Chapter 2: Stepping Out the Door, System Awakens: God-Tier Purifier
The rain continued to fall, even more frantic than before.
Cold rainwater poured down his collar like countless icy needles pricking him, but Lin Ji felt a dry heat coursing through his body. The mechanical voice in his head wasn't an illusion; instead, it grew clearer with every step he took, sending an electric-like tingling sensation throughout his entire being.
"God-Tier Savior System?"
Lin Ji wiped the rain from his face and let out a sneer, not stopping his pace. "I'm about to starve to death on the streets, and you want me to save the world? This joke is a bit too cold."
He took shelter from the rain under a roadside bus stop, soaked to the bone like a homeless stray dog, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright.
[The system is no joke. Given that the host has completely severed his karmic ties with the Lin family, a Newbie Gift Pack has been issued.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the passive divine skill: Absolute Calm.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the core constitution: God-Tier Purification Physique (Fully Awakened Version).]
The moment the voice faded, a strange warm current instantly pumped from his heart, flowing through his limbs and bones in the blink of an eye.
It was a wonderful feeling.
It was as if his entire body was soaked in warm amniotic fluid. His body, which had been shivering from the rain, quickly warmed up. Even the cut on the back of his hand from the paper earlier was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually leaving no scar behind.
Immediately after, the world changed in his eyes.
The originally noisy thunder, rain, and car horns felt as if they had been filtered through a layer of soundproof glass. Anxiety, anger, confusion... these emotions that had just been occupying his heart receded like a tide, leaving only a dead silence like a mirrored lake.
Is this "Absolute Calm"?
Lin Ji looked down at his palm, clenched it, and then released it.
"System, explain the purification physique," he asked in his mind. "What's the difference between this and... what I had before?"
Back when he was at the Lin family, he was like a human air freshener. As long as he stayed in the living room, his Sisters who had just returned from killing exotic beasts, covered in bloodlust, would unconsciously relax. At the time, he thought it was the power of familial affection, but now it seemed it was just a passive effect of his physique.
[Previously, it was in an unawakened state. The host could only passively emit a weak soothing aura and could not control it.]
[Now it is in the fully awakened state. Your blood, bodily fluids, and even a single strand of hair are god-tier antidotes capable of suppressing 'abyss contamination.' You can freely control whether to release your aura and can also designate targets for purification.]
"In other words, I used to be free incense, and now I'm a market-monopolizing miracle drug?"
Lin Ji raised an eyebrow. The metaphor was crude, but accurate.
With a thought, a translucent light blue panel instantly unfolded before his eyes.
The panel was densely packed with a row of names, all in red—a red so dark it was almost black—constantly flashing and jumping like a countdown bomb about to explode.
[Detected abnormal fluctuations in the contamination levels of high-risk targets!]
* **Lin Qingge (Eldest Sister):** Contamination Level 72% (Rising rapidly, on the brink of frenzy)
* **Lin Feiyan (Fourth Sister):** Contamination Level 68% (Boiling killing intent, bloodlust state)
* **Lin Wanyue (Third Sister):** Contamination Level 55% (Anxiety attack, increased destructive desire)
*...
Looking at this series of soaring data, the system's urgent notification sounded again.
[Warning! Due to the host's departure, the 'Suppression Source' has disappeared, and the mental defenses of the target groups are rapidly collapsing! It is recommended that the host immediately take measures to soothe them, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable!]
"Soothe them? Am I crazy, or are you?"
Lin Ji sneered, his fingers passing through the virtual panel as if to crush those names. "What does their contamination level hitting the roof have to do with me? Doesn't the Lin family have that S-Class Genius Lin Tian? Let him go and shine his light."
The ball of light in that impostor's hand looked impressive, but in reality, it was filled with so many impurities it was like gutter oil.
If Lin Tian were really sent to treat the Eldest Sister, she would probably fall into a state of cultivation deviation on the spot and slap him into a pulp.
Thinking of that image, Lin Ji's mood inexplicably improved quite a bit.
He directly closed the system panel, feeling that even a second glance was a waste of time.
"Why won't this rain stop?"
Lin Ji tightened his thin jacket and looked through the curtain of rain toward the dim alley across the street. That was the entrance to an urban village, the backside of this prosperous city—dirty, crowded, but fortunately cheap.
He only had a few hundred yuan in his pocket and couldn't afford a hotel, so he could only make do for the night in one of those small guesthouses that didn't require an ID.
Ten minutes later.
"Staying the night? Fifty yuan a night, one hundred deposit."
The landlady at the front desk had a cigarette in her mouth and didn't even lift her eyelids. Her gaze was as if she were scanning Lin Ji from the inside out. "Hot water is supplied for a limited time. Don't make too much noise at night; the soundproofing is bad."
"Fine."
Lin Ji pulled out the soggy bills and slapped them on the table without a word.
Taking the key, he went up to the second floor. The room was pitifully small, with a bed taking up almost all the space. A large chunk of plaster had peeled off the wall in the corner, and the air was thick with the smell of mold.
But for the current Lin Ji, this was already heaven.
At least here, there was no suffocating, hypocritical familial affection, no cold faces that could be thrown his way at any time, and no group of Sisters who treated him as a possession without giving him an ounce of respect.
Here, there was only freedom.
He threw himself onto the somewhat stiff bed and took out his old phone, which had a cracked corner on the screen.
The screen lit up, showing over a dozen missed calls.
All of them were from the Lin family.
It was probably Wang Xue or Lin Zhenghai calling to scold him, or perhaps telling him to come back and take the rest of his trash so it wouldn't dirty their place.
Lin Ji didn't even look; his finger slid across the screen, expertly long-pressing the power button.
The screen went dark, and the world was completely quiet.
"From today on, I am me, and you are you."
He rolled over and wrapped himself in the slightly damp quilt. With the assistance of "Absolute Calm," the sliver of confusion after leaving home was quickly suppressed, and sleepiness washed over him like a tide.
He slept very deeply this time.
...
Meanwhile, at the Lin family villa district.
The storm showed no sign of stopping; instead, it grew more intense.
A pitch-black military off-road vehicle was like an out-of-control beast, roaring as it tore through the rain curtain. With a piercing screech of brakes, the tires dragged two long black marks on the slippery ground, coming to a stop precariously close to the villa's main gate.
The car door was violently pushed open.
A mud-covered combat boot stepped heavily into a puddle, splashing up a spray of murky water.
The security guard at the gate had been dozing off, but the commotion startled him. He was about to shine his flashlight and scold someone, but as the beam flickered, he saw clearly that cold, beautiful, yet murderous face.
"Eld... Eldest Miss?!"
The guard was so scared he dropped his flashlight and gave a trembling salute.
Lin Qingge didn't pay him any mind at all.
She was wearing a dark green combat uniform, and the general's stars on her shoulders glinted coldly in the rainy night. But even more alarming was the scent on her—a thick, inseparable smell of blood mixed with some extremely unstable energy fluctuations.
Her face was terrifyingly pale, but her eyes were bloodshot—a sign that her contamination level had breached the warning line.
While suppressing the Exotic Beast Tide on the front lines, her mental state had already reached its limit. She had only endured by thinking about coming home to hug Lin Ji and smell the reassuring scent on her brother.
But just as she entered the gate, her heart suddenly felt terribly panicked.
It was a feeling as if she had lost something so important that it would cost her her life.
"Open the door!"
Lin Qingge's voice was hoarse, laced with a suppressed irritability.
The guard scrambled to press the switch, and the iron gate slowly opened.
Before the gate was even fully open, Lin Qingge had already rushed in like a gust of wind. She didn't even bother to change her shoes, striding across the expensive carpet directly into the living room.
In the living room, Wang Xue was holding Lin Tian's hand, watching television with an affectionate look.
Hearing the door, Lin Tian quickly stood up, a sweet smile plastered on his face. He was about to call out "Eldest Sister," but he was so frightened by the aura of slaughter surrounding Lin Qingge that he swallowed his words.
Lin Qingge looked around, her brow furrowed tightly.
Not here?
It's so late. Why isn't that boy in the living room waiting for me to return? Where did he go?
"Where is Xiao Ji?"
Lin Qingge took a deep breath, trying to suppress the needle-like pain in her mind, and asked coldly, "Tell him to come down and pour me a glass of water."
The atmosphere in the living room instantly froze.
The smile on Wang Xue's face stiffened, and Lin Tian subconsciously shrank back.
"What? Is no one listening to me?"
Lin Qingge's gaze instantly sharpened like a newly unsheathed blade, stabbing straight at Wang Xue. "I'm asking you, where is Lin Ji?!"