Chapter 63: Confirmed — The Evil Soul Master Was Just an Idiot!
"What? Tang Wulin's family was attacked? By an Evil Soul Master?"
At that moment, Huo Tiangang, the Spirit Pagoda master of Eastsea City, was left stunned. As one of the most powerful superintendents in the city, nothing escaped his oversight—especially key observation subjects.
When the Evil Soul Master appeared, he hadn't acted immediately.
That was because he was following Jiang Chen's private instructions—to secretly "observe" Tang Wulin's family.
Jiang Chen had wanted to see if he could provoke the Tang God King into making a move. If Tang San used up one of his rare intervention chances early, all the better. Jiang Chen certainly didn't want to become one of the God King's three allotted "targets for divine action."
Unexpectedly, the one to intervene wasn't Tang San at all—but a spirit soul.
Well… that worked too.
Still, Jiang Chen couldn't make sense of it. Tang Ziran and Luo Yu were ordinary people—former Federation specialists in mecha design and pharmaceutical research. Hardly worth hiding. The Federation could've found them easily, even without surveillance technology.
They hadn't even changed their names! If the Federation had wanted to locate them, it would've taken five seconds.
And yet, in the original timeline, the Spirit Pagoda had killed them to "erase evidence"?
What sense did that make? That move only served to fuel Tang Wulin's hatred toward the Pagoda, leading to his rebellion down the line. Then the Holy Spirit Cult abducted them, cursed them, and they died miserably later anyway.
Really?
Were they secretly inventing an earth-shaking new drug? Or had they designed a mecha stronger than a god-class unit—so the world had to silence them?
Now the Federation chased them, the Spirit Pagoda interfered, and Evil Soul Masters showed up too?
Plot-wise, Jiang Chen could only shake his head.
This had all the hallmarks of a nonsensical plot device—like that random ninth-level soul engineer in The Legend of the Dragon King who conveniently appeared at Snow Empress's awakening site, just to speed along the story.
It didn't make sense—but since it was all tied to Tang San's "millennium plan," that, somehow, made it make sense.
Who else but the Tang God King, after all?
Jiang Chen tapped his desk thoughtfully after reading the secret report from the Spirit Pagoda.
"Fine. Let the Federation visit them officially. Restore their identities. It's not important anyway."
He wanted to see how Tang San would handle it this time. In the original era, even after their deaths, Tang Wulin's parents were resurrected in the God Realm.
Let's see what the so-called God King planned now that they weren't dead.
The Eastsea City Mecha Defense Force soon arrived and detained the Evil Soul Master.
Captain Guang Biao led the team. After removing his mecha armor, he approached Tang Wulin and his family with deep remorse for the oversight that allowed an intruder into the city. The Federation, he promised, would offer compensation for the incident.
Shortly after, a classified document confirmed the couple's identities.
"Mr. Tang Ziran, Mrs. Luo Yu—you two are the Federation's registered mecha designer and pharmaceutical researcher, correct?"
Tang Ziran stiffened instantly, instinctively wanting to grab Luo Yu and flee. But seeing Tang Wulin, Mu Xi, and the armed mecha troops outside, he realized escape was impossible.
He sighed and nodded silently.
Guang Biao continued, "I'm not sure why you two have been avoiding the Federation, but that's your private business. What I need to know is—what exactly were you researching that made an Evil Soul Master come after you?"
These days, under the monitoring systems of the Soul Web, every soul master movement was tracked. Any irregular activity could be detected instantly. How had this happened undetected?
Tang Ziran and Luo Yu exchanged a helpless glance. There was no point hiding it anymore.
"Perhaps…" Tang Ziran began carefully, "because of our mecha blueprints?"
"Mecha blueprints?" Guang Biao raised an eyebrow.
He didn't believe that for a second. Two ordinary citizens—mecha diagrams alone attracting an Evil Soul Master? Absurd.
What would an Evil Soul Master want with mecha schematics?
If they could even pilot mechas properly, they wouldn't be stuck as Evil Soul Masters living like fugitives.
"What about your pharmaceutical research?" Guang Biao pressed.
"Impossible!" Luo Yu said firmly. "All the medications we developed have already been distributed publicly."
Then what was the reason?
Could it be… the Evil Soul Master's brain had simply short-circuited?
That seemed more likely.
After all, who could understand the logic of an Evil Soul Master? That whole profession was made up of lunatics.
"Never mind," Guang Biao sighed. "Fill in your names here. The Federation will deposit your compensation soon. Consider it a formal apology for our oversight."
But Tang Ziran and Luo Yu hesitated to take the pen.
Instead, they asked timidly, "You're… not going to arrest us?"
Guang Biao blinked. "...Arrest you? Why would we?"
He was completely lost. Arrest them for what?
They hadn't committed any crimes.
"Why?" he asked blankly.
Tang Ziran and Luo Yu answered in unison, "Because our experiment failed!"
"Failed?" Guang Biao frowned.
Experiments fail all the time. Since when did that warrant execution?
Even if they were only human researchers, their roles—mecha designer and pharmaceutical scientist—weren't insignificant. The Federation adored its scientists. They'd never punish people for failure.
After all, the Federation was descended from the Sun-Moon Empire, a realm ruled by soul engineers. Back in those days, a soul engineer could literally hold sway over nobility; those without talent in machinery or science were considered useless.
Ever since then, the Federation had prioritized scientific expertise.
So no, the government wasn't about to "kill" two registered specialists.
"Honestly," Guang Biao said, rubbing his temples, "what made you think the Federation would punish you over a failed experiment?"
That broke the tension entirely.
The whole thing had been a colossal misunderstanding.
Tang Ziran and Luo Yu had assumed for years that a failed project would lead to severe punishment—so they'd fled, living in fear, hiding their identities, and never even daring to use their own bank accounts.
All that hardship… for nothing.
Even Mu Xi and Tang Wulin exchanged embarrassed looks.
Tang Wulin said awkwardly, "So… all those years of suffering were for nothing?"
Guang Biao gave a sympathetic shrug.
Before leaving, he added earnestly, "You two should rejoin the Federation. You'll be under official protection—otherwise, if more Evil Soul Masters appear, we might not arrive in time next time."
Protection for unaffiliated civilians wasn't standard unless they were registered under government care.
Mu Xi nodded in agreement. "Uncle, Auntie—you can move near the Blacksmith's Association. Evil Soul Masters wouldn't dare approach that district."
The thought made her shiver. If she hadn't been angry with Tang Wulin earlier and come here early, the outcome might have been tragic.
Tang Wulin looked at her sincerely.
"Thank you, Senior Sister."
If not for her presence, he couldn't imagine what might have happened today.
Those vile soul masters… they were exactly as the books described—monsters among men.
(END CHAPTER)
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