– Ordinary
It carefully opened up the safe in the wall, inside of it a small petri dish. There were several drops of extremely bright blood in it that were currently rolling about. After hesitating again and again, in the end, he still pressed the switch, and as a result, a vial of nutrients was injected inside. Those blood droplets immediately became like ferocious wolves that saw prey, throwing themselves over viciously!
Even though he possessed inhuman strength, and this wasn’t the first time he saw this scene, he still couldn’t help but start shaking, clearly feeling fear. This was his greatest secret, as well as the source of his power and terror, the greatest inheritance Dr. Connor left him: intruder cells from Su who still maintained their activity. In a state of desperation, Gardner injected the intruder cells’ genes into his own body, and after several nights of indescribable suffering, he finally miraculously merged with the intruder cells’ genes!
This really was a miracle, not even he himself knew why the intruder cells’ genes would enter his genes on their own, and from there on become one entity in a traditional biological sense. The price, however, was heavy. Gardner could no longer maintain a human appearance, to the extent where he had to rely on a passcode to prove his identity in the experimental base. One had to understand that with each rebirth, Gardner’s form would become somewhat different from the last.
What this heavy price brought him, was power. Inconceivable power.
Gardner discovered that even if he had no corpse left of himself on the battlefield, the backup stored in the laboratory would still regain consciousness. Even if there was only a single cell left, he could still form a complete body. If there was enough energy and nutrients, a new Gardner could be made in less than even a day. Meanwhile, when the body finished growing, he would retrieve all of his memories, all the way until he obtained all of the memories of his past body before he died.
This type of phenomenon was something Gardner was completely incapable of explaining, something he couldn’t understand, far exceeding the knowledge system he used. Meanwhile, he himself was already standing at the peak of the human race’s current understanding of biology, already one of those with the greatest amount of authority in this field. The reason why he used the words ‘one of’ wasn’t because of Connor, but rather Helen. Gardner still couldn’t see through Helen, nor was he clear on Helen’s current developments in research. Previously, Helen had raised several conjectures in the thesis she published, and Gardner merely used his own experiences to test them on himself. Meanwhile, as for how where Helen obtained these conjectures, to this very day, he still couldn’t figure it out. In the entire chain of logic, the most important link was missing. As for whether Helen intentionally or unintentionally left out this link, it was something he had no way of knowing.
As he watched the amount of blood in the petri dish continuously grow, Gardner’s blades trembled. He then forced himself to calm down, closing the door of the safe. While standing in his own private laboratory region, he suddenly felt like there was nothing to do, and as a result, began to look around. A thick black-covered notebook appeared in his line of sight. When he saw this old-fashioned notebook, Gardner’s eyes immediately narrowed, as if he was staring into strong light.
This was his research notebook, but recorded inside was not only the most important data, it also contained his insights, experiences, and some things he could only think but not say before replacing Connor. In other words, this notebook represented the world hidden deepest within Gardner’s heart. However, what was recorded within was the past Gardner, or in other words, his past form. His battle against O’Brien was extremely difficult, and also extremely long. After life and death experiences again and again, Gardner gradually became stronger. The endless power that came from the depths of his bloodline made him rapt with joy, his mind also changing bit by bit. At first, Gardner didn’t notice these changes, he felt like he was only changing ever so slightly. However, after receiving the ability to regenerate endlessly, death became a dream, one that was just a bit more realistic. He no longer feared pain, and he feared death even less. However, during this process, Gardner also began to gradually become indifferent to life itself. At first, he wasn’t really aware of his own changes, but one day, when he flipped through this notebook of his past, only then did he discover that his past self was already so unfamiliar.
Gardner couldn’t say for sure whether these changes were good or bad, but his intuition told him that there seemed to be some type of abnormally great power that was currently awakening. It was like a slumbering vicious beast, waiting for the moment when it could eat.
However, this wasn’t the only source of Gardner’s fear. Bevulas, was the other source. Only after merging with the intruder cells’ genes, did Gardner sense what exactly Bevulas’ aura really was like, a vicious and savage aura that also came from the depths of the cosmos! This chairman who was normally calm and amiable, someone who he almost never saw angry, whenever Gardner thought of him, he would immediately involuntarily tremble. Bevulas, his terror already exceeded the common knowledge of biology, reaching the level where one would feel fear just by thinking about him.
That was why victory or defeat in this war was especially important, because this would affect the chairman’s happiness or anger. However, he had to admit that the war, until now, didn’t really go that smoothly, to the extent where it was showing signs of potential defeat. Even Gardner could see defeat, so one could imagine just how terrible the situation was. Gardner didn’t want to lose, and because he couldn’t shift the blame, defeat meant that he had to face Bevulas. After merging with the intruder cells, from an instinctive perspective, he definitely wasn’t willing to meet Bevulas again, not even wanting to think about him if he could.
While waiting for the intruder cells to grow, Gardner had nothing to do, only involuntarily grinding his own blades. This brought him even more time to think, but in the end, it only strengthened his result to carry out a gamble. With Haydn dead and Westwood seriously injured, he naturally became the leader of the ability users under the chairman’s command. However, under his lead, the battle results could only be described as terrible. He didn’t believe that this was the result of him not understanding battlefield command at all, but rather because of O’Brien’s tenacious vitality and his continuously increasing abilities. In Gardner’s perspective, victory and defeat was related to who had higher level abilities. To a certain degree, this was true, but it was only to a certain degree.
“O’Brien, Persephone, Eileen…” When he reached the last name, Gardner’s voice clearly carried a hint of desire. Eileen’s beauty was renown throughout the Blood Parliament. Gardner had fought her several times, once almost even winning, but it was because he revealed his lust that she escaped. That was why now, while gnashing his teeth in anger, he was also thinking of how he was going to torment her. However, after pausing for a moment, he instead said, “All of you can go to hell.”
Gardner didn’t notice that when he spoke that last sentence, his voice became ice-cold and indifferent, not carrying the slightest trace of carnal desire.