Thunder rumbled across the sky as rain began to fall, blending into the blood on the ground.
The beastman’s skull had been blown open, veins bulging violently. Though his brain was already dead, his body still twitched nonstop.
The sharp smell of chemicals mixed into the air, soon buried beneath the heavy rain.
You Min bent down, his strong arm sliding beneath Lu Yi’s knees as he effortlessly lifted her into his embrace.
The girl in his arms had already fainted, lying weakly against his broad chest. Only the wound on her shoulder still held a trace of warmth.
The gloved hand slowly moved upward, pressing against the shoulder pierced by the dagger tip.
“Hey… Lu Yi?”
A man’s voice came from her optical brain communicator.
You Min recognized it instantly.
Yalan.
That annoying bastard.
The sound of rain drowned out the retreating footsteps. Without saying a word, You Min hung up the call and carried Lu Yi into his hovering vehicle.
A quiet modern villa stood beneath the rain, surrounded by armed patrol robots.
A black umbrella floated behind You Min. Half of his shoulder was soaked by the rain, yet not a single drop touched Lu Yi.
He walked straight into the basement.
After tearing away her coat, he saw the wound on her shoulder had already turned slightly bluish. His sharp gaze swept across it, confirming poison was spreading through her body.
“So they really wanted you dead.”
His eyes shifted toward her neck, where the skin had begun growing cold from the toxin.
Right there.
The instant his snake pupils transformed, he became a blue venomous serpent.
The blood-sweet scent capable of driving beastmen mad did not appear. Instead, there was only a faint creamy sweetness—probably from whatever body wash Lu Yi had used while bathing.
His venomous fangs emerged, mercilessly piercing her skin.
“Mmph…”
The pain awakened a sliver of consciousness within Lu Yi, but more venom entered her body, clashing violently against the dagger poison and continuously draining her strength.
You Min shifted back into human form and stepped away from the bed, quietly observing her subtle reactions.
Sweat formed on her forehead. Her pale fingers clutched the bedsheets tightly as pain forced her fingertips to curl inward.
You Min avoided looking too closely, suppressing the strange restless feelings in his chest.
After confirming the detoxification process had begun, he stood and entered the walk-in closet.
A few moments later, he emerged wearing only a bathrobe.
The girl on the bed reacted even more intensely than before. Large patches of skin on her back had turned red, and her neck looked almost feverishly burned.
“Boss, I brought the doctor.”
The bedroom door swung open. A scar-faced beastman roughly grabbed the doctor by the shoulder and shoved him in front of You Min.
“B-Boss…?”
The doctor had clearly never witnessed gang activity before. His legs were practically trembling.
You Min merely issued a cold command.
“Treat the wound.”
The doctor shifted his gaze and discovered a weak unconscious female lying on the bed…
“Y-Yes…”
He opened his medical kit with shaking hands and carefully treated the poisoned flesh around the wound.
“Mm…”
A soft unbearable sound escaped Lu Yi’s throat.
The doctor immediately felt an icy sharp gaze sweeping toward him.
You Min stood above him, staring down with unreadable eyes.
“I-It’ll be done immediately!”
The doctor sped up the treatment process. Just as he prepared to tie the bandages, You Min stopped him.
Taking the bandages himself, You Min skillfully tied them into a butterfly knot around Lu Yi’s shoulder.
Without even turning around, he coldly uttered three words:
“Go get paid.”
“Y-Yes…”
The doctor stumbled out awkwardly. One of the gang members waiting outside glanced curiously into the room—
Only to see their boss sitting beside the bed, emotions like impatience and concern hidden in his eyes…
How strange.
The moment Yalan received Lu Yi’s silent call, he immediately sensed something had happened.
Wrapped only in a towel, not even bothering to dry his soaked black hair, he strode straight into his office study.
Opening the tracking link, the optical brain took several moments before finally connecting to Lu Yi’s signal.
The location displayed a small alley near her home.
Something was wrong.
“Bernite, go to the Information Department immediately and track Lu Yi’s signal.”
“Yes, President. What happened? Today’s Sunday—Lu Yi should either be at home… or at driving school.”
Inside the communicator, more than ten rejected calls to Lu Yi glared back at him.
Irritation surged within Yalan as he headed straight toward the garage.
“Check now. Something may have happened to her.”
“Understood, President. You’ve gone out?” Bernite sounded worried. “It’s raining heavily right now, and your injury—”
“I’m fine.”
Yalan ended the call and drove straight toward District P9.
Very quickly, he arrived at the alley marked by the tracker.
Beside the construction site, a male beastman lay collapsed on the ground.
Yalan’s pupils shrank as he stepped directly into the rain, carefully inspecting the corpse.
One gunshot through the hand.
One through the forehead.
Blunt-force injuries on the head…
But no bite marks.
Nearby, inside a puddle, a canvas bag lay soaked in mud and rainwater.
Even filthy as it was, Yalan recognized it instantly—
It belonged to Lu Yi.
Bernite’s call came again, his tone filled with panic.
“President! We tracked Lu Yi’s signal—it disappeared after entering gang territory!”
“Gang territory?”
Thunder exploded overhead.
Pain from an old injury spread violently through Yalan’s body, pulsing from his chest to all four limbs.
“President, are you alright?!”
Bernite knew his condition was acting up again.
“Bernite, send the emergency unit to gather in the gang district. Also have the police dispatch officers to District P9 for a shooting case.”
Yalan picked up Lu Yi’s canvas bag and discovered an unfinished syringe inside the muddy water.
The medicine was all too familiar.
The centerpiece of last month’s scandal from the Science Center—
Biochemical enhancement serum.
Injected into beastmen, it allowed them to stand back up from near death…
And fight with even greater ferocity.
It was not only the silver-haired female threatening Lu Yi.
Someone else wanted her dead too.
But who had saved her?
One of You Min’s people?
Or someone else entirely?
Yalan’s thoughts spiraled into chaos.
All he could do now was focus, activate the emergency siren atop his vehicle, and race toward the gang district at maximum speed.