He lowered his head, as if admiring a rare treasure, his gaze fixed obsessively on his left half, which had almost lost control and was still trembling slightly.
Then, he raised his eyes and looked at the pile of melted, twisted metal debris in the corner of the Laboratory.
A cold and strange rationality finally seeped into the madness and obsession that remained in his right eye.
"Balance..." he whispered hoarsely, his voice like sandpaper rubbing together,
"E City's... technology... isn't perfect enough... but... it's enough... as long as it lasts until..."
He raised his head, his gaze seemingly penetrating the thick alloy walls, directed towards Dream City.
The last trace of complex human emotions—fear, resentment, unwillingness—completely vanished from his intact right eye, leaving only a pure, predatory, cold anticipation.
His lips parted, revealing a bizarre smile that combined human teeth and zombie fangs.
"The feast... is about to begin..."
A low chuckle rumbled from deep within his throat, like a demon from the abyss announcing its arrival.
Blood-red patterns slowly flowed across his left half, like a coiled mass of snakes, gradually quieting as his emotions settled.
"Leader, the last batch of 'children' have been released. What do we do next?"
At this moment, two figures completely cloaked in black robes quietly entered the Laboratory and asked in low voices.
Beneath their black robes, these two concealed half-zombified bodies, just like Wan Youyu's, with seven half-blood-red patterns flickering on their foreheads.
They were Wan Youyu's trusted subordinates, the two individuals who were forced to become pathogen carriers, also transformed into half-human, half-zombie, with strength no less than Wan Youyu's, comparable to a Nine-Bar Zombie!
They were completely under Wan Youyu's control.
As for the "children" they spoke of, they were the pathogens about to erupt.
Though they still retained half of their humanity, the rationality eroded by zombification had long blurred the lines.
They regarded Slash Zombies as their kind and humans as prey.
Wan Youyu was no different.
If before he created and released pathogens to drag more of his kind to their graves, now he was completely immersed in this twisted desire—he wanted to create more of his kind.
This thought, like an instinct for species continuation, drove him, even at the cost of the entire world's destruction.
He yearned for more Slash Zombies to be born, for them to surge like a tide, filling this decaying world.
Wan Youyu raised his hand, gazing at the slow flow of blood-red patterns on his fingertips, his voice deep and hoarse: "Not enough, far from enough."
In his scarlet left eye, blood-red patterns slowly rotated, like some bizarre runes circulating within his body.
He murmured in a low voice: "We must make this feast even grander..."
He slowly raised his left hand, pointing in the direction of the Giant Tiger Alliance, "There... is the freshest flesh... and... medicine..."
"Taking down the Giant Tiger Alliance will give birth to another batch of children..."
Wan Youyu's voice echoed in the empty metal space, carrying a sticky craving, like a venomous snake licking its prey.
His half-human, half-zombie face appeared even more distorted under the pale light, his left half's scarlet vertical pupil flickering with inhuman greed, while his right human eye struggled to maintain a cold rationality, yet could not hide the boiling desire for destruction deep within.
"Yes, Leader."
The two black-robed subordinates responded in unison, their voices low and hoarse, like grinding sand.
They bowed slightly, and beneath their black robes, the outlines of bodies covered in dark red cuticles and blood-red patterns were vaguely visible.
The seven half-blood-red slashes on their foreheads flickered with their breathing, echoing Wan Youyu's, like fierce beasts lurking in the dark opening their compound eyes.
Wan Youyu's intact right hand slowly rose, his fingertips tracing across the cold surface of the Laboratory table, leaving a few faint white marks.
"Giant Tiger Alliance... their medicine, there must be hundreds of thousands of doses... and..."
He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing, making a dry swallowing sound, "...those 'fresh' containers, the quantity is sufficient."
The "containers" he referred to were naturally the uninfected survivors of the Giant Tiger Alliance, possessing vibrant life force.
In Wan Youyu's eyes, they were no longer his kind, but rather the fertile ground for the birth of his "children," the main course awaiting transformation at the feast.
His left arm suddenly spasmed uncontrollably, the blood-red patterns covering it accelerating their flow, like glowing lava veins, and a violent aura instantly permeated the air.
Faint crackling sounds seemed to echo in the air, the uneasy agitation of energy particles.
A nearby abandoned metal stand silently twisted and collapsed, as if kneaded by an invisible giant hand, turning into a pile of scrap metal.
Wan Youyu sharply inhaled, the muscles on the human right side of his face taut, desperately suppressing the agitation of his left half.
The sharp nails of his left hand dug deep into the alloy surface of the Laboratory table, emitting a grating, teeth-aching scrape.
"Control... balance..." he growled hoarsely, as if giving orders to the violent power within him.
It took several breaths for the surging energy to reluctantly subside, like a beast forcibly pushed back into the abyss, and the flow of blood-red patterns returned to its previous slow rhythm.
But on the Laboratory table, five holes, an inch deep, had been left behind.
He slowly withdrew his left hand, looking at the metal fragments clinging to his fingertips.
"Tomorrow," his voice returned to its previous low tone, but it was even more unquestionable, carrying an authoritative oppressiveness,
"Attack the Giant Tiger Alliance, kill Hu Banshan... no... capture Hu Banshan alive. I will bestow upon him supreme glory, making him a member of our race."
"Yes, Leader!"
The two black-robed figures bowed even deeper, their movements stiff yet terrifyingly coordinated.
They turned, their black robes silently fluttering, like two deadly phantoms merging into the shadows, quickly disappearing into the entrance of the passage leading from the Laboratory to the surface.
The heavy alloy door silently closed behind them, isolating the inside from the outside.
In the Laboratory, only Wan Youyu remained.
He slowly walked to the puddle of metal debris melted by the earlier uncontrolled energy, crouched down, and with his left hand, covered in cuticles, gently picked up a small, still warm, melted-edged metal shard.
The cold sensation and the residual intense energy within formed a bizarre contrast.
"The feast of Dream City..."
He murmured to himself, his lips parting into an extremely terrifying smile that combined fangs and human teeth, his scarlet left eye and cold right eye simultaneously looking up at the Laboratory ceiling, as if penetrating layers of obstruction, seeing the distant impending war and desperate wails.
"...is just an appetizer. My children... your stage... has only just begun to be set..."
The metal shard in his palm was silently crushed into powder by the immense force of his fingertips, falling like dust.
A strange light flashed in his scarlet right eye, and he continued to whisper, "...First take down the Giant Tiger Alliance... then flatten the Luoxia Alliance. The Steel Fortress, Spear of Victory, Glory of Light... all will become stepping stones for the rise of our race. Once H City is unified, the true feast will begin. Firefly, E City... all survivors... will become sacrifices for our race's rebirth ritual."
His voice grew softer and softer, until it became an almost inaudible murmur.
He was full of confidence in his strength. Even though the bottleneck of lighting the seventh Lotus Seed had been broken, and a large number of powerhouses had emerged who had lit the seventh Lotus Seed, he, Wan Youyu, as a Seven-Slash Zombie, possessed strength comparable to a Nine-Bar Zombie, and with his intelligence, he was even more powerful than a Nine-Bar Zombie.
He was convinced that he was currently at the pinnacle of strength in this world, unrivaled.
Unfortunately, he did not know about the birth of Super Individuals and the Three Overlord Powers' plan to attack Dream City tomorrow, nor did he know that the strength level of a Nine-Bar Zombie would be completely insufficient if he truly went to Firefly.