RHWHEG – Chapter 17 The Demon in the Bottle

The only known LV2 ability user at the moment, She Lulang, was listening to the lesson absentmindedly.

He was among many other ability users, enrolled in a training class organized by the shelter. Many of them looked at him with envy or jealousy, but none of them were the person he was searching for.

Fortunately, he had investigated Yu Qunqing’s parents and confirmed that Yu Qunqing truly existed—he just hadn’t come to this shelter. Being reborn into a world where Yu Qunqing existed was both unfortunate and yet a stroke of luck. With Yu Qunqing’s powerful ability, he should be able to thrive in any environment.

But if, due to the butterfly effect, Yu Qunqing’s ability changed, or if he never gained one…

She Lulang could not even imagine such a possibility. Every day, he participated in rescue missions, initially hoping to see someone familiar. But over time, his heart sank, like a demon trapped in a bottle—

A demon confined within a bottle: in its first hundred years, it promised anyone who freed it a happy family; in the second hundred, it promised infinite treasures; in the third, it promised supreme power. But no one came. By the fourth hundredth year, it swore that whoever freed it would have their life claimed.

If he still couldn’t find Yu Qunqing, he wouldn’t mind dragging the shelter’s trash down to hell with him.

When the training ended, She Lulang was asked to stay behind for a conversation with a senior researcher.

The researcher first expressed grief over the shelter’s situation: “We have too few disaster stones! Not enough for farming, not enough to sharpen weapons. Our residents live on the edge of life and death, starving and trembling. If only we could acquire more powerful disaster stones!”

“Sigh… Mr. She, your feats are extraordinary. We will always remember them! As soon as we produce this potion, we will deliver it to you immediately.” The researcher was skilled in words—he said “deliver” but never mentioned forcing She Lulang to use it, instead coaxing him: 

“This potion is extracted from the disaster stones of four G-class calamities. All toxicity has been removed, but its radioactivity is strong. It can accelerate human mutation, allowing an LV2 to upgrade directly to LV3. We believe this potion is most useful for you, so the first finished batch is specially given to you. All for the survival of humanity.”

She Lulang took the vial without expression. The researcher inwardly thought he would definitely inject it—who could resist greater power in a post-apocalyptic world? But to avoid She Lulang’s rebellion, the researcher revealed nothing.

“There’s one more thing,” the researcher suddenly said. “The previous blood samples were ruined by the storm and are now invalid. We hope you can cooperate once more.”

“This is exactly how your previous life ruined him,” She Lulang muttered softly to himself. “Potion, blood…”

The researcher suddenly felt goosebumps—the innate survival instinct told him that death was standing right behind.

“It’s nothing.”

A black bird crashed through the window and darted into She Lulang’s robe. He extended his pale hand and said: “Then let’s begin.”

Five days later, Han Shuzhu announced a new mission in the ability hall.

Following the hints in the book in his mind, he had successfully infiltrated the shelter’s management. During this time, he took advantage of the fact that the book’s protagonist, Yu Yanlan, hadn’t yet met his destined partner and boosted his favor with him, becoming a close gay friend—the book in his mind was a BL novel, and he liked men too. Everything seemed to be going well, except for the person in front of him: She Lulang, dressed in a black robe with a cold, indifferent gaze.

Every time he looked at him, it was as if a knife was at his throat. What was going on? Where was the villain Yu Qunqing? Could this person, who looked even more villainous than the villain, be the new boss the butterfly effect had created?

She Lulang asked: “The new mission?”

Han Shuzhu swallowed nervously. He knew this LV2 had been increasingly irritable lately, striking indiscriminately. There were faint signs that a failed evolution could turn him into a calamity. As expected, he was an uncontrollable ability user—but still under the green mark safe zone. The shelter needed She Lulang for certain publicity tasks, to cover up negative news.

Keeping that in mind, Han Shuzhu masked his thoughts and patiently explained: “The new mission is to eliminate members of the Ecological Ethics Foundation.”

She Lulang’s expression twitched slightly.

“They are a group of environmental fanatics who regard human life as inferior, and suspiciously follow a certain religious belief,” Han Shuzhu whispered. She Lulang had high clearance, so there was no need for a detailed explanation. “Our shelter had brief cooperation with the foundation for some communication towers, you understand.”

“We usually keep to ourselves. But recently, some foundation members announced they were setting up branches in Jiangbei City. That’s unreasonable—there was an agreement between the foundation and the shelter. The shelter believes those are traitors of the foundation, conducting human experiments in Jiangbei.” Han Shuzhu recalled a previous meeting summary. Although there were some doubts—for example, why would foundation traitors concern the shelter?—the book in his mind gave a similar answer, so he believed it.

“Even though the apocalypse has arrived, our shelter strictly forbids all inhumane human experiments!” Han Shuzhu sounded indignant. “We must eliminate these foundation members!”

“Good.” She Lulang nodded. He believed in the human experiments—he had killed the foundation’s founder with Yu Qunqing in his previous life and rescued their future teammates. Now, it was just a matter of advancing the timeline.

Moreover, he desperately needed a thorough killing to calm the chaos in his mind.

Like a demon trapped in a bottle for four hundred years, whether he found Yu Qunqing or not, he would destroy everything, including himself.

She Lulang accepted the mission and said: “I’ll go kill them.”