The Black Snake Gang members looked at each other, their eyes filled with fear and hesitation. They knew the consequences of betraying their "supplier".
"You won't tell me?" Lu Cheneng took a step forward. His mithril arm lifted slightly, the mercury luster of the magic blade flowing. The cold murderous intent spread like a substance, oppressing him so much that he couldn't breathe.
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" Scarface's mental defenses collapsed instantly. He fell to his knees with a thud, shouting incoherently, "It's... it's 'Grey Rat'! A middleman named 'Grey Rat'! Every delivery is... in the 'rotten sewer' hub on the edge of the Quiet Zone! The abandoned Pumping Station 13! The time... the time is irregular! But... but before every delivery, 'Grey Rat' would use fluorescent paint to draw... a twisted rat tail pattern on the billboard in the 'garbage mountain' of the old city!"
"Gray rat... twisted rat tail..." Lu Cheneng silently memorized it. He glanced at the others: "Anyone else know? Add more."
Under the threat of death, several more people trembled and added some details: when delivering the goods, "Grey Rat" always wore a mask and had a hoarse voice; the goods were packed in lead boxes and were very heavy; after receiving the goods, the leaders of the gang who had injected the most would become extremely violent and bloodthirsty, even beating their own people...
"Get lost." Lu Cheneng got the information he wanted. He stopped looking at the frightened minions and spat out a word coldly.
As if they had received a pardon, the members of the Black Snake Gang rolled and crawled, dropped their weapons, and rushed down the broken bridge like stray dogs, disappearing into the dark ruins, not even bothering to clean up Marcus's body.
On the broken bridge, Lu Cheneng was the only one left, along with the body, chopped in two and still oozing blood. The cold night wind ruffled his hair, but it couldn't dispel the rich, bloody scent of his mithril arm and magic blade. He slowly crouched down, his mithril fingers unconcerned with the filth, groping the inside of Marcus's thick, blood-stained leather armor, which had been split open.
His fingertips touched something hard. With a firm tug, he pulled out a palm-sized, flat metal box wrapped in a waterproof tarpaulin. The box felt cold and heavy, its surface devoid of any markings. Only a tiny symbol, resembling circuit board lines, was engraved in an inconspicuous depression on its edge. The shape of that symbol bore a striking resemblance to the core logo of the chaebol's "Beehive" system.
Lu Chen's pupils suddenly constricted! A chaebol?! Marcus was indeed backed by a chaebol! Not only were they providing weapons, but they were also supplying the Black Snake Gang with a "drug" that could cause insane behavior and was suspected to be laced with "Ark" ingredients! What was their purpose? To create chaos? To deplete the fortress? Or... to conduct some kind of undisclosed experiment on living beings?
He stood up, clutching the cold metal box tightly in his mithril hand. The sharp edges of the box pricked his palm, but they were nothing compared to the bone-chilling chill surging through his heart. The power struggle had long since transcended the struggle for territory and resources, plunging into a darker, bloodier abyss.
He took one last look at Marcus's face, his eyes still open in death, then turned. His Mithril arm dragged the magic blade, the tip of the blade carving a thin, bloody mark on the bridge. He walked step by step back toward the fortress. His back was stretched out in the cold moonlight, appearing particularly lonely and heavy.
Lighthouse Fortress, Core Medical Area, Bioenergy Laboratory.
It was quieter here than in the regular medical area. The air was filled with disinfectant, ozone, and the faint hum of some high-frequency energy instrument. A massive holographic projection took up half the wall, scrolling across it a dazzling array of data streams and complex molecular structure models.
Wen Shifei sat at a massive operating table, her hands still wrapped in thick bandages that emitted faint healing light waves. Her face was pale, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead. Every keystroke on the virtual keyboard seemed labored, her fingertips trembling slightly with pain. The bandages severely limited her precision, and the aftereffects of mental exhaustion also made it difficult for her to maintain concentration for extended periods. On the screen, the progress bar for cracking Lu Qingyi's internal control chip crawled at a snail's pace, with occasional red error warnings popping up.
"Damn it..." she cursed softly, slamming her fist on the counter in anger, shaking the cup next to it slightly. The frustration and immense pressure were like a heavy yoke, making her almost breathless.
The laboratory door slid open silently. Lu Cheneng walked in, still carrying the chill of the night air and a faint scent of blood. Under the cold, white light of the laboratory, the mithril arm radiated an even colder, inhuman glow, instantly drawing Wen Shifei's attention and causing her heart to tighten slightly.
"How is it?" Lu Chensheng's voice was low and hoarse, and his eyes swept across the slow progress bar on the screen and Wen Shifei's tired face.
Wen Shifei smiled bitterly and shook her head, pointing to her bandaged hands. "My hands aren't working, and my spirit can't keep up. The chip's protection... is more complicated than expected. The risk of cracking it by force is too great, I don't dare to take the risk." Her eyes fell on Lu Chen'en's tightly clenched mithril left hand. "You... over there?"
Lu Chen said nothing, simply placing the cold metal box he had found on Marcus's body on the operating table. A mithril finger tapped the tiny "beehive" symbol of the chaebol on the edge of the box.
Wen Shifei's pupils contracted instantly! "The chaebol's encryption box?!"
Lu Cheneng nodded and succinctly recounted everything that had happened at the "Broken Bridge" and the information he had forced out of the Black Snake Gang's minions.
"Gray rat... twisted rat tail... rotten sewer pump station No. 13..." Wen Shifei muttered repeatedly, a sharp light flashing in his eyes, "There's really something wrong with those injections from the Black Snake Gang! The chaebol is using them as experimental subjects and troublemakers!"
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