You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

The war slave, who had been acting like a madman just moments before, suddenly froze! All his frenzied roars and attacks seemed to have been severed by a single blade!

A brief twitch suddenly appeared on his scarred face, and a fleeting look of bewildered pain seemed to flash across his empty eyes. Then, without warning, his massive, powerful body, as strong as a steel machine, crashed backward!
"Boom--!"

His heavy body slammed onto the ring, sending dust flying.

The entire underground boxing ring fell into a deathly silence! You could hear a pin drop! Everyone stared in disbelief at the scene, including Chen Yang, who was panting as he withdrew his fingers from the ring.

Too fast! Too bizarre! Just a moment ago he was a ferocious demon from hell, how could he suddenly collapse? No one saw Chen Yang's ghostly final, fatal move!

In a monitoring room on the second floor, Boss Gao's mouth gaped open, his eyes almost popping out. Then his face turned ashen, and he slumped into a chair, his lips trembling.

"Just who is this 'Old Zhang's' mother...?"

Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds. Until the host announced in a trembling, incredulous voice.

"The winner...the victor...Old...Old Zhang!"

The sound seemed to be forced out of the throat.

Whoosh—! The silence was broken, and the entire arena erupted in an unprecedented, deafening roar! It was a mix of excitement, fervor, shock, and the curses of countless gamblers who had lost everything.

Wang Shengxiong excitedly waved his fist and rushed up to slap Chen Yang's shoulder hard.

"Good! Well done, Lao Zhang! Awesome! Absolutely awesome! Hahaha!"

Chen Yang was breathing heavily, his back soaked with sweat, and the muscles beneath his disguise were trembling slightly.

He forced a slightly tired, barely perceptible smile at Wang Shengxiong and Zhao Cheng, who had stood up, his voice hoarse.

"Boss... Brother Zhao... I have not failed you."

That final strike just now consumed too much power and energy in an instant; almost half of his internal strength was drained! There was even a slight, uncontrollable fluctuation deep within his meridians.

Zhao Cheng gave Chen Yang a deep look, his eyes filled with an indescribable scrutiny and apprehension.

This "Old Zhang's" strength far exceeded his expectations! Even he hadn't fully grasped the meaning of that last move! This person was definitely not an ordinary martial arts figure! But his face remained calm and composed, and he simply nodded slightly.

"Well played. You didn't embarrass Third Brother."

This departure was eerily quiet. No one intercepted them, no one followed or provoked them.

Boss Gao and the people behind him seemed to be stunned by that last scene.

The men Zhao Cheng brought with him continued to guard them, and the group exited through the inconspicuous little door without any hindrance. With the sound of engines starting, several off-road vehicles smoothly drove onto the night road on their way back.

The car was very quiet.

Wang Shengxiong was still immersed in a mixture of excitement and lingering fear, and kept talking incessantly.

"Damn, I've really seen something new today!"
That big black guy is too weird! Old Zhang, your last move was absolutely amazing! If it weren't for you…”

He shivered.

Zhao Cheng sat in the passenger seat, resting with his eyes closed, when he suddenly spoke softly.

"Old Zhang, where did you train your skills before?"

Chen Yang felt a slight chill, knowing that the other party was probing his intentions. He answered in "Old Zhang's" rough voice, with a hint of deliberate nonchalance and reluctance to talk about the past.

"Just messing around. I learned it in a remote, impoverished place on the border. It's all self-taught skills, just a way to survive."

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Brother Zhao; I fought terribly."

"A life-saving skill?"

Zhao Cheng slightly opened his eyes and glanced at the rearview mirror, where he met Chen Yang's lowered but still wary gaze.

"With your skills, you shouldn't be unknown in the underworld."

"That's good, though. With someone like you by Shengxiong's side, Third Brother can rest assured a lot more."

"Uncle Zhao is right, from now on, Lao Zhang is my true brother!"

Wang Shengxiong patted Chen Yang's shoulder forcefully, his eyes burning with passion.

"He's no stranger, Uncle Zhao! Old Zhang absolutely trusts him! I'll tell my third uncle later that we should find a good day and formally become sworn brothers with Old Zhang!"

This is already a very high level of trust, meaning that Chen Yang has basically obtained entry into the inner circle through his connections.

Zhao Cheng gave a noncommittal "hmm," then glanced at Chen Yang's seemingly exhausted face in the rearview mirror. No one could guess what he was thinking.

The cacophony of the bar hit you as soon as you pushed open the door, a stark contrast to the bloodshed and oppressive atmosphere of the underground boxing ring. On the dance floor, men and women swayed in the hazy lighting, while clinking glasses mingled at the bar.

"Come on, Lao Zhang! Let's have a good time today! We have to drink to our hearts' content! We won't leave until we're drunk!"

As soon as he returned to his office, Wang Shengxiong couldn't wait to have his underlings open several bottles of expensive foreign liquor and personally poured them for Chen Yang and Zhao Cheng.

His face was flushed; the gloom of nearly losing his life during the day and the tension and excitement of the underground boxing ring were completely ignited by alcohol and the sense of security he felt at the moment, putting him in an extremely excited state.

Chen Yang pretended to drink heartily, but actually controlled his pace. The strong liquor went down his throat, the spiciness bringing a slight numbness and warmth, which also perfectly masked his body's true exhaustion. The three consecutive battles just now, especially the last one against the gene "war slave," required him to mobilize 40% of his power to precisely control the burst of energy in an instant, and the energy expenditure was far greater than that of continuous fighting.

Zhao Cheng only took a symbolic sip, his demeanor remaining calm and composed.

He watched as Wang Shengxiong put his arm around Chen Yang's shoulder, getting closer and closer as they talked, and a hint of barely perceptible distance or warning seemed to flash deep in his eyes. He put down his wine glass.

"Shengxiong, as long as you're happy, don't let it interfere with your business."

"Don't worry, Uncle Zhao, I know what I'm doing!"

Wang Shengxiong laughed heartily and filled Chen Yang's cup again.

"Old Zhang, if you hadn't risked your life to block that blow for me today, I'd probably be lying in the morgue right now!"
I, Wang Shengxiong, will remember this kindness for the rest of my life! From now on, if I have a bite to eat here, you'll definitely have a bowl too!

"Boss, you flatter me."

Chen Yang raised his glass, his tone humble yet carrying the straightforwardness of a江湖人 (jianghu person, a person of the martial arts world).

"If you take someone's money, you should take the blame for them; that's only right and proper."

He deliberately avoided overemphasizing the gratitude he owed for saving his life.

After several rounds of drinks, the atmosphere became even more "hot".

Wang Shengxiong's tongue swelled up, and he looked at Chen Yang with the eyes of a brother.

"brother!"

He reeked of alcohol and grabbed Chen Yang by the neck.

"What do you think of this thing on my body?"

He raised his arm and, as if to show off, ripped open his collar, revealing a peculiar vest underneath that emitted a dark, black light and had faint, eerie creature patterns flowing through it—genetic armor!
It's finally here! Chen Yang's heart beat a little faster, and his face showed just the right amount of curiosity, awe, and envy.

"Good heavens! Boss, this armor... it's definitely not ordinary! It's so much better than sheet metal, right? After taking that hit... it didn't even leave a mark? It's... it's a treasure!" His rough fingers seemed to subconsciously want to touch it, but then quickly withdrew, behaving like a boorish man who had never seen the world but knew his stuff.

"Hehe, you know your stuff!"

Wang Shengxiong shook his head smugly, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously.

"This is a priceless treasure I got from my third uncle! Do you know what it's made of?"

Chen Yang shook his head cooperatively, his eyes filled with eagerness and confusion.

Wang Shengxiong moved even closer, his breath reeking of alcohol.

"I fucking don't know either, bro!"

He let out a burp, his tone carrying a sense of nonchalance.

"I knew it was high-tech! It's incredibly useful! It can save your life! How did they make it? That's a secret my third uncle was worried about! We just need to use it to do big things! With this thing, plus your skills, Lao Zhang..."

He patted Chen Yang's shoulder hard again.

"From now on, we'll be able to do whatever we want around here, won't we? Hahaha!"

A barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed deep in Chen Yang's eyes.

Wang Shengxiong was indeed unaware of the inside story. He didn't even have a clear understanding of the terrifying secrets behind this "potion" that could modify the human body and the gene armor. He was completely immersed in the joy of gaining power.

On this line of events, the core secret is still held in the hands of his mysterious "Third Uncle," Boss Wang.

"So it's Uncle's treasure! No wonder!"

Chen Yang immediately put on an expression of genuine admiration.

"Boss, you are so lucky!"

"That is!"

Wang Shengxiong grew increasingly smug. The effects of the alcohol finally took hold, and his speech became slurred, consisting of repeated mutterings.

"Good brother... Old Zhang... Let's become sworn brothers... Let's get rich together..."

Zhao Cheng stood up at the opportune moment, his tone calm but unquestionable.

"Alright, Shengxiong, I've delivered the person. You should get some rest too, Lao Zhang."

His gaze shifted to Chen Yang, and that scrutinizing feeling resurfaced.

"You had a tough day."

"Take care, Brother Zhao. You're too kind."

Chen Yang stood up, clasped his hands in farewell, and bowed extremely respectfully.

Zhao Cheng and his men left the bar quietly. The noise seemed to subside as he left.

Wang Shengxiong collapsed completely into the expensive leather sofa and soon began to snore.

"Old Zhang, Xiong Ge... you drank a bit too much today."

One of the underlings looked at Chen Yang with a troubled expression.

Chen Yang stretched his body, which was sore and stiff from the intense battle and forced exertion of his strength, and said in a hoarse voice.

"It's alright, you guys keep an eye on the boss, I'm off work too."

At three in the morning, the city shed its last hustle and bustle, falling into a drowsy silence.

Chen Yang quietly returned to his hotel room.

The curtains were drawn, blocking out the last glimmer of neon light from the edge of the city.

Without turning on the lights, he skillfully checked the several anti-eavesdropping alarm points in the room using the extremely faint light from the window—the invisible wires, the tiny bits of debris stuck in the door crack, the inconspicuous scratches on the bathroom mirror—all of which were intact.

Only after ensuring his safety did he walk over to the inexpensive little desk and sit down.

With a soft click, the simple table lamp on the table lit up with a dim yellow light.

He took out two items one by one from the innermost, carefully concealed compartment of his worn-out travel bag.

A thumb-sized alloy metal tube, extremely hard and cold in material, etched with incomprehensible twisted patterns, contains about 3ml of a strangely bluish-purple, viscous, gel-like liquid—a gene serum.

A palm-sized, black square with a texture like the skin of a strange creature, warm to the touch yet incredibly tough—a "fragment" of the gene armor.

This was a tiny fragment that he deliberately tore off from Wang Shengxiong's ripped vest during the chaos of their escape last night.

Previously busy playing a dual role to complete missions, now is the time that truly belongs to him—or rather, to Chen Yang, an agent of the Special Administration Bureau.

He stared at the two items with a solemn expression, the dim light from the desk lamp making his features appear particularly hard and cold.

Was it a gift from Lina's father, Jack? What appears to be a gift is actually a trap fraught with danger and full of suspicious points.

Wang Shengxiong's secret weapon? A catalyst concerning the core evils of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, involving the blood and tears of countless families.

He brought the metal bottle close to the light. The bluish-purple liquid flowed slightly on the inner wall of the vessel, and deep within it, tiny specks of light seemed to flicker and swirl irregularly, like a miniature galaxy containing some kind of activity, carrying a beautiful yet unsettling sense of unease.

The etched patterns on the bottle seem to attract light at certain angles, forming a kind of ever-changing and bizarre pattern.

This is the root cause of so many families being torn apart and lives lost...

My fingers traced the tiny fragment of the gene armor. The material was very peculiar; it wasn't cold to the touch, but rather had a warm, smooth feel similar to the skin. At the torn edges, an extremely fine layered structure could be seen, with what appeared to be imperceptible silver threads, like a living neural network, embedded at the very core.

The surface of the fragments also has extremely fine biological patterns, which produce an extremely dim, slowly flowing halo under the light.

The biocompatibility of this thing after it integrates with the body is astonishing...

The laboratory analysis report, along with the words "biological encryption lock," "unknown energy interference," and "reverse engineering progress 1%" that Liu Yu had conveyed, floated into his mind.

The technological level of this thing far exceeds the current understanding of mainstream biotechnology.

He gently set down the vial, picked up the fragment of the genetic armor, and examined it closely, his fingers slowly tracing the energy patterns flowing across it. His fingertips could clearly feel an extremely faint, bio-electrical pulse and resistance, as if this "dead object" still retained some kind of biological activity.

Where does this technology's power originate? What kind of behemoth is behind it? What role does Jack's company play in all of this? The secret behind Lina...

The dim light cast a frozen and solitary silhouette of Chen Yang against the wall, with only the faint pulsation emanating from the fragment of gene armor beneath his fingertips, like a sleepless heart whispering in the silence.

The pulsation carried a strange bio-electric current sensation, and beneath the warm yet tough material, fine silver threads, like a living neural network, appeared and disappeared in the refraction of light.

Instead of putting down the fragment, he took out a small roll of cloth from deeper inside his travel bag. Inside was another fragment of genetic armor, dark and rough, with a more rugged structure and darker patterns visible at the torn edges—this was a trophy he and his Special Administration team had seized months ago after raiding a group of mysterious men in black.

Two pieces of genetically engineered armor lay side by side on the rough tabletop. The dim, yellowish light of the desk lamp was like that of the most demanding judge. (End of Chapter)