Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The surveillance room was silent, save for the ragged breathing of the manager tied to the chair, his face a mask of pure terror.

Lu Yan ended the call and turned. "Where is the auction?"

The knife went into the man's thigh before the last word left his lips. He could have asked the system. He was used to pretending it didn't exist.

[You didn't need the knife. His will is broken. He's given up.]

"I like it," Lu Yan replied.

His neck itched, the faint tingle of flesh knitting itself back together. The first signs of overusing his gifts.

The manager trembled, a shaky finger pointing down a corridor. "Th-that way. Use my keycard on the door."

Lu Yan slowly twisted the blade before pulling it free. He bent down, plucked the card from the man's pocket. "Thanks."

Then he killed the lights and the cameras.

Darkness meant nothing to him. It was a friend, a cloak. For those still trapped on the top floor, it was panic. Muffled shouts and gasps bloomed in the sudden black.

Lu Yan wiped his dagger clean on a napkin, moving toward the auction hall without a sound.

[Too late.] The system's voice was flat.

"For what?"

[To intercept Su Chenyang at the auction. You won't make it. I suggest you find a window and climb.]

***

In the auction hall, the gilded-tail clients shifted impatiently. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Our deepest apologies!" A server bowed repeatedly. "A tidal surge has disrupted our power. Backup generators will activate momentarily. We sincerely regret the inconvenience."

Su Chenyang's expression was stone. He was no fool. The situation had spiraled far beyond his control. An Awakener had breached the seventh floor. The fish-men, led by Xu Guanyue, had already fought their way to the fifth. It was only a matter of time before they reached him.

His prized clients, oblivious. The danger was at the door.

His decision was instant. Conceal everything. Promise bonuses to the staff. Buy time. That was all he needed.

He was leaving this cursed island today.

The Prophet had once used his "space" gift to shift the Mermaid Island, making it a true, isolated paradise. The last day of July was when the spatial flow between the island and the outside world aligned.

Su Chenyang burst into his chairman's office. The layers of security doors he'd once prized now felt like a prison, each one stealing precious seconds.

The final door opened.

A rabbit has many burrows. Everyone knew the Mermaid Club had seven floors. No one knew about the helicopter on the roof. No one knew about the hidden passage from his office leading straight to it.

The innermost room was small, on an independent power grid.

In the center sat an aquarium, shrouded in black cloth.

No one came here but him.

He yanked the cloth away. Inside the half-meter tank, curled into an impossible knot, was a fish-man. Its skin was a sickly grey-black, limbs deformed from years of confinement, body bloated from the saltwater. Dead, milky eyes stared at nothing.

Around its neck hung a golden sac, a parasite that had fed for who knew how long. Tadpole-like fry swam inside, eager for their birth.

The creature was emaciated. Only the faintest rise and fall of its gills betrayed any life.

Time was short. Su Chenyang drained the tank, reached in, and hauled the slick, stinking creature into his arms. He didn't care about the foul water soaking his clothes. He ran for the stairs.

He knew how to fly a helicopter. The escape route was already mapped in his mind.

Leave the island. Trigger the volcanic eruption beneath it—the island was built on a live caldera. Let the magma bury every sin.

Even now, cornered, he felt no despair. A fierce, wild grin split his face. "So this island burns. So what? I have money. I can always start again."

Foreign vaults. Offshore accounts. Private islands. Property across the globe.

All he needed was the thing in his arms.

He reached the rooftop helipad, and the grin froze.

A figure stood waiting in the open space.

"How are you here?!" The question tore from Su Chenyang's throat before he could stop it.

Lu Yan turned, the knife loose in his hand. His expression was one of genuine amusement. "You invited me."

No other path led to the roof. Lu Yan had climbed.

"You…" Su Chenyang took a half-step back. "You're not one of the gene-spliced mermaids. Why do you have scales?!"

Every pollutant, every case of Pollution Disease on this island, originated from the creature in his arms. They wouldn't harm him. The mutated subjects who received the mermaid gene shared that trait.

[It's a Vassal Effect,] the system explained. [Perfect evolutionaries, be they dragon or fish, exert a kind of bloodline suppression over their lesser mutated kin. The lesser ones automatically assume the role of servants. Su Chenyang has been draining this fish-man's genes for years to maintain his youth. The pollutants mistakenly identify him as their master.]

Most perfect evolutionaries Lu Yan had seen were formidable. This one was frail, clinging to life by a thread.

[That's because the Parasitic Kingfish has drained all its vitality.]

Lu Yan's gaze settled on the monstrosity in Su Chenyang's arms.

Su Chenyang was different from natural Awakeners. His gifts were transplanted. His spiritual power might exceed 3000, but his combat ability was zero. He knew if Lu Yan could kill Yang Tianxin, killing him would be trivial.

[Honestly, he's so weak I can't be bothered with a full scan,] the system muttered. [Spiritual power: 2700. Gifts: Danger Sense, Auto-Targeting. The second one's transplanted. He has a Fifth Research Institute gun under his coat. Watch for it.]

Su Chenyang saw where he was looking. A slick, professional smile appeared. "You can have it. The fish-man. Honestly, money means nothing to me anymore. Just let me go. My gifts are weak. I'm no threat. I just want to live."

As he spoke, he shifted the fish-man's body, using it to shield the movement of his hand sliding beneath his coat toward the gun at his back.

"I admit defeat. I was blind to take you for ordinary. You know… you look a bit like an old friend of mine. No lasting harm done. Perhaps we can still discuss cooperation?"

After several evolutions, Lu Yan's features had shifted subtly.

He spun the dagger in his hand. "What if I refuse?"

"Then die!"

Su Chenyang's finger found the trigger. The gun was still holstered at his back. It didn't need to be drawn.

[Gift 309 - Tracking Shot]

The bullet vanished the moment Lu Yan raised his hand.

Not vanished. He caught it.

The gun and ammunition were Fifth Institute products. The bullet wasn't just metal; it was the seed of a plant-based pollutant.

And pollutants were food for the Kingfish.

The kid's six months along. All meat isn't a balanced diet. Some vegetables are good.

The Kingfish gave the hard "pea" a couple of experimental chews.

Su Chenyang didn't understand. But he was profoundly shocked.

He turned to run. Lu Yan's dagger flew, a streak of silver in the night air, and buried itself deep in his back. Lu Yan seemed to possess the true auto-aim gift.

Su Chenyang stumbled and fell. The fish-man tumbled from his grip, rolling across the concrete.

A shoe came down on Su Chenyang's head, pinning him. Lu Yan bent, retrieved his dagger, and glanced at the fish-man lying nearby.

"Chen Yun!" Su Chenyang cried out, a last, hopeless gasp. "Save me!"

That was the fish-man's name.

[It's already dead,] the system said. [The cause is interesting. Suffocation due to degraded respiratory organs.]

[It wanted to die. Didn't even struggle. For it, this was a release.]

Silently, Lu Yan reached down and detached the golden, tumor-like egg sac from the fish-man's neck.

For a second, he felt the Kingfish's jubilant thrill.

The moment the sac was removed, the fish-man's body collapsed in on itself, withering into a desiccated pelt stretched over a frame of twisted bones.

Su Chenyang’s face finally lost its composure. His voice trembled. “Take the fish-man. Take it all. I can give you money, too. I have several vials of extracted fish-man genes… Don’t kill me. Please, don’t kill me…”

“Killing people is wrong,” Lu Yan said. “My personal feelings can’t override the law.”

Su Chenyang nodded frantically, his back soaked with cold sweat. “Yes. Yes, exactly.”

As long as he didn’t die here, there was still hope.

That hope shattered with Lu Yan’s next words.

“Fortunately, no laws specifically concerning pollutants have been enacted yet.”

A smile spread across Lu Yan’s face—one that could almost be called cheerful.

He grabbed Su Chenyang by the collar of his ruined suit and dragged him to the cliffs overlooking Mermaid Bay. In the distance, a patrol boat’s lights cut through the dark, heading toward the shore.

The time was 12:47 a.m.

Below the cliff lay the fish-men’s nesting grounds.

Drawn by the scent of blood, dozens of the beautiful, twisted creatures broke the surface, their heads emerging from the black water.

Terror contorted Su Chenyang’s features. He clawed at Lu Yan’s arm, shaking his head desperately. “No. No! I’m begging you—”

Lu Yan’s expression was unreadable, a ghost of amusement at the corners of his mouth. “I just want to see. When a perfect evolution dies… do its vassals still obey?”

He opened his hand.

A heavy splash echoed off the cliff face. From the water rose a chorus of guttural, bestial snarls as the fish-men surged toward the struggling figure.

Su Chenyang’s screams were swallowed by the sea. The water churned, then bloomed a shocking, vivid crimson.

Lu Yan watched, eyes narrowing slightly against the salt spray. “Looks like they don’t.”