A sudden clap of thunder echoed across the dark sky as lead-gray clouds began to swirl, and the humid moisture seemed ready to bind everyone together at that very moment.
Inside the factory, the group remained in a standoff, completely unaware of the changes happening outside.
“King Seed, you and I are both people caught in the currents of fate. Choice has already become meaningless for us, so…”
Shen Ji resolutely interrupted the second half of Shadow’s sentence.
“No, I still have a choice. At least I can still stop you!”
Shadow shook his head with a light chuckle and continued, “Stop us? To tell you the truth, whether you came here today or not, our plan would have proceeded as scheduled. You are merely the final step of our cleanup.”
‘Cleanup? What does that mean? Do they want me to join them as well?’
“What if I don’t cooperate with you?”
“No, you definitely will, because you are a King Seed. You are destined to become the King of the entire Blood Race.”
Shadow looked at Shen Ji with a profound gaze.
To establish a kingdom for the Blood Race, they certainly needed a legitimate King, and Shen Ji was the perfect candidate for Ye Hai.
However, all of this was built on the premise that Shen Ji was willing to sacrifice everything for the Blood Race.
Clearly, Shen Ji did not have that realization yet.
He was only focused on stopping all of this to prevent the situation of the Blood Race from worsening further.
Fundamentally speaking, he just wanted to live a quiet, drifting life.
While Shen Ji was dazed, Shadow continued, “The future of the Blood Race cannot be established without destruction. Perhaps you can live out this life in comfort, but what about the next generation? What about the future of the Blood Race? How much longer can they survive under this strategy of boiling a frog in lukewarm water?”
Just then, a cold female voice came from behind Shen Ji.
“You are right, but has Ye Hai considered the consequences of failure?”
Shen Ji turned his head to look, only to see Ye Xi walking toward them with a solemn expression.
“Miss, stop joking. Have you ever seen him fail?”
Ye Xi shook her head and said calmly, “Not in the past, but the future is uncertain — for example, today.”
After saying that, Ye Xi pointed her finger toward the ground.
Immediately following her gesture, wave after wave of ground vibrations occurred.
Shadow’s expression shifted from calm to grim.
Shadow naturally knew that the underground was their Blood Race transformation experimental site, but how did they find the entrance?
Only he, A Ran, and a few participants were supposed to know!
‘Wait, A Ran!’
First, A Ran had concealed the latest information regarding the King Seed, and now Ye Xi had arrived and discovered the underground entrance.
There was only one answer: A Ran had chosen to betray them.
Shadow muttered, “When? When did A Ran choose to return to your side?”
The corners of Ye Xi’s mouth curled upward.
As expected of someone who handled affairs for Ye Hai, his mind was sharp; he had guessed A Ran’s involvement immediately.
“Just now.”
Shadow took a trembling half-step back, saying in disbelief, “Impossible. This is absolutely impossible.”
“Shadow, your mission has already failed. Right now, the Twilight Inspection Team, led by A Ran, has blocked all the paths to the underground facility. Leave Ye Hai now and choose to follow me; it’s not too late.”
Shadow took a deep breath to calm his violently fluctuating emotions. He dropped a single sentence — “We haven’t failed yet!” — before transforming into an afterimage and leaving the area.
*Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.*
One by one, raindrops made a rhythmic sound against the glass dome of the factory.
“Shen Ji.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you human?”
Ye Xi’s pale little face was filled with worry.
With slightly swollen eyes and a complex gaze, she stared intently at Shen Ji.
Shen Ji was stunned for a moment, then he scratched his head and said with a smile, “What kind of silly talk is that? How could I not be human?”
Looking at Shen Ji’s act of playing dumb, Ye Xi took a deep breath.
She already had an answer in her heart.
Even if he wasn’t human, so what?
Would she have stopped liking him if Shen Ji wasn’t a member of the Blood Race from the beginning?
“Then, do you like me?”
The smile on Shen Ji’s face began to flatten.
He seemed to have never thought about this question; he had simply grown accustomed to her presence and her kindness toward him.
Yet, it seemed he had never done anything for her.
‘Does this count as liking her?’
“I don’t know…”
Shen Ji didn’t dare to meet Ye Xi’s eyes, which were filled with him.
From her very first question, he had already understood that Ye Xi seemed to know something.
Ye Xi gave a bitter smile and whispered to herself, “So, you don’t know?”
Just then, a strange phenomenon occurred.
A extremely heavy sense of pressure surged up from the ground.
At the same time, a mechanical voice echoed in Shen Ji’s mind.
**[WARNING! DETECTION OF A CONTEMPORARY KING SEED’S BIRTH. IF THE HOST WISHES TO REMAIN ALIVE, PLEASE KILL IT IMMEDIATELY!]**
**[UPON SUCCESSFUL ELIMINATION, THE HOST WILL BE GRANTED A KING SEED TALENT]**
“This… is an aura just like yours?!”
Ye Xi also felt the oppressive aura.
She had only ever felt this sensation from Shen Ji.
Shen Ji’s eyes narrowed.
“Ye Xi, there are some things I don’t know how to explain to you, but if I can come back alive, I think I will tell you the answer!”
The dark, heavy clouds completely enveloped Nanjiang City, and the rain began to pour harder.
A point of light condensed into a barrier beneath Shen Ji’s feet, and his entire body suddenly shot up from the ground, flying toward the source of the underground pressure.
—
Meanwhile, underground, Doctor Bai could not hide his excitement.
He pressed himself tightly against a glass container, muttering, “A King Seed! I have created a King Seed! Hahaha!”
Inside a person-sized glass container, a figure could be seen through the crimson liquid, slowly opening its eyes.
The faint, night-blue pupils unmistakably declared its noble status.
Just as Doctor Bai excitedly reached for his phone to record everything, a thick black pillar descended from above.
The glass container shattered instantly.
Doctor Bai reached out to grab Subject 001 as it fell, only to find that his right hand and entire arm were gone.
“AH!!!”
Doctor Bai let out a scream of agony, his trembling lips letting out a weak wail.
“My hand! My hand!”
Subject 001 seemed to sense something.
Its entire body rose into the air, its eyes completely saturated with blue, looking exactly like Shen Ji during his Third Evolution.
Elsewhere underground, Liu Yao, who was commanding her team to search for experimental data, also realized something was wrong.
That powerful, oppressive aura had appeared ahead of them.
At first, she assumed Shen Ji had arrived.
However, after a violent tremor, two identical auras had appeared!
Liu Yao moved like the wind, racing toward the ground.
In just a few moments, Liu Yao finally saw the source of the two auras.
Through the sparse curtain of falling rain in the mid-air…
Behind the rain, Shen Ji stood with half a bottle of Blood Plasma in his mouth and the huge Pillar Barrier in his hand, facing another blue-eyed figure from a distance.
Shen Ji gulped down the remaining half-bottle of Blood Plasma, thinking to himself, ‘Damn it, my mana isn’t enough. I can only use Blood Plasma to make up for it now.’
Subject 001 bared its teeth as if expressing its dissatisfaction.
In its eyes, the Shen Ji before it was like a thief trying to steal its destiny.
Only by killing the person in front of it could it truly live with dignity.
In the next instant, Subject 001 let out a furious roar toward the sky, and blue flames began to spread around its body.
On the ground, Liu Yao covered her mouth, unable to close it from shock.
Wasn’t that the same move Shen Ji used during his Third Evolution?
How did this one know it too?
‘Are there two King Seeds?!’
Shen Ji grit his teeth and swung the Pillar Barrier with all his might toward the opponent.
The cylinder cut through the rain, carrying the sound of breaking air as it landed squarely on Subject 001.
Subject 001 didn’t dodge but took the hit directly.
Through the blue light in its eyes, a faint hint of provocation could be seen.
*Boom!* Thunder roared.
However, Subject 001 didn’t budge an inch.
It even reached out a hand and beckoned Shen Ji to come closer.
‘Damn it! Who can endure this?’
“System, give me a damn cheat!”
**[REMINDER TO HOST: IT IS ALREADY ACTIVE]**
Shen Ji muttered to himself, “Where’s the cheat?”
**[THE PASSIVE SKILL, SIMULATED KING SEED, IS YOUR GREATEST CHEAT]**
Shen Ji was so angry he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
‘Are you playing word games with me? There’s nothing else?!’
**[YES]**
Shen Ji’s eyes darted around.
Currently, his only advantage was that he was conscious, while the opponent was acting purely on instinct.
In other words, the opponent possessed immense strength but struggled to use it effectively.
Although his own strength appeared inferior to the opponent’s, he was sane.
In this wave, the advantage is mine!