Chapter Twenty-Two: Biological Weapons

Ji Cheng and Lu Shangbai had some barbecue, drank a few glasses, and chatted about everything under the rising light of dawn before finally bidding each other brotherly farewells and heading home.

Over half an hour later, Ji Cheng returned to the Fourth Shed District.

At this hour, logically, Luo Rao shouldn't be awake yet. Ji Cheng, wary of disturbing her, carefully opened the door.

"Woo… Ah Cheng…" As soon as he stepped inside, a soft figure threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Ji Cheng gently patted Luo Rao’s back, puzzled, "You’re up so early?"

"I haven’t slept… I’ve always slept next to you since childhood. I can’t sleep alone!" Luo Rao twisted her slender waist, crying with all her might.

Their family's circumstances were modest; the house in the old city had only two beds—one for their parents, one for the siblings. Ever since they could remember, they had slept together.

"I thought you'd be worried about me," Ji Cheng teased, holding his sister’s delicate body.

"You went off to enjoy yourself in prison and left me alone at home!" Luo Rao clung tightly to Ji Cheng’s waist, sniffling as she pressed her nose against him, "Ah Cheng… Why do you smell like alcohol—and cumin?"

"Uh…"

Ji Cheng wanted to tell her he’d just gone for some grilled skewers, but remembering she’d stayed up all night waiting, he swallowed the words.

Better not to upset her.

"I got thirsty on the way home and bought a cumin-flavored alcoholic drink."

"That sounds delicious."

"It’s a new product. Next time, I’ll buy you one."

After much coaxing, he finally got Luo Rao to sleep. Ji Cheng carefully pried her octopus-like limbs from around him and slipped out of bed.

"In the game, biological weapons carry certain risks. I’d better test it once more."

He walked to the table, took out the standard toolkit Hu Xian had given him, and quickly fashioned a square-tipped needle out of chromium alloy and special plastics.

"According to the biological weapon testing protocol, first I need to check removability."

Ji Cheng plunged the square needle into his arm, then pulled hard. A burning sensation quickly traveled to the vein in the crook of his elbow, and with the suction of the syringe, dark red blood filled the tube.

"The burning is gone, looks like the Tyrant serum has been removed." Ji Cheng took out a sterile glass dish and slowly dripped the blood onto it.

Drip, drip, drip.

A shallow layer of blood gathered in the glass dish, reflecting a cold, sinister gleam under the lamp.

Ji Cheng shook the dish; the eerie feeling lingered.

"Let’s try centrifuging it."

He found a centrifuge in the toolkit, placed the dish inside, and pressed the switch.

Click.

Nothing happened.

Ji Cheng hurriedly opened the centrifuge to find the small nuclear motor, meant to provide vibration, had vanished.

"What’s going on?" Ji Cheng glanced at the sleeping Luo Rao and guessed, "Maybe my sister took it to play with."

He took out another fingertip-sized nuclear motor and installed it in the centrifuge, which this time started up successfully.

After a low humming vibration, the blood separated clearly into two layers in the dish.

The lower layer was dark red plasma, nothing unusual; the upper layer, however, held several pale yellow serum-like globules, from which the sinister aura emanated.

He shook the dish again, and the pale yellow globules dissolved into one mass.

"What is this?"

Suddenly, the serum-like layer became terrifying in Ji Cheng’s eyes.

It was a fear without cause—a madness-inducing illusion that grew stronger the longer he looked.

Ji Cheng stared for less than five seconds before he felt the urge to smash the dish and flee.

He seemed to hear cruel laughter echoing in his mind, chilling him to the bone.

Strange hallucinations flickered before his eyes, a salty tang filled his nose and mouth, and his whole body felt as if it had plunged into a viscous, dreadful abyss.

"I can’t keep looking."

Ji Cheng forced himself to turn away, ceasing his observation, and the hallucinations and terror instantly vanished.

"This Tyrant—what kind of creature is it? Just a bit of processed serum is enough to cause such intense hallucinations."

Ji Cheng clicked his tongue, his first thought being that the negative effects were definitely psychological.

"Let’s test the side effects now."

Ji Cheng drew up the Tyrant serum with the syringe and injected it back into his vein. The burning sensation returned.

He pulled up a self-assessment questionnaire for mental illness on his computer and calmly began to fill it out.

[When someone rejects you, do you feel extremely angry and irritable?]

Someone rejects me? Who wouldn’t be furious?

Ji Cheng naturally chose 'yes.'

[If you’re driving on a highway and encounter a traffic jam ahead, do you tend to just crash right in?]

Of course.

[In front of you stands an assassin ready to kill you, wearing clothes with a pattern you deeply despise. Would this make you angry?]

If it’s a pattern I truly hate, anger is only natural.

Ji Cheng muttered as he clicked 'confirm.'

...

[Based on your responses, you exhibit mild psychiatric disorder. Irritability and cold-bloodedness are your main traits; in severe cases, symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions may occur.]

[Thank you for using this questionnaire. Please recognize mental illness correctly and seek timely treatment. Wishing you a speedy recovery.]

"This… this thing really turns people insane?" Ji Cheng sat on the stool, unable to calm his mind.

Only now did he realize just how absurd his questionnaire answers had been.

"It seems best not to use Tyrant serum outside of combat situations. But once I become an ability wielder, these side effects shouldn’t matter."

Biological weapons depend heavily on the host’s cell activity—the stronger it is, the milder the side effects, and the greater the benefits. If cell activity is too low, there’s almost no benefit, and it could even cause fatal cellular collapse.

"The gene prototype—Wildcat—does a decent job enhancing cell activity. After complete assimilation, mine is at 1040, which should barely allow me to tap into some of the Tyrant serum’s benefits."

Ji Cheng wiped the sweat from his brow, thinking his current strength was still far too weak.

"Now, let’s test the serum’s actual power." Ji Cheng picked up an alloy steel pipe and began to bend it with force. It twisted in his hands.

Crack!

This type of alloy was hard but brittle, and soon snapped under the strain.

He rummaged through the toolbox and found a piece of raw iron ore, then jabbed it with a finger.

Thunk.

The tough stone was pierced as if by an armor-piercing round, leaving a small hole that let light through.

"Excellent, worthy of being called a biological weapon." Ji Cheng nodded in satisfaction, tightening his grip.

With a sharp crack, the iron ore in his hand shattered into countless fragments, scattered across the floor.

He was thoroughly pleased with the Tyrant serum’s effects.

"I thought with Baishan Star’s scientific prowess, any biological weapon they produced would be half-baked. Yet the results are this good."

After all, the reason biological weapons are called such is largely because high-quality ones can turn the human body into a terrifying weapon. This steel-boned trait is crucial.

If you have two people with equal strength, speed, and combat experience, but one has a body forged from refined steel—nearly immune to blades and bullets, fists like iron hammers, legs like battle axes—while the other is just ordinary flesh and blood…

The outcome is obvious: calling it a crushing victory is too mild—it’s slaughter.

No matter how strong or fast you are, you’re still flesh and blood. Against such human-shaped weapons, even a minor collision would break your bones. How would you defend yourself? How could you fight?

Even a low-level ability user, fighting barehanded without weapons, would struggle against Ji Cheng injected with Tyrant serum.

The corners of Ji Cheng’s mouth couldn’t help but curl upward—he was filled with anticipation for the future.

"I wonder ho