you want to pledge a short-lived allegiance to Qing Le, go right ahead. But with your measly power, it won’t make a difference once the tables turn.”

Green Cow said, “I suppose you are right. You and I lack power, and it was very courteous for the boss to let us run and manage the shelter.”

“Exactly. And the boss has not told us to be hostile. He’s kept things friendly and maintained the quo.”

…

Han Sen left the shelter. He was not afraid of his companions being rats. Qing Le was merely a royal class spirit with a gemstone geno core.

He needed to avoid Outer Sky Shelter’s wrath, above all. If that wasn’t an issue, he would have killed the pompous spirit already. Qing Le obeyed others, so his spirit stone was inside his body. He couldn’t even revive.

Han Sen was determined not to let him get away with this, but he wanted to go to the Underworld before he did anything and retrieve his maggots. If he pinned the death of Qing Le on those creatures, they wouldn’t think to put the blame on Han Sen.

Han Sen walked a few miles, but after a while, something white approached him. It was a three-meter-tall white ape. Its muscles were like steel, and the only places not coated with its lustrous fur were its face, hands, and feet.

The ape had already reduced its power, but with his Dongxuan Aura, Han Sen was able to tell the creature was extremely powerful and far better than the maggots he was setting out to retrieve.

Han Sen did not want to fight, though. So, he planned to avoid it. But the ape already had Han Sen in its sights. It ran towards him like a train, sounding furious, and it bellowed, “Are you from Shadow Shelter?”

Han Sen eyed the ape up and down and thought to himself, “He must be looking for trouble.”

Han Sen quickly answered, “I was there, but I just got kicked out.”

“Good. Take me there and I’ll kill the master. No one will kick you out after that,” the ape said coldly.

Han Sen felt a chill run down his spine, as he was actually the shelter’s master.

“Wait, the shelter is owned by Qing Le now,” Han Sen realized. “Do you have a grudge with the new master there?”

“It goes far beyond a grudge!” the ape roared.