“Help.”
“Save me!”
Cries for help drifted intermittently from the woods.
Jiang Kun did not respond.
He lightened his steps, his high-frequency cutting blade hanging by his side, his other hand gripping his handgun with his index finger resting lightly on the trigger guard.
Following the sound, he pushed aside a thicket of bushes with dark, abnormally overgrown leaves.
A giant tree appeared ahead.
The trunk was over three meters in diameter, with a towering canopy and dense foliage.
The bark was a sickly dark brown, covered in tumor-like protrusions and cracked patterns that resembled twisted, hideous faces.
At the base of the trunk, a person was sitting propped up in the waist-high grass.
The individual wore the uniform of the Anomaly Management Bureau, appearing to be a local investigator from Hu City, though their face was obscured.
His upper body leaned against the trunk, while his lower body was completely submerged in the grass.
The cries for help were coming from him.
Jiang Kun stopped ten meters away, not approaching immediately.
His mechanical prosthetic eye zoomed in, scanning the investigator.
There were stains on the uniform, but no obvious tears. The head lolled to one side as if the neck could no longer support it.
Most importantly, the continuous cries for help were full of energy, not sounding at all like they were coming from someone who was severely injured.
“Are you all right?” Jiang Kun spoke up, his voice not loud, but enough to ensure the other person could hear him.
He remained where he stood, his gaze sweeping over the grass surrounding the person and the giant tree itself.
The other person did not respond, only continuing to shout, “Help.”
“Xiao Liu!”
Just as Jiang Kun was observing with vigilance, a sharp shout came from the side of the forest.
Immediately after, four figures rushed out.
They all wore the same bureau uniforms and were fully equipped. Leading them was a muscular man in his thirties, his face full of anxiety as his gaze fell on the figure beneath the tree.
The person crying for help was likely their companion.
Hearing the cries, the muscular man didn't hesitate for a second, sprinting toward the tree.
His three teammates followed immediately. Two of them held their guns up to guard the surroundings, while also keeping a wary eye on Jiang Kun.
“Careful, there might be a problem there,” Jiang Kun raised his voice to warn them, speaking rapidly.
But the man was desperate to save his comrade, or perhaps he simply didn't care for a stranger like Jiang Kun; he completely ignored the warning.
Almost as soon as Jiang Kun spoke, the man had already reached the tree.
Jiang Kun watched coldly, making no further attempt to stop them. Warning them once was already an act of kindness on his part. Everyone had their own fate, and he wasn't about to meddle recklessly.
Reaching the tree, the man dropped to one knee, supporting Xiao Liu with one hand while pulling out a vial of liquid medicine with the other.
This was a high-efficiency emergency injection reserved for officials, capable of effectively stabilizing vital signs.
“Hang in there, Xiao Liu,” the man growled, thrusting the emergency needle toward Xiao Liu's skin.
At the same time, his gaze shifted down, wanting to check where Xiao Liu's injuries were.
The upper body’s uniform was intact, with no bloodstains.
His gaze moved down past the waist, where the legs should have been...
What he saw instead was a mass of frantically writhing dark green grass and vines!
The grass seemed to tightly wrap around and fill the space where Xiao Liu's legs should have been, rising and falling rhythmically as if mimicking breathing.
The man froze.
‘His legs are covered by grass?’
His first instinct was to reach out and push aside the obstructing blades of grass to see what was underneath.
But when his hand pressed down, it went straight through.
His fingertips didn't feel the contour of any limb; they hit the cold ground beneath.
The man stiffened violently, incredulously feeling around a few more times.
Nothing!
There was nothing there!
Below Xiao Liu's waist, there was only emptiness filled with grass and vines.
“Where are your legs? Xiao Liu, your legs!”
He looked up in horror, but at that exact moment—
Swish!
A vine coated in dark red, viscous liquid suddenly burst out from Xiao Liu's chest, moving so fast it left only a blurred afterimage in the air.
Pfft.
Caught completely off guard, the man had the vine drive into his mouth and straight down his throat.
The man's body struggled violently for a moment before his eyes widened and his pupils dilated.
His hand supporting Xiao Liu lost its strength and let go, the emergency syringe falling into the grass. The expression on his face froze, and his body went limp, slumping to the side.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
“Captain!”
“What is that thing?”
The three investigators on guard finally reacted, turning toward the tree in absolute horror.
But just as their attention was drawn by their captain's grisly death, the grass beneath their feet and the bushes beside them all “came alive”!
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
A hair-raising, dense sound of friction erupted from all directions.
Dozens of vines of varying thickness shot out from every angle, instantly entangling the three investigators.
The strength of the vines was staggering, and they were covered in barbs that tightened the moment they made contact, sinking deep into the protective suits.
“Ah, what is this?”
“Fire!”
“Save me!”
Cries of alarm and screams of pain mixed together.
The entangled investigators struggled desperately, pulling their triggers haphazardly, bullets spraying into the air or the ground.
Unfortunately, they couldn't avoid being dragged to the ground and pulled toward the giant tree.
Jiang Kun had been standing on the perimeter, watching coldly. He was only here to investigate the truth and didn't want to get involved in extra trouble.
But in the next instant, the grass to his left, right, and behind him also began to shake.
Several vines coiled toward him, cutting off his space to evade.
Jiang Kun's eyes turned sharp, and his body reacted instantly.
Deep mechanical modification had given him more than just strength; he possessed reaction speed and dynamic vision far beyond ordinary humans.
He didn't even look directly at the incoming vines, judging their trajectories solely by the subtle sounds.
With a clean slide, the vines grazed the edge of his clothes, all missing their mark.
He ignored the investigators still screaming and struggling in the vines, his gaze locking onto the target—that eerie giant tree.
The surrounding grass and vines, all the anomalies—the source was likely the tree itself!
For plants to all mutate and launch such a cunning attack, even mimicking human cries to set a trap, suggested this was more than just a simple mutation.
It was more as if something was controlling these plants.
When he was about five meters from the giant tree, Jiang Kun no longer hesitated and pushed off the ground.
The ground was kicked into a small crater as he leaped into the air, the high-frequency cutting blade on his mechanical limb stabbing fiercely into the rough trunk!
Pfft.
The blade sank into the bark without resistance.
But for a tree this massive, such a wound was likely negligible.
“Help, save me!”
Beneath the tree, the half-bodied Xiao Liu was still screaming hoarsely.
His voice was even more shrill and high-pitched than before, as if he had already merged with the tree, becoming a tool used as bait to attract prey.
Jiang Kun gave a low shout, and the cutting blade embedded in the trunk exerted horizontal force, carving a deep groove straight through the hard wood!
Wood chips mixed with a foul-smelling liquid splattered out.
He didn't stop, kicking off the trunk to gain momentum as he ran rapidly around the giant tree.
The cutting blade remained embedded in the trunk the entire time. As he ran, the blade carved a deep, circular cut into the tree.
Creeeeeak.
The sound of giant wood snapping came from within the trunk. The circular cut grew deeper and deeper until the trunk was severed in half.
Jiang Kun's logic was simple and crude: whatever ghost of a thing it was, he would cut it down first.
Rumble!
Under the force of gravity, the trunk began to tilt, exposing the wood fibers to the air and gushing out even more foul-smelling sap.
At the exact moment the giant tree crashed down...
An indescribable orb of light drifted out from the cross-section of the severed trunk!
It was a color Jiang Kun had never seen before, seemingly impossible to describe using any known color spectrum.
It looked like a dozen of the most vibrant, clashing colors had been mixed together and then diluted with dirty water, eventually forming a chaotic colored light that constantly flowed and shifted.
Jiang Kun's mechanical prosthetic eye zoomed in and analyzed the sight.
The colored light didn't seem like an inanimate object; it dispersed and regrouped in the air, condensing into an indescribable, eerie form.
As he stared at the colored light, his head began to spin.
Without the slightest hesitation—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jiang Kun raised his gun and fired. Muzzle flashes flared as he fired precise shots into the colored light.
Unfortunately, the bullets passed straight through, as if hitting a void or a phantom, dealing zero damage.
Physical attacks were ineffective!
Buzz!
Almost at the same moment Jiang Kun attacked, he felt the dizziness in his brain multiply.
The scene before him began to blur, and the world seemed to turn into a reflection in a funhouse mirror, spinning wildly.
A wave of nausea hit his stomach.
It was mental contamination!
It was far more intense than what he had seen indirectly through the camera screen.
Jiang Kun groaned, his gun hand falling limp as he stumbled back, his vision a total blur.
The mass of colored light that had emerged from the giant tree moved.
In an instant, it appeared right in front of Jiang Kun.
“System, save me!”
...
There was a soft knock on the door of the top-floor office of the Wang Group.
“Come in.” Yue Shi, wearing the skin of Wang Er, sat behind the desk.
The door opened, and a man in his forties wearing gold-rimmed glasses walked in.
He was the head of the Wang Group's material procurement department, surnamed Sun. He carried a tablet and several folders, walking with a steady pace and a professional smile on his face.
“President Wang, you wanted to see me.” Manager Sun stopped in front of the desk and bowed slightly.
“Sit.” Yue Shi tilted his chin, pointing to the chair opposite him.
Once Manager Sun was seated, Yue Shi got straight to the point, asking about the sponge-like filling inside the mechanical member.
“There are signs that certain properties of this material might exceed our current technological capabilities. I want to know the source of this material, its specific composition, the production process, and whether there are any non-standard additions or processing procedures involved.”
A flash of confusion crossed Manager Sun's eyes. Why was the boss suddenly so bored that he cared about this? Did he want to get a replacement too?
But his years of professional experience had long since taught him the rules of survival in the workplace: do not question your superiors or the boss. Answer what you are asked and don't do anything extra.
He pushed up his glasses and said, “President Wang, regarding the expandable filling used in the mechanical ██ organ product line, we have a strict and complete supply chain tracking system.”
“According to the records, these materials are supplied directly by our long-term overseas partner, ABT Advanced Biotechnology Holdings.”
Yue Shi raised an eyebrow. The raw materials for the mechanical member came from overseas?
Manager Sun continued, “ABT claims that their materials originate from a company in the South Continent.”
“And that company in the South Continent, in turn, procures the materials from a cross-border enterprise.”
“As for exactly where this cross-border enterprise obtains the materials, how many middlemen they pass through for resale or preliminary processing, and what the original raw material actually is...”
At this point, Manager Sun gave a slightly apologetic smile.
“President Wang, as you know, fields involving rare biological resources or cutting-edge materials are often subject to multiple layers of subcontracting, cross-border trade, and non-disclosure agreements.”
“Each layer performs a certain degree of optimization and information filtering based on commercial considerations; much of it is a trade secret.”
“ABT, which we deal with directly, provides semi-finished filling materials. If we were to thoroughly trace the composition and original source of the raw materials, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to do it with our current strength.”
Manager Sun finished speaking and lowered his head slightly.
His words were clear and respectable.
The truth was often unpleasant.
The Wang Group could only deal with ABT.
As for why they didn't work with suppliers further upstream?
Because it was very chaotic outside.
While Zhongzhou was relatively peaceful and stable, the outside world was not.
If the Wang Group wanted to bypass ABT and find upstream suppliers directly?
Product quality and transportation would not be guaranteed, and ABT could cut off cooperation with Wang Group and choose another enterprise in Zhongzhou instead.
In short, the core technology and channels were in the hands of others; the Wang Group was just the client.
Yue Shi tapped his fingers lightly on the desk and spoke slowly, “In other words, we have no idea what the thing we are implanting into tens of thousands of people actually is.”
Manager Sun seemed to misunderstand something and said calmly, “From a commercial contract and legal document perspective, we do know.”
“The materials the group acquires pass quality inspections and biosafety tests, and the documentation for all upstream links is impeccable, with no hidden risks.”
“In a legal sense, we are fully compliant. Even if something were to happen, there's no need to worry about liability issues.”
Yue Shi glanced at him and waved his hand. “Fine, I understand. You may leave.”
“Compile a report on the backgrounds of ABT and the upstream suppliers and send it to me.”
“Yes, President Wang.” Manager Sun gathered his folders, bowed slightly, and quickly exited the office.
The office became quiet again.
Yue Shi turned his gaze toward the window.
The supply chain for the mechanical member's filling material had a deliberately created blur, with the true source hidden under multiple layers of proxies.
‘It seems this thing really does have a secret.’
‘It feels like I’ve accidentally stumbled upon some conspiracy.’
‘Interesting.’
Just then, a cry for help interrupted Yue Shi's thoughts.
“System, save me!”
It was Jiang Kun calling for help from the Heaven-Defying Fate-Changing System.
Yue Shi's attention had been on the mechanical member matter just now, so he hadn't been watching Jiang Kun.
He looks away for one second and the guy is in danger?
He wondered what exactly was happening over in Hu City.
Yue Shi immediately turned his vision toward Jiang Kun, and then he saw a mass of brilliant, colored light.
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