Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Yang Tianxin’s strength was immense. A steel cage that normally required two men to carry, he could drag alone with a single chain.

His gift had granted him muscle and bone density far beyond the ordinary. His metal prosthetic leg struck the floor with enough force to make the ground tremble.

The auction venue was a circular pool, reminiscent of a Roman colosseum. Twenty cages would be lowered into its depths.

By now, the candidates with high aberration levels already possessed the ability to breathe underwater. The pollution source within the pool would assist in their final metamorphosis.

The transformation from human to pollutant.

And if the clients wished, the club could even open the cages, allowing the freshly evolved mermaids to begin their slaughter within the water.

For this final day’s feast, the Mermaid Club had prepared for a long time. The kitchens had begun their preparations half a year in advance.

Yang Tianxin arrived on the seventh floor, but he didn’t head straight for the auction hall.

He dragged Lu Yan into an empty room. Then, he locked the door.

While Lu Yan was confident in his looks, he didn’t think Yang Tianxin had dragged him into a dark room for any… indecent purposes.

The System’s tone was encouraging. [Be more confident. Indecent purposes aren’t limited to R18. There’s also G18.]

It was deep night. The room was pitch black, the lights off.

Yang Tianxin spoke slowly. “I found a golden scale at the bottom of Mermaid Bay. I’ve worked for the Mermaid Club for thirty-one years. I know very well they have mermaids of every color here. Every color except gold.”

Even though, according to the Boss, he was once saved by a golden mermaid.

“You’re careful. You clean your scales every day after waking up. Staff sneaked into your room several times and found nothing. You even caught them. Fortunately, the Boss only selected twenty mermaids this time. Finding you was quite troublesome. I had to wait for the DNA test report.”

Yang Tianxin stepped into the cage, squatting down slowly to look at Lu Yan’s face.

“You must be an Awakener too. At least you were one before coming to Mermaid Island. I don’t know what the screening personnel were thinking this time. After the auction, I’ll go see for myself.”

“But I believe your spiritual power threshold can’t be very high. Otherwise, you would have come for me on the first day. No need to hide like a rat in the sewers, in those damp, disgusting pipes.”

“The Boss likes you. If you don’t participate in the auction, he’ll be angry. That troubles me. But I’ve thought of a solution. Break your arms and legs, then throw you into the pool. That should solve the problem, shouldn’t it?”

When Yang Tianxin said ‘break’, he meant dislocating them from the joints. A reduction to a limbless trunk.

[Yang Tianxin also has night vision. His only weakness is the connection point of his metal leg. He’s already amputated; damaging the prosthetic will cripple his mobility. But prosthetics from the Fifth Research Institute aren’t so easily broken.]

“The Fifth Research Institute does business with the Mermaid Club too?” Lu Yan asked.

[If you have the money, or pay a sufficient price. Buying a metal prosthetic isn’t that shocking. The Fifth Institute might not even know who’s buying.]

The thirteen national Research Institutes each had vastly different specializations.

The Seventh Institute, for example, favored agricultural byproducts. The deactivation agent that killed the parasitic fish eggs, and the pesticide from Luochuan Botanical Garden, were their products.

The Fifth Institute was purely functional, researching daily how to kill pollutants with thermal weapons.

Though, because the pace of physics development couldn’t keep up with the speed of biological aberration in pollutants, their contribution in high-end battles wasn’t strong. But their auxiliary equipment sold remarkably well.

Lu Yan knew pretending was useless now. He opened his eyes, meeting Yang Tianxin’s crimson gaze.

His hand closed around the knife hidden in his clothes.

Yang Tianxin’s body began to swell. Black wolf-hair, sharp as steel needles, pierced through his black uniform.

Gift 311 – Lone Wolf.

[You’d better pray he doesn’t have a blood-licking fetish.] The System’s tone was uncharacteristically serious. [Your chances against him were slim to begin with. If he drinks your blood and gets enhanced… I’ll try to notify your liaison to pick you a nicer urn.]

[Also, even if you told him the truth about the car accident now, in his current state, he wouldn’t believe you. He might even fly into a rage. Your positions aren’t equal. People only believe what they want to believe.]

It was easy to understand. Like if you were buying groceries at the market, and a complete stranger walked up and told you your son was actually your neighbor Old Wang’s.

Even if your neighbor was indeed named Old Wang, would you believe it instantly, or punch him first?

Most people’s reaction would be the latter. And they’d complain to friends about meeting a lunatic.

With one hand, Yang Tianxin wrenched the cage door open.

Lu Yan didn’t dodge. He gripped the Viper Fang and lunged forward.

This was, after all, a C-Class spiritual weapon he’d exchanged for a full ten thousand contribution points.

The long dagger plunged deep into Yang Tianxin’s arm. Blood gushed out like a fountain.

The toxin attached to the C-Class spiritual weapon “Viper Fang” would gradually slow Yang Tianxin’s movements as it spread.

Lu Yan knew he stood no chance against Yang Tianxin in raw strength. His opponent’s power and speed far surpassed his.

So his tactic was to trade wound for wound.

Hurt the enemy five hundred, lose a thousand yourself.

As his dagger sliced Yang Tianxin’s arm, Yang Tianxin’s fist smashed into Lu Yan’s abdomen.

Though his scales surfaced instantly at the point of impact, he was still sent stumbling back several steps. He retched, vomiting blood flecked with bits of viscera.

“Trading wounds?” Yang Tianxin shook his arm; the toxin caused a slight numbness. “This isn’t a fight willpower alone can win.”

On the surface, his injury seemed worse.

But Lu Yan wasn’t worried.

He had the gift of Regeneration. It might look like a loss, but as long as he didn’t die, he was gaining.

Lu Yan wasn’t afraid of pain. He’d learned in childhood how to remain clear-headed under excruciating agony.

The room offered little cover for him to hide behind.

A marble table shattered under Yang Tianxin’s fist. The commotion wasn’t small, but the location was remote, and most security was concentrated at the auction hall. So, even as the walls threatened to collapse, no third party had yet joined the fray.

[A bit of luck. The news of you being taken by Yang Tianxin was relayed by the mermaids back to the seabed. So Xu Guanyue decided to bring the fish-men ashore early.]

In its half-century of existence, the Mermaid Club had never seen such chaos.

These fish-men were Awakeners, but their gifts had been stripped. Their spiritual power thresholds weren’t high, but they had numbers.

A secondary evolution, exceedingly rare in the outside world, had manifested in some of the older fish-men.

Previously, finding no opportunity, they could only hide deep within the red seaweed, clinging to life. These fish-men knew well that a part of their souls had died fifteen years ago when they killed their own kind. What sustained them now was the most deeply ingrained hatred.

The fish-men clambered ashore from the pool, biting into staff. They planned to attack from the first floor all the way to the seventh.

Many tourists panicked at the sight, scrambling into their rooms. But some who had undergone the dream induction stared blankly, as if remembering something.

The lower floors descended into utter bedlam.

The Boss listened to the reports, his expression dark.

His gaze swept over the wealthy merchants seated around the circular table, still completely unaware.

Servants presented dish after exquisite dish.

Later courses made no attempt to conceal their origin: humanoid pollutants.

Over the years, the Mermaid Club’s most popular dish was the mammary glands of humanoid mammals, selected from ‘meat pigs’ aged fourteen to sixteen. Glazed with honey produced by bees that had become pollutants. Low-temperature roasted for six hours. The texture and flavor were sublime. Heavenly.

The auction was scheduled to begin in one hour.

Based on previous years’ data, each auction brought the Mermaid Club profits in the billions. Sometimes there were other, even more valuable items, far surpassing mere money.

“Boss, should we move to the yacht first?” Over the phone, the manager’s face was etched with fear and unease.

The Boss’s voice was low. “What are you afraid of? Just a bunch of fish-men with spiritual power thresholds unlikely to exceed 1000. We killed them once back then. We can kill them a second time now. Have security take their guns.”

His eyes, clear and blue as seawater, held deeply suppressed fury, yet the smile on his face grew gentler. “The candidate mermaids aren’t fully evolved yet. Don’t be impatient.”

With that, he hung up. He sighed helplessly to the other merchants. “A Golden-Tail member from previous years called. Wants to reserve a mermaid. Insists I help him secure one at auction.”

The wealthy merchants chuckled, their faces bright with amusement. "That won't come cheap. Tell him to prepare a lot more. Off-site auctions, by the rules, require a ten percent premium."

……

……

After paying the price of having one arm torn off, Lu Yan finally managed to drive his dagger deep into Yang Tianxin’s abdomen, carving a wound down to the bone.

It was 11:15 PM. The room was pitch black, the floor littered with wolf-hair and blood, even severed limbs.

Gift 167 – Regeneration.

This was the first time Lu Yan had used this gift to regenerate a lost limb.

Muscle fibers stretched out from the cross-section of his shoulder, twisting together into new cords. The shattered bone writhed and regrew. In under thirty seconds, a brand new arm had formed.

The limb was pale as jade, its skin as delicate as a newborn’s. But to the touch, it felt less like human skin and more like a layer of smooth fish-scale.

Golden scales swiftly covered the surface.

Yang Tianxin’s eyes gleamed with excitement. "Interesting. That’s at least the fourth time I’ve broken your arm. Yet you can still regenerate. What’s your gift? Phoenix?"

[Regeneration isn't 'Phoenix.' The number of times you can regenerate limbs is limited. With your current spiritual power threshold, you have about one use left.]

Lu Yan tightened his grip on the dagger, his voice calm. "It's enough."

The spreading neurotoxin had already robbed Yang Tianxin’s attacks of their former power and speed.

If not for the Regeneration gift and the System’s assistance, Lu Yan would have been dead long ago.

His shoulder bore several clear, bloody holes. A wolf’s paw had shattered his scapula. The speed of his regeneration could no longer keep pace with the damage. The newly grown body parts felt alien, unfamiliar.

But Yang Tianxin wasn’t faring much better.

He gasped for air, the black wolf-hair covering his body had fallen out, his form nearly reverted to human. He opened his mouth, bloody saliva dripping uncontrollably from the corner.

None of that was the main issue. The issue was his metal prosthetic leg, which had grown sluggish under Lu Yan’s relentless assault.

The metal plating had peeled back, several bio-sensor wires severed.

"I admit," Yang Tianxin lifted an arm, wiping blood from his face, "you’re the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced."

[His combat talent is strong. Pity he’s spent all his time post-Awakening as security for the Mermaid Club. A waste.] The System clicked its tongue. [If he’d joined the Special Operations Department, he’d be on par with Bai Qiushi. Complacency breeds stagnation!]

Lu Yan had no strength left to reply.

Exhausted, his spiritual power drained dry. He was drenched, as if pulled from the water.

The System said, [You look like hell, but the good news is he’s at the end of his rope too… Want to take a gamble?]

"A gamble on what?"

[A gamble on how much your 'good son' loves you.]

Almost before the System’s words faded, Yang Tianxin exploded into motion. Sharp wolf-claws flashed as he lunged at Lu Yan.

[Aim lower. The neural hub of his prosthetic is in the lower abdomen.]

That angle would expose his own, terrifyingly vulnerable neck.

But Lu Yan did it anyway. It was his only chance to finish this.

Yang Tianxin’s face twisted into a snarl. His hands shot out, one high, one low, clamping around Lu Yan’s neck. Then, with a brutal wrench, he tore.

Lu Yan’s head and neck ripped apart under the colossal force. Connecting bone snapped. His features distorted, eyes bulging nearly out of their sockets.

Blood sprayed across his collar, staining it crimson.

With his head severed, there was no way he could still be alive.

Yang Tianxin didn’t even care that Lu Yan’s dagger was buried in the neural hub of his prosthetic.

At worst, he’d be immobilized. Lu Yan was dead. He could always get a new leg installed later.

He crashed to the floor, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.

The next second, Yang Tianxin’s pupils contracted violently, beyond his control.

From the ragged stump of Lu Yan’s neck, a mass of white filaments erupted.

These were Wang Yu’s feeding tendrils.

The white threads shot out like grasping hands, snatching Lu Yan’s still-falling head from the air. They yanked it back and slammed it into place on his neck.

Regeneration couldn’t grow him a new brain.

But repairing a neck and shattered vertebrae? That it could manage.

"Thanks," Lu Yan said sincerely, his voice slightly muffled, "but you put my head on backwards."

He looked down and saw his own backside.

Not bad, actually. Quite perky.

"……"

The white tendrils emerged again, laboriously lifting Lu Yan’s head. They slowly rotated it 180 degrees before giving it a firm smack, reattaching it properly.

Yang Tianxin’s expression was pure despair. "How is this possible?!"

Even knowing the Pollution Disease and gifts defied logic, he still felt the overwhelming urge to scream this is too fucking unscientific! If he’d had a gift like Lu Yan’s, would he have needed a metal prosthetic?!

The newly attached head swam with dizziness. Lu Yan twisted his neck, the wrenched area burning with pain.

"Nothing’s impossible."

Lu Yan bent down, picked up his dagger, but didn’t deliver a finishing blow.

He merely severed the other man’s deltoid muscle, an act of surprising mercy.

Yang Tianxin couldn’t lift his arms, couldn’t stand. He’d lost all ability to fight.

Lu Yan opened the door. Light from the hallway spilled in, illuminating his flawless face, its proportions a textbook example of classical beauty.

As if remembering something, he turned back. "Oh, right. The car that hit you back then. License plate: Yin A99**8. The driver’s name was Su Chenyang."

Yang Tianxin’s entire body went rigid. His eyes widened, his teeth grinding audibly, a faint tremor running through him.

"Impossible!" he snarled, the word a low growl.

"Nothing’s impossible. Whether you believe it is your business. I’m just delivering the message." Lu Yan offered a faint smile. "These days, everyone calls him 'the Boss.'"

He closed the door.