Chapter Twenty: The Black Isle

“Seventh squad, what's your status? Respond if you hear me, respond if you hear me.”
Wu Chou put down the walkie-talkie and crushed a cigarette butt with force.
“Useless fools!”
Two full special combat squads, the Fifth and Seventh, rigorously trained, plus Iron Beard, a high-integrated gene prototype injector, and they still couldn’t last more than a few minutes against that experiment subject?
“Did the Tyrant Serum succeed this time?”
Wu Chou muttered under his breath.
“Otherwise, there’s no way to explain it. With Iron Beard's gene prototype, no matter how ineffective he is, he should at least have been able to send a distress signal.”
This experiment subject must be captured.
“Combat squads One, Two, Four, and Six, stand by for orders.” He pulled out the tactical board, ready to map out attack and encirclement routes.
“Director, a call from Director Zhong.” A guard approached and reported.
Wu Chou, thoroughly impatient, snapped, “He dares call me now? Give it here.”
He started cursing even before the receiver touched his ear. “Old Zhong, do you realize the trouble your experiment sample last night caused us? The quarantine zone, surgery area, and raw material storage have all disappeared from the surveillance feeds, and two combat squads have lost contact!”
“Wu Chou.”
The voice from the other end was unnaturally raspy. “I just found a clue about his identity.”
“Hm?”
A brief silence, then a single explanation from the receiver sent chills down Wu Chou’s spine.
“His file is in the Ability User Archive.”
Crash!
The receiver smashed to the floor, shattering, and the blood drained from Wu Chou’s face, sweat pouring from his back.
The Ability User Archive.
Whose file would be stored there besides an ability user?
Had he been fighting an ability user all along?
Damn.
No wonder those two squads were wiped out so quickly.
He propped himself against the wall and shouted with all his might:
“Destroy all experimental data and serum. Everyone evacuate through Corridor Nine!”
“Immediately! Right now!”
...
Ji Cheng stood in the corridor, soaked in blood, breathing in the thick metallic scent. The darkness was silent; two full combat squads had been wiped out by his hand.
He stood atop a pile of still-warm, elastic remains, his face a mix of excitement and lingering fear.
“That was almost too much—how did the original owner of this body survive with this temperament?”
Ji Cheng grimaced, unable to restrain the instinct to plunge into danger.
He sighed, pushing aside these thoughts and lowered his gaze to his hands.

“But I must say, these people really did me a favor, delivering such a generous gift for free.”
After the battle and slaughter, he had figured it out completely.
The Tyrant Serum injected by the doctor was actually a biological weapon, its main function being to boost his explosive strength.
“Who’d have thought this remote planet could even manufacture bioweapons?” Ji Cheng muttered.
A bioweapon could be blood, cells, organs, nerves, skin, or anything biologically active.
Compared to mechanical weapons, bioweapons enhance combat power more directly, but they’re also riskier and require stricter conditions.
Even though the Tyrant Serum was far inferior to the top-tier bioweapons he had used before crossing over, given Baishan Star’s current situation, it was a treasure.
Ji Cheng felt it silently, sensing only the faintest heat flowing within, just barely perceptible.
With a thought, he clenched his right fist; the heat surged with his blood into his forearm, making veins bulge and the skin turn a deep blue-black.
He braced his spine, twisted, and punched the steel wall—forcing a clear fist-shaped dent into it.
He pressed his ear to the wall and knocked; the echo was crisp, the resonance trembling.
“Medium-carbon steel.”
Leaving such a deep mark in a medium-carbon steel wall meant a punch force of at least two thousand pounds, far surpassing the gene prototype—Wildcat’s enhancements, nearly doubling the effect.
This was the power of the Tyrant Serum.
“Not enough, though. If only I could get more.”
After waiting a while and seeing no further attacks, Ji Cheng followed the corridor upward—the incline was clear, he was heading higher.
Was this underground?
“Freeze! Hands up!”
While he was speculating, a group of armed city guards burst in, rifles trained on him, tactical flashlights illuminating the way.
The lead guard squinted at him and immediately recoiled in shock.
The newcomer was drenched in blood, knife in one hand, gun in the other, ignoring the warnings and walking forward.
His steps were slow, but the echoes in the cramped corridor were eerily loud, as if treading on hearts, sending waves of unease through everyone.
“Stop right there or we’ll shoot!”
The figure walked with a steady pace, like a leopard emerging from the shadows—agile, cold, with murderous intent lingering from his recent bloody fight.
Thud, thud, thud.
He finally reached the guard, his vertical pupils staring through.
“Lower your weapons, lower your weapons—it’s Mr. Ji Cheng!”
A guard pulled out his earpiece: “Target found, requesting extraction.”
“Extraction approved.”
“We’ve finally found you, Mr. Ji Cheng. Lord Lu is waiting for you upstairs,” the lead guard said, bowing.
“Upstairs?” Ji Cheng frowned.
The guard leader opened a bottle of light saline for Ji Cheng and handed him a towel.
“Yes, we’re under an abandoned factory. Lord Lu will explain everything soon. We’ll escort you out now.”

“Let’s go.”
Ji Cheng, escorted by the guards, wound through the corridors and eventually took an elevator out of the lab.
Outside the factory, the perimeter was strewn with broken wire fences and rotting wooden posts—a place few would ever visit, hidden and remote.
Yet now, the area was filled with guard vehicles, headlights illuminating the night as though it were day.
Ji Cheng quickly spotted Lu Shangbai in the crowd.
Lu Shangbai saw him too, approaching with a broad smile.
“Knew you’d be fine. I came as soon as I got the message myself, pretty reliable, huh?”
Ji Cheng asked curiously, “So what’s happening now?”
“It’s like this,” Lu Shangbai explained quietly.
“The City Defense Command found someone investigating your file. Tracing the lead, it turned out to be Director Zhong from the Grey Zone Guard Bureau.”
Ji Cheng recalled the wrinkled old man who’d abducted him—he’d been called Director Zhong.
Lu Shangbai said regretfully, “Unfortunately, when I got the notification, he’d already committed suicide out of guilt. Based on the clues found, we figured you’d been sent to this abandoned factory, so I brought everyone here to find you.”
Committed suicide? Ji Cheng’s brows rose.
“Why did these people want to capture me? Who are they?”
Lu Shangbai replied with a smile, “Your capture was probably a coincidence. They belong to a group called Black Isle, linked to the disappearances of many gene prototype injectors. We’ve been trying to catch them for ages, but they’re like rats in the gutter—impossible to pin down. Turns out it was because there was a mole in the City Guard Bureau.”
“So did you find anything valuable this time?”
“Nothing at all. Every piece of data inside was destroyed, not even a scrap left.” Lu Shangbai spat. “By the way, you met them face to face—any clues?”
Ji Cheng recalled the conversation among the researchers when he first woke—there was mention of someone called ‘Serpent Lord,’ possibly a breakthrough for finding them.
But—
He shook his head with absolute conviction. “No clues.”
He wouldn’t joke about this; if he handed over the leads, the Tyrant Serum would never be his. Such treasures must be kept for himself.
“I didn’t find anything at all,” Ji Cheng repeated.
“I figured as much. Oh, right.” Lu Shangbai handed him a bag. “Found this at the Grey Zone Guard Bureau—should be your stuff.”
Ji Cheng looked inside: his phone, wrist computer, and planetary LAN access pod.
“Thanks.”
Lu Shangbai snapped his fingers. “No need for thanks. Who knows, maybe next month you’ll become an ability user, and then we’ll be colleagues.”
He was keen to befriend Ji Cheng; young and exceptionally gifted, it was almost a certainty Ji Cheng would become an ability user. Plus, Ji Cheng had backed him up during the mining exam, giving him more reason to show goodwill.
This incident didn’t actually require an ability user’s involvement, but Lu Shangbai had come personally, intent on making friends in advance.
Lu Shangbai opened the car door and laughed heartily. “This isn’t the place to talk—let them finish the cleanup. Change clothes first, then let’s find a place for some barbecue and a good meal, have a chat.”
“Barbecue sounds great,” Ji Cheng’s eyes lit up. “After a night like this, I’m starving.”