Li Cheng held his breath and concentrated, feeling the changes in his body. His strength, speed, and endurance seemed to not fluctuate significantly, and no new organs had grown on his limbs.
Only the muscles on his face felt faintly itchy.
"Hmm? What's this..."
He hurried to the mirror in the wardrobe and carefully observed that his facial features were subtly transforming, with minor changes to the details.
"The number of facial muscles has increased, and their sensitivity is higher."
The human face has only about forty muscles, including the orbicularis oris, the zygomaticus minor, the levator labii superioris, the transverse part of the nasalis, the orbicularis oculi, and so on.
By relaxing and tensing these muscles, one can make a wide range of expressions, from joy to anger to sorrow.
Now, not only could Li Cheng control the stretching and contracting of each muscle, he could also make them swell or compress and even cause the side cartilage of the nose and ear cartilage to change as well.
"The range of alterations includes, but is not limited to, the facial contour, the shape of the features, and the texture of the skin. Combined with makeup techniques, it could further refine the details such as the size of pores, skin color, and the number of eyebrows."
Li Cheng manipulated the creases of his eyelids, repeatedly forming double and single eyelids. "While complete facial reconstruction isn't possible due to the fixed skull structure, fooling surveillance cameras and completely concealing my original appearance is easily achievable."
He held his breath and focused, his face first transforming into the man who had been parasitized by the infected body during the day, then into the man's wife.
Perhaps due to having absorbed their blood, these two faces were especially easy for him to mimic with high fidelity—so close that it was hard to distinguish any difference even from up close.
"Wait, why is there a third preset face?"
Li Cheng's expression turned strange; he patted his face, relaxed his muscles, and suddenly transformed into... Luo Zhengxin's face.
He remembered he had previously thrown the ball at Luo Zhengxin's face, causing Luo Zhengxin to bleed. Meanwhile, Qiu Yourong and Qiu Yingxun had accidentally smeared Luo Zhengxin's blood on themselves while trying to stop him.
"Can it really work like this?"
————
At the same time, in the expensive Yin City, the Yin City branch of Prometheus Laboratory.
Security Manager Augustus Perez stood with his arms crossed, brow furrowed.
Separated by a layer of explosion-proof glass, he could see in the sterile and dust-free laboratory ahead, an automated mechanical arm suspended from the ceiling on a rail system was operating an old quartz crucible with a diameter of 80 centimeters.
The outside of the crucible was covered with moss, while inside it was filled with a purple viscous liquid.
A six-axis mechanical arm stirred the crucible with a wooden stick, occasionally revealing bizarre items such as bird skeletons, mushrooms, and animal eyeballs floating to the surface.
"Inject the blood now."
A researcher wearing a mask and goggles commanded, and another mechanical arm holding a test tube slowly poured a minute amount of blood into the crucible.
Puff!!
The crucible immediately emitted a large amount of purple smoke, which slowly rose and coalesced into a human face in mid-air before gradually dissipating.
The fifty or so high-speed cameras placed around had already taken thousands of photos, which, through data cables, were downloaded into the computer, eventually creating a digital model of a young man's head.
"We found it! Luo Zhengxin, seventeen years old, a high school sophomore at Yin City's Zhuoyue Middle School, ID number 310106..."
An operator in the Yin City registration system found information matching the face, hesitatingly said, "However, according to surveillance footage, the Master of Insects' infected body was active that night, but he was in his own home. Also, the blood left at the scene was type AB, which does not match Luo Zhengxin's blood type."
"Hm?"
Augustus raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Divine Calamity Fragments were important, but not that important; they occasionally appeared on the black market and were sold to organizations or individuals interested in them.
He had requested from his superiors to use the Perfect Level Exotic Sect Evil Spirit Cauldron, mainly as a favor for a friend from Gen-Sys Biotech—they were particularly interested in anything related to the Master of Insects.
(Additionally, the Special Affairs Bureau did not like external forces causing trouble in the city, and did not allow Prometheus to conduct high-profile searches everywhere.)
"The blood-tracking ability of the crucible shouldn't have errors..."
Augustus pondered for a moment then turned to ask the operator, "Does his family have any background?"
The operator replied, "His parents run a small cosmetics company, nothing significant. However, his maternal aunt is married to a member of the Lu Family."
"Direct lineage or collateral?"
"Collateral."
"Then it doesn't matter." Augustus waved his hand indifferently, "Where is he now? Send someone."
————
On the fifth floor of the bustling Longheng Shopping Mall in the city center, Luo Zhengxin, dressed in trendy brands, was browsing a luxury store, choosing clothes for the next day.
His cousin, Lu Zhicong, was coming to Yin City, and according to his mother, the Lu Family was a real big deal, so they had to host him well.
Suddenly, he felt a vague pain in his stomach. Luo Zhengxin's face changed, and he rushed to the mall's restroom.
As soon as he entered, he was grabbed by two burly men dressed as cleaners, one on each side, who dragged him to a stall at the back. Another burly man placed an "Out of Service" sign at the bathroom door, blocking it to prevent outsiders from entering.
The air seemed to be filled with a rotting stench.
"What do you want? Let me go!"
Luo Zhengxin had never encountered such a situation before; his face turned pale with fright as he struggled fiercely.
But the burly men were unfazed, extracting a full syringe of blood from his arm, and scanned him back and forth with some device as they harshly interrogated him, "Where were you at 12 o'clock on Wednesday night? What were you doing?"
"I was at home! Watching TV at home!" Luo Zhengxin's shoulders were forcefully pressed down, his face slowly pressed closer to the surface of the toilet water as his voice involuntarily grew sharp.
The burly man interrogated sharply, "Where did you put the Divine Calamity Fragment of the Master of Insects?"
"What Master of Insects, what Divine Calamity Fragment? I don't know anything!"
The polygraph showed that Luo Zhengxin was not lying. The agents of Prometheus asked several more questions and, upon confirming that he knew nothing, released him reluctantly. They took out a flash-shaped Memory Eraser from the box and flashed it in his face.
"..."
After an unknown amount of time, Luo Zhengxin regained consciousness, finding himself sitting on the toilet. "Eh? Why is my face wet?"
He reached out his finger, wiped his cheek, and tentatively tasted the mystery liquid that appeared to be sweat, "Why does it taste a bit salty?"