Chapter 38 Crushing "If you want me dead, then let's... die together..."
Chu Jue recently learned some recipes from Jiang Jingshu.
According to Jiang Jingshu, the process of preparing ingredients is quite interesting.
With a lot of ingredients available today, Chu Jue decided to try Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, a dish that's not suitable for beginners.
She caught a fish first.
The fish, full of vitality, struggled and refused to submit. Chu, without giving a chance to argue, cut off the thin layer of skin along the edge of the fish's fin.
The restless fish struggled violently, its red undersides swollen and bright red. After discarding the unusable parts, Chu Jue used a blunt knife to slash at the fins, repeatedly stabbing them several times until the fins finally fell off in a disheveled state.
The fish, however, seemed to be in bad shape.
It was only missing two winglets, yet it lay on the ground chirping and wailing.
The fish trembled and moved slowly. Chu Jue gouged out the lips he needed, leaving a bloody hole in the fish's face, almost exposing the bone.
Its gill covers and teeth rubbed together violently from the pain, and its unpleasant roars were repulsive.
Her body was now considered waste, not among the necessary materials. She then slashed the fish's throat, and only then did the fish, which had been making strange noises, become docile.
Chu Jue threw the main ingredient into cold water to soak and then turned his attention to the next ingredient.
The abalone should be placed in a steamer.
Chu Jue used her mental power to create an environment identical to a steamer, diligently simulating boiling steam, which evaporated in a circulating manner within her specified range.
The gradually increasing temperature became unbearable for the abalone; its skin felt constantly burning, and it began to experience altered consciousness.
It mumbled incoherently, emitting a foul, fishy stench, and its skin underwent changes contrary to its natural shape; organs that had never existed began to fail.
The sustained high temperature was unbearable for it, causing it to change color from the inside out until it was completely cooked.
The recipe says: Steam over high heat until tender, then remove.
Chu Jue was somewhat disappointed; as a kitchen novice, she hadn't mastered the heat control. The abalone had been steamed until it was too mushy, making it difficult to use later.
She took it as a lesson and threw away the spoiled ingredients.
The next step was dealing with the chickens and ducks, something he had some experience with. Chu Jue carefully grabbed the male duck and chopped off its feet. The duck let out a horrible scream, and red liquid gushed out.
The duck feet, still attached to the tendons and skin, instantly turned bright red.
Remove the feet, remove the neck, remove the head.
The rooster was now tattered and mangled, blood oozing from its wounds. Its fragmented state startled the rooster beside it, causing it to crow and uncontrollably emit a foul, fishy odor. Chu Jue repeated his previous method, finishing off the incontinent rooster that was trying to escape.
Its cries were sharp and piercing. After Chu Jue held the chicken by the neck and chopped it dozens of times, a fresh sashimi dish was immediately plated.
The knife skills were mediocre, and bone fragments were left out, varying in size, making the cracks unsightly.
Pig's trotters...there were some too. Chu Jue casually castrated a boar first—it's really hard to use something like that if it's not castrated beforehand. She didn't care about the boar's mood; the food lay unconscious on the ground, while other boars nearby grunted and ran away, urinating in fear.
Two pig trotters weren't enough, so Chu Jue chopped up a few more to keep on hand.
There were still many ingredients left to process. Chu Jue sighed that he was indeed not suited to cooking, not only making a mess of the scene but also wasting a lot of time.
The stench grew increasingly pungent, and with the cooking environment so appalling, Chu decided not to stay any longer and made sure to finish quickly.
She threw all sorts of squeaking ingredients into the water and tried to wash them by pressing them down with her hands. After washing them several times, she realized that the fresh ingredients had lost their breath.
...Such fragile life.
By piling up the leftover food that he hadn't bothered to prepare and stewing it, Chu Jue mastered the essence of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
It's basically a mixed stew.
A pot of unappetizing food was served, and Chu Jue casually took a sample away.
She was single-mindedly focused on bringing the delicious food to her most valued VIP customers as soon as possible.
Chu Jue forcefully broke through the guest's access control and invited him to join the banquet.
-
"Chu Jue?" The male team leader looked surprised as his personal territory was unexpectedly invaded. Recognizing the intruder, he instinctively put on his fake smile, as gentle as if chatting with a friend, "What brings you here?"
Chu Jue said, "I've come to see you off." Indeed, the numbers above his head had increased considerably in the few days since he last saw him.
"Give it to me?" Many thoughts flashed through the male team leader's mind, but he remained outwardly calm, discreetly hiding the subtle movements of his fingers behind his back.
"Hmm." Chu Jue casually tossed out the pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall from earlier. "Eat."
The male team leader maintained his smile but didn't move, asking from a safe distance, "This is..."
He paused in his craning of his neck, and then he could see clearly what it was.
These fragmented pieces made it difficult to distinguish how many different dishes there were, but he noticed a familiar tattoo on one of the swollen, severed arms.
It seems to come from a male spiritualist who had just accepted an organization's mission a couple of days ago to be responsible for moving spirits.
As various signs emerged, the male team leader sensed something was wrong. He knew that Chu Jue's strength was far beyond his own, so the moment Chu Jue barged in, he had already called for the accompanying executors.
Unfortunately, they weren't arriving that quickly, so he needed to buy himself some time.
"Sorry, I don't like these."
Chu Jue knew he was stalling for time, but that was fine. She needed him to harbor murderous intent towards her, not just to keep avoiding her.
"So what do you like?"
"...At least it won't be these."
"Soup made from animal offal," Chu Jue said, staring into his eyes. "Even animals wouldn't like that?"
Seeing that her words were so undisguised, the male team leader could barely conceal his forced composure. He racked his brains, abandoning any pretense of politeness, and frowned, feigning calm: "What do you want? Profit? Power? And how much do you actually control?"
He mentally processed the investigation, recalling each step of the process, and quickly pieced together the source of Chu Jue's information: "Is it Zhu Xi?"
"I never expected... Zhu Xi would choose you." He seemed to be talking to himself. "Is she insane? Doesn't she know what kind of consequences she'll face for doing this?"
She actually chose to betray them—did she know what she would lose? Wasn't everything she had given her by them?
While he was rambling on, Chu Jue took a few steps forward, breaking the safe distance between himself and the male team leader.
She watched the male team leader retreat in a panic and then casually struck up a conversation with him.
"You're the one who's crazy."
In his mind, Zhu Xi should be deceived by his hypocritical grand narrative and become a tool.
He believed that all women could be easily manipulated by his words, and that as long as he showed even a little appropriate compassion, women would imagine endless divine qualities in him.
The male team leader laughed out loud: "So, you also sympathize with those low-level things."
Having something to ask for means there's a way out. It seems the situation hasn't reached the worst point yet. The male team leader analyzed the pros and cons immediately.
His tense expression subtly relaxed as he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, but continued, "You want to save them, but haven't you considered that killing me will only make them hate you?"
The formation of such obsessions is not something that happens overnight; those women had long regarded him as their spiritual leader. The spiritual concepts implanted by him had seeped into the depths of their consciousness, not something that could be easily pierced by others.
Chu Juekong has the strength, but his ideas are too simplistic.
He had an idea in mind and seized the opportunity to discuss it, saying, "I can cooperate with you..."
“I didn’t intend to save them,” Chu Jue interrupted his daydreaming. “I just wanted to kill you.”
The male team leader's smile froze on his face. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. However, his lost ability to organize his thoughts returned in the next second—the figures of the three executors assigned to him by the management office finally appeared before him.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he gave the three men the most concise command: "Kill!"
Kill her now!
In an instant, several bursts of spiritual energy erupted, and the three men launched an attack on Chu Jue simultaneously without hesitation—
The energy of the high-level spiritualists was like an unshakeable shackle, released in coordination with each other, trapping Chu Jue layer by layer.
A rampant killing intent spread, and the executors arrived with overwhelming force. Seeing that she was bound and unable to move by spiritual energy, A, B, and C tacitly attacked from different directions, unleashing their powerful spiritual energy as they charged towards their "prey"!
The distance was instantly reduced, and the three men were within arm's reach of Chu Jue. Just as they were about to eliminate their target, they inexplicably lost control of themselves—their limbs were restrained and stiffened, and they were suddenly frozen in place.
The movements abruptly froze, and before A, B, and C could even react with shock, their minds were taken over by a tyrannical spiritual force that roamed freely around them.
In an instant, the three men felt as if their senses were obscured by a fog, and wherever the spiritual power reached, it was tinged with extreme cold.
Hypothermia robs the body of its senses. A, B, and C's muscles stiffen, their limbs become numb, as if their breathing has been stopped.
Consciousness detached from the brain, and a thin layer of ice gradually covered their pale bodies. Frost grew visibly and rapidly, freezing their bewildered expressions.
The vibrant executors were transformed into three ice sculptures.
Chu Jue plundered the spiritual power that was offered to him until the three men stopped breathing.
The stiff body lost its support and fell straight backward, the ice crystals shattered violently, leaving only fragments scattered all over the ground, ice shards mixed with indistinct tissue.
The number of people present decreased sharply.
Chu Jue stepped over the ice shards, making a crisp crunching sound under his feet, and bone fragments were crushed with each step.
The instigator slowed down, but this action amplified the sound. Chu Jue walked straight towards the male team leader.
She relished the panic and fear in the male team leader's eyes; with each step she took to close the distance, his horror intensified.
The sound of footsteps on the ice was like the approach of death itself.
Standing upright before him, Chu Jue's imposing presence trapped his prey in place. True to his word, he presented him with the lavish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall gift.
She pinched the male team leader's chin and ordered, "Take your medicine."
Cure brain damage.
A fine mental force pierced his throat, forcing the male team leader to open his mouth wide.
No one paid attention to his unbearable "uh-uh" sounds. As if a thick, straight tube had pierced his stomach, the male team leader couldn't stop drooling dirty saliva, whimpering in pain, and uncontrollably rolling his eyes back.
The uncontrolled ugliness coexists with artistry, like a work of art that is focused on and must offer beauty even in times of suffering.
Under Chu Jue's feeding, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup gradually dwindled to almost nothing. Without any chewing process, Chu Jue simply poured it in forcefully.
She closed the male team leader's stiff jaw, cutting off his attempts to struggle, and forced him to swallow different parts of the food.
Sensing the changes within himself, the male team leader's hateful gaze was eventually worn down by the extreme pain, and his will to survive overcame everything, no longer disobeying Chu Jue's "feeding".
His movements were hampered by the numerous wounds on his body, and Chu Jue advised him to restrain himself through his actions.
The remaining bits in his mouth were chewed uncontrollably, producing a chilling crunching sound. The fresh meat and bones mixed with the scraps reminded him of what the ingredients looked like when they were alive.
As the man's unpleasant physiological reactions increased, Chu Jue stopped and took a step back with resentment.
Only the male team leader, who was only 40% new, regained his freedom. His surviving hands clutched his throat, and he instinctively began to vomit. His previously pierced throat was now being attacked by stomach acid, making him nauseous and gasping for breath.
He let out a "hoarse" sound as pain and a burning sensation surged forth. The dual torment of mind and body overwhelmed him, and he could no longer support himself and knelt on the spot, where he even lost control of his bladder.
...Chu Jue regretted it a little. He should have used a stick to pierce through the mouth from top to bottom. It would have been more pleasing to the eye than this vomiting and diarrhea.
He secretly tried to repair the damage with his spiritual power, but the male team leader found it completely ineffective. The damage inflicted by Chu Jue was an irreversible, high-level form. Thinking of the three executors who couldn't even hold on for a moment, he felt only a sense of defeat, as if he were about to die.
The severed limbs are unlikely to regenerate, and even if he were to survive by chance, he would be a cripple... The male team leader suppressed the hatred in his heart with a terrifying sense of oppression, daring not to show it in the slightest.
His eyes were bloodshot, and despite the dizziness and pain from the trauma, he gritted his teeth and persevered, refusing to give up any chance of survival.
The male team leader, his voice hoarse, forced himself to say, "I can... help you reach a higher position..."
"I'll be by your side. I'll help you with anything you want..."
Blood gushed from the severed wound that Chu Jue had forcibly torn off during the struggle. He lowered his head, adopting the posture of a loser, his palms trembling uncontrollably, yet he clenched them tightly.
Chu Jue casually replied, "For example?"
“Decision Maker…” Seeing that she was willing to talk, the male team leader’s hope was rekindled. “The only decision maker.”
Chu Jue's answer cut off his divergent train of thought.
"Not interested."
"Why..." he refused? He had already offered the highest possible offer, so why was she completely uninterested?
Chu Jue didn't waste any more words with him, focusing her strength to press against his skull. Seeing that she was determined, the male team leader ignored the burning pain from his broken leg, opened his clenched fist, and pressed it against her with all his might, in a sinister manner.
He revealed a ferocious smile, his hoarse voice filled with a murderous intent that threatened to destroy everything: "If you want me dead, then...we'll die together..."
...Do you still have a trump card up your sleeve?
Regardless of whether it was true or false, Chu Jue immediately chose to reap the merits and pursue efficiency. She used the most primitive method to directly pierce the male team leader's left chest—
The very next second after she made her move, a burst of spiritual energy, powerful enough to destroy the entire base, erupted, flashing with blinding white light.
Without proper technique, the male team leader, whose mind was sluggish from the pain, had no time to react. His screams were a mixture of emotions as those hands manipulated his soul and body, crushing him mercilessly.
The crimson hue was hidden beneath the blazing flames.
Impacts and roars erupted, and everything in sight was about to be annihilated. Chu Jue sensed something and mobilized his spiritual power to gather it amidst the chaos—
The spiritual power that had been exploding just a second ago vanished into thin air, and the male team leader's consciousness froze at that moment.
His already shattered body was torn to pieces by the explosion, and he only had time to see the last scene before his death—the devastating self-destruction he brought about vanished into thin air under the control of Chu Jue, who did something unknown.
Before even a thought of disbelief could form, the immense impact seemed to use his body as a vessel, surging out of its cage, completely disregarding the "object" that had been injured—
His consciousness and self rose and fell imperceptibly, ultimately being torn apart and gushing out together. The food he had swallowed earlier was forcibly separated from his inner self before they could be integrated, yet they remained inseparable, crushed and shattered into fragments together.
The explosive blood mist sprayed out like air freshener on the spot.
All that remained was a pile of kitchen waste. The male team leader died in agonizing fear, unable to rest in peace.
He couldn't change anything before he died.
Everything seemed normal; apart from the four corpses present, no one knew what had happened here.
Designers should make their presence felt at appropriate times.
[Main quest progress updated, merit points +2377]
Current total merit points: 10441
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Author's Note: Designer: I'm here
Chu Jue: You're not human.
[Kiss] (Waiting for praise) (Implication)
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