119: Chapter 119 The Morlocks' Usefulness

A person walked out from the depths of the crowd.

A middle-aged woman, medium-to-thin build, with an old scar on her left face running from the eyebrow ridge to the mandible. The scar tissue shimmered with a pale pink hue in the remnants of the firelight. Her short hair was messy, with a few strands stuck to her skin by dust and dried blood.

She didn't walk fast, but each step was consistent in length, her back straight.

She stopped two meters in front of the crowd.

There was about fifteen meters between her and Yan Zheng.

Her gaze first swept over the bloodstains on the ground and the mixture of scorch marks and frost left by the battle, then landed on the Brute's 2.4-meter petrified skeleton, pausing for three seconds before moving to the Knight for two seconds.

Finally, she looked at Yan Zheng.

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ˘͈꒳˘͈)

"You are their leader?"

The woman nodded.

"Callisto."

"Greetings, Ms. Callisto." Yan Zheng bowed slightly, the angle precise to the standard tilt for a stranger in social etiquette manuals. "Yan Zheng."

Callisto did not respond to his etiquette. Her gaze never moved from Yan Zheng's face, the lines between her brows deeper than her actual age warranted.

"You killed the Predators."

"To be precise, I collected them."

"Is there a difference?"

"To me, there is."

The muscles in Callisto's jaw tightened. Her eyes scanned Yan Zheng's face with high frequency, as if reading some information layer invisible to ordinary people.

A perception-type Mutant.

Yan Zheng's system panel provided a signal confirmation in the corner of his vision.

[X-Gene signal detected. Target: Callisto. Gene activation level: Mid-to-high. Ability type: Super-perception system. Material value assessment: High. Vital signs: Good. Status: Cannot be collected.]

Cannot be collected.

A living person, in good condition.

Yan Zheng glanced at the prompt and closed the panel.

"You are not a Mutant." Callisto's voice dropped half a tone. "There is no X-Gene signal from you in my perception range. But you have... something else on you."

"What thing?"

"Death energy." Callisto's nostrils flared slightly. "There is something in your bones that does not belong to a living person."

The corners of Yan Zheng's mouth curled by a millimeter.

"Ms. Callisto's perception is very keen."

"So what exactly are you?"

"A Collector."

Callisto's expression didn't change, but someone in the crowd behind her cursed lowly.

"You collect corpses." This was not a question.

"I collect valuable materials." Yan Zheng corrected a word. "Corpses are just carriers."

Silence lay between the two for six seconds.

Callisto turned her head to look at the Morlocks huddled in the corner behind her. Thirty-some faces flickered in the remnants of the firelight and the reflection of the frost, each one etched with exhaustion and terror. Someone was sobbing quietly, someone's wound was still bleeding, and a half-grown child buried their face behind an adult's leg, motionless.

She turned back.

"Why did you help us?"

"Help is a very heavy word." Yan Zheng took off his white gloves from his right hand and tucked them into his inner coat pocket, his exposed fingers curling in the cold air. "I heard movement when I passed by here. The Predators' gene quality is good, so I collected them in passing. As for the fact that you happen to still be alive, that is an incidental result."

Callisto's lips pressed into a line.

"You are lying."

Yan Zheng raised an eyebrow.

"You came from the surface, down the ventilation shaft, with two... creations, collecting the remains of our fallen people along the way." Callisto stated word by word. "You didn't just happen to pass by. You came for us."

Yan Zheng's fingers paused on the edge of his coat pocket for a second.

"Ms. Callisto, I like talking to smart people."

"Then don't beat around the bush with me."

"Fine." Yan Zheng took off the other white glove as well, stacking the two gloves together and pinching them into a neat square. "I did come for the Morlocks. But not for the living."

"You want our corpses."

"What I want are the remains of those who no longer need their bodies." Yan Zheng made a slight adjustment to his wording. "Ms. Callisto, fifteen of your kin died in the hunt by the Predators. They were already dead before I arrived."

The corner of Callisto's eye twitched.

"If I hadn't come, more than fifteen would have died."

"I know." Callisto's voice lowered, with a hint of roughness in her throat. "So what? You want me to be grateful, and then hand over my kin's remains for you to experiment on?"

"Not experiments. Reuse."

"To me, there is no difference."

Yan Zheng stuffed the neatly folded white gloves back into his inner pocket, pressing a button on his coat before releasing it.

"Ms. Callisto, I propose a trade."

"Speak."

"From today on, I will provide protection for the Morlocks. Any external force, whether it's the Predators of The Brotherhood or the Agents of Project Purity, as long as they invade your territory, my creations will respond immediately."

Callisto didn't speak, but her body's center of gravity shifted forward by two millimeters.

Yan Zheng continued.

"In exchange, the remains of your kin who die of natural causes, or pass away due to irreparable injuries, will be handed over to me for processing."

"Process." Callisto chewed on the word.

"Properly process."

"You turn them into things like the one behind you." Callisto tilted her chin toward the Brute.

"They will continue to exist in another way."

Callisto was silent.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds.

Someone behind her spoke up, a young man's voice, filled with trembling anger.

"Callisto, you can't agree to him! He's just another monster! He just cut someone open alive!"

Yan Zheng's gaze passed over Callisto to look at the young man.

The young man shrank back.

Callisto didn't look back.

"Shut up, Danny."

The young man stopped talking.

Callisto's gaze returned to Yan Zheng's face.

"Tonight, your things killed the Predators that were hunting us. You also took the bodies of our dead kin. This is a fait accompli."

"Yes."

"Before I said yes or no, these things had already happened."

"Yes."

"You are very honest." Callisto's mouth twitched, not a smile, but an arc somewhere between sarcasm and exhaustion. "Or rather, you don't care at all what I think, because you already got what you wanted."

Yan Zheng did not deny it.

"Then why are you still standing here negotiating with me?"

"Because a one-time harvest is not as good as a long-term supply." Yan Zheng's tone was steady, the spacing between every word uniform, as if reciting a contract clause. "The Morlocks have forty or fifty Mutants, and the probability of natural death and accidental casualties in this world is not low. Compared to me having to scavenge on the battlefield every time, having a stable channel is much more efficient."

"You treat us as a breeding farm."

"I treat you as partners."

Callisto's scar twisted when she frowned.

"Is your protection trustworthy?"

"Tonight is proof."

"Once is not enough."

"Then wait for the second time." Yan Zheng extended his right hand, his fingers slender and clean, without any posture that could be called a threat. "Ms. Callisto, do you have any other choice?"

This sentence echoed under the dome of the marshalling yard for three seconds.

Callisto didn't answer immediately. Her gaze moved away from Yan Zheng's hand and swept over the Morlock crowd behind her.

The injured, the terrified, those who had lost loved ones.

More than thirty people, running from the north end of the tunnel to this dead end, running for twelve hours.

If Yan Zheng hadn't appeared, there would have been no survivors of the Predators' last round of slaughter.

This is a fact.

Her gaze withdrew, looking at Yan Zheng's hand extended in the air.

"Conditions."

"Please speak."

"Your creations will not enter our living area. The patrol range is limited to outside five hundred meters. I don't want my people to wake up every day and see skeletons standing guard at their door."

"Naturally."

"The definition of natural death is determined by me. Not you. Any remains you think can be collected must be confirmed by me."

"No problem."

"The last one." Callisto's gaze paused on Yan Zheng's spectacle lenses for a second. "If one day you set your mind on living Morlocks. No matter what your reason is."

Her voice dropped to the lowest frequency.

"I will let the entire underground tunnel network know of your existence and your weaknesses. X-Men, The Brotherhood, Project Purity, S.H.I.E.L.D.. Everyone."

Yan Zheng went over this sentence in his mind.

He smiled.

Not the standard service industry smile, but a smile where the corners of his lips curled an extra millimeter, truly amused by the other party's frankness.

"Ms. Callisto, doing business with you is very pleasant."

His hand remained extended.

Callisto looked at that hand for five seconds.

Then she shook it.

The palm was dry, the force moderate, held for a second and released.

"Deal."

Yan Zheng withdrew his hand, took the white gloves out of his inner pocket and put them back on, smoothing the fabric with his fingers, one by one.

"Ms. Callisto, does your people need medical assistance tonight? I can provide some basic first aid supplies."

"No need." Callisto had already turned and walked back to the crowd. "We will handle it ourselves."

Yan Zheng nodded, not insisting.

He turned towards the direction of the Brute and the Knight, conveying the retreat order through the Mental Link.

As he walked out of the entrance of the marshalling yard, Callisto's voice came from behind.

"Yan Zheng."

He stopped his steps, not turning around.

"The things you took from my dead kin tonight. What will they become?"

Yan Zheng's toe ground on the gravel.

"An existence stronger than when they were alive."

"That is not them."

"No." Yan Zheng did not deny it. "But it won't be a waste either."

He lifted his foot and continued walking.

The Knight and the Brute followed behind, the golden and dark red phosphorescent fire swaying and fading into the increasingly deep darkness of the tunnel.

Callisto stood at the entrance of the marshalling yard watching the three figures disappear into the darkness, pressing a finger on her scar.

Danny next to her leaned over, his voice still trembling.

"Callisto... are you really going to..."

"Shut up, Danny."

She turned and walked back to the crowd, bending down to help up an old man sitting on the ground clutching his bleeding forehead.

"Deal with the wounded first. We'll talk about other things tomorrow."

Yan Zheng walked on the gravel of the railway tracks on his way back, the soles of his shoes treading over the dark traces left during the collection earlier.

All six pulses in the Mental Link were switched back to low-power mode, and the sharp pain in his temples finally faded into a dull ache.

The scalpel in his pocket touched the lining of his coat with the rhythm of his steps, the soft metallic sound traveling far in the silent tunnel.

The system panel popped up a summary push.

[Summary of total gains from this operation.]

[Mutant genes: Fire Generation × 1 (High-level), Metalized Limbs × 1 (Mid-to-high level), Bone Manipulation × 1 (Rare), Biological Silk Secretion × 1 (Mid-to-high level), Shadow Fusion × 1 (Rare), Low-level genes × 15.]

[New cooperation agreement: Long-term material supply channel from the Morlocks tribe has been established.]

[Wishlist updated: Callisto (Super-perception system, Mid-to-high level) has been marked as a long-term focus object. Note: Not currently included in the collection plan during the duration of the cooperative relationship.]

Yan Zheng: (˵ꐦ✧ᗜ✧˵)

He closed the panel and tapped his finger on the shoulder strap of his canvas bag.

"Two rare, three high and mid-to-high, fifteen low-level. Plus a long-term channel."

The enamel cup wasn't with him, but he could recall the lingering aftertaste of Keemun black tea in his mouth.

"The fifth day of the harvest season. The warehouse is no longer empty."

His footsteps trod over the last sleeper, and ahead was the glimmer at the bottom of the 190th Street Station ventilation shaft.

"Mr. System, for the stitching plan of the two rare genes, Bone Manipulation and Shadow Fusion, let's start designing it when we get back tonight."

[Recorded.]

"Especially Bone Manipulation." Yan Zheng's scalpel flipped out of his pocket and spun on his fingertips for one last circle. "If we can bridge this gene with Mr. Knight's adamantium residue."

The blade flashed a thin line of light in the gray-white daylight leaking down from the ventilation shaft.

"Mr. Knight's evolution won't just be an A-minus."