A hand placed a round disc in the corner of the room; as the figure walked away, the disc’s lid was gently pushed open, and slender shoots of greenery gushed forth like a spring. Upon touching the ground, they silently seeped into the earth, winding their way through the mutated root system buried deep beneath, clinging to it endlessly as if in gentle submission, until the tendrils wrapped around the very last trumpet-shaped flower.

A gentle breeze blew, and the trumpet flowers hanging overhead seemed to emit a faint, clear rustle. The patrolling guard looked up but saw only the vibrant buds he was accustomed to; the sound seemed like an auditory illusion, nothing worth paying attention to. Unconcerned, he turned back and continued on his routine patrol.

Jiang Le emerged from behind a column, a vine wrapped around his arm. This vine had branched off from the blood vine; its offshoot and parent plant constantly exchanged information. Using Jiang Le’s wrist as a fulcrum, it contracted into a strand as thick as a ball of yarn, continuously tracing the layout of the villa complex in midair. By the time it came to a complete stop, a rough map woven by the blood vine had materialized before Jiang Le’s eyes, outlining the main buildings and suspected danger zones. Occasionally, silhouettes shaped like footprints would appear and move in certain areas—these were markers for the patrol personnel. With a quick glance, he could roughly calculate the gaps in their patrols and their patrol patterns.

After committing all the necessary information to memory, he gathered the vines back together, wrapping them around Jiang Le’s arm and tucking them halfway into his sleeve.

The mountain resort was hidden amidst layers of lush greenery. Pale moss grew in the cracks of the staggered stone pathways, and the trees and flowers of varying heights—hidden behind low fences on either side of the path—showed no signs of mutation. It was as if time had frozen here, preserving a dreamlike paradise from before the apocalypse.

Walking through the path between the greenery, the sound of splashing water reached their ears from ahead, and the view gradually opened up. Jiang Le looked over and saw several superpower users lounging on beach chairs by the curved pool, while a few young figures in swimsuits swam nimbly in the water.

Fruit platters and chilled drinks were even arranged between the lounge chairs, and the air seemed to exude a cloying sweetness. It felt as if they had fallen into a rift in time and space, leaving one in a daze.

Leaving this leisure area and venturing deeper, security gradually tightened. Occasionally, someone carrying a box filled with nucleus crystals—as tall as a person—would pass through the corridor and enter a villa guarded by four superpower users at both the front and back; this was the center of the entire complex. Security wasn’t limited to what was visible on the surface. According to the blood vine’s readings, this villa also had a basement, and there were fluctuations of psychic energy within the building. However, due to the building’s tight security, it was impossible to immediately determine what exactly lay inside.

Jiang Le stood in a corner, lightly tapping the back of his hand with his fingertip as he silently recited a sequence of numbers. After double-checking twice, he identified the pattern of the security guards’ back-and-forth patrols, seizing the moment to leap nimbly onto the second-floor balcony. Before the guard on the stairs could turn around, the vine threaded through the lock cylinder that had already functioned as a key, silently unlocking the nearest door. Jiang Le pushed the door open and stepped inside; as he closed it, the vine held the lock cylinder in place, creating a seamless illusion that the door was firmly shut, arousing no suspicion from the guard passing by.

Jiang Le had entered an indoor swimming pool, a spacious area. But unlike the peaceful, serene atmosphere outside, filled with birdsong and the scent of flowers, the water in this deep pool was an abnormal crimson red, and the air was thick with a fishy stench. The original colors of the walls and floor were barely discernible, splattered with all manner of filth piled thickly in layers. The pool’s edge was littered with severed limbs—some animal, some human—torn apart haphazardly, fragmented and indistinct.

Jiang Le could feel something slightly springy beneath his feet. He lifted the toe of his shoe to look down and saw an eyeball staring back at him from an eerie angle.

Something lived in the water; bubbles occasionally rose from the corners. But hidden beneath the dark pool water, Jiang Le couldn’t tell what it was right away.

Footsteps sounded behind him—someone was coming.

The doorknob turned, startling the creature in the water and sending ripples across the surface. The door swung open, and a person’s breath brushed past Jiang Le, coming to a stop beside him. Separated by the space between the inside and outside, the creature failed to sense his presence.

“Be careful, don’t get too close. That beast in there doesn’t recognize anyone but Brother Xiang—it bites whoever it sees. It even killed one of our brothers yesterday. What a stroke of bad luck.”

There was the sound of something being dumped into the water with a clatter from above, along with the cautious voices of the newcomers.

Then the door, which had just been opened, slammed shut again. As the visitors walked away, their voices still drifted into Jiang Le’s ears even as they grew fainter.

“Who’s to blame? We shouldn’t have let it taste human flesh in the first place. It’s already eaten so many people—and you still won’t let it add humans to its menu?”

“It’s true that the quality of the nucleus crystals hasn’t been keeping up with it lately. It’s a Level 5 mutant crocodile, yet all we’ve been feeding it are Level 2 and 3 nucleus crystals. What’s the difference between that and feeding an elephant cookies?”

Emerging from the storage space once more, Jiang Le couldn’t help but notice the words “Brother Xiang” again, but his gaze was also drawn to the scene in the pool. The water that had been there moments ago was now bubbling slightly, and the pool steps were piled high with nucleus crystals like a small mountain—packed tightly together. These must have been dumped there by the two people who’d come earlier; some were from mutated plants and animals, but nearly half came from superpower users.

Such a large quantity could not possibly have been obtained through any normal channels; the most likely explanation was that these nucleus crystals came from many places—like Base No. 1—that had been manipulated.

After a moment, the creature in the pool slowly crawled out of the water, revealing only its head. Its dark skin, a mottled mix of brown and green, appeared remarkably hard to the naked eye. It opened its mouth and swallowed the nucleus crystals in one gulp, but when it tried to devour more, it found nothing left to eat.

It seemed genuinely dissatisfied with the quantity. It lashed its tail violently through the water, slamming it against the pool wall and driving a massive crack through the reinforced structure, causing a slight tremor to ripple through the entire building.

The guards on patrol outside were used to this and did not come in to investigate; instead, they quickened their pace as they left.

Jiang Le concealed his presence in the murky air, making it difficult for the mutated giant crocodile to detect him. However, the presence of an extra person in the room still aroused a hint of suspicion in the crocodile. Following that faint, almost imperceptible scent of flesh, the giant crocodile suddenly turned its head—only to find nothing behind it.

Shaking off its suspicion, the giant crocodile slowly retreated to the depths of the pool amid the splashing sound of water. Jiang Le landed lightly from the second-floor diving platform back at the door through which he had entered, turned the doorknob, and stepped back outside.

Checking room by room, he found that each of the dozens of rooms in this villa housed different types of mutated creatures. Some were dangerous creatures of high rank, like the giant crocodile, while others were seemingly harmless mutated fungi, such as those that had once threatened Base 1.

The one thing they all had in common was the presence of meteorite fragments—so minute they were nearly undetectable to ordinary people.

None of these mutated creatures had naturally become part of this global mutation due to the influence of nucleus crystals; rather, they had subsequently been subjected to some form of human intervention that induced and controlled their mutations.

Although the purpose behind this remains unknown for now, the countless human nucleus crystals alone are enough to confirm that this is definitely not a normal place.

It is true that after the apocalypse, all civilized order was shattered, and people, driven by their desire to evolve, committed many cruel acts; yet when these scenes were laid out before Jiang Le in all their gory detail, he still found them unbearable.

His footsteps halted at the last room. Jiang Le unlatched the door, allowing the scene inside to unfold before his eyes.

He had thought he’d already seen everything there was to see—both what he should and shouldn’t have—but when he fully took in the scene inside, Jiang Le was speechless for a moment.

Countless vines, thick and thin, clung to the walls here, spreading out from the center of the room and hugging the walls. Amid the green foliage, countless humans were bound within them; some had skin that had already been completely digested, exposing the bright red flesh beneath, while others had faces half-reduced to white bones, yet their eyeballs still turned slowly within their sockets.

Twitching limbs were intertwined with the vines, along with fragments of scalp still clinging to strands of hair, fingernails, and broken bones—all slowly being drawn in and digested by the passing vines.

Although it could kill with a single blow, it took great delight in torturing its prey to death.

This was the blood vine—or rather, this was the blood vine that Jiang Le once knew. It had nothing to do with being docile or obedient; hidden within its very nature lay only a desire to kill and torture.

Someone spotted Jiang Le opening the door, their eyes filled with deep despair, yet their throat—scorched by the corrosive fluid—could not utter a single sound.

Jiang Le couldn’t save these people from such senseless and endless suffering; all he could do was end their agony as quickly as possible. The vine on his wrist shot out from his sleeve, piercing straight through the brains of those few people and ending their lives in an instant.

The blood vine, which had been feeding, was startled. The vines slowly slithered behind Jiang Le, silently blocking the door, and approached him unhurriedly with the gaze of one surveying fresh prey.

It was merely a Level 3 blood vine. Before Jiang Le could even move, the vine from his sleeve had already struck, piercing the nearby vine deeply. The toxin of the Level 4 blood vine was injected and rapidly spread throughout the vine’s body.

The blood vines showed no mercy toward their own kind; even if they had encountered each other in the wild without Jiang Le’s interference, they would have fought to the death until a winner emerged.

The section of vine that had been feeding trembled a few times; though it did not die immediately, it had completely lost the ability to fight back.

Jiang Le used his fishbone knife to slice open the core hidden within the blood vine and extracted the nucleus crystal. With that, the vines in the room lost all vitality and became lifeless. He closed the door and stepped outside. Nearby, at the top of the stairs, a series of hurried footsteps echoed, accompanied by voices.

“He’s right up there! Are you guys just sitting around doing nothing? You let him slip right past you!”

Jiang Le glanced back, his gaze locking with that of the lead guard, but before the man could lunge at him, he had already leaped from the second floor, his figure vanishing swiftly from the crowd’s sight.

These mutated plants and animals weren’t the crux of the problem; the real issue lay with the people controlling them from behind the scenes.

By the poolside, Jiang Le had heard the name “Brother Xiang” mentioned again. He was now desperate to confirm whether the “Brother Xiang” they were talking about was indeed the same person he had met in his previous life.

Upon hearing his subordinates report that they’d lost track of the target again, Ying Huaming nearly exploded with rage in the monitoring room.

Upon discovering the gruesome state of Xu Lifeng’s body and learning that the person he had brought back had also vanished, Ying Huaming immediately sensed that something was amiss.

Xu Lifeng’s death was too gruesome—it bore clear signs of sadism and punishment—which vaguely stirred a sense of unease in Ying Huaming.

Fortunately, through the surveillance feeds, he quickly pinpointed Jiang Le’s location. Upon discovering him in the experimental zone, he immediately ordered his men to apprehend him.

Although Xu Lifeng’s death was suspicious, there had been plenty of strange incidents at the research institute in the pursuit of biological mutations, and the exact cause of this accident remained unknown.

After all, Jiang Le was just an ordinary person; with a team of third- and fourth-level superpower users at his disposal, he shouldn’t have any trouble bringing back even a single ordinary person. Ying Huaming didn’t realize that his thoughts were tinged with a hint of hope and self-reassurance.

“Brother Ming, there’s one more thing,” his subordinate said, gauging Ying Huaming’s expression, almost too afraid to speak.

Ying Huaming was a Level 4 superpower user on the verge of advancing to Level 5; when his anger flared, the intimidating aura surging around him was already staggering.

Ying Huaming quickly switched between the security cameras in the villa complex, hoping to spot Jiang Le, and said impatiently, “Spit it out already!”

Security had always been Ying Huaming’s domain. He planned to handle this matter himself first before reporting back to Xiang Da—that way, Xiang Da would have no reason to get angry.

“The blood vine in Room 207 has been confirmed dead.” His subordinate gritted his teeth as he finished the sentence, his heart pounding with anxiety.

He was both afraid of being reprimanded by his boss and felt a vague sense of dread that a Level 3 blood vine had died so quietly and without a trace.

Although this blood vine wasn’t the highest-grade one in the base, it was the most difficult to cultivate; it had taken countless hours of painstaking effort to bring it to its current state. Now that it had died so suddenly, there was simply no way to explain this to the higher-ups.

Upon hearing this, Ying Huaming’s expression turned truly horrified, but he said nothing, merely flicking through the surveillance feeds with increasing speed. Where? Where on earth was he?

“Damn it, when I find you, I’ll crush you to pieces.”

Sensing Ying Huaming’s mounting anger, the subordinate standing beside him—who was helping review the surveillance footage—felt his hand tremble slightly as he held the mouse. But he finally spotted the figure he’d been searching for in a fleeting frame and hurriedly told Ying Huaming, “Brother Ming! He was here a minute ago.”

Ying Huaming quickly scanned that spot and began switching to closer shots from different angles. As the search area narrowed, Jiang Le’s figure appeared more and more frequently in the various camera angles. One minute ago, 45 seconds ago, 30 seconds ago, 15 seconds ago, 5 seconds ago, now!

Jiang Le stopped in his tracks.

“Brother Ming, he’s right here now!” the subordinate shouted excitedly, pushing the screen toward Ying Huaming. Jiang Le had stopped in front of a door and was looking up, scrutinizing the outline of the building in front of him.

Ying Huaming gritted his teeth. “Where?”

The subordinate hurried to check the camera’s angle, but the moment he saw clearly, his smile froze on his lips. He swallowed hard: “Brother Ming, right outside the surveillance room.”

Ying Huaming’s gaze fell on the surveillance feed, and at the same moment, Jiang Le also looked up and saw the camera.

Their gazes met across the monitor. Even though he knew the other person couldn’t possibly see him through the screen, Ying Huaming’s heart skipped a beat.

Creak. The door swung open.

Inside the room, along with Ying Huaming, were three other Level 4 or near-Level 4 superpower users. They all turned to look, their faces grim, at Jiang Le, whose hand was still on the doorknob.

Jiang Le’s expression was calm; at some point, he had even taken a small puppy into his arms.

It was as if some young master had accidentally wandered into the security room while on vacation—even the gaze directed at him was calm and unruffled.

But the more ordinary the scene appeared, the more it triggered fear precisely because of its disconnect from the reality of the situation.

Several superpower users froze for an instant almost simultaneously, as unease began to grow from the depths of their hearts. The best way to overcome fear is to kill it.

Ying Huaming struck first, shouting, “What are you standing there for? Everyone, attack!”

His ability allowed him to control the movement of objects around him—including people—and he immediately raised his hand to telekinetically pull Jiang Le toward him. As he channeled his power, Jiang Le indeed staggered, and even the puppy in his arms fell to the ground.

Ying Huaming’s eyes lit up with delight. Just as he was about to increase the force to finish Jiang Le off himself, he realized that Jiang Le had only staggered for a moment—and even had enough strength left to bend down and pick up the puppy again.

“That’s impossible. He’s clearly just an ordinary person…” Ying Huaming’s eyes widened.

Regardless of who Jiang Le was, even a superpower user couldn’t possibly remain so unaffected by his powers—unless… Jiang Le’s abilities far surpassed his own.

Seeing Ying Huaming strike, the other superpower users also unleashed their abilities one after another, launching attacks at Jiang Le.

Outside, the henchmen who had rushed to the surveillance room at Xiang Da’s orders slowed their pace slightly upon hearing the sounds of the fight inside.

He knew Ying Huaming was inside the monitoring room. As the top-tier combatant and the leading psionic at the research institute, he believed that with Ying Huaming on the scene, the problem should be resolved.

Once things were mostly settled inside, he would go in to relay Brother Xiang’s instructions—and that would be mission accomplished.

He came to a stop at the doorway, but before he could even assume a composed demeanor, he saw the wall of the monitoring room get violently smashed through. A figure flew out uncontrollably, landing heavily on the ground and sending a cloud of dust and sand billowing into the air.

The henchmen assumed it was the kid who’d snuck into the research institute. They were just wondering if ordinary people could have survived such a blow—or if Ying Huaming had already kicked him to death—since Brother Xiang had specifically ordered them to bring him back alive for a thorough interrogation.

But before the henchman could step forward to check if the man was dead or alive, he caught a clear look at the face of the person who’d been kicked out—it was actually Ying Huaming. This powerhouse, on the verge of joining the ranks of Level 5 superpower users, had actually been kicked like a dead dog.

“Brother Ming,” he bent down to help Ying Huaming up, but Ying Huaming shoved him away violently. “Hurry and tell Brother Xiang—this guy is no ordinary man.”

The henchman snapped out of his daze, acknowledged the order, and left. His final glimpse was of Jiang Le emerging from the damaged wall of the surveillance room. Far away, on the other side of the villa complex, Xiang Da was filled with shock and rage upon hearing his subordinate’s report, though he had not yet completely lost his composure.

As a Level 3 superpower user who could command the entire research institute and make a group of superpower users far higher in rank than himself obey his orders, he naturally had something special about him.

Upon learning that even Ying Huaming had been unable to defeat this intruder, Xiang Da’s emotions settled slightly, and a faint smile actually appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“An ordinary person with the strength of at least a Level 5 superpower user—isn’t that an excellent subject for research?”

He raised his hand and ordered, “Seal off all entrances and exits. Don’t give him any chance to escape. I’ll face him myself.”

Security in the villa complex was raised to the highest alert level, causing widespread chaos. People who had been passing the time at various recreational facilities were all roughly herded back to their rooms, scattering suddenly like startled birds.

Centered on the small open area outside the surveillance room, a fierce battle was raging.

When Xiang Da arrived, he happened to witness the puppy in Jiang Le’s arms suddenly transform into a Level 5 high-grade mutant.

“Interesting, really interesting,” Xiang Da said, his eyes brimming with excitement. “He’s clearly just an ordinary person, yet he’s able to control a mutant of such a high level.”

Jiang Le swung his blade, severing the head of a Level 4 superpower user.

A Level 5 mutant versus a Level 4 mutant—in a one-on-one fight, the outcome was a foregone conclusion, but when surrounded, it was far from certain. Therefore, Jiang Le showed no mercy; whenever an opportunity to kill arose, he would finish his opponent without hesitation, eliminating their combat effectiveness.

Faced with the successive deaths of his Level 4 superpower users, Xiang Da’s expression darkened, and he couldn’t help but mutter a curse under his breath: “Damn it!” Xiang Da’s voice reached both Ying Huaming and Jiang Le’s ears at the same time, yet it had a different effect on each of them.

Ying Huaming seemed to see a glimmer of hope, while Jiang Le froze for a second.

Xiang Da’s face at that moment hadn’t yet been completely warped by alcohol and debauchery to the point of looking as hollow as it had in his previous life, but his features were exactly as Jiang Le remembered them. The face of the man whose foot had been stomping on his head as he lay dying—a face he’d struggled to make out through the bloodstained haze with the corner of his eye, etched deeply into his heart amidst the excruciating pain—no matter how many lifetimes he lived, Jiang Le would never forget it.

He never imagined the world was so small—or perhaps heaven was truly looking out for him—allowing him to find his enemy so quickly. Jiang Le’s grip on the bone knife tightened a few inches further, and as he threw himself back into the fray, his killing intent grew even deeper.

Ying Huaming didn’t know why Jiang Le had been distracted, but he seized the opportunity to break free, stumbling toward Xiang Da. His body was covered in countless wounds; the most dangerous moment was when the bone knife had nearly grazed his throat.

Fortunately, at that critical moment, his superpower kicked in, pushing the bone knife a few centimeters away from him. In the end, it left only a long gash on his neck—but it wasn’t life-threatening.

“Brother Xiang,” Ying Huaming gasped, seeking Xiang Da’s protection.

Xiang Da cursed at him: “I’ve given you so many resources, and this is all you’ve got?” Though he scolded him with his words, his actions showed no hesitation.

To be on the safe side, he took Ying Huaming and prepared to leave. Seeing this, Jiang Le tried to give chase, but all the guards closed in, blocking his path.

Countless superpower users erupted all at once. By the time Jiang Le had fought his way through the chaos, Xiang Da had already vanished. Driven by their instinct for survival, the remaining superpower users scattered in all directions, granting Jiang Le the freedom to act.

At that moment, the lives of the others were no longer Jiang Le’s primary concern. The instant he saw Xiang Da, only one thought remained in his mind: Kill him!

Silence fell once more over the villa complex, but the wind carried the scent of blood through the air.

Jiang Le’s bone knife was still stained with fresh blood, which trailed behind him in a long, bloody streak as he walked. He walked to a corner of the wall, picked up the cultivation dish he had placed there earlier, and snapped it back onto his wrist.

The blood vine rapidly projected images of every area inside the villa before his eyes.

Most areas were already empty; only in the very center of the villa complex, outside the laboratory building, could the sound of chaotic footsteps be heard, moving back and forth between the upper and lower floors. Inside the laboratory building, the doors that had previously been tightly shut were now all wide open.

Xiang Da stood on the top floor of the laboratory building, looking down at Jiang Le below. His hands gripped the railing tightly, and his eyes sparkled with the excitement of someone about to watch a gladiatorial contest.