Two mornings later, Jiang Yan finally received the good news from Dong Guangjie.
Inside the underground second floor of the laboratory at Nanfeng Manor.
Jiang Yan stared at the mutated monkey inside the glass cylinder.
The monkey's fur had turned purple, its muscles grotesquely exaggerated, eyes blood-red. A huge mouth split open on its forehead, a purple tongue lolling out; black scales covered its hands and feet.
"Roar!" After mutating, the monkey became incredibly violent, hammering furiously at the glass.
Bang, bang, bang! The deafening noise echoed through the room as Jiang Yan, Dong Guangjie, and the rest of the team stared at it.
The mutant monkey kept pounding the glass. By the time Jiang Yan arrived, half an hour had passed—and he'd watched it pound nonstop for every minute of those thirty.
"So this counts as a success, right?" Jiang Yan glanced at the still-intact monkey, then at Dong Guangjie.
Dong Guangjie turned to him. "Half a success. None of the test subjects these last few days have exploded, but they're all extremely aggressive. I'm refining the formula; we'll run human trials this afternoon to see the reaction. Only problem—this glass cylinder probably won't hold a mutated human."
Jiang Yan shrugged. "I'll bring Tyrant. Its size won't fit down here, so you can work on the first floor. If anything goes wrong, kill the subject immediately."
"Understood!" Dong Guangjie nodded.
After finishing his instructions, Jiang Yan turned and left. Once topside, he looked back at An Conghao.
"Boss An, build underground bases in the Vera Desert and in Jiajixi Country—top-tier specs. Make the ceiling height at least ten meters."
These two locations had taken Jiang Yan considerable time to select.
The Vera Desert was the largest desert within Nanwu Country, virtually unnoticed by anyone.
Jiajixi Country was a small nation across the sea—weak, with an army of only a few thousand. Over there, money buys anything.
An Conghao answered instantly, "I'll arrange it right away!"
'Time to send the family abroad on vacation,' An Conghao thought, eyes flickering. The Monster Association was growing fast, but the risk of exposure was rising just as quickly.
As the association's true logistics chief, he knew exactly what the lab cooked up every single day.
If they were ever found out, every one of them would deserve ten death sentences.
That afternoon, first floor of the lab.
A crowd surrounded a tattooed bald man; his mouth taped shut, body shackled tight to a steel cross.
Eyes full of terror, he stared at the white-coated staff, whimpering through the gag.
Dong Guangjie looked at Jiang Yan, who stood behind him with Tyrant. "President, we're ready!"
"Begin." Jiang Yan's tone was calm.
"Yes!" Dong Guangjie waved.
An assistant in a white coat stepped forward and jabbed the second-version enhancer into the bald man.
"Mmmph!" As the serum entered, his eyes turned bloodshot; his body began to swell.
Clatter-clatter! The chains groaned under the strain, his skin flushing red then shifting to purple.
Riiip! A tearing sound—everyone watched in shock as the man's abdomen split open. Where organs should have been, rows upon rows of teeth filled the cavity.
Yellow fluid dripped from those teeth, pooling on the floor.
Sss! The liquid corroded the tiles, leaving a small pit.
Crack! The chains snapped. Jiang Yan and the others retreated behind Tyrant.
Roar! A two-meter-tall purple figure stood in place, eyes crimson, a massive maw gaping from its belly.
Madness flashed in its eyes. Unfazed by Tyrant, it charged—so fast only a blur could be seen.
Jiang Yan barked, "Hold it down—don't kill!"
The moment the order left his lips, Tyrant moved, seizing the monster's throat and slamming it to the ground with one hand.
"Roar-roar-roar!" No matter how the creature thrashed or hammered Tyrant's arm, it couldn't budge the titan an inch.
Sss-spray! A gush of yellow fluid shot from its stomach, splattering Tyrant's hand. Black smoke billowed up, yet the acid couldn't break Tyrant's skin.
Dong Guangjie spoke beside Jiang Yan. "It charged something stronger without fear—total loss of rational mind."
Jiang Yan frowned. "Any fix?"
The question made Dong Guangjie grimace. "Looks like a mental issue. None of us specialize in psyche research. Real progress… will take a while."
"Mental, huh?" Jiang Yan pondered—spirit and will had always been global research hotspots, yet…
…for years, no real breakthroughs had ever been heard of.
"Mind, mind… buddha crystal!" Mid-thought, Jiang Yan's eyes lit up.
Though buddha crystal mainly boosted the body, its enhancement of mental power was terrifying.
After use, the brain became sharper, reflexes quicker, stamina seemingly endless.
With that, Jiang Yan pulled out a buddha crystal and stepped to Tyrant's side. "Shove this into its stomach!"
He handed the crystal to Tyrant, who rammed it violently into the monster's open belly.
Bzz! As the crystal entered, black energy erupted, merging into the creature's gut.
The once-frantic monster's struggles slowed. Moments later, it shrieked in terror, "What did you do to me? Don't kill me!"
The bald man had regained full sanity. Seeing Tyrant pinning him—and his own gaping belly—he was terrified.
"Restored to reason just like that? buddha crystal's unbelievable," Dong Guangjie muttered, looking as if he'd seen a ghost.
Jiang Yan said calmly, "Wait and see if he stays this way once the crystal wears off."
Everyone kept watching the bald man on the floor. He yelled and screamed until, realizing no one cared, he gave up and lay there in resignation.
Fifteen minutes later—the duration of a buddha crystal—the man remained sane.
"President, let's keep waiting—see what the limit is," Dong Guangjie suggested, looking at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan nodded, then told the surrounding Bodyguards, "Bring chairs."
They waited inside the lab. By midnight, the bald man was still himself.
Dong Guangjie finally rose from his chair. "Interesting. The fifteen-minute buddha crystal seems to have triggered a unique balance inside the monster—sanity and madness held in equilibrium."
A faint smile crossed Jiang Yan's face. "Looks like this experiment can finally be called a success."
He glanced at the bald man on the floor. "Hey, bald man—what's your name?"
Hearing the leader speak, the man hurriedly answered, "Boss, I'm Li Yingding! Please let me go—I'll never mess with society again!"
Jiang Yan studied Li Yingding. "Cooperate with the next experiments and I guarantee you'll stay safe."
"I'll cooperate, I'll cooperate—just don't kill me!" Li Yingding blurted, truly frightened.
"Continue the experiments here on the first floor. Tyrant will stay—if he disobeys, kill him and study the corpse," Jiang Yan told Dong Guangjie.
Dong Guangjie nodded, eyes gleaming at Li Yingding—another brand-new research subject.