After a day of rest, given Ye Chen’s constitution, his wounds had healed considerably, allowing him to get out of bed for some simple movements, provided he didn't strain himself enough to reopen the sutures.

"Last day," Ye Chen murmured inwardly, then glanced out the window, looking up at the sky.

Blue sky, white clouds.

Ye Chen remained silent for a long time, when suddenly the door was pushed open, and Ye Zhu, clad in a pale violet dress, walked in slowly. She cast a soft glance at Ye Chen, who was seated by the window, then walked over and asked softly, "What are you thinking about?"

Ye Chen slowly drew his gaze back from the sky, turned, and looked silently at Ye Zhu for a moment. After a pause, he suddenly sighed lightly. "Nothing much. Has Doctor Mo Feng extracted the genes from the mutated ants yet?"

Ye Zhu nodded, curious. "What do you need the genes of those mutated ants for?"

Ye Chen smiled faintly, shook his head, and said nothing.

The risk of becoming a gene warrior was immense, especially with insufficient prior technological experience—it was almost a near-certain death. Naturally, he wouldn't share such a dangerous endeavor with others; it wouldn't accomplish anything to tell them anyway, so why burden them with worry?

Ye Zhu’s delicate brows furrowed slightly; she sensed Ye Chen had something on his mind, but seeing that he wouldn't speak of it, she didn't press further. If someone didn't wish to speak, they naturally had their reasons; why ask more?

"Come on, keep me company for a walk." Ye Chen slid off the bed, slipped on his shoes, managed a small smile, and pulled the door open, stepping out.

Ye Zhu gazed at his retreating back for a moment, sighed helplessly, and followed.

Leaving the room, they entered a clear, cool corridor, brightly lit, yet utterly silent, giving off a chilling sensation.

"This area is for the researchers' quarters; the main hall is this way." Ye Zhu pointed to the corridor on the left and proceeded, explaining the layout of the institute to Ye Chen along the way.

Ye Chen listened quietly, the sound of her crisp, melodious voice, like that of an oriole, circling his ears, bringing a profound sense of peace, even quieting the accumulated killing intent simmering within him.

They proceeded slowly down the quiet corridor.

A barely perceptible trace of melancholy flickered in Ye Chen's eyes. During every operation, he had prepared for the worst-case scenario, and this time was no different. Undergoing the awakening as a gene super-soldier, with the rudimentary equipment of this institute, the fatality rate soared to ninety percent!

If the awakening failed, he would die!

If it succeeded, he would ascend overnight, possessing absolutely formidable power in the early stages of the apocalypse, enough to protect everyone around him and avoid situations where he was completely defenseless against monsters like the Demonic Wind Hounds.

Ye Chen was not a gambler, but fate and this world were forcing him into a wager.

With his current physical condition—the strength of 31 people—the death rate in the first month of the Dark Calendar Year 1 would also be exceedingly high. Even if he managed to barely survive the second month, the third month would descend into a living nightmare, followed by the fourth, the fifth, and so on.

The power of the monsters increased at a terrifying rate!

Ye Chen recalled that in his previous life, the world's first gene warrior was born in the second month of the Dark Calendar Year 1. Subsequently, in the third month, the national military began establishing base cities, marking the period when humanity’s development in the apocalypse rapidly accelerated, and gene warriors became increasingly common.

In the later stages of the apocalypse, nearly everyone was a gene warrior.

Ye Chen knew that awakening as a gene warrior in the early stages was far easier than later, because the genes of the monsters in the later period grew more brutal, fierce, and difficult to tame.

"If I die..."

A thread of sorrow ran through Ye Chen’s heart; his only tether was his younger sister, Ye Zhu.

Only when death stands before you do you realize how many things you have that you cannot bear to let go of.

The two continued down the corridor.

Before long, they reached a spacious hall, lavishly lit by chandeliers, radiating bright light. Ye Zhu led Ye Chen into the elevator, descending to the first basement level.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened.

"Hey, are these all zombies?"

"How can there be so many?"

Yue Heng’s and Bai Long’s voices echoed in the cool basement. Ye Chen looked up to see the basement resembling a small factory, filled with numerous test tubes containing nutrient fluid, and rows of naked men and women.

Ye Zhu glanced at the many test tubes, seeming somewhat fearful. "These tubes hold the previous experimental subjects from the institute who turned into zombies after the viral infection."

Ye Chen nodded, and the two walked further in together. As they passed one tube, the naked figure inside suddenly opened its eyes, staring coldly at their retreating backs…

At the very back, Bai Long and Yue Heng were looking around, following Dr. Mo Feng, full of astonishment. Bai Long was relatively restrained; after all, as a top graduate of Tsinghua University, he was well-traveled and not overly shocked.

Yue Heng, however, was like a country bumpkin entering the city, looking everywhere. He was just an ordinary person who dropped out after high school and went to work; this scene, which he’d only seen in movies, felt incredibly novel.

"What are you guys doing?" Ye Zhu asked curiously, looking at the three.

Bai Long turned his head, saw Ye Chen behind her immediately, and said in surprise, "You can get out of bed?"

Ye Chen nodded slightly.

Bai Long laughed. "We’re helping this great Doctor examine the experiments. This madman insisted on studying a cure for the virus and specially invited me as a senior consultant. You know, I graduated from Tsinghua; I know everything from astronomy to geography. This kid certainly found the right person," he said, winking at Dr. Mo Feng.

Dr. Mo Feng glanced at him but paid no mind.

Yue Heng, standing nearby, asked curiously, "Didn't you beg Doctor Mo to let you see his laboratory?"

Bai Long shot him a look. "Will you die if you don't speak?"

"No, but it'll be uncomfortable."

"Go die!"

"Why don't you go?"

"I’m better looking than you."

Ye Chen watched the two clowns, shook his head, walked up to Dr. Mo Feng, and glanced at his workbench, which was vast and covered with tubes containing genes, cells, and viruses.

At that moment, Dr. Mo Feng picked up a syringe, drew a red liquid from a test tube, and walked over to a nearby platform. This platform was the size of a single bed and secured a zombie whose skin was pale, eyes a pale green, and nails extremely long. Its limbs and head were tightly bound.

"What are you doing?" Bai Long asked curiously.

Dr. Mo Feng’s expression was blank; he ignored him.

Ye Chen walked over, picked up the red test tube, and saw a label beneath it: Hemobact.

Observing Dr. Mo Feng’s movements, Ye Chen frowned, shook his head, and said, "It’s useless. Zombies are dark creatures; the Hemobact won't prompt a change in their internal genes to return them to human form. Instead, it will become their energy, making them more berserk."

Dr. Mo Feng looked up, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, staring at the scarred man curiously. Then he frowned, looked back down, and injected the Hemobact into the zombie.

Roar!

As soon as the Hemobact was injected, the sleeping zombie’s eyes snapped open, filled with bloodlust. It struggled wildly, staring greedily at Dr. Mo Feng, roaring and snarling, causing the iron chains binding it to rattle loudly.

Ye Chen shook his head, saying nothing.

Dr. Mo Feng frowned, turned, took another syringe from the platform, and injected a blue liquid into the zombie. Immediately, the berserk zombie gradually calmed down, then lapsed into unconsciousness.

Dr. Mo Feng casually tossed the syringe that had contained the Hemobact into the trash, turned to look at Ye Chen, and frowned. "How did you know?"

"Many scientists have experimented this way, and all have failed," Ye Chen sighed. This kind of experiment was conducted in every base city in his previous life, yet none had succeeded.

Dr. Mo Feng said no more. He was a man of few words; expressionless, he walked back to his workbench, retrieved a black test tube from it, and handed it to Ye Chen. "Here is the mutated ant gene you requested."

Ye Chen took it, checked it briefly, and only relaxed once he confirmed it was correct before putting it away.

"Let's go eat!" Bai Long patted his stomach and smiled at everyone.

Ye Chen nodded, casually slipped a syringe into his pocket, turned to leave. After a few steps, he suddenly remembered something, turned back to look at the young Dr. Mo Feng, and said, "It’s best to kill the zombies in these containment tubes. After today, these zombies' strength will increase, and the structural integrity of these tubes won't be enough to hold them back."

Dr. Mo Feng’s pupils contracted. He fixed Ye Chen with a deep gaze, then nodded slowly.

Ye Chen said no more and left the basement with his sister Ye Zhu, Bai Long, and the other two, heading towards the kitchen. In the basement, Dr. Mo Feng stared at the direction Ye Chen had left for a long time, a deep contemplation in his eyes. After a moment, he walked over to the surrounding test tubes, looking at all the sleeping zombies, and stated coldly, "You have all lost your value."

"Roar!"

"Hiss!"

The naked men and women in the tubes all opened their eyes at once. Their once handsome and delicate faces instantly became ferocious, staring straight at Dr. Mo Feng, filled with bloodlust and avarice.

Dr. Mo Feng’s expression was cold. He walked over and pressed a red switch. Instantly, the green nutrient fluid in the tubes drained away, flowing through pipes to an unknown location. Immediately afterward, a yellow fluid began to flow from another pipe, filling the test tubes.

The moment the zombies touched this fluid, they let out screams, struggling violently under the influence of the yellow substance. However, unable to break free from the tubes, one by one, they collapsed, still and lifeless…

In the evening, after finishing dinner, Ye Chen returned to his room alone. He gazed at the crescent moon outside the window; the moonlight filtered through the window, casting his long shadow coolly across the room.

After a long while, Ye Chen took out the mutated ant gene and the syringe from his pocket. He drew the gene into the syringe, then located a vein on his arm and inserted the needle.

The black gene slowly injected into his body.

This process felt as long as an epoch. Amidst the intertwining of death and survival, Ye Chen’s heart remained remarkably calm. Once the injection was complete, he dropped the syringe and slumped onto the bed.

Thump! Thump!

The room was terrifyingly quiet, the only sound echoing in his mind being his own heartbeat.

Ye Chen remained silent for a long time, gradually feeling changes begin in his body. A scorching heat ignited from his abdomen, and sweat poured down him. He walked silently to his backpack and took out a photograph—a family portrait. In it, a middle-aged man and woman stood next to two small children, a boy and a girl, all smiling happily…

"Dad, Mom," Ye Chen murmured, clutching the photograph.

...

Just one update today; I need to organize my thoughts for the second installment. The next part will be very exciting, horrifying, and bloody… I just signed the contract yesterday and have already received generous rewards from many friends—I am deeply moved. I intended to post a burst of updates, but for the sake of the overall narrative structure, I held back. I will erupt with updates when the recommendation comes.