Chapter 23

If They Can’t Live for It

Across from them, a black-clad woman also had tears streaking down her face. 

With a group of black-clad men at her side, she stood holding her sword in the middle of the corridor, blocking their path. 

Seeing the group was part of Eden’s elite squad of superpowered guards, the researchers’ excitement quickly cooled. 

“I recognize her—she’s S36, one of the strongest superhumans from the base.”

“What do we do? We can’t beat her—she’s too powerful. And now there are more of them…” 

“But why is she crying?” 

Amid the whispered conversations of the researchers, the white-coated group and the black-clad squad stood face to face in the hallway. 

The two tear-streaked individuals—Juan and the black-clad woman—locked eyes, but neither spoke a word. 

In the tense silence, the icy voice of Dr. Maria echoed through the woman’s earpiece, breaking the quiet: 

“S36! Kill them all! Leave no one alive!” 

The command was the only sound in the corridor. Unfazed by the cold order, the woman ripped out the earpiece and threw it to the ground. 

Then, one of the men behind her made a move. 

“S36, are you really going to disobey the doctor’s orders?” 

Before he could say anything more, the woman’s blade swung backward, cutting him down. As the man collapsed, clutching his wound in disbelief, she turned fully around. 

Now, though still a short distance from the researchers, she was facing the same direction as them. From that angle, she seemed to belong more to their side than to the black-clad squad she had just turned her back on. 

To make her position clear, the blood-stained sword in her hand suddenly fragmented into several smaller blades. In the next second, each tiny sword reformed and pressed against the heart of every black-clad man standing behind her. 

“Come with us, or die,” the woman said coldly. 

Even the researchers—newly and unexpectedly aligned with her—were bewildered by her sudden actions. 

Ignoring the confusion, the woman fixed her gaze on Juan, who still hadn’t wiped his tears. She spoke again, her voice steady but heavy with emotion. 

“Mia… Mia is my lover.” 

“I know that you are her brother.” 

“And even the excuse she used to say goodbye to you—that so-called ‘job outside’—was something I begged Dr. Maria to arrange.” 

A pained expression crossed her face. “I just knew this place was no good. I didn’t want her to stay here, even if it meant I’d never see her again… but I never thought things would turn out like this.” 

Ah, now it all made sense—the researchers exchanged looks of understanding. But one of them asked the lingering question: 

“Then how could Dr. Maria still trust you enough to send you out?” 

The woman gave a bitter smile. “Maria doesn’t care about someone like Mia. To her, people are just numbers…” 

Dr. Maria, seated high above the rest, viewed everyone else as mere ants. 

The children she produced in batches were identified only by numbers, and their lives were no more than sequences in her mind. She never considered them real people, let alone acknowledged their relationships. 

But Maria forgot one thing: people do remember. 

The downfall of every city begins from within. 

And one thing Dr. Maria wasn’t wrong about was this: human emotions are the strongest bonds in the world. 

If they couldn’t live for these bonds, they were willing to die for them. 

With the black-clad woman now on their side, their advance became much smoother. 

Juan didn’t even need to act—she led the way, and with the black-clad men she threatened into compliance, they easily fought off any remaining resistance. Meanwhile, the people from outside Eden had entered the facility, learning of Lan and the others’ plight and rushing to help. 

As the latest events were broadcast on every available screen, more people began to flood toward Eden, both from within the city and outside it. Ordinary civilians, superpowered individuals—armed with whatever they could find—they surged toward Eden, a place most of them hadn’t entered since the age of two. 

“They’re insane… They’ve all gone insane…” Dr. Maria whispered, slumping into her chair as she watched the chaos unfold on the monitors. 

She wanted to send more forces, but… she realized there was no one left to send. 

Every guard she could spare was already out there. Even the most well-equipped ordinary guards were no match for the sheer numbers of people flooding the city. And the remaining superhumans—most had already been diverted to suppress S11 under order 16. 

Her gaze fell on one of the screens showing S36, and she realized her mistake. 

Who could have guessed that Mia was Serial Number 324836? If you asked her who 324836 was, her sharp mind might still dredge up the answer. But how could she have known that the girl had given herself the name Mia? 

Mia had only been a minor researcher—someone Maria had casually promised S36 she’d keep safe, only to forget about entirely within two years. And now, it was all unraveling. 

“Where’s S28? Send him…” Maria ordered the person next to her.

The person beside her broke out in a cold sweat. “Doctor, reporting—S28 was seriously injured in his last mission and is still in the repair chamber…” 

“What about S29?” 

“S29 rebelled. He’s leading people to raid the repair chamber and take S28,” the assistant replied, beads of cold sweat dripping from his forehead. 

“And S26?” Dr. Maria asked, then caught herself. “Ah… I forgot. S26’s ability is healing—useless for this situation.” 

She murmured absentmindedly as she removed her gloves, revealing an aged left hand speckled with liver spots. Habitually, she began biting her fingernails. 

Seeing that hand, the assistant lowered his head, remaining silent. 

When it comes to madness, who could surpass Dr. Maria? 

After the apocalypse, once humanity discovered superpowered individuals, Dr. Maria became obsessed with obtaining such powers for herself. But no matter how she experimented, she couldn’t make herself a superhuman. Then, she came up with a wild idea: transplanting the body parts of superhumans into her own body. 

Now, there was little left of her that was original. 

The assistant didn’t want to look at the hand that once belonged to a corpse, but the data flashing on the brain-computer interface forced him to keep watching. 

After reading the latest report, he looked up urgently and said to Dr. Maria, “Doctor, something has gone wrong with S11! Dr. 16 is dead—killed by S11! And S21’s entire team… wiped out!” 

“As expected of S11! He can still use his powers even after being injected with a genetic toxin?” Dr. Maria’s eyes lit up, but her excitement quickly turned into frustration. “How can he still use his abilities after being poisoned?! That useless fool, 16…” 

Well, it didn’t matter. She had only kept 16 alive because S11 hated him the most—keeping him around was a way to provoke hostility. 

But it was a shame about S21 and the others. 

“What do we do now?!” The assistant, feeling the growing tremors beneath their feet and seeing the destruction spreading through the underground complex on the screen, asked anxiously. 

“What do we do now?” Dr. Maria slammed the table and stood up in a rage. “I’m just a researcher!” 

“Before the apocalypse, I was nothing but a researcher! A careful, diligent scientist, who happened to be trapped here while working. I survived by sheer luck! I never wanted to manage all these people—that was all your idea!” 

“Managing people? I’m not good at that! Developing weapons? Not my expertise! All I know is how to make children and research genes. And now you’re asking me what to do? I should be asking *you*!” 

Dr. Maria looked back over her shoulder— 

There, a group of white-coated researchers huddled together like quails. Unlike the other researchers outside who were being suppressed, these ones had participated in Eden’s “business” and had snuck over to her side when things started to fall apart. 

If 485321 hadn’t acted foolishly, he would have been one of them. 

“How strange… His genetic profile clearly indicated he was a thoroughgoing egotist. He shouldn’t care about any of this,” Dr. Maria muttered to herself. Then, her frown relaxed, and she smiled. 

“Blow this place up. Use the bombs we bought earlier.” 

“Didn’t we purchase plenty of explosives to defend against external threats? I recall setting them both inside and outside the facility…” 

“Detonate them.” 

“Blow everything up—inside and outside, above and below ground!” 

“Abandon it all.” 

“Whether it’s people or the research center—it doesn’t matter.” 

“Take the S12 host, take the money, and grab the most critical research data. We’ll leave and set up a new lab somewhere else.” 

“In fact, we don’t even need everything—just make sure we have the S12 host!” 

“The base near Gulandra would be a good choice. The leader there once told me he wanted me to join him to work on genetic research.” 

“Hmm, no need to worry about people or resources—everything will be provided, and it’ll be safer. The more I think about it, the better it sounds compared to this place.” 

Having made up her mind, Dr. Maria suddenly felt at ease. 

“Maximize the genetic toxin in S11. I don’t need him anymore.” 

Smiling, she ordered someone to flip the switch.