Content Warning
Graphic descriptions of violence, death, and gore, including the mutilation and public display of corpses.
Chapter 113
Fall into a trap
Boom—
The explosion thundered on the news, illuminating Yue Yang’s solemn face.
“Early this morning local time, the North African meteorite base was declared breached. The evolutionary source, considered an important military weapon, was completely looted by an extremist organization. This is the fourth large meteorite warehouse to be occupied by force in recent days, with the evolutionary source radiating to countries around the Mediterranean…”
Yue Yang switched the channel on his tablet.
“The third wave of global evolution has already begun. Although the EHPBC refused to disclose the numbers, according to relevant organizations, the global evolving population has exceeded ten million overnight. A new era of survival of the fittest and class division is unstoppable…”
He switched the news channel again, and this time, a familiar satellite overhead image appeared.
“The extremist organization declared that their next target is Asia’s largest evolutionary source storage, the Beihai Meteorite Base. Supervisor Yue Yang emphasized in an interview that the world’s only SS-level evolutionist, Bai Sheng, will be stationed inside the base 24/7 from now on, ensuring that the North African scenario will not be repeated…”
“This morning, Mr. Bai Sheng has already helped us successfully repel the first wave of attacks by the Southeast Asian extremist evolution organization.” In the news footage, Yue Yang saw himself, his face partially covered by the news logo, his voice steady and powerful: “Next, Mr. Bai Sheng and I will personally guard the base 24/7. The looting of meteorite warehouses around the world will not be repeated in Asia. We cannot disclose more details, sorry…”
The car, speeding along, bumped slightly as Bai Sheng’s straightforward criticism came from the other end of the phone: “Yue-ge, do you know where your acting broke down?”
Yue Yang: “…”
“Whenever you lie, your speech speed involuntarily accelerates, especially when you say, ‘Mr. Bai Sheng and I will personally guard the Beihai base 24/7.’ I was sweating in my palm, afraid you’d suddenly stutter. Did you even read a single word of that book on acting skills Chen Miao sent you yesterday?”
“…I tried my best!!” Yue Yang said, aggrieved.
Outside the car window, the streets flew past, chaotic and desolate. Under the overpass, a protest march echoed with chants:
“Release the evolutionary source!”
“Embrace the new era!”
“Open the Beihai Meteorite Base!”
…
“Your plan is simply too crazy,” Yue Yang said, holding the phone and barely containing his anxiety. “Sacrificing several large meteorite bases in a row, causing the evolved population in Europe and America to surge by 20 million, attracting global attention and pressure to the Beihai Meteorite Base in Asia… If we make even one mistake, or even half a mistake, the situation will spiral out of control, and we might face the total evolution of humanity.”
“Rong Qi thinks the same way,” Bai Sheng said calmly.
Standing on the railing of a rooftop, one hand holding his phone, the other leisurely in his pocket, he continued: “That’s the only way he’ll believe I’m sticking to the Beihai Meteorite Base, as the news says.”
A wild wind brushed through Bai Sheng’s unruly silver hair. Below his feet, a signboard read:
Shenhai City Evolutionary Specialist Hospital.
This hospital was notorious among UN officials, as Shen Zhuo had established the globally feared second-generation HRG laboratory in its underground levels.
“Rong Qi’s ace against causality has always been the space tunnel. Only when he believes I absolutely wouldn’t leave the Beihai Meteorite Base will he send Shunsuke Noda to the HRG lab. As soon as the space tunnel opens in the HRG lab, he’ll have to kneel down and welcome me.”
Bai Sheng’s lips curled up, and that smile was full of indescribable hostility: “Wasn’t Shen Zhuo hidden in the space tunnel? This time, I’m going to make him personally invite me to see Shen Zhuo!”
Yue Yang, a straightforward man who had never gambled in his life, especially not with such high stakes, could only imagine the anxiety he felt.
With the screech of tires, the car stopped at the gate of the Beihai Meteorite Base.
Asia’s largest meteorite warehouse was built between the central zone and Shenhai, about 300 kilometers from the city. It was heavily guarded, with a high wall of electric wires hung with dozens of gruesome bodies of evolved beings, their flesh exposed under the sky.
These were members of a Southeast Asian extremist evolution organization who attacked early this morning, one of them an S-class, the rest all A-class.
Cutting open the belly and hanging the body for public display—this was Bai Sheng’s signature style.
Moreover, besides Bai Sheng, it was “impossible” for anyone else in Shenhai to have the ability to brutally kill a group of S-class and A-class evolved beings and display their corpses this way.
“…Hopefully, everything goes smoothly,” Yue Yang said as he got out of the car, sighing wistfully at his phone.
“Let’s hope that when we meet again, it’ll five years ago.”
·
At the same time, at the Beihai Meteorite Base.
After a fierce battle just before dawn, the base was still filled with the smell of gunpowder. Amatullah was wiping the blood-stained military knife, and Margot was sitting weakly against the wall, drinking salt-sugar solution.
Antonio picked up the HRG serum injection tube. The serum had a faint blue glow, and the cap was branded with a B-class label:
“…Do I really have to take this? There aren’t any side effects, right?”
The whole world thought the consecutive breaches of several large meteorite warehouses were due to inadequate defense. But no one knew that the real reason was that the S-class supervisors from each major district had been secretly dispatched to Shenhai by Cameron. Only the combined combat power of these strong S-class individuals could make the outside world believe that Bai Sheng was indeed stationed here.
The dozens of mutilated corpses outside were the work of these three S-class individuals imitating Bai Sheng’s style. Amatullah and Antonio were fine, but Margot couldn’t help but vomit several times this morning.
“Using a disguise ability on the same gender is easier, and the serum’s effect will last longer,” Chen Miao explained. “Rest assured, the technology of the HRG ability serum is very mature. B-class serum has no side effects.”
Antonio looked skeptically at Chen Miao, then at the syringe, and finally voiced his true concern:
“This serum was made by Supervisor Shen. It won’t poison me, will it?”
Chen Miao: “…”
“No, don’t worry.” Amatullah calmly reassured, “When Shen Zhuo made this serum, he wouldn’t have expected it to be used on you. He wouldn’t have had time to poison it.”
Chen Miao: “…………”
Antonio suddenly understood: “Makes sense!”
He twisted off the cap, flicked the needle, and injected it into the vein in his arm. The faint blue light flashed through his veins and disappeared.
Seconds later, the ability brought by the serum was activated. His facial bones adjusted, his skin color and body shape changed, and in front of everyone’s eyes, he completely transformed into another person—Bai Sheng.
Disguise-type ability, B-class.
When Rong Qi colluded with Nielsen, he had once sent people to infiltrate the Saint Cater Fort Meteorite Base and dispatched subordinates disguised as his men to confuse Bai Sheng, who saw through them and shot them dead. Shen Zhuo had preserved the serum by freezing it. Since the ability level was low, he had produced two disguise-type serums in total, one of which Antonio had just used.
Supervisor Shen’s greatest trait: leaving nothing behind, meticulously calculating, and even capturing passing evolved dogs to draw a couple of blood samples before letting them go.
The base gate opened with a rumble, and Antonio, now wearing Bai Sheng’s guise, walked out openly, heading toward Yue Yang, who had just gotten out of the car.
Yue Yang hung up the phone and walked quickly forward, firmly shaking “Bai Sheng’s” hand, his face sincere:
“Thank you, Mr. Bai, for assisting us in defending the Beihai Meteorite Base. I offer you my highest respect!”
Antonio smiled broadly and leaned in for a hug, whispering in Yue Yang’s ear: “Do you know that when you lie, your speech speeds up involuntarily?”
Yue Yang: “…I tried my best. Do you guys all have a flair for drama? Are you all Sherlock Holmes?”
The fully armed, evolved soldiers saluted as the two of them walked towards the Beihai Meteorite Base gate.
Behind them, the sky was vast and overcast, and the high walls and electric fences were imposing. Dozens of bodies hung by their necks, swaying in mid-air; their guts spilled out, black blood dripping onto the ground.
In the study, Rong Qi’s gaze lingered for a moment. Finally, he closed his hand, and the surveillance image disappeared from the air.
“Mr. Rong’s arrangement was indeed correct. Now all the world’s attention is focused on the Beihai Meteorite Base, and Bai can only stay there, not daring to take a step,” Yoko Noda said excitedly, trying to restrain herself. “I’ll notify the people stationed there to launch a full-scale attack on the Beihai Meteorite Base, using all means necessary to keep Bai Sheng there!”
Rong Qi pondered for a moment, then nodded: “Tell everyone to avoid triggering causality as much as possible, or even reversing the timeline won’t bring them back.”
“Understood!”
Yoko Noda hurriedly left the study. Rong Qi stood up, took a faintly glowing level I evolution source from the bookshelf, and gazed at it, seemingly in thought.
Knock, knock; the door was lightly knocked twice, and Shunsuke Noda respectfully reminded him: “Mr. Rong, it’s time.”
The three days had passed, and the Spear of Time had fully extracted itself from Shen Zhuo’s heart, drawn by the evolution source. Rong Qi’s elaborate diversion plan was all to wait for this moment. He nodded slightly at the notification, and Shunsuke Noda tore open a pitch-black spatial rift with his bare hands, bowing and waiting outside.
Holding the evolution source, Rong Qi stepped into the spatial tunnel, immediately surrounded by vast, void darkness.
Ahead, under a sky full of stars, a figure lay slumped in a chair, eyelids tightly closed like ink, and a face as pale as white paper, as if he had been asleep for a long time.
It was Shen Zhuo.
The Spear of Time, which had originally pierced through his chest, had been completely extracted and was now floating quietly in mid-air. The magnificent, resplendent Spear was inscribed with countless ancient runes from a higher-dimensional universe.
Rong Qi stepped forward, feeling an increasingly clear repulsion from the spear’s body the closer he got.
—This was normal, as he didn’t have the ability to reverse the timeline. This cosmic-level weapon would naturally resist what it deemed an incorrect host.
Rong Qi didn’t mind. He reached out and grasped the Spear of Time, kneeling beside the armrest of the chair, gazing at Shen Zhuo’s closed eyes, and softly saying, “Evolve. I know you’re awake.”
“You shouldn’t be one of the 7.8 billion ants; you’re my first perfect creation in this universe.”
He placed the powerful level I evolution source into Shen Zhuo’s palm, then tightly gripped it—
Light burst from between Shen Zhuo’s fingers, radiant and dazzling, burning his vision. The immense energy filled every inch of his body, rushing through his veins like a flood.
In that intense light, Shen Zhuo bent forward, clutching his heart with one hand, his thin knuckles standing out as he bit back the pain, evolving once again.
Rong Qi stepped back half a pace, his gaze admiring his finest artwork. The magnificent light curtain, as splendid as a galaxy, instantly condensed and was absorbed into Shen Zhuo’s slender body; immediately, a surging force swept from his body in all directions. Shen Zhuo suddenly lifted his eyelashes, his eyes cold and deep, reaching out for the Spear of Time in Rong Qi’s grasp!
Rong Qi dodged, blood splattering from his left arm as Shen Zhuo’s hand knife left a long gash. In the next moment, the wound disappeared, and Shen Zhuo’s left arm spurted blood.
Rong Qi raised an eyebrow: “Did you forget my body has damage rebound ability?”
Shen Zhuo ignored him, his face like frost and snow, and in a flash, they had exchanged over ten blows. His speed and strength had significantly increased post-evolution, his fingertips touching the Spear several times, but Rong Qi was even more skilled, retreating several steps in an instant. With a crisp sound, he grabbed Shen Zhuo’s elbow, coldly saying, “If you still want this hand…”
Before he could finish, a cold light suddenly appeared in Shen Zhuo’s palm, electric currents sparking as he stabbed a blade through Rong Qi’s chest!
At such close range and at such speed, it was impossible to dodge. The blade pierced through his ribs and emerged from his back, blood immediately soaking Rong Qi’s black shirt.
“Rebound, huh?” Shen Zhuo sneered, “Guess how long before the serum wears off after I die?”
Rong Qi shook his head, seeming a bit complex and helpless, then suddenly tightened his grip, his bones cracking as he crushed Shen Zhuo’s left wrist.
Pain engulfed Shen Zhuo’s senses, but he fiercely summoned countless lightning bolts, tearing the dark void apart!
The surrounding space shattered into countless fragments, the strong A-class spatial tunnel unable to withstand the S-class lightning storm’s fierce assault, finally collapsing completely.
With a heavy thud, Shen Zhuo crashed into the corner of the real room, his hair disheveled, panting and disheveled. He got up and rushed towards the door, but a cold, long blade barred his way.
Shunsuke Noda, holding the katana, incredulously said, “You always seem to be courting death in various ways…”
Crackling lightning roared as Shen Zhuo conjured a whip of electricity in his hand, the bright blue arc tearing through the air, whipping Shunsuke Noda and smashing half a wall!
“What the hell!?”
Shunsuke Noda was stunned, not expecting to be whipped by Shen Zhuo for the second time in his life. He reversed his grip and swung the katana, sweeping towards Shen Zhuo’s chest with the force of a landslide.
If Shen Zhuo hadn’t evolved, this strike could have cut him in half. Even now, it was enough to shatter his ribs. At the critical moment, Shen Zhuo gripped the incoming katana, blood immediately seeping from his long fingers. The pain didn’t stop him for a second. He whipped Shunsuke Noda again, sending him staggering back, and rushed towards the door without hesitation!
At the same moment, Rong Qi turned around, raising a hand with a face as cold as water.
Boom——
It was too late to dodge. Shen Zhuo’s throat tightened as Rong Qi’s fingers clamped around it, slamming him against the wall!
The wall behind him cracked extensively, and his throat was tightly gripped, preventing any sound from escaping.
Rong Qi pressed two fingers to Shen Zhuo’s cold, pale brow. After a few seconds, he sighed and shook his head:
“Your evolution is quite impressive, focusing mostly on genetic intelligence. And you still think you can fight your way out of here alone?”
S-class evolution typically involved six major directions: physical fitness, ability strength, genetic intelligence, mental power, pheromones, and Fatal Strike. No S-class could evolve in all directions, and warriors close to six dimensions like Bai Sheng were rare—extremely specialized ones like Shen Zhuo were even rarer, especially focusing on the hardest to evolve, genetic intelligence.
“There are over a hundred restrictions outside, specifically to stop you at this moment.” Rong Qi said calmly, “You should have guessed it by now, Supervisor Shen; you’re the key to reversing time for me.”
Shunsuke Noda climbed out of the ruins, suppressing the urge to curse and pressing a hand to the bloody side of his face where he had been whipped again. He fetched the pre-prepared blood-drawing tools and forcibly pinned down Shen Zhuo’s left arm, inserting the needle into his vein.
The blood of an evolved S-class quickly flowed into the blood bag, a sight that was all too familiar to Shen Zhuo, but this time, he was the one being drained.
“……Gao Tonglin and the others won’t give you serum to cultivate interferon.” Shen Zhuo closed his eyes, then wearily opened them again, his voice hoarse and mocking: “Besides, I suggest you be careful when you sneak into Shenhai; don’t run into Bai Sheng. I think he’s not in the mood to leave you in one piece right now.”
The blood bag gradually filled up, and Shunsuke Noda withdrew the needle, immediately sealing the precious 500 cc of fresh blood and carefully placing it in a refrigerated box. “Mr. Rong—”
Rong Qi raised his hand to signal him to wait, kneeling down in front of Shen Zhuo, staring into those cold, dark eyes like a deep, icy pool, and calmly asking:
“Do you really know what’s happening outside right now?”
“……”
“Humans want to evolve. The International Supervision General Administration is retreating step by step; the third wave of global evolution has already begun. At this moment, over four hundred advanced evolutionists following me are launching a full-scale invasion on Asia’s largest meteorite base. Once they break through the lead-sealed high-pressure chamber, the meteorite radiation will leak out, plunging the whole of Asia into a new era of evolution overnight.”
“So, Bai Sheng has no time to worry about the HRG laboratory; he is holding fast at the meteorite base, and the defense at the HRG laboratory is close to zero.”
Shen Zhuo’s eyebrows slightly tightened, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes.
But there was no trace of emotion on his pale, porcelain-like face.
“Bai Sheng is too desperate to stop the full evolution, guarding the evolution source without daring to leave, but from the beginning, my goal has been to reverse the timeline, which is the HRG laboratory.” Rong Qi’s tone was still gentle at this moment: “As for whether the second-generation researchers will submit to me, Shen Zhuo, how much courage do you think ordinary people have to face the death of their loved ones, or even their own?”
“The first-generation HRG researchers hadn’t touched on this aspect yet, but the second-generation researchers already clearly know that evolution is the unavoidable future. The results of your painstaking research over countless days and nights have precisely proven to you that ordinary people are destined to be crushed to dust by the wheels of evolution; even HRG can only affect evolutionary genes. How could your spiritual faith possibly compare to that of the first-generation researchers?”
Shen Zhuo sneered: “That’s just your conjecture……”
“If you truly believed in the loyalty of the second-generation researchers, why did you hold the lives of their entire families in your hands?”
Shen Zhuo’s voice abruptly stopped.
“You see, Shen Zhuo,” Rong Qi said regretfully, “your way of doing things is actually very similar to mine because your genes bear the imprint I personally left.”
Rong Qi said no more, holding the Spear of Time. He stood up and was about to walk towards the door when Shen Zhuo’s hoarse voice came:
“……I do believe that evolution is the future of humanity.”
Rong Qi’s movements paused slightly.
“From the ancient apes descending from the trees in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa 12 million years ago, to the appearance of Homo habilis 2.5 million years ago, and then to the Toba catastrophe 70,000 years ago causing a population bottleneck, Homo sapiens walked out of Africa and evolved to survive to this day. Every step of evolution has been accompanied by pain and upheaval; the fit survive, the unfit perish.”
“But in the history of the Earth, there has never been evolution at the expense of eliminating the weak.” Shen Zhuo tightly gripped his shattered left wrist bone with his right hand; the intense pain did not affect his steady tone, which even had a kind of repressive calm, “Humans always protect their kind, who are at the back of the line. When disaster strikes, someone always stands in front of the elderly, the young, and the weak. These seemingly weak morals, these seemingly useless beliefs, and what you consider wasteful resources are precisely the strongest, most invincible core that has allowed human civilization to continue to this day.”
Rong Qi looked down at him from above and coldly spat out three words after a long pause: “Is that so?”
“You’ve only brought about a sudden evolution, Rong Qi.” Shen Zhuo’s lips were slightly curved, though there was no hint of a smile, “You absolutely cannot shake the iron law of survival of the fittest over billions of years on Earth, which is not survival of the strongest.”
“You will never win this battle.”
A few seconds felt like an eternity. There was no trace of human-like emotion in Rong Qi’s dark eyes, as if they were some cold, mechanical substance from outer space.
“Then let’s witness it firsthand,” he finally said.
“When the timeline is pulled back five years, this time I will become the strongest evolved being on Earth, and you will witness the ants being consumed by war and mortals being exterminated by the evolved… I will allow you to be the last human on Earth.”
Rong Qi raised one hand, his five fingers spread wide, a vast darkness enveloped them, and Shen Zhuo’s consciousness was quickly withdrawn.
He closed his eyes and fell into a stupor.
“—Mr. Rong!” At this moment, Yoko Noda hurried back and respectfully said: “We’ve received the latest news from the Beihai Meteorite Base. The 400 advanced evolutionists have quickly breached the base’s interior. Bai Sheng is completely tied up, and Shenhai City’s defenses are empty. We can start the plan!”
Rong Qi silently exhaled and turned to look at the blood bag in the refrigerated box.
The 500 cc of blood drawn from Shen Zhuo’s body could be used to cultivate an S-class time-reversing ability drug, allowing him to go back five years and seize Bai Sheng’s newly evolved body.
With the causality weapon and the devouring gene, he had enough to change all the trajectories of the past five years of Earth’s evolution and completely win the war.
“Take people to the HRG laboratory, use the space tunnel to bring back all the senior researchers on the list, and make sure to act quickly.” Rong Qi said heavily, “The meteorite base might not be able to hold off Bai Sheng for long.”
“Yes!”
Shunsuke Noda waved his hand to tear open a dark, deep space tunnel, bowed and retreated with his sister, and in the next moment, the tunnel entrance, along with the Noda siblings, disappeared into the air.
The underground building was complex and empty, yet Rong Qi knew that the outside world was already in chaos, and the next phase of the battle would enter the most important and critical node.
The Spear of Time floated quietly in mid-air, its starlike radiance reflecting on Shen Zhuo’s tightly closed, cold face.
“……When you wake up, the world five years ago will be in my hands.” Rong Qi looked down at him and softly said, “Sorry, I won’t give that Bai Sheng any chance to leave a last word.”
