The Kingdom of Punia, in the darkest hour before dawn.

Beyond the capital, White Sand City, tens of thousands of people had gathered in the endless, barren desert. They ranged from able-bodied adults to people in their eighties and nineties, all with scarves wrapped around their heads to protect them from the sun. Their clothes hung in rags, and the skin beneath the shadows of the cloth was covered in festering sores. Maggots had even appeared in the wounds on some faces, white creatures writhing inside, yet no one paid them any attention.

They held guns in their arms, their eyes numb. A deathly silence hung over the crowd, broken only by waves of weeping from those who could no longer bear the pain.

“Musani, when are we going to move? If we wait any longer, we’ll miss the agreed time. We won’t get another chance!” someone asked the woman beside them.

The woman wore a black headscarf and was wiping down a knife. Her brown face had soft lines, but beneath the shadows shone a pair of deep, determined eyes, hard as diamonds. A festering sore marked one cheek, just like everyone else.

Her hand slowed, revealing the hesitation in her heart.

“Leader, give the order!”

“While everyone still has some strength left!”

Several others joined in.

This rebel force had worn-out weapons, poor armor, and fighters weakened by age, illness, or injury. Inside White Sand City, the royal family was protected by well-equipped elite soldiers and guarded by Atavists.

They all knew that calling this a coup was generous.

It was more like a suicide attack.

Someone inside the city had agreed to open the gates for them, allowing them to drag at least a few of their enemies down to hell along with them.

Everything had already been planned, yet for some reason, Musani, the leader of the force, had begun to hesitate.

“Musani, what are you waiting for?”

What was she waiting for?

This was their only chance.

They hated the royal family, the bastards who had abandoned them after the epidemic began. The royals had shut the city gates and continued living in luxury with the taxes paid by the people outside.

The citizens of this country were hardworking and capable, and the land was rich in natural resources such as oil and natural gas. Though small in size, it had once been one of the world’s wealthiest and most popular tourist destinations.

But that had been fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years earlier, an unknown genetic disease had spread across the country. The infected developed festering sores that would not heal. The sores began across the skin, and once the entire body had rotted, the internal organs would begin to decay as well.

Death followed soon afterward.

But many never reached that stage. Some victims broke down and took their own lives because they could no longer endure the maggots crawling through wounds all over their bodies.

To protect themselves, other countries closed their land, sea, and air routes. They sealed their borders and refused to admit anyone from Punia.

The country became isolated.

Fortunately, a pharmaceutical company developed a treatment one year later and pulled them back from despair. The medicine was expensive, but no price seemed too high if it meant staying alive.

No one expected the genetic disease to return two years later.

They were then told that the virus could not be destroyed, only suppressed. It would remain dormant, but if they failed to take the medicine every day, it would awaken and torment them again.

At first, life remained bearable.

As the years passed, however, the medicine emptied their wallets. They worked day after day and saved every coin, all for the sake of buying medicine and staying alive. Even their inner lives began to wither.

More and more ordinary citizens could no longer afford treatment. Wealthy business owners donated again and again, while waves of humanitarian aid arrived from other countries, yet it was still not enough.

At last, the people turned their hopeful eyes toward their government, the royal family.

The royal family made its choice.

They continued collecting every kind of tax, but refused to take responsibility for a need that seemed to have no end. Doing so would have seriously affected their extravagant lives.

They closed the city gates and told one ridiculous lie after another.

In truth, they had abandoned their people. They continued enjoying the same luxury as before, leaving business owners and foreign nations to care for the citizens in their place.

Rumors spread that the royal family was searching everywhere for connections that could help them flee the country. But because the virus still lay dormant in their bodies, no other nation was willing to open its borders and accept them.

“That was our tax money. The money that should have saved our lives. They used it for their own pleasure.”

“I heard they have an entire warehouse filled with medicine. They would rather let it expire than share it with us…”

Parents watched their children die, and children watched their parents pass away.

The flames of rage and hatred took root in their hearts.

That was how the rebel force came into being.

They did not expect a disorganized mob like theirs to defeat the army or kill the heavily protected royal family.

But if their attack could frighten the royals into giving medicine to the children, or attract the attention of the international community and bring aid from a major power, then their deaths would have meaning.

Everyone present had already given up their own life, either for revenge or for the young children they would leave behind.

As her companions urged and questioned her, Musani said, “Wait a little longer.”

“What are we waiting for?!”

“A piece of news.”

“What news?”

Musani did not answer.

She knew telling them would only have the opposite effect. None of them would listen now. They wanted only to burn away the last of their lives and take revenge on the hateful royal family.

Besides, her reason was not convincing.

The previous night, just before they completed their preparations and set out, Musani had received a call from overseas.

Such a call was very rare.

Ever since other countries had sealed their borders against Punia, even overseas scammers had stopped calling. It was as if even criminals knew the people of this country had become too poor to be worth the effort.

They were like an island surrounded by an endless sea of despair and loneliness.

“Hello, Musani. I’m the owner of the Puzzle Intelligence Agency. I have a piece of information I’d like to sell you.”

The information broker had given her a report she could barely believe and charged a fee so low that even she could afford it.

“Is what you’re saying true?!”

“You’ll receive confirmation from international news before dawn.”

Their suicide attack was also scheduled to begin before dawn, after the festivities in the royal palace had ended.

---

The lower- and middle-ranking Atavist families that had once almost formed a successful partnership with the Ling family chose to form an alliance.

Together, they intended to seize this rare opportunity to raise their families’ standing. Like starving wolves waiting for their chance, they watched for an opening to seize Mei Yanlan.

But tonight, they had lost track of Mei Yanlan.

Only after the great Atavist families of the upper echelon made their move did the smaller families realize that something had happened.

“Mei Yanlan is dead?!”

“No. She survived and was taken to the hospital.”

They breathed sighs of relief.

Thank goodness.

Their rare opportunity still existed.

“However…” The person on the other end sounded hesitant.

“However, what?”

“It seems Mei Yanlan is the same as every other Atavist. She can only have healthy children with an ordinary human.”

“What?! Are you sure?”

“That was the result of the organization’s test on Mei Yanlan’s atavistic genetic sequence. The results were ninety-nine percent accurate. It seems the organization discovered this and decided to kill her because of it. All the members of the great Atavist families looked relieved.”

The call ended amid furious curses directed at the Ling family.

After the Ling family was arrested for creating clones, they had been held in detention cells.

For an ordinary human, human cloning was a serious crime. It was also a crime for Atavists, but the prison sentence was usually between one and three years.

The Ling family had never imagined they would actually be imprisoned for it.

“I’m afraid those people are going to benefit from this,’ one member of the Ling family said through gritted teeth as they gathered in the exercise yard.

Everyone knew who “those people” were.

They were the lower- and middle-ranking Atavist families that had worked with the Ling family. Every one of them hoped to pair someone with Mei Yanlan and giving birth hybrid children.

With the Ling family’s decision-makers imprisoned, those families would surely act on their own.

“No. Miss Hong’s side will take action,” the Ling Family Head said.

Bandages still covered parts of his body. He looked weak, his expression dark and clouded, as if he had aged another ten years.

During his time in detention, the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that they had been set up by Mei Yanlan and Jing Pei together.

“That ungrateful daughter! Her family is in trouble, yet she refuses to help. She’s letting outsiders take all the benefits. She’s exactly like her father. Neither of them knows the meaning of responsibility!”

“She probably thinks she’s safe now that she’s gotten us locked up.” The Ling family’s eldest young master wore an equally twisted expression. “How naive. She’ll regret it soon enough. If she had behaved and listened to us, we would at least have been her maternal family. Out of consideration for us, the organization might have spared her after she lost her value. Now, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”

Influenced by his father, he had spent his entire life longing for respect and admiration in the world of Atavists.

All his hopes rested on his niece.

“Fortunately, Miss Hong should still show us some respect. She’ll keep Mei Yanlan alive until we get out and can make use of her,” the Ling Family Head said.

His tense face eased.

He might have to remain imprisoned for a year or two, but his old bones could endure the wait. He would still live to see the day when the Atavist families that once looked down on him regretted their behavior and begged to work with him.

With nothing else to do in detention, the Ling family spent every day lost in such fantasies.

They even smiled in their dreams.

That night, just as they were preparing to sleep and return to those dreams, a guard approached and called for the Ling Family Head.

Someone had come to see him.

The Ling Family Head entered the visiting room and found several family heads waiting for him. They belonged to the Atavist families that had almost successfully worked with him more than ten years ago and had once again reserved places in the latest partnership.

He straightened his back at once and lifted his chin, pride showing between his brows.

In his mind, their families could only rise higher by depending on him. They stood beneath him and had no choice but to flatter him.

They had always treated him with proper respect in the past.

Smack!

Several sheets of paper struck the Ling Family Head in the face.

One of the visitors pointed straight at him and unleashed a stream of abuse.

“Ling Feng, you old bastard! You made us waste all that time following your family! I’ve seen stupid people before, but never anyone as stupid as you. Forget about ever rising above others. Hurry up and get in the ground before you embarrass yourselves any further!”

Another person cursed him as well.

“Your ambitions reach the heavens, but your luck is thinner than paper. Your Ling family’s genes are rotten to the core! We must have been blind to believe a word you said!”

Instead of receiving respect, the Ling Family Head found himself covered in insults.

His entire body trembled with rage.

“You… How dare you…”

“Why wouldn’t we dare? Let me tell you something. You had better stay locked up for the rest of your lives. If you ever get out, we’ll make you regret it! Don’t think we’re going to let this go!”

“You still think the Ling family can rise through Mei Yanlan? First ask whether you have that kind of fate! Heaven placed the meal right against your lips, and you were stupid enough to spit it out. You were born to spend your lives under everyone else’s feet.”

“Let’s go. Looking at him for another second makes me sick!”

“Damn it. If this weren’t the Tribunal Division, I’d beat every tooth out of their mouths.”

They left while continuing to curse, their fists clenched tight.

They were really furious.

This affair had caused trouble for them as well. Though their intentions alone might not be enough to convict them, the Tribunal Division and the families at the top of the upper echelon had certainly written down their names.

There was no telling when someone might trip them up and send their families crashing down.

The Ling Family Head still did not understand what had happened. He could only rage at the disrespect he had suffered, wheezing like a broken bellows.

After some time, he remembered the papers on the floor and picked them up.

[Test results for the combination of Mei Yanlan’s genes with the genes of other atavistic species… Failed… Failed… Failed… Failed…

Conclusion: Like all Atavists, Mei Yanlan can only produce descendants with an ordinary human.

Hypothesis: Pure Seahorse Clan genes possess the ability to purify and accept other atavistic genes. Mei Yanlan’s mother was the reason healthy and powerful hybrids could be born. No Seahorse Clan Atavist other than Mei Yanlan’s mother has yet been found.]

The Ling Family Head felt as if someone had struck him in the head.

The papers swam before his eyes. His head spun, and sparks flashed across his vision.

At last, he understood how foolish he had been.

He also understood that his dream would never come true.

The chance had once been right in front of him, yet his own stupidity had destroyed it.

“I’ve never seen anyone that stupid.”

“Exactly. If he had treated Ling Song and his daughter-in-law well and let them have a few more children, the Ling family would already be powerful.”

“So stupid. It’s enough to make you die laughing…”

“…”

Perhaps they were only imagined voices, but he heard laughter coming from every direction.

The last scraps of his dignity shattered.

For more than thirty years, he had been doing something beyond stupid. With his own hands, he had destroyed the chance to achieve a dream that had once been within reach.

And because of that, his name would be carved forever onto the Atavist families’ pillar of shame.

People would laugh at him for all time. Every generation would hear stories about how foolish and ridiculous he had been.

“Pfft…”

A mouthful of blood burst from his lips.

The Ling Family Head dropped to his knees.

At that moment, the shadows of several Tribunal Division officers fell across him.

He raised his head with difficulty and saw a row of cold faces.

“Ling Family Head, what do you have to say about the Illegal Atavist Genetics Research Organization?”

At the Atavist Genetics Control Organization’s headquarters, the Tribunal Division had found evidence that the Ling family had worked with them.

The punishment for that would be far more serious than the sentence for creating clones.

---

Because the Tribunal Division arrived in time, the people Miss Hong had left behind to destroy the evidence failed to erase everything.

As the evidence was brought to light, the Tribunal Division discovered that this organization was a sister organization of the Atavist Serum Organization.

The Tribunal Division had dealt the Atavist Serum Organization a heavy blow earlier, forcing all of its remaining members into hiding.

Both organizations sought to use Atavist genes to achieve certain goals. They had simply chosen different methods.

The Atavist Serum Organization’s goal had enraged the Atavist families. At its heart, however, that plan was proof of the pride inspired by bloodlines the Atavists believed placed them above everyone else.

The ultimate goal of the Atavist Genetics Control Organization was different.

It dealt the Atavist families a heavy blow and filled them with a strange fear.

When they learned the truth, the relaxed and cheerful mood brought by the satisfactory answer concerning Mei Yanlan disappeared at once.

Compared with that final objective, the organization’s other crimes almost seemed insignificant. To make money, the Atavist Genetics Control Organization had worked with major pharmaceutical companies around the world. They had released genetic-virus bombs in several wealthy small countries, causing tens of millions of people to lose their homes and nations.

Of course, only the Atavist families could consider such crimes not worth their time.

Qiu Fa instructed his assistant, “Contact the media. Release this information.”

The assistant nodded. “We may be able to save lives right away. This was caused by people, not a natural disaster. We also found the program used to create the genetic virus. It shouldn’t be difficult to develop a program that reverses its effects.”

“Go.”

The assistant left to contact the news media and spread the information.

Qiu Fa remained alone in the office.

He continued searching the room, opening the drawers one after another.

Then he pulled open one drawer, and a green ribbon came into view.

His pupils tightened.

After a long moment, Qiu Fa reached out and picked it up.

In the silent room, he could hear his heart pounding against his chest.

“What’s that?”

A young woman’s clear, curious voice came from behind him.

Jing Pei’s head appeared over his shoulder.

“Why are you still here? Didn’t those Atavist families drag you into a meeting?” Qiu Fa pushed the drawer shut as he spoke.

The goal of this organization had placed the Atavist families under far greater pressure than the situation with Mei Yanlan ever had.

“Who wants to attend a meeting with them this late at night?”

Qiu Fa glanced at her nonchalant face.

“It’s late, and you’ve already done more than enough to save Mei Yanlan. Go home and sleep.”

“Huh? Is the Director blaming me?” Jing Pei leaned over the desk and studied his face. “Or are you worried about me? Were you afraid I might get hurt?”

“Hmph. You’re imagining things.”

Qiu Fa turned away and continued searching another desk, ignoring her.

“I didn’t want to stay in contact with that information broker either, but desperate situations call for desperate measures. Something was wrong with Teacher Mei, and I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t noticed. See? I made the right choice, and we gained a lot from it. If I hadn’t bought Xiao Cheng’s location from the information broker, we would never have discovered that this organization even existed.”

She was a little noisy.

Qiu Fa searched one place after another while Jing Pei chattered beside him.

“I didn’t notify the Tribunal Division first because you were already short-handed. Since this involved the Atavist families, it was only right to let them deal with it…”

Tribunal Division employees hurried back and forth through the corridor outside. When they heard what was happening inside, they silently gave Jing Pei a thumbs-up.

As expected of a Dragon Atavist.

She was fearless.

At that moment, Jing Pei’s stomach growled twice.

She raised her head.

“I’m hungry. Director, buy me a late-night meal as a reward for my great achievement.”

“…”

“Big Cat, buy me some bluefin tuna. I deserve a reward.”

“…Shut up and be quiet.”

“Tuna, tuna, tuna.”

The employees outside slowed their steps. They were beginning to worry for Jing Pei.

She was pushing her luck now!

They could almost feel the Director’s temper rising. Look at the hand holding his enforcement baton. Had his grip tightened?

Just as someone prepared to risk being beaten by the Director and rush inside to stop him from hitting the young heir of the Long family, they heard Qiu Fa speak.

“What restaurant would still be open this late? Eat this. You don’t get to choose.”

Jing Pei caught the object Qiu Fa tossed toward her.

It was a tiny can of tuna, the late-night snack Qiu Fa had prepared for himself.

Wasn’t it a little too small?

Would it even be enough to fill the gaps between her teeth?

She laughed, amused.

---

The Kingdom of Punia was known as the “Withered Sunflower.”

Its beautiful, prosperous nightscape had disappeared years ago. On the glittering map of the world, one small patch had gone dark. The economy had declined so badly that the city authorities would not even turn on a single streetlamp.

The only bright starlight proving that the country had not vanished completely came from the royal city.

It was a luxurious city where only royalty and nobles were allowed to live, a place ordinary citizens could hardly enter.

The gates remained firmly closed. Even when rotting bodies filled the streets outside, not a trace of the luxury within was reduced.

The people inside held celebrations night after night. Since they could not travel abroad, they passed the time with wild celebrations inside the city.

That night, they once again fell into exhausted sleep after their revelry.

The city guards moved swiftly through the streets and took up positions in the shadows, their eyes fixed on the closed gates.

“Once they enter, show no mercy.”

Through his earpiece, the commander of the city guards heard the cold, dark voice of the bloated king.

“I want everyone in this country to understand the price of disrespecting me!”

“Do we kill all of them?” the commander asked, his voice hoarse.

“They’re only wasting food by staying alive, and taking them prisoner would waste soldiers. Kill them all. That’s the only way to frighten the others into obedience.”

The king spoke as if he were ordering the deaths of rats in the street.

The commander’s grip tightened around his gun.

He closed his eyes.

They could blame only themselves for trusting someone who did not deserve it.

The traitor had gone straight to the king and revealed their plan in exchange for a reward, enough medicine to keep him alive for two more years.

All that, just to struggle on for two more years…

But what right did the commander have to look down on him?

Every soldier in the city still served the king for the same reason. They needed medicine for themselves and their families.

The commander closed his eyes.

Everyone would die in the end. They were all only struggling to stay alive.

If they disobeyed, the Atavist guards hired by the king would never spare them.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city…

“Musani, what are you waiting for?!”

Her deputy stared at her, close to breaking down.

“If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late! Once they wake up tomorrow and see so many of us gathered here, they’ll know what we’re planning. We won’t get another chance!”

The entire force had grown restless. Every pair of eyes was fixed on their leader.

The white light from Musani’s phone fell across her face. Her finger remained frozen over the screen.

“Wait a little longer. It’s almost time.”

Her deputy glanced at the page displayed on the phone.

It showed the trending list on the world’s largest social media platform.

There was gossip about international celebrities, news that Hualan had somehow received a warning three days before a major earthquake, and reports that an Angel Atavist family and a Demon Atavist family from another country planned to fight inside a certain bubble. The followers of both sides had even begun armed clashes in private.

None of it had anything to do with Punia.

Seeing such news only fed their jealousy and anger.

What was Musani waiting for?

Yet because they trusted and respected her, no one acted without permission, no matter how anxious they became.

Their hearts sank, and the despair in their eyes deepened.

Musani felt the same.

Could the mysterious information broker’s words really be trusted?

Perhaps the broker was only playing with them, like a cruel child tossing a piece of wood to a drowning ant, only to overturn it again.

The clock continued to tick.

The desert sky grew darker and darker, as if daylight were about to tear it apart.

Musani’s heart pounded out of control.

Still, there was nothing about their country on the trending list.

Her grip tightened.

She rose and put her phone away.

“Move!”

The crowd froze for a moment, then rose all at once.

From the last embers of their lives, they forced their final flames to burn again.

The rebel force advanced toward the royal city.

At the agreed time, the gates opened without trouble, revealing the brightly lit city of the nobles.

It remained as luxurious as it had been fifteen years ago. Fine crystal streetlamps illuminated every corner, making the city look like a fairy-tale paradise. Every rooftop was spotless and white. Swimming pools shimmered in the courtyards, while abandoned champagne and food barely touch lay beside them, waiting to be swept into the trash by servants after sunrise.

Across the rest of the country, people depended on firewood for light after nightfall.

Yet this sunflower still bloomed with dazzling beauty, as if the flesh and blood of every citizen had been used to nourish it.

The sight burned their eyes.

Hatred blazed in every gaze.

Click. Click. Click.

Every gun was loaded.

Inside the city, the soldiers waiting in ambush had raised newer and more powerful weapons even earlier, aiming them at the gate.

“Ding.”

Just as Musani was about to step through the city gate, her phone made a soft sound.

She froze, then remembered that she had enabled the platform feature while clinging to one last helpless hope. Whenever a new topic entered the trending list, the platform would notify her.

“Wait!”

She stopped her comrades, whose minds were close to being consumed by hatred, and pulled out her phone as her heart thundered.

Several international news stories now occupied the top positions on the trending list.

#Hualan Announces International Criminal Organization Released Genetic-Virus Bombs in Other Countries#

In that instant, Musani felt both hot and cold. Her eyes burned.

The information broker had not lied to her!

It was true!

Their disaster had not been a natural catastrophe. It had been caused by people!

Several more topics appeared.

#Hualan Tribunal Division Announces Discovery of Genetic-Virus Creation Program#

#Rimei Pharmaceutical Group#

#Experts Say Reversing the Effects Will Not Be Difficult#

#Punia and Qilongduo May Soon Be Revived#

“Leader?”

“Retreat,” Musani said after taking a deep breath.

“What?”

“Quickly! Retreat right now!” Musani ordered in a firm voice. “Trust me!”

Though her subordinates could not understand and were far from satisfied, they gritted their teeth and obeyed. They soon disappeared from the light spilling out of the city and melted into the darkness.

Not a single bullet was fired from the guns waiting for them inside the city.

Everyone was confused.

“They seem to be running away. Should we pursue them?”

The commander answered at once, “Silence. His Majesty’s orders take priority. We wait for them to enter.”

The commander did not know what had happened. Perhaps the rebels had discovered the grim reapers waiting to harvest their lives.

Whatever the reason, they should run.

Run quickly.

Run as far away as they could!

Because the commander delayed on purpose, the rebel force had already vanished into the vast desert and endless darkness by the time the furious king ordered the soldiers to pursue them.

When daylight broke, more and more of the country’s numb citizens saw the news online.

The surface of the stagnant water began to boil.

---

When Jing Pei visited Mei Yanlan, she was already awake.

Thanks to the strong body and extraordinary healing ability of a high-purity Atavist, there was no sign that her body had been torn apart the night before.

“As expected of Officer Mei. You recover quickly.”

Jing Pei placed the fruit basket and flowers she had brought on the bedside table.

“It’s all thanks to that Doctor Tang you brought,” Mei Yanlan said, staring at Jing Pei’s face.

Noticing that Jing Pei was looking at the diary in front of her, Mei Yanlan asked, “What are you looking at?”

“That notebook doesn’t seem to have gotten wet at all.”

“What?”

“When Mr. Xiao came back to find it last night, it was still pouring. I thought he might let it get soaked, but he protected it well.”

Judging by the corners of the diary, there really was no sign of water damage.

After the Tribunal Division arrived the previous night and Mei Yanlan was taken to the hospital, Xiao Cheng returned to the bubble and searched everywhere.

Only after Jing Pei questioned him did she learn that he had come back for the very object that had caused Mei Yanlan’s serious injury.

“It must be important to her. I don’t know if any of you found it, but I’m afraid she’ll panic when she wakes up,” Xiao Cheng had said.

Soaked by the rain, he had looked like a miserable stray dog pulled from the water.

Jing Pei realized what he was searching for. Surprise flashed through her eyes, followed by a slightly wicked smile.

“I was planning to take it to the hospital when I visited her tomorrow. Since you came all this way to find it, you can take it with you. Wait here.”

Jing Pei entered the research facility, retrieved the diary, and handed it to Xiao Cheng.

“This is…”

Xiao Cheng stared at it.

So the brown-paper package had contained an ordinary-looking notebook.

What could it contain that made it so important to Mei Yanlan that she had dropped her guard for an instant and almost lost her life?

“It’s the diary of her first love.”

Xiao Cheng’s hand stiffened around the diary.

Jing Pei watched him with curiosity and interest, as if waiting to see his reaction.

Even if he and Mei Yanlan would one day have three children and form a close bond that could not be broken, the person Mei Yanlan loved had always been Wen Can.

The only person who could make her lose control and risk her life without hesitation was Wen Can.

The living could never defeat the dead, especially someone like Wen Can.

Xiao Cheng should understand that now.

“Thank you,” Xiao Cheng said after a long silence, his voice rough. “I’ll be going.”

Considering the violent storm outside at the time, it would have been normal for the diary to become so wet that most of its writing blurred.

Yet it had returned to Mei Yanlan without the slightest damage.

After hearing Jing Pei’s explanation, Mei Yanlan paused.

When she woke, Xiao Cheng had been far more silent than usual.

He had always possessed a certain confidence. Perhaps he had believed that since the person she loved was dead, there was no longer anyone to compete with. Or perhaps he felt that having children with her made him different from everyone else.

That confidence now seemed to have disappeared.

Mei Yanlan had thought it was because she had hunted him without mercy inside the bubble.

She had not expected the diary to be the reason.

“That’s for the best,” Mei Yanlan said.

Seeing that Mei Yanlan was fine, Jing Pei stayed for a while. Then she gave a huge yawn and stood to leave.

“I haven’t slept all night. I’m going home to catch up on sleep.”

“Long Jin.”

Mei Yanlan called to her just as she reached the door.

Jing Pei turned back.

“I consulted a professional. Because hybrids born from two Atavists dying young is considered an unbreakable rule, machines that test combinations of Atavist genes stopped being updated years ago. The machines available on the market are more than ten years old and only eighty percent accurate.

“That means the machine inside that organization was the most advanced in the world and had the highest accuracy.”

Jing Pei looked surprised.

“Really? Then didn’t something good come out of this disaster?”

Mei Yanlan watched her for several seconds, then smiled.

“Yes. Something good really did come from it. If Xiao Cheng hadn’t been captured and the organization hadn’t extracted his Atavist cells for testing, we would have had to conduct the test ourselves using a machine with only eighty percent accuracy.

“And because we would have done it ourselves, some people would still have doubted the result. The children and I would have continued facing all kinds of hidden threats.”

But results produced by this organization were another matter.

It was not only because of the organization’s advanced equipment and technology. Some of the powerful figures behind the organization probably wanted Mei Yanlan’s genes for themselves.

Such people would naturally trust the judgment of their own organization.

Once they accepted the result, they would stop wasting time and resources on her.

For smaller figures, that response would also serve as a signal and a guarantee that the information was accurate.

As a result, Mei Yanlan and the children were now safe.

It was too perfect.

Mei Yanlan had begun to suspect Jing Pei on the day she prepared to kill the Ling family in revenge, only for Jing Pei to lead an army of monsters into the area and ruin her plan.

Had that really been a coincidence?

No matter how much Mei Yanlan thought about it, she could not understand what Jing Pei’s goal might be.

Since then, she had often imagined a hidden hand moving through the darkness, plucking the strings of fate and arranging the lives of others.

Yet everything happened too naturally.

Every detail that seemed out of place could still be explained by a reasonable chain of events.

Even now, the truth remained wrapped in a mist Mei Yanlan could not understand.

But at least she was certain of one thing.

I am the one who benefited.

That hidden hand plucked the strings of fate and pushed me away from a known disaster, sending me into a new life filled with possibilities.

The young woman’s clear, cunning, mysterious eyes met Mei Yanlan’s alluring eyes.

In that brief moment, countless messages seemed to pass between them, forming a silent conversation known only to the two of them.

At last, Jing Pei gave a lazy yawn and waved.

“Rest well, Officer Mei. I’m leaving.”

Jing Pei left.

Not long afterward, Mei Yanlan’s other colleagues from the Tribunal Division came to visit.

As Wen Yuxian was leaving, she heard Mei Yanlan say, “Now I understand how you feel about her.”

Wen Yuxian looked at her in surprise, then spoke with a gentle smile.

“She’s not bad, is she?”

“Hmph.”

---

He had been deceived after all.

After finishing Mei Yanlan’s operation, Tang Woxue stood outside the hospital and smoked. A shadow hung over his handsome face, making the contrast between his bright appearance and dark air even stronger.

The young nurses at the Atavist hospital kept looking in his direction.

He had emailed the information broker, but received no reply.

The broker was like a dishonest merchant who cheated a customer and then disappeared.

The broker had claimed tonight would be Tang Woxue’s opportunity.

What opportunity?

The young woman had escaped without a scratch. The medicine Tang Woxue had prepared never had a chance to enter her body.

The mercenaries he had hired on the broker’s recommendation had also been useless. They refused to confront a Dragon Atavist directly within Hualan.

After dawn broke, Tang Woxue’s phone began to ring.

He let it ring for a long time before answering.

“…I’m sorry. I failed.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Cough, cough… Ah Xue, I don’t want to leave with regrets. Give me your heart. Please give it to me. I love you…”

Tang Woxue remained silent for a long while.

He crushed the cigarette beneath his shoe.

“All right. I’ll give you my heart.”

The call ended.

Before long, a young nurse brought him breakfast: a bowl of vegetable porridge and several meat buns.

Tang Woxue crouched on the steps and began to eat. He was handsome and well dressed but carried a wild, untamed air, making him look somehow like a homeless bear.

When the young nurse described him that way to a colleague, the colleague said she was imagining things.

“Doctor Tang is obviously rich. After the surgery, the hospital director invited him to work here, but he didn’t seem interested at all. Do you know how high that salary is?”

That made sense.

He was handsome, wealthy, and talented. He was clearly successful in every way.

The nurse decided she had imagined too much.

Beside a trash can nearby, a stray cat searched through the garbage.

Perhaps it noticed Tang Woxue watching it, because it turned its head and began edging closer.

Once it came near enough, Tang Woxue scooped several spoonfuls of porridge onto a lid, blew on it until it cooled, and pushed it toward the cat.

The cat sniffed the food with care, then began eating in large mouthfuls.

“We’re both homeless creatures,” Tang Woxue said after watching it for a while.

He stood, returned to the hospital, and went to sleep in the temporary rest room arranged for him by the director.

Meanwhile, inside a private hospital in another prefecture, Yan Jinhua looked at the phone after the call ended.

Her lips curved into a pleased smile, and excitement shone in her eyes.

“Did Doctor Tang have good news?”

Her private nurse entered and smiled when she saw Yan Jinhua’s expression.

“You could call it good news,” Yan Jinhua said.

She had known this would be the result from the moment Tang Woxue told her about the information he had obtained.

He claimed that ancient medical texts supported it and made the information seem credible: a dragon horn could cure her illness.

What a joke.

He was an ordinary human who wanted to harm an Atavist, and not just any Atavist. He wanted to cut off a dragon’s horn without anyone knowing.

It was nothing but a wild fantasy.

Yan Jinhua had never expected Tang Woxue to succeed.

Nor did she need his scheme against Jing Pei to succeed.

She had prepared her own life-saving medicine long ago.

During the Great Cosmic Convergence, many strange nonhuman creatures appeared in this universe. Some humans had children with these creatures, producing hybrids of humans and monsters. The monsters’ genes were then passed down through later generations.

Sometimes, those genes remained dormant inside the human body and never awakened during the person’s lifetime. Such a person remained an ordinary human.

But if those genes awakened, the body underwent a complete transformation.

The senses became sharper, movement became faster, the body grew stronger, and the lifespan increased. Some could fly through the sky or travel beneath the earth. Others could switch between human and monster forms.

These humans were known as Atavists. Their transformation was caused by the awakening of genes inherited from a monster ancestor.

However, not every hybrid descendant born during the Great Cosmic Convergence inherited Atavist genes that could continue through many generations and benefit the human body.

Yan Jinhua’s family belonged to an unlucky line of hybrids.

In medical terms, their condition was called ‘pseudo-atavism,’ also known as ‘incomplete metamorphic atavism.’

Instead of receiving Atavist genes that would allow them to enter the world of Atavists, the Yan family inherited mutated hearts created by the union between their human ancestors and monsters.

These hearts differed completely from normal human hearts in both shape and function.

They were highly vulnerable to disease and produced violently mutating cells even more dangerous than the cancer cells known in the past.

Once the illness appeared, the cells severely damaged the functions of the other internal organs.

These mismatched but inborn organs left most members of the Yan family confined to sickbeds and doomed to short lives.

Even the family member who survived the longest after falling ill had died at thirty-nine.

Worse still, this was an age when cloned organs could cure almost any illness requiring an organ replacement.

Yet their useless monster hearts, already inferior to those of true Atavists, had somehow inherited the same troublesome limitation: they could not be cloned.

Since their own DNA could not be used to clone a heart, there was no way to create a healthy replacement that would not be rejected by the body.

Their only option was to wait for a healthy heart from another person with the same pseudo-atavistic condition.

The chance of finding one was lower than the chance of winning a hundred-million-yuan lottery.

Yan Jinhua had resented her fate since childhood.

She did not dare hope that she would be among the tiny number of Yan family members who never developed the illness.

While the rest of the family accepted their fate and threw themselves into pleasure, hoping to enjoy their short lives, Yan Jinhua searched for a way to save herself.

She believed fate favored her because, one day, a family moved into the villa district.

The parents were medical researchers, and they had a seven-year-old son.

The child was good-looking but quiet and withdrawn. He kept to himself and always had strange bruises on his body.

Only at night could anyone hear his low cries.

The sound was faint, as if he were forcing himself to remain quiet. No one could hear it without standing close to the family’s window and listening with care.

“The couple frequently moved around with their son. We spoke with their former neighbors, who suspected the couple had been sexually abusing the child—but before they could decide whether to report it to the authorities, the family moved away, and so the matter came to nothing,” the steward in charge of the investigation reported to her.

After an investigation, however, they discovered that the couple’s actual actions caused no less harm.

The couple wanted achievements and breakthroughs in their careers, so they tested their experimental medicines directly on their son.

They had discovered signs of atavism in his heart. Medically, he had pseudo-atavism, but he was the extraordinarily lucky one among ten thousand.

Although his heart was different, it did not weaken him as it did other patients with pseudo-atavism.

Instead, his heart was healthy and strong. It could even release unusual hormones that protected his other organs.

That good fortune became his misfortune.

Night after night, needles pierced his skin and blood vessels, drawing blood or injecting drugs. Bruises spread across his body, with countless small puncture marks hidden inside the dark purple patches.

The effects of the drugs caused pain the young boy could not endure. He cried and begged them to stop.

He vomited again and again, first undigested food, then bile, and sometimes blood and fragments of tissue.

He came close to death many times, but the adults ignored his suffering.

Yan Jinhua wanted his heart.

It was so healthy and powerful. He was not an Atavist, yet his body was almost as strong as one.

If she reached out to him when he had lost all hope, would he become so grateful that he would give her anything in return?

Would he even give her his heart when she needed it, despite knowing there would be no replacement for him and that surrendering it meant death?

“But this still isn’t enough,” thirteen-year-old Yan Jinhua murmured to herself. “He isn’t miserable enough yet. He still begs his parents for mercy, and he still returns home obediently after going outside. That means he still expects something from them. He still cares about them.

“The best time to save him will be when he understands that they’re monsters, not his family. Hope is most powerful when it arrives at the moment of deepest despair, when the desire to survive is strongest.”

Yan Jinhua sent people to contact the couple.

She gave them the research funding they desperately needed, but demanded results within two years. From time to time, she also supplied dangerous, high-grade drugs they could not obtain by themselves.

This forced the couple to lock their son inside the house and stop sending him to school.

Their experiments became more frequent.

The couple grew more unstable and cruel.

Hidden behind the scenes, Yan Jinhua watched Tang Woxue suffer for two years.

He grew older but became thin enough for his bones to show. Imprisoned inside a cage, he was as filthy as a stray dog. His gaze had gone numb, and no light remained in his eyes when he looked at his parents.

Then, one night, his father decided to cut him open and examine his heart.

The researcher wanted to know whether the heart could release healing hormones powerful enough to bring Tang Woxue back from the edge of death.

Tang Woxue realized that his life was about to end.

At the final moment, his instinct to survive burst free.

Tears rolled from his eyes.

“Bang!”

Through his tear-blurred vision, he saw his devil-like father collapse to the floor.

A slender young woman stood there holding a baseball bat.

She looked frightened but brave, appearing before him like a hero.