Chapter 227 | The One Who Devours All

Yue Shi moved through different areas of Lab 0 with Ghost, teleporting continuously.

The two were like a swarm of locusts sweeping through.

Wherever they went, any lab employee with even a hint of life—whether hiding in a corner trembling or trying to put up a final resistance—was ruthlessly eliminated.

At the same time, any research data that looked valuable, intact equipment parts, and even living supernatural creatures or remains were swept into his extra-dimensional space the moment Yue Shi laid eyes on them.

After winding through several corridors, Yue Shi and Ghost found the core archives.

The interior of the archives was vast, filled with countless rows of metal filing cabinets, most of which remained intact.

Lab 0 still relied on paper documents. Perhaps it was out of concern for the insecurity of electronic devices, or perhaps some information simply couldn't be digitized; regardless, a massive amount of secrets was stored here in physical form.

Yue Shi casually pulled out a few files to browse through, finding records of countless harrowing experimental projects.

Soon, he discovered something particularly interesting.

According to the file descriptions, humanity's current understanding of the "source" of supernatural creatures and transcendents was still extremely limited. They were in a state of "knowing the what but not the why," unable to safely extract, transfer, or stably store it.

However, Lab 0 possessed a "Decomposition and Synthesis Machine." To everyone involved, it was a complete "tech black box."

No one understood its internal operating principles, and no one could analyze the true composition of the "source." They only knew that by placing a supernatural creature or a transcendent inside in a specific way, it could perform decomposition or synthesis operations—it could even synthesize life.

The files mentioned that they had collected several such "tech black boxes," all of which seemed to have been unearthed from a certain forbidden zone.

Project Number: ███

Project Grade: ███

Special Containment Procedures: Project ███ should be contained within a standard-sized (10m x 10m x 5m) reinforced alloy containment room. The walls of the containment room must be lined with at least 10cm of lead-antimony alloy.

Except for experiments approved with proper authorization, all personnel are strictly prohibited from approaching within 3 meters of the project. All operations must be conducted via remote robotic arms.

Description: ███ is a metal device with an irregular polyhedral structure, approximately 2.5 meters tall. It is primarily composed of an unknown dark gray alloy, with no visible seams, buttons, or display screens on its surface. Its energy source is unknown.

The project's only known functions are "Decomposition" and "Synthesis."

Decomposition Procedure: Organic or inorganic lifeforms (including but not limited to humans, supernatural creatures, transcendents, and supernatural objects) are to be placed through the ████ entrance at the top of the project.

The project will activate, accompanied by a low-frequency hum and an internal, invisible ████ process.

Ultimately, the outlet at the bottom of the project will discharge one or more products.

Products may include but are not limited to: biological tissues with abnormal characteristics, ████, and completely inert residue.

When decomposing high-rank transcendents or supernatural creatures, there is a small probability of crystal-like objects appearing that are suspected to be source crystals. The decomposition process is irreversible.

Synthesis Procedure: Various specific substances (including but not limited to products obtained from the decomposition procedure, specific supernatural materials, and supernatural objects) are to be placed through the designated entrance. The project will activate and perform synthesis.

Successful synthesis records include: lumps of flesh with basic biological activity, low-rank supernatural objects, and low-rank supernatural creatures with simple structures, such as ███.

Warning: Attempting to input targets that are too powerful or have conflicting abilities may lead to unstable operation and the production of unpredictable, dangerous byproducts. It is strictly forbidden to attempt to synthesize lifeforms with high intelligence or those involving high-dimensional concepts.

Appendix 1: Experimental Record D-99342, a Rank 2 transcendent capable of manipulating local gravity. Output: A diamond capable of causing unstable weightlessness in a localized area, 500ml of plasma, and 3.2kg of unrecognizable ash.

Appendix 2: Experimental Record B-114, input of a B-rank physical supernatural creature, the 【Wailing Banshee】. Output: A cloud of mist with strong mental contamination properties (sealed), a piece of black sponge-like substance capable of absorbing sound, and a small amount of ████ powder.

After quickly reading the file on the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine, Yue Shi continued to rummage through the massive archives.

He soon locked onto his target.

He reached out, pulled the file, and opened it to read.

Project Number: ████

Project Grade: ████

Special Containment Procedures: (Defunct) Project ████ was originally to be contained in a high-humidity, lightless compartment. All personnel in contact were required to wear protective gear. (Current Status: Shattered; fragments are stored in a low-priority item vault awaiting further research.)

Description: ████ is a dark green stone statue approximately 40 centimeters tall, carved in the image of a blurred, dragon-like deity with various marine life characteristics. The statue emits a weak, continuous mental influence, inducing the holder to feel impulses toward worship and sacrifice.

The project is directly linked to the rise of the Xin family in the coastal city of Shizhu Port.

The family obtained blessings by sacrificing direct bloodline descendants to the statue, including:

Temporary supernatural powers (actually power fed back by the statue after receiving sacrifices).

The opening of a stable miniature spatial channel to introduce seawater from the forbidden zone, 【Phantom Sea】. This seawater was used to farm a special type of pearl.

These pearls possess a slight effect of resisting contamination and curses, while also having a significant effect on enhancing sexual performance and fertility. Observations show that the reproductive systems of long-term pearl wearers undergo mutations, and their offspring carry trace marine life characteristics.

Lab 0 intervened after discovering the Xin family's abnormalities. The investigation confirmed the sacrificial acts and the source of power, leading to the orchestrated downfall of the Xin family. All knowledgeable individuals in Shizhu Port were eliminated, and the project, along with most of the Xin family orphans, was taken into containment.

Incident ████-A: Most Xin family orphans were used as consumables to test the efficacy and limits of Project ████. During the process, a large number of marine-related supernatural byproducts and abnormal seawater from the Phantom Sea were produced.

During a high-intensity sacrificial experiment, the statue accidentally shattered and the abnormal seawater leaked, contaminating Shizhu Port and surrounding cities. Local Lab 3 was abandoned, and the project was transferred to Lab 0. Simultaneously, Subject D-99870, who participated in the experiment, awakened and gained the supernatural power to manipulate seawater.

Follow-up: Subject D-99870 was re-evaluated due to the value of his ability and his close relationship with Subject ████. His status was elevated, and he was permitted to be adopted by the Glory Association as a Xin family orphan to serve the organization.

Yue Shi looked at this file, his eyes narrowing slightly.

As expected, they had a hand in the Xin family's downfall.

It seemed those little brats from the Xin family were mostly dead anyway. If he had known earlier, he might as well have taken care of them all himself back then.

Yue Shi continued his search, and another file caught his attention.

Project Number: 0-Lab-β

Project Grade: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: None

Description: A 22-year-old female, originally a registered transcendent from a civilian agency in Amber City.

Ability registered as 【Thorn】: Capable of freely controlling the growth of high-strength, somewhat active spikes on the body surface.

Project was captured on ██/██/███. Suffered heavy trauma during capture and was clinically dead upon arrival at the lab.

According to the "Principle of Resource Maximization," the project's remains were approved for processing in ███.

Processing Results: Products included standard biological ashes and Derivative 0-Lab-β-1.

Derivative 0-Lab-β-1:

Appearance: An off-white ring of unknown material with fine thorn-like patterns.

Effect: The wearer can control the ring to grow spikes up to 300 centimeters long, with a hardness approaching high-carbon steel.

Yue Shi's gaze lingered for a moment on the photograph in the file before returning to its icy state.

There were far too many files here for him to read them all one by one.

"Take it all!"

With a wave of his hand, powerful spatial energy enveloped the entire archive. The metal filing cabinets, along with the dense stacks of dossiers inside, were directly swallowed up, vanishing in large patches as they were all integrated into his extra-dimensional space.

Having finished this, Yue Shi and Ghost didn't linger. They left the archives and continued deeper.

His goal now was clear: find the supernatural object containment room of this lab.

And search for sacrifices.

But before they could find the containment room, Yue Shi encountered... an elementary schooler at a cross-corridor?

The child looked about ten years old, wearing a clean school uniform and carrying a small backpack. His face held a hint of bewilderment that was completely out of place in his surroundings.

But in Yue Shi's eyes, a child appearing in a place like this was anything but normal.

Seeing Yue Shi's eyes turn cold as he prepared to strike, the schoolboy immediately dropped the act of innocence. He hurriedly raised his hands and shouted, "Don't hit me, don't hit me! It's me! The one who was playing with fire just now!"

Yue Shi's brow twitched slightly as his Insight vision swept over the boy.

The Arsonist identity that had overlapped with Thousand Changes had vanished. It had been replaced by—

【Death Omen Schoolboy】

【"Walking Disaster": Wherever the user goes, the probability of malignant incidents, accidental deaths, and homicides in that area is greatly increased. The user cannot control this effect.】

【"Immunity Aura": Has an extremely high probability of surviving disasters caused by oneself.】

【"There is Only One Truth"】: Can designate a malignant incident that has already occurred to obtain a vague hint regarding the culprit or key clues.

When Yue Shi saw this information, his lip twitched. For some reason, he suddenly felt an itch in his hands, wanting to beat this brat to death immediately to prevent any future trouble.

The schoolboy seemed to sense the killing intent and quickly introduced himself. "My name is Martin. As you can see, my ability is to passively change identities, and I can't control it myself. The arsonist identity from yesterday is already gone."

His tone was incredibly helpless and urgent.

Without realizing it, midnight had already passed.

Martin's identity for today, Death Omen Schoolboy, had no combat ability and made it difficult for him to protect himself.

So he had found Yue Shi as quickly as possible. His goal was obvious: to try and seek protection by acting cute, finding a powerful thigh to cling to.

Yue Shi felt very dangerous, but Martin truly had no other choice. Staying by this dangerous individual was the safest option at the moment.

Perhaps the passive ability of Martin's current identity was beginning to take effect, bringing misfortune. Just as he joined up with Yue Shi and before he could say much else...

From the metal wall beside them, a young man's head suddenly poked out from within the wall.

It was the young man from before who was like a phantom and couldn't be attacked.

At this moment, the young man's face was filled with anxiety. As soon as he emerged, he fixed his gaze on Yue Shi. "I didn't expect you to actually survive until now. Was it you who locked down the entire lab?"

Yue Shi's gaze turned sharp. He didn't feel like talking to him and prepared to strike immediately.

"Wait, wait, wait! Listen to me first!" the young man roared, his words coming out like a machine gun.

"Hurry up and undo the lockdown! The highest-level self-destruct program has already been activated! There are only three minutes... no, maybe only two minutes left before this place blows! The power of that explosion is absolutely terrifying; it can annihilate everything!"

"Huh?" Hearing this, Yue Shi was indeed startled. His brow furrowed; he hadn't had time to completely loot this place yet, and he still hadn't found the supernatural object containment room.

The young man seemed to see through his thoughts. He stomped his feet in rage and roared, "Stop thinking about that useless stuff! This lab has had protocols in place for various intrusions and internal rebellions for a long time. How could they possibly leave the core good stuff for you?"

"Especially after that experimental subject escape incident six months ago, many precious supernatural objects were moved to other locations. This place is just a site for experiments."

He paused and then added, "Besides, the Glory Association has a very powerful Diviner who can predict a lot of intelligence in advance. This time, we were truly caught off guard because your actions were too fast and too ruthless; otherwise, the lab wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses. If you had come half a day later, most of the people here would probably have evacuated."

"The most critical part is that the Diviner's prediction had a serious error. In his forecast, the probability of the lab successfully capturing you was as high as 70%, yet the lab ended up being beaten this badly."

Hearing this, Yue Shi sneered. "Oh? It seems this Diviner's strength isn't all that much, then."

"Stop talking nonsense!" the young man shrieked. "I've given you so much intel; that's enough sincerity, right? Can you just open the lockdown so we can run! I don't want to die here; I'm still young, I have a bright future!"

Unfazed, Yue Shi asked back with interest, "Can't you immune damage? What are you afraid of?"

The young man's face suddenly darkened. His eyes flickered, but he didn't speak.

Looking at his expression, Yue Shi burst into loud laughter.

The laughter stopped abruptly at a certain moment as Yue Shi grabbed the Ghost teddy bear beside him, and the figures of both vanished on the spot.

Martin and the young man looked at each other, stunned for a moment.

A second later, both snapped out of it almost simultaneously.

"F*ck! That bastard ran away with his pet!"

Martin's small face turned pale with fright, and he wanted to cry. Was he really going to perish here just after his great grievance had been avenged today?

Beside him, the young man was also panicking, cold sweat pouring down his face. There was no time to curse now. He gritted his teeth and, making a certain decision, pulled a folded, yellowed paper from the inner pocket of his clothes.