Chapter 271: The Injection
Dean shivered uncontrollably as he remembered the bone-drilling pain from earlier that morning.
“Starting tomorrow, don’t use your ability to its full extent. Keep yourself useful. I’ve already checked the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th floors. Once I find the surveillance room, I’ll figure out how to rescue them.”
Dean gave a soft “Mm,” and asked, “David…?”
“He’s been injected with the drug. Mentally, he’s holding up. Don’t panic. Don’t drag me down,” Zhuang Mingxu reminded him.
“I’ll cooperate,” Dean gritted his teeth. “If you mess around… I’ll tell Lu.”
Such a childish threat.
At that moment, Zhuang Mingxu both hoped to hear news of Lu Weiyi—and hoped not to hear anything at all.
*
Late at night, the courtyard of the villa housing the only team was brightly lit.
One by one, the people Lu Xiao had sent out to gather information returned.
“The villa was being patrolled by members of the Zhuang family last night. They said they didn’t hear anything unusual. By the time they knew something was wrong, the Major General had already led people to make arrests.”
“We asked those near the Major General. They said he brought over a thousand ability users, armed with tranquilizer guns. It seems he targeted this place from the start.”
“People outside are saying someone got away. Xu Yi escaped, and they’ve been sending people to track her down. Some say she kidnapped a child.”
“Over on the Bawanghua side, someone said Luo Qi was offering benefits to get elite team members to assist Li Ji. Luo Qi’s people refused to meet with us.”
“Also…”
“The Zhuang family gave us a location. They said there’s a mutated plant there and asked our team to head out tomorrow.”
Lu Xiao’s eyes suddenly shot open. He looked at the speaker. “Have you found Major General Zhuang?”
“No, we’re still waiting. They said he’s been interrogating prisoners and hasn’t returned since last night.”
“Xiao-ye, doesn’t this feel off? Feels like they’re trying to send us away.”
“And someone’s watching us.”
Zhuang Chengye had acted in haste, leaving loose ends everywhere. Lu Xiao’s early return gave him no time to clean up, so all he could do was stall.
Lu Xiao hadn’t climbed to his current position by being easy to deal with. He lowered his eyes and thought, then said, “Tell them: My son is missing. Until I find my son, I’m not going anywhere. Also, start quietly moving our personal supplies. Keep investigating—find out where they went.”
*
Lu Weiyi woke up from the stench.
The sour, rotten smell around him was like he had been soaking in sewage for ages. He couldn’t even remember when he passed out—just that it had hurt too much.
His clothes were pitch-black and greasy, like they hadn’t been washed in 800 years. He sniffed carefully—yes, the smell was coming from himself.
“Daddy, stinky!” Taotao was holding a new, unfamiliar snack and pointed at him, covering his nose with one hand.
Lu Weiyi used his psychic power to fetch a bathtub, poured some water from the well, and took a bath.
“Daddy, can Taotao eat this?” Taotao, not knowing to be shy, stood nearby watching Lu Weiyi.
“Go ahead,” Lu Weiyi replied as he changed into clean clothes and threw the dirty ones into the tub.
He moved his body and noticed a difference—a lightness, like he could fly at any moment.
It felt like something impure had left his body, replaced by a sense of clarity from the inside out.
Now, Lu Weiyi believed that peach had been something good.
He grabbed a handful of crystal cores and resumed absorbing them, finding that his absorption rate had improved, even with lower-level ones.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Lu Weiyi resumed being a “core-absorbing toolman.”
Five hours later, a ring of spent crystal cores surrounded him. A new layer of filth coated his skin—black dots oozing like oil all over his body. Meanwhile, his ability had risen to the peak of S-rank.
His body was entering a fatigue phase. After resting, he felt one more push would allow him to level up.
Taotao, unrestricted, had eaten his way into a small mountain of snack wrappers. Lu Weiyi pinched his cheek, leaving a smudge. “No more eating. You’ll get sick.”
Taotao looked up innocently, reluctantly stuffing one last mini cake into his mouth. “Okay, I’ll listen to Daddy.”
After a bath and some food, Lu Weiyi glanced at the time—it had been nearly two full days. He didn’t know how the others were doing.
“Taotao, can you communicate with people outside?” Lu Weiyi waved a pickled egg in front of his face.
Taotao reached for it but Lu Weiyi pulled it away. He pouted and shook his head.
“Then how can I get news from outside?” Lu Weiyi added a pile of potato chips.
“Daddy can control the peach tree,” Taotao said. While Lu Weiyi was lost in thought, he grabbed all the snacks and hugged them with a silly, happy grin.
Lu Weiyi got up and walked to the peach tree by the well. He placed a hand on the trunk and, before long, sensed his control over the tree—just like with the little green branch.
He didn’t know if the tree had become part of him, or if he had become part of the tree.
He saw the villa.
Its lights were all on, as if no one had gone to sleep. Lu Weiyi guided the little green branch forward. Halfway there, he looked back—and saw the villa entrance with a tall tree.
“….”
A little creepy.
Lu Weiyi didn’t dwell on it and rushed into the villa.
He was very worried about Zhuang Mingxu.
Without paying attention to his surroundings, he directly probed toward the bedroom.
The bed was empty, with no signs of anyone having slept there.
Lu Weiyi thought Zhuang Mingxu had really gone for surgery while he was away. His anger surged, and he quickly withdrew the little green twig, heading toward the laboratory Zhuang Mingxu had mentioned.
The surrounding villas weren’t far apart. Now that the jade pendant was fully restored, the little green twig’s detection range seemed limitless.
Compared to using mental energy, operating the green twig underground wasn’t very smooth for Lu Weiyi—each time he tried to probe below the surface, it felt like holding his breath subconsciously.
After searching through Zhuang Mobai’s villa for a long time, he finally found a passage leading underground.
The first room he entered was Zhuang Mobai’s. He seemed to be about to leave, standing by the door in a white lab coat, fixing his appearance in front of the mirror. Lu Weiyi used to think that Zhuang’s gold-rimmed glasses gave him the air of a refined intellectual, but now he just seemed like a wolf in sheep’s clothing—every stillness and movement reeked of a perverse aura.
Thinking that he might’ve deceived Zhuang Mingxu, Lu Weiyi wished he could slap him a few times to vent his anger.
Following Zhuang Mobai out the door, everyone around was dressed in white coats. It looked no different from a regular hospital. People respectfully called him “Doctor,” suggesting he held a high status.
Lu Weiyi guided the green twig along the wall corners, following Zhuang Mobai into an elevator that descended directly to the fifth basement level.
Without his mental powers, his perception was greatly reduced. He could only rely on the vision through the twig. Carefully, he climbed the wall and peeked through a window.
His eyes widened in shock.
Startled, Lu Weiyi instinctively retracted the green twig.
Regaining composure, his view returned to the space.
“Father?” Taotao looked at him curiously.
Was that… Liu Yang?
Lu Weiyi wasn’t sure. He quickly projected his consciousness back into the peach tree. The view returned to the villa’s courtyard. Before probing toward the lab again, this time he entered the villa first.
After all that, dawn had already broken, and the surroundings were clearly visible.
The living room was covered in blood. His teammates’ rooms were empty.
Thinking of those being treated like lab rats on dissection tables, fury erupted in Lu Weiyi’s chest.
He was normally a cold and indifferent person—rarely happy, rarely angry—but right now… he felt a fire raging in his heart, threatening to consume his reason.
Without Zhuang Mobai leading the way this time, just descending from the elevator took Lu Weiyi a while—the place was surrounded by metal, which was very unfriendly to plants.
Without hesitation, he pressed the green twig to the transparent glass.
Inside—it really was Liu Yang.
He lay stark naked on a dissection table with no dignity whatsoever, countless tubes inserted into him, fluids being pumped in and out continuously.
Lu Weiyi scanned the area. Countless rooms were lined up, one after another. Trying to stay calm, he extended the green twig to investigate them one by one.
Lin Tian, Zhou Nan, Huang Rui, Lin Mo, Lu Xi…
Lu Weiyi went room to room, circling the entire underground facility. Each door was labeled with a number, their abilities, and ranks. Apart from Dean and Zhuang Mingxu, the entire team was here.
“Doctor, the dosage for subject 356 this morning was too high. He’s been unconscious since the injection. Should we take other measures?” a woman’s voice said. Zhuang Mobai was beside her.
“Measures?” Zhuang Mobai smiled. “Perfect—I wanted to try something. I’ll go check personally.”
He headed toward a lab, Lu Weiyi following closely. On the bed lay Antonio.
Strong as a mountain, Antonio remained completely still—an unthinkable state for him.
Lu Weiyi used the green twig to gently prod his arm. No reaction.
Zhuang Mobai walked to the bed, smiled gently at the man, his eyes filled with amusement. He pulled out a phone, turned up the volume, and played a recording.
“What happened to him?”
It was Zhuang Mingxu’s voice!!
Lu Weiyi lifted the twig to “look” at the phone in Zhuang Mobai’s hand.
“Nothing serious, the sedation injection just hurts a bit.”
Then came suppressed, helpless moaning—like he didn’t even have the strength to cry out in pain.
“Dean…” Antonio, who had been unresponsive, trembled as he opened his eyes and murmured.
“Wasn’t it your choice, Mingxu, to let him get that sedation shot?” Zhuang Mobai’s voice was like a hammer to Lu Weiyi’s chest.
Zhuang Mingxu had let Dean be injected!
Seeing Antonio wake, Zhuang Mobai stopped the recording, watching as the previously flatline stats started to rise again. He praised, “See? He woke up.”
“Doctor, brilliant,” the woman beside him said.
“Human emotions truly are miraculous,” Zhuang Mobai sighed.
“His compatibility with Mr. Zhuang is slightly off. If matched, it could lower the success rate of the surgery. You…” The woman hesitated.
“Then we’ll just keep adjusting until they match,” Zhuang Mobai said, looking at Antonio.
