The Ultimate Evolution

The skull man’s entire body seemed to burn with a layer of light, as if Sheyan’s attacks only served to charge him up and provide him with more power. His eyes were covered in fine, dense blood vessels, and when he roared, his voice swept across the surrounding forest.

His two giant hands gripped Sheyan’s shoulders like iron forceps and pulled Sheyan up onto his shoulders, then he proceeded to give Sheyan a shoulder throw. The air around him seemed to split in fear. Sheyan slammed heavily into a rock nearby!

More than ten square meters of ground cracked under this smash!

A large amount of stony pieces went flying. Some of them hit an ordinary human nearby. The human instantly screamed and covered his face as blood came gushing out. It was truly a miserable spectacle!

That was not all. The skull man had not released Sheyan’s hand yet. He once again gathered strength. The ground beneath his feet burst because the force was too strong. He then hurled Sheyan into the sky.

This throw was made with some skills. Sheyan was actually spinning like a gyro at high speed, upside down with his feet on top. His body was completely paralysed.

Under such conditions, even someone as strong as Sheyan found himself completely losing control! Someone with a poorer physique would have started to vomit non-stop under such a high speed rotation. The damage done upon landing must be devastating, and may also cause severe injuries to the spine and the head!

***

This scene was captured by the eye of Cyborg No. 1 and vividly transmitted to the Kitty Hawk base 2.7 million kilometers away!!

By now, His Highness Pombaru had completely withdrawn his earlier cynical expression. He was now staring wide-eyed at the man on the screen who was wearing a skull helmet!

He was intensely focused, like he was afraid he might miss half a pore on that guy’s face! His previous nonchalant demeanor had completely evaporated. As for the afternoon tea, it had long been abandoned at the back of his mind.

When His Highness Pombaru saw the weird extra organ on the skull man’s chest, he immediately shouted, “Stop!”

As soon as the word left his mouth, Mungo had instantly pressed the pause button, then waited respectfully at the side with his head bowed.

Even a fool could see by now that Mungo was not a video forger at all; the info he sent was actually completely true!

His Highness Pombaru took a deep breath and uttered softly, “Everyone but Mungo will leave this place right away!”

Fiji’s face sank. He could not help speaking out, “Your Highness, I’m actually involved in this plan as well. I personally brought the man named Ronnie in the video into the team….NO!”

Fiji, who tried to take credit, saw the dark muzzle of the weapons on the ceiling moving quickly towards him. He immediately turned around and ran away in fright!

Pombaru stared at Mungo and said slowly, “You’ve touched upon the core secrets of the Ten Strongest Project. I barely have enough authority to deal with this matter, but I still need to consult with my superiors in the institute. I will now send you some information so that you’ll have a better understanding of this matter.”

At this time, there were some fluctuations in Pombaru’s hologram.

“I must report your findings to my mentor immediately! Big Ben Research Institute will work out a solution as soon as possible. You’ve done very well so far, so don’t worry. I’ll transfer the top authority of the Kitty Hawk base back to you. One more thing, if your orders meet with any resistance, tell them to come talk to me through encrypted channel A8!”

Pombaru quickly transferred a series of information over. First appeared a series of images of the skull man, from his childhood to his teenage years to his adulthood….

In the last photo, the skull man was laughing happily with a group of classmates at his high school graduation ceremony.

This was the last picture in which he looked like a normal person.

At that time, he still had a very common name – Tom.

His blood showed a special reaction during a physical examination in his final year of high school. In the end, after rounds and rounds of screening, he was selected by the Big Ben Research Institute. He had met the requirements to be a test subject for one of the Ten Strongest, The Barbarian….

Therefore, in an arranged car accident, Tom was killed and was then secretly ferried to the institute.

The next photographs depicted the processes in which he was transformed and modulated.

Back then, every passing day meant pain, disinfection and unconsciousness for Tom.

His body became less and less like a human. His name became Test Subject Type E No. 7.

One month later, of the 108 test subjects captured, only 11 survived. The mortality rate was an astonishing 90%. Three months later, the only person who survived was Test Subject Type E No. 7.

A year later, the Big Ben Research Institute realised that Test Subject Type E No. 7 was likely the most suitable candidate in terms of genetics that they had found for The Barbarian to date.

However, a high suitability for genetic modulation would only ensure a higher tolerance; it did not ensure the best fit!

Test Subject Type E No. 7 could endure the horrible modulation process, but he could not gain much power from it. He was far from meeting the expectations of the Big Ben Research Institute.

Therefore, after some discussion, the researchers then tried to combine the cells of Test Subject Type E No. 7 with another type of cells.

The origin of these cells was not simple at all.

In the past, when the Realms split and some parts of them had disintegrated, mankind took advantage of this to not only obtain the modulation method of the Ten Strongest from the disintegrated parts of one of the Realms, but also a part of the database that the Realms had collected on successful cases of the Ten Strongest!

The cells implanted into Test Subject Type E No. 7 were taken from someone whom the Nightmare Realms considered to be a rather successful Ten Strongest, after multiple cloning and reproduction processes.

Test Subject Type E No. 7 was obviously very incompatible with the implanted cells, but his “resilient” physique saved his life. Finally, a compromise was reached between the two sides. The cells of the Ten Strongest formed a parasitic organ on the chest of Test Subject Type E No. 7, and survived by absorbing nutrients from his body.

On the other hand, Test Subject Type E No. 7 could gain strength from this strange organ. He could even display some of the Ten Strongest’s fighting skills through the instinct left behind on the organ formed from the cells of one of the Ten Strongest!

Even the researchers of Big Ben did not expect this.

It was due to this that Test Subject Type E No. 7 managed to seize the opportunity to break open his cage with his newfound unexpected strength. A storm of blood ensued. Finally, despite the pursuit of guards who were armed to the teeth, he mysteriously vanished….

Pombaru seemed to know that a General of the Empire was paying close attention to this mission. Therefore, he also left Mungo a decree just in case. The electronic decree looked simple and had only one sentence written on it:

“The holder of this decree is performing a task for the benefit of the Empire. He must not be unduly interfered with.

– Gonzasha Lodo Mukabat Jane Grim Batol”

The most important part of this electronic decree was the signature at the end.

No one would dare to fake this unless their whole family and their relatives were all masochists and were tired of living!

That was the signature of the current Emperor.

Incidentally, if the political analysts knew that Pombaru could pull this decree out at will, the estimation of Mr. Pombaru’s chances of ascending the throne would rise by a further 3.1%.

***

Mungo, who knew the truth now, easily came to a conclusion on what had happened back then.

The disappearance of Mr. Tom, aka Test Subject Type E No. 7, was probably because his impressive fighting prowess had piqued the interest of the Predators. They must have felt that this man would make very exciting and fun prey to hunt, so he was then captured and brought to planet Uplos.

There was no doubt that Tom aka Test Subject Type E No. 7 was the most successful test subject of the Big Ben Research Institute to date, so even Pombaru, a member of royalty with infinite potential, could not easily come to a decision about him and must report to the top brass.

The status of Mungo, who discovered him, naturally rose too.

The reason why the Empire could be maintained and inherited for so many years was that successive Emperors have upheld the principle of “dishing out rewards and punishment appropriately”. Of course, absolute justice could not be achieved, but even 80% of absolute justice was good enough.

Mungo certainly had his own complex network of connections, which was certainly not as strong as Fiji’s, but at least it was strong enough to ensure that his contribution would not go into the 20% of unjust cases.

As Mungo sat on the seat which he had lost and regained, he rubbed his finger across a wound on his face, then licked the blood from the wound little by little, his eyes incomparably ruthless.

He was not a forgiving man.

He was just not in the mood for violent acts before.

Now, he not only had the mood, he also had the excuse. More importantly, he had enough power!

In front of the imperial decree which carried the Emperor’s signature, even the old man had to bow down his head, say nothing of the Lieutenant General who was here for Fiji!

Mungo would bring a storm to the Kitty Hawk very soon!

When Mungo turned on the monitor again with relish, his pupils contracted sharply, because he never thought that after less than 40 minutes, the current situation had…had turned into a scene from hell!!