Chapter 1 Dark Web Organization

Dark web organization, a certain stronghold.

"Dark Phantom went to West Capital? What's he doing there?" Bennett asked, surprised.

"I don't know, he didn't say," Wang Yuan shook his head.

Bennett had no choice but to call Han Xiao, but he couldn't get through. Han Xiao was on a transatlantic flight, and the signal was poor.

Bennett was helpless. Star-Long's material assistance had already arrived, and Sea Xia had also relented after some wrangling. The shelter plan was about to be piloted in South Capital. He was preparing to gather the strong individuals in the organization to escort the first step of the plan. Dark Phantom was one of the top three invitees on the list, but before he could even notify him, Han Xiao had slipped away to West Capital.

The first shelter, the location was already chosen, in the ruins of a large city in the wilderness.

Bennett suddenly had an idea and said, "Red Maple refused material assistance. Those bureaucrats are tough and don't respond to soft approaches. Now that Dark Phantom is in West Capital, let him express our position for me!"

...

The confinement room had no light at all. The thick metal door isolated it from the outside world. In the darkness, only a sliver of light could be seen leaking from the crack in the door. Ilex huddled in a corner, looking at the stats panel with a tearful face. His potential rating for his Esper ability was A-grade, but more than twenty days into the public beta, when the average player had reached level eight, his level was still a lonely "1."

The Germination Organization said they would lock him up for a month, and they really meant a month. If Ilex wasn't reluctant to give up his high-potential Esper ability, he would have wanted to change accounts. The club learned about his account situation and took it very seriously, telling Ilex to be patient and promising to invest resources in him after he was released, which was the only reason he had persevered, still logging in every day, hoping for a turnaround.

At this moment, the metal door slowly opened, and white light spilled in.

Ilex looked up and saw a white man in a white coat standing outside the door, staring at Ilex with eyes as if he were looking at a rare treasure.

"I want to do a little test for you," the man in the white coat said with a neurotic smile.

...

Cerberus was very happy.

He was one of the higher-ups in the Germination Organization and also a biological scientist. For many years, he had conducted various experiments and research for Germination. Before joining Germination, Cerberus was a senior researcher who defected from Ruilan. Ruilan was a breeding ground for lunatics, and his mind was filled with all kinds of crazy ideas. His position as a human being never restrained his enthusiasm for dissecting the bodies of his fellow humans. He didn't care about factions, as long as someone funded his research, he would join them. In the end, he was absorbed by Germination.

So Germination provided resources to support Cerberus in carrying out his various crazy ideas in experiments. Valkyrie, Super Soldiers, gene improvement, and other unethical projects were all his responsibility, as well as other darker experiments, whose very names could make normal people feel disgusted and perverts excited, such as cross-species hybridization and human-animal stitching...

Over the years, Cerberus had conducted no less than a hundred experiments and seen thousands of "human materials" with special talents. Only two of these "materials" had aroused Cerberus's interest, both of whom were Esper users.

One person's blood possessed incredible healing effects, even capable of making mummies look lifelike again, but without a soul, they could not be resurrected. This was also the first time Cerberus had recognized the existence of the soul, and he studied it feverishly for a long time. Unfortunately, the Aquamarine Star's tech tree didn't match, and he couldn't collect any souls using experimental methods.

The other person had the ability to "influence fate." By commenting on something, they could influence the cause and effect of that thing. It was the most bizarre ability Cerberus had ever seen, even more difficult to explain than the soul. The ability only had a chance to activate when the person was conscious; hypnosis was ineffective. This person was under strict surveillance twenty-four hours a day, wearing a mask that prevented them from speaking. Due to negligence, a terrible accident had occurred. The most recent accident was more than a year ago when this person said that disaster would befall Germination, and it came true. Now the organization was indeed seriously weakened.

And Ilex was the third material that aroused his interest.

Cerberus flipped through the observation diary.

[Day 1: The subject was sent to the confinement room, under twenty-four-hour surveillance with audio and night-vision cameras. Feeding occurred three times a day, at 7:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 7:00 PM, with no exercise time. The subject showed obvious anxiety and did not exhibit the dull state after brainwashing. Preliminary estimates indicate that the subject has some immunity. Compliance testing is recommended.]

[Day 2: 8:00 AM, compliance test conducted. Test results: the subject showed a high degree of compliance, all tests passed, and the lie detector showed no abnormalities. The subject has accepted the new identity after brainwashing. 11:00 PM, anomaly occurred. The subject disappeared into thin air. The confinement room showed no signs of damage. A full-scale search of the base was conducted, but the subject was not found.]

[Day 4: The subject reappeared, without any warning, in the confinement room, in the same location as the disappearance. See video data [Appendix-001]. We immediately controlled the subject and interrogated them about the reason for the disappearance and what happened after the disappearance. The subject stated that they did not know. The interrogation content is recorded in [Appendix-002]. Strengthened surveillance of the subject.]

...

[Day 6: Hypnotic lie detection used. The subject spoke nonsense. Recording [Appendix-003]. The subject disappeared again at night.]

[Day 8: The subject appeared. Interrogation and hypnosis were conducted again. See [Appendix-004] for details. 8:00 PM, a surgical observation of the physiology was performed. The body structure showed no abnormalities. Surgical conclusion [Appendix-005].]

...

The observation diary covered twenty-two days. The phenomenon of Ilex also appeared in some wandering settlements in the Andia Continent, which attracted Germination's attention. They did not publicize it but observed it secretly.

Unable to die, able to resurrect, appearing out of thin air, unknown origins... If it was just one person, it wouldn't matter, but more than tens of thousands of people were experiencing this phenomenon, and the number was still increasing, spreading like an infectious disease. The leader attached great importance to this and put Cerberus in charge of conducting various experiments on Ilex.

Ilex was escorted by guards to an operating room and laid on the operating table. Having received the task of cooperating with the surgery, his relationship with the Germination camp had been brainwashed, and all orders were mandatory tasks, with some experience rewards, but the penalties for disobedience were severe.

Ilex could only obey the orders, feeling depressed.

Cerberus put on his surgical gown and began to operate on Ilex. Ilex received a notification that he was under anesthesia and could not move. He could only watch the knife cut back and forth on his body. He realized that he was being dissected. As soon as he was opened up, the system gave a prompt.

"You have died in surgery."

Ilex was stunned. Ten seconds later, he respawned in the room.

"What the hell, I was dissected and studied?!"

Ilex was dumbfounded. He had lost one of his six resurrection opportunities, but he didn't lose any experience points, probably because the cause of death was a special situation.

This was the first time he had encountered this situation. In the virtual online games he used to play, the NPCs ignored the special nature of the players. Many people had complained about this, and some with big imaginations even fantasized about players being dissected and studied. He didn't expect it to actually happen in *Galaxy* .

Cerberus observed the whole process. Ilex's corpse disappeared and reappeared alive. Everything happened out of thin air, and the bloodstains on the operating table were still there.

"You... no, what kind of beings are you?" Cerberus's eyes gleamed.

Ilex suddenly had a mischievous thought. What would happen if he told the truth?