Chapter 288: Blackmailing an Ability User
“You’re helping the ability users? You’re just a normal person, how could you side with them? They’re not even human anymore! You’re a traitor to your kind!” the woman shouted, agitated.
This unexpected statement stunned Zhuang Mingxu for a moment. After processing it, he asked, “Then why did you transplant crystal cores into others? Wasn’t it to turn ordinary people into ability users?”
“Of course not. I only wanted to extract the crystal cores from ability users, to watch them fall from their lofty positions and end up with nothing,” the woman replied, her face full of hatred.
“You’re an ordinary person. You should be siding with ordinary people. Yet you’re helping ability users—you’re their lapdog!”
“But your teacher is an ability user too, isn’t he? You can’t be unaware of that,” Zhuang Mingxu said, pointing at Zhuang Mobai.
The woman choked on her words and said nothing, left only with heavy breathing.
Seeing her silent, Lu Weiyi lost his patience. “Does anyone else here know? If none of you do, then keeping you around is pointless.”
“What are you talking about? What drug? This is just a normal operating room—no different from a regular hospital. What are you trying to do by taking control of this place?” Dr. Li asked, looking confused and somewhat unwell, still trying to shield a few of his colleagues.
“Normal surgery?” Lu Weiyi said slowly and coldly. “What’s normal about it? Is it kidnapping ability users to dig out their crystal cores, or is it experimenting on ordinary people?”
Dr. Li looked bewildered. “What are you saying? Ability awakening is just a process of stimulating the pineal gland with drugs to trigger powers. There’s no need for any crystal core transplantation.”
Both Lu Weiyi and Zhuang Mingxu looked at him with pity.
Dr. Li seemed to sense something was off. He looked at Zhuang Mobai, then at the woman, and finally at the group beside him. Some avoided his gaze, while others seemed just as confused.
“They captured ability users to experiment on them, transplanting their crystal cores into ordinary people. That’s the truth of the so-called crystal core transplant,” Zhuang Mingxu said, looking at him with complex emotions. He still remembered the proud expression on the doctor’s face when he claimed he was helping ordinary people. “Don’t tell me you’ve never actually participated in one of the surgeries?”
“Nonsense. That’s impossible…” Dr. Li stepped forward in agitation and looked at Zhuang Mobai. “This is all a misunderstanding, right? We’re helping ordinary people survive in this world…”
“Yes,” Zhuang Mobai turned to him and even smiled. “We’re just sacrificing some ability users along the way. Scientific research always needs people to make sacrifices. It’s nothing unusual.”
He shrugged. “Not every ability user deserves their power. For people like that, having abilities is a waste. Isn’t it reasonable to give them to someone who truly needs them?”
Dr. Li opened his mouth but was too shocked to speak. The belief he’d held onto crumbled in an instant. Zhuang Mingxu couldn’t even bring himself to keep attacking.
Lu Weiyi was feeling unwell, and Zhuang Mingxu didn’t want to waste time. After glancing around, his gaze landed on Zhuang Mobai. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
He dragged Zhuang Mobai into a nearby control room.
Without Lu Weiyi present, Zhuang Mobai became more talkative, even a bit proactive. He looked at Zhuang Mingxu. “How’s the Zhuang family?”
“It’ll be gone soon,” Zhuang Mingxu replied.
Zhuang Mobai burst into loud laughter and, after a while, said, “I never thought the status our family built over generations would be destroyed by you. Mingxu, you’ve gone this far for a man. What a romantic… a hopeless romantic.”
He sarcastically gave Zhuang Mingxu a thumbs-up.
“Grandpa, you shouldn’t have set your sights on the people around me. If you hadn’t hurt us, I would’ve turned a blind eye, even if I knew. And don’t pretend you never manipulated the family.”
Zhuang Mingxu confronted him directly. “You used your powers to influence everyone’s choices in the family, making everything go your way. You steered the whole family, so naturally, you also led it to its downfall. Do you think you’ve honored our ancestors?”
After this, both fell silent. Looking back, they were both at fault—neither could fully blame the other.
In the end, Zhuang Mingxu asked the question that had been eating at him, “You had so many options—why did you have to involve me?”
“…” Zhuang Mobai lowered his head, and after a long pause, said, “The higher the physical fitness, the greater the success rate.”
Zhuang Mingxu gave a short laugh. “Just as I thought…”
“Are you going to kill me?” Zhuang Mobai asked, then answered himself, “Probably not. Otherwise, you would’ve killed me instead of just taking my crystal core.”
“You want me to continue my research?” Zhuang Mobai looked at him.
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t reply but repeated his previous question, adding, “I don’t want to hurt you—don’t force us to use violence.”
Zhuang Mobai was surprisingly cooperative. He gestured an “OK” and straightforwardly told Zhuang Mingxu everything he wanted to know.
After the conversation, the two returned to the original room. Zhuang Mingxu picked a few more doctors to interrogate again.
Zhuang Mobai sat on the floor, looking completely relaxed.
His eyes stayed fixed on Lu Weiyi. Knowing Lu wouldn’t start talking, he took the initiative and asked, “Are you a dual-type ability user? How did you awaken? How many crystal cores do you have? Is it one core with two powers or two separate cores? How does the energy circulate?”
He rambled on, clearly full of curiosity about Lu Weiyi. If the circumstances allowed, he would have no doubt put Lu Weiyi on an operating table for experimentation.
Already feeling unwell, Lu Weiyi grew more irritated by his chatter and, unable to bear it any longer, activated his powers again.
Zhuang Mobai finally went quiet.
After Zhuang Mingxu finished his questioning, the two prepared to leave.
“This lab has already been destroyed outside. Everyone believes you’re all dead. From now on, you’ll live here and do the work we assign you. As for what happens if you fail—trust me, you don’t want to find out,” Lu Weiyi warned the group coldly.
Then he and Zhuang Mingxu left for the detention area where the Hunter Guild members were being held.
Most of Zhuang Mobai’s attention had previously been focused on the members of the Only Team. Especially after learning that many of them were hiding their true levels, he kept using drugs to stimulate and verify their actual powers. As for the others, they were only given basic drugs.
In comparison, these people hadn’t been injected with much—just tied to the lab beds.
When Zhuang Mingxu and Lu Weiyi entered, all eyes turned toward them.
“It’s you,” Li Ji was the first to speak. He struggled against the straps binding him, but couldn’t break free, exhausting himself in the process.
“Who are you people?”
“What are you trying to do?”
Amid the flurry of questions, one bald man asked directly, “My power is gone—was that your doing?”
Zhuang Mingxu shook his head. “This lab is run by the Zhuang family. It’s used for researching ability transplants—transferring the crystal cores of powered individuals into ordinary humans to grant them powers. Luo Qi cooperated with the Zhuang family. You were all captured to be donors.”
“How—”
The speaker didn’t finish their question, seemingly silenced by their own thoughts.
Even the weakest among them held a place in their teams. A year into the apocalypse, the brainless had long since died off.
“You’re lucky. Captain Lu from the Only Team took control of this place while saving his teammates. So for now, you’re relatively safe.”
The dozen or so people were upset but quickly looked toward Lu Weiyi after hearing this.
“Captain Lu, I’m Su Kuo from the Fierce Wolf Team. What will it take to let me go? Supplies? Crystal cores? Whatever I’ve got, name it,” Su Kuo—the bald man—spoke up. Lu Weiyi glanced at him, recalling Fierce Wolf’s captain, Su Wei.
“Right, I’m from the Blizzard Team. I’ve got tons of supplies and crystal cores. Let me go and they’re all yours.”
“Me too—I’ve got plenty. I even know where our team’s supply depot is. I’ll tell you everything.”
“Li Laogen, that supply depot belongs to the entire team. You’re just giving it away like that? How are the rest of us supposed to survive?”
“I’m about to die! Who cares how others live? If you want to be selfless, go ahead—just don’t drag me with you.”
Before Lu Weiyi even said a word, they had already started arguing among themselves. The buzzing voices were grating.
“I was planning to trade you for supplies. After all, it’s your own greed that got you into this mess,” Lu Weiyi said, casually leaning against an empty lab bed. “But some of your teams aren’t even willing to trade resources to get you back.”
At that, half the captives fell silent.
“I didn’t go through all this trouble for free. You’d better be mentally prepared.” Lu Weiyi hadn’t yet decided what to do with them—he just came to check on their condition.
As he finished speaking, his gaze fell on Li Ji, suddenly becoming cold and sharp.
This man who had haunted him since the beginning of the apocalypse… It was time to end it.
“I’ll do it,” Zhuang Mingxu noticed what Lu Weiyi was thinking and placed a hand on his, “You wait for me outside.”
Lu Weiyi nodded and left the lab where they were being held.
The surrounding area was full of powered individuals—most of them B-rank. Many had been forcibly boosted to A-rank by Zhuang Mobai’s drug treatments, but these unnatural enhancements had left them in poor condition.
Lu Weiyi walked past one test bed after another. People of all types lay there, many clearly having been captive for a long time. Their faces were haggard, tubes running from their bodies like those used on the team members. The fluid in the tubes had already been depleted.
Some alarm systems had been blaring for so long that no one responded anymore—only the red lights still blinked. Others were still emitting beeping noises that echoed piercingly through the empty hallways.
Lu Weiyi slowly approached a room and stared blankly at one of the incomprehensible machines beside the bed. He randomly pressed a couple of buttons, and when the noise didn’t stop, his patience started to wear thin.
