148: Chapter 148: The Great Evolutionary Project

Inside the Veil of Time.

Day one.

The adjutant stood on the high ground of the supply depot, scanning the busy clansmen below.

His palms were slick with cold sweat, and the clothes pressed against the inside of his armor were already drenched.

Twenty names, twenty lives.

Within three days, he had to take these clansmen who had drunk the "serum" and seemingly recovered their health...

...and send them through that metal door without anyone noticing.

The first target: Hanke, a Formation maintenance worker.

Hanke was currently squatting in front of Energy Node Three.

He had drunk the potion yesterday; the large areas of festering skin on his body had already scabbed and fallen off, leaving him completely revitalized.

The adjutant stepped down from the high platform and came up behind Hanke.

"The leader ordered that the output power of Node Three needs to be increased by fifteen percent."

"The concentration of the toxic miasma outside has increased again." The adjutant's voice was steady, betraying no anomaly.

Hanke stood up, thumped his chest, and grinned. "Rest assured, Lord Adjutant! Thanks to the leader's potion, I'm bursting with strength right now."

"Forget fifteen percent, I can even squeeze out thirty percent!"

Hanke turned around, leaving his back exposed to the adjutant.

He reached out to adjust the energy valve.

The adjutant pressed his left hand against the conduit at the base of the crystal core.

He channeled the Time Demon Source within his body, injecting hidden force into the conduit.

The rune circuits inside the conduit fell into disarray.

Just as Hanke's hand touched the valve...

Bang!

Node Three suffered an energy overload.

Gray-purple Spiritual Qi erupted from the crystal core, blasting straight through Hanke's chest.

With a miserable shriek, Hanke was sent flying backward, slamming heavily onto the rocks.

His chest was charred black, and the Spiritual Qi rampaged through his body, severing his Meridians.

Hearing the commotion, the surrounding clansmen rushed over, weapons in hand.

"What happened!" Bart rushed at the very front, carrying a greatsword.

Looking anxious, the adjutant threw himself by Hanke's side and pressed down on his wound.

"An energy node overloaded! Hanke was backlashed by the Spiritual Qi! Quick, medics!"

Several medics ran over, hurriedly casting Ice-Sealing Spells.

"His heart Meridians are damaged, and the Spiritual Qi is destroying his flesh. Conventional treatment is useless," a medic reported, sweating profusely.

The adjutant made a prompt decision: "Carry him to the laboratory! The leader has a way to stabilize his genes!"

Two warriors lifted the unconscious Hanke and headed straight for the laboratory.

The metal door opened and quickly shut.

The adjutant stood in place, staring at the closed door.

The first step was a success.

No one suspected a thing.

In this extremely harsh Divine Domain, energy node overloads were a common occurrence.

In the afternoon, the adjutant turned his gaze to the two sentries responsible for the perimeter patrol.

These two had also been injected with the catalyst.

Under the pretext of "adjusting defensive Formations," the adjutant reassigned them to the very edge of the Veil of Time, where the toxic miasma was thickest.

Before they shifted duties, the adjutant used the excuse of inspecting their gear to secretly crush the filtering chips inside their gas masks.

Half an hour later, under the erosion of the toxic miasma, the two sentries let out heart-wrenching screams.

The toxic gas entered their lungs through their airways. Their bodies swelled, and dark gold blood began to seep from the surface of their skin.

The adjutant arrived "just in time" with a patrol.

"Miasma leak! They're infected!" the adjutant ordered loudly. "Lock down this area immediately!"

"Send them to the laboratory! The leader needs the latest infection samples to adjust the serum formula!"

In their semi-conscious state, the two sentries cast grateful looks at the adjutant.

They thought they were saved.

Day two.

The adjutant's movements became more numb, and also more efficient.

Using the excuse of moving supplies, he had three clansmen who had been injected with the potion go clear out the mutated monster carcasses on the camp's perimeter.

He had buried a miniature Spiritual Qi bomb in the pile of carcasses beforehand.

The explosion triggered a small-scale wave of toxic gas.

The three clansmen were critically injured and on the verge of death, naturally being carried into the laboratory.

Exploiting the panic within the camp, he intentionally provoked a verbal dispute between two warriors who had drunk the potion and those who hadn't.

During the brawl, the adjutant secretly shot a hidden weapon laced with neurotoxins, causing the two warriors' genes to go out of control on the spot, their entire bodies convulsing.

"Send them to the laboratory!" This became the phrase the adjutant uttered most over these two days.

The clansmen believed the adjutant's orders without a shadow of doubt.

In their eyes, the laboratory was the ultimate safe haven.

The leader and the adjutant were working day and night to save everyone.

Night fell.

The adjutant sat in his tent, looking at the list in his hand.

Twenty people, nineteen already crossed off.

Only one remained.

Bart.

Bart was the strongest among this group, and also the patrol captain with the highest prestige in the camp.

Conventional accidents couldn't possibly kill him.

The adjutant closed his eyes, and the tragic scene of Bart killing his own younger brother, Colin, with his own hands flashed in his mind.

He was going to personally send this tough guy to the dissection table.

The morning of the third day.

Bart carried his broad-bladed greatsword, preparing to lead his team to patrol the boundary of the Veil of Time.

After drinking the potion, his left eye had completely recovered, and the Time Demon Source within his body was even more abundant than before.

The adjutant stopped him.

"Bart, let the others do the patrol. You come with me." The adjutant lowered his voice, his expression solemn.

Bart waved for his subordinates to leave, following the adjutant to a secluded corner of the camp.

"There's a clue about Captain Renn." The adjutant threw out the bait.

Bart shuddered, a look of pleasant surprise bursting from his eyes.

Renn and his group had been gone for several days; everyone thought they had died outside.

"Where?" Bart asked eagerly.

"To the southwest outside the Veil." The adjutant pointed toward the lead-gray storm zone in the distance.

"I just captured a faint fluctuation of the Time Demon Source on the monitoring radar. The frequency matches Captain Renn's mimicry band exactly."

"He might be injured and trapped in the toxic miasma." The adjutant looked into Bart's eyes.

"I can't send people out with great fanfare; that would attract the attention of the swarm."

"Your strength has recovered the best. I need you to come with me to confirm."

Bart nodded without hesitation. "Let's go! Captain Renn saved my life; I have to go."

Avoiding the patrol, the two of them quietly made their way to the southwestern edge of the Veil.

The world outside was still a dark red landscape.

Wild winds kicked up purple-black sand and dust, battering against the energy shield of the Veil of Time.

"The fluctuation is just behind that huge black rock ahead." The adjutant pointed to a spot about fifty meters outside the Veil.

Bart activated his armor's miniature shield and whispered, "I'll go check it out. You cover me from here."

Bart took a step out of the Veil of Time.

The high-concentration toxic miasma enveloped him as the wild winds raged.

Braving the fierce wind, Bart walked toward the giant black rock.

Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters.

Standing inside the Veil, the adjutant watched Bart's retreating back coldly.

He slowly raised his right hand, a miniature signal detonator held in his palm.

Last night, when Bart was maintaining his armor, the adjutant, under the pretext of "upgrading the shield generator"...

...had installed a high-energy armor-piercing mine on the back of Bart's armor.

Bart walked behind the giant rock and looked around.

There was no trace of anyone.

Only the dried-up carcasses of some unknown monsters, drained by the Demon Trees, lay there.

"Adjutant! There's nothing here!" Bart turned around and shouted toward the Veil.

The adjutant looked at him and pressed his thumb heavily down on the detonator.

With a loud bang,

the armor-piercing mine on Bart's back successfully detonated, the explosion instantly tearing open the defensive layer of his armor.

The high-energy shockwave, mixed with shrapnel, pierced straight through Bart's back.

Bart spat out a mouthful of blood as he was blown more than ten meters away, slamming heavily onto the edge of a dark red Demon Tree forest.

"Adjutant... why..." Bart sprawled on the purple-red soil, raising his head with great difficulty, his face filled with utter disbelief.

He couldn't understand.

Why did the adjutant want to kill him?

Had the adjutant been crushed by the horrors of this Divine Domain and defected to the monsters outside? Did he want to use him to claim credit?

Enduring the intense pain, Bart tried to channel the Time Demon Source within his body to stand up.

Right at that moment, the catalyst's efficacy reached its limit.

The false prosperity brought by overdrawing his life force finally collapsed.

Bart felt the gene chains inside his body snapping frantically.

His left eye, which had just returned to normal, began to spew black toxic gas once again.

The skin on his body peeled off in large chunks like a melting candle, revealing the twitching, deformed dark-purple flesh buds underneath.

Agony overwhelmed him.

The root system of the Demon Trees underground sensed the highly active aura of flesh and blood.

The soil churned.

Over a dozen dark red roots burst from the ground, wrapping around Bart's limbs.

The adjutant moved.

He couldn't let Bart die outside; the leader needed a living test subject.

Activating his shield to maximum power, the adjutant rushed out of the Veil.

He whipped out a high-polymer alloy chain from his hand, looping it around Bart's neck.

Just a second before the Demon Tree roots could pierce into Bart's body...

...the adjutant exerted force with both arms, forcefully dragging Bart out from the Demon Trees' encirclement.

Dragged all the way back,

Bart's body scraped against the rough rocks and soil, leaving a long trail of blood.

The adjutant dragged the half-dead Bart back inside the Veil, tossing him onto the ground like a piece of trash.

Bart was covered in festering sores, with seven or eight of his bones broken.

His sole remaining right eye glared deathly at the adjutant, a leaky, wheezing hiss escaping his throat.

"You... betrayed... the clan..." Bart squeezed out a few words with all his remaining strength.

The adjutant looked at him expressionlessly.

No explanation, no rebuttal.

He bent down and sealed Bart's throat.

Grabbing Bart by the ankle, he dragged him toward the laboratory in the center of the camp.

Along the way, some clansmen witnessed this scene.

"What happened to Captain Bart!"

"Oh my god, how did he get so badly injured!"

The adjutant responded loudly, "He encountered a void rift on the perimeter! His genes are collapsing! Out of the way, everyone, I must take him to see the leader immediately!"

The clansmen parted to make way, their eyes filled with worry and awe.

They were in awe of the adjutant's decisiveness and worried about Bart's life or death.

The metal door opened.

The adjutant dragged Bart inside.

The door shut heavily behind them, shutting out all the noise from the outside.

The cold white shadowless lamps stung Bart's eyes, making it impossible to open them.

The smell of blood and chemical agents rushed straight up his nostrils.

Bart rolled his eyeballs with difficulty, his vision gradually adjusting to the light.

He saw dissection tables.

Four dissection tables, all fully occupied.

On Table One, Hanke's upper body was sewn into the chest cavity of a Demon Vulture.

On Table Two, the bodies of the two sentries had been dismembered and spliced onto either side of a Three-headed Bat's torso.

On Table Three...

Bart's pupils contracted violently.

He saw Carter.

Carter's head was sewn onto the neck of a giant bat.

Metal wires pierced through Carter's scalp.

Several transparent tubes were inserted into the crown of his skull, continuously injecting a faint blue liquid.

Carter was still alive.

His eyes were turbid and bloodshot.

When he saw Bart being dragged in, an extreme malice and madness erupted in his eyes.

"Bart... you've been sent in here too..." Carter let out a raspy laugh with his leaky throat, a sound more unpleasant than crying.

Bart's mind went completely blank.

There was no betrayal, no defection.

This was indeed the headquarters of the Time Demon Race; this was the leader's laboratory.

Footsteps echoed.

Mor, wearing protective clothing stained with shredded flesh and mucus, stepped out from the shadows.

In his hand, he held a high-frequency cutting knife, its blade still dripping with blood.

"The timing is perfect. The efficacy of the medicine has faded, and the genes have disintegrated to their most active state."

Mor looked down at Bart on the floor, his movements like those of someone inspecting a piece of fine fabric.

His words were like a heavy sledgehammer, shattering all of Bart's illusions.

That so-called serum, that so-called salvation...

...were all lies.

The adjutant had not betrayed the clan.

It was the leader and the adjutant working together, treating those who had drunk the potion as consumable materials in a slaughterhouse.

"Leader... you..." Bart spoke with great difficulty, but the adjutant had sealed his throat, preventing him from uttering even a single complete sentence.

"Don't look at me with those eyes." Mor crouched down, tapping Bart's cheek with the spine of the cutting knife.

"Your genes have already been destroyed by this Divine Domain. I am merely finding a new life for you."

Mor stood up and pointed to the Liquid Metal Crab on Table Four.

"This Liquid Metal Crab has extremely high bone strength and can perfectly adapt to the gravity field outside. Your physique is the strongest; your Fusion will be flawless."

Bart broke down.

He had personally pierced the heart of his younger brother, Colin, with his greatsword.

He bore the guilt of fratricide just so his brother wouldn't turn into a mindless monster.

Yet in the end, he himself was going to have his spine sliced open by the leader he had sworn loyalty to, only to be stuffed into the shell of a crab.

"Mo... you will die... a horrible death!" Bart let out a pathetic, silent roar, but no sound could escape.

This silent roar seemed to open the floodgates of Hell.

The stitched monstrosities on the dissection tables began to thrash in unison.

"Liars! Butchers!"

"Even as ghosts, we won't let you off!"

"Kill me! Please, just kill me!"

Hanke's half-body, grown into the chest cavity of the Demon Vulture, writhed desperately, trying to break free from his restraints.

Carter's head, grown on the bat's neck, pulled with all its might, snapping the metal sutures and sending blood splattering.

He used every ounce of his strength to spew the most venomous curses.

"Mor! You destroyed the Time Demon Race! You beast!"

"Adjutant! You lapdog! When you close your eyes at night, can you even sleep?!"

"You chop us up to feed beasts! Retribution will come for you!"

Curses, wails, and the roars of monsters...

...intertwined into one chaotic din inside the sealed laboratory.

The adjutant stood in place.

His face was as pale as paper, and his body shook uncontrollably.

These curses were like venomous hexes, carving themselves deeply into his Soul.

He looked at the brothers he had once fought alongside.

He saw their hideous, agonizing, worse-than-death appearances.

He saw the way they glared at him, wishing they could eat his flesh and drink his blood.

The adjutant's legs gave out, and with a thud, he fell to his knees on the floor.

He buried his face in his hands, warm tears seeping through his fingers.

Guilt, fear, and self-loathing... crushed his psychological defenses all at once.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Shaking all over, the adjutant choked out, slamming his forehead heavily against the floor.

"I had no choice... I really had no choice..."

Mor turned his head and cast a cold glance at the adjutant.

"Put away your ridiculous tears. Do you think you're kind?" Mor sneered, his eyes filled with nothing but contempt.

"When you tricked them into going out and stabbed them in the back, your hands didn't shake in the slightest."

Mor walked to Table Three.

He picked up a transparent tube, connecting one end to the Liquid Metal Crab and aiming the other at Bart on the floor.

"You all should thank me."

Mor turned his head to look at the frantically cursing stitched monstrosities.

There was not a single ripple of emotion in his eyes, only a high-and-mighty pity.

"The Time Demon Race needs to endure. For the future of our race, your sacrifice is only natural."

Mor pointed at the metal bulkhead, as if he could see through the wall to the Wasteland Divine Domain outside.

"The Laws of this world are too overbearing."

"We cannot resist; we can only comply."

"Only by wearing the skins of these native creatures can we survive in this world!"

Mor grabbed Bart by the hair, dragging him to the dissection table like a dead dog.

Bart struggled desperately, but his festering, overdrawn body couldn't muster even a fraction of strength.

He stared at that foul-smelling Liquid Metal Crab.

He looked at the crack in the carapace prepared specially for him.

His faith, his pride, and his persistence shattered into a pile of debris at this very moment.

"Do... it." Bart stopped struggling.

He closed his eyes, a line of bloody tears sliding from the corners of his eyes. "Mo... I... will wait for you... in Hell."

Mor was expressionless.

The high-frequency cutting knife descended.

Blood spurted!!

Bart's spine was carved out.

Mor's technique was skilled, leaving all critical nerve bundles undamaged.

He forcefully stuffed Bart's mangled body into the gaps of the Liquid Metal Crab's carapace.

A massive amount of faint blue stabilizer was injected.

Bart's body convulsed, his consciousness gradually blurring.

The residual beastly instincts of the Liquid Metal Crab began to creep along the neural conduits, eroding his Soul—