Fatebound Dice

Chapter 8 – The Spiritual World Declaration

Eighteen years ago, a meteor fell from the sky and crashed into a moving train in the Blue Taro Kingdom, triggering a massive explosion.

The hundred-meter-wide crater formed by the blast still remains on the Carlos Plain to this day.

At the time, Chen Qi was only five years old. He miraculously survived the explosion but lost both of his parents.

Fortunately, the Blue Taro government handled the aftermath fairly well, and Chen Qi grew up smoothly. After graduating from an ordinary university, he entered society.

Chen Qi thought that after leaving school, he would never have to “gnaw on textbooks” again.

Yet fate works in strange ways—spiritual awakening required mastering the written languages of fifteen ancient civilizations.

Only then could one read the Spiritual World Declaration.

And once you could read the Declaration, you could awaken your own spirituality.

This had been proven true by countless humans over the last three thousand years.

“These tadpole-like symbols… you’re telling me that once I master fifteen ancient scripts, I’ll be able to read them?”

On the last page of The Complete Guide to Ancient Civilization Basics was the Spiritual World Declaration.

But in Chen Qi’s eyes, it was nothing more than clusters of tadpoles.

Staring at them for too long even caused hallucinations—he could see those tadpoles swimming around on the page.

It didn’t fit with his prior worldview at all, yet it felt undeniably magical, mystical even.

Remembering Jomoya’s final words, he cursed inwardly—he really had to study hard now.

That man’s encrypted diary was written in ancient languages—seven of them, to be exact.

So Chen Qi buried himself in The Complete Guide to Ancient Civilization Basics. The first half offered some general science on lost civilizations, while the second half was essentially a dictionary.

It contained exactly fifteen ancient scripts for reference.

Time slipped by as Chen Qi studied relentlessly—reading in the office during the day, staying up late at home at night.

At first, Chen Qi had been confident in his learning ability, but within just two days, he was nearly crushed into self-doubt.

“Were these ancient scripts really invented by humans?”

That was his only takeaway from studying them—the characters were just too strange.

Every hour, he would forget two-thirds of what he had just learned.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t recall them—his mind went completely blank, wiped clean.

It was as if his brain outright rejected them and deleted them automatically.

Chen Qi doubted that even with sleepless nights, he could master a single ancient script in a month.

And this was despite his life level being at 4, giving him a memory far beyond that of an ordinary person.

He suspected Erand had been boasting—how could he possibly have cracked Jomoya’s diary in just three months?

If it was true, then Erand really did have the right to call Jomoya an i***t.

Chen Qi had originally planned to see if either of them had kept study notes to borrow their methods.

But there were none—he would have to tough it out alone.

However, while he didn’t find Erand’s ancient script notes, he did discover something else—

Erand’s Superpower Experiment Log!

Erand had an almost obsessive love for his Flesh Manipulation ability, running more than a dozen experiments on himself alone.

Chen Qi gladly accepted this find. When his study of ancient scripts led nowhere, he shifted a large portion of his time to skill training.

To his surprise, his talent for manipulating the ability seemed even greater than Erand’s.

This at least eased some of his frustration.

In a deluxe ward at the Fourth Hospital of Tarin City—

A man with his head wrapped like a rice dumpling was roaring in muffled rage.

It wasn’t that Hu Wanhai didn’t want to shout loudly—he had no nose anymore, and simply didn’t have the strength to.

“Useless! All of you are useless!”

“It’s been two days, and you still haven’t burned that kid’s company down.”

“Do you even still see me as your boss?”

The frustration and fury inside Hu Wanhai were beyond words.

So what if it was over a woman? Did that warrant a b****y m******e?

What truly terrified him, however, was Jomoya’s terrifying ability.

That bastard was definitely not an ordinary man—he had taken a bullet to the heart and still hadn’t died.

Still, he had been seriously injured; otherwise, he wouldn’t have fled.

That meant the man wasn’t invincible—he had weaknesses. And that was the only thing keeping Hu Wanhai from being crushed by fear.

But he knew one thing for certain: this wasn’t over. One of them had to die.

“Boss, there’s nothing we can do. The police are watching us like hawks.”

“Who would’ve thought that guy was a billionaire?”

“Why don’t we send someone to talk it out? Settle this peacefully.”

The g**g’s deputy leader, Lin Tianming, tried to explain. It wasn’t that the brothers didn’t want revenge—it was that they had no chance.

“Hmph, talk it out? Then my nose is gone for nothing?”

Hu Wanhai glared at Lin Tianming. He had always suspected this man of having a rebellious streak.

Lin Tianming wanted to suggest a bionic replacement—modern tech could handle that—but one look at the boss’s murderous eyes shut him right up.

“Forget it. You just deal with the police.”

“As for that kid, I’ve already hired a killer.”

Hu Wanhai was vindictive to the core. Convinced he’d spotted Jomoya’s weakness, he’d hired a professional hitman—armed with a large-caliber sniper rifle and armor-piercing rounds.

“Boss, think twice! That guy’s rich—killing him will bring big trouble.”

Lin Tianming really thought he was acting in the g**g’s best interests, but Hu Wanhai’s glare sent a shiver down his spine.

Before he could explain further—BANG!

Hu Wanhai’s head exploded, flesh and blood splattering more than ten meters.

The boss was dead.

“Not bad—well done.”

“The rest of your payment will be sent shortly.”

In his detective office, Tarreno received a video from the hitman.

To guarantee a one-shot kill, he had contacted the top marksman in the Blue Taro underworld. A large-caliber sniper rifle with armor-piercing rounds—enough to rip Hu Wanhai in half even through body armor.

Judging by the result, it had been worth every coin.

“Executor, sir, the job is done!”

Immediately, Tarreno reported to Chen Qi and sent over the kill video.

“Well done—you’ve passed.”

Chen Qi’s voice was filled with satisfaction.

“Executor, sir, I also have some intel to report.

“Hu Wanhai once contacted that top marksman to kill you, but he didn’t pay as much as I did, so the killer took our job instead.

“I can’t guarantee he didn’t contact other assassins though—it’ll take time to confirm.”

This tidbit was a bonus from the hitman—one more reason Tarreno felt his investment had paid off, giving him a chance to show off before the Executor.

“I know—but there’s no need to confirm.

“The killer’s already got me in his sights.

“Alright, just focus on your own work. It looks like he’s about to pull the trigger, so I’ll deal with it.”

The comm line crackled with a deafening bang—Tarreno could swear something had really happened on the Executor’s end.