Sublevel Two. Sterile Zone.
The white here was blinding—surgical white that burned the retinas and made everything feel like a fever dream.
The air reeked of industrial disinfectant, that nauseating chemical tang that crawled into your sinuses and refused to leave.
I stood before the full-length mirror in the changing room, studying my reflection with clinical detachment.
I hadn't followed the broadcast's "suggestion" to dress accessibly. Instead, I'd wrapped myself like a forensic examiner heading to a crime scene.
Double-layer hazmat suit. N95 mask plus face shield. Two pairs of blue nitrile gloves layered over each other like armor.
The top button of my collar—fastened tight as a noose.
*This is germaphobia's last stand: You want to look? Too bad.*
Chat messages scrolled across my peripheral vision:
**[Live Chat - 1,247,891 viewers]**
→ @ChaosWatcher: LMAOOO did the doctor weld a chastity belt to his body?!
→ @SurgicalKink: Dr. Weiss: I took my pants off for THIS? A hazmat suit?
→ @PredatorVibes: The more wrapped up he is, the better it'll feel when it gets torn off... hehe
I ignored the thirsty commentary and pushed through the door.
The laboratory's center featured a silver autopsy table that gleamed with cold promise.
Subject 02, Weiss, sat primly in a spotless swivel chair.
Wire-rimmed glasses. White coat pressed to perfection without a single wrinkle. A cup of tea balanced in his hands with the poise of someone awaiting royal audience rather than stalking prey.
"Dr. Gu. You're three minutes late."
Weiss set down his teacup with porcelain precision.
That face was devastatingly deceptive—scholarly, handsome, radiating intellectual charm. Only the scalpel spinning between his fingers with inhuman speed betrayed his threat level.
"I was sterilizing."
My voice came out muffled behind the mask, slightly distorted: "Heard you have parasitic tendencies. Too many bacteria."
The perfect curve of Weiss's smile froze for half a second.
No one had ever dared call him *dirty* to his face.
"How... *refreshing*."
Weiss rose, military boots silent against white tiles as he approached with predatory grace.
"I do hope your internal structure proves more interesting than your mouth."
The distance closed to three feet.
Everything changed.
Without warning, ice flooded my veins—not temperature drop, but something *alive* being forcibly injected into my bloodstream.
Countless microscopic blue filaments burrowed through my pores, racing along neural pathways at lightning speed, seizing control of my motor cortex in seconds.
*Can't move.*
*Can't even twitch a finger.*
I watched helplessly as my right hand betrayed my will, rising to remove the face shield, tear away the mask.
Then that traitorous hand moved to my collar, slowly—*obscenely*—unfastening that death-grip button.
Weiss stood opposite me, eyes drinking in the sight like watching a painting unfold itself.
"Such a perfect vessel."
Ice-cold fingers traced my throat, triggering involuntary shivers that I couldn't suppress.
"This level of purity... it's miraculous."
Weiss leaned closer, those eyes behind wire frames blazing with near-pathological fervor.
The instant his mental tendrils fully invaded my cerebral cortex—
**BUZZ.**
Two-way connection forcibly established.
What had been one-sided control became mutual invasion.
A memory crashed violently into Weiss's mind:
*Rain. Slums. Young Shen An kneeling in muddy water, cradling a woman's corpse that had gone cold hours ago.*
*That body bore distinctive autopsy marks—Weiss's signature "masterpiece" style from his student days.*
*Subject 298.*
Weiss's pupils contracted to pinpricks.
His mental defenses cracked for one crucial instant.
"It's you..."
His fingers trembled against my neck: "Those eyes... identical to my dead brother's."
*Now!*
*His psychic barrier is down!*
I didn't need system prompts—survival instinct moved faster than thought.
The golden lotus in my chest sensed its master's killing intent.
Instead of blooming, it *inverted*.
Golden petals spun backward, transforming into a ravenous black hole.
*You want to parasitize me?*
*Then get devoured.*
**CONSUME!**
The blue filaments that had invaded my body didn't have time to retreat before releasing high-frequency screams of agony.
They'd met their natural predator—that domineering golden energy dragged them in, shredded them, *converted* them!
"Ngh!"
Weiss went deathly pale, clutching his chest as soul-deep agony dropped him to his knees.
*Control transferred.*
Murderous gold flashed in my eyes.
I didn't speak aloud, but through our mental link, I issued an absolute command:
**—KNEEL.**
**THUD!**
Weiss's knees slammed into the floor hard enough to crack bone.
This proud S-rank genius now knelt in the most humiliating position possible—before the "vessel" he'd planned to harvest.
*Not finished yet.*
I looked down at him with eyes colder than surgical steel.
"Hand."
Weiss's right hand rose against his will.
The scalpel he'd used to dissect others reversed its grip.
**CRACK!**
The slap echoed through the silent laboratory like a gunshot.
Weiss used his own blade-wielding hand to strike himself across the face with brutal force.
Blood trickled down his wire-rimmed glasses, painting that formerly arrogant face crimson.
Dead silence.
The livestream froze for one second, then completely crashed.
**[Live Chat EXPLODING]**
→ @ViolentDelight: HOLY SHIT!!!!!
→ @RevengeKink: YESSS! My brain just exploded! SO SATISFYING!
→ @SystemGod: This is purification? This is straight-up mind control!
→ @DominancePlay: Weiss slapping himself? I must be dreaming, this is too ALPHA!
I methodically refastened my collar, even brushing imaginary dust from my sleeves.
Bending down, I gripped Weiss's chin with double-gloved fingers, forcing him to meet my gaze.
"As a doctor, I suggest treating your brain first."
My voice stayed light, but each word cut deep: "Also, your technique is pathetic. Can't even control me properly—you call yourself S-rank?"
**RUMBLE!**
Before the words finished, the entire deep-sea prison shook violently.
That instant of energy reversal had triggered an S-rank resonance tsunami.
The floor cracked.
A black shadow smashed through three levels of flooring, landing before me in a cloud of debris.
Zane.
Shirtless, blood-soaked, the collar around his neck flashing red warning lights.
Then walls dissolved as ink-wash illusions flooded the space.
Choir hymns turned sharp and piercing.
All six S-rank monsters had broken containment simultaneously.
They surrounded the tiny laboratory completely.
*But not to attack.*
Zane growled threateningly at the fallen Weiss while twins perched on window frames, staring fixedly at my throat.
*They're guarding their territory.*
*This doctor belongs to them.*
*Touch him and die.*
"Enough."
A voice devoid of all warmth ended the chaos.
The intercom exploded with sound as ultra-high voltage surged through every S-rank collar simultaneously.
**BZZZZT!**
"Gah..."
Even monsters like Zane lost motor function instantly, collapsing as their bodies convulsed uncontrollably.
*Absolute force suppression.*
Mechanical doors slid open.
Warden Adam-01 entered the ruins with a squad of heavily armed mechanical guards.
This time, he didn't spare the fallen prisoners a glance.
His monocle-magnified gaze fixed on me with bone-chilling intensity.
"Not only purification... but reverse consumption?"
Adam approached, leather gloves caressing empty air as if touching priceless treasure.
"Perfect vessel. It seems the 'God Creation Project' can be accelerated."
I leaned against the autopsy table, energy depletion making my fingertips numb.
But I'd heard those two words clearly.
*Vessel.*
*God Creation.*
In my peripheral vision, the system that had been playing dead suddenly flashed a crimson popup:
**[High-purity energy overflow detected!]**
**[Captured "Parasitic" Divine Fragment (1/12)]**
**[Merge? Fusion grants permanent "Micro-manipulation" ability.]**
I looked at the imperious Warden before me, then swept my gaze over the fallen madmen who'd been injured protecting me.
My lips curved into a deeply sardonic smile.
*Want to use me as a vessel?*
*Fine.*
*Let's see who devours whom in the end.*
Deep in my consciousness, I slammed the confirmation key.
**[MERGE.]**