“Equipment maintenance room…”

Gu Xinglan softly read the plaque hanging on the door in front of her.

She closed her eyes, sending a thread of electric current through the crack of the door and into the room. The returning electrical signals informed her that there were no living entities inside, or at least, no active ones.

By now, she had been wandering through the maze-like backstage of the Silvertree Grand Theater for over half an hour. Had it not been for Tang Xiaoman and Xu Weian on the outside, using various public and not-so-public means to figure out the internal blueprints for her, she likely would have been lost long ago.

And this specific room was the one Tang Xiaoman had told her about: an area with independent power supply that wasn’t registered on any public architectural plans, meaning it likely hid something.

“Will there be anything in here?”

Even though Gu Xinglan felt the room looked rather ordinary, she decided to trust Tang Xiaoman’s judgment.

She raised her hand, tiny arcs of electricity dancing at her fingertips. A crisp click echoed from inside the electronic lock.

The door opened.

Gu Xinglan held her breath and slowly pushed the door open. She slipped inside, standing firm against the wall, before using the tip of her toe to pull the door shut behind her.

The entire sequence of movements was smooth and seamless.

After a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the brightness in the room, Gu Xinglan’s expression gradually grew solemn as she looked at the space before her, a space so vast it shouldn’t have existed here.

“This is…”

The lights in the room were dim; only the instrument screens emitted a faint blue glow.

Rows of seats were arranged neatly, and a person sat in every single one.

Those people sat with their heads bowed, motionless, as if even their breathing had stopped. Thin, dense tubes and wires were plugged into their bodies, making them look as if they had long since died.

No wonder she couldn’t sense the bio-currents of any living thing inside from the outside…

Awe-struck and horrified by the eerie scene before her, Gu Xinglan’s breathing slowed subconsciously.

She took a step forward, the sound of her sole hitting the floor so faint it was nearly inaudible.

In the center of the room stood a massive, transparent incubation pod.

Pale gold liquid flowed slowly inside, while the numbers on the gauges flickered constantly.

And in the center of the pod, a small figure was curled up—

“Xiao Rou?”

Gu Xinglan had seen photos of this child, so she recognized her instantly.

She hadn’t forgotten her original purpose for coming to X City. Everything had started because this child was suspected to have been kidnapped by members of the Metamorphosis Society.

So, why was she here…?

A massive shadow loomed over her heart. Though she didn’t quite understand the situation, Gu Xinglan felt a sense of pure malice.

Without hesitation, she pulled out her communicator, connected to Lin Han’s channel, and spoke rapidly.

“I think I’ve found the child named Xiao Rou.”

“But things aren’t right here. It’s not just Xiao Rou; I also saw—”

Before she could finish, her words came to an abrupt halt.

A cut appeared on her pale face. Blood welled up, trickling down her chin and dripping onto the floor.

An endless chill rose from the soles of her feet. Gu Xinglan didn’t even dare to turn her head; she could only stiffly shift her gaze.

A long, slender scalpel was pinned to the wall beside her. Her communicator had been pierced through by the blade, reduced to shards.

“Stealing someone else’s experimental data is very bad behavior.”

A brisk voice sounded from the doorway.

“If you cause serious enough consequences, your degree could be revoked, you know.”

Without her noticing, a pink-haired girl had appeared at the door.

The girl wore a white lab coat with sleeves long enough to cover the backs of her hands. She wore a smile on her face, and her brilliant golden eyes seemed to glow in the dim room, spellbinding and soul-stirring.

Gu Xinglan hadn’t sensed any presence or footsteps; even her ability had failed to capture the micro-currents of a living being approaching.

In fact, until the moment the scalpel came flying, Gu Xinglan hadn’t picked up even the slightest premonition of danger!

This wasn’t normal.

Not normal at all.

Sweat seeped into her wounds, causing a stinging pain. Gu Xinglan turned around with difficulty to face the pink-haired girl.

Looking at the smiling girl, Gu Xinglan’s body realized something even before her reason did—

The pink-haired girl before her was on a completely different level of existence; she could never hope to defeat her.

In her daze, Gu Xinglan even had the illusion that she wasn’t facing a girl smaller than herself, but a massive dragon.

Her legs trembled, and she could barely summon any will to fight…

“Stop playing tricks!”

Gu Xinglan bit the tip of her tongue, and the metallic taste of blood instantly exploded in her mouth. The pain forcibly dragged her back from that instinctive fear.

She let out a sharp cry, using her ability to manipulate her body’s neural currents to forcibly stop her muscles from trembling.

In the next second, an electromagnetic thrust erupted from the soles of her feet. Gu Xinglan shot forward like an arrow from a bow, heading straight for the eerie girl.

Her short sword cleared its scabbard, pulling a trail of light behind it, the silver-white blade, entwined with blue arcs of electricity, tore through the gloom of the room.

However—

Gu Xinglan’s lightning-fast attack failed to even get close to the pink-haired girl.

Because a person sitting on a chair beside her suddenly moved.

That person, who had suddenly awakened from “death,” blocked the path of the pink-haired girl at a speed that left only an afterimage, then reached out a hand.

The arm, which had originally belonged to an ordinary human, rapidly mutated. Countless chitinous growths and flesh erupted from the limb, instantly swelling it to several times its original size.

Then, the person who had previously sat with a lowered head and unfocused eyes suddenly bared an exaggerated smile and swung their mutated hand with immense force.

“Ngh—?!”

Gu Xinglan only had time to raise her blade in a block.

BOOM!

An irresistible force surged through her body. Her chest felt as if it had been crushed by a sledgehammer, and she was sent flying, slamming violently into the wall.

Gu Xinglan slumped to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood. Her vision shook violently.

Her standard SAVE short sword slipped from her hand, hitting the floor with a sharp metallic clang.

She struggled to stand, but her body refused to obey.

The pink-haired girl walked toward her step by step, the hem of her white lab coat swaying gently.

The girl leaned down and hooked a finger under Gu Xinglan’s chin, forcing her to look directly into golden eyes radiating endless pressure.

“Admirable courage, but unfortunately, this isn’t a place you should have come to.”

Gu Xinglan’s cheek twitched as she tried to say something.

However, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and darkness began to creep in from the edges of her vision.

The last thing she saw was the pink-haired girl’s loathsome smile, the smile of someone who had everything under control…

“Gu Xinglan?”

Inside the private box, Lin Han stood up abruptly.

“Gu Xinglan?!”

Gu Xinglan’s voice on the other end cut off sharply. The communication was severed, leaving only the harsh sound of static in the earpiece.

Lin Han’s expression instantly turned extremely grim.

Shen Qingshu frowned and asked, “Did something happen?”

Lin Han nodded, then quickly accessed another communication channel.

“Captain Zhao, can you hear me? Gu Xinglan has lost contact. She has a tracker on her. Abort your current operation immediately and provide backup at the Silvertree Grand Theater.”

There was no response from the communicator.

The dead silence seemed contagious, spreading from the device into the box.

Lin Han and Shen Qingshu’s hearts sank bit by bit.

Even though the box was well-heated, the two of them felt a chill creeping up their spines, numbing their brains.

While Lin Han’s mind was in turmoil as he racked his brains for a solution, the penultimate auction item on the stage below had already been sold.

Then, the pink-haired host walked back to the center of the stage.

She picked up the microphone and said in a cheerful voice:

“Everyone, next is the final auction item of the night!”

The venue, which had grown slightly weary from the long auction, instantly erupted once more at the young woman’s words.

—Finally! At least 80 percent of the attendees were here for this item!

Every gaze focused on the stage; in the eyes of many elders, there even rose an undisguised greed.

Desire, like an out-of-control wildfire, began to burn and spread rapidly through the crowd. Even without looking, one’s body could sense the sweltering atmosphere in the air!

“Now then… the final auction item, The Masterpiece.”

The corners of the young woman’s mouth curled up to an improper degree.

“There is no starting price, and no bidding increments.”

The crowd below fell silent for a moment and then grew restless; not a single person understood what the host meant.

Some thought the host was intentionally being cryptic and even began to shout impatiently for her to get lost and for someone more professional to take her place.

The host offered no further explanation for a long time, and the dissatisfaction from the audience grew more and more intense—

“Aaaagh!”

—until a blood-curdling scream tore through the venue.

Sitting in the front row, a man who had been conversing with his companion suddenly froze, his jaw dropping involuntarily.

For he had clearly seen a human head flying through the air!

Like a slow-motion shot in a film, it traced an absurd arc under the warm golden stage lights before crashing heavily onto the stage.

Red liquid splattered across the expensive formal wear of the VIPs in the front row. It wasn’t until the head finished rolling to a stop on the stage that the crowd finally realized what had happened—

“Someone’s dead!!”

As if triggered by a starter’s pistol, amidst the screaming, many guests who were attempting to flee suddenly stopped. Their expressions contorted as their bodies swelled inch by inch, muscles writhing beneath their skin as if something were crawling inside.

Before their companions could even react, the heads of these transforming people snapped around at impossible angles and lunged at them!

“Mutant!”

“Someone’s turned into a Mutant!”

Someone shrieked, but the sound was quickly drowned out by even more screams as he was knocked to the ground by the Mutant his own wife had become.

One.

Two.

Ten.

More and more people stood up from their seats. Those who had just been discussing business, youth, and power became bloodthirsty monsters, as if an invisible hand had shredded their human skin.

Glass shattered on the floor, expensive jewelry rolled across the ground, and the red seats were stained an even deeper crimson with blood…

Some tried to flee, only to be tackled by the Mutants beside them who had just finished transforming; others unleashed their abilities to fight back, but were quickly overwhelmed by even more frenzied monsters.

Cries, screams, and roars melded together—

The auction, which had been so lively just a moment ago, instantly turned into a living hell!

Only the pink-haired host on the stage seemed to turn a blind eye to everything. She remained in the center of the stage, even finding the composure to give the chaotic scene a curtsy.

“The closing price for The Masterpiece—”

She spoke softly, then stepped down from the stage.

“—shall be paid with this final batch of data provided by all of you.”

Everything happened very quickly; in just one short minute, it was all over.

Inside the private box, Lin Han and Shen Qingshu were also caught off guard by this sudden chaos.

Lin Han scanned the chaos below and suddenly realized that the closer the seats were to the center, the more people seemed to have mutated into mutants…

‘Type II Serum…’

‘The truly wealthy and powerful people in X City have already started using the Type II Serum specially provided by the Radiant Foundation.’

Like a flash of inspiration, the words spoken by the woman in the red dress at the card table earlier suddenly flashed through Lin Han’s mind.

Could it be because of that?

There was no time for further thought. Lin Han grabbed Shen Qingshu’s arm, prepared to escape this chaotic place first—

Crash!

The one-way observation glass at the front of the box suddenly shattered. A mutant had actually leapt high from below, crashing through the glass and breaking into the box!

Shattered glass fell like rain, cutting Lin Han and Shen Qingshu’s skin.

The mutant roared, raising its arm—which had already mutated into a sharp blade—and swung it toward Shen Qingshu.

It was too fast.

The distance was also too close.

Shen Qingshu’s pupils constricted. She couldn’t react at all and could only instinctively close her eyes.

At the very moment that arm was about to reach her, the hand Lin Han was using to grip her arm suddenly exerted a powerful force.

And so, Shen Qingshu stumbled and fell into an embrace…

‘I’m not dead?’

A few seconds later, this was Shen Qingshu’s first reaction.

Her second reaction was that the physical sensation was wrong.

Logically, Lin Han should have just pulled her back, but now, she seemed to have fallen into a very soft embrace.

Slender, yet powerful, and…

Smelled very good?

Shen Qingshu finally opened her eyes in a daze.

What she saw was silvery-white long hair scattered before her eyes, a face with an inhuman beauty, and a pair of crimson eyes.

Who is… this?

Shen Qingshu was confused.

Why would a stranger appear in the private box…

No, was she really a stranger?

A memory from not too long ago surfaced in her mind. Shen Qingshu remembered seeing this face in SAVE’s files—

Was it her?

Suddenly, another question occurred to Shen Qingshu.

Where was the mutant?

She looked back, the mutant that had just pounced into the private box was frozen in place in an extremely bizarre posture, one foot raised and arms upraised, looking in no way like it should be able to maintain its balance.

The sharp blades on its arms were less than half a meter away from where Shen Qingshu had just been standing.

But those arms would never fall again.

Countless threads, so thin they were almost invisible, had coiled around its limbs, neck, and torso, fixing it firmly in place.

Then, Shen Qingshu saw the silver-haired girl who was holding her gently lift a hand and give a casual wave.

The threads tightened.

The mutant let out a scream, then slammed heavily onto the floor, twitching twice before it stopped moving altogether.

“……”

Silence enveloped the private box.

“Lin Han?”

Shen Qingshu called out softly, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

“Ahaha…”

The silver-haired girl’s entire body stiffened, and her eyes darted around as she said with a forced laugh:

“You’ve got it all wrong. I sent Lin Han to another dimension. I’m the White Witch~”

“……”

It was too clumsy; even a five-year-old wouldn’t believe such nonsense.

Shen Qingshu wasn’t so stupid that she couldn’t understand the situation when it was happening right before her eyes.

And so, she stared into the silver-haired girl’s face until the other party awkwardly looked away before speaking again:

“Lin Han.”

This time, there was no longer any question in her tone, only a statement of fact.