CHAPTER 360: CHAPTER 293: SWORDS DRAWN AND BOWS BENT

On that fragment, between two small flowing runes, apart from the golden gleam flickering...

There were also two white fine lines drifting back and forth.

This is...

Wen Nan was watching intently, and a head leaned over from beside him.

Yu Shujun knelt on one knee next to Wen Nan, followed his gaze to the runes on the fragment, and soon also noticed the white fine lines moving back and forth inside.

The "white lines" were extremely tiny, like mosquito legs, swiftly darting back and forth in the golden recesses, resembling some sort of parasite, somewhere between a nematode and a hookworm, giving one goosebumps.

Yu Shujun stared at it for a while and spoke in a deep voice:

"It’s a Gu worm, the Heart-Drilling Gu."

...Heart-Drilling Gu?

Soon, a corresponding prompt sounded in the system—

9527: [Heart-Drilling Gu, a psychic control tool that can enter the target’s bloodstream through skin contact and further erode the heart.

Once the Heart-Drilling Gu successfully erodes the target’s heart, the Gu controller can issue a command to the eroded target. If the target fails to comply with the command, they will continuously endure drilling heart pain, with the pain intensifying over time until the command is completed or the Gu worm is removed.]

Upon hearing this name and description, Wen Nan immediately recalled Yang Mingzhong’s previous words—saying the [Ghost Control Master Alliance] guild usually had three methods to control roles, even players. Apart from the role’s inherent control patterns and the tool [Thousand Threads], the third method was using Gu.

It seems that this [Heart-Drilling Gu] is their third way to control others now.

This fragment had always been in Wei Zhe’s possession before. It wasn’t until Wen Nan took him down, his player account was deregistered, and the equipment was recalled by the system that the fragment dropped.

In other words, if Wei Zhe hadn’t been taken down by Wen Nan, then this [Heart-Drilling Gu] would have probably remained acting on Wei Zhe.

It seems that President Carl Milak, although willing to give his underlings his Divine Staff Fragment to scrutinize the situation of the Divine Staff Sheath in this instance, wasn’t entirely trusting of his subordinates, worrying that they’d seize his fragment, thus added many restrictions—

His account was bound to the fragment, setting a 168-hour loan period, yet feeling that it’s still inadequate, he seemed afraid that members holding the fragment, during the loan period, might use the Matthew Fragment’s enhancement effects to backstab him and seize the fragment, so he additionally placed a [Heart-Drilling Gu] in the fragment. In this way, even if this "stand-in" harbored ill intentions during the loan period and tried to attack the President, they’d still have to consider the consequences of the [Heart-Drilling Gu] and be forced to halt their Sixth Form behavior.

Thinking of this, Wen Nan couldn’t help but shake his head.

Yu Shujun called him "cunning," "cautious," and wasn’t wrong at all.

Seeing Wen Nan hesitate in response, the system prompt urged once again—

9527: [Would you like to accept the transfer?]

To confirm accepting the temporary ownership of this fragment, one has to press their finger on the rune, and while Wen Nan completes the identity verification, the [Heart-Drilling Gu] on the rune will follow the capillaries under his skin to his heart, and the person remotely controlled would become Wen Nan.

Wen Nan certainly wouldn’t do such a thing.

This Matthew Fragment is not worth it either.

It’s merely an enhancement effect, improved with level. Since Wen Nan’s skills are all just level 1, this fragment is essentially useless to him, less effective than his golden harness pattern.

Thinking this, Wen Nan withdrew his hand, preparing to directly ignore the system inquiry.

Seeing this, Yu Shujun furrowed his brows, lifted his hand to grip his arm, "Not accepting it?"

Yu Shujun’s desire for the Divine Staff Fragment was even fiercer than that of President Carl; Wen Nan had been certain of that since their first meeting on the trial map.

At this moment, seeing the other party’s eagerness, Wen Nan said helplessly, "I don’t want to be controlled by that [Heart-Drilling Gu]."

Yu Shujun shook his head, "You won’t be. With me here, I’ll help you."

"You’ll help me?"

"Mmm, using the Transfer Fragment." Yu Shujun, following the explanation, reached into his spare equipment inventory for that fragment, "When the [Heart-Drilling Gu] enters under your skin, I’ll activate the Transfer Fragment on you, and you can transfer the [Heart-Drilling Gu]..."

Saying this, Yu Shujun looked around without finding a suitable transfer target and finally said: "Transfer to me."

Wen Nan was incredulous, "Are you asking me to plant a Gu on you?"

Yu Shujun’s eyelashes drooped, "I already have your golden control patterns on me. One more [Heart-Drilling Gu] doesn’t matter."

Wen Nan: ...

He felt there was something odd about this but couldn’t pinpoint what.

Wen Nan waved his hand, "You can’t think like that."

Yu Shujun wanted to ask why they couldn’t think like that, but Wen Nan had already switched topics: "You’re saying your Transfer Fragment can make the [Heart-Drilling Gu] that should be controlled by that President, be controlled by me instead?"

Yu Shujun nodded.

Wen Nan suddenly thought of something else, "Since the transfer effect is so powerful, why didn’t you use the fragment to counteract when I applied the golden control pattern on you last time?"

Yu Shujun, at that time in the trial map, was using a character account and didn’t have the chance to call his fragment immediately. However, Yu Shujun believed it wasn’t pertinent and thus hadn’t mentioned it, because—

"Replication Fragment possesses the highest authority in this entire game world, overriding all other tool skills."

Upon hearing this, Wen Nan nodded in understanding, which explained why the Replication Fragment could only be used once, while others could be used multiple times.

Now, knowing that the Matthew Fragment has a [Heart-Drilling Gu] placed by the Ghost Control Master Alliance President, and knowing Yu Shujun’s Transfer Fragment could help transfer this Gu’s effect, Wen Nan wasn’t in a hurry to use it.

He directly put the fragment into his spare equipment inventory, stood up, faced Yu Shujun’s greatly puzzled expression, and had to explain, "Even if transferred, it’s a two-day loan that must be returned. This fragment is useless to me, but the Gu worm might be of some use."

Yu Shujun became more confused, and just as he wanted to say something more, he saw the other side, while pulling up his pants, casually ask, "My golden harness pattern was used once and suddenly split. Do you know why?"

Yu Shujun was taken aback, realizing only now that whether on a date or otherwise, Wen Nan always insisted on wearing such a shiny harness. It turns out... it wasn’t just personal taste?

Yu Shujun was shocked, looking down at that harness in disbelief, "This... is an item?"

"What else could it be?" Wen Nan retorted, "If it weren’t an item, do you think I’d wear such an explosively tight harness to run around all the time due to some random old ailment?"

Thinking of the golden lace ensemble he had previously worn in the Divine Staff Sheath’s test space, Yu Shujun’s face flushed, his gaze dropped, and he stopped speaking.

Wen Nan pulled up the introduction of the golden harness pattern from the system and showed it to Yu Shujun.

After reading it, Yu Shujun looked incredulously at Wen Nan. His eyes were like looking at a lunatic.

Pointing at a note in the description, Yu Shujun said: "Here, effective body fluid, isn’t there a possibility that it refers to blood?"

Wen Nan suddenly understood, exclaimed "Damn," and was about to criticize when a figure rushed up from the stairway.

Yu Shujun instinctively took a step forward, blocking Wen Nan.

Looking over Yu Shujun’s shoulder, Wen Nan saw a familiar figure stop before them.

Blocked by Yu Shujun, Mo Yu had to stand on the steps, looking up and calling to Wen Nan with a smile: "Master, I’ve come back to find you."

About to respond, the person in front suddenly spoke first:

"Mas-ter?"

Yu Shujun dragged out the last syllable and said gritting his teeth, towering and glaring at Mo Yu.

Mo Yu, whose real form was the Little Silver Sword, naturally held some awe for the highly skilled swordsman Yu Shujun. Now, being glared at with a gaze full of killing intent, Mo Yu shivered, and instead exhibited a deeper admiration for Yu Shujun.

Yu Shujun noticed Mo Yu’s expression, his entire demeanor became frostier, the golden light in his palm couldn’t be contained, and he was ready to transform it into a longsword at any moment.

"Who are you calling Master?" Yu Shujun questioned, enunciating each word.

"I..." Mo Yu said one word, then looked at Wen Nan for help.

"Ahem, ahem."

Wen Nan cleared his throat to avoid unnecessary conflict—of course, Mo Yu against Yu Shujun could hardly be called conflict; at best, it’d be a one-sided beating—so Wen Nan decided to step in and mediate: "Don’t call me Master, just like before, call me Boss."

Mo Yu didn’t understand why calling someone "Master" was wrong but readily nodded, "Oh, got it, Boss."

The golden light in Yu Shujun’s hand finally receded slightly, his expression eased a bit.

Wen Nan checked the time, then headed towards the lovers’ hotel where the blood donation vehicle was parked, "Let’s go, time’s tight. If we don’t settle things there, something might happen."