Luo Shixin did not return last night.
Most likely, the general was still occupied with military matters following the recent discovery of the mutant potion near the palace. The hotel felt far quieter without his presence—without the firm, commanding aura that usually filled the room.
Now, only three people remained.
Xue Yunxue.Lin Yuan.And Lu Xiao… still lying unconscious on the bed.
The air in the room was thick with the scent of medicine and faint spiritual energy.
This was the moment to act.
Xue Yunxue took a deep breath before stepping toward Lu Xiao's room.
The door opened slowly.
Lin Yuan stood beside the bed, his body enveloped in a thin bluish glow. In his hand was an energy crystal stone emitting a soft radiance—the gift from the East Sea Priest, Lin Tianhai.
Energy swirled within the crystal like ocean currents.
Slowly… then faster.
With one long breath, Lin Yuan absorbed all of the crystal's energy. Blue light spread along his arms, flowed into his chest, then erupted into a wave of spiritual pressure that caused the room's curtains to tremble.
A faint cracking sound echoed through the air.
The fluctuation of his power rose dramatically.
A thin layer of frost formed across the floor before slowly melting away.
Xue Yunxue unconsciously held her breath.
His strength increased again…
Now Lin Yuan only needed to synchronize his ice element with his newly elevated spiritual energy level.
Just as she was about to step back—
"Are you just going to stand there and spy?"
Lin Yuan's voice sounded lazy… yet sharp as a thin blade.
Xue Yunxue frowned.
The merman had not even turned around, yet he had clearly sensed her presence from the beginning.
"You're really annoying," she muttered softly.
Lin Yuan finally glanced back. His cold blue eyes reflected light like the surface of the sea at night.
"Usually people knock before entering."
His tone was casual, but it was obvious he was testing her reaction.
Xue Yunxue ignored the remark and went straight to the point.
"I'm leaving. Can you watch over Lu Xiao for a while?"
Lin Yuan's brow lifted slightly.
"Where are you going?"
The question sounded simple… but the pressure behind it was heavy.
As if he were weighing whether the girl before him was trying to run away.
Xue Yunxue glanced briefly at Lu Xiao.
His face remained pale, his breathing almost imperceptible.
"I found some clues about the Gu poison," she said calmly but firmly."I'm going to search for answers."
For the first time since the conversation began, Lin Yuan's expression changed.
"Really?" he said slowly."So… you've already found a way to remove it?"
His gaze sharpened. He observed every subtle movement on Xue Yunxue's face—her breathing, her blinking, even the shifts in her emotional aura.
He wanted to confirm one thing.
Did this girl already know the price required to save Lu Xiao?
Xue Yunxue remained composed.
"I learned that the poison was created by the ancient Owl Clan," she replied."So I'm going to find someone from that clan."
Silence fell.
Lin Yuan crossed his arms.
"The Owl Clan…" he murmured."They disappeared from the world long ago."
His tone was flat, but his mind raced.
You still don't know… he thought.Or perhaps… you're pretending not to know?
"Yes," Xue Yunxue continued without hesitation."But I managed to track down a surviving member of the clan."
Her conviction was too strong. Too straightforward.
Lin Yuan watched her for a long moment.
In his eyes, she looked like someone walking toward an abyss… unaware of how deep it truly was.
The corner of his lips lifted slightly—not a warm smile, but the smile of someone who had already foreseen an approaching tragedy.
So you really are willing to risk yourself for him.
"Very well. I'll watch over Xiao for you," Lin Yuan said. He was curious to see how the girl would react once she learned the true cost of the Gu poison.
Xue Yunxue departed that very morning.
The capital's sky was still covered in pale dawnlight when she returned to the hangar where Xiang Shuai's aircraft was parked. The morning air was cold, biting against her skin, yet her thoughts were far more restless than the temperature around her.
She stood silently before the aircraft for a moment.
Quiet.
Normally, Xiang Shuai would complain about her waking too early or force her to eat breakfast first. Now the place felt empty… far too empty.
Xue Yunxue exhaled softly and stepped into the cockpit.
She did not know how to operate the aircraft, and she knew attempting to fly it would only end in suicide. Instead, she activated the navigation panel. Blue holographic light instantly filled the narrow space before her.
Her fingers moved quickly.
Coordinate data… flight routes… contaminated region maps…
She copied everything into her chakra computer.
After confirming the transfer was complete, she shut down the system and stepped back out. Her movements paused when her fingers unconsciously touched the pendant around her neck.
The pendant Luo Shixin had given her.
The small gem felt warm, as if it still carried traces of his energy. Memories of his golden gaze, his cold yet concerned voice, and his stern warning echoed in her mind.
Don't make me worry about you.
Xue Yunxue lowered her head slightly.
"…I'm sorry."
Slowly, she removed the pendant. For several seconds, she simply stared at it resting in her palm before turning away and leaving it behind in the hotel room.
She did not want Luo Shixin to sense the fluctuation of her energy.
She did not want anyone to stop her.
This time… she had to go alone.
The capital looked magnificent and modern on the surface, yet the longer she stayed there, Xue Yunxue realized one truth—beneath its dazzling lights, darkness thrived.
Illegal businesses flourished in secrecy.
Throughout the previous night, she traced information within the black market, making quiet inquiries until she finally found what she had been searching for.
An illegal teleportation token.
A single-use artifact capable of instantly transferring someone to specific coordinates and returning safely. Fast. Secret. And… incredibly expensive.
One token cost one million chakra coins.
Xue Yunxue stared at her savings balance with a gloomy expression as the transaction finished.
Two million chakra coins vanished just like that.
She bought two tokens.
One for herself.
The other… to bring Pei Yu back alive.
The small disc-shaped metal token now rested in her palm, cold yet heavy—as if it carried all her hope of saving Lu Xiao.
She searched for a quiet corner of the city, far from crowds and surveillance. An empty alley between old buildings proved safe enough.
Xue Yunxue took a deep breath. Her chakra computer activated.
Coordinates entered. Destination locked.
Her index finger hovered over the activation button.
For a brief moment, hesitation surfaced.
No Luo Shixin.
No Lin Yuan.
No one who could help her if something went wrong—only herself and Moa, two beings relying entirely on each other.
Without further hesitation, she pressed the button.
—
The world collapsed.
Wind twisted violently like a raging storm vortex as space folded and shattered into fragments of light. Her body felt pulled in every direction at once, as though her bones were being torn from her flesh.
Overwhelming pressure slammed into her consciousness.
Sound disappeared.
Direction lost meaning.
Within a single second that felt like eternity—
Everything stopped.
Xue Yunxue was thrown out of the vortex of light and fell to her knees on a hard floor.
The air smelled of dust and rust as it filled her lungs.
She gasped, the world spinning violently around her. Nausea surged uncontrollably until she could no longer hold it back—she vomited the breakfast she had eaten earlier that morning.
Her body trembled.
Her head throbbed as if struck from within.
Her face paled when she finally lifted her gaze.
She was inside an old building on the verge of collapse. Cracked walls, shattered windows, and thick layers of dust covered the floor like a place abandoned for years.
Silence.
Xue Yunxue wiped the corner of her lips, her breathing still uneven.
"…So this is what teleportation feels like…"
A bitter smile appeared on her face.
Instant travel, it seemed, was far from pleasant.
—
After forcing her breathing to stabilize, Xue Yunxue finally stood.
Her legs still trembled slightly, but the sharpness returned to her eyes. She steadied herself, suppressing the lingering nausea and discomfort from the teleportation.
She observed her surroundings.
The old building matched the coordinates.
The laboratory location.
But… it was too quiet.
Not ordinary silence—rather, a dead stillness. No wind slipped through the cracks. No insects stirred. Even the dust floating in the air seemed frozen in place.
As if life had long abandoned this place.
Or… life had chosen to stay away from it.
Xue Yunxue closed her eyes briefly.
"Moa… help me scan."
Plant energy slowly flowed from her body, seeping into the cracked floor beneath her feet. Invisible roots spread into the ground, extending like a nervous system searching through darkness.
Several seconds passed.
Then Moa's voice sounded in her mind—softer than usual.
'Sister Xue… there are living beings here.'
Xue Yunxue opened her eyes.
'Other beast humans. Many… and all of them are underground.'
A chill crawled down her spine.
This was the decisive moment.
She had finally found the laboratory.
She began searching for access to the lower levels of the building. After walking through a long corridor filled with debris, she discovered an old iron staircase hidden behind a half-collapsed door.
The stairs were rusted. Some sections were bent, as if they had endured violent impacts.
She descended slowly.
Each step produced a soft creak… creak… that echoed far too deeply below, as though the staircase connected to a bottomless void.
The air changed.
The deeper she went, the colder and more humid it became. A metallic scent mixed with something faintly… fishy.
Like old blood long since dried.
She paused.
From below came a faint sound.
Not footsteps.
Not machinery.
More like… scraping.
As if something moved slowly behind the walls.
Xue Yunxue held her breath.
She continued downward.
One floor.
Two floors.
Finally, she arrived at a narrow corridor ending at a massive steel door. Its thick surface was covered in faint scratches—marks of claws or sharp tools repeatedly scraping from the inside.
Her heartbeat quickened.
How was she supposed to open it?
She raised her hand, then stopped herself. No. Forcing entry might trigger an alarm.
She had no choice but to wait.
Time passed slowly.
Fifteen minutes.
Thirty minutes.
The silence in the corridor grew heavier. The dim ceiling lights flickered unstably, each flash making the shadows on the walls seem alive.
At one point, she thought she heard breathing.
Even though she was certain no one stood nearby.
Forty-five minutes.
One hour.
Suddenly—
HSSSSS…
The steel door released a pressurized hiss.
Xue Yunxue tensed.
The indicator light glowed red, then turned green.
The door slowly opened with a heavy grinding sound.
A man stepped out.
He wore a white laboratory robe stained faintly in places. Thick glasses rested on his face, his eyes dull with exhaustion.
He walked past Xue Yunxue's hiding place without noticing her presence—she had suppressed her spiritual aura until it became undetectable.
Before the door could close—
Xue Yunxue moved.
A thin plant tendril emerged from her fingertip, as fine as thread yet hard as living steel. It slipped into the gap of the door, holding it open for a fraction of a second.
Enough.
She slipped inside silently.
The steel door slammed shut behind her.
She entered a room where every wall and floor was made of thick metal.
The room was… too clean.
A suffocating contrast to the dusty corridor above. The metallic floor reflected pale white ceiling lights, spotless—as if every trace of life had been deliberately erased again and again.
Xue Yunxue paused at the entrance.
The smell of antiseptic pierced her nose.
Cold.
Sterile.
Unnatural.
In one corner, several laboratory robes lay discarded.
Without wasting time, she picked one up. The fabric still held faint warmth, sending chills down her spine.
Someone had worn it just moments ago.
She quickly put it on, pulling a medical mask from a nearby chair to cover half her face. Her hair disappeared beneath the thin hood.
Now she was just another staff member.
Or at least… she looked like one.
She stepped outside.
The laboratory corridor pulsed with quiet yet oppressive activity. Beast humans moved quickly between experiment tables, their hands busy mixing strangely colored liquids inside glass tubes.
Glowing green. Deep purple. Dark red like freshly spilled blood.
Hundreds of small bottles lined metal shelves, each marked with numbers instead of names. The liquids inside occasionally pulsed faintly… as if they possessed their own heartbeat.
Xue Yunxue turned her gaze away.
She did not want to know.
She did not want to understand.
The more she knew, the harder it would be to remain calm.
Her goal was only one.
Pei Yu.
On the other side of the room, rows of transparent capsules stood upright like glass coffins.
Inside them, various mutant humans slept within murky liquid. Their bodies were pierced with cables and long needles.
Some still resembled humans.
Others… no longer possessed natural proportions.
One creature's hand inside a capsule moved slowly.
Its fingers scratched against the glass from within.
krk… krk…
Xue Yunxue held her breath and quickened her pace.
She descended the stairs toward the next level.
The deeper she went, the more staff appeared. Strangely, no one paid attention to her. Everyone seemed too busy… or too accustomed to new faces constantly coming and going.
Yet the feeling of being watched grew stronger.
As if something invisible were following her.
She kept her steps steady, mimicking the rhythm of the other researchers. Her eyes observed without appearing obvious—reading every room sign, every sector number.
Corridor after corridor.
Room after room.
Machines hummed softly like the breathing of a giant sleeping beneath the earth.
Then—
she found it.
The very last corridor.
Its lights were dimmer than the others. The walls were covered in faint scratches, as if something had once tried to escape… or force its way in… with violence.
A metal plate was fixed to the door.
PROFESSOR PEI YU'S OFFICE
Her heart pounded violently. She glanced left and right.
No one was watching.
With swift but controlled movement, she opened the door and slipped inside.
Click.
The door closed. Silence immediately enveloped the room.
Empty.
Pei Yu was not there.
Xue Yunxue frowned.
The room was messy in a strange way—not chaotic, but like someone had been working nonstop for days. Stacks of documents covered the desk, some fallen onto the floor. Wall shelves were filled with old research books bearing worn covers.
Handwritten notes covered nearly every visible page.
Ancient symbols. Body diagrams. Energy structures.
Her breathing warmed.
Notes about the Gu poison had to be here…
She immediately began searching.
Page after page turned carefully.
But the longer she read… the colder her body became.
None of the pages contained healing research.
No attempt to save lives.
Instead—
everything spoke of enhancement.
Methods to strengthen mutants. Techniques to control their consciousness. Experiments aimed at extending lifespan through forced mutation.
Diagrams of dissected bodies filled the papers. Margin notes written in different inks suggested the writer constantly debated with himself.
Subject failure — consciousness collapse.
Repeat with higher dosage.
Pain increases energy stability.
Xue Yunxue's fingers tightened.
She found only a few notes about toxins—neurotoxin formulas, biological poisons, nerve-destroying compounds.
But… not a single mention of Gu poison.
The hope in her chest slowly loosened.
Had she come to the wrong place?
Suddenly, Moa's voice sounded sharply in her mind.
'Sister Xue… someone is coming. Quickly. You must hide.'
Her breath caught.
Hide?
Her eyes scanned the room rapidly.
Shelves were full. The desk lay exposed. There was nowhere to conceal herself.
The ceiling.
She looked up.
A metal ventilation duct stretched overhead. Without hesitation, plant energy flowed from beneath her feet, lifting her body as lightly as a leaf carried by the wind.
She jumped.
Her hands grabbed the vent cover, opening it silently before slipping inside just as—
click.
The office door opened.
Xue Yunxue stopped breathing entirely as she closed the vent from within. The narrow space was filled with cold dust and the scent of old metal. There was barely room to move.
She could only peek through the small ventilation grille.
A man entered.
His steps were calm.
Too calm.
He appeared around thirty-five years old, with a thin gray beard and silver hair falling neatly to his shoulders. His eyes were sharp yet hollow—like someone who had lived longer than empathy itself.
He sat in the work chair soundlessly, movements efficient like a machine.
Standing before him was a tall, thin young man with greasy straight hair, his face tense with anxiety.
"Professor Pei… what should we do?" the young man asked, his voice trembling slightly. "They're demanding we accelerate Alpha potion production."
Xue Yunxue's heart pounded.
So… this was Pei Yu.
The man let out a long sigh and leaned back slowly, irritation crossing his expression.
"Damn it," he muttered softly, his tone cold as a blade. "They never understand the meaning of research."
He picked up a metal pen, spinning it between his fingers.
"We are still far from perfect stability. The potion still destroys the subject's consciousness after the third phase."
"Tell them… we still need time to perfect it."
Pei Yu's voice fell lightly, almost lazily, yet carried an undeniable finality.
The tall youth immediately bowed.
"Yes, Professor."
He quickly left the room. The door closed behind him with a long airtight hiss.
Click.
Silence returned.
A different silence.
Heavier.
More… alive.
Inside the narrow vent, Xue Yunxue barely dared to breathe. Cold sweat formed at her temples, mixing with metallic dust that stung her nose.
They… who are they?
The question spun endlessly in her mind.
Pei Yu did not immediately resume work. He sat quietly, fingers tapping lightly against the desk—an irregular rhythm that felt unsettling, like a countdown toward something ominous.
Then he opened a drawer.
From inside, he took out a long, dull-black tube resembling a thin pipe.
He lit its tip. A small flame flickered… then faded into a glowing ember.
Pei Yu raised it to his lips and inhaled deeply.
Thick smoke slowly left his mouth.
The smoke did not disperse like normal smoke.
It curled in the air.
Moving.
As if it possessed its own will.
Xue Yunxue instantly sensed something wrong. The spiritual energy in the air became heavy and sticky, making her chest feel tight even without directly inhaling it.
What is that…?
Moa's voice sounded softly in her mind, filled with rare caution.
'That is a narcotic used among beast humans…'
Moa's tone turned serious.
'A substance that makes its users addicted… and unable to return.'
Xue Yunxue stiffened.
Below her, Pei Yu exhaled smoke slowly with closed eyes, his expression relaxing—far too relaxed for someone who had just discussed dangerous experiments.
'That narcotic is made from a forbidden plant,' Moa continued quietly. 'A parasitic plant from Fleur… my original world.'
For a brief moment, Moa's voice sounded… uneasy.
'That plant should not exist in this world. I believe they discovered it after learning only part of its benefits…'
Moa's tone turned cold.
'Unfortunately, they only know how to misuse it. They do not even understand the true properties of that parasitic plant.'
Black smoke continued to fill the room.
It swirled in the air before quickly dissipating.
Below, Pei Yu appeared increasingly relaxed. His once-tense shoulders slowly dropped. His eyes half-closed, and a faint smile curved across his lips in disturbing pleasure. He was savoring the sensation of the addictive substance, as if his body were receiving a powerful tonic. As a scientist who constantly relied on his mind, he needed something to ease the tension coiled within his nerves.
He enjoyed it as though the poison were a warm embrace.
After relaxing slightly, he leaned back casually in his chair. As if remembering something, he pulled a small lever at the side of his desk.
Click.
A hidden drawer slowly emerged from the wall, its metal mechanism creaking softly.
From within, Pei Yu took out a stack of ancient books.
Their covers were cracked. The pages had yellowed and grown fragile, nearly crumbling from mere contact with the air.
Xue Yunxue held her breath.
Her instincts screamed—was this what she had been searching for? Records about the Gu poison?
Pei Yu flipped through the pages with extraordinary care, as though touching sacred relics.
His eyes moved quickly.
Hopeful. Searching. Trying to understand something.
But as time passed… his expression changed.
His brows furrowed.
His jaw tightened.
"Damn it…" he muttered.
He turned the pages more roughly.
He could not read a single word.
Strange symbols filled the ancient paper—curved characters that did not resemble any language of this world.
"Why can't I read a single character?!" he snapped in frustration. The writing was too ancient, too alien, as if it did not belong to this world at all. No manuscript in existence bore the same script as these books.
Frustration cracked through his voice.
He slammed his hand onto the desk, then took a long breath, forcing himself to calm down. Carefully, he returned the books to the hidden drawer.
Click.
The drawer closed once more.
Unaware that a pair of eyes watched him from above.
Pei Yu hurriedly left the room.
The door shut.
Silence descended again.
A few seconds passed.
Xue Yunxue moved.
She opened the vent slowly and dropped down soundlessly, like a shadow falling from the ceiling. Her feet touched the floor without a sound.
Quickly.
Her hand pressed the desk panel.
She imitated Pei Yu's earlier movement.
The lever was pulled.
Click.
The hidden drawer appeared again.
Her heart pounded wildly as she saw the ancient books up close.
A faint ancient energy radiated from their pages.
Without hesitation, she swept the entire stack into her dimensional storage space.
The drawer closed. All traces erased.
She turned toward the door.
And—
Her steps froze.
At the end of the corridor… Pei Yu had returned.
The man walked while ruffling his silver hair irritably, muttering to himself.
"Hey! What are you doing there? Get back to work!"
The voice struck Xue Yunxue like thunder.
Cold sweat instantly ran down her back.
"Ye… yes," she replied quickly, lowering her head, forcing herself to remain calm and imitate the behavior of the staff.
She walked past Pei Yu.
One step.
Two steps.
Three—
A cold hand suddenly grabbed her arm.
Unexpected.
"Who are you?"
Pei Yu's voice changed.
No longer frustrated.
Now sharp… like a surgical blade.
"I've never seen you here before."
Xue Yunxue's heart pounded so loudly her ears rang.
How did he know? She wore a mask. A hood. A laboratory uniform.
"I… I'm a new staff member sent here," she answered, forcing her voice steady.
Pei Yu stared at her for a long time.
Too long.
His eyes narrowed.
"No."
A thin smile appeared on his lips.
The smile of a scientist who had discovered a flaw in an experiment.
"I remember every single person in this facility."
His gaze lowered slightly—observing her posture, the way she stood, every subtle detail of her body.
"The audacity to infiltrate this place."
Click.
The device on his wrist lit up red.
THE ALARM SOUNDED.
A piercing siren shattered the air as red lights flashed wildly through the corridor like the heartbeat of a giant.
Xue Yunxue intended to escape while taking Pei Yu with her by activating the teleportation token, but unfortunately the token only worked on the surface. They were currently three floors underground.
Damn it, Xue Yunxue cursed inwardly.
Within seconds, heavy footsteps echoed from every direction.
Beast humans appeared.
Surrounding her.
Their auras pressed down on the air until breathing felt difficult.
Xue Yunxue inhaled slowly.
There was no longer any choice.
With a sudden motion, she broke free from Pei Yu's grip effortlessly. The man staggered backward, his face pale.
He was too weak.
A scientist without combat power.
Yet intelligent enough to survive.
"Protect me!" he shouted.
In an instant, he retreated behind the guards like a rat hiding behind a predator's fangs.
A flash of green light appeared.
Xue Yunxue's spiritual sword materialized in her hand.
Ten beast humans surrounded her.
Their combined energy fluctuations formed a crushing pressure that made the floor tremble faintly.
The air turned cold.
A moment of silence before the storm.
And at the center of that circle—
Xue Yunxue stood alone, her eyes sharpening.
Whether she liked it or not, she had to face all of these beast humans… and take Pei Yu away with her.
Her sword was drawn, ready for battle.