Having the genes of a demon king, I never intended to be a kept man.

The innkeeper was brought before the crowd and made to kneel on the ground.

Nangong Qiuyue stood before him, coldly staring down at him: "Who exactly are you? What unspeakable secrets is hidden in your small town?"

The innkeeper, bound tightly, looked terrified and frightened, like a nobody: "No...no, sir! I'm a law-abiding citizen! I've always run my business honestly and have never done anything illegal or disorderly. You can't just convict me like that!"

Nangong Qiuyue: "Then what is this girl talking about?" She pointed to Jiang Xue beside her.

"How would I know! She's slandering me! You need evidence to support your claims! Besides, isn't this guy a dark race?" The innkeeper refused to admit it. "I was just visiting some relatives when this white-haired female demon suddenly barged in and killed several of us without saying a word. She clearly wanted to steal our human life force! You Night Watchmen can't distrust our fellow humans and trust a demon, can you?"

“This…” Nangong Qiuyue hesitated.

Ye Ge walked over, squatted down in front of him, and patted his head: "Alright, you're still pretty stubborn. If you don't confess honestly, I'll have to use torture to extract a confession."

The innkeeper's eyes showed fear, and he quickly looked at Nangong Qiuyue: "You night watchmen aren't allowed to use torture to extract confessions, are you? That's against discipline and the rules! You can't let him do that! Without evidence, I'm a law-abiding citizen, and your officials have to be responsible for my safety!"

Nightsong said, "But I'm a demon, not a night watchman." Then she waved her hand.

Jiangxue immediately understood her father's meaning, raised her hand, and clenched her fist in the air.

The deep blue, chilling aura spread out once more, immobilizing Nangong Qiuyue, Liu Kai, and the other Night Watchmen.

“And I have those Night Watchmen under my control now,” Night Song said. “It seems they can only watch helplessly, unable to protect you.”

The Night's Watchmen: "..."

Jiang Xiaoming was dumbfounded.

...can it really be like this?

The innkeeper stared wide-eyed at Ye Ge: "You...you're supposed to be the Duke of the Southern Territory! Aren't you afraid that if word gets out that you're using such torture to extract confessions, it will damage your reputation among the human race!?"

Nightsong said, "You're wrong again. I'm only the temporary ruler of the Southern Territory; the title of Duke belongs to my father. And besides..."

He gently patted the innkeeper's head again, revealing a kind smile: "If you die, become stupid, go crazy, have your tongue cut out, or your fingers chopped off after today... do you think this matter will still get out of the news?"

Hotel owner: (?0?7°□°)......

Night Song chuckles softly.

"Lingling, make him tell the truth."

"Hmm." The white-blooded spirit's crimson pupils emitted eerie light patterns.

The hotel owner's eyes immediately went blank.

The color of its eyes turned crimson, the same as Bai Xueling's...

"Speak," Ye Ge said softly, seeing that he was in a good state. "What's your background?"

The innkeeper opened his mouth slightly, his eyes vacant, and murmured as if in a dream: "The company's... employees..."

"Company?" Ye Ge: "What company?"

The hotel owner answered haltingly, "We're low-level contracted employees of the gene company...we have an employment relationship..."

Ye Ge's heart stirred.

Gene company!

It's the company behind the Myriad Races Chamber of Commerce...

The most mysterious company in the game's storyline has top-tier experts from various races among its senior employees, but the identities of its boss and shareholders are not revealed in the game's plot.

In the original storyline, nearly 70% of the game items, including many health potions, mana potions, resistance potions, as well as a lot of equipment and weapons, were produced by them!

Top-grade Spirit Gathering Pills, learning power enhancement elixirs, and the Iron Fist Ghost Arm combat puppet that Ye Ge used before are all their representative works.

In the original storyline, if Ye Ge hadn't interfered in this life, Yu Li would have been taken in by them and become one of them!

Gao Shenxue's revenge against the human race for Yege seems to be partly fueled by the company.

There's a fleeting glimpse of a corrupted Takashi Yuki meeting with a high-ranking executive at the gene company in the game's storyline, but it's only shown briefly...

Night songs are sung in silence.

"Gene Corporation, I think I've heard that name before." Xia Xiyao tilted her head. "That doesn't seem to be a human company, does it?"

"Hmm." Ye Ge stared at the innkeeper: "What does the gene company hire you for?"

Hotel owner: "Collecting human...genetic data..."

Xia Xiyao asked, "You are human, why do you work for a gene company?"

Hotel owner: "They pay a lot of money."

Xia Xiyao was speechless.

Ye Ge asked, "So, the disappearances in more than a dozen towns in the Central and Outer Ring areas during this period were all your doing?"

Innkeeper: "Some were done by us...some were...vampires..."

Ye Ge turned to look at Bai Xue Ling: "Why is he speaking in such a halting manner? People who were previously controlled by the Blood Spirit Illusion Technique shouldn't be like this, right?"

The patterns in Bai Xueling's crimson eyes flickered continuously, and her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if she were fighting against something.

"Someone has planted an illusion trap in their minds. Their contracts with the company likely include some kind of mental contract... I'm currently battling this planted force inside his head..."

Upon hearing this, Ye Ge immediately asked the innkeeper, "What about the people you captured? Did you kill them all?"

Innkeeper: "No...they're being held in the basement of the town church..."

After he finished speaking, the innkeeper suddenly stopped, as if he had suddenly gotten stuck, and his eyes began to roll outwards.

A dry, hoarse "uh uh uh" sound came from his throat.

His body began to twitch very unnaturally...

"puff--"

The hotel owner's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth were all oozing blood at the same time.

His body then fell heavily forward, and he lost his life.

Night Song frowned.

Upon opening the system panel, I discovered that his health points had reached zero...

"Huff!...Huff!..."

Bai Xueling swayed, her face turning extremely weak, and she gasped for breath.