Super Gene

Han Sen opened the package, which had been delivered to him in a recyclable box, and saw a lone envelope inside.

Needless to say, he was taken aback. Sending someone a primitive letter in that day and age was very unusual.

He picked up the envelope, which was plain and without text on the front, and turned it over. There was nothing written on the back, either.

Han Sen opened it up and pulled out the slip of paper that was inside. On it, two simple sentences were written.

“Something will arrive in three days. Take it to the shelter and do not allow anyone else to see it – Blind Man.” Han Sen read it out and frowned.

Han Sen did not recall a person named Blind Man, but the writing was somewhat familiar. It was someone he had met once before, but his memory of the person’s significance was hazy.

When Han Sen was in the Second God’s Sanctuary, a man called Blind Man had given him a book called The Innocent.

He only saw him once, and after their encounter, he disappeared and was never seen again. Why he would send a letter and ask him to expect a package in three days, Han Sen could not tell.

“What a strange person.” Whatever was going on, it didn’t feel like a mere prank. Regardless of what was to occur, Han Sen decided to wait three days and see if anything did indeed come.

When that day rolled around, a package showed up at Han Sen’s door. Strangely, it was delivered to him by an actual person. This person was well-cloaked, though, and it was difficult to even discern their gender.

The person placed the item in the mailbox and left.

Because this item had not been scanned, Han Sen brought it to the sanctuary and got Moment Queen to open it for him. If there was something dangerous inside, it was best if she handled it.

When the box was opened, nothing bad happened. And on the inside was a miniature purple cauldron.

It was around twenty centimeters tall and ten centimeters wide. There was a lid on it, so if there was something within, it was obscured from view.

Curiously, though, emblazoned on the cauldron was the symbol of the Nine-Life Cat.

“Is Blind Man a member of Blood Legion? What meaning could there be, to him sending me this cauldron?” Han Sen frowned and gave the cauldron a good shake, to determine whether or not there was something inside it.

No sound was emitted, which told him it was empty—this actually disappointed him.

Removing the lid, though, proved his little test wrong. And what was inside gave him quite the shock.

Sitting inside the cauldron was a red jewel shaped like a ping-pong ball. It was rather weird, in that it had made no sound when he shook the cauldron.

“How is that possible?” Han Sen was really confident in his abilities of perception, and being able to sense the presence of something, even if it was out of sight. If there was something inside, he should have been able to detect it.

Han Sen closed the lid and gave the cauldron another shake with the jewel still inside. Like before, no sound was heard. It was as if the cauldron was empty.

When Han Sen removed the lid, the jewel was still there. He now also noticed a pleasant, herbal fragrance being emitted.

“What is this?” Han Sen took the jewel out. It felt warm to his touch, and it was lighter than any stone he had felt before.

Han Sen wondered if the jewel was actually a jewel, or was instead some sort of pill. If it was, it didn’t look edible. Swallowing it would be like swallowing a rock, or so he thought. He didn’t fancy digesting something like that.

Not partial to the consumption of such an item, he placed the jewel back in the cauldron and found a place in the shelter to hide it.

He didn’t really want to help Blind Man, but he was worried about the possibility of the package being associated with some murder or criminal act.

Han Sen returned to the Alliance and searched for information regarding such a cauldron.

He found many different cauldrons on Skynet, but there was nothing remotely similar to the one he had just been given. There was no news out there, either, about the theft of a cauldron.

After entering the dimensions of the cauldron, he should have been able to find something out about it. But alas, he could not.

Han Sen could not find anything out about the jewel, either. Frustrated, he simply decided to log-off Skynet and leave.

Following this package, though, Han Sen did not receive anything else from the elusive Blind Man. With no more reason for it to demand his attention, Han Sen decided to let the matter go for the time being.

“Little Han, we have received a report of an injured sacred-blood creature. Would you like us to check it out?”

As Han Sen went off to the east of the shelter, Old Huang sought him out.

“What is it?” His fourth gene lock had almost been opened, so he was fancying the idea of a quick kill of a sacred-blood creature.

“It is a black snake of sorts. It appeared to be dying, but that didn’t stop it from swallowing a mutant class frog. Still, that’s what told us it was most likely a sacred-blood creature,” Old Huang elaborated.

“Let’s take a look, then.” Han Sen followed Old Huang out of the shelter, and they ventured west. After ten miles of travel, they encountered a black snake resting on a rock. Its body was as thick as a barrel, and it had to be at least fifty meters long. Concerningly, its scales had been shredded by what appeared to be massive claws.

“It is a sacred-blood creature, you’re right.” Han Sen scanned it, and took notice of the lifeforce. And as they suspected, it was indeed legitimately damaged.