Rat-tat-tat-tat!

  Under normal circumstances, Arthur's body would have been torn apart. But now, time itself seemed to slow down. His senses, enhanced a hundredfold, tracked every bullet's trajectory. He moved like a blurred shadow through the air. Some bullets grazed his skin, but the ones that struck directly were flattened against his steel-like muscles.

  "What… what is this thing?" one guard screamed, disbelief filling his eyes. "Bullets aren't working on it!"

  Swallowing hard, another guard muttered,

  "Is this some kind of monster?"

  Arthur did not stop. He lunged at them like a starving cheetah. His first punch struck a guard square in the chest. The impact was so powerful that the bulletproof vest tore apart, and the guard was flung ten feet backward, smashing into the wall. His ribs were completely shattered.

  Inside the control room, Dr. Vamas wiped sweat from his forehead.

  "Activate Project Vajra! Now!" he ordered his assistant.

  "But sir, Vajra isn't fully stabilized yet. It could go out of control," the assistant said fearfully.

  "I don't care! If this boy survives, we're all dead!" Vamas slammed his hand on the table. He was utterly terrified.

  Meanwhile, Arthur was wreaking havoc inside the lab. Along the way, he saw Room Number Thirty-Two, the very place where he had once been bound. Seeing that room reminded him of his mother's helplessness and his sister's deep, haunting eyes. His blood boiled.

  He looked at the black knife in his hand. The metal had already synchronized with his blood.

  As Arthur passed a special reinforced door, he looked at the scene ahead and said quietly,

  "So this must be a subject."

  A massive hydraulic door opened. Heavy footsteps echoed.

  Standing before him was Vajra—a seven-foot-tall monster, half machine and half swollen blue muscle. Gigantic hydraulic hammers were attached to his arms.

  Vajra glared at Arthur and growled,

  "So you're the new toy?"

  "I'll teach you what pain really is today!" Vajra roared and swung his massive hammer toward Arthur.

  Arthur tried to block the strike with his knife, but the hammer was so heavy that he was pushed backward.

  "Good strength, but no intelligence," Arthur thought coldly.

  Vajra attacked again. This time, instead of dodging, Arthur used his new ability—Cellular Hardening. He raised his left palm to meet the hammer.

  When the hammer struck his palm, a metallic clang echoed through the lab. Arthur's hand did not break. Instead, a dent appeared in the hammer itself.

  Seizing the opportunity, Arthur drove the black knife into Vajra's mechanical side. The blade began slicing through circuits and machinery. Vajra writhed in agony.

  "This pain is just the beginning," Arthur whispered into his ear. "The real hell starts now."

  In the middle of the battle, flashes of memory flooded Arthur's mind. He remembered the ancient ruins he had once visited, and the inscription carved there—it said that whoever bore the six eggs would gain not only power, but also the responsibility to maintain cosmic balance.

  "Balance?" Arthur questioned himself.

  "My balance will only be restored when these sinners are erased."

  He focused all his power into his right hand. White light surged through the veins in his arm. With a single devastating punch, he pierced straight through Vajra's chest.

  The giant body collapsed lifelessly onto the ground.

  Arthur now stood right outside Dr. Vamas's cabin. He activated his enhanced scent and could smell Vamas's fear from inside.

  He kicked the door open in a single strike.

  Inside, Vamas stood trembling, aiming a revolver at him. His legs shook uncontrollably.

  "Stay back! I'll kill you!" Vamas shouted, his voice quivering.

  Arthur slowly walked forward. Bullets struck his chest and fell to the floor. His self-healing was so fast that his wounds closed before they could even fully form.

  "Vamas, you chose a cripple because you thought he couldn't fight," Arthur said, grabbing Vamas by the throat and lifting him into the air. "But you never considered that someone with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous of all."

  "Please… forgive me! I'll give you everything you want! Money, power… your sister!" Vamas stammered.

  Arthur's grip tightened.

  "My sister? Where is she?"

  "She… she's in the secret lab of Sector Seven. She's also a subject," Vamas said with his last breath.

  Arthur's eyes turned blood-red. Gene-X hadn't just turned him into a tool—it had destroyed his family.

  He dangled Vamas out of the window and demanded,

  "Where exactly is my sister? Speak now, or I'll throw you out."

  Trembling, Vamas cried,

  "Forty-two kilometers from here… Poli Mountain. Lab Number Seven, the frozen lab."

  "Please, let me go!"

  In his mind, Vamas thought, If I survive this, I'll turn you into my dog.

  The hatred in his eyes was unmistakable.

  Arthur saw the truth in those eyes and knew his sister was really there.

  "Do you have any cash or money here?" Arthur asked.

  Saying this, he dragged Vamas back inside and forced him to guide the way.

  "Don't try anything clever. If you do, I'll break your head and plant it like a flowerpot."

  Vamas's soul trembled with fear.

  Only one thought echoed in his mind—This boy is cruel. Extremely cruel.

  Along the way, Arthur freed every subject he encountered, but before doing so, he covered his face with cloth to hide his identity.

  Vamas handed over all the money from the vault. Arthur stuffed it into a bag.

  Arthur didn't want to waste any more time. He had to save his sister.

  He told Vamas to look the other way.

  The moment Vamas turned—

  Arthur snapped his neck.

  Perhaps Vamas thought, At least he could have warned me.

  After Vamas's death, the lab fell completely silent.

  Arthur quietly set the lab on fire, erasing all remaining evidence.

  As he stepped outside, the entire building was engulfed in flames. This was no ordinary fire—due to the massive amount of explosive materials inside, the blaze consumed the entire facility.

  Arthur did not look back.

  Arthur Throne had left the smoldering, burning wreckage far behind. The orange glow of the fire faded into the distance as he surged forward like a phantom through the desolate landscape. Every muscle in his body was coiled like a spring, driving him toward Sector No. 7—the dreaded Frozen Lab.

  His breath came in ragged, sharp gasps, manifesting as thick white mist in the sub-zero air. His lungs burned with every inhalation, and the sound of his panting echoed against the icy silence of the wasteland. Suddenly, he skidded to a halt, his boots carving deep grooves in the frost-covered earth.

  "From here... Poli Mountain should be about 10 kilometers away," Arthur muttered to himself.

  His voice, which was usually cold and steady, now betrayed a clear tremor of fear and anxiety. It wasn't the fear of the soldiers or the mountain that haunted him; it was the overwhelming love he felt for his sister, Annie. She was his world, the only light in his dark journey. The thought of anything happening to her sent a paralyzing chill through his heart, far colder than the wind.

  If something happens to her, how will I ever face Mother? The thought intensified the terror within him, but it also fueled his resolve. "I have to save Annie," he whispered, his eyes glowing with a fierce, protective light. "No matter what happens, no matter what it costs me."

  The Fortress of Sector 7

  When Arthur finally arrived at the perimeter of Sector 7, the scene before him was ripped straight from a nightmare. A colossal mountain had been hollowed out, its natural stone replaced by a brutalist fortress of reinforced concrete and blackened steel. It looked like a tomb for the living. High towers loomed like sentinels against the dark sky, manned by 'Thermal Snipers' whose scopes searched for the slightest trace of heat.

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  Arthur closed his eyes and unleashed his 100x Consciousness. The world transformed. His mind became a radar, perceiving the unseen. He felt the heartbeats and the heat signatures of every guard.

  Threat Assessment: 15 Snipers positioned on high ground. 2 Auto-Cannons capable of shredding a tank.

  Security Level: Maximum.

  "I must find the blind spots of these snipers," Arthur strategized, his mind processing data at lightning speed.

  Suddenly, his vision shifted. Crimson lines of light—the visual representation of the guards' Line of Sight—crisscrossed the terrain. Utilizing his Shadow Mimicry, Arthur became a blur, jumping from the shadow of one jagged rock to another with the silence of a ghost.

  High above, a guard named Bony peered through his high-tech binoculars. "Wait... did something move down there?"

  His partner laughed, leaning against the cold railing. "Bony, you're always jumpy. It's just the snow or your imagination, you crazy bastard."

  In the next heartbeat, Bony was gone. Arthur had reached up from the darkness, his hand gripping the guard's throat like a vice, and pulled him into the abyss. Without a single sound, the guard was neutralized.

  Before the second guard could react, Arthur leaped into the air. He delivered a brutal, soaring uppercut to the man's head. The guard collapsed instantly—whether he was dead or merely unconscious, Arthur didn't care. The path inside was now open.

  The Sabotage

  Arthur moved through the dark, narrow corridors with suppressed breath. His 100x Consciousness analyzed every vibration, every electronic hum. He stopped abruptly before a massive, reinforced door.

  Inside, a guard named Leon was slumped in a chair, mindlessly eating chips and sipping a drink while a movie played on a flickering screen. He was completely relaxed, convinced that no one could ever breach the Genex fortress. The sudden chime of the doorbell made him jump.

  "Who the hell is that?" Leon grumbled, suspecting nothing. He stood up and pulled the door open. A dark shadow surged past him. Before Leon could even blink, a wave of dizziness hit him. Arthur had struck him with surgical precision, and the guard slumped to the floor without a groan.

  Arthur surveyed the room. It was immense, filled with thick, pulsating electrical wires and massive generators that hummed with enough power to light an entire city. This was the lifeblood of the lab.

  "The main switch," Arthur noted.

  He didn't just turn it off; he tore the main conduits out with his bare hands. Sparks erupted like miniature fireworks, dancing across the room. As the master switch clicked into the 'Off' position, the entire sector was plunged into a terrifying, absolute darkness. But for Arthur, this was an advantage. His senses allowed him to see as clearly as if it were noon. He began ripping out backup wires, ensuring the darkness would remain.

  Commander Cro, the man in charge, was currently in a meeting when the power died. He stood up, trembling with rage. A failure like this in a Genex lab was impossible. He grabbed his walkie-talkie, his voice a furious snarl.

  "Mr. Knife! What is happening? Why has the power been cut?"

  "Sir... I was just about to report," a panicked voice crackled back. "I saw a shadow in the power room... a man with his face covered. It happened so fast, I couldn't even react! Forgive me, sir!"

  "You fool!" Cro roared. "Alert everyone! An intruder is in the lab. Find him—Dead or Alive!"

  Slaughter in the Shadows

  The interior of Sector 7 was now a tomb of silence, broken only by the rhythmic, haunting blink of red emergency lights. The narrow steel corridors felt like a maze designed for killing.

  "Put on your Night Vision goggles!" Commander Cro's heavy, booming voice echoed through the halls. Behind him, forty elite guards marched forward, their rifles equipped with torches that cut through the gloom.

  Arthur was perched high above, clinging to the ventilation pipes. His 100x senses picked up the sound of their boots on the metal floor and the friction of their tactical gear. As the first squad passed beneath him, Arthur activated Shadow Mimicry, blending into the long, distorted shadows cast by their own torches.

  "There! In the corner!" a guard screamed.

  Before a trigger could be pulled, Arthur emerged from the darkness like a demon. His arm, hardened to the density of steel by Cellular Hardening, struck the guard's helmet. The visor shattered into a thousand pieces, and the man hit the floor, dead before he could scream.

  "Fire! Fire into the corridor!" Cro commanded.

  The sound of gunfire was deafening in the enclosed space. Bullets whizzed through the air from both directions. Arthur didn't hide; he stood his ground in the middle of the hallway. As the rounds struck his body, sparks flew—not blood. Because of his Hardening, the bullets couldn't penetrate his skin; they ricocheted off him and slammed into the guards instead. Small red marks appeared on his skin, and the pain was sharp, but it only served to heighten his focus.

  "What is this thing? Bullets are useless!" The guards began to panic. The darkness they once feared now felt like a living entity that was hunting them one by one.

  Arthur moved like a teleporting shadow, disappearing and reappearing behind them. He grabbed one guard and slammed him against the steel wall with such terrifying strength that a massive dent appeared in the metal. The guards, in their blind panic, began shooting each other in the narrow space.

  Suddenly, Commander Cro stepped forward, wielding a massive, jagged tactical axe. "Back off, cowards! I will take his head myself!"

  Cro charged, using the wall for leverage to swing the axe at Arthur's head. With limited space to dodge, Arthur raised his bare hand.

  CLANG!

  A heavy, metallic ring echoed through the lab. The axe blade hit Arthur's palm, but it didn't cut. The hardening of his skin was so intense that the blade was forced back. Arthur felt the pain—the strike was powerful—but his hand remained whole.

  Commander Cro's hands began to shake. His pupils dilated with a fear he had never known. He realized he wasn't fighting a man; he was fighting something far beyond human evolution. He knew his death was inevitable.

  Arthur wrenched the axe from Cro's hands and threw it aside. He seized Cro by the throat and slammed him into a nearby machine. "You have spilled the blood of the innocent here," Arthur hissed, his voice echoing like a death knell. "Today, this lab becomes your grave."

  The remaining guards tried to flee, but Arthur used his Shadow Mimicry to seize a dropped machine gun. He didn't let a single one escape. One by one, the elite guards of Sector 7 were slaughtered.

  The floor of the lab was now a river of red. Arthur, breathing heavily, dragged the broken, blood-spitting body of Commander Cro to the main blast doors of Level 4.

  "Open it," Arthur commanded, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. "Open it before I grind your bones into dust."

  Beyond the door, he could feel her. His consciousness sensed Annie's presence. A wave of pure, unadulterated joy washed over him—a feeling he hadn't known in the decades of loneliness and regret in his previous life.

  After all this time... I am finally going to see my sister.

  "In this life, Annie," Arthur vowed, "no one will ever hurt you again. No matter who they are, I will destroy them all."