“I have a way.” Mike lowered his voice, saying, “I handled several things when we first moved here, so I’m familiar with the routes and surveillance systems. There’s a route—”Lily seemingly realized something and suddenly interrupted him, “We might not need to trouble ourselves with it.”Mike was puzzled. “What do you mean?”She tipped her chin toward a nonfunctioning surveillance camera, removed the signal jammer from her person, and tossed it aside. “Has it ever occurred to you that he might’ve done all of this in front of us just to show he knows what we’re up to, even without the help of these gadgets? Besides, is he implying the higher-ups have already given up on the boss?”“Given up on him?” Mike found it hard to believe. After all, he had previously heard about the organization through the masked man, who was his sole point of contact.Although he knew the mysterious organization supported the “boss,” he never interacted directly with it. To him, the masked man was a mess
Lily was not upset nor behaving recklessly. The truth was that she had already succeeded but had not told anyone about it. She finally successfully created the latest batch of experimental products just two days ago.As the success was recent and she was uncertain of how stable the drug was—coupled with the fact that she did not want to hand it to the organization—she did not reveal it to anyone, including Mike.However, Rick’s attitude today puzzled her. The man gave the ultimatum as if he knew the experiment had succeeded.‘I haven’t told anyone, so how did Rick find out? Did he simply give me an ultimatum without knowing about it?’She noticed Mike’s confusion and curled her lips into a half-smile. “I mean, I’ll give my all to the experiment today. There is still a batch of experimental products, so I’ll know the result tomorrow. As he said, all he wants is the outcome, whether or not it works.”“But if you fail…”“If I fail, he can just kill me.” She shrugged and smiled casua
Lily nodded, agreeing with what Mike had said.He did not understand initially, but after hearing what she said, he understood the situation better. After pondering for a moment, Mike said, “I’ve got an idea.”Lily looked curious.“Can you guess what the ‘boss’ would feel when he finds out the organization has abandoned him?” His voice was soft, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips which revealed his cunning nature.However, Lily had to admit she had the same idea. She nodded. “Good thinking.”Mike took a deep breath. “I’ll go take care of it then. If there’s anything, just look for me!”…Staying one day in Dominic’s estate, Alexander felt time seemed to have slowed down as he had never been so free. Although he still received many calls and had to use his laptop to work and participate in video conferences, his workload had decreased considerably than before.Dominic would sometimes wake up from his slumber and start nagging groggily before falling asleep again. After
Austin looked up and saw Alexander before yelling, “Stay where you are!”Austin looked pale, sweat covering his forehead as he stubbornly held his wrist against Dominic’s. Both parties’ wrists had slashes on them, and Austin was holding their wounds together tightly.“That’s insane!” Alexander shouted.He headed over, but Austin yelled, “Stay back!”His voice was so loud and desperate that he was shaking.Seeing him so agitated, Alexander stopped in his path.“But if you do this…”Austin caught his breath and said, “There’s no other way. There isn’t!”Stunned, Alexander threw Dominic a look and was horrified by what he saw. Dominic had developed many large swellings. The swellings resembled small hills rising on a plain, making his formerly wrinkled skin taut.Since Dominic was old and relatively thin, his skin was always wrinkly, but now it was stretched and shiny. His condition resembled Austin’s during his experience with the virus but differed slightly.Austin was young a
‘Besides, what about many others who have gotten infected? Is he going to draw all the symbiotes into his body?’Alexander did not know how to stop Austin, wondering if interrupting the process would worsen things. At that moment, Dominic seemed to have awoken from his stupor and tried to lift his shaking hand.Austin was surprised to see him moving and quickly said, “Stay still! I’ll alleviate your pain, and you’ll recover soon!”He was excited, but Dominic was not. The older man lifted his trembling hand and slapped his grandnephew’s face. However, Dominig’s hand merely brushed Austin’s cheek as he was too weak. Even so, his movement exhilarated Austin. “Are you getting better?” Austin grabbed his granduncle’s hand. “I knew this method would work!”“Work… my *ss!” Even in a weakened state, Dominic still spoke rather harshly. He tried to struggle free from Austin but could not since his grandnephew was too strong. “Let go... you brat!”“I can’t. We’re halfway there, and I’ll so
The swellings on Dominic’s body gradually shrank.However, they could not be too happy because they soon saw something tiny quickly moving under Dominic’s skin—there was more than one. The blood vessels seemed to have come alive.Everyone was shocked, including Austin, who gawked at the phenomenon. “Uncle Dom…”Dominic frowned in pain. Although he bit his lower lip to stop groaning, he could not help letting out anguished moans.“What should we do?” Alexander asked gravely.He knew this was beyond Austin and did not blame him. After all, Austin had failed to find a solution from the books within such a short period. Therefore, Alexander could only place his hope in Dominic.‘Perhaps he knows what to do or can find a way to buy some time. When Lily takes care of her task over there, she can return to discuss a better solution with him.’Dominic knitted his brow as large beads of sweat covered his forehead. He could hardly say a word.Alexander caught sight of the gauze and sciss
“Which ancient medical texts say you can draw the symbiotes back into your body? Have you watched too many movies or read too many comics?” Dominic glanced at Austin and slowly continued, “You need a trigger to plant symbiotes. Likewise, you need one to get rid of them.”“What’s the trigger? I’ll go get it now!” Austin said hurriedly.Dominic lifted his hand slightly to calm him down before adding, “We don’t know what symbiotes they are, so we can only eliminate them when we do. Furthermore, the more you agitate them, the faster they act up.”“What do you mean? Are you saying what I did agitates them?” Austin thought about it and hated himself even more.‘I’ve not just brought this calamity to everyone but has made my granduncle suffer more and more.’“Not just this time. I also spurred the symbiotes' growth when I tried to draw them out by taking the medicated bath.” Dominic smiled bitterly and said, “Even I made a mistake, let alone you. So don’t blame yourself, okay? What bound
“Perhaps it’s a pathogen or something we don’t know about,” Dominic murmured, his eyes shut, drained of all energy. Meanwhile, the other two leaned over to listen intently since his voice was soft.However, although Dominic moved his lips slightly, no other words came out. The two men exchanged puzzled looks and wondered if anything was wrong with their hearing.“Uncle Dom, what did you say?” Austin asked again.Dominic’s mouth moved, but no voice came out.“He’s not saying anything,” Alexander concluded.At this moment, Dominic suddenly shut his mouth and stopped moving, seemingly falling into a stupor again. After staring at him, Austin called out tentatively, “Uncle Dom? Uncle Dom!”The older man gave no response.“Seems like…” Before Austin could finish, Dominic suddenly snapped his eyes open.Austin was startled and quickly leaned over. “Uncle Dom?”Dominic looked dazed as if he had just woken up from sleep. Then he turned his gaze to Austin. “You… brat!”“Yes, it’s me!