This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!

Chapter 167: Chapter 167: The Suit-wearing Thug Chapter 167: Chapter 167: The Suit-wearing Thug Eerie videos disappeared from Chen Ke’s phone, but he knew that in two days, that unhuman and unghostly thing would definitely come looking for him, so starting now, he had to stay vigilant for anomalies around him.

Although Chen Ke hadn’t yet joined any Transcendent organizations, he had indeed entered their realm. The inconvenience of not having Transcendent forces providing intelligence was finally being felt.

This video reminded Chen Ke of the incident in Room 98, where through memetic transmission, reality was distorted, leading people to take bizarre events for granted. This was the harm of memes.

The terrifying aspect of altering memes was that it could make the altered individual completely unaware. Without others to cooperate, it was very difficult to break the spell. After all, no one would question common sense, even if that common sense was fabricated by humans.

For example, in real life, the most familiar memes: “walk a hundred steps after dinner,” “drink eight glasses of water a day.”

These had become some sort of common knowledge, imprinted in the minds of the majority of middle-aged and elderly people, and were truths beyond challenge—even though these truths now had uncertain origins and lacked any scientific experimentation to verify their accuracy.

Humans themselves possess the ability to transmit and modify memes, but such memes need a certain degree of correctness.

But Transcendents are unreasonable; they can make people believe twisted, unreal, and impractical thoughts and information without a shadow of a doubt.

In a sense, these abilities belonged to the category of altering reality.

Moreover, this video, in some respects, was very similar to the transmission of memes. Just one viewing was enough to be affected, and regardless of whether the source of the video was carried, it could use tools around it to play.

Chen Ke remembered a horror movie he’d seen in the past, “Seven Days of Strange Tales,” which was translated as “The Ring” in his country. Those who watched the videotape would die mysteriously within seven days.

He never imagined that upon arriving in this world, he would also encounter such things.

But the Chen Ke of now was no longer the timid person he was while watching that movie. It had only been a little over a week since he had crossed over, and already the deaths at his hands exceeded double digits, and he had experienced a bank heist…

And now, he was a marked man, worried that every day without causing trouble meant a lack of killing intent. If they dared, let them come for him; suffused with killing intent, he would summon his great sword and chop them all down.

Chen Ke nodded to himself, resolving to no longer dwell on this matter. Just then, his phone screen lit up with an incoming call—it was from Lester.

The postman had no idea that Chen Ke was collaborating with an agent from another power, so he swiped to answer the call while leaving the gun shop and walking across the street.

“Lester? I just received the money, and I must say, your efficiency is really high,” Chen Ke said with satisfaction.

1 million union coins was not a small sum; a postman might take away just over 2 million from a single bank heist.

Adding the 150,000 Lester paid in advance, and his previously accumulated roughly 10,000, in just one week, Chen Ke was already a millionaire.

“You’re decisive in solving problems, so we’re equally decisive with payments. Of course, this call isn’t just to confirm the money has arrived,” Lester said, laughing.

“Hmm? Are there more targets that need handling?” Chen Ke’s eyebrows raised.

“That depends on you. The last collaboration had some problems, causing you to face some additional risks during the operation. If you choose to stop, we would understand,” Lester said magnanimously.

Of course, that was not his personal stance but the attitude of the power behind him.

Chen Ke was not someone who hadn’t been through the ropes of society; he had the emotional intelligence to understand that, in assassinations linked to the Transcendent level, encountering some complications and additional risks was quite normal.

On the surface, this statement appeared to be a polite and perfunctory apology, offering him a choice whether to cooperate or not, but in reality, it was a test of Chen Ke’s disposition.

Translated, it basically meant: if you can’t even handle this trivial matter, don’t bother hanging out with us.

Chen Ke, of course, wouldn’t sever this relationship, after all, Lester’s backing organization might well be a legitimate and powerful force making big waves at the Transcendent level. At the very least, it shouldn’t be much worse than Si’s consortium-type Spiritual Businesses.

Cooperating with them would possibly bring him into contact with the real Transcendent sphere and secure much more significant intelligence.

Of course, Chen Ke wasn’t naive enough to believe that those forces would really provide anything for him, but it was better to be inside the circle than just looking in. He’d take it one step at a time.

“Our business relationship has finally made a little bit of progress, it would be such a pity to cut it off now,” Chen Ke said with a smile.

“Uh… very good, very good… Do you really think so?” Lester seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted.

“I’m freaking loving it,” declared Chen Ke.

“Excellent, Chen Ke… I knew I hadn’t misjudged you, that suit really suits you…” Lester was elated.

“Speaking of suits, Lester, its tie and shirt got torn… do you have any replacements?” asked Chen Ke.

He was still wearing that suit, buttoning up to cover the tear on the belly of the shirt and had taken off the tie, stuffing it in his pocket.

“Torn? Chen Ke, are you eating suits every day…? I gave you that suit less than a week ago, and you’ve already had it repaired several times…” Lester said, somewhat surprised.

“Uh… go talk to those monsters about it…” Chen Ke said helplessly.

“Alright… It looks like I need to prepare several more suits for you. You go through clothes too quickly…” Lester laughed.

“I’m not fussy about what I wear, but I really like this suit. Can you tailor a few dozen identical ones for me to have as spares?” Chen Ke asked seriously.

The suit Chen Ke was wearing had some very useful special effects, and he decided to wear it for covert assassinations in the future, as it was unique and it would be a loss to ruin it in regular combat.

“No problem, do you need each suit to be a different color?” Lester responded promptly.

“No need, all black,” replied Chen Ke.

He could instantly identify that transcendental suit from hundreds of black suits.

“Alright, then, I’ll start by tailoring 10 suits for you, including shirts, ties, as well as shoes and belts. If you also need socks, then adding it all up, after a 50% discount, it will be 50,000 union coins,” Lester said.

Ten suits, even at a 50% discount, amounted to 50,000 union coins… Though Chen Ke wasn’t short of money now, he had never spent like this before. However, the quality of the suits from Lester’s tailor shop was definitely good, so the price was acceptable.

“Deal!” Chen Ke said through gritted teeth.

“Alright, transfer the money to me whenever it’s convenient for you. I’ll get started on the 10 suits now… But, you’ll have to come by my shop. There are some things that can’t be discussed over the phone,” said Lester.

Chen Ke replied affirmatively, guessing that Lester must want to discuss details of the next assassination…
Having arranged to meet Lester at 11 a.m. at the Zio tailor shop on Raffi Road, Chen Ke hung up the phone, looked up, and to his surprise, found himself right outside Li Bo’s noodle shop.