An unpleasant scent filled the air. Its odor resembled rotten eggs and it spread throughout the house like a plague.
"Mother… father… I'm sorry," a hoarse voice echoed through a plainly decorated bedroom.
Inside the room was a large queen-sized bed, a closet and a walk-in bathroom.
There was a layer of dust on all of the furniture inside the room which showed that no one had lived here for months.
A mature looking woman in a business suit knelt down on the ground and pressed her forehead against the floor.
She was an attractive woman in her late twenties with a lean muscular physique and a sharp angular face.
But what would stand out about her appearance were the heavy bags under her eyes. Dark circles that displayed the tiredness and exhaustion on her face.
In front of her was a simple wooden shrine with several pictures placed carefully around its wooden frame.
This shrine was built in the corner of the bedroom and seemed out of place.
Inside the pictures were the scenes of a happy family. An elderly mother smiling and waving at the camera, a stern father with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and two children.
The older sibling inside the frame was a tall girl with long flowing black hair that was tied into two cute braids.
The younger of the two was a shy little boy who hid behind his sister's skirt in the picture.
His innocent appearance and soft features would win the hearts of all the aunties in the neighborhood.
A brief smile flashed across the woman's face as she remembered her little brother coming home from school with a bunch of candy in his arms.
It was a picture that was taken a lifetime ago.
The woman on the floor choked up as she felt a wave of nostalgia and sadness.
The woman remained motionless in the same position. Despite the nasty scent in the room, she showed no discomfort or disgust on her face.
Time seemed to have no meaning as she continued to whisper over and over again the same phrase.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
A harsh bleeping noise interrupted the strange atmosphere inside the room. The woman slowly got up from the ground and nearly fell as her knees almost gave out.
She opened her phone and saw a text message arrive in her inbox. The sender of the text was a name that she was all too familiar with.
Song Feng: [Hey! I'm on my way now… Why didn't you tell me that you were coming back to Shanghai?]
The woman read the message but did not bother to reply. She placed the phone back in her pocket and bowed once more in the direction of the shrine.
"You would hate me for what I am about to do," the woman laughed sadly as she spoke to the pictures.
"I can still hear your voice now mom… you would beg me to go to the police… tell me not to do this myself."
"And you dad… you would tell me that life is too precious to just throw away."
The woman stopped talking and waited as if she would get a reply from the silent pictures that remained frozen in time.
Perhaps she really had gone mad.
What she had experienced over the last few months would be enough to drive any regular person insane.
But this plan had to succeed. The woman knew that if she missed this opportunity then there would be no second chances.
She had bet everything on this one final move.
It was the only way that a human could defeat an enemy that defied common sense.
"If I have one regret mom…then I regret not changing my name to match yours. Song Li was more fitting than Sui Li," the woman whispered quietly.
Sui Li turned around and left the room with slow purposeful steps. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she felt as though someone was watching her as she walked away.
She closed the door quietly and entered the living room where the rotten egg smell only got stronger.
She currently in a medium sized apartment building on the outskirts of Shanghai city so there weren't many rooms built inside.
Sui Li felt the urge to pay her bedroom a visit, but she knew that there wasn't much time left until her target arrived.
She walked towards the couch in the middle of the living room and sat down. There was clock hung right above the television, but its battery had long stopped working.
Sui Li closed her eyes and waited. She could hear nothing but the steady beating of her heart as the minutes passed by.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Finally, there was a loud knocking sound coming from the front of the apartment and then the jingling of keys could be heard.
Sui Li opened her eyes, and a flash of hatred could be seen inside her gaze. She quickly pushed down that emotion and resumed her calm appearance.
She could not afford to give the game away.
That monster was unusually adept at reading facial expressions.
"Elder sis! I'm home!" a deep masculine voice echoed through the apartment. Sui Li clenched her fingers tightly into a fist as she saw a young man walk into the living room.
He wore a plain ordinary white shirt and a pair of track pants that could be bought at any thrift store.
His body was heavily muscular with strong arms, legs and a physique that would not look out of place on a Greek god.
He stood at an impressive height of over six feet and had a natural aura of sexiness and appeal that was hard to ignore.
But as Sui Li focused on his appearance… she could not help but feel a shiver of fear as she looked at his face.
The young man smiling cheerfully at her no longer bore any resemblance to his biological parents.
His face was extremely attractive and well sculptured to the extent that it could even be considered unnatural.
Fierce brows, piercing black eyes, perfect cheekbones and a nose that was perfectly positioned in the middle of his face.
His handsome looks far surpassed even the top movie emperors in the film industry.
Song Feng wrinkled his nose as he smelled the foul odor of rotten eggs, "Hey… what's that awful smell?"
"I think there might be a sewage leak in the bathroom upstairs. I will call a plumber tomorrow to deal with it," Sui Li replied calmly.
"Don't worry about it. This old apartment is worthless anyways," Song Feng waved his hands and sighed dismissively.
A white-hot rage bubbled inside Sui Li's chest as she heard his scornful tone. This apartment was where their parents had once lived…
How could he say such a thing?
No… she should have expected that perhaps in his eyes… this apartment held no sentimental value.
Song Feng walked over to his sister and reached into his pocket to pull out a black credit card.
Sui Li recognised it as an exclusive platinum black membership card. To own one required a deposit of at least twenty million USD or over one hundred million yuan.
"This card has no limits on it. Feel free to spend as much money as you want," Song Feng declared arrogantly.
Song Feng placed the card in his sister's right palm and for the briefest of moments his hand lingered on her soft fingers.
He hid it well, but Sui Li could see the possessiveness and desire hidden in his gaze as his eyes swept up and down her body.
The look in his eyes made Sui Li's skin crawl and she fought desperately to keep herself from throwing up.
She felt sick.
Still, it was far too late to turn back now. As she stared into her brother's eyes… Sui Li felt her feelings of hesitation slowly fade away.
"Where did you get all that money? I thought that you were studying in university," Sui Li questioned with a warm smile on her face.
"Sister! I wanted to leave it as a surprise, but I am now the owner of a company! I have also made quite a bit of money by saving a few wealthy people," Song Feng explained.
"Saving them? How?" Sui Li questioned with an expression of surprise.
Song Feng leaned in closer and whispered in an almost conspiratorial tone, "Remember when you left to go abroad? I managed to learn some traditional Chinese medicine from an expert."
"He taught me how to use acupuncture to unblock sealed meridians and how to make concoctions to cure hidden diseases."
Liar.
Liar.
LIAR!
Sui Li struggled to maintain her peaceful appearance as her brother placed a warm hand on her shoulder.
Suddenly she got up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen without sparing a glance at her brother.
Song Feng followed closely behind with a puzzled look on his handsome face. The scent of rotten eggs got stronger and stronger as they approached the kitchen.
Sui Li's eyes began to tear up and even Song Feng was beginning to get a little bit uncomfortable because of the foul odor.
She waited until her brother had entered the kitchen before turning around and facing him with a serious expression.
"Did you know that I was afraid when I found out that mom was pregnant with you?" Sui Li quietly spoke.
"What?" Song Feng asked in confusion.
Sui Li stared off into the distance and there was a hint of nostalgia in her gaze as she spoke, "I said that I was afraid."
"I was only their adopted daughter and I had heard stories from the other kids in the orphanage about what would happen once your new parents got biological children of their own."
"You may laugh but my deepest fear was being abandoned. Fortunately, the love that mom and dad showed for me never changed."
"And you… you were the little brother that I adored."
"That's why I did not hesitate after our parents died in that car accident to drop out of colleague and save enough money to send you to university."
"On her deathbed… I promised mom that I would protect you."
A haunting smile bloomed across Sui Li's face as she stared at the face of her brother that she could now only barely recognise.
Song Feng frowned as he felt an unpleasant feeling as he observed Sui Li's smiling appearance.
The instincts of a cultivator were incredibly sharp, and he could sense that there was danger coming from somewhere.
But where?
Song Feng began to look around the room with an unusually serious expression. Sui Li knew that there wasn't much time left.
"I know you aren't him," Sui Li's voice broke the tense atmosphere inside the kitchen.
Song Feng froze in shock as he stared incredulously at the woman who just revealed his deepest secret.
"What are you talking about big sis?! How can I not be your brother? Are you feeling alright?" Song Feng laughed nervously.
"Do you remember what I told you when you were only five years old? It was during the last night of our annual fishing trip," Sui Li spoke calmly.
Song Feng let out a small sigh of relief and quickly accessed this body's memories to find the answer to her question.
"You said that we would always be together with mom and dad. We would stay one big happy family until we all turned old," Song Feng replied confidently.
"I also remember that you confessed that you had a strong fear of heights!"
Sui Li approached her brother and wrapped her arms around his chest. She could feel the pounding of his heart and the heat of his muscular physique.
Song Feng did not hesitate to return her affections and the pair spent a peaceful moment in complete silence.
"Do you know what your mistake was? The flaw wasn't that you remembered what I said… the flaw was that you did," Sui Li hoarsely whispered.
"My brother always had a terrible memory."
The surprised expression on his handsome face was enough to send a dark thrill of satisfaction down Sui Li's spine.
The inhuman creature that possessed her brother's body used his memories to perfectly assimilate into modern day times.
But because he relied on the original Song Feng's memories… Sui Li knew that there was one way to kill him.
She simply needed to use knowledge that her little brother did not possess.
Natural gas is odorless, so utility companies add a chemical called mercaptan to the gas in order for leaks to be detected.
As for the scent of this chemical…
It smelled like rotten eggs.
Sui Li reached for the lighter in her pocket and brought it up to Song Feng's face. Her brother in his panicked state did not notice her quiet actions.
Click! Click!
BOOM!
She could hear the painful scream of the fake Song Feng as his flesh immediately burned under the intense heat.
The last thing that Sui Li saw was a flash of brightness before her vision sank into an endless abyss.
.
.
.
.
(Outside The Creation World Tree- Unknown Location)
"As you can see Candidate No.214 was originally a minor heroine in an urban cultivation novel and yet… she was able to kill the son of heaven on her plane."
"She has excellent qualities of both ruthlessness and cunning that I believe are necessary for an agent in our new department."
There was a brief moment of silence in the broken spatial zone as the faceless and bodiless beings of light reviewed the footage.
The new department of the Space Time Authority had to be created to deal with troublesome individuals capable of destroying the stability of their planes.
It was for this reason that candidates from across the multiverse had to be carefully selected for this extremely difficult job.
One of the beings extended a golden tendril outward and pressed the [Accept] option next to Candidate No.214's profile.
The fourth agent of this new department had now been chosen.