"Still alive? I charge double for dealing with the living," the driver said, facing the barrel of the gun without the slightest hint of panic.
"Where is this place? Are we still in District Nineteen?"
Yu Jing had already been piecing things together in the back of the vehicle. The corpses were stuffed in burlap sacks and placed in the frigid cargo hold—clearly, someone from the research institute had ordered the cleanup.
"This is the border between District Nineteen and District Eighteen, about 230 kilometers from the Class-A central zone of District Nineteen. It's a no-man's land. You can kill me here and dispose of my body along with the others."
The driver's words sent a subtle shiver through Yu Jing's chest.
Despite his potbelly, the driver moved with startling agility. Taking advantage of Yu Jing's brief mental pause, he twisted his arms, attempting to wrest the gun back—but Yu Jing, who had already stared death in the face, reacted instantly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots in quick succession. The bullets tore clean through the center of the driver's forehead.
He may have looked like an ordinary young man, but Yu Jing was anything but indecisive. Had he hesitated even a moment, he would have been the one lying on the ground with a bullet in his skull.
After the bloodshed in the slaughterhouse, after seeing his friends forever torn from the world of the living, Yu Jing no longer felt guilt over killing. Technically, he himself was a man who had already died.
"So cold..."
As the adrenaline ebbed, the biting chill returned. He was stark naked, and the cold had long since seeped into his bones. He quickly reached out and stripped the driver of his clothes, slipping them on for warmth. Thankfully, they were free of blood.
"I'll bury all the bodies here and fill the pit completely."
Yu Jing's mind was eerily calm. He chose not to dwell on why he had come back to life. First, the corpses had to be dealt with.
"Even in the middle of nowhere, if these bodies are found, the authorities will use every means to track down whoever was here."
He stared down at the driver's bullet-ridden forehead, then stepped forward and grabbed the man's arm, dragging him toward a nearby ditch.
But as he was pulling the body, he felt something strange in his left arm—something slithering through his flesh and muscle. It crept just beneath the surface of his skin and then, suddenly, broke through at his fingertips.
Yu Jing watched in disbelief as a green vine-like plant extended from his fingers and burrowed into the corpse's flesh.
Gurgle, gurgle...
Like it was feeding, the green vine slurped up what little warmth and blood still remained in the driver's body.
Horrified, Yu Jing yanked his hand away. The plant recoiled instantly, retracting into his fingers as if it had never been there.
The once-fat corpse was now shriveled and skeletal, completely drained of nutrients.
"There's a... plant in my arm? What the hell is going on?"
Under the pale moonlight, he stared at his right arm. Something green squirmed faintly beneath his skin, entwined with his blood vessels. And yet, it didn't feel threatening. In fact, after absorbing the body's nutrients, his own body felt warmer and more energized, like the chill had been forced out of him.
Most importantly—the plant obeyed him. It moved according to his will.
"Could it have started... back then? During the earthquake in the test zone?"
Yu Jing's memory was extraordinary, and as he sifted through the details in his mind, he recalled that moment—while fleeing the butcher, he had braced his hand against something sharp on the ground. Then came the tremor. He now suspected that the plant hidden in his arm might be something far beyond the research institute's control.
Just then, beams of flashlight pierced through the trees, illuminating his body in stark white light.
Yu Jing considered running, but chose to wait and observe. If it was the police, it would be best to surrender and let them investigate. That would be the safest way out.
But the men who emerged from the forest weren't wearing police uniforms. They were dressed in sharp black suits.
"Not the police... Institute enforcers sent to eliminate witnesses?"
The moment Yu Jing saw them, he grabbed the pistol off the ground and bolted toward the other end of the woods.
But he had barely turned when a man nearly two meters tall stepped in his way. Clad in a black trench coat and round-brimmed hat, he appeared without a sound. Yu Jing hadn't seen him approach at all—he had simply materialized, as if summoned by the dark.
"So it really is true," the man said, his deep voice low and heavy.
From under the brim of the hat, sharp, penetrating eyes locked onto Yu Jing, freezing him in place. His will to flee vanished. It felt as if he were sinking into a black swamp—the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.
"That means... I'll have to eliminate all witnesses. If word gets out, it'll be a problem for me."
As the towering man muttered to himself, Yu Jing caught a glimpse of something—a dark shadow flickering behind him. Then came the screams. Agonized. Muffled. The sound of flesh being torn apart.
When Yu Jing finally turned around, a horrific scene unfolded before his eyes.
More than ten men in black lay scattered where they had just stood—headless and brutally slain. Yu Jing found it impossible to comprehend how such a bloody massacre could have occurred in less than two seconds. Compared to this, escaping from the towering mysterious man in front of him was utterly hopeless.
"Aren't you afraid?"
The mysterious man looked at Yu Jing, who showed no tremor in his body or significant change in his expression, and asked calmly.
"Not really… ah!"
Suddenly, Yu Jing's neck was gripped tightly by a gloved hand and lifted off the ground.
"Tell me the most important thing in your life!" The man in black demanded, his fingers tightening mercilessly around Yu Jing's throat.
"Cough... What do you mean?" Yu Jing was struggling to breathe and couldn't quite understand the question.
But the man gave no answer. As seconds passed, his grip only grew tighter. At this rate, Yu Jing would suffocate and die.
"To cure my mother's illness."
As soon as Yu Jing uttered the words, the man's crushing fingers finally released their hold. Yu Jing collapsed to the ground, weak and coughing violently.
"Good, you still have your will intact. Follow me."