In the corner of the abandoned warehouse, the air was exceptionally thin from the previous fierce battle and escape. The faint vibration on Lu Chen's wrist communicator and the three words "Lu Qingyi" displayed on the screen were like a stone dropped into a stagnant pond, instantly shattering the brief peace between the two.

"Lu Qingyi...your sister?" Wen Shifei's voice was tinged with a hint of disbelief and caution. She subconsciously took a half step back, putting some distance between herself and Lu Chenhang. To her, the surname "Lu" itself represented original sin. Even though Lu Chenhang now stood on her side, the things flowing in his blood were still an insurmountable obstacle to her flames of revenge.

Lu Chensheng's expression was unusually complex. Lu Qingyi, his half-sister and another "treasure" of the Tianshu Group, had also been implanted with an emotion suppression chip, sculpted from childhood into a delicate puppet serving the interests of the chaebol. In his memory, Lu Qingyi was always quiet and submissive, like a carefully pruned greenhouse flower, beautiful but soulless. Under the chip's suppression, their interactions were limited to routine greetings and formalized family matters.

However, at this moment, this "doll" sent him an emergency code through the most secret internal encrypted channel. This meant that she was in great trouble, and she chose to seek help from him - a brother who had just been defined as a "traitor" and "out of control" by the consortium.

"She...why would she contact you? Could this be a trap?" Wen Shifei's voice pulled Lu Cheneng out of his chaotic thoughts. Her eyes were sharp and full of suspicion.

Lu Cheneng pursed his lips tightly, not answering immediately. His mind raced. The possibility of a trap was real; the Tianshu Consortium would resort to any means to capture him. But Lu Qingyi… he knew her. Even under the control of the chip, she lacked the cunning and ruthlessness to orchestrate a conspiracy. Furthermore, this emergency code was a last resort communication method used only by core members of the Lu family in dire circumstances. Knowing it to very few, the possibility of it being deciphered and exploited by outsiders was minimal.

"This code... is difficult for an outsider to forge," Lu Cheneng whispered, his fingertips hesitantly touching the communicator screen. New emotions had given him a completely different sense of the word "blood relative." An instinctive worry and concern, like an invisible thread, entwined his heart.

"Even if it's true, she's still from the Lu family." Wen Shifei's tone was icy. "No one in the Lu family is trustworthy. Maybe she was just forced to act as bait."

Lu Chensheng raised his head, observing the undisguised wariness and... a hint of hurt in Wen Shifei's eyes. He understood her position and her hatred. But he also couldn't ignore the danger his sister might be in.

"I need to know what she wants to say." Lu Cheneng made a decision. He took a deep breath and pressed a hidden button on the communicator, selecting the one-way information receiving mode and turning on the highest level of anti-tracking and signal blocking. He couldn't reply directly, as that would immediately expose their location.

The communicator screen flickered a few times, and a highly encrypted audio message began to be decoded and played. Due to signal interference and the high level of encryption, the sound was intermittent and mixed with the harsh sound of electricity, but Lu Qingyi's unique, slightly timid voice was still clearly audible:

"Brother...save me...Father's...he's gone mad...'Evolution'...the 'Evolution' project...isn't about optimization...it's about...control...more thorough control..."

The sound of electricity suddenly increased, drowning out her voice.

"Chips... the new batch of chips... there's a problem... I saw... those 'failed products'... they're terrible... they'll turn everyone into..."

The sound was interrupted again and became intermittent.

"...Laboratory...17th floor underground...'Zero'...They're going to activate 'Zero'...Stop him...Brother...I'm so scared..."

The last few words were uttered with an obvious tone of crying and extreme fear. Then, the communication was completely cut off, leaving only a dazzling snowflake on the screen.

The warehouse fell into dead silence.

Lu Chensheng's face turned ashen, and the knuckles of his hand holding the communicator turned white from the force.

Although Lu Qingyi's secret words were broken, they revealed a chilling message.

Is his father crazy? Project Evolution? More radical control? A faulty chip? A failed product? Seventeen floors underground? Zero?

Every word was like a hammer, hammering down on his heart. He had always believed that the emotion suppression chip was the ultimate violation of human nature by the chaebol, but now it seemed that might just be the beginning. His father, Lu Qiming, the helmsman of the Tianshu Group, seemed to be pursuing something even more insane and dangerous.

Lu Qingyi apparently accidentally touched upon the core of this plan and was therefore in danger.

"'Zero'..." Wen Shifei suddenly spoke, her voice trembling slightly, and her face turned unusually pale. "I seem to have seen sporadic records of this code name in some destroyed encrypted files."

Lu Cheneng looked at her suddenly: "What do you know?"

Wen Shifei's eyes were a little dazed, as if she was trying to recall something. "It was discovered by chance when my brother was still alive and we were working together to crack some of the early internal databases of the Tianshu Consortium. The information was very vague, only mentioning that 'Zero' was Tianshu Biotechnology's earliest and most... radical genetically modified experiment. Because it was too unstable and dangerous, the project was sealed. Legend has it... 'Zero' has the ability to directly rewrite and control other genetically optimized bodies, and even... emotion suppression chips."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!