By the time the workday ended, Jing Pei and Mei Yanlan had already captured four atavist criminals. All four had once been retainers of the Zhou family. After the Zhou family’s downfall, they had fled, and there was no telling how many dirty deeds they had committed in secret since then.

The four had kept in contact with one another. Catching one would immediately alert the other three, who would scatter and disappear. Tracking them down again would be a huge hassle. If they were going to make arrests, they had to take them all in one sweep. Jing Pei’s assistance had saved Mei Yanlan a great deal of trouble.

“We’ve finished capturing all the Zhou family fugitives,” Mei Yanlan said, tossing the criminal she was holding into the transport vehicle. Then she draped an arm around Jing Pei’s shoulders. “How about your superior officer treats you to dinner?”

Following her gaze, Jing Pei spotted a barbecue restaurant nearby. Her eyes curved with a smile.

“Sounds great. Thanks, Chief.”

The restaurant was moderately busy. The moment they stepped inside, the owner rushed over with visible tension to serve them. Mei Yanlan ordered several bottles of ice-cold beer. She popped one open and tilted her head back, draining the entire bottle in one breath.

“Impressive. Finishing work, eating something good, and having a beer really is the best.” Jing Pei gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Then she reached for a bottle herself and immediately got her hand slapped away by Mei Yanlan.

“Kids drink juice,” Mei Yanlan said. “You’re so young, and you already understand the joy of an overworked wage slave having food and drinks after work?”

“It’s not like I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.” Jing Pei rubbed her hand, staring regretfully at the beer before mentally calculating birthdays.

Ah. Long Jin’s birthday was at the end of the year.

She was referring to her previous life, but Mei Yanlan thought about this life instead. Half a year ago, Long Jin had only just been brought back into the Long family after her atavism awakened. She had certainly suffered her fair share of hardships.

Yet whether it was her demeanor or the way she carried herself, she always seemed like a pampered young heiress who had enjoyed privilege all her life, making people forget her past without realizing it.

The barbecue arrived quickly.

After running all over half the city, both Jing Pei and Mei Yanlan were starving, and they ate with hearty enthusiasm.

So members of the great atavist families ate skewers and drank beer too?

Director Zhang Run and his staff found themselves thinking exactly that. They had always imagined the elites of the great atavist families sitting around luxurious banquet tables every day, delicacies arranged in enormous jade platters.

Soon, Mei Yanlan finished her beer and ordered several more bottles. Her cheeks flushed pink, and a pleasant buzz softened her expression. Looking especially cheerful, she propped her chin on one hand and gazed at Jing Pei with a charming smile.

“Ah Jin.”

“Hm?”

“Are we friends?”

“Of course.”

“That’s nice. To be able to have a meal with a friend on a day like this.”

She smiled and glanced at her phone, which had just lit up with a message from “Wen Can” asking whether she had gotten off work yet.

He was impatient to lead her into that hell.

Little did he know, that was the greatest difference between him and the real Wen Can.

“Have you ever liked someone?” she asked after locking her phone.

“I’ve liked lots of people.”

“Then let me put it another way. Have you ever loved someone?”

Jing Pei paused with her juice halfway to her lips. Vague images of former boyfriends flashed through her mind.

“What does loving someone feel like?”

Mei Yanlan blinked, her gaze a little glazed.

“Loving someone… I guess it means feeling like they matter more than you do. These days everyone says you should love yourself more, that no one is more important than yourself. But when you truly love someone, there really are moments when they become more important to you than your own life. It’s something reason can’t control.”

“That sounds kind of scary.”

Mei Yanlan laughed.

“It is. But when you encounter it yourself, it feels different. It creates a very special kind of strength.”

Like her father.

After returning from a business trip, he had been told that her mother had accidentally fallen to her death from a building.

He had immediately sensed something was wrong, yet stayed calm and revealed nothing.

Even after finding out that horrific truth, a truth cruel enough to drive a person insane, he endured it all. He continued smiling and chatting as though nothing were wrong with the members of the Ling family. He even picked up those bastards and played with them.

Not a single member of the Ling family realized anything was wrong.

That was why, later on, they had been completely defenseless when he slaughtered every one of those illegitimate children and all the people who had humiliated her mother.

Like that gloomy day beneath the overcast sky.

Wen Can had smiled and waved goodbye to her before throwing himself onto the railroad tracks without hesitation.

Over the past ten years, she had come to understand her father more and more.

Endurance required greater strength than an outburst.

This grudge was not over yet.

Tonight, she would settle the score once and for all.

---

In a desolate area outside the city—

The Ling family had already prepared layer upon layer of traps and were waiting with anticipation for Wen Can to bring Mei Yanlan to them.

The Ling family’s eldest young master again and again checked every trap and weapon arrangement.

“The anesthetic mist concentration has been confirmed. The moment she enters, we’ll spray it right in her face and strip away her ability to resist…”

“Family Head, there’s a call from the Hao family.”

The Ling family head accepted the call, and a warm voice greeted him from the other end.

“Old Brother, are you free? I’ve got a jar of excellent Horn Wine here. Care to come and have a drink?”

The Ling family head radiated confidence.

After the news of Ling Yilan’s return had spread, the reactions had been exactly what he expected. Those people had immediately begun currying favor with the Ling family.

The prestige he had craved for an entire lifetime had returned after twenty years.

It felt dreamlike.

Addictive.

After a few token refusals, he accepted the invitation.

By doing so, he was also essentially agreeing to let the Hao family resume the marriage alliance negotiations they had once hoped for twenty years ago.

But the Ling family was not the only group making preparations.

“The Ling family thinks they can handle this themselves, but just in case, we should personally get involved. I don’t want Ling Yilan slipping through our fingers the way Zhang Simiao did.”

The woman adjusted her glasses.

At her temple was a small tattoo that looked like a flower from a distance. Up close, it was actually a snake coiled into the shape of one.

Her words stabbed directly into the heart of the man with ramen curls.

He ground his teeth.

“Slipping through our fingers? What do you mean our fingers? Don’t get so arrogant. Arrogance and failure are twins.”

“Thank you for so helpfully sharing your personal experience,” the woman replied.

The man almost spat blood.

“If this succeeds and Boss is pleased, maybe our research funding will be restored. Make sure you thank me when that happens.”

Thank her?

Hell no.

If he weren’t so passionate about their grand cause, passionate enough to place it above his own dignity, he would have sabotaged this operation himself.

Far from the Ling family’s trap site, the remaining combat personnel of the Atavist Serum Organization and members of its sister organization, the Atavist Genetics Research Institute, quietly observed from afar.

---

The three members of the Trident Mercenary Corps arrived at their operation site: a farm.

It lay within the same region as the three locations they had originally selected. Since it was in the suburbs, many parents brought children here during holidays to interact with animals.

But it wasn’t a holiday now, which was why it had not been their first choice.

However, all three original locations had become off the table.

The subway system, downtown districts, and other crowded areas were crawling with Tribunal Division personnel.

As a result, this farm had become the best option.

Because there were so few people around, there were no Tribunal Division officers here at all. There weren’t even security guards.

It was farther from the city center, but if they moved fast enough, the monster horde could still reach the city and cause massive chaos.

Night descended.

The farm had no visitors.

The staff had gone home.

Only the lonely lights remained on while the animals watched from afar, ate dinner in their enclosures.

“It stinks,” the dwarf complained, pinching his nose. “The whole place smells like animals. I still prefer animals made from humans.”

At least those weren’t this smelly.

“Then hurry up and get started,” the old man said. “If they’re all animals, how many can you make?”

“As many as there are here,” the dwarf replied. “Every animal can become a monster. You two just need to drive them toward the city.”

“Hurry up! I can’t wait anymore!” the cantaloupe-tattooed man said excitedly, bloodthirsty light flashing in his eyes as his long tongue licked a curved blade.

Dark magic spread throughout the farm as he activated his atavist power.

The horses in the stables, pigs in the pens, sheep in their enclosures, rabbits, guinea pigs, crocodiles in cages…

Every animal sensed something was wrong.

They became even more restless.

Dogs barked nonstop.

When the dark power swept across the rabbits, the harmless little creatures immediately began to swell in size.

Their soft fur hardened into spikes.

Muscles bulged across their limbs.

Their mouths elongated and widened.

Their teeth sharpened into deadly fangs.

One of them immediately lunged at a barking dog, seized it, snapped its neck, and began devouring it.

Every creature transformed by his atavist power became a carnivore.

The energy consumed during the transformation also left them driven by overwhelming hunger and ferociously aggressive.

Before they could turn on one another, two additional atavist powers formed a three-sided encirclement around the monsters, herding them forward.

Like a flood tide, the monsters surged toward the city.

At that very moment, city lights blazed to life.

Traffic clogged the streets.

Pedestrians packed the sidewalks shoulder to shoulder.

On one side stood the bustling city beneath brilliant lights.

On the other, in the dark and silent outskirts, came a tide of grotesque monsters of every size, drool dripping from their mouths as they charged forward in endless numbers.

---

Mei Yanlan brought Jing Pei back to the Tribunal Division to clock out.

She also planned to write up Jing Pei’s performance evaluation for the day. The academy would later award her points based on those reports.

“I’m coming again tomorrow. We can just write everything together afterward,” Jing Pei said.

“Today’s work should be finished today. Who knows whether I’ll still be alive tomorrow?” Mei Yanlan replied with a laugh.

She didn’t think the Ling family’s bunch of fools could defeat her at her current level of strength.

Still, if she wound up in prison afterward, writing these reports would become rather difficult.

Her pen flew across the page.

After signing and stamping the document, she handed it over.

“All done. Time to go home.”

The two had barely stepped outside the Tribunal Division when they noticed two cars parked by the entrance.

Dressed in a black suit, Xiao Cheng was punching Wen Can.

Mei Yanlan raised an eyebrow and watched from the top of the steps for a few moments before finally walking down.

Xiao Cheng had come to pick her up after work.

Lately he had been showing up every day, as though afraid she might run away.

Unfortunately, he had arrived just in time to see another car parked outside the building.

A bad feeling struck him immediately.

Looking over, he found exactly who he feared.

The man in a white suit who looked like a fairy-tale prince.

Who else could it be but Wen Can?

They had once been brothers.

Did the bastard really intend to steal his wife?

His anger exploded.

He shoved open the car door and stormed over.

“Wen Can, don’t push your luck. You actually came to her workplace to harass her? You disappeared for years. Did you spend all that time training your shamelessness?”

Leaning casually against his car, Wen Can smiled.

“You may not know this, but Lanlan and I already made plans. She’s coming with me tonight.”

He lowered his voice on purpose.

“And she won’t be coming back.”

Xiao Cheng’s fist smashed into his face.

The blow sent Wen Can staggering backward.

As a clone created only recently, Wen Can’s muscles and coordination had not yet fully developed. He was physically weak and no match for Xiao Cheng, even if Xiao Cheng was currently pregnant.

Xiao Cheng quickly grabbed his collar.

“Mei Yanlan barely has any feelings left for you. She thinks I’m richer and more valuable. Didn’t you hear her say so?”

“She’d choose you because you’re rich?”

Wen Can licked blood from the corner of his mouth and laughed.

“You really are just a toy.”

Xiao Cheng punched him twice more.

Then someone grabbed his arm.

“Enough.”

Xiao Cheng turned toward Mei Yanlan.

For some reason, it felt as though she were standing on Wen Can’s side.

A surge of grievance rose within him.

“I’m fine. Don’t blame him. It’s only natural he’d be angry when he sees me.”

Wen Can’s tone and demeanor shifted so suddenly that Xiao Cheng stared at him.

The words themselves sounded harmless.

So why were they infuriating?

And why did they feel familiar for some reason?

Mei Yanlan seemed completely not to notice unusual.

“I’m already over him,” she told Xiao Cheng. “Stop making a scene and go home.”

It felt like a thunderbolt crashing down on Xiao Cheng’s head.

Suddenly, Wen Can’s expression and gaze overlapped perfectly with Fang Bihe’s.

And Mei Yanlan seemed to overlap with his former self.

Before their marriage, hadn’t he once said almost exactly the same thing to Mei Yanlan?

At that moment, hidden from Mei Yanlan’s view, Wen Can threw Xiao Cheng a smug look.

Another thunderbolt struck.

Jing Pei remained where she was, watching the car drive away while Xiao Cheng shouted after it.

The mixture of disbelief, shattered confidence, and wounded pride on his face was oddly fascinating.

A moment later, Jing Pei answered a phone call.

Excitement glittered in her eyes.

Inside the car, Wen Can tapped happily on the steering wheel as they drove.

He really was pleased.

Not merely pleased because he had been chosen.

He was pleased because a woman as powerful as Mei Yanlan was about to lose to him.

This would be his achievement.

Was he merely Wen Can’s clone?

No.

He was Wen Can’s usurper.

Everything that belonged to Wen Can would become his.

Including Mei Yanlan’s love.