“Beep… beep…”
Deep within a primeval forest, hidden underground, a laboratory gleamed in interwoven shades of silver-white and dim blue.
Holographic screens on the walls flickered with streams of data and dynamic diagrams of the human body.
On the experimental platform, precision instruments were arranged in neat rows. Inside glass containers, pale blue nutrient fluid swayed gently.
The air carried a faint scent of disinfectant, mixed with an indescribable chill.
“Professor Qin, there’s no more ‘Source of Life’ that can be extracted from Subject No. 1.”
A bespectacled man in a white sterile suit spoke expressionlessly as he looked toward the girl tightly bound to the hospital bed.
The girl’s expression was indifferent. Her skin, deprived of sunlight for years, was deathly pale.
Countless tubes and wires were inserted into her frail body.
Even the backs of her thin hands were pierced with thick needles.
Yet she seemed unaware of any pain, her clear, bright eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
There was nothing in her gaze but confusion and cold detachment.
Professor Qin’s face remained cold as he glanced at the emotionless girl on the bed.
“Xiao Wang, bring that old woman here.”
Xiao Wang hesitated and leaned closer, lowering his voice.
“Professor Qin… that old woman died two days ago.”
“What?”
Professor Qin’s expression shifted slightly—yet he failed to notice that the girl’s lifeless eyes suddenly moved.
“My grandmother… is dead?” The girl spoke abruptly, her voice hoarse from long silence.
Both Professor Qin and Xiao Wang were startled and turned toward her.
She licked her bloodless lips and curled them into a strange smile.
“Did I ever tell you? If my grandmother is gone… you’ll die very miserably too.”
Xiao Wang was frightened by her expression. He stepped back abruptly and forced himself to sound calm.
“You can’t even save yourself. Who are you trying to scare?”
“Heh heh… Let’s wait and see.”
As her words fell, the surrounding air seemed to stir.
“Y-you… what are you doing?” Professor Qin barked harshly, though fear crept into his tone.
Looking at the girl still tightly bound to the bed, his wildly beating heart calmed slightly.
She was in his hands now. There was nothing she could do.
The girl’s stiff body twitched faintly, and a crimson tide rolled through her eyes.
“I want you to die! Heh heh… Reluctant, aren’t you? Do you know what the most painful thing in the world is? It’s dying before you’ve spent your money. Hahaha…”
“Madwoman… Professor Qin, she’s gone insane!”
Xiao Wang avoided her gaze.
“Let’s go!” Professor Qin’s face darkened, filled with unwilling regret.
Five years ago, he had abducted this girl from a remote mountain village.
Inside her body was a mysterious substance capable of instantly healing all injuries—and even had certain rejuvenating effects.
He had named this substance the Source of Life.
He had spent countless hours trying to study and replicate it.
Unfortunately, no matter what methods he used, he could not reproduce it.
Still, the substance extracted from her over the years had already brought him fame and fortune.
If it could no longer be extracted, the loss would be immeasurable.
In the past, they had threatened her with her only living relative—her grandmother—and she had obediently cooperated.
Now that the old woman had died from the torment, they would need another way to make her comply.
Professor Qin and Xiao Wang turned and prepared to leave the laboratory.
But to their horror, they discovered that their bodies would not move.
Their faces drained of color. The incomprehensible phenomenon filled them with instinctive fear.
“Hahaha…” Tears streamed from the girl’s crimson eyes as she laughed. “Go on. Why aren’t you leaving?”
Xiao Wang screamed in panic, “What did you do? Let me out!”
“I didn’t do anything. Why aren’t you leaving? Don’t want to?”
Her madness made them tremble uncontrollably.
Xiao Wang struggled desperately. “This has nothing to do with me! It was Professor Qin—yes, him! Debts have their owners. Take revenge on him!”
Professor Qin said nothing, secretly pulling out a panic alarm from his pocket.
Outside the laboratory were mercenaries he had hired for protection.
Once they rushed in, surely they could subdue a mere girl.
The girl’s eyes rolled slightly, fixing on his hand. She grinned.
“Heh heh… Old man, looking for help? Guess whether those people outside can even get in.”
After enjoying the terror on their faces, she closed her eyes and said calmly:
“I’m tired. I won’t play with you anymore.”
The air above her body surged violently.
With a deafening explosion—
“Boom—!”
“No—!”
A violent shockwave shot into the sky from the heart of the forest.
Where the laboratory once stood, a massive crater over a hundred meters wide now remained.
……
Yu Liu Village.
Yu Liu Village lay at the foot of Wolong Mountain. From a dilapidated brick courtyard house at the mountain’s base came the sound of angry shouting.
“That bastard Shi Chengcang! If he doesn’t give me an explanation, I won’t let this go!”
The old woman cursing was around fifty or sixty years old. Years of labor had left her skin rough and dark. Her graying hair was neatly coiled at the back of her head.
She added firewood to the stove briskly, stood up, and wiped her hands on the apron at her waist.
Carrying a wooden tray, she scooped several ladles of hot water from a large pot and walked out of the kitchen, still muttering curses.
“If I catch those two little brats Shi Manguan and Shi Mangang, I’ll twist their ears off!”
Under the large pear tree in the courtyard sat a wrinkled old man.
He took a puff of his pipe and tapped it against the sole of his shoe.
“Old woman, lower your voice. Don’t wake Wuyou.”
The old woman immediately fell silent, then lowered her voice.
“I’ll go check if Wuyou’s awake.”
She set down the tray and lifted the heavy curtain to enter the inner room.
Just then, Sui Wuyou, who had been lying on the heated brick bed, opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Confusion filled her gaze.
Hadn’t she self-destructed her spatial ability and powers, dragging that beastly professor and that little bastard down with her?
Where was this place?
The old woman’s face lit up with joy. She hurried over and coaxed gently, as if speaking to a small child.
“Wuyou’s awake. Does your head still hurt?”
Hearing this, Sui Wuyou turned—and her face changed dramatically.
Grandma?
She scrambled up from the bed and threw herself into the old woman’s arms.
“Grandma!”
Could this be the legendary underworld? Had she reunited with her grandmother in death?
The old woman stiffened for a moment, then burst into wild joy.
Her body trembled, tears streaming down her face.
“Wuyou, this is wonderful! My Wuyou recognizes Grandma now!”
She shouted toward the courtyard:
“Old man! Come quick! Our Wuyou can call me Grandma now!”