He had addressed him respectfully as "Director" from the very start, but from that same start, he’d had no intention of letting him go.

For the first time, the director of the Gene Research Institute caught the scent of death. He had never been so close to dying.

As he looked at the man standing over him, scrutinizing him, he was struck by how young, yet how powerful, the other was. It was only then that he truly realized Graces was no ordinary person.

’How could an ordinary officer come and go from the dungeons of Dark City as he pleased?’ But it was too late for such thoughts. He knew with absolute clarity that from the moment he’d been brought here, Graces had never intended for him to leave alive. There was no possibility of him leaving alive.

And the reason for all this, it seemed, was simply that he had made Duke Lu Xia unhappy.

Such an absurd reason, yet so terrifyingly real.

He regretted it. He truly did. But it was too late...

Graces composed himself, wiped the blood from his hands, and said to the guard at the door, "Clean this up."

He casually tossed the blood-soaked paper towel to the floor. Then, with long strides, Graces headed toward a room on the other side of the corridor.

Upon closer inspection, one would see that both sides of the seemingly endless corridor were lined with individual prison cells.

Dark City had always been a place for the most vicious and depraved, though it occasionally served other purposes.

The one constant was that no one who entered this place ever left—not alive, and not even in death.

An attendant opened a nearby iron door. Graces stood in the doorway, watching the man inside. Startled by the noise, the man tried to scramble off the bed, but the iron chains on his wrists restricted his movements.

The man’s face was so gaunt he was almost unrecognizable. Upon seeing his visitor, his eyes filled with a mixture of desperate agitation and terror. "Graces, I was wrong! Please, just let me go, won’t you? I swear I won’t say a word when I get out. I won’t even stay on the Imperial Star! I’ll never bother you again, I swear it! Please let me go!"

"You know, she mentioned you not long ago, Colonel Ke Fei," Graces said, as if he’d come all this way just to share this tidbit. "I was surprised she even remembered you. She praised your character, saying you were a man of your word for leaving the First Military District after losing our duel."

The words, however, only plunged Ko Fei into a deeper panic. ’If I hadn’t provoked him, and if his precious Female Master hadn’t happened to witness it all... how could I have ended up in this state?’

Graces wasn’t just a Colonel in the First Military District; he was also the City Lord, the master of Dark City. No one knew how he, a so-called "defective," had managed to accomplish it all.

He wouldn’t have believed it if he weren’t living it.

And yet, it was all terrifyingly real. From the moment Ko Fei was brought here, Graces had made no secret of his true identity.

Which also made it perfectly clear that Graces had no intention of ever letting him go.

So it made no difference whether Graces hid his identity or not.

"I wasn’t trying to go back on my word! I was just going to wait a little while, I wasn’t—"

"Shhh." Graces raised a finger to his lips again. "I came today to share some good news, Colonel Ke Fei. I’m a Gene Fusion Expert now. Admiral Snop has already submitted my promotion file to his superiors. I’m to be a Major General."

At these words, Ko Fei’s pupils constricted. "How is that possible? A defective male has never become a Gene Fusion Expert. You’re lying!"

"Of course not. What would I gain from lying to you? Would you like to see?" Graces asked, his tone deceptively kind.

Ko Fei stared back in silence, as if that alone could be an act of defiance against Graces’s insanity.

"But you’re not worthy of seeing it." Graces clearly had no intention of showing Ko Fei his Beastification Form. He scoffed, "I have to go. She’s waiting for me. Do take care of yourself, Colonel Ke Fei."

Graces turned and said to the attendant who was closing the door, "Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him die."

With a look of utter devastation and disbelief, Ko Fei suddenly flew into a frenzy, screaming at the closed door. "You’re lying, aren’t you! How could you become a Gene Fusion Expert?! You’re just a defective! How?! It’s impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

But Graces was already too far to hear his frantic ranting. He had emerged from the dungeons of Dark City and was now standing in the sunlight.

He glanced down at his black-gloved hands, a trace of loneliness flickering in his dark eyes. ’If Lu Xia knew I wasn’t a good person, that I’m actually vindictive and cruel... would she still protect me like this?’

’Which is why she can never find out.’

He lit a cigarette, as if to calm his nerves. He smoked it down to the filter, then waited until the smell had completely vanished. Only after confirming he was free of any scent did he return to his hovercar and depart.

Meanwhile, news of the Gene Research Institute director’s disappearance was already spreading.

And it was causing a huge stir online—

"The director of the Gene Research Institute is missing? Can’t say I’m surprised!"

"Honestly, with all the research the Gene Research Institute does, they must have some shady, illegal stuff going on. Just because they haven’t been caught before doesn’t mean they never will be!"

"Ha! You think maybe someone kidnapped the Gene Research Institute’s director to experiment on *him*? I mean, he looks like he’d be a valuable research subject!"

...

Most of the online chatter about the director’s disappearance was similarly sarcastic and cynical. Very few people expressed any actual concern, which made it painfully clear what the public thought of the Gene Research Institute.

Naturally, Lu Xia also heard the major news about the director’s disappearance. She noted it, but didn’t give it much thought.

However, she then received a call from the police.

"So, you think the Gene Research Institute director’s disappearance has something to do with me?"

"Please don’t be angry, Duke Lu Xia. This is just a routine inquiry. It’s just that before his disappearance, the director of the Gene Research Institute was insistent on having your husband, Graces, participate in his research. And from what we understand, this happened more than once."

"So you believe I have a motive? And what, exactly, would I do with him if I kidnapped him?" Lu Xia found the unfounded suspicion laughable.

"We meant no offense. It’s truly just a formality. In fact, we have already confirmed your whereabouts during the relevant time and found nothing suspicious. We can essentially rule out your involvement. We appreciate your cooperation."

"Not at all." After ending the call, Lu Xia raised an eyebrow, then promptly put the matter out of her mind.

She had already moved on because the Fire Spirit Research Room had just sent good news: they had successfully purified the Fire Spirit Gene.

The next step was to conduct experiments on test subjects. If all went well, the subjects might even develop a Fire Ability.

A successful experiment would mean the technology could be applied to Gene Fusion Experts, granting them special superpowers in their Beastification Form and increasing their combat strength.