74: Chapter 74 Loose Thread

Liu Kun shook his head.

"I don't know, I really don't know."

"I am just the buyer at the very bottom of the chain, with several layers in between."

"The Gardener told me once that their boss has an obsession with 'genetic diversity' and collects various Mutant samples, the rarer the better."

"But he didn't say exactly who it was, and I didn't dare to ask."

Yan Zheng put away the pen, folded the paper, and tucked it into the inner pocket of his suit.

He looked at Liu Kun.

Liu Kun sat on the edge of the bed, his back hunched, both hands resting on his knees, like a rat waiting for its sentence.

Yan Zheng looked at him for three seconds.

One second to evaluate his remaining utility value.

One second to calculate the costs and benefits of silencing him.

One second to make a decision.

"Boss Liu."

Yan Zheng's voice was as gentle as ever.

"What you said today is very helpful to me."

Liu Kun raised his head, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Then…"

"I keep my word; I will spare your life."

Yan Zheng took an envelope out of a paper bag and placed it on the table; inside the envelope was a stack of cash.

"There is five thousand U.S. dollars in here, enough for you to move somewhere else and hide for a while."

"Leave Queens, find a quiet place to settle down, and don't contact anyone from the Snakehead Gang."

"When I need you, I will call this number to find you."

He took an old-fashioned flip phone out of his pocket and placed it on top of the envelope.

"This phone has only one number: mine."

"Don't use it for anything other than answering my calls."

Liu Kun took the envelope and the phone with trembling hands, his lips quivering.

"Boss Yan, thank you, thank you."

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ͈ ω ˘ ͈ ˵ )

"You're welcome, Boss Liu."

Yan Zheng turned and walked toward the door, pausing when his hand rested on the doorknob.

"Oh, one last thing."

He didn't turn back, his voice remaining gentle.

"If one day you feel that this information could be sold to someone else for money."

"Please, before you dial, think about how those Mutants died in the fighting arena."

"Then think about whether I would make your death more creative or less creative than theirs."

The door closed softly behind him.

In the hallway, Yan Zheng's footsteps gradually faded away.

Liu Kun sat on the bed, clutching the flip phone in his hand, his back soaked in cold sweat.

"Whether I would make your death more creative or less creative than theirs."

The lingering effect of that sentence had already been cleared from his mind by the time Yan Zheng walked out of the hotel.

Liu Kun's life and death weren't worth thinking about for more than three seconds.

Keeping him alive was because a living local thug had more long-term value than a dead skeleton.

That was all.

August 5th, 6:00 PM.

Antique Shop Underground Room.

Yan Zheng sat at the workbench with three sheets of paper spread out in front of him.

The first was the E.S.S. intelligence provided by Liu Kun, handwritten and neat.

The second was information on underground Mutant trading that he had gathered piecemeal from various channels over the past two months; it was printed and covered in red ink annotations.

The third was blank, waiting for him to write down his conclusions after cross-referencing the contents of the first two.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ✧ ᴗ ✧ ˵ )

"Brooklyn Red Hook, abandoned warehouse, underground laboratory."

He used a red pen to draw a square on the third sheet of paper.

"This location matches a lead I heard from Old Tom before."

"Old Tom said that a group of 'people in white coats' were active at night near the Red Hook District docks, transporting 'large cargo' in refrigerated trucks."

"Refrigerated trucks and white coats—sample processing center, it matches."

He wrote a line next to the square: Sample processing, possible experimental equipment, personnel composition leans towards technical.

"Outskirts of Paterson, New Jersey, abandoned farm, living specimen transit station."

A second square.

"I had no intelligence coverage on this location before; it is completely new information."

"Living specimen transit means there are living Mutants detained there, guards, and basic living facilities."

"Personnel composition leans towards armed."

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ͈ ꈊ ˘ ͈ )

He put down the pen, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his fingers in front of his abdomen.

"Two outposts, two different functional roles."

"The one in Brooklyn is the processing plant; the one in New Jersey is the warehouse."

"If I were to strike, which one should I hit first?"

He closed his eyes and simulated two plans in his mind.

"Strike Brooklyn first."

"Advantages: close to me, the basement environment is favorable for Undead Creation to perform, and the technical personnel have low combat capability."

"Disadvantages: the laboratory might have security systems, might have biological weapon-level defensive measures, and there are many unknown variables."

"Strike New Jersey first."

"Advantages: suburban farm, open terrain, the Knight's rays have no angle limitations and can harvest from a distance."

"Disadvantages: far from me, moving the lineup requires transportation, and the quantity and quality of the armed guards are completely unknown."

Yan Zheng opened his eyes and shook his head.

"Neither will work."

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ⌓ ꐦ )

"E.S.S. is not a closed underground organization like The Hand."

"They are middlemen, dealing in cross-regional business, backed by clients behind the scenes."

"Liu Kun said they have weapons, manpower, and laboratories."

"The contact person, 'The Gardener,' has been able to survive in the New York underground for over two years without being swallowed by any faction, which means he either has backing or possesses sufficient force himself."

"What if the E.S.S. outposts are guarded by superpowered individuals?"

"What if their security personnel are equipped with weapons specifically designed to deal with Mutants?"

"What if I hit one outpost, and the other immediately receives an alert and transfers all assets?"

Yan Zheng flipped the third sheet of paper over, drew a horizontal line on the back, and wrote "Known" above the line and "Unknown" below it.

The known part was very short.

The unknown part took up three-quarters of the entire paper.

"Not enough information."

He threw the pen on the table, stood up, walked to the tea set rack in the corner of the Underground Room, and brewed himself a cup of black tea.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ͈ ‸ ˘ ͈ ˵ )

"The risk of a rash raid is too high."

"The reason the raid on The Hand succeeded was because I spent three weeks doing reconnaissance, figuring out every corner of their stronghold."

"For the two E.S.S. outposts, I don't even know which way the front door opens."

"I need time, I need intelligence, and I need stronger combat power as a margin for error."

He carried the teacup back to the workbench, his gaze landing on the golden blueprint icon on the system panel.

Undead General.

Mental Power requirement: Twenty.

He is currently at: Eleven.

"Mental Power from 7.2 to 9 was the result of the raid on The Hand's stronghold."

"From 9 to 11 was passive growth during the ten days of recovery."

"The pattern is clear: high-intensity actual combat is the primary growth pathway, and daily recovery is auxiliary growth."

"To get from 11 to 20, I need a large amount of continuous, high-intensity, multi-threaded control in actual combat."