Chapter 22

485345

“Mon… monster…” A black-clad man trembled his lips as he watched Juan turn his expressionless face toward him.

Holding an axe in his hand, he looked at the blood on it and then at the head that was “lifted” by Juan; his axe clattered to the ground.

When he discovered that his companion’s bullets were ineffective against the person in front of him, he put his gun down, stealthily grabbing a fire axe from the firefighting equipment. He quietly approached Juan from behind as he flew over to a companion.

He looked at the other person’s head, split open by his axe. However, the imagined spray of blood didn’t occur, nor did the person slowly collapse as expected. Instead, he saw the decapitated man extend his left hand and knock out a companion by striking his neck. The man collapsed on cue, and the headless figure calmly picked up his own head and turned back around. 

Aligning his severed neck, Juan slowly twisted his head back in place. Staring at the terrified man in black, Juan reached out again and swiftly struck the man’s neck, rendering him unconscious before turning away. 

If Juan’s previous actions made people shudder with fear due to his skill, now his mere appearance was enough to drive enemies away. What followed was a new wave of terror for the black-clad men. 

The biggest obstacle now within the scene was this blood-drenched young man standing before them. 

Although… it was his own blood that soaked him. 

All the black-clad men had witnessed what just happened, so they all aimed their guns at him. From upstairs and downstairs, those still standing formed a three-dimensional encirclement with Juan trapped at its center. 

But so what? 

Holding his neck with one hand to prevent his head from falling off, Juan “took flight” once again. 

Since dodging too much could cause his head to fall, he no longer evaded the bullets entirely, allowing more and more of them to hit his body. 

Yet the black-clad men soon discovered, just like the axe earlier, that no amount of bullets could stop him. At most, the shots slowed his movements slightly, but they had no impact on the outcome. 

Watching one companion after another fall, a black-clad man finally couldn’t bear it. He threw his weapon to the ground and raised his hands. 

“I-I know where Lan is! Just now, Dr. Maria ordered us to capture them from outside the city. We haven’t even had time to lock them up properly—Dr. Maria sent us here to provide support!” 

With people shouting “Hand over Lan!” and “Hand over Mia!” from both inside and outside, the black-clad man naturally thought this confession might save him. 

Juan nodded and signaled for him to lead the way to where Lan was being held. 

Trembling, the man led the way, with Juan following closely behind. As they walked, Juan glanced at the torn holes in his clothes. After thinking for a moment, he grabbed a white lab coat along the way and put it on. 

And, to be honest, Juan did look quite like a researcher in the white coat. 

The black-clad men had obviously been sent in a hurry, and Lan was locked behind a nearby door. In fact, before they arrived, several researchers had already gathered outside the door. While Juan had been holding off the black-clad men, the researchers had been busy searching for Mia’s location. Some of them had found this tightly shut door. Now, with the man in black swiping his access card, they opened it. Although they didn’t find Mia, they did see Lan and a few other young people inside. 

“Juan?!” Lan immediately recognized his friend and called out his name. 

“Your girlfriend is looking for you,” Juan stated matter-of-factly. After a moment, he added, “And Mia too.” 

“Yes! We found Lan! What about Mia?! Lan, is everything you said in the video true? Is Eden really just a corporation, and are they truly forcing young women to become hosts?” The researchers who had gathered around bombarded him with questions. 

“My sister went missing too! Eden said she found a job outside. Have you seen her? Has she also become a host?” another researcher asked urgently, searching for a missing loved one. 

Even though these people were all mass-produced children of Eden, human instincts drove many to search for biological relatives. It was even more convenient for Eden’s employees, many of whom had already found their siblings. Eden had previously allowed this, but now— 

“I don’t know who your sister is, but she might not have become a host. However, the host project is real. Everything I said in the video is true—not that breakup video, but my original one…” Lan said, somewhat flustered. He still didn’t fully understand what had happened—after all, he was captured before even entering the city and hadn’t yet learned that his girlfriend had decrypted his original video. 

The crowd quickly filled him in on the details. 

“…If she hasn’t become a host, there’s another possibility—Eden might have sold her,” one of the girls captured with Lan explained, recounting their experiences. 

“We were almost sold too, but someone kind helped us escape. We returned to expose the truth, but as soon as we came back, we were captured again.” 

“What?” The crowd was stunned. 

Lan snapped out of his shock. Controlling his excitement, he grabbed Juan’s arm. “Juan, thank you! Thank you, and thank your student!” 

“It was your student here who saved us!” 

“We need to rescue him—he’ll be punished for setting us free!” 

“And not just him—Mia too, and others!” 

“We need to get out of here and let the people outside know that Lan and the others are safe, and we need to expose everything that happened to them!” 

“Yes, let’s go open the gates and let the people outside in!” 

“Some of us will open the gates, while others keep searching! Lan knows where Mia is!” 

With renewed determination, the researchers shouted slogans and began moving out. 

Not all the researchers had been unaware of what was going on, but those causing trouble were mostly these individuals. And now, with the black-clad men almost entirely dealt with by Juan, only their voices remained. 

Lan was surrounded by people as they made their way out. In the crowd, he kept talking to Juan: 

“…Your student is amazing… Oh, and while I was looking into Mia, I found something…” 

“Mia turns out to be your biological sister. I heard many researchers secretly looked up their family connections, and when they found them, they reunited outside. Did Mia ever try to find you?”

Juan recalled the name the owner of this body had called out just before his death. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

“You knew… In the records, I saw how they altered everything. Mia was clearly forced to become a host, yet they claimed she was hired by an outside base.”

“So…” Lan wanted to say more, but then he noticed Juan and stopped, stunned.

Juan was crying. 

His face remained as expressionless as ever, but a single tear traced down his left cheek. 

“Let’s go find her,” Lan said to him. 

Juan nodded, letting the scalding tears continue to flow without wiping them away. 

The tears weren’t really his; the excitement and fervor of those around him didn’t stir him in the slightest. 

They were the tears left behind—uncried—by that young man, Serial Number 485345.