80: Chapter 80 The Era of Corpse Collectors

"This meal, it's on me."

Yan Zheng left these words for the empty back hall of the Antique Shop, then pushed open the secret door and walked into the Underground Room.

August 15th, 2:00 AM.

All of Hell's Kitchen was asleep, but Yan Zheng was not.

He stood in front of the largest concrete wall in the Underground Room, gripping a piece of white chalk, facing a hand-drawn map that covered the entire wall.

The map wasn't drawn beautifully, but the information density was extremely high.

In the top left corner was the street grid of Hell's Kitchen, with several key locations circled in red: a green star was drawn over the Antique Shop, a big 'X' was marked over The Hand's Laundromat stronghold, the words 'Wasted' were written next to Kingpin's Fisk Tower, and Daredevil's activity area was circled with a dashed oval.

In the top right corner was The Bronx, marking the seven trigger points for Material Perception and the location where the MSR armored vehicle appeared.

Below were two red boxes, one labeled 'Brooklyn Red Hook District / E.S.S / Sample Processing' and the other 'Paterson, New Jersey / E.S.S / Live Subject Transit'.

Next to that Brooklyn box, Yan Zheng had added three lines of text tonight.

"Weapon X Remnant." "Sample X-23-07." "Highest Priority."

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ͈ ᴗ ˘ ͈ ˵ )

He stepped back two paces, leaned against the edge of the workbench, and scanned the entire wall from left to right.

"Two and a half months."

His voice carried a faint echo in the empty Underground Room.

"Coming to Hell's Kitchen in July, starting from picking up the first corpse in the alley."

"To today, August 15th."

"The accounts for these two and a half months, it's time to settle them."

He opened the system panel and switched to the overview page.

"Sphere of Influence: All of Hell's Kitchen, complete control of the underground order."

"Intelligence Network: One hidden line through Liu Kun, one overt line through Fury, and one local snake line through Old Tom."

"Known Opponents: E.S.S Weapon X remnant branch, MSR unidentified hunter organization, and Daredevil, a red shadow I don't know whether to call an opponent or a neighbor."

"Known Allies."

Yan Zheng paused at this column for two seconds.

"No allies."

"Fury is not an ally; he is a trading partner."

"Burns is not an ally; he is a mouthpiece."

"The Punisher hasn't been officially contacted yet."

"Doesn't matter, I don't need allies."

"What I need is soldiers."

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ✧ ‸ ✧ ꐦ )

He closed the overview page, switched to the control panel, and traced an arc in the air with his finger.

"All units, assemble."

In the Mental Link, three pulses responded simultaneously.

Deep in the Underground Room, shadows from three directions began to move.

The Knight was the first to walk out.

Its two-and-a-half-meter frame stepped from the storage area on the east side of the Underground Room into the main hall, each step carrying a dull resonance. The dark green phosphor fire on the surface of the Petrified Scales swayed gently as it moved, and the golden orb of light at its chest core pulsed steadily, like a tamed little Sun.

Photon Ray array, Adaptive Regeneration bone armor, visual tracking system.

B-rank upper limit, the first trump card in Yan Zheng's hand.

The Brute walked out from the west side.

Its two-and-a-half-meter petrified frame was a head shorter than the Knight, but its lateral width was nearly twice that of the Knight. Its arms hung at its sides like two concrete pillars, the dark red inscription patterns on the surface of its stone armor pulsing slowly under the lights, and dual-colored phosphor fire flickered alternately between blue and red in its hollow eye sockets.

Brute force crushing, inscription defense, melee tank.

B-rank mid-tier, the most reliable shield.

Finally, the four Reinforced Skeleton Soldiers filed out from the niches on the south side of the Underground Room. Their pace was uniform, the metal reinforcements between their joints reflecting cold light, and the green phosphor fire in their eye sockets lined up in the darkness.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ≖ ꒳ ≖ ˵ )

"Undead Knight Dawn, occupies four control slots."

"Stitched Brute, occupies three control slots."

"Reinforced Skeleton Soldier No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, each occupies one control slot."

"Total Mental Power is eleven, running at full capacity."

He picked up a cup of cold black tea from the workbench, held it without drinking, and swept his gaze from the Knight to the Brute, then from the Brute to the Skeleton Soldiers, like a general reviewing his troops on a parade ground.

The space in the Underground Room could barely hold them anymore.

The top of the Knight's head was only thirty centimeters from the ceiling, the Brute's shoulders were almost pressed against the tool rack on the east wall, and the four Skeleton Soldiers were squeezed into the south corridor, the last one's spine pressing against the wall.

"Two and a half months ago, when I assembled the first Bone Breaker in this Underground Room, this room was empty enough to play badminton in."

"Now, there's no room to stand."

Yan Zheng took a sip of the cold black tea, and the corners of his mouth curled up as he swallowed.

"A good thing."

He put down the teacup, walked to the strategic map, picked up the chalk, and drew an arrow under the red box for the Brooklyn Red Hook District.

At the end of the arrow, he wrote two words: 'Next Stop'.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ᗜ ˘ )

"Brooklyn's E.S.S outpost, a remnant branch of Weapon X, 12 active Mutant samples, and an X-23 tissue sample that could potentially change the genetic foundation of the entire undead legion."

"To get these things, Mental Power needs to increase from eleven to at least fifteen, giving me enough control redundancy to handle multi-threaded pressure in actual combat."

"At the same time, I need to complete the internal intelligence on the E.S.S outpost, including personnel deployment, security systems, and escape routes."

"Fury gave me the framework, but I still have to fill in the details myself."

He turned to face his undead legion.

Six eye sockets burning with phosphor fire aimed at him simultaneously, the pulse frequencies in the Mental Link waiting for commands.

"The gangs in The Bronx are the whetstone; they are enough for me to keep pushing my Mental Power up."

"The E.S.S outpost is the target. After getting the X-23 sample, I will only be missing two types of high-level Mutant genes for the three core materials of the Undead General."

"Fury's intelligence line is a lever; I use his database to save time, and he uses my fists to save trouble."

"The MSR is a variable; I won't touch it for now, but I must keep tracking it."

"Daredevil is a neighbor; he should just mind his own business. If he can't, I'll help him mind it."

Yan Zheng put the chalk back on the workbench and clapped the chalk dust off his hands.

He walked to the center of the Underground Room, standing between the Knight and the Brute.

He was only 1.78 meters tall, standing between these two creations like a thin bamboo stalk sandwiched between two giant boulders.

But in the Mental Link, all pulses converged toward him, like six rivers flowing into the same sea.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ✦ ᴗ ✦ ˵ )

He extended his right hand, palm down, with a scalpel clamped between his index and middle fingers, the blade reflecting the faint light of the golden orb in the Knight's chest.

"Hell's Kitchen is the starting point, not the destination."

"I learned to collect corpses here, learned to assemble, and learned to accumulate strength in the shadows."

"But staying in the shadows for too long will make you moldy."

"It's time to walk out."

He withdrew his hand, spun the scalpel half a turn and tucked it into his pocket, then pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. The gaze behind the lenses crossed the walls of the Underground Room, crossed the dust-filled Antique Shop overhead, crossed the silent streets of Hell's Kitchen at 2:00 AM, and looked toward the silhouettes further away in this city and this World.

The storm of the Mutant Registration Act was brewing in the corridors of Congress, the era of superheroes was being birthed in one accident after another, and the shadows of those Military projects, underground organizations, and alien civilizations hiding in the dark were converging on New York at a speed invisible to his naked eye.

Everyone was fighting for a position on the chessboard.

And he, a body collector in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses, stood outside everyone's chessboard, silently turning the dead into chess pieces.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ω ˘ )

"All units, return to your positions, rest, and recharge."

Six pulses in the Mental Link responded simultaneously. The Knight and the Brute turned and walked back to their respective storage areas, the Skeleton Soldiers filed back into their niches, the phosphor fires extinguished one by one, and the Underground Room turned dark again.

Yan Zheng stood in the darkness, with only the faint light from the desk lamp on the workbench illuminating his profile.

He took one last look at the map on the wall, his gaze resting on the words 'Next Stop'.

"Brooklyn."

He reached out and turned off the desk lamp, his voice dissipating into the Underground Room filled with residual phosphor light.

"X-23, wait for me to come and collect the goods."