"Whatcha doin'?" Ren Kurogane peeked over curiously.
"After injecting the God Gene, my brain has been significantly enhanced," Mu Tiancai replied. "My mind has never been as clear as it is today!"
"Brain enhancement?"
Looking at Mu Tiancai's explosive muscle growth, Ren felt a strong urge to doubt the scientific accuracy of that statement.
Whoosh!Swish, swish!
While Mu Tiancai reviewed the data, Ren was testing his newly fortified strength. Most direct was his raw power—it was easily ten times greater than before. He could also channel the Killing Intent he'd sampled from Bai Xiaofei and manifest various biological traits.
With a thought, his arms transformed into a pair of powerful wings. He flapped them experimentally, hovering within the lab.
When Mu Tiancai finally set down the documents, Ren ceased his flight and landed. "Finished? What's the plan?"
Mu Tiancai wouldn't re-read those files for no reason. He must have discovered something.
"We destroy everything," Mu Tiancai stated firmly. "Even a fragment of this data leaking out would be enough to flip the world upside down. Besides, the God Gene is better off staying exclusively in our hands."
"Good. You're sure you've memorized it all?" Ren asked again.
His thoughts aligned perfectly with Mu Tiancai's. A breakthrough this monumental was best kept as a private monopoly; spreading it around would just be rude. He wasn't a saint.
After all, he had only given his cousin, Bai Xiaofei, the "Basic Edition." Xiaofei only became that strong because he was a natural freak of nature.
"Yeah. I've committed everything to memory and cross-referenced it twice. No mistakes," Mu Tiancai nodded.
"Then I'll start the demolition!"
A ball of fire ignited in Ren's palm. In the blink of an eye, the yellow flame turned gold, then deepened into a searing blue!
"Need a hand?"
"No! I want to see exactly where my current limit lies!" Ren grinned. A massive inferno erupted, melting the entire laboratory structure in moments.
Standing back on the surface and confirming that everything beneath them had been reduced to ash, the two looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"Tell me, if that old dog Huang knew what you've achieved now, would he regret it? For a tiny bit of short-term profit, he threw away the entire starry sky of the future!" Ren mused.
"Hmph! Even if he doesn't regret it yet, I'll make sure he does! My reputation, the cold glares I endured—I'll return it all tenfold!" Mu Tiancai's expression darkened. Thinking about how he should have been Yan Huang's brightest star, only to end up a disgraced outcast, made his teeth itch with rage.
"Don't worry, the day for revenge isn't far off. Once we leave H City, the whole world will know us. As for that old dog Huang, I'll have the patience to play with him until his entire house is in ruins."
When Mu Tiancai was first framed, Ren had exhausted every connection and even sold a subsidiary company to fight the legal battle. But they had lost. A heavyweight within the opposition's faction had protected the culprit. No matter how much money Ren threw at the problem, it was like tossing gold into a bottomless pit—not even a ripple.
Later, through back-channel rumors, he learned the opponent was backed by "Martial Artists." In the face of supernatural power, a wealthy civilian simply couldn't win.
From that moment on, Ren understood that the world was far more complex than it appeared. Without becoming a powerhouse, no matter how many assets you had, you were just a fat piece of meat waiting to be eaten.
"But now, the roles are reversed!" Ren looked at the sky. Though it was hazy from the virus, in his eyes, it was filled with infinite possibility. "Let's go! We clear out H City first, then gather our families!"
The two sprinted onto the main street. Their speed was so great they appeared as a gust of black wind, vanishing in an instant.
Shortly after they left, several figures appeared within Ren's villa.
"They've left. Everything has been destroyed." "Search for any residues."
The figures moved through the villa, eventually reaching the scorched, blackened basement that used to be the lab.
"Truly nothing left..." "How do we report this?" "Tell the truth. It's not like they can eat us for it." "Fair point."
After they departed, a speck of something resembling dust floated out of the villa.
At an evacuation point in H City.
Bai Xiaofei and Xiaowei had finally handed the serum over to the authorities. The officials hadn't believed them at first, forcing Xiaofei to demonstrate his strength before they took him seriously.
"Rest assured, we will prioritize the testing of this serum!" a middle-aged man said, smiling at a clearly annoyed Bai Xiaofei.
"Prioritize it or don't, I don't care. I didn't research the stuff anyway," Xiaofei said dismissively. "Anyway, I'm getting on the plane. Later."
Without a second look, Xiaofei led Xiaowei onto the transport.
The middle-aged man sighed. In these times, who would dare use an untested serum? He had to take this back to the capital and have the central labs run exhaustive tests. Only after confirming it was safe could it be mass-produced. If he just released it and it had issues, he'd be responsible for a second catastrophe.
On the plane, Xiaowei's thoughts mirrored the official's. She comforted Xiaofei: "We know the serum works because we trust Ren, and we have our own powers to prove his genius. But look at it from their perspective. In the middle of an apocalypse, a random guy shows up claiming he has the cure to save humanity. Would you just start injecting the public immediately?"
Xiaofei pouted, but his rational mind knew she was right. Apologizing was out of the question, though. The man's initial attitude had ticked him off. If they met again, Xiaofei was definitely going to have some choice words ready.
As the plane ascended, Xiaofei looked out the window at the receding ground and the sprawling mess of the city. He sighed. "I hope they move fast. Otherwise, who knows how many more will die."
Meanwhile, with Ren and Mu Tiancai.
"Bro, why are we at the Longquan Sword Gallery?"
"To get something."
Ren leaped, reaching the top floor of the gallery where the legendary artifact Juque was kept. With a single punch, he shattered the display glass, and the legendary blade that could cut through iron like butter became his sidearm.
"What's the use of this? Isn't it just a cultural relic?" Mu Tiancai asked, puzzled.
"No! This is a genuine artifact! Any slash released through it is magnified fivefold! With my current internal energy plus a fivefold boost... I can walk across this planet unchallenged!"
Gripping the Juque, Ren swung it experimentally. A crimson arc of energy shot forth, slicing through several nearby skyscrapers like they were made of paper!
The sheer power left Mu Tiancai stunned. "Holy crap! That's insane, bro!"
"That wasn't even full power! That was just a casual swing. If I went all out, I don't even know what I could do." Ren gripped the hilt tightly, removing the white outer "sheath" of the Juque to reveal its true form: a massive, red greatsword!
"The sword can transform?"
"This is the Juque's true face."
Hanging the massive blade at his waist, Ren said, "Alright, I'm going to start recording. We'll film our subsequent actions. Once we're out, we'll start a company and upload everything. Let's see what it's like to be an influencer!"