Chapter 19: The Secret of compound v, Undercurrents Surging
The crisp sound of Queen Maeve's high heels finally faded away completely in the empty corridor.
The cowardice on Lin Yuan's face vanished in an instant; he let out a cold snort and strode over to the desk.
A small water stain from the glass Maeve had just left remained on the corner of the mahogany desk, round and shiny, emitting the sour stench of gin.
He reached out and pulled open the most hidden drawer on the left, pulling out a secret communicator the size of a fingernail from inside.
With a light press of his finger on the red metal button, a series of rapid, hoarse breaths immediately came from the communicator.
"Mr... Mr. Lin Yuan? Is that you?"
Hughie's voice was trembling violently; he sounded like a chick that had just been fished out of icy water.
Lin Yuan leaned back in his chair, fished an ear pick out of his pocket, and leisurely cleaned his ear.
He dug out a tiny bit of dry, yellow earwax and casually wiped it into a blind spot under the desk.
"It's me, Assistant Hughie. How does it feel to be working at the Vought Public Relations Department on your first day?"
Lin Yuan's tone was languid, carrying an undisguised playfulness.
"This place is practically an insane asylum! Everyone is lying, and the head of the Public Relations Department, Ashley, is a total lunatic!"
Hughie was panting heavily over the phone; it was clear that his worn plaid shirt was likely soaked through with cold sweat.
"She was just in her office, frantically pulling at her own hair, trampling all over the wigs on the floor—it scared the hell out of me."
"Stop with all this useless nonsense, Hughie."
Lin Yuan coldly interrupted him, flicking the dust off his fingers.
"The raw materials for compound v that I had you look into, the ones shipped by the Russian freighter—where are they now?"
Hughie swallowed hard, and a rustling sound of paper rubbing violently came from the other end of the line.
"I... I secretly used Ashley's intranet key and found their customs clearance documents."
"That shipment wasn't fully unloaded at Pier 12; they used small boats halfway there to transport the most critical crates away."
"Where were they taken?"
A flash of red light, like a predator eyeing its prey, flickered in Lin Yuan's eyes.
"An abandoned underground research facility in the northern suburbs of New York. On the surface, it's a defunct insane asylum called'Sage Grove'."
Hughie's voice was extremely low, laced with uncontrollable panic and retching.
"Mr. Lin Yuan, there are some photos in those files... I swear, no human being would do things like that!"
"They're using living people for experiments! They lock homeless people and mental patients in iron cages and forcibly inject them with second-generation compound v!"
"Those people's bodies are melting! Bones are piercing right out of their flesh, blood is covering the floor—it's horrific, it's truly wretched!"
"Also, I saw a file on a former member of The Seven, named 'Lamplighter'."
Hughie's voice became increasingly urgent, his tongue even stumbling over his words.
"Lamplighter? Didn't that guy retire because he burned the Deputy Director's grandson to death?"
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.
"He didn't retire! The file says he's currently working as a guard at that Sage Grove, responsible for burning the failed test subjects!"
"He used to be a star of The Seven; Vought actually stuffed him into a basement like trash—it's insane."
Hughie accused loudly, and Lin Yuan could even hear the sound of him slapping his thigh on the other end of the line.
"Vought never wastes any trash, Hughie."
Lin Yuan shifted into a more comfortable position and sneered.
"Once you lose your PR value, your fate will be exactly the same as Lamplighter's: becoming fuel for the building."
"Then what about me? Am I about to become fuel too?"
There was a hint of a sob in Hughie's voice.
"As long as you listen to me, I guarantee you won't lose a single hair."
Lin Yuan spat impatiently.
"Send me Lamplighter's duty roster and shift change times."
"He happens to be on the night shift tonight, from midnight to 4:00 AM, in the third ward."
Hughie flipped through the computer screen, his fingernails clicking loudly against the plastic keyboard.
"Good, the timing is just right."
A fierce glint flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes.
"You... are you really going to go after Lamplighter? He can control fire with his bare hands, the temperature is high enough to melt steel!"
Hughie was a bit nervous.
"His fire couldn't even burn my underwear."
Lin Yuan laughed disdainfully.
Hughie was silent on the other end of the line for a full half minute.
Finally, he could only sigh in despair, squeezing out one word from the depths of his throat.
"Fine... I'll send you the password via encrypted text later. You have to be careful."
Lin Yuan hung up the communicator directly and pocketed the small metal piece.
In the fish tank to the side.
Timothy was poking half its head out, eight tentacles clinging to the edge of the glass, blowing white bubbles.
"Boss, are you going to that place called'Sage Grove'?"
"I am. That place has a large batch of immature compound v stock solution; it's the best snack for upgrading my body."
Lin Yuan strode to the hidden compartment behind the office.
He pressed the hidden button on the mahogany wall.
"Click."
A small, secret door slowly slid open.
Inside hung a special, unmarked, matte black night-ops suit.
The suit was made of high-tech carbon fiber material; it was lightweight, durable, and non-reflective.
In front of Timothy, Lin Yuan leisurely took off his suit jacket, revealing a broad, sturdy upper body.
He reached out and touched the gill slits on his side, feeling somewhat irritated.
Once I upgrade to the Viltrumite combat body this time, I'll have to find a way to completely close these two burdensome holes.
Lin Yuan changed into the black night-ops suit; the zipper caught in the muscle groove on his chest, making a crisp "zzzip" sound.
"Boss, are you going to smash their lab tonight? Great White Shark wants to eat some human flesh."
Timothy surfaced from the water in the tank, water droplets rolling down its compound eyes.
"No, smashing the lab is too crude. I'm going there to take back what belongs to me."
Lin Yuan pulled the black tight-fitting mask over his head and adjusted the breathable mesh over his nose and mouth.
"And by the way, to subdue a few fun puppets, like that Lamplighter."
"That guy knows too much dirt on Vought. As long as I have a grip on him, it's like I've put a noose around Madelyn's neck."
Lin Yuan put on the black leather tactical gloves and clenched his fists tightly.
The suit was a bit tight, making the red marks on his chest feel numb.
He slowly pulled up the mask, revealing only a pair of pitch-black eyes that were as cold as ice shards.
"Timothy, watch the house. Don't let anyone rummage around in my office, understand?"
Lin Yuan walked to the window and unlatched the high-altitude deadbolt leading to the balcony.
The bone-chilling gale from high altitude rushed in instantly, blowing away the scent of hair gel in the room entirely.
The night sky outside was pitch black, and the neon lights appeared somewhat illusory in the sea fog below.
"Don't worry, Boss! With Great White Shark and Seagullhere, no one can get near this building!"
Timothy waved its tentacles, swimming happily in a circle in the water.
Lin Yuan lightly tapped one foot on the white marble railing of the balcony.
"Crack."
The hard white marble railing was silently cracked by the tip of his foot.
Around him, the Gravity Field opened at full power in an instant.
Completely distorting and shielding all laws of gravity.
"Whoosh—"
"Boss, aren't you bringing any heavy weapons tonight? Seagull says the SWAT team at Sage Grove has vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns that can pierce armor."
Timothy whispered a reminder in the earpiece.
"My own body is the strongest weapon; any bullet that hits me will just turn into a metal pancake."
Lin Yuan replied indifferently, crushing the last half of an apple on the balcony with one foot.
Apple juice flowed all over the white marble, sticky and messy.
"If those trashy SWAT officers dare to open fire, I'll use my Gravity Field to crush them all into meat paste."
Lin Yuan pulled up his hood, hiding his face completely in the night.
Lin Yuan transformed into a silent streak of black lightning, plunging straight into the sea of clouds over New York late at night.
The wind whistled in his ears, but his powerful eardrums could even filter out this noise.
The high-altitude air was full of cold air and a faint smell of coal smoke, making him feel exceptionally clear-headed.
"Boss, don't forget to bring me back a few bottles of those fun potions!"
Timothy's mental fluctuations were somewhat excited in the micro-earpiece.
"Alright, Timothy. Watch the house, and wait for me to bring back some fun treasures."
Chapter 20: Crimson Countess's Crisis, Lin Yuan Strikes from the Shadows
Late at night in the suburbs of New York, a fierce wind roared across the wasteland, whipping up a harsh, rustling sound.
Lin Yuan hovered a hundred meters in the air, his black tactical suit flapping violently in the gale like a flag of darkness.
Thick fog filled the air, heavy with the suffocating, musty stench of dead leaves and soil.
He closed his eyes, his enhanced [Super Hearing] instantly piercing through the seemingly abandoned red-brick sanitarium below.
The sounds traveled through the mottled brick walls and cold reinforced concrete, feeding directly into his mind.
He heard a heated argument coming from the depths of the basement, along with a woman's tearful struggle.
"Let me go! You Vought lackeys!"
It was the voice of Crimson Countess Charlotte, hoarse, weak, and trembling with the frailty of drug withdrawal.
"Stay still, Charlotte. Don't make me put you in the electric chair. Seriously."
A cold, emotionless male voice cut her off, accompanied by the crisp sound of metal clashing.
Lin Yuan flipped in mid-air, his figure flickering as he instantly transformed into a silent shadow, landing at the back door of the sanitarium.
His boots crunched on the gravel, emitting a faint "click."
He pulled on his tactical gloves and pushed open the half-ajar iron door, the musty dampness of the basement rushing to meet him.
He descended the gloomy stairs in silence; the smell of blood in the air grew stronger.
Inside the basement, the yellow light cast twisted shadows against the mold-spotted walls.
Charlotte was tied tightly to an iron chair, the finger-thick ropes cutting bloody welts into her wrists.
Her once-pretty face was smeared with tears and black mascara, making her look like a grotesque ghost—truly ugly.
Snot ran down to the corner of her mouth, but she didn't bother to wipe it, staring in despair at the two Vought agents in front of her.
The two agents wore black suits and sunglasses, fiddling with a metal syringe.
"Reggie won't let you get away with this! He's A-Train of The Seven! He loves me!"
Charlotte shrieked hysterically, her legs kicking wildly against the iron chair, making the metal legs creak.
"Reggie?"
The tall agent pushed up his sunglasses, a look of contemptuous mockery playing on his lips.
"Charlotte, you really are a naive idiot."
"It was Reggie himself who signed the order to have us take you out."
"His broken leg needs a huge PR payout right now, and a drug-addicted bitch like you who could leak secrets at any moment..."
The agent tapped the cold metal syringe in his hand.
"...is his biggest PR liability. Get it?"
Hearing this, Charlotte looked as if she had been struck by lightning, her eyes wide like a dead fish.
"No... that's impossible... He promised to take me away from New York..."
She murmured in a daze, snot and tears mixing and dripping onto her yellowed dress.
"Enough with the bullshit. Take her out. Done."
The short agent spat impatiently.
The tall agent stepped forward, grabbed Charlotte by the hair, and yanked her head back.
The metal needle glinted coldly in the dim light, aimed directly at the pulsing vein in her neck.
"Reggie... you animal..."
Charlotte closed her eyes and let out a whimper of despair.
Just at this critical moment—
"BOOM!"
The heavy, half-ton blast-proof door, made of special steel, suddenly sounded like it had been rammed by a speeding heavy truck.
The entire iron door, along with the concrete from the frame, exploded in a fraction of a second, turning into a shower of metal shrapnel.
"CRACK!"
The massive iron door slammed with overwhelming force directly into the two Vought agents who hadn't even had time to react.
The tall agent didn't even have time to scream before he was pinned by the door panel against the moldy concrete wall behind him.
"Splat."
A dull thud of flesh and bone being crushed instantly.
A large amount of blood and visceral matter sprayed out from the gaps in the door, staining the entire wall bright red.
The short agent reacted slightly faster, instinctively diving to the side.
But half his shoulder was sheared off by a flying door-lock component.
"Ahhh! My arm!"
He collapsed on the ground, clutching his bleeding shoulder and rolling around frantically.
The disgusting stench of intestines and excrement instantly mingled with the smell of blood in the air.
Due to the violent impact, dust began to shower down from the basement ceiling.
Lin Yuan, dressed in an unmarked black tactical suit, walked in silently like a grim reaper emerging from the abyss.
His soles crunched on the gravel and glass shards, making a harsh "rustling" sound.
The short agent on the ground crawled backward, staring in terror at the masked mysterious figure.
"Who... who are you? This is Vought's basement! Are you crazy..."
Lin Yuan walked over.
He lifted his boot and stepped lightly onto the agent's chest.
"Crack."
Three of his ribs shattered instantly, piercing his lungs, and he began spitting up blood like a fountain.
"I'm looking for Vought. Seriously."
Lin Yuan's voice was hoarse, distorted by a voice changer, and as cold as ice.
He applied slight pressure with the sole of his foot, his gravity control vibrating silently.
The agent's chest collapsed instantly, and he stopped breathing.
Charlotte, huddled on the iron chair, was too terrified to even cry, shaking like a leaf.
She stared blankly at the two gruesome corpses on the ground.
Then she looked at the black figure standing in the pool of blood, radiating a terrifying aura.
"Are... are you going to kill me?"
Charlotte pulled her shoulders in, her teeth chattering, afraid to even move.
Lin Yuan bent down.
He picked up the mud-stained metal syringe from the floor.
The needle was slightly bent, and the bright blue compound inside emitted a sickly sweet scent under the light.
Lin Yuan squeezed with two fingers.
"Snap."
The hard metal syringe felt like scrap iron in his hand, instantly crushed into a twisted lump.
The bright blue liquid seeped through his fingers and dripped onto the bloody floor tiles, hissing into white smoke.
He used his other blood-stained glove to roughly tear the ropes off Charlotte.
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be feeding the fish in the ocean, Charlotte."
Lin Yuan sneered and tossed the scrap metal into the trash pile.
Charlotte rubbed her purple wrists, trying to stand up, but fell back to the floor because her legs were weak.
"Then... what do you want? Did Butcher send you to save me?"
She clutched her chest, her eyes full of vigilance and panic.
Lin Yuan stepped forward, looming over her, his massive shadow instantly engulfing her.
"Don't compare me to those mortals who only know how to hide in the sewers. Seriously."
He took a top-secret photocopy of Crimson Countess and A-Train's private compound v transaction from his pocket and slapped it onto her face.
A corner of the photocopy was stained with half a bloody fingerprint Lin Yuan had left behind when crushing the termite on the roof earlier.
"I have ironclad proof of you smuggling this stuff, Charlotte."
"If I send this to Stan Edgar, which morgue do you think you'll end up in?"
Charlotte looked at the photocopy, her face instantly turning as white as a sheet.
She knew exactly how devastating this evidence was.
"No... don't do this. I just wanted some money to buy drugs; I never intended to go against the company..."
She knelt before Lin Yuan's boots, grabbing his pant leg with both hands, sobbing until snot and tears streamed down her face.
"You didn't intend to go against them, but Reggie wants you dead."
Lin Yuan disgustedly brushed her hands off his pant leg with his other boot.
"His broken leg needs a scapegoat for the board of directors right now."
"Between you, a washed-up ex-girlfriend, and his superhero throne, which one do you think he'll choose?"
Charlotte collapsed on the ground like a dead fish thrown onto the shore.
"He... how could he do this to me... I even neglected my powers for him..."
"When it comes to power and godhood, men would sell their own mothers. Seriously."
Lin Yuan sneered from above.
"You only have one path left."
Charlotte looked up, her face covered in sticky tear streaks.
"What path?"
"Go to the safe house I've prepared for you, stay there, and be my witness."
Lin Yuan reached out with his tactical-gloved hand and patted her pale face—not too gently.
The blood on his glove instantly smeared a streak of crimson across her face.
"When I need you to, you will rip off the hypocritical masks of A-Train and Madelyn in front of the board. Seriously."
Charlotte hesitated.
"But... but if John finds out I betrayed him, he will..."
"John?"
Lin Yuan laughed as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"He can barely protect himself right now. If you're smart and listen to me, I guarantee you'll have an endless supply of pure compound v for the rest of your life. Understand?"
The offer was too tempting; for a super-human in the throes of drug withdrawal, it was equivalent to the key to heaven.
Charlotte gritted her teeth, her fingernails digging into the cracks in the concrete floor.
"I... why should I trust you?"
"You don't have the right not to trust me, Charlotte."
Lin Yuan slowly took the tungsten alloy rod out of his system space.
The tip of the rod glinted coldly in the dim light, aimed directly at her other eye socket.
"Want to see whose bones are harder, yours or Translucent's?"
Lin Yuan's voice was as low as a eulogy.
Hearing the name "Translucent," Charlotte was completely terrified.
Could it be that Translucent, with his supposedly diamond-hard skin, was already dead at the hands of this monster?
"No... I'll listen to you! I'll listen to you! Don't kill me!"
She kowtowed frantically, her forehead hitting the concrete floor with dull thuds.
Lin Yuan retracted the black rod with satisfaction.
"Seriously, now that's a smart person."
He squatted down and patted Charlotte's face, which was covered in blood and cold sweat.
"Timothy, have the sea crabs ready outside. Transport this woman to the old warehouse in the East District in a moment."
"Received, Boss. The crabs have been waiting outside for a long time. Seriously!"
Timothy's voice in the earpiece sounded excited.
Lin Yuan stood up with his long legs and brushed the concrete dust off his suit.
He looked down at Charlotte, who was limp as mud on the floor, his eyes devoid of the slightest warmth.
In this world, all love and hate are less useful than a single chess piece when faced with absolute power. Seriously.
He raised his foot and crushed the broken metal syringe on the ground to pieces.
"Crunch."
The harsh snapping sound echoed in the silent basement.
"Boss, this woman definitely knows about A-Train's smuggling ledgers. Seriously."
Timothy reminded him in a low voice.
"No rush. The ledgers will fall into my hands sooner or later. Done."
Lin Yuan turned his head to look at Charlotte, who was still gasping for air on the ground.
"Charlotte, don't try any tricks on me."
"The moment I find out you're being dishonest, your pathetic head will explode like a watermelon. Understand?"
Charlotte nodded frantically, breaking the skin on her forehead and letting bright red blood seep out.
"I understand! I understand! I'll tell you everything!"
"Done. Then let's start by talking about the secret warehouse where A-Train smuggles compound v. Seriously."
Lin Yuan put his gloves back on and brushed the dust off his suit lapels.
He loomed over the tear-streaked woman.
"If you want to live, use what you know as currency."
Chapter 21: Saving Crimson Countess, Obtaining Smuggling Clues
In the dim basement, the yellowing incandescent bulb cast large, mottled shadows against the concrete walls.
Charlotte gasped heavily, her chest heaving violently.
A sticky white foam, a byproduct of her withdrawal symptoms, still clung to the corner of her mouth.
She glanced at the two agent corpses on the ground, their skulls cracked open, looking utterly wretched in death.
Then, she looked up at the terrifying man in front of her, dressed in a pitch-black stealth suit and wearing a mask.
"Here... this is what you wanted... don't kill me..."
Charlotte was trembling like a leaf, shakily reaching her right hand into her sweat-drenched clothes.
She pulled out a black micro USB drive from her bosom.
The USB drive still carried the warmth of her body and sticky sweat.
Lin Yuan reached out and took it.
The USB drive was slippery, emitting a hot, foul odor of cheap sunscreen mixed with sweat.
With a look of disgust, he vigorously wiped it against the hem of his clothes to clean off the sweat stains.
"What is inside this, Charlotte?"
Lin Yuan's voice was low, sounding devoid of warmth through the voice changer.
"It's Reggie... it's A-Train's entire smuggling route map for compound v, I swear."
Charlotte huddled in the corner, clutching her knees tightly with both hands.
The spaces under her fingernails were packed with cold, black concrete dust.
"And the schedule for when they meet with the dockworkers' union every month."
"As well as the handover receipts for when the cargo ships dock, it's all in there."
"Does Madelyn know about this, huh?"
Lin Yuan squeezed the USB drive in his palm and asked coldly.
"She knows! Of course she knows!"
In order to save herself, Charlotte shouted frantically, spilling everything like beans.
"She takes a thirty percent cut of the pure compound vstock every month!"
"All the accounts are in there; Reggie thought I didn't know."
"Actually, I secretly backed it up a long time ago, I swear!"
Lin Yuan looked at the small black plastic gadget in his hand, which was emitting a faint red light.
A flash of crimson light, like a predator eyeing its prey, flickered in the depths of his eyes.
This was not only ironclad proof of the compound vsmuggling, but also a fatal piece of leverage against Madelyn.
Unexpectedly, this move had firmly gripped the death point of that idiot A-Train.
"Alright then, Charlotte, consider yourself lucky tonight."
"Congratulations, you made a smart choice."
Lin Yuan flipped his wrist and tossed the USB drive into his system inventory.
He raised his right foot and kicked one of the agent corpses on the ground.
The body rolled limply to the side, hitting the moldy base of the wall.
"Boss, the fog outside has gotten thicker; not a single patrol officer is in sight, it's working perfectly!"
Timothy's wet, squelching voice sounded through the earpiece at the right moment.
"Alright, Timothy, start cleaning up the scene."
Lin Yuan beckoned with one hand, pulling over the half-ton metal blast door nearby.
The metal scraped against the concrete floor, emitting a piercing, teeth-grinding "screech."
He activated the Viltrumite gravity control within his body.
Silently, he gently pushed several heavy stone slabs from the rubble.
Instantly crushing the bones and skulls of the two agents.
Perfectly disguising it as a gruesome scene where the blast door had accidentally collapsed.
Then, he pulled a box of matches from his pocket and struck one with a hiss.
The match dropped onto the pile of moldy waste cardboard boxes in the corner.
The flames instantly flared up in the damp air, emitting a pungent black smoke.
"Let's go, time to stay somewhere cleaner."
Lin Yuan walked over, hoisting her up like a wet stray cat.
He threw Charlotte over his shoulder.
Charlotte screamed in fright, clutching her hands tightly to her chest.
The other person's stealth suit was stiff, emitting a smell of ionized rubber.
Lin Yuan tapped his foot lightly on the ground.
His figure blurred, and he instantly leaped into the night through the opening in the door.
The wind whistled past his ears, and the sea fog rapidly receded beneath their feet.
The bustling neon lights of New York blurred into a haze.
A dozen minutes later.
Lin Yuan landed on the roof of an abandoned old warehouse in the East District.
His leather boots landed on the mossy iron tiles, making a faint, muffled sound.
This was a safe house funded by the secret church foundation under Ezekiel's name.
Lin Yuan pulled open the rusted skylight.
He tossed Charlotte directly onto the moldy old mattress below.
"Cough, cough... cough!"
Charlotte coughed violently, choked by the age-old dust on the mattress.
"Stay here obediently, and don't even think about running away, I swear."
Lin Yuan sneered from above, his eyes cold and hard, devoid of the slightest hint of warmth.
"Timothy's subordinates will be guarding the sewers and the sea twenty-four hours a day."
"If you dare take even half a step outside, your ex-boyfriend with the broken leg will be more than happy to see your corpse in a trash heap."
Charlotte stared at the icy black mask, her teeth chattering.
She scrambled desperately into the tattered blanket.
"I won't run! I'll be obedient! Please, give me some drugs..."
She clutched her arm and begged, her eyes becoming unfocused as her withdrawal symptoms set in.
Lin Yuan ignored her.
He turned around and climbed back through the skylight onto the weed-covered roof.
"Boss, I've already had the crabs cover all of this woman's footprints with sand, I swear!"
Timothy's smug voice sounded in the earpiece.
"Alright, Timothy, you did a good job tonight."
"I'll buy you ten pounds of fresh live shrimp to eat tomorrow, all you can eat."
Lin Yuan stood on the damp tiles.
He pulled off the black mask from his face and took a deep breath of the cold air.
The dense fog rolled over the Hudson River.
In the distance, New York's Vought Tower shone with a hypocritical, golden light in the night.
This move not only saved Crimson Countess, who was brutally killed by A-Train in the original story.
But also placed all the ironclad proof of A-Train's smuggling right in his palm.
That kid who claimed to be the fastest runner had now completely become an ant he could crush at any moment.
Lin Yuan pulled the old gray cell phone from his black pocket.
The screen lit up with a faint fluorescence in the darkness, reflecting in his dark, sunken eye sockets.
He opened the contact list, his finger pausing on the name "Reggie."
He sneered and dialed the number.
"Beep—beep—beep—"
The phone rang three times before it was finally answered on the other end.
"Hello... who is this, calling in the middle of the night... don't you know I'm in the hospital..."
A-Train's weak, hoarse voice came through the receiver.
Accompanied by the "beep-beep" noise of the vital signs monitor in the hospital room.
Lin Yuan stood on the windswept rooftop, listening to that weak voice, the smile on his lips deepening.
"Reggie, I heard you were hospitalized?"
"I didn't expect you to be so busy in the middle of the night; I've specifically prepared a big gift for you, I swear."
The other end of the line suddenly went dead silent, leaving only the sound of Reggie's heavy breathing, born from extreme terror.
"You... you're that The Deep..."
A-Train's voice rose an octave, like a cat that had its tail stepped on.
"Keep it down, Reggie, don't bring the doctors over."
Lin Yuan held the gray phone away from his ear, his eyes icy.
"Your dear Charlotte is currently lying comfortably in my safe house."
"And those compound v smuggling route maps of yours, I'm currently enjoying them too, huh?"
A-Train struggled violently on the hospital bed, his broken leg in a cast banging against the iron railing, making a dull, loud thud.
"You... what do you want? Let Charlotte go! She doesn't know anything!"
"She knows much more than you think, Reggie, alright."
Lin Yuan sneered, fiddling with the dust-covered tungsten alloy rod in his hand.
"I'll give you half a day; check out of the hospital tomorrow morning and report to my office."
"If you dare to be one minute late..."
Lin Yuan paused, gently tracing his thumbnail across the phone screen.
"Those smuggling route maps of yours will appear on Madelyn and John's desks right on time."
"By then, your poor skull will be like a crushed persimmon in an instant, understand?"
A-Train, collapsed on the hospital bed on the other end of the line, fell into a state of deep, trembling terror.
Chapter 22: A-Train's Fear, Struggling in a Wheelchair
Deep in the night at a private intensive care ward in New York, the room was so quiet that one could only hear the mechanical "beep—beep—" of the vital signs monitor.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of Lysol, mixed with a faint, foul odor of urine emanating from a urinal, making it quite unpleasant.
A-Train, his legs broken, was lying in bed anxiously scrolling through his phone when an unexpected incoming call made his heart skip a beat.
The heavy plaster cast wrapped around his legs itched maddeningly, but he couldn't even scratch it, so he could only dig his fingernails hard into the white plaster.
The number on the screen, showing no name, flashed green continuously, casting a glow on his pale, fleshy face.
He swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva and, trembling, pressed the answer button.
"Hello... who is this in the middle of the night... don't you know I'm in the hospital..."
He tried his best to make his voice sound as arrogant as usual, but his dry throat betrayed his lack of confidence.
"Reggie, I heard you're in the hospital? I specifically brought a big gift for you, really."
A deep, emotionless, synthesized male voice came through the receiver, as cold as a steel blade just pulled from a freezer.
Upon hearing this voice, the string in A-Train's mind snapped taut, and he nearly bolted upright from the hospital bed.
"You... you are that The Deep..."
His voice was sharp like a cat with its tail stepped on, even carrying an imperceptible hint of a sob.
"Keep it down, Reggie, don't attract the duty nurse, really."
Lin Yuan replied indifferently from the other end of the line, with the faint sound of whistling night wind coming through the receiver.
"Your dear Charlotte is currently lying comfortably in my safe house."
"And those route maps for your compound v smuggling, I'm enjoying them quite a bit, aren't I?"
Upon hearing the words "Charlotte" and "route maps," A-Train felt a boom in his head, as if a thunderclap had exploded right there.
"No... this is impossible! Charlotte wouldn't betray me! You're lying to me!"
He roared, clutching the bedsheets tightly, with sticky sweat seeping from under his fingernails.
"She does love you, but who would have thought that you, idiot, would actually sign an order tonight for agents to kill her to silence her."
Lin Yuan sneered on the other end, his voice full of disdain.
"If I hadn't arrived in time and smashed those two agents into pulp, you would only be able to see her at the morgue now."
A-Train collapsed on the hospital bed.
Large beads of cold sweat streamed down the tip of his nose, landing with a splat on the phone screen and shattering into droplets.
His useless leg, wrapped in a cast, twitched violently in that instant from panic.
It pulled at his broken bones, causing him to gasp in pain and let out a painful groan.
"What... what do you want? Money? I have a lot of money!"
Like a drowning man grasping at the last straw, he shouted frantically into the phone.
"I can give you all my endorsement fees! Millions of dollars! As long as you return the USB drive to me!"
"Money? Reggie, do you think I'm short of your petty cash, really."
Lin Yuan's voice was as low as if he were telling a ghost story.
"Do you think, if John or Stan Edgar saw those smuggling route maps, what would they do to you, huh?"
A-Train's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks in an instant.
He knew Homelander's methods all too well.
That moody tyrant would absolutely use his red laser eyes to melt his bones one by one.
And Stan Edgar.
That cold-blooded CEO would treat him as worthless trash and clean him up completely.
"No... please... don't show them..."
A-Train finally broke down.
Snot and tears smeared his face, dripping stickily down his chin.
He struggled to climb out of bed, trying to reach the metal wheelchair beside him.
"Clang!"
The movement was too rushed, and he fell straight off the hospital bed, crashing heavily onto the cold tile floor.
His leg, wrapped in a thick cast, slammed hard against the iron guardrail.
The pain made him let out a shrill, distorted scream.
"Ah—! My leg! Ah—!"
He lay on the floor like a dead fish just thrown onto the shore, crawling frantically on the ground with his hands.
The floor was covered in spilled disinfectant, making it slippery, and despite using all his strength, he could only move forward a few centimeters.
"Reggie, your howling sounds just like a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered."
Lin Yuan's voice on the other end of the phone remained steady.
It even carried a touch of leisurely amusement.
"Please... Senior The Deep... can I call you grandpa?"
A-Train lay on the cold floor, his head pressed tightly against the dirty water on the ground, crying uncontrollably.
"Spare me! I'll do whatever you want! I'll be your dog! I'll be your informant!"
He gripped the phone tightly with his non-casted hand, cracking his fingernails and drawing a trace of bright red blood.
In the face of absolute death and despair.
This world's fastest superhero was, at this moment, more humble than a beggar, really.
"Be a dog? Fine, I'm not short of fast-running dogs like you around me."
Lin Yuan snorted coldly, and the faint sound of a match striking could be heard from the receiver.
"However, if you behave obediently, your dog life might just last a few more days."
Upon hearing this, A-Train, as if seeing a savior, banged his head against the floor with a thud.
"I'll be obedient! I'll definitely be obedient! Whoever you tell me to bite, I'll bite!"
"Tomorrow morning, get your broken leg fixed up and report to my office, really."
Lin Yuan's voice lowered, carrying an unquestionable tone of command.
"If you dare to be one minute late..."
Lin Yuan paused, blowing away a puff of smoke on the other end of the phone.
"Those smuggling route maps of yours will appear on time on Madelyn and John's desks."
"By then, prepare yourself to die."
"Click."
Lin Yuan finished speaking and, without waiting for A-Train's response, hung up the phone.
The receiver was instantly left with only the monotonous and cold "beep—beep—" of the dial tone.
A-Train collapsed on the cold concrete floor.
The phone in his hand slipped into a puddle on the side, the screen flickered a few times, and then went completely black.
"It's over... it's all over..."
He stared blankly at the darkened phone.
His whole body was like dead meat with the bones removed, lying limply.
The cast on his broken leg shone with a deathly white light under the lamp.
The intense itching inside had disappeared, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.
He knew.
In this life, he had completely fallen into the hands of that devil, The Deep, really.
Meanwhile, on the roof of a safe house by the Hudson River.
Lin Yuan casually put the gray phone back into his pocket.
He stood on the mossy tiles, tugged at the black tight mask on his head, and revealed a row of white teeth.
"Boss, did that idiot A-Train agree to come over tomorrow morning, really?"
Timothy's slimy, wet voice sounded in his earpiece at the right moment.
"He has no choice but to come, Timothy, unless he thinks his life is too long, right."
Lin Yuan faced the thick white fog rising from the sea and took a deep breath.
"Starting tomorrow, things in this Vought Tower will be much more interesting, alright."
He lightly tapped one foot on the iron tiles.
The Gravity Field expanded again, silently lifting him ten thousand meters into the sky.
He was like a night owl disappearing into the darkness.
In an instant, he vanished into the vast night, leaving only the dilapidated warehouse in the wilderness swaying in the wind.
"Boss, are we going to keep an eye on that girl named Starlight tomorrow?"
Timothy asked curiously in the earpiece.
"Why keep an eye on her? She already considers me her only conscience now, really."
Lin Yuan traveled through the wind, the loose thread at the back of his suit collar scratching the back of his neck.
He scratched it with his finger, scraping off a bit of dried scab.
"She will be obedient; as long as I don't fall, she is my most righteous shield, right."
Lin Yuan grinned, looking down at the golden Vought Tower towering into the clouds in the night.
The titanium alloy load-bearing columns on the exterior of the building shone with a cold light under the moonlight.
"Boss, the Great White Shark says they ate very well at the harbor tonight, thank you for your hospitality, really!"
Timothy's sound waves were full of joy.
"Fine, tell them to keep their mouths shut, don't leave any broken bones on the beach, it's really unsightly."
Lin Yuan landed silently on the office balcony.
He unlocked the French window, stepped inside lightly, and tossed his muddy tactical leather gloves onto the table.
The room still had a faint smell of alcohol left by Queen Maeve, which was quite unpleasant.
He walked to the washroom and turned on the faucet.
"Splash—"
The warm water washed away the dried blood on the back of his hands, turning into bright red water that swirled away.
Tomorrow, the wind in this building will be blowing in a different direction, alright.
Lin Yuan turned off the faucet and pulled a clean tissue to carefully wipe his hands.
In his mind, the system's gold coin deposit sound rang out crisply again.
"Ding."
[Successfully controlled the main supporting character of the plot: A-Train.]
[Current main plot has deviated significantly, deviation rate has reached thirty percent.]
[Obtained massive evolution points: 12,000 points.]
This wave, not only did he get a large amount of points, but he also held the Achilles' heel of two members of The Seven in his hands, which was really worth it.
He casually tossed the paper ball into the wastebasket, expressionless.
"Timothy, go to the bottom of Vought Tower tomorrow morning to pick up Assistant Hughie, and prepare a decent outfit for him, don't let him look like a beggar."
"Understood, boss, I've already had the sea crabs deliver Ezekiel's black card to Hughie, really!"
Timothy claimed credit.
"Who would have thought you little guy are quite good at getting things done, right?"
Lin Yuan praised him, then strode back to the soft bed in the inner room.
He took off his coat, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
Lin Yuan closed his eyes.
The pungent smell of Lysol from New York Bay and the salty, fishy scent from the smuggling ship were still swirling in his mind.
He somewhat impatiently covered his head with the quilt and muttered rudely.
"Get discharged tomorrow, come to my office, otherwise prepare to die."
Chapter 23: Pinching A-Train, the Mole in The Seven
The cries in the hospital room faded into the night; the next morning, a sticky drizzle fell over New York.
Lin Yuan sat quietly behind his expansive mahogany desk.
A cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea sat on the desk in a celadon cup, steam rising in wisps and carrying a faint, grassy fragrance.
"Creak—"
A low, monotonous hum of an electric motor echoed in the hallway outside.
A moment later.
The office's heavy, solid copper doors were pushed open.
A-Train, his face pale as paper, slid slowly inside on his electric wheelchair, escorted by two Vought bodyguards.
A thick white cast was wrapped around Reggie's thigh.
It was still stained with a few specks of black, dirty water he'd picked up on the ground yesterday.
He had checked himself out of the hospital overnight, his eyes crusted with dried sleep.
Even his lips were cracked and bleeding in several places; he looked utterly wretched.
"Get out! All of you, get the hell out! Close the door tight!"
As soon as he entered, A-Train turned his head and roared at the bodyguards behind him, his voice raspy as if sand were grinding in his throat.
The two bodyguards exchanged glances, confused, but still obediently retreated and pulled the doors shut.
"Bang."
The moment the doors closed.
A-Train slumped like a deflated balloon, nearly sliding off his wheelchair.
He gripped the edge of the wheelchair with his uninjured right hand.
He scrambled forward, his wheelchair rolling until the front wheels slammed heavily against the leg of Lin Yuan's desk.
"The Deep... No, Mr. Lin Yuan, I'm here. I came on time, right?"
A-Train tilted his face up, his forehead covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.
Sweat mixed with the dirt he hadn't washed off last night, trickling down and itching terribly.
Lin Yuan picked up his teacup and gently blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface.
He took a sip, found it a bit too hot, and spat a tea stem back into the cup.
"What's the rush, Reggie? Have some hot tea first, cool off."
Lin Yuan's voice was steady and calm.
There wasn't a hint of emotional fluctuation in it, which only made A-Train more terrified.
"How can I have the heart to drink tea! Where is Charlotte? What did you do to her?"
A-Train panted heavily, his eyes locked onto Lin Yuan's smiling face.
"She slept quite soundly last night; she's probably eating the fresh bread Ezekiel sent her right now, you know."
Lin Yuan fumbled in his desk drawer.
He pulled out a stack of glossy, slightly greasy-looking photos.
He slapped them onto the desk with a "thwack."
Right in the center of the photos was a close-up of A-Traintrading compound v with drug dealers at the East District docks.
Even the aluminum alloy case filled with blue liquid that he was holding was captured clearly.
"Reggie, these little toys you're smuggling... they really weigh quite a bit, don't they?"
Lin Yuan flicked his fingernail against the case of liquid in the photo, making a crisp "tap-tap" sound.
When A-Train saw the photos clearly, his mind went blank in an instant.
That was his deepest fatal weakness.
Once these photos fell into the hands of the media or Homelander, he would be completely finished.
"You... what do you want? How much money do you want? Name your price!"
A-Train shouted, his voice thick with tears.
He reached into his pocket to pull out his bank card, but his hands were shaking so hard the card fell onto the wheelchair footrest.
Lin Yuan shook his head.
"I told you, I'm not interested in your damn money, Reggie."
He leaned in a little, the massive physical pressure of a Viltrumite spreading silently.
The air in the office seemed to thicken in an instant, pressing down on A-Train's chest until he couldn't breathe.
"I want you to be my dog. Be my eyes inside The Seven, understand?"
Lin Yuan's voice was as low as an unalterable death sentence.
A-Train's eyes widened, filled with struggle and terror.
"Be your mole? No... that's impossible! If John finds out, he'll burn me to ash with his heat vision!"
"You're afraid he'll burn you, but aren't you afraid I'll send these photos to him right now, hmm?"
Lin Yuan tugged at his collar, revealing a sneer of unbridled arrogance.
"Do you think John's red light is faster, or is the speed at which I send these photos out faster?"
These words were as blunt as a boulder, smashing directly into A-Train's forehead.
He knew Homelander's personality too well.
Once he found out someone in The Seven was smuggling compound v, or even playing tricks behind his back, the outcome would be absolutely devastating.
"No... don't do this, Senior The Deep, I beg you..."
A-Train finally broke down.
Snot mixed with tears flowed into his mouth, salty and damp, and he didn't even dare to wipe it away.
He struggled to get off the wheelchair, attempting to kneel before Lin Yuan.
"Clang!"
Because the cast on his leg was too heavy, most of his body slid directly onto the carpet; he looked absolutely pathetic.
He gripped the expensive wool carpet with both hands, slamming his head hard against the floor.
It made a dull "thud-thud" sound.
"I'll listen! I'll be your dog! Please, let me and Charlotte go!"
A small patch of the carpet was soaked by his sweat and snot, giving off a sour, foul smell.
Lin Yuan looked down at him from above.
Watching this once arrogant and domineering speedster, now lying at his feet like a drowned dog.
There wasn't a shred of pity in his heart.
Only the pleasure of absolute control.
"Alright then, Reggie. Since you've agreed to be a dog, lift your head up."
Lin Yuan tapped the desk with his hand, sending ripples through the celadon teacup.
A-Train tremblingly lifted his head, his face covered in wool fibers from the carpet; it was ridiculously comical.
"As long as you listen to me, not only can I ensure these photos rot in this drawer, but I can also help you keep your position in The Seven, got it?"
Lin Yuan picked up a photo with his right hand.
He patted A-Train's swollen cheek with it.
"In fact, once your leg heals, I can even guide you to obtain more pure compound v stock."
Upon hearing the words "pure stock," A-Train's dull eyes suddenly lit up.
That was his only hope for maintaining his speed, and even for staying alive.
"Really? You can help me get the pure stock?"
His voice was trembling, his eyes filled with fanaticism and fear.
"When I give my word, it's set in stone, you know."
Lin Yuan retrieved the photo and tossed it into the shredder next to him.
"Chirr, chirr—"
The machine emitted a dull grinding sound, and those photos, representing A-Train's incriminating evidence, turned into shredded paper in an instant.
"But the condition is, if John or Madelyn make any move, I want to be the first to know, understand?"
Lin Yuan's voice dropped, carrying a chill.
A-Train nodded frantically on the floor, bruising his forehead significantly.
"I understand! I understand! Whatever medicine John takes every day, whoever he meets, I will report it all to you!"
"Alright, Reggie, then I suppose we have an agreement."
Lin Yuan picked up the teacup again, blew away the foam on the surface, and took a slow, deliberate sip.
"Now, wipe that stupid look off your face and get back in your wheelchair."
A-Train trembled, using all his strength.
Gripping the edge of the desk with both hands, he scrambled back onto the wheelchair.
Because his leg was so heavy, a piercing, agonizing pain shot through his broken bone again.
The pain made him gasp for air, yet he didn't dare to make a sound.
Lin Yuan watched this Reggie, now as docile as a dog, and waved his hand with satisfaction.
"Go back to your hospital room and lie down. If Ashleyasks, just say I was concerned about your injuries, you know."
A-Train tremblingly pressed the electric button on the wheelchair.
"Creak—"
The wheelchair slid across the wooden floor, leaving a faint black mark, and slowly glided toward the door.
He pushed open the solid copper doors, head lowered, not even daring to glance at the bodyguards at the door.
The doors slammed shut behind him with a "clang."
Thus, the fastest superhero in The Seven had completely become the sharpest mole Lin Yuan had planted in the building; what a bargain.
"Boss, A-Train, that lackey, is handled. Who's next, you know?"
Timothy's slimy, watery voice sounded in the earpiece at the right moment.
"No rush, Timothy. Let Reggie have a few more nightmares in the hospital, lest his bones get itchy again, you know."
Lin Yuan walked to the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows of the office.
A drizzle had started outside, and thick fog blanketed the sky, shrouding the entire New York City in gray and white.
"Boss, Assistant Hughie has arrived at the bottom of the building. He's wearing a designer suit bought by Ezekiel, he looks so dapper!"
Timothy reported the new development.
"Dapper? I didn't expect that little guy to actually look the part after changing his clothes, you know."
Lin Yuan tugged at his collar, feeling a bit of an itch on the back of his neck from a stray thread.
He scratched it with his finger, scraped off a bit of dried blood scab, and flicked it into a nearby flowerpot.
"Go tell Ashley to bring him upstairs to report, and arrange a separate office for him while you're at it."
"Understood, Boss. I've already sent the order to Ashley, you know!"
Timothy swam rapidly in the tank, stirring up large white splashes.
Lin Yuan looked at the misty rain outside.
In his mind, the system's notification sound rang out crisply once more.
"Ding."
[Successfully manipulated major plot supporting character: A-Train.]
[Current main storyline has deviated significantly, deviation rate has reached thirty percent.]
[Obtained massive evolution points: 15,000 points.]
This move not only completely dismantled the alliance between A-Train and Madelyn, but also stuck a thorn in the very core of The Seven, nice.
He turned around, looking at the empty leather chair, his eyes filled with unbridled, cold, and arrogant laughter.
The show in this building is only just starting to get good.
Lin Yuan tugged at the back collar of his suit.
"Get lost, Reggie. Remember, as long as I don't tell you to bark, you keep that mouth of yours shut tight."
Chapter 24: Kimiko Appears, The Beast in the Basement
The low, harsh sound of A-Train's electric wheelchair finally faded away at the end of the corridor.
Lin Yuan stood up from behind his desk and struck a match.
The orange flame danced in the air, instantly burning the tattered scraps of paper on the desk into black ash.
He puffed out his cheeks and blew gently, scattering the black paper ash in a swirl around the room.
"Whoosh—"
A sudden, violent splashing sound erupted from the giant fish tank, sending seawater spraying everywhere.
Timothy waved its tentacles frantically behind the coral rock, spitting out big white bubbles at the surface.
"Boss! Boss! The crabs in the sea just sent over some hot new intel, for real!"
Its mental fluctuation was like a small pebble, hitting the depths of Lin Yuan's mind with a plop.
Lin Yuan tilted his head in disgust and wiped the match soot from his palm with a tissue.
"Spit it out, I have to go meet that flannel-shirt kid, Hughie, in a bit."
He walked over and tapped his fingers lightly against the blast-proof glass.
"The Chaozhou Gang over at Berth 12 messed up while smuggling compound v, ain't that something!"
Timothy pressed its eight tentacles against the glass, its eyeballs rolling around like two glass marbles.
"They accidentally lost a 'girl from the East' test subject who is dangerous beyond belief, for real."
"I heard that girl bit through the necks of two sailors in the cargo hold; she's just like a beast!"
Lin Yuan's eyes flickered.
The images from the original work pieced themselves together in his mind instantly.
Kimiko.
The Japanese girl with beast-like combat power and extraordinary regenerative abilities.
To think this girl was brought to New York Harbor by these smugglers at this point in time.
"Where is the girl now?"
Lin Yuan spoke through the mental link, his voice dropping low through the glass.
"She's in Basement 3 of the abandoned container terminal; the Chaozhou Gang guys are trying to catch her with high-voltage stun guns."
"Alright, Timothy, watch the place, I'll be back in a flash."
Lin Yuan turned around, his Gravity Field fully activated in an instant.
He took a deep breath, feeling his lungs fill with the dry, cold air of the tower.
His figure flickered.
A dull sonic boom erupted in the air, and he vanished from the office instantly.
New York Harbor, the abandoned container terminal.
It had been abandoned for years; the air was filled with the stench of seawater and the moldy smell of rotting kelp.
Rusted red metal containers were piled chaotically on the muddy ground, which was covered in small puddles of rainwater.
Lin Yuan's figure appeared silently atop a rusted container, without making a single sound.
He panted heavily, the newly strengthened energy in his chest surging everywhere.
His [Super Hearing] quickly locked onto the entrance of a semi-collapsed basement not far away.
"Zzzzt— Zzzzt—"
It was the crisp sound of blue arcs from high-voltage stun guns discharging.
"Fuck! Why is this crazy woman still scratching! Use the net to trap her!"
A string of vulgar cursing came from the basement, accompanied by the sound of heavy rubber boots dragging in the mud.
Like a weightless night owl, Lin Yuan slid silently down from the top of the container.
He walked with long, fast strides down the dark, damp stairs into the basement.
The basement was pitch black, with dirty yellow water seeping from the corners and leftover fast-food boxes scattered on the ground.
Behind a rotting iron door covered in green mold.
Kimiko was curled up in a cold, damp corner.
Her tattered dress was covered in black mud, filthy beyond recognition.
Her slightly gaunt face was smeared with blood, and her crimson eyes stared at the three burly men in front of her.
In those eyes, there was no trace of human emotion.
Only beast-like vigilance and a predatory hostility.
Her small hands pressed against the water-logged ground, her black fingernails digging deep into the mud, drawing blood.
Three gang thugs in worn-out raincoats, holding high-voltage stun guns, surrounded her trepidatiously.
"Damn it, this crazy bitch took two shots, and she's acting like nothing happened, it's freaky!"
A thug with a scar on his face wiped the sweat from his forehead, his breath reeking of overnight garlic.
"Stop yapping! This is high-end merchandise wanted by the Vought Tower higher-ups; if she loses even a single hair, we'll all be fish food!"
Another fat guy roared, the stun gun in his hand emitting a glaring, bright blue light.
"Do it! Hit her again! Knock this beast out and take her, alright!"
The scar-faced man scrambled to pull the switch on the stun gun.
Kimiko let out a low, beastly growl of "Roar— Roar—" from her throat, her body tensing like a leopard ready to pounce.
She was going to fight these people to the death.
Even if her body was charred by high-voltage electricity, she would never learn to kneel.
"Zzzzt."
The stun gun's metal prongs, trailing blue arcs, were about to shoot into Kimiko's chest.
Within that ten-thousandth of a second.
Lin Yuan's tall, black figure appeared behind the two thugs without a sound.
His movements were too fast.
So fast that in this narrow, dark basement, he didn't even stir a breeze.
"Who—"
The scar-faced man felt a chill on the back of his neck and instinctively wanted to turn around.
Lin Yuan was expressionless.
He raised both hands, fingers pressed together, and flicked lightly against their cervical vertebrae.
"Snap!"
Two overlapping crisp sounds, as clear as breaking a dry, dead branch.
The necks of the two thugs snapped instantly into a grotesque angle.
Before they could even grunt, the two hulking bodies collapsed limply into the black mud.
The stun gun fell into a puddle, let out a few faint "zzzzt" sounds, and died completely.
The last skinny guy, still holding a wire net, was so scared he pissed his pants on the spot, the yellow liquid dripping down his pant leg.
He gaped, like a dead fish deprived of oxygen, staring fixedly at the masked Lin Yuan.
"You... you are The Deep..."
His teeth chattered, and he fell to his knees in the mud with a thud.
Lin Yuan couldn't even be bothered to look at him.
He raised his leg and kicked him in the temple.
"Bang."
The skinny guy slid down the wall, his eyes rolling back, and he stopped moving completely.
The basement returned to a deathly silence.
Only the "drip, drip" of dirty water from the corner pipes hitting a broken plastic basin remained.
Lin Yuan turned around and slowly took off his tactical leather gloves, which were stained with a bit of black ash.
He looked down at Kimiko, who was huddled in the corner.
The divinity on Kimiko hadn't faded in the slightest.
She bared her teeth, revealing blood-stained yellow teeth, and let out a threatening hiss from her throat.
"You're quite fierce, little kitty."
Lin Yuan tugged at his collar, smiling with a touch of arrogance.
He walked over, his boots splashing in the mud with a sticky pat-pat sound.
"Alright, now it's quiet."
Lin Yuan pointed to the three gang corpses on the ground that hadn't cooled yet.
"You don't have to glare at me like that; I'm not like these three sauerkraut-eating idiots on the ground, for real."
He leaned in a little closer, his massive Viltrumite mental pressure acting like a thick wall, holding back Kimiko's hostility.
"I know what you're thinking; you hate Vought, you hate those white-coats who gave you the injections."
"And me? I just happen to want to snap the necks of all those white-coated guys and feed them to the fish, ain't that right?"
Lin Yuan reached into his system space, pulled out a small box of antibiotics and a bag of warm bread, and tossed them at her feet.
The bread bag was still stained with a bit of black carbon ash from Lin Yuan's fingertips.
Kimiko looked at the bag of bread, which emitted a wheaty aroma, a flash of complex confusion in her eyes.
She had been locked in this dark, sunless container for three months, and apart from spoiled, cold leftovers, she had never eaten anything decent.
But her beastly instinct still made her afraid to step forward.
"Don't eat it then, starve to death, saves me the trouble, for real."
Lin Yuan shrugged and turned around slowly.
"Boss, there's the sound of helicopters approaching; it's the alarm from Vought Tower, for real!"
Timothy's voice was a bit anxious.
"Panic my ass. Let them come; I'll crush every one that shows up, alright."
Lin Yuan snorted coldly without turning his head.
He felt his new battle body frantically absorbing the surrounding dark energy in this ionized, foul-smelling environment.
"Girl, I don't have time to play hide-and-seek with you in this basement."
He walked up the steps, stepping through the mud, his black trench coat swaying slightly in the cold wind.
"If you want to live, follow me."
"If you don't, when those guys in black suits arrive in a bit, you'll be cut into a thousand pieces and sent to the lab; that'd be pathetic."
Lin Yuan finished speaking, his boots making crisp, decisive sounds on the concrete steps.
In the darkness behind him.
Kimiko stared at his tall, cold, rigid back.
Then she looked at the bread on the ground, radiating the smell of wheat.
"Roar—"
She let out a low whimper from her throat.
Finally, she reached out her small, dirty hand, the fingernails filled with black blood.
She grabbed the bread from the ground and stuffed it into her mouth, choking until her eyes rolled back.
"For real, eating like a starving ghost; swallow slowly."
Lin Yuan stopped, turned around on the steps, his eyes cold.
"I don't have any extra tap water to help you wash it down."
Kimiko chewed greedily while crawling up from the ground, following him from half a meter behind, trembling like an injured cat.
Her eyes still held wild defensiveness, but that pair of crimson eyes finally held a hint of complex emotion when looking at Lin Yuan's back.
"Alright, this deal is really worth it."
Lin Yuan muttered to Timothy in his heart.
"Boss, you're amazing! This beast actually listens to you like a dog, for real!"
Timothy's tentacles were flapping frantically in the water.
"She's not a dog; she's the sharpest blade under my command, ain't that right."
Lin Yuan pulled up his mask and stepped out of the basement, the night wind blowing in his face and instantly cooling the fine sweat on his forehead.
The sea fog outside was getting thicker, and the helicopter searchlights were swinging around in the sky like headless flies.
But under the shielding of the Viltrumite Gravity Field, they couldn't even touch a single hair on Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan turned around.
Looking at the girl following in the shadows, who was cautious but following step-by-step, he grinned.
The smile was hidden beneath his mask, cold and icy.
"Let's go, girl, I'm taking you to meet your future 'colleagues'."
"Starting tomorrow, this city of New York is going to get lively, alright."
Chapter 25: Rescuing Kimiko, Purging the Drug Toxins
The two burly men collapsed limply to the ground, and only Kimiko's heavy panting remained in the basement. She stared fixedly at Lin Yuan, her sharp nails digging deep into the concrete floor.
The air was thick with the smell of low-grade motor oil, moldy red bricks, and that puddle of warm, fresh blood.
Only Kimiko's heavy panting remained in the basement; she stared fixedly at Lin Yuan with a wary gaze.
She lay on the muddy ground, her sharp nails digging deep into the hard concrete, gouging out several white marks.
The spaces under her nails were packed with black, dried blood and grit, looking incredibly filthy.
Lin Yuan did not make a move; instead, he leisurely took off the black mask covering his mouth.
Revealing a handsome, angular face smudged with a bit of exhaust dust.
"Don't be nervous, girl. I didn't come here to fight today, did I?"
Lin Yuan brushed the lime dust off his hands and squatted nonchalantly on a pile of rubble two meters away from her.
A gentle mental field, unique to a Viltrumite, began to radiate from his body.
This field was light and airy, like a layer of invisible warm water, slowly rippling through the narrow basement.
Kimiko's arched back stiffened slightly for a moment, and her tensed muscles instinctively relaxed a little.
She twitched her damp nose, as if smelling the scent on Lin Yuan.
There was no bloody killing intent, only a sense of security as steady as a mountain.
"Those blue fluids in your body are fighting against your skeleton, aren't they? Really something."
Lin Yuan looked with some pity at her bloodshot, scarlet eyes.
He knew that when compound v forcibly modified a mortal's body, it caused agonizing physical pain.
It felt as if ten thousand ants were digging into her brain with iron hooks, a pain so intense it made one want to smash their head against a wall.
Lin Yuan flipped his wrist and silently chanted in his mind: "System, redeem."
"Hum—"
A thumb-sized vial of a special reagent, emitting a faint, pale blue fluorescence, appeared out of thin air in his palm.
This liquid was a [Gene Stabilizer] he had exchanged for 500 evolution points in the system shop.
It was specifically used to calm and clear the gene rejection and neurotoxins caused by compound v.
"Take it and drink this."
Lin Yuan casually slid the small plastic vial across the muddy ground; it bumped against the edge of her fingernails and stopped.
"Drink it, and that iron drill in your skull will stop. There you go."
Lin Yuan's voice was low, carrying an irresistible magic.
"Boss, be careful! That girl almost tore the gangster's leather gloves to shreds earlier. Really something!"
Timothy's sticky, watery voice reminded him anxiously through the earpiece.
"Her nails can't even scratch my pant leg. What's there to be afraid of?"
Lin Yuan replied in his mind, his expression leisurely.
Kimiko stared intently at the small vial on the ground, her throat still emitting beast-like "Grrr—grrr—" growls.
But the faint scent of mint radiating from the potion was tempting her near-broken nerves.
She was in too much pain.
The agonizing pain in her brain made her want to smash her own skull open every second.
She tentatively reached out with her blood-stained right hand and grabbed the vial from the ground.
"Don't be afraid, girl. If I really wanted to hurt you, I could crush you into pulp with one finger. No need to poison you. Really."
Lin Yuan crossed his arms over his chest, leaned against the dirty brick wall, and tilted his chin at her.
Kimiko hesitated for a moment.
Finally, she opened her mouth and used her two rows of yellowed teeth to snap the plastic cap off with a click.
She swallowed the whole thing, cap fragments and potion alike, in one gulp.
"Gulp, gulp."
The potion, with a cool, minty, salty taste, flowed down her dry, inflamed throat and into her stomach.
The effect was instantaneous.
A burst of cool energy instantly surged through her blood vessels and into her violent, out-of-control nerves.
Her body, which had been convulsing violently, slowly went limp, and her arched back also calmed down.
The blue blood vessels that had been darting around under her skin dissipated rapidly like a receding tide.
The agonizing pain in her brain, caused by the long-standing rejection reaction, vanished without a trace in that instant.
The blood-red hue in Kimiko's eyes, representing loss of control and madness, gradually faded away, revealing a pair of clear eyes.
She gasped for air, her chest heaving.
But this time, it was a relaxed and refreshing breath.
She looked blankly at her hands; the dried blood was still there, but the trembling had stopped.
"How do you feel? It's not noisy in your head anymore, is it? There you go."
Lin Yuan brushed the dust off his suit and stood up from the pile of rubble.
Kimiko looked up.
Looking at this tall, mysterious, and even somewhat overbearing man.
On her gaunt face, the defensiveness and wildness finally began to melt away.
In their place was a look that was almost docile, even carrying a hint of longing for protection.
She had wandered in this cold New York for too long; everyone who looked at her saw a monster that could be sliced up at any moment.
Only this man before her had given her bread and personally calmed the hell within her body.
Trembling, she slowly crawled half a step forward from the muddy ground.
Stretching out that small, dirty hand covered in tiny wounds.
Gently.
She grabbed the hem of Lin Yuan's suit pants, a corner that represented the Vought upper management.
The fabric was smooth, stiff, and still carried the man's body heat.
"Boss! She's softened up! Great White Shark says this kitten is now wagging its tail for you. Really something!"
Timothy shouted excitedly in the earpiece.
"She's not wagging her tail, Timothy; she's just found her only place to belong."
Lin Yuan lowered his head.
Looking at this girl who was clutching his clothes, her face dirty and messy but her eyes clear.
He grinned.
His smile was somewhat playful, and also somewhat cold.
"Alright, kitten, you're holding on quite tight."
He bent down and, using his black-gloved hand, roughly ruffled Kimiko's messy, dirty hair.
He picked out two straw fragments from her hair and threw them aside.
"Come back to the manor with me."
"There are clean clothes there, and endless raw beef. Isn't that right?"
Although Kimiko couldn't speak, she understood and nodded heavily at Lin Yuan.
"Boss, the helicopter outside has flown away. They think we've already slipped out from the port. Really something!"
Timothy reported the situation outside.
"Let's go, girl, it's time for us to go back and get some sleep."
Lin Yuan wrapped one arm around Kimiko's gaunt shoulders, half-lifting her to his side.
The Gravity Field silently expanded around them, enveloping their figures.
"Whoosh—"
Lin Yuan pushed off with his feet, turning into a silent black shadow once again, and shot straight out of the basement.
The cold wind whistled at high altitude.
Kimiko nervously pressed her face tightly against Lin Yuan's rock-hard chest.
The scent of ionized rubber and charred wood on the man made her feel unprecedentedly secure.
"Boss, you've recruited another powerful bodyguard tonight. Our manor is going to be lively now. Really something!"
Timothy's smug voice echoed in the earpiece.
"Lively? No, Timothy, this is just the beginning."
Lin Yuan traveled through the wind; the New Yorkbuildings in the night looked like miniature building blocks beneath his feet.
"Under my command, I need more and more obedient mad dogs like this. Isn't that right?"
"Only then, when John and Madelyn come to their senses, will this New York City belong to me. There you go."
Lin Yuan stopped in mid-air, looking down at the towering Vought Tower beneath his feet.
The windows of the building shone with a golden light.
But inside, it was just a group of parasites that could be crushed to death at any moment.
"Boss, Great White Shark says they want to eat live shrimp again tomorrow. They say tonight's workload was too much. Really something!"
"Alright, tell them to keep their mouths shut tight. Don't leave any broken bones on the beach. It's pathetic."
Lin Yuan landed silently on the balcony of his large office.
He unlocked the deadbolt, stepped inside nimbly, and casually tossed the dirt-stained tactical leather gloves onto the table.
The faint smell of alcohol left behind by Queen Maeve still lingered in the room; it was quite unpleasant.
He placed Kimiko on the wool carpet and patted her shoulder.
"Girl, go to the bathroom and wash the mud off your face. It's pathetic."
Kimiko looked at her dirty hands, then at the high-end sink, feeling a bit uneasy.
But meeting Lin Yuan's unquestionable gaze, she obediently moved into the washroom.
"Splash—"
The sound of running water echoed from inside.
Lin Yuan poured a glass of ice water and took a sip; the taste of cheap hair gel in his throat was finally washed away.
In his mind, the crisp sound of the system's gold coins arriving rang out again.
"Ding."
[Successfully rescued and subdued a key plot supporting character: Kimiko.]
[Current main plot deviation has increased significantly.]
[Obtained a huge amount of evolution points: 15,000 points.]
Hearing this sound, the smile on the corners of Lin Yuan's mouth deepened.
"Really something, Kimiko has become my dark guard. This deal is really worth it."
He threw the empty glass onto the mahogany desk, making a heavy, muffled sound.
Tomorrow.
He was going to take this girl to meet that plaid-shirt assistant.
"Alright, kitten, you're holding on quite tight. Come back to the manor with me; there are clean clothes there, and endless raw beef. Really something."