"Are you enjoying my daughter’s beauty?"
Almost at the same time as hearing the sentence, Lian turned. He activated his hunter’s sense. Mana began to move inside his body.
His eyes searched the entire environment. The ceiling, the walls, the fleshy pillars, the shadows between the eggs. But no one was there.
No human, no monster except that spider-like creature. A few seconds of silence passed.
’Is it hidden?’ He thought to himself. He searched everywhere but could not find any trace of it.
But he was sure of one thing. This voice definitely belonged to that unknown white-eyed creature. The same creature he had seen in his nightmare. The same mastermind behind all of this.
Then a quiet voice echoed in the space. A voice that seemed to come from everywhere, and from nowhere.
"Calm down."
The male voice laughed.
"If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead by now."
Lian said nothing, but his frown deepened. This sentence was not a threat. It was worse than a threat. There was absolute confidence in it.
Confidence that came only from power, or from madness. And he still did not know which side he was facing.
Reasoning was not easy either, because he was facing a creature that seemed both insane and powerful, and this made it difficult.
But he was also in no hurry. He had gained many stat points from massacring the monsters. This bastard thought fighting those monsters would weaken him.
But on the contrary, it had given him a chance to become even stronger than before.
"What are you?" He then asked quietly.
The man’s voice laughed. A quiet, surprised laugh, as if he had heard a funny question.
"You asked the wrong question. You should ask what I was." He then said.
Lian’s eyes narrowed... Human. This creature was once human. And the speaker deliberately wanted him to understand this.
He was sure of this. Not only did all the information he had confirm it, but his instinct also said the same.
The man’s voice spoke again.
"You know... it’s very interesting. All the humans who came here before you were afraid of me. But you ask questions."
"I haven’t decided whether to be afraid of you yet." Lian answered without changing his expression.
A few moments of silence passed, and then a louder laugh was heard.
"Excellent."
"Truly excellent."
The man began to speak quietly. Not in a hurry, not like someone under pressure. But like a teacher explaining to a student.
"Before the city fell... before the crack opened... before the monsters appeared... I was here."
Lian listened.
"For years and decades, I worked on my project."
"Twenty years ago, I started my first experiments. Back then, my resources were limited. My sources were limited. And my time was limited."
"I had to spend twenty years in this damn city... You know, they were after me... They were really after me, and that’s why my project progressed slowly."
His voice became quieter for a moment.
"And then the crack opened in this city. I didn’t want this to happen. But when it did... it was a gift for me."
"A gift?" Lian’s eyes turned cold. He still understood what the situation was.
It is clear that whatever this creature is, it has lived secretly in this city for the past twenty years. Probably after what it did in East Asia, the whole world was after it.
That is why it did not dare to come into the spotlight.
But one question arises. Is this creature native to their world? Or...? And also, why was this creature telling him all of this? What was its goal?
"Yes." The man laughed.
"Endless resources. Unknown biology. New species. And the opportunity to complete a dream I had worked toward for twenty years."
Then he suddenly changed the subject.
"Anyway, did you see your friends out there?"
Lian’s body immediately tensed. For the first time since the conversation started, he showed a real reaction.
"What were their names? Ah... right."
"Marcus."
"Claire."
"And the talkative girl... Liana."
"What did you do to them?" Lian then asked with indifference but coldness. It was not clear if he was angry or not, if he cared or not.
But this was a question he really wanted answered.
"They are alive. At least for now." The creature answered.
Lian took his gaze off the ceiling.
"But that’s not the answer to my question... Those people outside. Those who walk like sleepwalkers. What did you do to them?"
The man laughed.
"Nothing. They are just sleeping."
He was lying. Lian understood at that moment. No human was just "sleeping." Not like that. Not with those empty eyes. Not with those lifeless movements.
The man, as if reading his thoughts, laughed again.
"Okay. Maybe sleeping isn’t the right word." Then his voice became quieter and more excited.
"They are evolving. Being reborn. Turning into a superior race. An excellent race... Into living gods!"
Lian said nothing, but inside he froze. He was now sure that this creature was definitely insane. Only a madman speaks like this.
The man continued.
"To reach perfection... you have to let go of human limitations. Emotions, fear, anger, attachment, memories. All of these are chains." His voice became passionate. Mad.
"I just remove those chains. That way, later, when they are evolving, no extra problems arise."
But Lian knew the truth. This was not removal. This was stealing. Breaking. Destroying. It was destroying their human identity.
In a way, it wanted to reset them to default.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard. First quiet, then clearer.
Lian turned his head. From the shadows between the massive eggs, a man came out.
Tall, thin, torn clothes, white skin, a completely human and almost normal face. But the eyes... The eyes were completely white.
No pupils, no color. And black veins moved under the skin of his face, as if something alive was crawling beneath his skin.
For the first time, he was seeing the owner of the voice.
And this made the situation even scarier, because he did not look like a monster. He looked like a human.
The man stopped and smiled.
"Finally we meet."
"Why me? Why were you after me?" Lian stared directly at him.
"You killed one of my children. Don’t you think a father has the right to take revenge?" The man tilted his head.
"That’s not your goal." Lian answered without hesitation. He could see it and hear it in this man’s tone.
He had no hatred toward him. In fact, he spoke to him with interest. As if he had found a new lab rat that he was also interested in.
A few seconds of silence passed, and then the man laughed and quietly nodded.
"You’re right... Revenge? How trivial. How human. I’ve moved past such things." Then he looked directly into Lian’s eyes.
"Actually... I wanted to talk to you. And perhaps... ask for your help."
Help? This creature was asking for his help? But help for what?
The man gestured around, at the eggs, at the monsters, at the massive hall.
"I am not an enemy of humanity. I am humanity’s savior."
Then he pointed at the eggs.
"These are my failures. Imperfect samples."
Lian’s eyes narrowed. If these damn things were "imperfect samples"... then what did a successful sample look like?
The man slowly extended his hand toward the darkness at the end of the hall.
"Come. Let me show you something."
Lian followed his gaze. In the depths of the underground... beyond dozens of massive eggs... something was there.
Something much larger, much more massive. An egg that was incomparable to the rest. Over ten meters tall.
Its surface pulsed slowly. Like a living heart. Like a creature breathing in its sleep. All the other eggs looked small around it.
The white-eyed man smiled. A smile mixed with pride and whispered:
"Do you want to see my masterpiece?"