Noah Blaze's wings sliced through the air as he soared across the night sky, the silver-blue feathers shimmering against the moonlight. In less than an hour, he arrived over L City. The moment he descended, his phone which had lost signal since entering the corpse-infested zones started to ring like mad in his pocket.
"Bro! We've got the place and all the equipment set up," Julian Drake's voice buzzed with energy on the other end. "But the experimental gear's too expensive. We don't have the funds to buy it yet."
Noah frowned slightly. Experimental equipment wasn't something you could just walk into a store and purchase. It required high-level permits and approval from the authorities. Last time, he'd had to pull strings through an old university professor, who used his connections to get them the tools they needed to start their genetic research.
Funny enough, in the original Corpse Brother comic, Julian then called Tianzhai had supposedly conducted groundbreaking experiments using only a primary school lab. Every time Noah thought about that, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Now that's insane genius.
"I get it," Noah said. "Focus on developing our new app for now. We'll call it... DouWing Short Video."
"Got it! I'll prep it for launch right away. But hey, bro, something's been bugging me," Julian continued, lowering his voice. "When I was running errands today, everything went unbelievably smooth. It was like people already knew what I was coming for before I even said anything."
"It's not that they knew," Noah replied with a wry smile. "It's that whatever we decide to do, the system will bend itself to accommodate us. Anyway, I'm still in the air. We'll talk more when I land."
He ended the call, then accelerated. The sonic boom that followed painted a ring of rippling air behind him a dazzling Mach halo that glowed like firelight in the dusk.
Minutes later, a streak of flame cut across the sky and slammed into the ground before the entrance of a skyscraper.
The explosion sent dust flying, leaving pedestrians gaping in shock.
"What the hell was that?!" someone shouted.
"Is it another corpse beast attack?!"
"No way, that looked like a meteor! I even made a wish just now!"
From the smoking crater, Noah climbed out, brushing off the debris with mild irritation. "Damn it… got too carried away with the speed and forgot how hard it is to brake in midair."
He'd pushed his flight capacity to the max, forgetting that the faster you go, the harder it is to stop. By the time he tried to slow down, it was far too late. Luckily, he'd wrapped himself in a layer of Armament Aura at the last second, cushioning the impact.
Dying wasn't an option for him anyway. His regeneration ability was unmatched as long as there was energy, he could rebuild himself endlessly.
Inside the building, Julian was finishing up the lab setup with his tentacle-like extensions when the impact shook the walls. Through his sonic sense, he immediately recognized who it was.
"Only one person would make an entrance like that."
He sighed, cleaned his hands, and headed downstairs. By the time he got there, Noah was already using the hypnotic techniques he'd recently picked up from those Eastern ninja clans, erasing the memory of what the crowd had just witnessed.
"Bro! You're fast!" Julian grinned, running up to him. "You won't believe it I went to get our permits today, and the clerk stamped everything right away. I didn't even have to wait in line! Haven't felt that kind of efficiency in years!"
Julian still remembered what it was like when he used to be a top-tier research scientist doors opened for him everywhere. But after losing that privilege, he'd been tossed around by bureaucracy like a ping-pong ball.
"Get used to it," Noah said, smirking. "You're back in the big leagues now. So, did you launch the app yet?"
"Everything's wired up," Julian replied, holding up a sleek tablet. "Just waiting for you to hit the button. But, bro… are you sure this short video app will make us rich? There's already a ton of them online."
Noah smiled knowingly. "We're not doing just another short video app. We're building it for smartphones. Think about it people can't live without their phones anymore. What do you think they'll do when they have a few free minutes? Scroll. Watch. Swipe. Repeat. That's where the money is."
Julian frowned, unconvinced. "Who'd waste time watching random videos when they could read a book?"
Noah ignored him and walked past, heading up the stairs to check the rest of their operation the foundation of their future empire.
Meanwhile, far away in the Flame Republic's high council, a confidential meeting was taking place.
A dozen figures sat in a dim conference room, the atmosphere thick with tension.
"From his behavior, I don't believe Noah Blaze is the type to betray his nation," said Azure Dragon, the commander of the Elite Division.
"They've also registered a tech company," another officer added. "A short video platform. I've already ordered all approval processes to be fast-tracked for their team."
"Good. And that fraud, Wong Qian what's the update?"
"Confirmed. He got into the academy through connections, and every one of his so-called research papers was fabricated."
The room fell silent. No one could believe that a man once hailed as a pillar of the scientific community had been built entirely on lies.
"Handle everyone connected to him quietly," the elder at the head of the table said coldly. "Because of people like him, we nearly lost two geniuses who could have changed the world."
The others bowed their heads.
"Azure Dragon," the elder continued, "I'm assigning your unit to clean house. Purge every leech from the organization."
Azure Dragon's gaze sharpened. He'd long despised corruption, and now he finally had permission to act.
"Understood," he said firmly. "It's time to cut out the rot."
"Good. Now let's discuss the Corpse King."
In T City, deep underground, the Corpse King was already far from H City, having fled with his fortune and his mistress.
He gathered his lieutenants, ordering them to spread the corpse virus across the world while he focused on regaining his strength.
"With the Flame Republic's five god-tier guardians united against me, survival won't be easy," he muttered darkly. "But there's one I must personally destroy."
Long ago, before the Blood Lotus cult rose to power, a certain man had stolen Dragon Right's cultivation method in exchange for breaking his ancient seal. But once free, the thief used that knowledge to create Blood Lotus and never returned.
That betrayal had driven Dragon Right mad.
"Let's see how you fare when I come for you next," the Corpse King hissed. "Pity I lost Eldor and Ghoststaff in the library battle, but I'll rebuild my army elsewhere."
As his virus spread quietly across nations, infected hosts continued their daily lives unaware of the death sleeping inside them.
Meanwhile, in the Flame Republic's top-secret research facility, scientists examined a vial of crimson liquid.
"After multiple tests, Noah Blaze's serum successfully neutralizes the Corpse Virus," one researcher announced. "As long as the host hasn't evolved independent intelligence, they can be fully cured."
"Can we mass-produce it?" the director asked.
"Yes, the materials are common and easy to synthesize."
The director paused, deep in thought. "Proceed carefully. We'll observe for another week. Begin limited production at two factories. If no side effects appear, we'll start full-scale manufacturing and when the time comes, we'll make it rain salvation."
And so, the first spark of hope began to spread across a world still teetering on the brink.
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