Guan Chong’s entire right arm was numbed by the shock, and his wrist bone made a strained "crack" sound.

But he stubbornly withstood the impact, his right hand gripping the gun tightly, determined not to let go even in death.

In the next instant, his index finger frantically pulled the trigger, emptying a clip of bullets.

The first bullet entered the monster’s left eye, churning up the lens, spraying dark green fluid.

The second bullet followed swiftly, blowing away the optic nerve, causing the monster’s eyeball to explode instantly with a piercing howl.

The third bullet, fourth bullet, fifth bullet... bullets successively pierced through the monster’s skull, making a muffled "thud thud" sound, as if pounding on a water-filled bag.

When the last bullet whizzed out, the back of the monster’s head completely blew open, brain tissue mixed with bone fragments sprayed in a radial pattern, like a bowl of sauce-covered brain matter.

Guan Chong panted heavily as he pulled out the pistol deeply embedded in the eyeball, with a few strands of sticky optic nerve still hanging on the barrel.

The monster’s body twitched violently twice before collapsing to the ground with a crash, stirring up a cloud mixed with blood mist.

Gong Qi stepped out from behind the monster, looking at Guan Chong with a faint smile, and lightly uttered three words: "You’re welcome."

Hou Wendong’s legs went soft, and he slid down against the wall to the floor.

He stared blankly at the monster’s corpse just a step away, its hideous single eye still glaring at him, unseeing in death.

The feeling of surviving a disaster surged like a tide—seemingly, he wouldn’t have to stand in line at the incineration plant, nor lie in the hospital ICU.

"My life, lately...," he said with a bitter smile, touching his chest, where scars from a previous attack remained.

He didn’t know whether to call it bad luck or fortune.

Unfortunate, because he often got caught up in inexplicable dangers; fortunate, because every time, he was saved by strangers at the last moment.

In just a few days, Hou Wendong’s list of benefactors had added two new names.

.....

Everyone is the protagonist of their own destiny.

Especially between life and death, on a stage stained red with blood, everyone will reveal their truest selves.

"Blood is the most honest mirror, showing a person’s nature—be it brutality, cowardice, cunning, or stupidity, it will all be revealed without reserve!"

The special agent sat on the stage platform, coldly overlooking the grand stage woven out of life on campus.

This was the most spectacular performance he had seen since arriving in Lower City.

But when his gaze shifted to the live broadcast on the big screen, he felt the clamor lost its luster.

That’s where the true center of the stage was.

On the screen, the scientist Zuo Bai stood rigid in the center, with two identical [Mask] figures standing beside him.

They were symmetrically mirrored, with identical smiles at the corners of their mouths, even the frequency at which their lips moved was the same, their pupils under gold-rimmed glasses flashing with the same sinister light.

Suddenly, the two [Mask] figures’ arms twisted, not like a human’s, into a bone blade wrapped with spiraling black patterns.

The blade tip pierced through Zuo Bai’s back, then lifted his entire body into the air, like a specimen pinned in a laboratory.

In the blink of an eye, countless bone spikes burst out from Zuo Bai’s body.

Abdomen, eye sockets, throat, ribs... every bit of flesh pierced out with menacing white bones, like a pristine flower blooming suddenly from within.

Then, Zuo Bai’s body began to swell like a malfunctioning inflatable doll, his skin gradually turning transparent, revealing a surging black fluid beneath—not biological tissue, but countless shadows disguised as ink.

Pong—

Zuo Bai’s chest, abdominal cavity exploded into shreds.

Countless droplets of ink splashed chaotically around, then silently fell into the sewage, burrowing into one of the [Mask]’s bodies.

The other [Mask] slowly pulled his arm out of Zuo Bai’s shattered body, and as his arm withdrew, the blooming bone flower retracted back, carrying some blood, into his palm.

Leaving only a still-beating heart in the palm!

It was clearly a semi-mechanical heart, its surface covered in nerve-like circuits, each circuit flowing with liquid metal like mercury.

The most frightening part was the mini chip connected at the aorta, frantically flashing red.

Zuo Bai’s body only had a head and legs left, the entire middle gone, connected only by a spine crawling with silver nanobots.

A normal person suffering such an injury would have been beyond dead.

But Zuo Bai could still slowly turn his neck, his vertebrae making a gear-stuck "click click" sound.

Two black holes without eyeballs stared intently at the [Mask] in front, his jaw mechanically opening and closing, throat uttering damaged, static-laden buzz:

"I never thought I would lose here. I have to admit, [Mask], you’ve made me feel a long-lost sense of frustration. I’ve lost this round, but..."

Both [Mask] faces simultaneously showed a smile of interest:

"As expected of a scientist, even transformed yourself. But since you know you’ve lost, just obediently hand over the [Black Core]."

A ghostly blue light suddenly appeared in Zuo Bai’s black pupils, like a monitor rebooting overnight:

"You won’t get anything from me, and we’ll soon meet again, I promise to dismantle you because I’ve already seen your true face, nothing remains secret in my eyes!"

Zuo Bai paused, clearly a body shattered beyond recognition but proudly lifted his head, announcing ahead of time:

"[Mask], I can hardly wait for that day."

The two [Mask]s lowered their heads simultaneously, a pair of jet-black eyes meeting Zuo Bai’s face, a pair of red Hook Jades gazed upon the heart in their hand, with a mysterious smile saying: 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"What a coincidence, I’m also looking forward to our next encounter. By the way, I’ve already taken the ’parting gift’ I wanted from you!"

What Zuo Bai couldn’t see was, on the red Hook Jades, a line of eerie prompt subtitles slowly emerged.

[You are peering into a fresh heart!]

[From this heart, you glimpse an ability yet to dissipate.]

[....]

He only felt his heart stop beating, unable to receive electrical signals in his mind, his consciousness link severed, the blue light in his pupils instantly turning red.

[Mask]’s fingertips gently contracted, the semi-mechanical heart collapsing into sand, falling through his fingers.

Zuo Bai’s head lost support, suddenly drooping, while intense red light burst from his eye sockets, momentarily illuminating the whole shaft like broad daylight.

[Mask], however, unhurriedly flung the sands from his fingertips, his gaze lingering over Feng Yuhuai, looking towards the skulking shadows in the ducts....