Chapter 16 Newbie Gift Pack, Assessment Task 2

Gu Jianlin felt a wave of helplessness as he read this, his blood running cold.

The cool sea breeze of the late night drifted in, making him shiver.

He hadn't expected that his family was secretly part of an ancient Ascender lineage.

Even less did he anticipate that every family member had died because of a curse.

Many times in his life, he had silently resented being born into such a family.

Now he understood.

It wasn't that his family was to blame—it was desperation.

His father's ceaseless work, perhaps, was an attempt to break the curse...

Ignoring his wife, neglecting his son, abandoning the family entirely in pursuit of answers.

Maybe when his uncles died, his father had already known.

That both father and son could not escape this fate.

Gu Jianlin remained silent.

At that moment, the terrifying silhouette from the highway resurfaced in his mind—a monstrous entity with nine heads and those horrifying faces.

Four months had passed, but the shadow of death loomed over him once more.

Reliving that despair and terror.

"So, if this curse isn't broken, I'll die too."

After a long pause, Gu Jianlin asked softly, "I won't live past forty, will I?"

Taixu responded, "Theoretically, yes."

Gu Jianlin's heart sank: "Will it affect my current family as well?"

Taixu replied, "We still haven't figured out the logic of the curse, so we can't say for sure."

Gu Jianlin pressed his hand against his forehead.

He didn't know if the so-called curse was that monster.

If so, how powerful must that monster be?

His father had worked tirelessly for half his life, yet failed to lift the curse.

For a moment, his mind was in chaos.

Gu Jianlin scrolled to the bottom of the document, where a line written in red caught his eye.

"Gu Ci'an, Sixth-Tier Fallen, Heavenly Master Path."

"Suspected contamination by Ancient God, severe mental instability, responsible for multiple incidents of accidental deaths and injuries, unauthorized unsealing of the Qilin Immortal Palace, slaughtered thirteen A-rank investigators, armed with Mythical Weaponry!"

"Wanted Worldwide."

"Danger Level: Alpha."

"Current Status: Deceased!"

Gu Jianlin's pupils shrank, his expression growing grim.

"The Ether Association has been trying its best to help the Gu Family break the curse, but after many years, there has been no progress. Until your father, in search of a way to lift the curse, entered the Qilin Immortal Palace and was ultimately contaminated mentally, becoming a Fallen."

Taixu, in a human-like tone, asked, "Your mental state and heart rate appear irregular. May I suggest you pour yourself a cup of hot water?"

Gu Jianlin was silent for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively. "No need. What does my father's dossier mean?"

Taixu answered, "Exactly what it says."

Gu Jianlin stared at it intently, speaking each word with precision: "He was a Fallen?"

"Yes."

Taixu confirmed, "If it were an ordinary novice, I might need to explain in detail what a Fallen is. But as someone who has already fought Fallen, you should know better than anyone."

"A Fallen is an Ascender contaminated by the aura of an Ancient God. The lower the rank of the Ascender, the easier it is for them to be contaminated."

"High-ranked Ascenders possess stronger resistance. However, if a high-ranked Ascender is contaminated, it's most likely because they actively sought out forbidden knowledge or were tempted by the power of an Ancient God, leading them to betray humanity."

"The Ether Association's stance is to prevent vulnerable Ascenders from entering the Ancient God Realm. But due to limitations in control and technology, ensuring they don't sneak in to pursue the Ancient God Clan's inheritance or treasures is quite challenging."

Gu Jianlin's thoughts were in turmoil.

Li Changzhi, the fake policeman, followed the Magician path.

Gu Jianlin's evaluation of him was simple: useless!

Of course, if not for his immunity to mental hypnosis through the power of the Qilin, odds are he wouldn't have won.

And yet, the mutations that man exhibited in his dying moments were horrifying, more Alien-like than anything else.

Gu Jianlin thought that even fifty copies of himself wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Though, in the end, that man was still defeated in a single blow.

However, his mental state had been undeniably deranged.

Old Gu had never shown signs of such a condition in life.

Taixu, as an artificial intelligence, displayed remarkably advanced intelligence, seemingly reading through his doubts as it explained, "Evolution often comes with mutation—a timeless law of life."

"Take Li Changzhi as an example. Before his mental breakdown, he was a public servant involved in the Immortal Palace project. However, during the exploration of the ruins of the Qilin Immortal Palace, his desires and various other factors drove him to lose his sanity."

She paused. "He was also one of the survivors of the massacres your father caused."

Gu Jianlin questioned, "Massacres caused by my father?"

Taixu responded, "It's possible that in seeking to lift the curse, your father violated some taboo in the Qilin Immortal Palace, leading to his breakdown."

Gu Jianlin instinctively felt something was off.

That rainy day, he was waiting for his father at the airport.

Though his father had been in a hurry that day, he had still bought him some new clothes and a brand-new Switch.

Their journey was filled with laughter—there was no sign of instability.

Back when his parents were still together, his father would agonize for days over killing a fish.

His mother often mocked him for being useless, yet now he was somehow a mentally unstable Fallen.

The most puzzling part was that Fallen are all supposed to be mad and aggressive.