Chapter 118: Flesh Heart

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Flesh Heart

Following the panel’s material indicators, Xiang Yi quickly located a trembling clump of fresh flesh buried within a nearby mass of charred, blackened meat.

The clump was no bigger than a palm, and looked no different from ordinary flesh — yet it was unmistakably the Abnormality Material known as the Flesh Heart.

It was also the only Abnormality Material on an entire Flesh Beast worth anything for modification purposes.

Xiang Yi pulled out the Silent Alloy Box he kept on him and stuffed the Flesh Heart inside.

This was the first time he’d ever seen an Abnormality Material that was, technically speaking, still alive.

Though it looked like it was barely hanging on — he’d have to find a way to use it as soon as possible.

Honestly, the thing was pretty disgusting. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what whatever got modified with it would end up looking like.

If he used it to modify a Laser Gun, would it turn into some kind of gore-soaked biological weapon?

He’d seen designs like that in games before — there was a certain twisted aesthetic to it, no question — but the idea of actually holding something like that in his hands made Xiang Yi feel vaguely ill.

Then again, if it wasn’t for his own use, it might be worth experimenting with. Like Shi Tie’s heavy machine gun, for instance...

No rush for now. He’d figure it out when he got back.

He switched off the Mind Pulse Generator and made his way back to Le Nianzhou, helping him to his feet — Le Nianzhou was still wincing from the headache the Psychic Pulse had left behind.

"Thanks, bro," Le Nianzhou said.

"Uh..." The way he’d said it caught Xiang Yi a little off guard, but he nodded anyway. "Don’t mention it."

Sister Yin came around from unconsciousness not long after. The moment she opened her eyes she was on guard — then confusion washed over her as she realized the Flesh Beast was completely gone.

"My head is killing me... what the hell happened?"

Le Nianzhou was quick to respond. "It’s fine. One of the Type-C Flesh Beast’s remains suddenly let off another sonic attack. You couldn’t handle it and passed out."

Sister Yin’s eyes held a flicker of doubt — aimed at Le Nianzhou and at herself — but she didn’t push it.

"Mr. Xiang, our teammate..."

Xiang Yi pointed toward the hover-car parked in the distance.

Sister Yin immediately moved toward it, wanting to check on Zhou Chen’s condition.

She hadn’t even been in bad shape before she was knocked out — if Zhou Chen had also been caught within range of the "Flesh Beast’s roar," the effect on him could have been far worse.

Of course, Xiang Yi had already accounted for that. There was no way the Psychic Pulse had reached the injured.

"By the way, what happens to all these Flesh Beast remains?" Xiang Yi asked Le Nianzhou, genuinely curious.

The main body had been dealt with, but chunks of shredded flesh were still scattered all across the corrugated iron housing district.

That was not something a few people could clean up in any reasonable amount of time.

"Don’t worry about it. Our job is just to take down the Abnormality. The cleanup and whatever comes after — that’s someone else’s problem. There’ll be a team handling it."

"They should be here pretty soon, actually."

More people coming?

The last thing Xiang Yi wanted was to expose his real identity in front of a crowd.

As far as he could figure, the prison wouldn’t have leaked his information to the company — which meant the company still had no idea who had been picking off their assassins one by one.

If there was a mole among the incoming group, it would make everything going forward a hell of a lot harder.

"I’ve actually got somewhere to be—"

He was just about to make up an excuse and slip away when Le Nianzhou suddenly pointed down the street. "They’re here."

A convoy was rounding the corner at the end of the block.

An ambulance led the way, followed by several yellow-painted utility vehicles.

And behind those — a car, jet black from bumper to roof, bearing a single emblem.

That had to be an Abnormality Strategy Department vehicle. Xiang Yi recognized the emblem from the department’s official website.

It depicted a stone stele, run clean through from top to bottom by a military bayonet.

He was just about to leave when a familiar face stepped out of the black car.

"Master Chang?"

"Ha!" Master Chang laughed and walked over, clapping Xiang Yi on the shoulder. "I happened to be having tea with someone over at the Strategy Department. Heard you showed up here and figured I’d tag along."

"Haven’t seen you in a few days — you look like you’ve lost a fair bit of weight."

"I’m alright." Xiang Yi glanced down at his own arm.

Back when the prison had hit him with that orbital laser, his skin had been so withered he’d barely looked human.

But the past couple of days had brought clear improvement. A few more days of nutrient paste and he’d probably be back to normal.

Master Chang didn’t dwell on whether Xiang Yi had lost weight or not. He dropped his voice slightly. "Everything we talked about before — I’m still working on it. Don’t worry."

"So what exactly were you doing out here..."

"Came to do some business with someone. Things went sideways, and here we are."

Xiang Yi could only shake his head. He’d originally come to grab Lu Qi — he never could have anticipated running into a Level 2 Abnormality.

He just didn’t have enough experience with Abnormalities yet. If he had, he’d definitely have come prepared with some way to quickly dispose of a body.

Master Chang didn’t press for more details. He had his connections — he’d get the full picture on today’s events soon enough.

"Oh, right — that request you made this morning. My friend said yes. He’s inviting you to come study at the Abnormality Strategy Department headquarters. Someone will be assigned to teach you about being a Spiritual Ability User."

"I can show you the way!"

Le Nianzhou materialized at Xiang Yi’s side with uncanny speed, jumping at the chance.

Xiang Yi had a nagging feeling that this kid — who couldn’t have been much older than twenty — had some kind of unusual fixation on him.

He’d never had anyone come at him with this kind of enthusiasm before, but... honestly, it wasn’t a bad feeling.

"I’d definitely like to go — just not today."

Xiang Yi turned them both down, gently but firmly. He had other things to take care of today.

Interrogating Lu Qi was the priority right now.

Fresh leads and intelligence from the prison were both still waiting on him.

The way he saw it, growing his Spiritual Energy abilities wasn’t something that would happen overnight — but the right piece of intelligence could flip the entire situation on its head within a single day.

One day’s delay was nothing.

And then there was the Flesh Heart, looking half-dead already — he needed to use it before it was too late.

If the thing fully died before he could use it for a modification, he’d have thrown away the material from an entire Level 2 Abnormality for nothing.

Master Chang didn’t insist that Xiang Yi visit the Strategy Department today.

He simply handed over the new identity card they’d agreed on — loaded with five hundred thousand — told Xiang Yi the address of the Strategy Department, and took his leave shortly after.

Whether it was sourcing new small animals from different farms to breed at scale, or rebuilding the junkyard, these were all things that needed his personal attention.

Besides, with a new identity card, Xiang Yi could move freely throughout the city now. One trip to the Strategy Department wasn’t going to cause any problems.

After Master Chang left, Xiang Yi didn’t linger either. He said a quick goodbye to Le Nianzhou and got ready to go.

Before he did, though, he turned back to Le Nianzhou with one more question. "Has there been a lot more Abnormality activity in the city lately?"

"Compared to before, yeah, quite a bit more. But don’t worry — incidents at this scale are still pretty rare."

Still pretty rare, huh...

Xiang Yi gave a small nod and turned to leave.

The Strategy Department’s crew had mostly gathered around the site where the Flesh Beast had died, and hadn’t yet made it back to where it had originated — the hardware store entrance.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Xiang Yi slipped back to the hardware store, intent on picking up where he’d left off when he first arrived.

But the moment he stepped inside, he noticed the place had been stripped down considerably.

The robot and Du Bingtian were in the middle of packing up their things.

"What are you two doing..."

"Laying low in the city for a couple days. Whatever you’ve got going on — one look and it’s obvious something’s very wrong."