The Debtor System: Starting with a debt of 1 billion

Flames shot into the sky, illuminating half the sea as if it were daytime. The massive drilling platform disintegrated in the violent explosion, its steel frame flying away like fragile matchsticks, carrying the secrets of the "Ark" embryo, slowly sinking into the bottomless dark trench.

On a remote island a hundred kilometers away, inside a hidden underground safe house.

Here, the chaos was starkly different from the raging outside. Only the low hum of the instruments and the subtle whirring of the temperature control system could be heard. On a massive monitoring wall, countless images were displayed in segments, with the central one showing the burning sea in real time.

A figure stood silently in front of the surveillance wall, his back to the main gate. He wore a well-tailored black trench coat and held a glass of scarlet red wine, as if he were watching a grand fireworks display.

The moment the drilling platform completely disappeared below the horizon, he gently swirled his wine glass, a triumphant smirk playing on his lips.

"It's over," he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse and cold. "It's all over."

From the shadows behind, a figure in a white lab coat emerged tremblingly, their voice filled with fear and confusion: "But... sir, the 'Ark' embryo... all our research data... all sank with the platform... we failed..."

"Failure?" The man known as "The Butcher" turned around, his pale and gaunt face now filled with a frenzied fervor. He raised his hand and pointed to another screen in front of him.

On that screen, there were no data charts, only a green waveform representing vital signs. The waveform was smooth and even, yet it carried a strange frequency that did not belong to humans.

"No, we succeeded." The Butcher stared greedily at the waveform, as if gazing at the most perfect work of art in the world. "'The Ark' was never a physical entity; it was a piece of code, a consciousness, a seed. As long as this seed found suitable soil..."

His gaze fell on a line of small print below the waveform: Subject number: S-09, Status: Dormant, Gene lock: Activated.

"S-09... Suya." The Butcher murmured the name, a morbid light gleaming in his eyes. "She's even more perfect than I imagined. She actually used her own consciousness to forcefully suppress the backlash of the 'Ark' embryo, and even... assimilated a part of it."

The wine glass in his hand tilted slightly, and a drop of wine spilled onto the ground, like a drop of blood.

"You think you've won, Lin Mo?" The Butcher sneered at the void. "You think you've destroyed a ruin and rescued your sister? No, you've only helped me complete the most perfect 'sowing'. The embryo of 'Ark' is dead, but the soul of 'Ark' has already taken up residence in her body."

He walked to a metal table, on which sat an exquisite metal box. He opened the box, and inside lay a chip shimmering with a faint blue light—a spare genetic key, identical to the barcode on the back of Suya's neck.

"She is asleep, she is pregnant." The Butcher picked up the key and gently stroked its cold surface. "When she awakens again, when the 'Ark' takes full root in her genetic code, she will become the 'Eve' of the new world."

He held the key in his palm, turned to look at the departing helicopter dot on the monitoring wall, his eyes filled with a cat-and-mouse schadenfreude.

"Go, take your 'treasure' and run away. The farther you run, the higher you fly... Then, all I need is this one key to unlock the 'paradise' you built for me."

The butcher tilted his head back and drank the wine in his cup in one gulp, then smashed the empty cup on the ground with a crisp cracking sound.

"The game has only just begun."