Dangerous Entity : Chapter 1

In January, Fengdu City experienced heavy snow.

The cold wind blew fiercely, and swirling, pure snowflakes covered the sky and the earth, aggressively burying everything beneath a white wasteland, making the city look even more cold and merciless.

“According to reports from our station reporter, our city has recently seen frequent cases of mutants injuring people. Investigated by the Alliance Supervisory Department, several cases were caused by alpha or omega pheromone riots. The Alliance defines the perpetrators as deviant mutants, hereinafter referred to as deviants. Deviants and ordinary mutants…”

Outside the interrogation room of the Supervisory Department building, the standard, pleasant female newscaster voice drifted from the radio, gradually blending into the warm indoor temperature, sounding quite hypnotic.

Duty officer Xiao Li was slacking off at his post, dozing off while listening to the radio news, his dreams filled with the female host’s voice, drool flowing from the corner of his mouth to the edge of the desk.

Tap tap tap.

Unhurried footsteps approached from afar, black military boots stepping on the ground, making regular and rigid knocking sounds. The tall military boots wrapped around a pair of straight, long legs, which were concealed within the hem of a black overcoat, bringing with them a biting chill of frost.

The military boots stopped in front of the duty station. A right hand wearing a leather glove reached out and slapped the radio off, bringing the news broadcast to an abrupt halt.

The dozing Xiao Li subconsciously shivered, smacked his lips twice, and relying on his subconscious police reflex, abruptly opened his eyes and stood up.

In the next second, he was dumbfounded.

Staring at the man in front of him wearing a black uniform, Xiao Li stared blankly for a long time, frantically wiped the drool from his face, and shouted in terror, “Super… super… supervisor-in-chief! Why are you here?”

Ji Lianze raised his eyelids slightly, his voice still carrying the cold air from just coming in from outside. “Neglect of duty. Go report for your own punishment.”

Having said that, the black figure stopped lingering and turned directly toward the entrance of the interrogation room.

—

Upon entering the interrogation room, the temperature plummeted, as if the warmth from outside had completely vanished.

In the dim and enclosed space, a semi-nude man was tied up in the middle of the room, bruised and battered with scars, looking as though he was on the verge of breathing his last.

However, upon closer observation, one would notice that the minor wounds on his body were healing bit by bit at an astonishing speed.

Standing around the interrogation room were several people also dressed in black uniforms. Opposite the man was a young woman holding a stack of paper documents, reading slowly.

“Deviant mutants typically feature violent and impulsive personality traits, low intelligence, pheromones that trigger out-of-control states in low-tier alphas or omegas, and possess rapid self-healing capabilities… Your self-healing ability is indeed quite impressive, living up to your name.”

The tied-up man’s eyeballs were bloodshot as he struggled incessantly and let out a low growl, “I will kill you. I will kill all of you…”

“It’s always these two sentences back and forth. Can’t you change up your vocabulary?”

The woman curled her lips in boredom, put down the documents, walked to the side, and picked up a baton-like object from the torture instrument wall. She flipped the switch, and the tip of the baton began to glow red and hot.

Her listless expression came back to life. Wielding the torture tool, she walked toward the deviant mutant and said unhurriedly, “Lacerations, blunt-force trauma, and stab wounds have all been tried. Let’s see how burns feel.”

“Zhong Lanxing…”

The moment the scorching torture tool touched the skin, a cold voice rang out from behind. The woman named Zhong Lanxing paused her movements, immediately restrained her expression, turned off the torture tool, threw it to a subordinate, turned around, raised her right hand to support her left shoulder, and bowed her head in an Alliance shoulder-touch salute.

“Supervisor-in-chief.”

At the same time, all the uniformed personnel in the interrogation room turned toward the door and saluted the newcomer with a shoulder-touch salute.

Ji Lianze stopped in his place, took off his overcoat, and placed it on a stool nearby, revealing the rigidly tailored black uniform underneath. “How is it?”

Zhong Lanxing shook her head, her expression somewhat dejected, as if she was annoyed by her own incompetence.

“Sorry, Supervisor Ji, I…”

“No need for redundant words,” Ji Lianze interrupted, stepping past her side. “You are the leader of the Special Investigation Group. If you can’t do it well, train until you can.”

As the head of the Supervisory Department, Ji Lianze usually did not have much communication with his subordinates, but every time he spoke, it was short, sharp, and went straight to the point.

Zhong Lanxing’s expression tightened. “Yes!”

Ji Lianze walked up to the deviant, his dark eyes like a cold instrument, appraising the man in front of him without emotion.

The man, who had a ferocious expression a second ago, suddenly lit up his eyes and became extremely excited as Ji Lianze approached.

“Don’t you guys want to know how people like us came to be? Come on, come closer, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything…”

Ji Lianze seemed completely unprepared. The moment the other person finished speaking, he leaned down and moved closer.

Who would have thought that in the next instant, the deviant would suddenly riot, secreting intense pheromones and spitting out a silver needle concealed weapon from the base of his tongue.

Zhong Lanxing cried out, “Supervisor-in-chief! Watch out…”

Several members of the Supervisory Department wanted to rush forward to subdue the deviant, but they were severely disrupted by the other party’s high-concentration pheromones, their bodies restless yet unable to move their feet.

A moment later, the scene they imagined did not happen.

Ji Lianze shifted slightly, dodging the concealed weapon with unbelievable reaction speed. Then, a military dagger plunged into the deviant’s right chest.

The deviant let out a miserable scream, the released pheromones instantly dissipating, and stared with split eyes at Ji Lianze, who was completely unaffected.

“You… you are actually an S?! How is that possible! How could you be an S?!”

“It seems you know quite a bit.” Ji Lianze raised his hand and pulled out the military dagger. Blood immediately gushed from the deviant’s chest, and he wiped the fresh blood remaining on the blade across the deviant’s face. “Your gland is already destroyed, and your wound cannot heal itself. Will you die or tell the truth? I’ll only give you ten minutes to consider.”

The pheromone interference vanished. Zhong Lanxing took a breath, walked quickly to Ji Lianze’s side, her face looking very grim.

“I injected him with a gland sealer earlier. Why was he able to release pheromones?”

Ji Lianze’s tone was flat and waveless, “He is not a normal mutant. It’s very likely he transformed directly from a beta, and his gland location is not on the back of his neck, but on his right chest. This wasn’t your oversight; I only just tested it out now.”

Even so, Zhong Lanxing’s expression did not improve, and she inwardly cursed herself.

The injured deviant paid no attention to their conversation, nor did he care about his own injuries. Instead, he stared fixedly at Ji Lianze, chanting like he was possessed.

“You’re an S… How could you be an S? Hahahahaha… There’s actually an S inside the Alliance’s Supervisory Department!”

Hearing this, Zhong Lanxing’s expression changed slightly and she stole a glance at Ji Lianze, only to find the latter looking completely calm, evidently unconcerned about what the deviant was saying.

In modern human society, humans had evolved secondary gender characteristics from their primary gender characteristics. There were three secondary genders: alpha, omega, and beta.

Alphas were at the top of the food chain, possessing superior genes, strong personalities, and mostly becoming leaders in various industries. Omegas were slightly inferior to alphas, but they also held a place; upon reaching adulthood, they generally chose alphas as partners, possessed extremely strong reproductive capabilities, and were the primary group responsible for childbirth. Betas were inferior to these two groups in all aspects, mostly engaged in lower-class labor, and sat at the very bottom of the food chain.

Aside from betas, whose physiological factors were all at a low level across the board, alphas and omegas each had two grades, A and B. High grades could suppress low-grade mutants, an innate ability that could not be altered acquiredly.

Above grades A and B, there was an extremely rare and scarce special grade: S.

S was two grades higher than AB, standing for Siren, derived from the sea sirens, meaning humans who were mysterious, alluring yet dangerous. S typically underwent secondary characteristics evolution a year earlier than ordinary alphas and omegas, possessing robust bodies with acute senses and superior genes. Most importantly, besides their original functions, S pheromones possessed an additional special ability.

These special abilities varied; alphas mostly possessed offensive attributes, while omegas possessed defensive, therapeutic, or auxiliary attributes, though a small number of omegas also possessed offensive pheromones.

As an S-grade omega, Ji Lianze’s pheromone ability was absolute immunity and defense.

Not only could he defend against deviant attacks, but he could also withstand pheromone interference from mutants of the same grade, which was why the deviant’s attack just now had no effect on him.

Originally, as the highest-grade humans, Ss should have possessed very authoritative and noble statuses. However, due to an S-group riot a few years prior that resulted in countless casualties and injuries, the reputation of S plummeted.

Therefore, when someone pointed at your nose and said you were an S, it was by no means a good thing.

However, Ji Lianze remained expressionless the whole time, and other members of the Supervisory Department would certainly not have grievances against their own boss. Thus, after the deviant cried out crazily for a while and found that no one was paying attention to him, he finally began to worry about his current situation.

His gland was destroyed, and he had taken another knife to the chest. He could feel his body temperature and blood draining away bit by bit.

Right at this moment, Ji Lianze raised his hand and dropped his blade, neatly opening a cut on his neck as well.

The ten minutes were coming to an end. Unable to bear the fear of quietly waiting for death, the deviant trembled and spoke, “I’ll talk… I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything I know, don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”

—

Half an hour later, the deviant, who had passed out from excessive blood loss, was taken away.

Ji Lianze wiped the blood off his leather gloves bit by bit and instructed calmly, “Compile the confession into documents and hand them over to me tomorrow. Notify the Special Investigation Group to cooperate with the criminal police; they must capture the three escaped deviants within a week.”

Zhong Lanxing nodded, watching Ji Lianze leisurely wipe away the blood, and unconsciously drifted off.

Ever since joining the Supervisory Department three years ago and seeing this young supervisor-in-chief for the first time, she had felt that he was like a precision instrument running at all times, and even more like a blade tempered from blood, gleaming all over with a chilling silver light.

Ji Lianze was humorless and wore a cold, heartless face toward everyone. His thin lips and high nose bridge paired with dark pupils, and the emotionless look in his eyes when he gazed at people, all highlighted his sharpness and oppressive aura.

Ji Lianze was equally decisive at work, never taking back orders once given, leaving no leeway in what needed to be done, and being especially ruthless toward cases and criminals.

So much so that Zhong Lanxing once thought that in this boss’s eyes, human lives were no different from ants, merely classified into those that should be killed and those that didn’t need to be killed just yet.

Noticing that his subordinate had inexplicably zoned out, Ji Lianze furrowed his brow imperceptibly. “Any problems?”

Zhong Lanxing quickly snapped back to her senses, pushed aside her excess thoughts, shook her head, and said, “No, I understand. I’ll have the documents organized and handed over to you tomorrow.”

Ji Lianze withdrew his gaze, put his overcoat back on, and walked out of the interrogation room.

Taking the elevator to the first floor of the Supervisory Department, he happened to run past a few supervisors escorting prisoners.

The criminal, who had previously looked utterly hopeless, suddenly turned pale with anger and cursed loudly upon seeing Ji Lianze’s figure.

“Ji Lianze! You lackey of the Alliance! You jackal in tiger’s clothing! You will meet a bad end, everyone in your Ji family will go to hell!!”

“Shut up!”

The escorting supervisor shouted angrily in warning, casting an uneasy glance in Ji Lianze’s direction, worried that he would place blame.

Yet Ji Lianze acted as if he hadn’t heard anything at all, his pace not pausing for even half a second. Staring straight ahead, he left the Supervisory Department building, his black figure merging into the overwhelming snow.

—

The Republican Alliance Asia-Pacific branch base was huge. Ji Lianze did not call a driver, but instead braved the frost and snow to walk on foot into another building, arriving in front of the Alliance leader’s office.

Taking off his right glove, he knocked three times, and before long, the door opened automatically.

Ji Lianze stepped into the spacious office, bowed slightly toward the person behind the desk, and performed a shoulder-touch salute.

“Important clues regarding the origin of the deviants have been discovered. I am here to report to you.”

Sitting behind the desk was a middle-aged man with impeccably groomed hair and rimless glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. The eyes behind the lenses revealed a shrewdness, and his scholarly face could not conceal the dignity of someone in a high position.

He stood up from his chair, his physique under his suit showing no signs of getting fat, and walked forward a few steps holding a teacup, revealing the nameplate on the desk: Alliance Asia-Pacific Branch Leader, Zhou Qiulin.

Zhou Qiulin unscrewed his teacup, waved his hand in a gesture. “Speak.”

“According to the criminal suspect’s confession and the recent investigations by the Special Investigation Group, it has been confirmed that the deviant mutants come from the Wild Orchid organization. The Wild Orchid organization is entrenched in the Ninth Pollution Zone, with its main stronghold in Gezhou City. The leader of the organization has the surname Cen; people call him Mr. Cen, and very few people have seen his true face. Releasing the deviants this time to cause a riot was meant to open up the underground trade chain between Fengdu and Jingxi City.”

Zhou Qiulin drank his tea while listening to Ji Lianze’s brief and clear report. After finishing half a cup, he put down the teacup and asked, “How were the deviants cultivated?”

Ji Lianze said, “The source has not yet been investigated clearly; further clues are still needed.”

Zhou Qiulin adjusted his glasses and said, “The deviants come from Wild Orchid, and their lair is in the Ninth Pollution Zone. Do you have any thoughts on this?”

Ji Lianze replied concisely, “I only have preliminary guesses and am not certain.”

“Xiao Ji, we’ve known each other for so many years, and your father and I were old friends for many years too,” Zhou Qiulin patted Ji Lianze’s shoulder with a smile. “In front of me, you don’t need to be so cautious. Even if it’s just a guess, feel free to speak your mind.”

After thinking for a moment, Ji Lianze didn’t decline and spoke truthfully, “The deviants coming out of the Ninth Pollution Zone are likely related to the Shadow Society from back then. They are not natural genetic mutations; they were artificially modified.”

Zhou Qiulin nodded with satisfaction. “Since that’s the case, you should make a trip there yourself and go check out Gezhou City.”

A flash of surprise crossed Ji Lianze’s eyes, though it quickly vanished. Seeing that the other party was not joking, he simply agreed, “Yes.”

“However, there’s no rush for the moment. There’s another matter that needs to be resolved first.” Zhou Qiulin’s tone suddenly shifted. He walked back to the sofa seat in a few strides and pulled out a data report from the cabinet. “The laboratory says your gland modification is almost finished. How is your adaptation going?”

“It’s fine for now,” Ji Lianze’s tone was flat and waveless. “Only the final implantation procedure remains.”

“Time really flies, eight years have passed just like that.” Zhou Qiulin wore a faint smile on his face, though his gaze lacked warmth. “Since this is your final experiment, it’s also about time to let Jiang Ye out. What do you think?”

Zhou Qiulin stared unblinkingly at Ji Lianze, attempting not to miss any micro-expression on his face, but Ji Lianze didn’t even move his eyelids, looking like a long-stagnant pool of dead water.

“When Jiang Ye gets out of prison is entirely your decision to make; that’s not my business to manage,” he said.

After a long pause, Zhou Qiulin withdrew his gaze, reopened the teacup on the desk, and spoke slowly.

“Once you complete your gland modification, I’ll pick a time to release Jiang Ye. His identity cannot be exposed; you will take him to Gezhou City. Wild Orchid will be Jiang Ye’s best trial ground.”

Ji Lianze responded blandly with a “yes.” Zhou Qiulin checked the data report in his hand and added without lifting his head, “Supervisor Ji, don’t be willful this time. Otherwise, if anything goes wrong, the first person who will want your life will be Jiang Ye.”