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“Ji Ji Ji Ji!!!”
The sharp sound, like a weapon scraping against something, was particularly jarring in the quiet room, as if facing an extremely threatening enemy. The mutated hamster's wary little eyes never left Qi Yang for a moment.
With a nearly imperceptible trembling, the little creature shook continuously. It seemed to want to move forward but it felt as if a massive, heavy mountain was pressing down on it and preventing any kind of move he made.
“Hmm?”
The previously casual and relaxed aura around Qi Yang suddenly shifted.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and scrutinized the strange little black ball in front of him. A faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood wafted from him, causing the hamster's little nose to twitch as it sniffed twice.
Qi Yang took a gentle step forward and the hamster immediately scurried backward in fright. He hides behind Jing Xia's heels and barely manages to shield its chubby body. However, in less than a moment, it scrambled up Jing Xia's pants to directly burrow into his pocket.
The little body, entirely made of flesh, curled up in the palm-sized pocket and its weight caused Jing Xia's pocket to sag suddenly.
Jing Xia looked down and saw the plump little creature burying its head down with its small body trembling as if it were afraid of something, using the simplest method to escape.
“What have you been up to lately?” A deep, pleasant voice echoed in the room. It initially carried a hint of a husky, seductive tone, but gradually returned to normal.
Qi Yang had just stepped in front of Jing Xia. He raised his gaze to glance at Ji Chuancheng and said, “After Su Weishang's matter was settled, you all had some leisure time, while I, of course, was busy. I captured quite a few mutated beasts during the enemy attack, along with three A-class corpses and one A-class live specimen. The research institute has been swamped.”
Jing Xia reached out to pet the trembling hamster in his pocket but as soon as his fingers brushed against the little body, he was startled by its shaking. He pondered for a moment in confusion before suddenly realizing.
Taking a deep breath, Jing Xia frowned and asked, “Did you kill a lot of mutated beasts recently?”
Seeing Jing Xia's nostrils flare slightly, Qi Yang paused for a moment, then did not deny it: “Not exactly a lot, just that they didn’t die very cleanly.” The implication was that many of the captured mutants had been subjected to quite a few inhumane methods for research.
With a helpless shrug, Jing Xia lightly huffed, “You scared the hamster.”
Rarely showing such a surprised expression, Qi Yang pointed at himself and exclaimed, “Me?! In the research institute, from A-class to E-class mutants, none have reacted as strongly as this little beast. Besides, I didn’t do anything frightening. I just skinned that live A-class mutant, sliced its flesh, bleed it out and ground…um…”
Jing Xia took a serious step back and pressed his back against the cold table, determined to keep a meter's distance from this crazy man.
The deep, dark gaze of Ji Chuancheng swept over Qi Yang then to Jing Xia and finally landed on the little creature in Jing Xia's pocket that was still trembling. He directly concluded, “After all, it’s a mutated beast. This little mouse is just a bit more sensitive and it caught the strong smell of blood coming from you.”
When he said the word “mouse,” Jing Xia deliberately looked down at the hamster, only to find that it seemed to have no reaction to those words because it was still burying its head and refusing to move.
He couldn’t help but glance sideways at Qi Yang: “Even calling it a ‘mouse’ doesn’t make it come out in anger. It seems you’ve killed quite a few mutated beasts. I can smell that blood scent without even needing its little nose.”
A strange color flashed across Qi Yang's fair and delicate face. He furrowed his brows in thought for a moment then took out a square black box he had been carrying and placed it on the long table, saying, “How could my blood scent be this strong? You’re probably referring to it.”
As he spoke, Qi Yang pressed a code on the silver button and with a “click,” the safe opened. A pungent, rich smell of blood immediately filled the room. Just as Jing Xia frowned, a shadow quickly flew out from the box.
Ji Chuancheng's eyes darkened and with a swift motion, he flicked his hand to unleash a burst of fire that snaked forward like a fiery serpent. It moved so quickly that it soon caught up with the shadow and formed a fire cage less than half a meter long, trapping the creature inside.
“Tsk, saved me a bullet.”
Qi Yang retracted the silver pistol he had already prepared back into his pocket and looked down coldly at the creature trapped in the fire cage and shouted, “Aren’t you coming over yet?” His tone carried a hint of faint killing intent, directed straight at the pitch-black mutated beast.
The latter shivered all over and unexpectedly disregard the fire cage because it still rush through it, even getting several patches of skin scorched in the process, yet still ignoring the excruciating pain, as it hurriedly ran towards Qi Yang to obediently crouch in front of him, too scared to move.
Seeing this, Qi Yang sneered, “Every time you come out, you have to run a lap. Is it fun?”
Whether it was due to the faint killing intent hidden within Qi Yang or not, the black mutated beast lay flat on the ground in fear, seemingly apologizing silently.
Qi Yang glanced at it and the creature quickly jumped back into its box to curl up in the corner while trembling.
Only then did Jing Xia have the chance to look through the wide-open box at the pitch-black mutated beast.
He saw that its right arm seemed to have been severed at the root by something and was just stitched up with surgical thread and covered in black scars from dried blood. What's more horrifying is that the blood was gushing out from its chest, soaking its fur and causing the hairs to stick together.
The numerous wounds all over its body were shocking—burns from fire, corrosive damage from acidic liquids and deep, rotten wounds that smelled foul. Even Jing Xia, who had witnessed mutated beasts gnawing on humans in the most brutal ways, couldn’t help but shudder and felt a chill in his heart.
Of course, there was no sympathy or pity; he simply found the methods used to be unimaginably cruel.
Ji Chuancheng's gaze lingered on the mutated beast for a long time before he silently turned to Qi Yang and asked, “A total of 329 wounds, all done by you?”
Qi Yang lowered his eyes and replied, “321 were made by my own sharp blade and top-notch gun, the other 8 were left by three assistants.” After a pause, he added nonchalantly, “By the way, those three assistants are all dead; it killed them.”
Upon hearing this, Jing Xia looked at Qi Yang in surprise and asked, “You didn’t sedate it or restrict its movements before starting the experiment?”
Qi Yang frowned, “I wouldn’t make such a basic mistake. Although this mutated beast is only C-class, its self-healing ability is quite formidable. I personally removed its heart for an hour and just as I was about to put it back for a complete body, it grew a new, tiny heart.”
Ji Chuancheng's expression suddenly became serious. He said earnestly, “This is even more powerful than Qin Chu's abilities. Have you been studying it for the past few months?”
Qi Yang shook his head, “Of course not. I only started working on it last week. I didn’t expect this thing to resist quite so fiercely that it even killed the three assistants I had in the lab during the first experiment. Fortunately, there was an evolver present, or I probably wouldn’t be able to talk to you now.”
Jing Xia's tone also grew grave, “It’s just a C-class mutant, but it’s this powerful?”
“We were simply unprepared at the time. Clearly, its combat ability isn’t strong and can be easily subdued.” After a pause, Qi Yang continued, “However, it has never given up on escaping and it’s quite unsafe in the hands of other researchers, so I personally kept it close.”
As if recalling something very troubling, a complex expression appeared on Qi Yang's handsome face: “Initially, I used sulfuric acid to corrode most of its left leg and removed its eyes for research before it began to fear me a little. However, its self-healing ability is so formidable that it managed to recover to this extent.”
Upon hearing this, Jing Xia staggered back two steps in shock. He finally realized just how twisted this man in front of him was.
Noticing the fear and slight disdain in Jing Xia's gaze, Qi Yang chuckled at him: “Come on, it almost chewed my hand down to the bone, so I can’t let such a great grudge go unpunished. I’ve never even caught a cold in my life, so for me to be injured to this extent, not dismembering it into a thousand pieces is already quite humane.”
Ji Chuanxheng didn’t show the same shock as Jing Xia because he just merely shot a calm glance at the smiling Qi Yang and coldly remarked, “You didn’t act against it because of its high research value; otherwise, it would have been gone long ago.”
With the lie exposed, Qi Yang didn’t seem particularly embarrassed. He chuckled softly and changed the subject: “Alright, I didn’t come here to talk about this thing. A few days ago, Su Weishang already left the research institute; the plan has been quite successful.”
Only then did Jing Xia remember the main topic of his visit today: “So it was you who asked Professor Lu to call us over?”
“Yeah.” Qi Yang lightly hummed, casting a cold glance at the trembling creature in the box, then reached out to close the heavy box door, saying, “Su Weishang’s recent behavior has truly surprised me but it’s pretty much in line with our expected results.”
“He knows about that rumor.” Ji Chuacheng stated affirmatively.
Qi Yang nodded, helplessly shrugging his shoulders: “That’s right. Although others should have kept their mouths shut, there’s no wall that doesn’t let the wind through; he would find out sooner or later, although it was a bit earlier than I expected.”
What is the one thing that someone like Su Weishang fears the most?
It was to never be able to deceive anyone again.